Zombies Perks Guide

Comprehensive guide to all eight perks in Black Ops Zombies, and how to use them in various situations.

Introduction (what are perks?)

Perks, or Perk-a-Colas, are basically the zombies versions of multiplayer perks. They give you benefits, added abilities to help you, and your teammates, survive and kill zombies more efficiently. Their cost range from 500 points to 4,000, and their effectiveness varies depending on the map and mode (solo or co-op). Perks are usually a priority, and should be acquired before doing things such as hitting the box or upgrading weapons.

Original perks

Quick Revive Soda

Quick Revive Soda, often called QR or Revive, is one of the most important perks in solo, and a decent one in co-op.
In co-op, it cuts down the time it takes to revive your teammates by half: 3 seconds without the perk, 1.5 second with it. It costs 1,500, making it the second cheapest perk after Deadshot Daiquiri, and one of the more useful on smaller, harder maps like Five or Verrückt where zombies can never really be far away enough to revive safely without a distraction (monkeys, crossbow etc.). It's not quite as useful with two players, because it's easier to "lead" the zombies away from the downed player if you're the only one alive, but with three or four players, if your teammates go down often it's definitely a great perk to have.
In solo, it essentially gives you another life. When you go down, you'll pull out Mustang & Sally, or any "downed weapon" that you currently have (handgun, ballistic, Ray Gun or Winter's Howl). I'm not sure about the priority order (e.g. if you have M&S and a Ray, you'll pull out the Ray but I'm not quite sure why, nor what would you pull out if you were to have a CZ and a ballistic, for example) but it doesn't really matter because in solo, most zombies won't run too far away from you, and instead stand there, shaking their heads until Quick Revive does its job: reviving you. Shooting them is foolish because they will respawn from every direction, which will make things risky while you try to get to Jugger-Nog again. The time it takes to revive you isn't always the same I'm not sure but I would estimate it to be about 7 to 10 seconds. Sometimes it can be glitchy and increase to over 15 seconds, but such instances are rare. Anyway once you're revived, you're most likely gonna need a distraction and rush to Jugger-Nog as soon as possible. You can get Quick Revive up to three times in solo, essentially giving you four lives. If space monkeys or the astronaut zombie steal it, it's considered a purchase. And it's the same if you receive it from a random perk bottle drop, meaning you can't receive it from said drop if you already used all three.

This perk is available on all maps except Nacht Der Untoten.

Rating 9.5/10 (7/10 in co-op)


Jugger-Nog

Jugger-Nog, often called Jugger or Jug, is by far -the- most important perk, ever. It costs 2,500 points and gives you a 250% boost in health, allowing you to survive four hits instead of one, and going down on the fifth consecutive hit. It's really hard to die with Jugger-Nog without getting trapped in a corner or in the middle of a horde. It also allows you to run through live traps and survive up to three point blank explosions (more with the Ray Gun). Against dogs and crawlers, it allows you to survive five hits, going down on the sixth. It also serves as an indicator when you're about to die, as your screen will turn red when you're one hit away from going down. When you see this, run until you hear your character breathe, which means that health regeneration is complete. Anyway this perk is by far the most important and there should never be any reason not to buy it, ever (unless playing Nacht Der Untoten, which only has Mule Kick). Forget about hitting the box or doing anythng until you can get this perk, I played this game for over three thousand hours, and I've always, -always- been amazed by the amount of noobs who hit the box three times in a row, get a LMG and a Ray Gun, then get double slapped from behind and ragequit because they didn't get Jug, and they don't have any points to do so, while I have a SMG (read as: unlimited source of points), Jug and 0 downs. The only time where this perk is not the main priority is when you're gonna rack up points with the Bowie or Sickle, in which case (if you're confident in your knifing abilities) you should get the knife first, and then stab your way towards 2,500 point to afford Jug.

This perk is available on all maps except Nacht Der Untoten.

Rating: 10/10


Speed Cola

Speed Cola, also called Speed, is basically the zombies version of Sleight Of Hand: it cuts down your reload time by half. As such, it's very useful on slow-reloading weapons, or weapons that have a small clip, such as LMGs and some weapons like the Galil. On maps with four perks (five with Mule Kick), you'll almost always want to get this perk over either Double Tap or Quick Revive if playing co-op with two players. It's also a very solid choice on Moon, because it lets you hack stuff slightly faster (I'd say about 25% faster). It has been said to increase your sprint time, but it doesn't, it does however slightly increase the speed at which your rebuild windows, but by the time you're able to get this perk, being the second most expensive at 3,000 points, you shouldn't be worried about rebuilding windows anymore anyway. However, unless using a camping strategy, this perk is often more convenient than necessary.

This perk is available on all maps except Nacht Der Untoten.

Rating: 7.5/10


Double Tap Root Beer

This perk, usually called Double Tap or simply DT, is kind of a make or break perk. Either you love it, or you hate it. It's also the only perk that can be an hindrance with some weapons. What it does is reduce the time between shots, increasing your fire rate by about 33%. With increased fire rate comes increased recoil, and increased ammo consumption (or waste, if you're not careful). It's very useful to kill zombies faster, and one of the better perks when using weapons that have a low damage output (LMGs, mostly, typically when camping in co-op), but it can be
troublesome to control the recoil and can lead to serious ammo issues if you're careless. A good tactic is to get this perk and Deadshot Daiquiri with a SMG or G11, then hipfire at chest to neck level. It should be noted that this perk increases the firecap on semi-automatic weapons as well, allowing players with a really fast trigger finger to shoot the M14, FN FAL, CZ75, Python and M1911 as fast as they possibly can.
It also affects the speed at which you plant claymores and bouncing betties, as well as the Death Machine, allowing it to fire at 1,600 RPM instead of 1,200. Contrary to popular belief, it does -not- affect knifing speed nor recovery time between slashes, even with the ballistic knife. Overall a decent perk, but rather situational. On maps with more than four perks, I usually wouldn't get this one. It has a standard cost of 2,000.

This perk is available on all maps except Nacht Der Untoten and Ascension.

Rating: 6/10 (8/10 for LMGs)

DLC perks

Stamin-Up

Stamin-Up is a very useful perk in solo, where mobility is the name of the game. This perk isn't as simple as it seems, it basically does two things. First, it increases your running speed to the maximum (110%) regardless of the weapon you're currently holding. And second, it doubles your sprint time and sprint recovery time. What this perk does -not- do is increasing your walking speed: you'll still be slow as hell with a LMG. This perk is very, very useful on any map: on larger maps it allows you to get around faster, and on smaller maps it allows you to dodge and outrun zombies more easily in cramped areas. Coupled with Jugger-Nog, and advanced dodging tactics (screen shaking and jumping), this makes solo play a breeze once you get used to it. It's also a very good perk in co-op, allowing you to escape death and run fast with support weapons that you would typically not use in solo. Thus, it also allows you to get to a downed teammate faster, highly increasing their (and therefore your) chances of survival. On maps where this perk is featured, I would always get it, except maybe on Moon. It costs 2,000 points.

This perk is available on Ascension, Call Of The Dead, Shangri-La and Moon.

Rating: 8.5/10


PhD Flopper

Often called PhD or Flopper, this perk does several things. First of all, it negates any kind of explosive damage done to yourself; you can safely spam an entire Ray Gun mag into the wall inches away from you, you will take no damage whatsoever. Even if you cook a grenade, it will harmlessly explode in your hand (but still damage nearby zombies). Second, it negates fall damage. You can fall off the top of the lighthouse in Call Of The Dead, or miss a lander pad on Moon, you will take no damage upon hitting the ground. And last but not least, if you dive to prone off an elevated surface (any instance where you would have taken fall damage without the perk), upon hitting the ground you will create a large explosion. The radius is about twice as large as most explosives (M&S, M72 LAW etc.) and the damage is high: it kills nearly everything caught in the blast in the low teens, and is capable of a one-hit kill up to and including round 25. It's also a great, -great- way to save ammo in Call Of The Dead: repeatedly flopping in front of the lighthouse is all it takes to end a round, even in the 40s and above. Flopping twice or thrice should deal about the same damage as a Scavenger shot. Four players repeatedly flopping will make short work of George, as well. Zombies killed by the explosion can drop power-ups. It's not all that reliable and sometimes the explosion will not appear, but overall this perk is really useful. It also allows Mustang & Sally to become one of the best weapons in the game, allowing for quick path-clearing and escapes up into the 30s. All in all, a great perk that should always find a niche in your setup on maps where it's featured. Even better in co-op to clear a path to a downed teammate. It's also a cheap perk considering its effects, at only 2,000 points.

This perk is available on Ascension, Call Of The Dead, Shangri-La and Moon.

Rating: 9/10


Deadshot Daiquiri

Often called Deadshot, and sometimes DD, this perk is an interesting novelty. On PC it only costs 1,000 points, as opposed to 1,500 on consoles, making it the cheapest perk in co-op, and second cheapest in solo. It does two things. First, it shrinks your crosshair's size to 65% of the original value, and second it eliminates sway and recoil on sniper rifles. These traits make this perk really useful for SMG hipfiring, and overall running and gunning. Contrary to popular belief, this perk does -not- decrease recoil (except on sniper rifles). It also DOES affect the spread of the Death Machine, making it (along with Double Tap) a very valuable perk to make better use of the power-up, especially against George, as even up-close, without this perk you cannot hope to score more than 80-85% of headshots on him. Other than that, this is a highly situational perk, and I would honestly not get it unless I'm just messing around. The main problem is, weapons that are meant to be hipfired (SMGs and shotguns), while better with this perk, don't really need it. On the other end of the spectrum, weapons that really, -really- need a boost in hipfire accuracy (upgraded PM63 and HS10, snipers) remain far too inaccurate even with Deadshot.
With a SMG and Double Tap, this perk can really turn any decent player into a points-racking, zombie shredding machine. It turns the AK74fu2 into an absolute monster of a weapon, but there are still more important perks. Due to how easy it is to get all perks on Call Of The Dead, buying this perk is a viable option, especially if you plan on killing George with a sniper rifle, or with the Death Machine as stated above, but on other maps I would advise against buy it.
However, I do like getting it on Moon if I happen to receive a weapon that can benefit from it from the box, hacking it once said weapon runs out of ammo so I can get another, more useful perk.
Also on PC it obviously doesn't have its original effect (snap-to-aim automatically targetting the head). I heard there was a way to enable this effect when playing with a controller but honestly, if you're playing with a controller on PC, you're a disgrace and should an hero ASAP.

This perk is available on Call Of The Dead, Shangri-La and Moon.

Rating: 6/10


Mule Kick

Ah, Mule Kick. The perk that was so well received by the community that it ended up being added to all maps, becoming the first (and only) perk available on Nacht Der Untoten. Despite this fact, this perk is actually highly situational, and can be dangerous at times. It's also the most expensive at 4,000 points, also requiring a third weapon to have any use, essentially making the use of this perk cost 4,950 to 5,200 points on average. It's also a bit glitched, and while you're supposed to lose your third weapon upon death, it will sometimes make you lose your second weapon, which is very frustrating and can be a death sentence if said weapon was a Thundergun or something. It also increases the time it takes to switch weapons, possibly getting you killed if you can't whip out that Zeus Cannon in time. Regardless, it's a very valuable perk on some maps such as Five and Der Riese, where some things require the use of a particular weapon (the thief requires an expendable weapon later on, mid-round dogs on Der Riese usually require a Ray Gun or upgraded shotgun to dispatch them quickly, etc.). It can also be used to carry more ammo overall, and have a killing weapon, an emergency weapon -and- a points weapon. Not the best perk but definitely useful on some maps.
Sometimes called Mule.

This perk is available on all maps.

Rating: 6.5/10

Conclusion

Well that's all, folks. As with every other guide out there, this is rather subjective and apart from statistical numbers, you don't have to believe everything I say. Everyone has their own playstyle and most perks can be used to great effect regardless of the situation. I just felt like some things needed to be cleared up, such as how Stamin-Up exactly works.

Hope you learned something, see you guys later.

[Jackeronie]

speed cola = methamphetamine

Juggernog = pain killers

mule kick = steroids

deadshot = amphetamine

PHD flopper = a failed PHD and a suicide vest

quick revive = nursing dgree

[Voland]

Deox, but the only request for translating here is by... polish =)

[Nosfrat]

They should learn English, or seek guides written in their own language. I ain't about to learn a single word of Polish or Russian or whatever the fuck people think the whole world should be speaking these days.
O Kurwa.mp4

[Rs#destruktor $]

a po polsku

[Microsoft Edge]

i typically get speed double tap mule and jugger

i only play kino der toten

[Bob_long]

it is in bo2

[Nickmeiser]

They should put PhD back in bo2

[Boothy103]

what perks i would have is jug mule kick phd flopper and speed cola

[Dennyb]

hey

[Nosfrat]

@GS xAmper

In BO2 indeed DTap would get at the very least 8/10, but in BO1 it's not that good. Ultimately bullet guns won't kill anything past the high 40's so it doesn't really matter whether you're shooting fast or not, but in BO2 on small survival maps, an upgraded sniper or LMG with DTap is extremely valuable even past 50.

Mule Kick would be a clean 9/10 (not 10 because once again, it's longer to switch weapons) on maps where you can easily get 8 perks (only Call Of The Dead) but since each perk slot is valuable, its use should be a need and not a luxury.