[SOLO] Mob of the Dead high rounds surviving strategy

A very detailed guide on how to survive to high rounds (30+) in the map Mob of the Dead in solo mode.

Introduction

Before reading this guide, keep in mind that:

• This is my first guide and I'm not even English, so don't be rude; constructive criticism well accepted
  
• Most advices in this guide are for Solo games, but some information might be helpful in co-op matches as well
  
• This guide is for advanced players, as it does not cover basic zombie surviving strategies; Mob of the Dead is a very difficult map and is not recommended for new players
  
• This guide requires a basic knowledge of the map, because I will not explain what Brutus is or how to enter Afterlife mode
  
• This is a detailed guide; as such, there aren't many choices left to the player; if you're just searching for some advices, this guide could not be for you
  
• Please don't judge this guide by my zombie rank, hours played, games owned etc., as those stats don't reflect my actual experience in zombie mode
  
• And please don't give this guide a low rating only because you think that your strategy is better
  
• I reserve the right to delete impolite or offensive comments, but you shouldn't worry if you read the above statements.

Weapons and perks

Mob of the Dead is a very difficult map (the most difficult in my opinion, but I may be wrong): passagges are very narrow and it's really easy to get trapped in doors or corridors. You will surely die many times while playing this map, and at the beginning it could be frustrating. The most important advice is to keep trying.

Weapons

Fortunately, there are three weapons in the game that literally pack a punch: the Golden Spork, the Hell's Redeemer, the Vitriolic Withering and the Ray Gun. Below I will explain the pros and cons of these weapons.

Golden Spork

The Golden Spork, in my opinion, is the best weapon in the game. Its impressive damage allows one hit kills up to round 33; having such an effective melee weapon in this map is very useful, especially in those situations where there is little time to kill a zombie (e.g. when blocked somewhere by the zombies). Besides that, melee kills grant 130 points instead of the classic 60 points or the Raygun's 50 points. The only drawback is that there are many steps that must be completed before it can be obtained (personally I get it at round 14-18).

Hell's Redeemer

The Hell's Redeemer is the upgraded version of the Hell's Retriever. The major advantage of this weapon is that it has infinite damage if charged at least once (even though it can only kill up to 6 zombies at a time). Another positive thing is that it occupies an empty slot (the special grenade slot).

Vitriolic Withering

The Vitriolic Withering is the upgraded version of the Acid Gat, which in turn is a Blundergat converted with the Acid Gat Kit. Its major advantage is that the projectiles of this weapon attracts nearby zombies (like the upgraded Crossbow, but with much more ammo); this is especially useful when trapped in small rooms. On the other hand, the splash damage caused by the projectiles' explosion can harm the player a little.

Ray Gun

The classic Ray Gun you all know. I always carry the Ray Gun alongside the Vitriolic Withering because it is quite effective in taking down Brutus quickly, and the high movement speed is always convenient. Note that you can replace the Ray Gun with any other gun, but since at high rounds every weapon becomes ineffective I think the Ray Gun is the best choice. If you own Vengeance DLC, you can find in the mistery box the Ray Gun Mark II, which has no splash damage and a much better headshot multiplier than the "normal" Ray Gun.

Perks

Apart from good weapons, it is also important to have the right perks. The three perks that I recommend are Juggernog, Electric Cherry and Speed Cola. The fourth perk is of your choice, even though I think the only useful remaining perk is Deadshot Daiquiri (reason in Final advices section).

Juggernog

The extra health granted by Juggernog is a must in Mob of the Dead, and should be obtained as soon as possible. Juggernog is the only indispensable perk in this strategy.

Electric Cherry

Electric Cherry generates an electric shockwave upon reloading which stuns nearby zombies. It is especially useful in small and narrow areas, where zombies can easily block the player. It is important to note, however, that the shockwave can limit the player's vision.

Speed Cola

A faster reload time is convenient in every situation, especially when using the Blundergat or one of its derivatives.

Deadshot Daiquiri

Deadshot Daiquiri narrows the player's crosshairs by 35% and reduces recoil on all weapons (it also removes the idle sway from sniper rifles, but that's not important in this strategy). It is perfect as fourth perk.

Weapons obtainment strategy (Part 1)

This is not the strategy itself for the high rounds, but it is a well-studied plan to get all the necessary weapons and perks in the shortest time.

Get the uniforms

• Once spawned, activate the X2 cell while in Afterlife mode.
  
• Let all the zombies spawn, but don't kill anyone.
  
• Grab the X2 and kill the zombies (except the last one) with 6/7 shots in the legs and one knife hit. If you carefully managed the situation you should end up with 2200-2400 points and one zombie alive.
  
• Open the first door (the one near the M14).
  
• Check for the Warden's Key. If the Key is above the door to the cafeteria, go into Afterlife mode and activate both the Key and the the showers room door. If you're quick enough, you should be able to activate both within one Afterlife. If the Key is not there (and you have more than 1000 points), head back to the starting room and go to the first room, towards the B23R, open that 1000 points door, go down the stairs and proceed to the Warden's Office. Go into Afterlife mode and activate the Key and the door to the Warden's Office. Revive yourself, then return to the initial room and go towards the showers room. Enter Afterilfe mode and activate the door to the showers room
  
• After having revived yourself, check for a brown case (part of the Acid Gat Kit) in a corner next to a high voltage panel.
  
• Go to the showers room, open the gate to the laundry machine with the Key and go into Afterlife mode. Activate the laundry, then go upstairs and activate the X2 cell.
  
• Return to the laundry machine and activate it. Wait in the showers room until the laundry is ready, but don't kill any zombie.
  
• Once the laundry is ready, pick up the uniforms and go upstairs (without killing any zombie).
  
• Wait the zombies near the X2 power-up. When a sufficient amount of zombies is in front of you, grab the power-up and start killing the zombies. I suggest you to use the pistol; by using the knife, you risk getting a Nuke power-up that would kill the remaining zombies.

Feed the first dog

• Proceed towards the first room, where Cerberus' head is located (near the B23R).
  
• Check for the brown case (if you don't have it yet) on a desk in a corner in front of the stairs.
  
• Pick up the B23R (or the M14) and start feeding the dog. Pay attenction not to "waste" any zombie: while Cerberus is eating, avoid killing any zombies. In this way you should end feeding the dog before round 3.
  
• If you have accumulated at least 5250 points, you can proceed to the next section. Otherwise, kill some zombies until you have enough points.

Get Juggernog and feed the second dog

• Go upstairs and open the gate which brings to the Gondola.
  
• Go in Afterlife mode and activate both the Electric Cherry and the Gondola.
  
• Go to the Gondola and use it, without killing any zombies.
  
• Go downstairs to the docks and open a gate with the Key; you should see a tank behind another gate, which can only be opened in Afterlife mode.
  
• Go upstairs and locate the high voltage panel near the Juggernog machine.
  
• Enter afterlife mode and activate the Juggernog and the gate to the tank.
  
• After having revived yourself, get Juggernog.
  
• Go down the stairs and feed the second Cerberus' head, located near a workbench.
  
• If you paid attenction not to waste zombies, you should end this section at round 3-4.

Activate the generators and the elevator

• Get the Thompson M1927, located in the docks. Its great ammo capacity and its high rate of fire (and quite low damage) makes it the best choice for accumulating points.
  
• Once you have 1500 points, open the door near the second dog.
  
• Enter Afterlife mode, and activate the three generators located in the room.
  
• Once you have 2500 points, open the other two doors to access the spiral staircase.
  
• Open an electric number pad on the right with the Key.
  
• At the top of the stairs, enter Afterlife mode and go downstairs. You'll notice three numbers while going down the stairs; enter those numbers in the electric number pad, then revive yourself.
  
• Return at the bottom of the stairs, turn left, unlock a gate and get the rigging.

Feed the third dog

• Before proceeding in this section, you should have at least 3750 points; if this isn't the case, camp in the docks and make some points, but don't kill more zombies than needed.
  
• Return to the Gondola.
  
• Get Electric Cherry; it's very important for the next steps because there is a high chance of getting blocked by the zombies.
  
• Continue in the corridor after the Electric Cherry machine and the workbench.
  
• Open the door that brings to the infirmary.
  
• In the infirmary, look for the acid bottle (part of the Acid Gat Kit).
  
• Open the glass case next to Cerberus' head and grab the valves.
  
• Feed the third dog. This time I recommend to kill every zombie approaching you, because it is a very difficult room.
  
• If you have at least two Afterlife remaining, enter Afterlife mode and activate both the Deadshot Daiquiri and the door to the roof (I recommend having always at least one spare Afterlife in this section to prevent being downed by the zombies).

Get all the parts

• Return to the first room, where the B23R is located.
  
• Open the 1000 points gate (if you haven't done it already) and, if you still don't have the brown case, search for it near the stairs. Otherwise, proceed to the right towards the Warden's Office.
  
• If you haven't done it before, enter Afterlife mode and activate the gate to the Warden's Office.
  
• Once inside, open a gate with the Key and get the engine, then look for the motor (part of the Acid Gat Kit) somewhere on the floor.
  
• At this point you should have all the plane parts and the Acid Gat Kit.

Get the Hell's Retriever and the Acid Gat

• Exit the Warden's Office and go to the Citadel Tunnels. If you have more than 2500 points, you can turn right just after the Warden's Office, go downstairs and open a 1500 points door. Locate the room with the Hell's Retriever and grab it, then open a 1000 points gate and proceed to the docks. If you don't have 2500 points (but still more than 1750), you can use the Gondola to reach the Citadel Tunnels, but keep in mind that you will still need to open that 1500 door at some point (or you will end up wasting 750 points each time for the Gondola).
  
• At the end of the round, leave a couple of zombies alive and collect all the blue skulls to unlock the Blundergat. Since it would be very long to describe the location of each skull, I suggest you to search on the Internet.
  
• Once you have collected all the skulls, return to the Warden's Office and get the Blundergat.
  
• Go to a workbench and craft the Acid Gat Kit, then convert the Blundergat into Acid Gat.
  
• You should complete this section at round 6-9.

Weapons obtainment strategy (Part 2)

I had to split the Weapons obtainment strategy in two parts because of its length.

Go to the Golden Gate Bridge

• If you haven't done it before, go to the infirmary, enter Afterlife mode and activate the Deadshot Daiquiri machine and the door to the roof.
  
• Kill some zombies (about 15-20) with the Hell's Retriever until you hear the Afterlife sound.
  
• Go to the roof, craft the plane and board it.
  
• On the Golden Gate Bridge, make a complete round using only the Hell's Retriever (no knife or guns); at the end of the round you should hear again the Afterlife sound; if not, make another round. It should not be much difficult, as the zombies are quite weak at these rounds.
  
• Make some money to upgrade the Acid Gat (and I recommend the M1927 as well).
  
• Once you have done all the steps, go to the electric chairs and leave the Golden Gate Bridge.

Get the Hell's Redeemer

• Go to the first room (the one with the B23R).
  
• Throw the Hell's Retriever at the lava pit below your feet. If you have done all the steps correctly, the Hell's Retriever should not return to you.
  
• Go to the Warden's Office and get Speed Cola; it is useful during the game.
  
• Kill the remaining zombies until the round is finished.
  
• On the next round, go to the Citadel Tunnels.
  
• Enter Afterlife mode and grab the Hell's Redeemer.

Get the Golden Spork

• Look for a poster in a cell before the Warden's Office, and use the Hell's Redeemer or a grenade to remove the poster.
  
• Enter Afterlife mode; a new passage should have appeared behind the cells. Look for a spoon on the floor and zap it. If done correctly, you should hear a demonic laugh.
  
• Go to the first room (the one near the showers room) and open the cafeteria.
  
• Proceed in the cafeteria towards a barrier in the back of the room.
  
• There should be a spoon lying on a table on the left; throw the Hell's Redeemer at it. If done correctly, you should hear Brutus.
  
• Go to the infirmary and locate a bathtub in front of a mistery box; press the action button. You should now see the spoon stirring the blood.
  
• Go to the showers room (where the laundry is located) and make 50-90 kills with the Vitriolic Withering. Once this step is completed you should hear another demonic laugh. I usually complete this step at round 14-18.
  
• Return to the infirmary and press the action button again in front of the bathtub. The Golden Spork should become available in about 5 seconds, so keep an eye on the zombies.

Final setup

• Get the fourth perk. I suggest you to get Deadshot Daiquiri (located just before the roof), as it does not have any negative effect, as opposed to Douple Tap II.
  
• At this point you should still have the M1927 and the Vitriolic Withering. Now it's time to get the Ray Gun (normal or MKII). If you have some spare money, spend it on the mystery box. If you haven't been lucky enough to get the Ray Gun, just start the Golden Gate Bridge strategy and return to the prison at a later time; the Ray Gun is useful, but not indispensable.
  
• Grab all the five fuel cans in the map (located in the same position of the plane parts) and refuel the plane.
  
• You should now be ready to begin the Golden Gate Bridge strategy.

Golden Gate Bridge strategy

If you followed the Weapons obtainment strategy you should have all the necessary weapons and perks to begin this strategy. Otherwise, get all the necessary items described in the section Weapons and perks.
As you may have guessed, the strategy is to camp on the Golden Gate Bridge. I know, most of you are now thinking "What? The G.G. Bridge? It is a suicide! He must be crazy!". In "zombie terms", the Bridge can be viewed as a medium-sized rectangle-shaped open area (which is perfect for circling) with spawns on two out the four sides (see image). In nearly every other place of the map, zombies spawn from different directions, so it is much harder to group them together and start circling. The major drawbacks of the Golden Gate Bridge are the absence of power-ups and the presence of up to four Brutus at the start of each round, but I will talk about them later.
The only useful part of the area is after the Pack-a-Punch machine (outlined in the image); this means that the area between the electric chairs and the PaP machine is off-limits, as there is a high chance of being trapped. In the opposite part of the map there are some crates. Surprisingly, the crates tend to help the player rather than blocking him. When standing at position A, zombies are routed in a single direction towards the player, so there is no risk of being attacked either from the sides or from the back.
As you may have guessed, the main strategy is to circle around with the zombies. From the map Der Riese onwards, there can only be 24 zombies at the same time in the map. When a zombie is killed, a new one will spawn and start chasing you; hence, it is of great importance to perfectly time the killing of the zombies to avoid them spawning at the wrong time (in front of you). You can use position A to start grouping the zombies. From there, start circling in a clockwise direction and, once all zombies have spawned, return to that position and kill them.
Now it's time to talk about the weapons you will use to kill the zombies. The Golden Spork is a perfect weapon when circling in the Bridge. Since the spawns are essentially from two drections, there will be many zombies coming to you at the same time; with the Golden Spork, you can knife them to clear the path in front of you. Pay attenction not to try to knife them from a distance, as the resulting stab (which is longer than the normal knife attack) could make you block.
The other weapon you will use to kill the zombies is the Hell's Redeemer. If charged at least one, this weapon has infinite damage, which is perfect in the higher rounds. However, it can only kill up to 6 zombies at a time, which makes the killing process quite slow (actually you'll end up killing more zombies per circle with the Spork rather than with the Hell's Redeemer). I suggest you to charge the Hell's Redeemer while at the center of the map and then throw it when you're in position A, then kill some other zombies with the Golden Spork and restart the circle.
Now it's time to talk about the Ray Gun. If you just arrived on the Bridge and still don't have a Ray Gun, just complete some rounds using only the Spork, then return to the prison with 20-30K points and get it at the mistery box. As mentioned earlier, the Ray Gun is quite useful with Brutus. On the first round in the Bridge, a single Brutus will spawn at the start. On each of the following rounds, an additional Brutus will spawn (up to 4). In my opininion, surviving Brutus is the most difficult part of a round in the Bridge. When Brutus chases you, the ground shakes (and this effective is cumulative, meaning that four Brutus will shake the ground four times as much as a single one). The key to killing Brutus is to shoot him as soon as he spawns (with the Ray Gun and the Hell's Redeemer) and then treat him like a normal zombie. I know, you probabily didn't understand a single word, let me explain better. As soon as Brutus spawns, throw the Hell's Redeemer at him and then shoot with the Ray Gun; if he doesn't die and the other zombies start to spawn, just start circling, and Brutus will follow you just like the other zombies (his speed is the same as normal ones).
The last gun is the Vitriolic Withering. Since zombies don't drop power-ups while in the Bridge, the ammo of the Vitriolic Withering must be used carefully. This gun should be used in case of emergency, because its projectiles attract nearby zombies. BUT, if you're planning to finish your game at a certain round (like me) or you know that you will probabily die multiple times (so you will return to the prison and probabily get a Max Ammo), you can use the Vitriolic Withering to kill zombies, but keep in mind that from round 36-37 it will not kill anyone with a single burst.
One thing I have to note is that, after round 33, the Golden Spork becomes nearly useless, as it looses its one-hit kill capability. Thus, from round 34 onwards, you have to rely on the Hell's Redeemer and the other weapons (Ray Gun and Vitriolic Withering); if you want, you can still use the Spork with crawlers and when out of danger (e.g. at the end of a round). If you choose to also use the Ray Gun and the Vitriolic Withering, you will have to return to the prison after some time and start a new round there in order to be able to refuel the plane. While in the prison, you should camp in some place and wait for a Max Ammo to appear. Note, however, that at even higher rounds you will burn ammo so quickly that travelling to the Bridge would be just a waste of time. In that situation I recommend either to stay at the prison or to camp in the Bridge and use the Hell's Redeemer; the second option is generally safer, but much slower. Personally I made it to round 41 in the Bridge without any problem (then I got bored and quit).

Final advices

What to do if I go down?

Firstly, don't panic. Remember that you have Afterlife mode; you can use it to remove the zombies around you. After you go down, I suggest you to do nothing but go to get Juggernog. Take the fastest way, even if it requires spending some money (such as the Gondola). Another thing is that Afterlife lasts a long time in Solo mode; you can use that time to plan your way to the Juggernog machine. Moreover, remember that you can have up to three Afterlife available, so don't worry if you go down more than once; just wait some seconds, clear out the zombies around you and plan your next move. Finally, you can use the Vitriolic Withering (if you have it) to distract the zombies while going to the Juggernog machine.

What to do when Brutus spawns?

It depends on the situation. If you don't have any other zombies chasing you, try killing him as soon as possible. If Brutus spawned when you already have a group of zombies behind you, just let him merge with the existing group, then start shooting. A particular case is when Brutus spawns because you bought too many mystery boxes. Since you're probabily doing that at the end of a round and you just left a couple of zombies alive, you should try to shoot Brutus when he's distant from the other zombies (to avoid killing the zombies and ending the round).

Ray Gun/No Ray Gun

As I stated earlier, I suggest you to get the Ray Gun. If you read my guide, you will know that this strategy is not based on traditional weapons. The reason is, most weapons become extremely ineffective at higher rounds, and in the Golden Gate Bridge there are no power-ups (so no Max Ammo). The Ray Gun, however, can still kill Brutus quite quickly and without having to aim, and its high movement speed make it perfect in dangerous situations. If you feel that the Ray Gun is not for you, at least get a light weapon (no Death Machine :D).

Double Tap II

As I said before, Juggernog, Speed Cola, Electric Cherry and Deadshot Daiquiri are the only useful perks in this strategy. At this time you're probabily complaining that Deadshot Daiquiri is pretty useless. And this is true (:D). But Double Tap II is even less useful with both the Raygun and the Vitriolic Withering, as its damage-doubling effect doesn't apply to them, resulting only in higher rate of fire and therefore increased ammunition consumption (which is deleterious while in the Golden Gate Bridge). Deadshot Daiquiri, instead, does not have any negative effect.

No Zombie Shield?

I didn't include the Zombie Shield in my strategy just because I don't use it much. Feel free to craft and use it, but please don't post comments complaining about the absence of the Shield in my strategy.

Co-op mode

In co-op you have to take into account that you only have one Afterlife per round, and that all the steps required to obtain the various weapons, perks etc. need more time. The Golden Gate Bridge strategy is still good, but for one player only. The other players have to choose other spots to camp in, such as the cafeteria or the docks.
If you're in a public match, my advice is to get Juggernog, a good weapon and try to survive until someone does something really stupid near you/lag makes you die/host quits.




Good luck and have fun!

[♦ Basic Bozo ♦]

Btw there's an glitch where if you blow yourself up with a grenade you can buy doors for free. (Basically right before the grenade explodes press jump and while dead mid-air press the buy key to buy it for free, It's pretty useful but does cost an afterlife and you can't keep perks)

[Eroc]

THIS IS CALL OF DUTY WHY DID YOU WRITE AN ESSAY

[rodsofdoom27]

also ray gun mark 2 is good helped me out

[rodsofdoom27]

thanks dude you helped me out a lot i got to round 100

[allamioq]

@|EZFC| Skrub Razerus thanks for your review! actually i didn't think douple tap ii fully worked with the blundergat. I don't know why so much people complain about douple tap vs deadshot, as in this strategy they're both quite useless, especially compared to jugg and speed cola. as for the raygun, you were right, i chose the normal one because the mkii is unavailable to users without vengeance dlc; i edited the guide to point that out.

[Shock Radius]

Legendary Legion, i am pretty sure the author is basing the guide off the fact that you only have this DLC map, i may be wrong but i am pretty sure that is the reason he said using mk1 instead of mk2, also you don't need electric cherry to kill the zombies, but to give you that moment of not being attacked while trapped in a corner. Fun Fact: Double tap root Beer 2.0 (according to the storyline) was created by the FDC

[Shock Radius]

This is an excellent guide, its even better that its your first. Great job. WIth the strategy i understand the want of deadshot instead of double tap 2.0, but just note that double tap 2.0 actually doubles that amount of projectiles out of the vitriolic withering, although with only that advantage either double tap or deadshot can be bought. But again, excellent guide

[allamioq]

@Rengo oh sorry :D corrected now

[comfort eagle]

Very good, indepth guide, just one small thing. Its "derivatives" not "derivate", noun vs verb :^)

[nilloh]

Anyone wnat to play?