Forsaken Easter Egg Guide takes you through the final Black Ops Cold War Zombies Main Quest, beginning with Forsaken’s lockdown and ending with the Neutralizer escort and the fight against the Forsaken. The Chrysalax is mandatory for the crystal stage, while the three Neutralizer parts use three completely different mechanics involving Fuel Processing, an Abomination and an ARC-XD.
This Forsaken Easter Egg Guide is straightforward once the parts are separated into jobs. Lift the lockdown first, obtain the Chrysalax, collect the Neutralizer components and only then start breaking the three giant Dark Aether crystals. The Main Street crafting bench is the point of no return, so finish your upgrades before activating the finished device.
Forsaken Easter Egg Guide: Quick Route
| Stage | Objective |
|---|---|
| Setup | Reach the Observation Tower, lift lockdown and unlock Pack-a-Punch. |
| Cutscene | Press the red button in the Observation Tower to spawn the three giant crystals. |
| Chrysalax | Obtain the Chrysalax before attacking the crystal orbs. |
| Neutralizer parts | Collect the Fuel Tank, Housing Unit and TV Part. |
| Catalysed Crystals | Break all three giant crystals and feed the shards to Abominations. |
| Build | Craft the Neutralizer on Main Street. |
| Escort | Stay inside the Neutralizer bubble and keep it powered with orange crystal shards. |
| Boss | Charge Maxis, fire the cannons and destroy the Forsaken’s armored weak points. |
Lift the Lockdown and Unlock Pack-a-Punch
The first stage of the Forsaken Easter Egg Guide is the map’s normal opening objective. Leave the Staging Area, repair the teleporter route and work toward the Observation Tower. Once you lift the facility lockdown, the wider map opens and Pack-a-Punch becomes available.
Forsaken advances rounds rapidly while you remain in the opening area, so there is little reason to linger there. Move through the teleporter sequence efficiently, then start building armor, perks and weapon upgrades once the full facility is accessible.
Press the Observation Tower Button
At the Observation Tower, the Forsaken Easter Egg Guide continues with a red button beside the shuttered window. Press it to trigger the story cutscene. After the scene, three enormous Dark Aether crystals appear around the map.
Do not immediately shoot their floating orbs. Attacking a crystal begins an endless enemy spawn until that crystal step is completed, and the Chrysalax is required to finish it. Get the Wonder Weapon first.
Get the Chrysalax
The Chrysalax is mandatory for the Forsaken Easter Egg Guide. You can obtain it through the dedicated Chrysalax quest, earn it from high-rarity Trials or pull it from the Mystery Box. The guaranteed quest takes more setup, but it avoids relying on luck.
The weapon switches between a powerful melee axe form and a rapid-fire ranged form. Both are used during the Main Quest, and it remains one of the strongest tools for surviving the later Neutralizer escort.
Collect the Fuel Tank
The first Neutralizer component in the Forsaken Easter Egg Guide comes from Fuel Processing. Interact with one of the glowing control panels to begin a lockdown. In co-op, every player needs to activate a separate panel at the same time, so use a countdown rather than mashing the controls independently.
Survive the enemy wave inside Fuel Processing. When the lockdown ends, collect the Fuel Tank reward and keep it until the Neutralizer build.
Collect the Housing Unit
The Housing Unit stage of the Forsaken Easter Egg Guide requires an Abomination. Lead one into the Board Room inside the Bunker and position yourself near the wall beneath the hanging satellite dish.
Bait the Abomination into a charge so it slams into the wall. The impact knocks the Housing Unit loose. Pick it up before leaving the area.
Collect the TV Part
The third Neutralizer part in the Forsaken Easter Egg Guide uses the arcade. Apply Dead Wire to a weapon at Pack-a-Punch, then use that weapon to shock a zombie near the Grand Prix arcade cabinet. This powers the machine and lets you spend Essence to control an ARC-XD.
Drive the ARC-XD across to TV Repair, get it behind the counter and into the broken floor vent. Send it to the back of the duct and let it detonate. The explosion releases the TV Part, which can then be collected from the shop.
Forsaken Easter Egg Guide: Create Three Catalysed Crystals
With the Chrysalax ready, the Forsaken Easter Egg Guide moves to the three huge Dark Aether crystals. They are found in the spawn area, the Amplifier room and on the Main Street rooftops. Each has three floating purple orbs.
Shoot all three orbs using the Chrysalax ranged attack, then use the melee form to smash the main crystal. Pick up the crystal shard that drops. An Abomination appears; throw the shard into one of its mouths, then kill it after the tail begins glowing. The kill drops a Catalysed Crystal. Repeat the entire process at all three giant crystal locations.
Build the Neutralizer
Once you have the three parts and three Catalysed Crystals, the Forsaken Easter Egg Guide reaches its point of no return. Use the Main Street crafting bench to build the Neutralizer. Do not activate it until the squad has armor, perks, ammunition and Pack-a-Punched weapons.
A Pack-a-Punched Chrysalax is extremely useful from here because the escort packs enemies tightly around the device and the melee mode can keep ordinary zombies under control.
Escort the Neutralizer
Activate the device to begin the Forsaken Easter Egg Guide escort. Stay inside the Neutralizer’s protective bubble as it moves down the street. Leaving the safe area is dangerous, while enemies continue spawning around the route.
When the Neutralizer loses power, break the nearby orange crystals and collect their shards to recharge it. Continue this cycle until the device reaches the final door. Use the resupply opportunity before interacting with the door and starting the boss.
Defeat the Forsaken
The boss fight closes the Forsaken Easter Egg Guide. Stand inside Samantha Maxis’s purple ring and kill enemies there to charge her. She powers the two laser cannons, which you use against the Forsaken after exposing the correct weak points.
First destroy the armor on the shoulders with your weapons, then fire the charged cannons into the exposed areas. After the next phase begins, repeat the charging process and break the stomach armor, then the head armor. Keep moving, clear special enemies and use the Chrysalax ranged form when you need focused boss damage.
When the final armored section is destroyed and hit with the cannon, the fight ends and the closing cinematic completes the Black Ops Cold War Dark Aether storyline.
For the official map background and Dark Aether story context, see Call of Duty’s official Forsaken map guide.
