Vae Victis:
Outbreak and Objectives

How Vae Victis plays: the bus and the regions, the five objectives, the parachute and the other ways to cross the map, the loot, the keys, the Aether Tool and the world events.

4 min read
5 chapters
updated 2026-11-15

Read Vae Victis

How a game works

Vae Victis follows the rules of Outbreak, the open world mode of Black Ops Cold War. The map is one large area of the Dark Aether. In each region the players get one objective; once it is done, they board the bus to travel on, and the next objective starts somewhere else. Between the two, they are free to roam, loot, upgrade their weapons and chase side quests. The scoreboard key shows the current objective, and the top left of the screen shows the current order, such as “Board the bus!”.

The bus

The bus carries the team to the next objective once the current one is done. Its ceiling hides the free B23R, according to Ammy, and a Der Wunderfizz spawns with it, according to the change notes. In the guide of Watchful Wolf, a Pack-a-Punch prompt also shows inside the bus.

Wave and region

The guides count the objectives as waves or rounds: the main quest starts on the third. Steam players note that the side quests cannot start before the second.

No timer

A Reddit player who played the map on its release day regrets one difference with Outbreak: the difficulty does not rise with time, so a team can stay in the first region as long as it likes to earn points.

Finale choice

Late in the main quest, the game lets the players choose: keep playing the map for points, or go on to the final fight. The choice is made at the bus.

The five objectives

The official walkthrough of the team describes the five objectives of the map:

Holdout

Interact with a large crystal, then defend a tight area while locked in. Each holdout area has a Rampage Inducer: once activated, it halves the length of the holdout in exchange for a jump in difficulty.

Escort

Break the chains of a memory orb and follow it until the Prophet can absorb it. Staying inside the field around the orb avoids taking damage.

Eliminate

The Guardian sends the players across the map after three enemy generals, one after the other.

Harvest

Destroy two dark pylons. Specially marked zombies drop dynamite; two charges on a pylon destroy it.

Retrieve

Collect two skulls “overflowing with memories” and throw them toward the retrieval device of the Librarian.

YaBoyBadger advises keeping the starting M1911 for the first objective unless it is a Holdout or an Eliminate: on the first wave it kills a zombie with two shots to the head.

Moving around

The map is so large that traveling matters. The Workshop page lists a parachute system, and the guides use every tool the map offers:

Parachute

Any long fall can be turned into a glide: a prompt offers to deploy the parachute, and another to cut it.

Gliding

Under the parachute, the player can steer over the buildings to land where needed.

Jump pads

Glowing spots on the ground, called jump jets or jump pads by the players, throw the player into the air. Around the lighthouse, they lead to the letters of a side quest.

Ziplines

Ziplines link high points of the map; YaBoyBadger suggests one, or the parachute, to cross into a locked part of Town.

Fling Grenades

Thrown, they launch the player toward where they land. A side quest makes them respawn forever, and the Workshop text keeps a speedrun trick on purpose: the spear refills them.

Jet Gun flight

Fired in mid-air, the Thrustodyne Aeronautics Model 23 lets the player fly. YaBoyBadger flew from Nuketown to the bridge of TranZit with a Fling Grenade, the parachute and the Jet Gun pointed at the sky.

Loot and equipment

A locked door wrapped in yellow electricity, with the prompt Pathway Blocked, key required, press and hold to insert key, Vae Victis, Call of Duty Black Ops III Zombies

Keys

Keys open the locked doors of the map, the weapon lockers and several wonder weapon rooms. They drop at random from zombies; the side quest Alphabet Adrift gives a stack of them, and Finance at Frank’s sells “Keys/Aether Wrenches” for 5,000 points each.

A wooden table on a cart holding a shield-like contraption, with the prompt Already have one and a line of the Prophet, Vae Victis, Call of Duty Black Ops III Zombies

The shield

Flapix shows the table where the shield is built; the prompt reads “Already have one” once the player carries it.

Tacticals and specials

The guides use Gersch Devices, Monkey Bombs and the Ring of Fire. YaBoyBadger calls the Gersch Devices “kind of OP” on this map.

World events

Three world events appear at random across the map, according to the official walkthrough:

Point Orb

A glowing orb that talks. Shooting it makes it drop points and fly away, leaving a trail; after three hits it is destroyed and drops valuable loot. Watchful Wolf says it comes back on almost every wave.

Red Portals

Entering a red portal throws the player through the sky; another red portal then appears in mid-air ahead. Flying through the chain raises the Pack-a-Punch level of the weapon held by every player by one. Since January 2024 the game says so clearly.

Free Perk

The corpse of Sarah Michelle Gellar lies on a rock. Investigating it plays her last memories and spawns the Elite enemy that killed her team; killing it drops a free perk.