Vanguard

Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies by Treyarch, 1944: Der Anfang and Terra Maledicta on objectives, then Shi No Numa and The Archon in rounds. First Room records on both round-based maps, solo to four players.

3 min read
4 chapters
updated 2026-10-20

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DeveloperSledgehammer GamesTreyarch (Zombies)

PublisherActivision

ReleasedNovember 5, 2021

PlatformsPlayStation 4 and 5Xbox One and Series X/SWindows (Battle.net, Steam, Microsoft Store)

Zombies maps2 round-based2 objective-based

StoryDark Aether Saga

First Rooms here2 leaderboardsSolo to four players

Call of Duty: Vanguard is a Second World War game by Sledgehammer Games, and its Zombies mode was made by Treyarch. The story goes back to 1944, before Die Maschine: Allied Special Forces led by the demonologist Gabriel Krafft fight the undead army of the SS officer Wolfram Von List, bound to Kortifex the Deathless, a fallen lord of the Dark Aether. Elder Gods of the Dark Aether who stand against Kortifex take their side.

Vanguard launched with Der Anfang, then Terra Maledicta, two maps built on objectives rather than rounds. Round-based Zombies only came back in Season Four with Shi No Numa, a reimagined World at War classic, and the mode closed in Season Five with The Archon. These two round-based maps have their First Room board here, from solo to four players.

The First Room in Vanguard

ZFRR tracks Vanguard in a single category for each map: the run stays in the starting room and every round is played in full. On both maps, special rounds bring the Boom Schreier, a screaming zombie that runs at the players and explodes; on Shi No Numa, the rules add that those rounds can never be skipped.

Doors closed

The whole game is played in the starting room, every round in full.

Boom Schreier rounds

On Shi No Numa, played like any other round, never skipped.

No glitch or exploit

The game is played as it was designed.

Wall weapons grow with the game

From round 6, a wall weapon can climb a Pack-a-Punch tier each round, up to the third, so the guns of the starting room keep up with the later rounds.

What Vanguard Zombies brings

Demonic Fountains

The Perk-a-Colas remade as fountains of the Dark Aether, five of them, such as Fiendish Fortitude for health.

Altar of Covenants

Up to three Covenants at a time, passive boosts from Rare to Epic and Legendary, paid with Sacrificial Hearts.

Artifacts

The Field Upgrades, each tied to an entity of the Dark Aether, and improved at the Tome of Rituals.

Sacrificial Hearts

On the round-based maps, one is earned every three rounds.

Wall weapons are back

With Shi No Numa, for the first time in Vanguard.

Crafting Tables

Salvage turns into armor, repairs and equipment.

The maps

Der Anfang

(November 5, 2021, objectives): Stalingrad trapped in a spell of Kortifex, opened up one objective at a time.

Terra Maledicta

(February 14, 2022, Season Two, objectives): an oasis in the Egyptian desert, where the Scepter of Kortifex was found.

Shi No Numa

(June 22, 2022, Season Four): the Swamp of Death reborn, with a new Dig Site. The game starts in the Storage Vault, upstairs in the Main Hut.

The Archon

(August 24, 2022, Season Five): the Egyptian desert remade as a round-based map, and the final battle against Kortifex. The game starts in the Temple.

Trivia

A swamp before its time. Before Season Four, Shi No Numa was only a location of Der Anfang, limited to its starting building.
Asked for by the players. Treyarch built The Archon after the community kept asking for the Egyptian setting of Terra Maledicta in a round-based map.
Three Wonder Weapons. The Archon is the only Vanguard map with all three: the Ray Gun, the Wunderwaffe DG-2 and the Decimator Shield.

All Vanguard leaderboards