Ascension is the new Zombie map that came out for Call of Duty: Black Ops in the First Strike Map Pack. A lot of people I know who bought this game are not planning on playing this map. If you bought it(for $15 no less) you should at least give it a few plays. Maybe after reading this article you will see how in depth this map really is and also how fun it can be not worrying about some dude camping and working with a few friends against the living dead. I am going to go through some of the new stuff in this map as well as tips, tricks and my own strategy. I may forget a few things, and If I do then I am sorry. I will try to cover as much as I can. See the rest after the jump.The first thing is assigning window duty in the first room. Be polite and stick with your window and do not steal kills unless your friend is over-run by zombies. The best thing to do is to shoot a zombie with the pistol 5 or 6 times then wait for them to break down the barrier. Once they have come through the barrier you need to knife them for additional points. You let them get through the barrier so when you kill them you can get max ammo, instant kills(knife all for more points), or other power-ups. Shooting 6 bullets and knifing a zombie only works for the first few rounds. They take more damage after that.Stick with the first room for roughly 3 or 4 rounds.

When ready to leave the room the person with the fewest points should buy the first door because it is the cheapest to unlock.  I recommend unlocking the door on the 2nd floor. Once you exit the first door you need to go up the stairs on the right. The best place it seems to hold out is the stage that is in the area you will currently be at after unlocking the first door. The middle will be a high priority to watch. The side room and up the stairs need to be watched as well. Someone can be up the stairs watching the window there and give support fire from up top. Towards the end of the round it is best to throw a grenade at a group of zombies to create a crawler.  A crawler will allow you to explore, plan, and get new weapons while not being in too much of a threat.

If you have a crawler I would then say go to the next door that is across from the stage area. Then go inside and up the stairs and the next door will lead you to the Power room and the mystery box. Every door will cost 1250 to unlock after the first door. Once your in the power room you will want to turn the power on obviously. The mystery box can be your best friend or your worst enemy. The mystery box will cost 950 points. You can get a ray gun, thunder gun, or something else really useful. You could also get a ballistic knife, cross bow or a sniper rifle(not that great with a small group). They have added the black hole which is used as a secondary grenade and creates a black whole. It is great to use when a friend is down and you need time to pick him or her up. Making a crawler each round will be very helpful to proceed forward. Taking turns to unlock more doors will really help out as well.

Next would be fueling the rocket. Go back to the stage and call the lander. Taking the lander will cost your 250 points but it fuels the rocket. There are 2 more landers to take. One is on the left of where you unlocked the first door. You will have to unlock 2 doors to get to it. To get to the 3rd you will have to go to the power room and open the door and then from there continue on in the building, you will go up a flight of stairs and unlock another door. Once you have taken all three landers you go back to the power room and launch the rocket. You can shoot the rocket while its launching(ray gun works well) There you go through the door you unlocked to get to the 3rd lander and go outside the building. From there you can go where the rocket was and there is the Pack-A-Punch Machine. That will upgrade any weapon you want. It is a pricey cost of 5000 points but depending on your weapon it can truly be worth it. Right here is a link to the effects on weapons in Black Ops. It is a pretty handy chart.

There are the new enemy that is the Space Monkeys. They go after any Perk-a-Cola machine you have taken. Protect that machine and the person who has taken the perk. If you do then everyone gets a random perk. Once they destroy a Perk-a-Cola machine it is gone. Once the power is on defending on the stage has an advantage. You now can call the lander so you have an escape route if things get too crazy. With that I say find a group to play with, take some of these tips, and experiment. This map is truly a big environment and provides a lot of play and fun. If you already purchased the map pack then it seems like a waste not to give it a try. Feel free to add me on Xbox Live if you want to hit up this Zombie Map. My Gamertag is Poeticsoul444 and finally I have posted the map floor plan below. Click on it to expand the size. I hope many of you will give this a try after reading this article.

Written by: William McDonald Writer