Home How do Augments work in Black Ops 6 Zombies?

How do Augments work in Black Ops 6 Zombies?

Black Ops 6 Zombies has had a pretty big overhaul compared to Cold War, the last fully-fledged Treyarch-made Zombies experience.

While the core gameplay remains the same – kill or be killed by the undead – there are a bunch of tweaks included this time around that offer variety for players.

One of these is Augments, a complex new system that you’ll need to get your head around to use correctly.

Here, we’ll talk you through how Black Ops 6 Zombies Augments work so you know what to do with them.

The Black Ops 6 Zombies Augment system explained

Augments have been put in place to essentially make Zombies loadouts that bit more customizable.

While you can tweak your guns and GobbleGums, these Augments enhance the other systems that you know and love to make you stronger in your undead killing efforts.

There are a whopping 108 Augments available at launch and you can research and unlock these boosts to tailor your loadout for each match.

Each item you equip can be augmented with two slots:

  • Major Augments: Provide a substantial boost to the item’s effectiveness.
  • Minor Augments: Offer smaller, yet impactful advantages.

With three options for each Major and Minor Augment, players have a wide array of choices, allowing for significant personalization.

You can mix and match Augments to enhance specific roles, such as playing a healer or increasing your team’s damage output, optimizing your loadout for solo or co-op play.

How to unlock new Augments

Augment Research is a feature in Black Ops 6 Zombies that unlocks at Player Level 11. By earning XP in-game, you can research and unlock Augments, which are then chosen before each match for specific Perks, Ammo Mods, or Field Upgrades.

All Perk-A-Cola Augments and what they do

black ops 6 augments perks

Perk-a-Colas return with their signature boosts and a new twist – the ability to add Augments.

These drinks, purchased with in-game Essence, now offer up to six Augments (three Major, three Minor), allowing you to further customize how each Perk behaves in-game.

Jugger-Nog

  • Major Augments:
    • Probiotic: Slightly increase maximum health with Jugger-Nog.
    • Turtle Shell: Armor acts as a shield on your back, completely absorbing damage to your back. No damage mitigation when hit from the front.
    • Reactive Armor: When an armor plate breaks, nearby normal enemies are stunned for a short time.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Retaliation: Deal bonus damage while health is low.
    • Hardened Plates: Armor plates have more damage mitigation.
    • Durable Plates: Slightly increase armor durability.

Stamin-Up

  • Major Augments:
    • Free Faller: Become immune to fall damage.
    • Dasher: Increase Tactical Sprint duration.
    • Stalker: Walk faster while aiming.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Hard Target: While Tactical Sprinting, projectile damage is reduced.
    • Quarterback: Use equipment while sprinting.
    • Hot Foot: Gain a speed boost after your equipment kills an enemy.

Speed Cola

  • Major Augments:
    • Supercharged: Field Upgrades recharge a bit faster.
    • Classic Formula: Reload speed is even faster.
    • Phantom Reload: Weapon magazines are slowly refilled over time.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Speedy Roulette: The Mystery Box settles much faster.
    • Quick Swap: Swap weapons faster.
    • Fast Pitcher: Deploy equipment faster.

Deadshot Daiquiri

  • Major Augments:
    • Dead Head: Further increase in critical damage.
    • Dead First: Deal double critical damage if an enemy is at full health.
    • Dead Again: Critical hits have a chance of adding a bullet to your magazine.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Dead Break: Increase damage to armor pieces.
    • Dead Draw: Reduce hip-fire spread.
    • Dead Set: Reduce gun movement while performing advanced movement.

Quick Revive

  • Major Augments:
    • EMT: Reviving an ally allows them to keep all of the Perks on their bleed-out bar.
    • Equivalent Exchange: Killing an enemy while downed will revive you and remove Quick Revive. This can be done up to three times.
    • Dying Wish: On lethal damage, become immune to all damage for two seconds and keep one health. Quick Revive is removed on use.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Swift Recovery: Reviving an ally increases both of your movement speeds for a short time.
    • Karmic Return: Reviving an ally heals you to full health.
    • Slow Death: Increase your time in last stand.

Elemental Pop

  • Major Augments:
    • Citrus Focus: If a weapon has an Ammo Mod applied, Elemental Pop will only activate that one.
    • Imperil Peach: Enemies that hit you have a chance to trigger a random Ammo Mod.
    • Electric Cherry: Reloading creates an electric damage discharge that damages and stuns nearby normal enemies. The emptier the magazine, the stronger the damage.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Vulnera Bean: Slightly increase enemy elemental weakness damage.
    • Pineapple Blast: Equipment can also trigger a random Ammo Mod.
    • Chill Berry: Slightly reduce all Ammo Mod cooldowns.

PhD Flopper

  • Major Augments:
    • Gravity MD: Just falling from heights creates explosions.
    • Dr Ram: Tactical Sprint knocks down and damages base zombies.
    • PhD Slider: Sliding into enemies triggers explosions.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Environmentalist: Become immune to environmental damage while sliding.
    • EOD Technician: Slightly reduce height and distance requirements for explosions.
    • Tribologist: Sliding distance and speed are increased.

Melee Macchiato

  • Major Augments:
    • Expresso: All melee attacks are slightly faster.
    • Vampiric Extraction: Melee attacks heal a small amount of your health.
    • Triple Shot: Your punch can hit multiple enemies at once.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Stick ‘N Move: Backpedal speed is increased after a successful melee attack.
    • Strength Training: Your punch can one-hit kill normal enemies for longer.
    • Hidden Impact: Melee kills reload a portion of your held weapon.

All Ammo Mod Augments and what they do

black ops 6 augments ammo mods

Ammo Mods provide special effects to your weapons, activated by purchasing them at an Arsenal Machine using Salvage.

There are five Ammo Mods, each offering six unlockable Augments, to customize how they behave in battle.

Brain Rot

  • Major Augments:
    • Plague: The charmed enemy has a chance to turn other enemies.
    • Pheromone: The charmed enemy distracts nearby normal and special enemies for a short time.
    • Big Game: Brain Rot can charm elite enemies.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Extension: Brain Rot duration is slightly increased.
    • Haste: Brain Rot cooldown is slightly reduced.
    • Explosive: Charmed enemies explode at the end of Brain Rot’s duration, dealing toxic damage.

Cryo Freeze

  • Major Augments:
    • Big Game: Cryo Freeze can slow elite enemies.
    • Ice Cloud: Enemies killed while frozen may leave a cloud that slows nearby enemies.
    • Frozen Stiff: Enemies are frozen in place.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Extension: Slightly increase the slow duration.
    • Freezer Burn: Slightly increase damage to frozen enemies.
    • Liquid Nitrogen: Significantly increase your chance for Cryo Freeze to activate.

Dead Wire

  • Major Augments:
    • Chain Lightning: The stunned enemy can spread the stun to others.
    • Big Game: Dead Wire can stun elite enemies.
    • Lightning Strike: A bolt of lightning strikes from above, stunning all normal and special enemies in the area.
  • Minor Augments:
    • High Voltage: Dead Wire deals slightly more damage.
    • Haste: Dead Wire cooldown is slightly reduced.
    • Extension: The stun and electric field last longer.

Napalm Burst

  • Major Augments:
    • Big Game: Napalm Burst can burn elite enemies.
    • Thermite: Increase burn effect damage.
    • Firebomb: Burned enemies explode on death, spreading fire to nearby enemies.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Extension: Increase the burn duration.
    • Incendiary: Each damage tick has a small chance to spread to a nearby enemy.
    • Contact Burn: Initial burn effect deals more damage.

Shadow Rift

  • Major Augments:
    • Big Game: Shadow Rift can activate on elite enemies.
    • Topple Danger: Warp one enemy that deals shadow damage to others.
    • Explosive Rain: Enemies dropped from portals will explode on contact with the ground.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Haste: Shadow Rift cooldown is reduced.
    • Targeted: Dropped enemies will fall on other enemies.
    • Supermassive: The singularity’s lethal radius is increased and can kill more enemies.

All Field Upgrade Augments and what they do

black ops 6 augments field upgrades

Field Upgrades are powerful abilities that can turn the tide in your favor. Like Perk-a-Colas and Ammo Mods, Field Upgrades are customizable through Augments.

You can choose Major and Minor Augments to boost each Field Upgrade’s effectiveness.

Aether Shroud

  • Major Augments:
    • Group Shroud: Nearby players are also cloaked.
    • Burst Dash: Warp forward a short distance, killing all normal enemies in your path.
    • Void Sheath: Swap to your dedicated melee weapon imbued with Dark Aether energy. Kills extend the Aether Shroud duration.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Instant Reload: Activation instantly reloads your currently held weapon.
    • Extra Charge: Increase max charges by one.
    • Extension: Aether Shroud duration is significantly increased.

Dark Flare

  • Major Augments:
    • Extension: Significantly increase Dark Flare duration.
    • Supernova: Replace the beam with a damaging sphere that detonates at the end of its duration.
    • Dark Pact: Beam heals and revives players on contact.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Broad Beam: Significantly increase the size of the beam.
    • Heavy Shadow: The beam slows enemies on contact.
    • Extra Charge: Increase max charges by one.

Frenzied Guard

  • Major Augments:
    • Phalanx: Teammates near you can also repair armor from kills.
    • Retribution: Trigger an explosion on activation, damaging and knocking down nearby enemies.
    • Frenzy Fire: While Frenzied Guard is active, use ammo from your stockpile.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Repair Boost: Repair more armor per kill.
    • Extension: Increase Frenzied Guard duration.
    • Rally: On activation, repair all nearby teammates’ armor to full.

Healing Aura

  • Major Augments:
    • Resilience: Reduce health regeneration delay and increase healing rate temporarily for affected players.
    • Enduring Radiance: The healing beams persist for a short time after leaving the area of effect.
    • Persistence: Revived players keep all Perks on their bleed-out bar.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Inner Strength: Affected players’ damage is slightly increased for a short time.
    • Protection: Healed players have damage mitigation for a short time.
    • Stoic Presence: Stun Special and Elite enemies and knock down normal enemies on activation.

Energy Mine

  • Major Augments:
    • Scatter: The Energy Mine splits into three mines that each detonate once.
    • Turret: Replace the mine with a turret that shoots at the nearest enemy.
    • Carousel: Three Energy Mines float around you, detonating when enemies come near.
  • Minor Augments:
    • Frequency Boost: Increase detonation count and duration of Energy Mine.
    • Extra Charge: Increase max charges by one.
    • Siren: Energy mine attracts nearby enemies for a short time.

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Jacob Woodward
Gaming Journalist

Jacob has been a life-long gamer and tech enthusiast ever since the original Game Boy was placed in his hands at an early age. Due to his passion for the field, writing talent, and a keen eye for SEO, he transitioned from digital marketing into games journalism in 2019. Starting initially as a writer, he rose quickly, becoming not only an Editor but also Interim Managing Editor within the space of 2 years. He has worked with gaming media publications such as GGRecon, The Loadout, Retro Dodo, Insider Gaming, Gfinity, Stealth Optional, Retro Recall, and many more, making him an…

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