Icarus, and the cycle
five parts, a key, and a lot of Afterlife. it builds the plane, it opens pack-a-punch, and it is what every other quest on this map counts.
- players
- any number
- solo
- possible alone
- difficulty
- time
- about 45 minutes
- reward
- the flight to the Golden Gate Bridge, which is where pack-a-punch is, and one turn of the cycle
difficulty and time are an estimate made while writing, not a measurement.
before you start
- the Warden's keyevery one of the five parts needs it, so nothing here starts without it. it hangs in one of two places: outside the Warden's Office in front of the Citadel Tunnels entrance, or outside the cafeteria above the showers. go into Afterlife, take the blue portal above whichever one it is, and overcharge the generator in there to drop it
- a working understanding of Afterlifefour of the five parts are behind something only a dead man can reach
not required, but it helps
- a second playeralone you can carry all five parts at once. with anybody else it is one part per person per trip, and the oxygen tank needs two people anyway
the steps
the build site and the ramp are on the roof of the prison, and the way up is not a door.
go into Afterlife, through the portal in the walkway with the many doors, jump up, and shock the voltmeter next to the roof door.
you only get this wrong oncethe two sources point at different rooms. one says the portal in the walkway with the many doors; the other says the roof is reached through the infirmary. both agree you have to be in Afterlife to open it and that it stays open afterwards, so if one route does not have a portal in it, the other is where to look.
tipone part per player at a time. carry each one straight up to the ramp as you get it rather than trying to gather them.
open the gate to the laundry machine with the key, go into Afterlife and shock the voltmeter opposite the machine, then start the machine.
that spawns a wave of zombies and possibly Brutus, whatever the round was doing, and fills the room with fog. you cannot leave the basement until the wash finishes. then take the uniforms.
you only get this wrong oncethis one traps you in a small room with more zombies than the round called for. do it with a full magazine, not on the way past.
open the small gate with the key to get at the electric number pad, then go into Afterlife at the top of the staircase. floating down, three numbers appear on the walls: that is the code. shock the pad until the numbers match.
an alarm sounds and a sixty second timer starts. open the door next to the pad and take the rigging out of the elevator in the lower room before it runs out.
tipthis is the same pad the song
Where Are We Goinguses. you are here anyway, so type 935 into it while you have it open.the door is live. to kill it, overload the three generators in a room at the docks by shocking their panels in Afterlife. one of the three panels is in a room you can only enter as a dead man.
music plays when it is done, and the engine can be picked up in the Warden's Office.
in a glass case with a lock on it. open the lock with the key and take them. this is the only one of the five with nothing else to it.
alone: open the gate with the key and shock the voltmeter nearby in Afterlife. the tank gate opens.
with anybody else: the voltmeter flips between the two gates. shocking it shuts the first and opens the tank's; shocking it again does the reverse. so one player shocks and the other runs in and grabs it.
with all five parts on the ramp, board the plane. a loud alarm starts and it takes off about five seconds later, so nobody gets left behind by accident.
it flies into a storm and hits a support beam of the Golden Gate Bridge. everybody falls onto the bridge, which is where pack-a-punch is.
to get back, sit in the electric chairs. you wake up in the starting room in Afterlife. that is one turn of the cycle, and it is the thing Pop Goes the Weasel counts three of.
tipthe plane can be flown again. after the round ends, five fuel tanks are in the same places the parts were, with none of the puzzles this time.
arrow keys or j and k to move, d to tick this one off.
all of it, done.
what that got youthe flight to the Golden Gate Bridge, which is where pack-a-punch is, and one turn of the cycle
next on this mapHell's Retriever, and the Redeemeror pick something else
where this came from
- Mob of the Dead Main QuestCOD Zombies Guides, read 2026-09-07
- IcarusCall of Duty Wiki, read 2026-09-07
more on Mob of the Dead
- Pop Goes the Weaselmain questfour gangsters find out they have escaped Alcatraz before, and the last step is one of them turning on the other three.
- Hell's Retriever, and the Redeemerside questfeed three dogs eighteen zombies for a tomahawk that comes back. then throw it into lava on purpose to get the better one.
- the Golden Sporkside questa spoon out of a wall, stirred into a bath of blood, and fifty kills in the showers. it one-shots zombies to round 34.
- Where Are We Goingsongthe one song on any of these maps that is not three objects. it is a code, typed by a dead man.
- Rusty Cagesongthree bottles around the prison, and the only easter egg song in zombies sung by Johnny Cash.
- type 115 insteadto findthe same number pad that plays a song at 935 has something else on it, and it answers back.
- the jump scareto findfireworks over the bay, seen down a sniper scope from the roof, and a face that is not fireworks.
- Samantha's Lullaby, in the prisonto findthe one easter egg on this map that costs you the game you are in. do nothing at all, for long enough, at the very start.