Apocalypse Averted
four strangers, four sins, and a thing in the sky. the longest opening quest in the series, and the last step needs all four of you.
- players
- 4
- solo
- not possible alone
- difficulty
- time
- an hour to an hour and a half
- reward
- the achievement, the calling card, and the Summoning Key icon on your map select
the time, and a rating of "medium", come from Shadows of Evil Main Quest at COD Zombies Guides. the pips are our own estimate, scaled against every guide here.
the shape of this one
before you start
- four playersfor the ending only. everything up to and including capturing the Shadowman works with fewer, and both sources say so: the final step does not trigger unless there are four of you in the lobby
- the Beast, and knowing how to use italmost every item on this list is behind a grapple hook, a volt meter or a crate that only the Beast can reach. it is the map's whole traversal system rather than a bonus
- the Summoning Keythe first step, and the one every ritual needs
the steps
go into Beast Mode and melee the box on the back of the truck in the spawn area. come out of the Beast and pick the Summoning Key up.
there is only one key, so the four rituals below happen one at a time whatever else you are doing.
each district has a ritual site, and each site wants the thing its character sacrificed somebody for. any order.
the item is the Lawyer's Pen. open the door from spawn to the Junction, go into the Beast, and shock the power box on the crane in the middle of the junction. the crane swings in and drops a crate; break it.
the site: still in the Beast, face spawn and look up for metal stairs and a grapple hook. up, through the building and over the roofs, down to the stairs above spawn, and shock the power box there to drop them.
put the pen and the key on the altar, survive the ritual, and take the Gateworm.
you only get this wrong oncethe ritual is survived, not fought: killing the Keepers and the zombies does not make it finish any sooner, and both sources say so. the second and the fourth ritual you complete each drop a Margwa on you at the end, whichever two those are.
the item is the Detective's Badge. in the Beast, go down into the canal opposite spawn and run to the far end: there is a power box set into a wall. shock it, then come back towards spawn and melee the crate on the left that it unlocked.
the site: open the door to the Train Station, go into the Beast, and grapple to the hook on the balcony just right of the station. down the stairs of that building to ground level, and shock the power box to open the site.
pen goes back in the box; this one takes the badge and the key.
the item is the wig, which the first source calls the Producer's toupee. in the Beast, look above the stairs of Footlight High Street for a grapple hook, go up and shock the power box to drop the stairs. then, opposite the perk machine, there is a ledge with a crate on it: melee it in the Beast and it falls, leaving the wig.
the site: open the door to The Black Lace, go into the Beast, grapple to the hook at the top of the building, turn around at the top and shock the power box on the wall.
the item is the Champion's Belt. in the Beast, go to the mystery box spot in Waterfront, look up and to the right for a grapple hook, go up and melee the crate hanging there.
the site: open the door to the Train Station and, in the Beast, go down near the harbours and melee the doors of the Boxing Gym.
that is the fourth Gateworm.
with all four Gateworms in hand, a new room opens off the rift system. it is behind a breakable door in one of the districts, in the Beast, and then you walk up to the glowing Apothicon symbols on the wall to reveal it.
inside there are four pedestals and the four worms go on them. two of them are across a gap and are reached by wall running.
then start the ritual at the altar by the entrance and survive it. that reveals the Shadowman and pack-a-punch.
ride the tram and watch the red backlit windows. three symbols are lit, one for each of the Footlight, Waterfront and Canals districts, and which three they are is different every game.
one ride shows you two of them: the symbol for the district you are leaving and the one for the district you are going to, on opposite sides of the carriage. so two rides covers all three.
then go to the underground outside the pack-a-punch room, go into the Beast, and shock the three matching symbols on the wall. four Apothicon Eggs and four swords appear.
tipone player reading the symbols is enough, but everybody needs an egg afterwards, so this is a good moment to already be underground together.
every player takes an egg. put it on a Cthulhu statue and kill ten zombies near it, four times, at these four statues:
- opposite the wall the eggs came out of
- Footlight, the alley left of the stairs up to High Street
- Waterfront, upstairs in the broken building past the perk machine
- Canals, behind the stairs into the Ruby Rabbit
the egg turns blue and loses its shell when it is full. take it back to the wall, put it in its slot, and take the Apothicon Sword out.
you only get this wrong oncethe statues are inside crates until somebody breaks them in the Beast. that can be done at any point in the game and costs nothing, so do it early rather than finding out mid-ritual.
tipone statue charges all four eggs at once, so a group moves as a group here rather than taking turns.
go back to your own character's ritual site and take the Arch-Ovum from the ghost keeper there:
- Nero the Magician, above spawn
- Floyd the Boxer, the gym in Waterfront
- Jack the Detective, the Ruby Rabbit in Canals
- Jessica the Femme Fatale, the Black Lace in Footlight
then put the Arch-Ovum on each of four red circles, one near each site:
- outside the entrance to Easy Street, in the Junction
- in front of the Black Lace, in Footlight
- in front of the Boxing Gym, in Waterfront
- in front of the stairs to the Ruby Rabbit, in Canals
each one spawns Margwas that have to be killed to charge it. with all four done, take the sword back to your own ghost keeper and it becomes the Reborn Keeper Sword.
you only get this wrong onceone circle per player per round, and no two players at once. nobody else can start a circle while somebody's Margwas are still alive, so this step is four players queueing politely for several rounds and there is no way to hurry it.
tipthe second source says up to two Margwas spawn on solo and up to four in co-op, and that they only chase the player who summoned them, though their swings still hurt anybody standing close.
at Nero's ritual site there is a large open book on the ground by the shelves. use it, and a flag appears in the underground.
picking the flag up despawns every zombie and starts spawning Insanity Elementals instead. carry it to a spot marked with purple electricity on the ground, put it down, and defend it until it chimes. the Shadowman turns up while it stands there and sets the progress back, so he is the thing to deal with first.
do two spots inside one district, then take the flag to that district's ritual site and put it on the altar. the ghost keeper there becomes a real Keeper. take the flag back underground and a Margwa spawns.
repeat until all four sites are done.
you only get this wrong onceone site per round. and the flag is fragile: a couple of hits from the Elementals destroys it, and going down while carrying it drops it. neither ends the run, the flag reappears underground and you start that leg again.
tipa Max Ammo drops every time the flag chimes, up to twice per district, which is most of what keeps this step survivable.
everybody goes to the pack-a-punch room and interacts with a Keeper, handing over their Reborn Keeper Sword. when all of them are ready, the four Keepers fire red beams and the Shadowman's shield drops.
shoot him until he ends up hovering over the altar by the entrance, then one player uses the Summoning Key on the altar. he becomes a Gateworm, and it moves to the middle of the map.
you only get this wrong oncethis is as far as the quest goes with fewer than four players. with a short group the swords come back to you here and that is the end of it. with four, the swords stay gone until the very end.
tipthe swords are unavailable for the whole of this fight, so bring something else. a Death Machine makes it trivial if you have one.
the sky turns and a pink haze starts washing over your screen. walk through a white wisp to clear it; it comes back, and it kills you if you let it.
purple headed Margwas now spawn instead of zombies, endlessly. kill them until everybody's Beast is charged, then split up: one player at each of the three train stations, and the fourth in the middle of the map by the giant Gateworm.
one of the three has to be at a station the train is not at, call the train, run down the stairs, go into the Beast and start shocking. all three shock the electrical box on the ceiling where the train comes in, and the rails turn blue.
as the train crushes the Gateworm, the player in the middle shocks all three Keepers. a red beam goes up into the thing in the sky and that is the ending.
you only get this wrong onceonly shock while the train is moving. in the gaps, lead the Margwas away from the boxes rather than fighting them next to one: an interruption at the wrong moment costs the whole attempt.
tipgetting it wrong costs nothing but time. as soon as everybody's Beast is back you can line it up and try again.
these can be done in any order
arrow keys or j and k to move, d to tick this one off.
all of it, done.
what that got youthe achievement, the calling card, and the Summoning Key icon on your map select
next on this mapthe Margwa maskor pick something else
where this came from
- Shadows of Evil Main QuestCOD Zombies Guides, read 2026-09-07
- Apocalypse AvertedCall of Duty Wiki, read 2026-09-07
more on Shadows of Evil
- the Margwa maskside questsix hearts shot out of a moving train, and then a head you cannot see until you are standing on it.
- upgraded Lil' Arniesside questa hundred kills first, then three pieces of a costume thrown at rather than picked up.
- Snakeskin Bootssongthree little wooden things in three districts, and the song the map's own trailer opened with.
- Cold Hard Cashsonga microphone in three pieces, assembled on a stage. the second song on the map, and nobody finds it by accident.
- upgraded trip minesside questthree cake carts, one zombie killed in front of each, and mines that go off in doughnuts afterwards.
- the free Mega GobbleGumside questfour lions fed a grenade each, a plain white gum, and a round of waiting on a plate in a shop window.
- your 500 points backto finda grenade through a window at a price tag, and the first door on the map pays for itself.
- noire modeto finda portrait in the gym, crouched in front of, and the map goes the colour it always wanted to be.
- the jump scareto finda red light on a boat, a sniper scope, and the third of these the series put in.
- skipping to round 15to findshoot the Shadowman in the first ten seconds and the game hands you three rounds' worth of points and skips them.