Shadows of Evil — Black Ops 3 Zombies Easter Egg Guide

In this guide: full main-quest walkthrough, map layout, recommended loadout, best GobbleGums, calling cards, side Easter eggs & songs, boss strategy · Very Hard, ~60–100 min.

Open the interactive guide →
RIFT
Black Ops 3 · 2015

Shadows of Evil

Four sinners in 1940s noir Morg City are manipulated by the Shadowman into performing rituals. Juggle human combat with monstrous Beast Mode across three districts to open Pack-a-Punch and complete Apocalypse Averted.

Released 6 Nov 2015 Wonder Weapon: Apothicon ServantBoss: the ShadowmanBeast Mode
Very HardEst. time60–100 minPlayers1–4 (solo-capable)Updated15 Jul 2026

Map & Key areas

The map layout first, then the areas worth knowing by name. Map imagery © Activision, self-hosted.

Shadows of Evil — Layout
Layout

Junction (hub)

Central crossroads. The truck holds the Summoning Key; Quick Revive and the GobbleGum machine are here.

Canals — Ruby Rabbit

The Detective ritual (Badge), a rotating perk, a Cthulhu soul-statue and a radio.

Waterfront — Boxing Gym

The Boxer ritual (Belt), the Mystery Box, Stamin-Up and a radio.

Footlight — Black Lace

The Femme Fatale ritual (Hair Piece), the burlesque stage (Cold Hard Cash) and a radio.

Nero's Landing

The Magician ritual (Fountain Pen), Nero's Workshop and the quest book.

Rift → Sacred Place

Reached after the four rituals — the Gateworm cauldrons, the Apothicon Sword pedestal, Pack-a-Punch and the final Shadowman arena.

Steps at a glance

  1. Grab the Summoning Key (Junction truck)
  2. Complete all four district rituals → a Gateworm each
  3. Place the 4 Gateworms in the Sacred Place → Pack-a-Punch
  4. Ride the tram, read 3 symbols, zap them → the Apothicon Egg
  5. Incubate the Egg at the four Cthulhu statues → the Apothicon Sword
  6. Upgrade the Sword via the Arch-Ovum Margwa rituals
  7. Interact with the book in Nero's room
  8. Carry the flag to the pink rifts and Keeper altars
  9. Ready the four Keepers in the Sacred Place
  10. Drop the Shadowman's shield, trap him in the Summoning Key
  11. (4-player finale) tram-crush the Gateworm and zap the Keepers
Beast Mode is the master key — learn it first. Almost every early step (the Summoning Key, all four ritual items, powering perks, the Egg symbols) needs you to transform at a purple pod and use the grapple, wall-run, melee and electric-zap before the timer ends. The four rituals open Pack-a-Punch solo, but the full Apocalypse Averted ending genuinely needs four players.

Full walkthrough

0% complete
1
Junction (spawn)

Grab the Summoning Key

+

Touch the purple pod ahead to enter Beast Mode, melee-smash the crate on the parked truck's bed, revert to human, and pick up the Summoning Key.

2
Each district

The four rituals

+

Each character has a ritual item, reached in Beast Mode, then placed on its table and defended for ~30 seconds. Only one ritual runs at a time (the Summoning Key is a single shared item), and killing zombies doesn't speed it up — just survive. The 2nd and 4th completed rituals each spawn a Margwa on completion, so be ready to run. The four can be done in any order; each completed ritual drops a Gateworm.

  • Magician — Golden Fountain Pen: Nero's Landing, zap the crane's electrical box to drop the crate
  • Detective — Badge: Canals brothel, grapple to the roof and zap the box to lower the stairs
  • Boxer — Championship Belt: Waterfront Mystery Box ledge, melee the crate down
  • Femme Fatale — Hair Piece: Footlight casino roof, zap the box to release the crate
3
Sacred Place

Open the Rift → Pack-a-Punch

+

Place the Summoning Key on the central altar and survive, then seat the four Gateworms in the cauldrons (two need a wall-run). The gateway becomes Pack-a-Punch.

4
Tram · Subway

Tram symbols → the Egg

+

Ride the tram between districts: each ride shows two symbols — one out each side, for the departing and arriving districts — and the three you need map to Footlight, Waterfront and Canals, so one full ride plus a second leg covers all three. Memorise them, then at the Subway wall enter Beast Mode and zap those three symbols among the nine to reveal the Apothicon Egg (Ovum).

5
Four Cthulhu statues

Incubate the Egg → the Sword

+

In co-op, zapping the symbols reveals four eggs and four sword pedestals — every player takes their own Egg and fills it themselves. The four Cthulhu statues sit inside large crates that must be smashed open in Beast Mode first (any time, but before you place an Egg): opposite the Sword pedestal (Subway), by the Ruby Rabbit (Canals), under a Footlight perk machine, and upstairs in a Waterfront building. Place your Egg at each statue and get ~10 kills beside it so souls feed it — the Egg turns blue and shell-less when full. Return the charged Egg to its pedestal for the Apothicon Sword.

6
Your ritual sites

Upgrade the Sword

+

Take the Arch-Ovum from the Keeper at your altar and place it at a ritual circle to spawn Margwas (up to four per ritual); kill them and return the Arch-Ovum. Pacing that trips teams up: only one player can run a ritual at a time, each player does one ritual per round, and each must use a different circle each time until all four are done. Then hand the sword to your ghost Keeper for the upgraded Reborn Keeper Sword.

7
Nero's room

The book

+

Interact with the book on the floor of the Magician ritual area to advance the quest.

8
Pink rifts · Keeper altars

Flag defence

+

Pick up the flag in the centre of the Subway — this despawns the zombies and rapidly spawns Meatballs — and carry it to a sparking ground point. Each district route has two spark points (eight in all): defend the flag ~30s at the first — Parasites and periodic Shadowman strikes attack the cloth, so shoot him off it — a chime confirms the defence, drops a Max Ammo (up to two per district) and lets you move the flag to the second point; defend again, then deliver the charged flag to that district's Keeper altar to turn its ghost into a real Keeper. Only one district can be finished per round, so budget four rounds.

9
Sacred Place

Ready the Keepers & drop the shield

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Each player interacts with a pedestal to ready their Keeper. Once all are set the Keepers strip the Shadowman's shield — focus-fire him, and as he drifts to the summoning table interact with the Summoning Key to trap him.

10
Tram stations

Apocalypse Averted (4-player finale)

+

Kill Margwas to open Beast Mode; three players zap the tram-station electrical boxes while the fourth calls the tram. The tram crushes the giant Gateworm and you zap the three Keepers beneath the map to finish.

Reward: the Apocalypse Averted Dark Ops calling card. The solo-reachable half (four rituals → PaP) earns The Beginning of the End.

Side Easter Eggs & extras

Everything beyond the main quest. Tap any entry to open the full how-and-where breakdown.

Song

“Snakeskin Boots”

+

Jack Wall. Interact with the three wooden speakers — the boxing gym, the Footlight tram-station bench and the Ruby Rabbit stair/switch area (Beast Mode reaches two of them).

  1. Interact with 3 radios — one radio TWICE, then the other two ONCE each (order flexible)
  2. Waterfront Boxing Gym — on a desk on the upper level (Beast Mode to reach)
  3. Canals, Ruby Rabbit entrance — on a table left of the entrance by the stairs
  4. Footlight — on a bench in the tram waiting area, near the GobbleGum machine
  5. 'Snakeskin Boots' (instrumental) by Jack Wall plays
Song

“Cold Hard Cash”

+

Jack Wall. Collect 3 microphone parts and assemble them on the Black Lace Burlesque stage in Footlight.

  1. Collect 3 microphone parts and assemble them on the Black Lace Burlesque stage
  2. Microphone stand — Nero's Workshop, between the shelves and the saw blade
  3. Cable — Canals, at the bottom of a metal staircase
  4. Microphone — the rail-cart/tunnel area near Widow's Wine (top of the staircase, between a bin and a bench)
  5. Assemble on the Footlight stage — 'Cold Hard Cash' by Jack Wall plays
Free weapon

Apothicon Servant

+

Buildable Wonder Weapon: Margwa Heart (kill the first Margwa), Margwa Tentacle (from grown purple pods) and Xenomatter (from Parasites, ~round 12+). Fires a black hole. Note: on this map it can't be Pack-a-Punched — the GKZ-45 Mk3 upgrade was cut before release.

  1. Turn on power and reach a crafting station (the Zombie Shield benches, in the Junction/Rift area)
  2. Margwa Tentacle: hold a Fumigator (bug-spray) to open Apothicon Harvest Pods — a fully-grown purple pod can drop the tentacle (random, so keep harvesting)
  3. Margwa Heart: kill a Margwa (destroy all three heads) — it drops the heart
  4. Xenomatter: kill Parasites or Insanity Elementals from round ~12+ and grab the sample
  5. Assemble the three parts at a building station to claim the Apothicon Servant (a black-hole launcher)
  6. Note: on Shadows of Evil the Servant can't be Pack-a-Punched — its GKZ-45 Mk3 upgrade was cut before release (that upgrade only exists on Revelations)
Free weapon

Apothicon Sword

+

The melee Wonder Weapon earned by incubating the Ovum — upgradeable via the Arch-Ovum Margwa rituals. Clears tight lanes and downed-teammate crowds.

  1. Ride the tram between districts and memorise the three red glowing cuneiform symbols in the windows
  2. At the Subway station, enter Beast Mode and electric-zap the three matching symbols among the nine on the wall to reveal the statue holding the swords and Ovum eggs
  3. Grab an Ovum, then charge it at the four Cthulhu statues (Subway, Canals, Footlight under a perk, Waterfront) by killing zombies beside each
  4. Return the charged egg to the Subway sword holster to claim the Apothicon Sword
  5. Upgrade: at your character's home altar (Nero=Junction, Vincent=Canals, Jessica=Footlight, Floyd=Waterfront) take the Arch-Ovum from the Keeper
  6. Place it in the red circle to spawn a Margwa, kill it, then return to the Keeper for the upgraded Sword
Buildable

Rocket Shield

+

One part in each of Canals, Waterfront and Footlight (three possible spawns per district — sweep the whole area). Build at any workbench; the back plate soaks hits and the boost bulldozes crowds for revives. Re-plate when it cracks.

Buildable

Civil Protector

+

Collect one fuse in each district (on boxes/railings at tram-platform level), install all three in the fuse box in the Rift by the Waterfront portal, then pay 2,000 at a call box to summon an armoured ally that revives you and kills zombies for a time.

Reward

Goddard Apparatus (shield upgrade)

+

Land 12 Rocket-Shield boost attacks that each kill 10+ zombies to permanently upgrade the shield to four boosts (a fresh replacement can revert it).

Reward

Upgraded Lil' Arnies

+

Rack up ~100 Lil' Arnie kills, then throw an Arnie at the top hat in Nero's room, the cane in the Ruby Rabbit, the bow tie in the boxing gym and finally the Burlesque stage.

Free reward

Margwa Head mask

+

From the moving tram, shoot all six visible Margwa-heart targets with the Ray Gun in no more than two trips, then claim the mask in the ritual-room display.

Free reward

Free Mega GobbleGum

+

Buy Widow's Wine and throw its grenades into the four lion mouths in the Canals, take the plain gumball to the ice-cream-shop plate, and return after two round changes.

Reward

Free 500 points

+

After opening the first Junction door, cook and throw a grenade into the laundry-window alcove and pick up the point reward.

Mechanic

Round skip & Noir filter

+

Round 1, sustained-shoot the Shadowman on the spawn fire escape to jump to round 5/10/15 (this makes a full quest run harder). Crouch-interact the boxing-gym portrait to toggle a black-and-white Noir filter.

Mechanic

Beast Mode

+

Purple pods grant grapple, wall-run, melee and an electric zap that powers perk machines and progresses the quest — the map's core traversal.

  1. Hold interact at a glowing Beast-Mode gateway (Apothicon symbol) in each district to transform — a meter drains
  2. As the Beast you run fast and normal zombies ignore you
  3. Electric-zap fuse boxes on walls to power perk machines, doors and the Pack-a-Punch teleport pads (and the Sword-quest symbols)
  4. Melee smashes objects marked with a red icon; grapple overhead points to reach ledges the Beast can't otherwise get to
  5. You can revive teammates and interact with quest objects in Beast Mode
  6. A Beast run early each game is how you switch on perks and open the map's shortcuts
Mechanic

Margwa

+

The three-headed mini-boss — shoot into one of its open mouths to kill it; the first drops the Servant's Margwa Heart.

Calling cards on this map

Cosmetic calling cards you can earn on this map. Global Dark Ops challenge cards are in the reference section below.

Apocalypse Averted calling card

Apocalypse Averted

Map / EE

Complete the Shadows of Evil main quest.

GobbleGum reference — Black Ops 3

All 63 Black Ops 3 GobbleGums by tier — Classic (free, packs of 5), Mega, Rare Mega and Ultra-Rare (Black-Market / Liquid Divinium). Filter by tier. Some seasonal/Chronicles gums are grouped as compiled.

Always Done Swiftly

Classic

Faster ADS walk and raise/lower for 3 rounds.

Arms Grace

Classic

Respawn with the guns you bled out with.

Coagulant

Classic

Longer bleedout time.

In Plain Sight

Classic

Zombies ignore you (2×, 10s each).

Stock Option

Classic

Ammo drawn from your stockpile, not the magazine (2:30).

Impatient

Classic

Respawn near the end of the current round.

Sword Flay

Classic

Melee does 5× damage (2:30).

Anywhere But Here!

Classic

Teleport to a random location with a concussive blast (2×).

Danger Closest

Classic

Zero explosive self-damage for 3 rounds.

Armamental Accomplishment

Classic

Faster weapon switch, melee and item use for 3 rounds.

Firing On All Cylinders

Classic

Fire while sprinting for 3 rounds.

Arsenal Accelerator

Classic

Charge your special weapon faster for 10 min.

Lucky Crit

Classic

Better Alternate Ammo Type proc for 1 round.

Now You See Me

Classic

All zombies chase only you (2×, 10s).

Alchemical Antithesis

Classic

Every 10 points earned becomes 1 reserve ammo (2×, 60s).

Projectile Vomiting · Newtonian Negation · Eye Candy · Tone Death

Classic (Whimsical)

4 cosmetic-only DLC classics.

Aftertaste

Mega

Keep perks on revive (3 rounds).

Burned Out

Mega

Your next hit ignites nearby zombies (2 hits).

Dead of Nuclear Winter

Mega

Spawns a Nuke (2×).

Ephemeral Enhancement

Mega

Held gun becomes Pack-a-Punched for 60s (2×).

I'm Feeling Lucky

Mega

Drops a random power-up (2×).

Immolation Liquidation

Mega

Drops a Fire Sale (3×).

Licensed Contractor

Mega

Drops a Carpenter (3×).

Phoenix Up

Mega

Revive all team-mates with perks.

Pop Shocks

Mega

Melee electrocutes (5×).

Respin Cycle

Mega

Re-spin the Mystery Box (2×).

Unquenchable

Mega

An extra perk slot when at 4.

Who's Keeping Score?

Mega

Drops Double Points (2×).

Idle Eyes · Flavor Hexed · Board Games · Board To Death · +8 more

Mega

12 further Megas incl. Crawl Space, Fatal Contraption, Unbearable, Disorderly Combat, Slaughter Slide, Mind Blown (DLC/Chronicles).

Cache Back

Rare Mega

Drops a Max Ammo.

Kill Joy

Rare Mega

Drops an Insta-Kill (2×).

On the House

Rare Mega

Drops a Random Perk Bottle.

Wall Power

Rare Mega

Your next wall-buy comes Pack-a-Punched.

Undead Man Walking · Fear in Headlights · Temporal Gift · Crate Power · Bullet Boost · Extra Credit · Soda Fountain

Rare Mega

7 further Rare Megas (DLC/Chronicles).

Killing Time

Ultra-Rare

Freeze all zombies for 20s; shot ones die.

Perkaholic

Ultra-Rare

Every perk on the map.

Near Death Experience

Ultra-Rare

Proximity revive with perks (3 rounds).

Reign Drops

Ultra-Rare

All core power-ups at once (2×).

Shopping Free · Round Robbin' · Head Drama · Secret Shopper · Profit Sharing · Self Medication · Power Vacuum

Ultra-Rare

7 further Ultra-Rares (DLC/Chronicles).

Dark Ops & prestige cards (Black Ops 3)

Black Ops 3 has few Zombies calling cards and mostly no per-map cards; its main-quest cards are on the maps themselves.

Primis Rulz calling card

Primis Rulz

Dark Ops

Complete all the Zombies story quests.

Prestigious Protagonist calling card

Prestigious Protagonist

Prestige

Enter Prestige after reaching Deresurrectionist (Zombies rank Lv 35).

Visual guides & sources

Screenshots and exact part locations live in these — open one on a second screen.

Part of the Zombies Easter Egg Codex — step-by-step Call of Duty Zombies Easter egg guides for every map. Open Shadows of Evil in the interactive codex for the solvers and map discussion.