Best Black Ops 7 Zombies Augments - all explained

What are the best BO7 Zombies Augments? More so than any Call of Duty game before it, Black Ops 7 features a ton of customization options for your loadouts. From multiplayer's Overclocking mechanic to Zombies' kind of daunting 192 Augments at launch, there's a lot to learn.

The reason there are so many Augments in Black Ops 7 is that every single one returns from the previous game. Luckily, any Augments you unlocked last year are automatically available to you when the BO7 release date arrives, but you'll need to get to work unlocking new ones. That includes a new Augment for every existing Perk, Ammo Mod, and Field Upgrade. Here are all the new and returning Black Ops 7 Zombies Augments, as well as the best ones to equip.

The best Black Ops 7 Zombies Augments to prioritize are:

Toxic Growth - Field Upgrade

• Major Augment: Urticant
• Minor Augment: Ankle Shredder
• Minor Augment: Green Thumb

Wisp Tea - Perk-A-Cola

• Major Augment: Mask of Salvation
• Minor Augment: Fetcher
• Minor Augment: Haste or Zombie Sitter

Aether Shroud - Field Upgrade

• Major Augment: After Image
• Minor Augment: Extra Charge
• Minor Augment: Instant Reload

Jugger-Nog - Perk-A-Cola

• Major Augment: Turtle Shell
• Minor Augment: Durable Plates
• Minor Augment: Hardened Plates

Quick Revive - Perk-A-Cola

• Major Augment: EMT or Dying Wish
• Minor Augment: Swift Recovery or Emergency Medical Kit
• Minor Augment: Karmic Return or Slow Death

PHD Flopper - Perk-A-Cola

• Major Augment: PHD Slider
• Minor Augment: Stuntman
• Minor Augment: Tribologist

Vulture Aid - Perk-A-Cola

• Major Augment: Armor-matic
• Minor Augment: Extra Serving
• Minor Augment: Picky Eater

Brain Rot - Ammo Mod

• Major Augment: Big Game
• Minor Augment: Super Serum
• Minor Augment: Extension

Healing Aura - Field Upgrade

• Major Augment: Necromancer
• Minor Augment: Inner Strength
• Minor Augment: Stoic Presence

Energy Mine - Field Upgrade

• Major Augment: Smart Mine
• Minor Augment: Siren
• Minor Augment: Extra Charge

All BO7 Perk-A-Cola Augments

These are all the Augments you can research and unlock for Perk-A-Colas:

Wisp Tea

Base effect: summon a companion wisp after killing zombies, who deals damage to enemies, but will not kill the last remaining zombie in a round.

• Major Augments
  • Mask of Wrath - summon The Demon, who does more damage.
  • Mask of Salvation - summon The Fox, who revives you while it's active, up to three times per match.
  • Mask of Distraction - summon The Monkey, who attracts enemies and does damage in an area.
  • Mask of Benevolence - summon The Maiden, who does not attack enemies, but periodically heals you instead.
• Minor Augments
  • Extension - increases the Wisp's lifetime.
  • Haste - decreases the cooldown before a Wisp can be summoned.
  • Zombie Sitter - The Wisp attracts and avoids damaging the last zombie in the round until the round times out.
  • Fetcher - The Wisp picks up items and Powerups for you, aside from the Nuke.

Black Ops 7 is really coming through with some excellent new add-ons, and Wisp Tea is an awesome new Perk. Given the way it works, any of the Major Augments make a great choice, depending on how you want to play. Our personal pick, however, is the Mask of Salvation, which can revive you up to three times per match. This is great for those later rounds, as it prevents teammates from having to take the time to revive you.

If you're one of those skilled players who doesn't go down very often, Mask of Benevolence, which heals instead, could be a great alternative. But we also love the Mask of Distraction - aka, the wisp version of the iconic Monkey Bomb.

For minor Augments, Haste and Fetcher would be the standard choices. However, if you're carrying out a Zombies main quest, you should definitely replace Haste with Zombie Sitter.

Jugger-Nog

Base effect: increased maximum health.

• Major Augments
  • Iron Core (NEW) - increases your health when all of your Armor Plates are broken.
  • Probiotic - further increases maximum health.
  • Turtle Shell - completely absorbs damage to your back, while offering normal protection from the front.
  • Reactive Armor - briefly stuns nearby enemies when an armor plate breaks.
• Minor Augments
  • Shake it Off (NEW) - has the chance to significantly reduce incoming damage.
  • Retaliation - deal extra damage when low on health.
  • Hardened Plates - armor plates protect from more damage.
  • Durable Plates - armor plate durability is increased.

Jogger-Nog is an essential Perk, and the first one you should equip every match. As such, it's also the one for which you should research Augments as a priority.

Back in BO6, Turtle Shell wasn't the best Augment, but it's been tweaked for BO7, and now it's our top pick here. Durable Plates should be your first Minor Augment, with Hardened Plates as a secondary. This is because you'll get more consistent use of these than either of the other Minor Augments.

Stamin-Up

Base effect: Increased movement speed.

• Major Augments
  • Guns Up (NEW) - Allows you to fire while sprinting.
  • Free Faller - Makes you immune to fall damage.
  • Dasher - Increases Tac Sprint duration.
  • Stalker - Lets you walk faster while aiming.
• Minor Augments
  • Footwork (NEW) - increases your non-forward sprinting speed.
  • Hard Target - projectile damage is reduced while Tactical Sprinting.
  • Quarterback - allows you to use equipment while sprinting.
  • Hot Foot - grants a speed boost when your equipment kills an enemy.

To be honest, in Zombies mode, Stamin-Up isn't a priority Perk. That said, it can come in incredibly handy against bosses and Elite Zombies, especially the powerful Zursa. When choosing between the Augments above, we recommend Dasher, as a faster tac sprint is useful for getting out of harm's way when you're low on health or ammo. For Minor Augments, we'd go with Footwork as the standout here. A second minor is tricky here, as none of these are hugely useful, but Quarterback is the best of the bunch.

Speed Cola

Base effect: faster reloading and armor replating.

• Major Augments
  • Ammo Surge (NEW) - grants a burst of speed when initiating a reload.
  • Supercharged - causes Field Upgrades to recharge faster.
  • Classic Formula - further increases reload speed.
  • Phantom Reload - slowly refills weapon mags over time.
• Minor Augments
  • Prestidigitation (NEW) - gives a chance not to use stock ammo when reloading.
  • Speedy Roulette - causes the Mystery Box to work faster.
  • Quick Swap - lets you switch weapons faster.
  • Fast Pitcher - allows you to deploy equipment faster.

We often pick up a Speed Cola once we've got Jug and QR, as anything that saves us some time is a no-brainer. This makes Quick Swap a great addition, adding a whole additional use to Speed Cola. Prestidigitation is a decent second Minor because, although it doesn't work 100% of the time, it's super useful when it does.

As for your Major Speed Cola Augment, we'd recommend the new one for BO7, Ammo Surge. Given that you're pretty vulnerable when reloading, the ability to get away from danger quickly to do so is amazing.

Deadshot Daiquiri

Base effect: aiming down sights moves to the critical hit location. Increases critical damage.

• Major Augments
  • Dead Heat (NEW) - Temporarily increase your movement speed after getting a Point-Blank kill.
  • Dead Head - further increases critical damage.
  • Dead First - deals double critical damage to enemies at full health.
  • Dead Again - gives a chance of adding a bullet to your mag with each critical hit.
• Minor Augments
  • Dead Point (NEW) - Bullets deal bonus damage to enemies within Point Blank range.
  • Dead Break - increases damage to armor pieces.
  • Dead Draw - reduces hip-fire spread.
  • Dead Set - reduces gun movement while performing advanced movement.

An absolute classic, Deadshot Dacquiri improves your aim, turning normal hits into critical ones. To take full advantage of this effect, we recommend the Major Augment Dead Head, ensuring you deal as much damage as possible. Given the primary use for Deadshot Dacquiri, we're not huge fans of any of the Minor Augments, and they're wildly different, so your choice should really depend on your playstyle and preferred weapons. For example, Dead Draw is only useful if you shoot from the hip a lot. Since Dead Break isn't all that vital for headshots and Elite enemies like the Zursa, our choices would be Dead Set and Dead Point.

Quick Revive

Base effect: recover health and revive allies quicker.

• Major Augments:
  • Adrenaline Rush (NEW) - Killing a Special or Elite Enemy will start your health regeneration.
  • EMT - allows the revived ally to keep all of the Perks on their bleed-out bar. When revived yourself, keep up to five Perks.
  • Equivalent Exchange - automatically revives you if you kill an enemy when downed. Can be done three times per match.
  • Dying Wish - removes Quick Revive, but leaves you with one health when you would otherwise have been killed.
• Minor Augments:
  • Emergency Medical Kit (NEW) - You can now craft a Self-Revive Kit up to four times.
  • Swift Recovery - briefly increases both of your movement speeds when you revive an ally.
  • Karmic Return - heals you to full health when you revive an ally.
  • Slow Death - increases your time in Last Stand.

Quick revive is probably the second most essential perk after Jug, especially if your buddies are always getting downed. Alternatively, if you're the one always going down - we wouldn't know anything about that - these Augments can make this a superb perk for you, too.

If you're the healer, you should be thinking about EMT with Swift Recovery and Karmic Return. However, if you're someone who goes down a lot - again, not something we can relate to at all - having Quick Revive with Dying Wish, Emergency Medical Kit, and Slow Death can save you and your teammates some trouble. Equivalent exchange might sound like a good Augment, but it gets increasingly difficult to kill an enemy when you're in last stand, so we wouldn't bother with it.

Elemental Pop

Base effect: firing has a chance to trigger random ammo effects.

• Major Augments:
  • Rainbow Pop (NEW) - Weapons with an Ammo Mod equipped have a chance to deal the elemental damage that an enemy is weak to.
  • Citrus Focus - forces Elemental Pop to only trigger an existing applied Ammo Mod for a weapon.
  • Imperil Peach - can trigger a random Ammo Mod when an enemy hits you.
  • Electric Cherry - creates an electric damage discharge that damages and stuns nearby enemies. The emptier the mag, the greater the damage.
• Minor Augments:
  • Refresh Mint (NEW) - Killing a Special or Elite Enemy with its elemental weakness resets your Elemental Pop cooldown.
  • Vulnera Bean - slightly increases enemy elemental weakness damage.
  • Pineapple Blast - has a chance of triggering a random ammo mod when using equipment.
  • Chill Berry - slightly reduces all Ammo Mod cooldowns.

Elemental Pop may not be an obvious perk choice, and it's not always helpful when you're training zombies, but it is damn fun, and we love a bit of chaos. If you don't like it, you could always equip Citrus Focus, since this forces a specific Ammo Mod. However, we like the combination of new Augment Rainbow Pop and Vulnera Bean, which increases the chance of dealing the right elemental damage for a zombie's weakness and then increases that elemental damage to boot. For a second Minor, chuck on Pineapple Blast, just for fun.

PHD Flopper

Base effect: grants immunity to self-inflicted explosive damage and dive to prone triggers an explosion.

• Major Augments:
  • Double Whammy (NEW) - Release a second explosion (shortly after the first one).
  • Gravity MD - creates an explosion when falling from a height.
  • Dr Ram - knocks down and damages basic zombies when rammed with Tactical Sprint.
  • PHD Slider - triggers explosions when sliding into enemies.
• Minor Augments:
  • Stuntman (NEW) - Wall Jumping creates an explosion.
  • Environmentalist - makes you immune to environmental damage when sliding.
  • EOD Technician - reduces height and distance requirements for explosions.
  • Tribologist - sliding distance and speed are increased.

Despite the addition of a new Major Augment, PHD Slider still reigns supreme when it comes to PHD Flopper Augments. It has been slightly nerfed for Black Ops 7, dealing less damage during sideswipes and only activating in the direction of travel, but it's still an excellent passive skill.

In contrast, the new Minor Augment, Stuntman, is an absolute stunner (literally), and we strongly recommend getting this one equipped ASAP. Wall jumping wasn't in BO6, but now it's available in BO7. Being able to create an explosion when wall jumping is not only cool, but is perfect for getting you out of a sticky situation, especially in some of the smaller BO7 Zombies maps. Tribologist should be your second Minor.

Melee Macchiato

Base effect: Replaces your weapon gun butt with a deadly punch that increases in power until Round 30.

• Major Augments:
  • Mocha Maul (NEW) - The punch is replaced with your dedicated melee weapon.
  • Espresso - increases the speed of melee attacks.
  • Vampiric Extraction - heals a small amount of your health on melee attacks.
  • Triple Shot - hits multiple enemies at once.
• Minor Augments:
  • Barista Brawl (NEW) - Gain more Essence from Melee Kills
  • Stick 'N' Move - increases backpedal speed after a successful melee attack.
  • Strength Training - can one-hit kill normal enemies for longer.
  • Hidden Impact - reloads a portion of your held weapon ammo on a melee kill.

Melee Macchiato is often a requirement in Zombies easter eggs, so it's worth having some good Augments equipped and ready to go. The only thing we're not sure about is how new Augment, Mocha Maul, would affect that, which is a shame, as it would be our top pick. That said, it is always satisfying to punch a zombie in the face, so we'd recommend Espresso as a Major Augment alternative. For Minors, we like Stick 'N' Move and Hidden Impact.

Vulture Aid

Base effect: Increases the variety of dropped weapon loot, and enemies also drop Essence Vials and Ammo.

• Major Augments:
  • Armor-matic (NEW) - Picking up an Armor Plate automatically applies it to your vest.
  • Fetid Upgr-aid - On death, zombies have a chance to create a gas cloud that charges your Field Upgrade.
  • Smell of Death - On death, zombies have a chance to create a gas cloud that conceals you while standing in it.
  • Parting Gift - Vulture Aid ammo drops give more ammo to Wonder Weapons.
• Minor Augments:
  • Extra Serving (NEW) - Special and Elite Enemies you kill have a chance to drop a Large Essence Vial.
  • Condor's Reach - Auto-pickup loot from farther away.
  • Carrion Luggage - Critical kills have a chance to drop extra Salvage.
  • Picky Eater - On death, zombies have a higher chance of dropping your current equipment.

Now, when it comes to the new additions for Black Ops 7, this is where the good stuff is hidden. Armor-matic is an excellent Augment, saving time and turning an annoying process into something almost entirely passive. And if, like us, you forget to replate your armor, this is extra brilliant. Combine this with Extra Serving and Picky Eater, and Vulture Aid becomes a real game-changer.

Death Perception

Base effect: Shows the outline of enemies through obstacles and walls.

• Major Augments:
  • Sixth Sense (NEW) - See enemies close behind you and take less damage from behind.
  • Treasure Hunter - Spot items others have missed from loot containers and Special and Elite kills.
  • Death Stare - Your Elemental Weakness damage has a chance to kill an enemy that is low on health.
  • Critical Eye - Grants a small chance that a body shot becomes a critical shot. Does not work with explosive weapons or Wonder Weapons.
• Minor Augments:
  • Hidden Gems (NEW) - Death Perception can now see loot.
  • Bird's Eye View - The minimap's scan rate is increased.
  • Extra Change - Find extra Essence under more locations.
  • Further Insight - Increase perception radius.

Death Perception is handy, but it's the least important of the Perks. Still, it's worth getting these Augments researched and equipped for the times you wind up with them from a Random Perk Power Up or Reign Drops Gobblegum.

Again, Treyarch has come through with the new addition here, as Sixth Sense is a great Major Perk, mostly because of that reduced damage. However, this becomes moot if you've got Jug with Turtle Shell equipped, so you might want to use Treasure Hunter instead. Add Hidden Gems and Extra Change for a nice boost to your income.

Double Tap Root Beer

Base effect: Increases a weapon's base fire rate

• Major Augments:
  • Double Dealer (NEW) - Every fourth bullet in your weapon magazine deals double damage.
  • Double Jeopardy - Normal zombies at low health have a chance to die immediately when shot.
  • Double Impact - Double hits on the same target in quick succession deal more damage.
  • Double Standard - All non-critical shots do double damage. Only applies to normal bullet weapons.
• Minor Augments:
  • Double Down (NEW) - Bullet weapons have increased penetration damage through enemies.
  • Double Time - Increases fire rate bonus.
  • Double or Nothing - Weapons have a chance to do double damage, but also have a chance to do zero damage.
  • Double Play - Killing two enemies in quick succession has a chance to return two rounds to your magazine. Only applies to normal bullet weapons.

Double Impact is the best Major Augment to equip here, given that it's the most reliable of the four, especially at higher levels. We also like Double Standard, but if you're pretty good at getting headshots, or you're a fan of Ammo Mods, it's going to go to waste.

Double Down is a fantastic new Minor Augment, while Double Play works nicely with Double Impact.

All BO7 Ammo Mod Augments

The Augments you can research and unlock for Ammo mods are:

Fireworks

Base effect: Each bullet that hits a Normal or Special Enemy has a chance to launch fireworks that target enemies.

• Major Augments
  • Big Game: fireworks can activate on Elite Enemies, creating a bigger lightshow.
  • Starburst: fireworks explode immediately, sending flares through enemies in all directions.
  • Weeping Willow: Instead of targeting enemies, flares land on the ground and explode for a while.
  • Fire Wheel: creates two Fire Wheels that spin around and damage enemies.
• Minor Augments
  • Starlight: Fireworks launches more flares.
  • Big Bang: Fireworks flares deal more damage to Special and Elite Enemies.
  • High Yield: increases the area of effect.
  • Short Fuse: Fireworks cooldown is reduced.

Given the number of bullets you'll be firing into Elite enemies, we love Big Game for the new Fireworks ammo mod, given the increased chance of triggering, plus the larger effect it has. To complement this, we recommend adding Big Bang, and round out your build with High Yield.

Dead Wire

Base effect: Bullets deal electric damage and have the chance to stun a normal or special enemy, causing them to generate an electric damage field.

• Major Augments:
  • Ball Lightning (NEW) - launches an orb that deals electric damage to nearby enemies as it moves.
  • Chain Lightning - can spread the stun effect to other enemies.
  • Big Game - has a chance of stunning elite enemies.
  • Lightning Strike - can trigger a bolt of lightning, stunning all normal nearby and special enemies.
• Minor Augments:
  • Aftershock (NEW) - enemies that are stunned by Dead Wire have a chance to spread the effect to nearby enemies.
  • High Voltage - slightly increases the electric damage dealt.
  • Haste - slightly reduces the cooldown of Dead Wire.
  • Extension - increases the duration of the stun and electric field.

Ball Lightning is by far the superior Major Augment here, given its chance to deal additional passive damage. Similarly, we love High Voltage as a Minor, since this deals increased damage, while Haste gives you the chance to use this more often.

Napalm Burst

Base effect: Bullets deal fire damage and have a chance to apply a burn effect on normal and special enemies, dealing damage over time.

• Major Augments:
  • Petroleum (NEW) - leaves a pool of fire on the ground.
  • Big Game - has a chance of burning elite enemies.
  • Thermite - increases the ongoing damage of the burn effect.
  • Firebomb - causes burned enemies to explode on death, spreading the fire to nearby enemies.
• Minor Augments:
  • Backdraft (NEW) - increases the activation radius.
  • Extension - increases the duration of the burn effect.
  • Incendiary - has a chance to spread burning damage to a nearby enemy.
  • Contact Burn - deals more damage on the initial burn effect.

In the same way that we love Toxic Growth as a Field Upgrade, we really like Petroleum for a Major Augment on Napalm Burst. It's always nice to have a passive area of damage. Until you've got it unlocked, stick with Firebomb for a similarly passive effect.

For Minor Augments on this Ammo mod, we recommend Extension and Incendiary. Again, these two passively deal additional damage, which is only ever a good thing.

Cryo Freeze

Base effect: Bullets deal frost damage and have a chance to slow a normal or special enemy and increase the damage they receive.

• Major Augments:
  • Cold Company (NEW) - Cryo Freeze has a chance to activate on more than one enemy at a time.
  • Big Game - has a chance of slowing elite enemies.
  • Ice Cloud - can cause a slowing cloud to be left by enemies killed when frozen.
  • Frozen Stiff - freezes enemies in place.
• Minor Augments:
  • Thermal Shock (NEW) - enemies are immediately damaged when unfrozen.
  • Extension - increases the duration of the slowing effect.
  • Freezer Burn - slightly increases damage to frozen enemies.
  • Liquid Nitrogen - significantly increases the chances of Cryo Freeze activating.

Big Game is a great Major Augment for this Ammo mod, since slowing down Elite enemies like the powerful Zursa is incredibly useful, especially in smaller areas or maps. For this reason, we also recommend Extension as a Minor, as well as Liquid Nitrogen.

Brain Rot

Base effect: Bullets deal toxic damage and can temporarily turn a normal or special enemy into an ally. The last friendly enemy will not kill the final hostile enemy in a round.

• Major Augments:
  • Caustic Fumes (NEW) - charmed enemies deal Toxic damage to nearby enemies.
  • Plague - gives a charmed enemy the chance to turn other enemies.
  • Pheromone - briefly causes a charmed enemy to distract nearby normal and special enemies.
  • Big Game - has a chance of turning elite enemies into allies.
• Minor Augments:
  • Super Serum (NEW) - increases the damage dealt by charmed enemies.
  • Extension - slightly increases the duration of Brain Rot.
  • Haste - slightly reduces the cooldown of Brain Rot.
  • Explosive - causes charmed enemies to explode when Brain Rot expires, dealing toxic damage.

Brain Rot is undeniably one of the best and most entertaining ammo mods in Black Ops Zombies. To make it even better, Big Game is a solid choice for a Major Augment, as turning an elite enemy to your side has an incredible effect. That said, since this won't be used that often, we also recommend Pheromone.

For your Minors, pop on the new Super Serum to make things easier on you and your teammates, plus Extension to get even more value out of it.

Shadow Rift

Base effect: Bullets deal shadow damage and have the chance to spawn a black hole near a normal or special enemy, warping nearby zombies away or dropping them from the air.

• Major Augments:
  • Gravity Well (NEW) - Shadow Rift becomes a black hole that pulls in enemies, before teleporting away nearby enemy survivors.
  • Big Game - has a chance of spawning a black hole on elite enemies.
  • Topple Ganger - causes one warped enemy to deal shadow damage to others.
  • Explosive Rain - causes dropped enemies to explode on contact.
• Minor Augments:
  • Ammo Theorem (NEW) - Teleporting enemies away adds ammo to your weapon magazine from stock.
  • Haste - reduces the cooldown of Shadow Rift.
  • Targeted - causes dropped enemies to fall on other enemies.
  • Supermassive - increases the black hole's radius and boosts its ability to kill enemies.

Gravity Well is a great Augment here due to its ability to pull in more victims, while Ammo Theorem is an incredibly useful add-on, especially in later Rounds. While the Shadow Rift is pulling in enemies, in one area, you can shoot even more at your location. Finally, add Supermassive to increase these benefits even more.

All BO7 Field Upgrade Augments

The Augments you can research and unlock for Field Upgrades are:

Toxic Growth

Base effect: Summons a deadly growth of thorns in front of you.

• Major Augments:
  • Urticant: takes up a wider area, and enemies that enter the growth continue to be slowed after leaving it.
  • Cordyception: entangles and charms the first Normal or Special Enemy to enter the growth, causing them to attack other zombies.
  • Pollination: causes enemies killed by the growth to explode, dealing Toxic damage to nearby enemies and slowing them.
  • Zoochory: results in the first Normal or Special Enemy to walk into the growth, becoming the Toxic Growth itself.
• Minor Augments:
  • Ankle Shredder: further slows enemies moving through the growth.
  • Green Thumb: significantly increases the Toxic Growth health.
  • Extra Charge: increases Max Charges by one.
  • Plant Food: has a chance to drop healing fruit when killing enemies.

Toxic Growth might actually be one of the best Field Upgrades right off the bat. Used best in bottleneck areas, Toxic Growth can be an excellent method of taking out tons of zombies in one go while giving you a chance to reload, replenish your armor, or purchase ammo.

Use it with Urticant to better block narrow alleys and corridors, and add Green Thumb to make the growth last longer and kill more foes. As a second Minor Augment, pop on Ankle Shredder to slow zombies more.

Energy Mine

Base effect: creates a mine of pure energy that detonates three times, dealing lethal electric damage.

• Major Augments:
  • Smart Mine (NEW) - Energy Mine has more detonations and waits for multiple enemies to be in range for each detonation.
  • Scatter - splits the mine into three smaller mines that scatter and each detonate once.
  • Turret - replaces the mine with a turret that shoots at the nearest enemy
  • Carousel - causes three Energy Mines to float around you, detonating when an enemy is nearby.
• Minor Augments:
  • Recycle (NEW) - A deployed Energy Mine can be recycled for Field Upgrade charge.
  • Frequency Boost - increases Energy Mine duration and detonation count.
  • Extra Charge - increases max charges by one.
  • Siren - causes nearby enemies to be distracted by Energy Mine for a short time.

Energy Mine was one of our favorite Field Upgrades in Black Ops 6, and undoubtedly will be in Black Ops 7, as well. While we loved Carousel then, the new Augment Smart Mine is an incredible improvement, especially since it waits for multiple zombies before triggering. We still think Siren is a fantastic choice as a Minor, paired with Extra Charge.

Frenzied Guard

Base effect: Repairs armor to full and forces all enemies in the area to temporarily target you - your armor takes all damage during this time.

• Major Augments:
  • Fists of Frenzy (NEW) - While Frenzied, annihilate enemies with your fists.
  • Phalanx - also repairs teammates' armor when they kill enemies near you.
  • Retribution - triggers an explosion on activation, injures and downs enemies who melee the player within the duration.
  • Frenzy Fire - uses ammo from stock while frenzied.
• Minor Augments:
  • Dual Layer (NEW) - While Frenzied Guard is active, armor durability is increased.
  • Repair Boost - repairs more armor per kill.
  • Extension - increases the duration of Frenzied Guard.
  • Rally - repairs all nearby teammates' armor to full on activation.

Frenzied Guard is really only a good Field Upgrade if you're a strong player and the one whose shoulders tend to ache after a game. It may protect you from damage while it's active, but there's a risk you could end up swarmed when it ends or when your armor depletes, which is why the new Augment Dual Layer is a no-brainer Augment to equip, especially with Repair Boost as well.

For a Major, we love Frenzy Fire. Just ensure you've got plenty of stock ammo when triggering the Field Upgrade - perhaps drop a Gobblegum first - and you'll be free from reloading for ages.

Dark Flare

Base effect: generates an energy beam that deals lethal shadow damage and penetrates everything in its path.

• Major Augments:
  • Muzzle Blast (NEW) - The beam now deals additional damage in a cone in front of you.
  • Extension - increases the duration of Dark Flare.
  • Supernova - releases a traveling sphere instead of a beam that damages all enemies it comes into contact with and detonates at the end of the duration.
  • Dark Pact - heals and revives allies on contact with the beam.
• Minor Augments:
  • Dusk Flame (NEW) - Enemies that are hit by the beam are dealt additional Shadow damage over time.
  • Broad Beam - significantly increases the size of the beam.
  • Heavy Shadow - slows enemies on contact with the beam.
  • Extra Charge - increases max charges by one.

The old Major Augments were all a little weak, but Muzzle Blast changes that, providing extra damage in a wider area. This is far more useful than the thin beam or the moving cone. Broad Beam is a great choice of Minor, but for a more synergistic set, we'd actually recommend Heavy Shadow and Extra Charge.

Healing Aura

Base effect: immediately heals all nearby players.

• Major Augments:
  • Necromancer (NEW) - Healing Aura can now revive dead allies.
  • Resilience - temporarily reduces health regen delay and increases rate of healing of all affected players.
  • Enduring Radiance - healing effects persist for a short time after leaving the area of effect.
  • Persistence - allows revived players to keep all Perks on their bleed-out bar.
• Minor Augments:
  • Cornucopia (NEW) - Affected players get a health overcharge.
  • Inner Strength - slightly increases the damage dealt by affected players for a short time.
  • Protection - somewhat mitigates damage dealt to healed players for a short time.
  • Stoic Presence - nearby special and elite enemies are stunned, and normal enemies are knocked down when Healing Aura is activated.

Healing Aura is perhaps the most important Field upgrade, especially when carrying out Zombies easter eggs. To make it even better, add the Necromancer Augment. Reviving dead allies won't always come in handy, of course, but it takes the pressure off having to revive players in time if you're in a pinch, and also prevents that one teammate struggling to keep the team alive in tough Rounds. Inner Strength perfectly complements Necromancer, while Stoic Presence helps you when you're the focus of all nearby zombies. It also gives Healing Aura a second use if you've got it charged and ready to go.

Aether Shroud

Base effect: temporarily hides you from enemy detection as you phase into the Dark Aether.

• Major Augments:
  • Afterimage (NEW) - spawns a Dark Aether clone of yourself that distracts enemies.
  • Group Shroud - also cloaks nearby allies.
  • Burst Dash - warps you forward a short distance, killing all enemies in your path.
  • Void Sheath - swaps your held weapon to your chosen melee weapon imbued with Dark Aether energy. Kills with the weapon keep you shrouded for longer.
• Minor Augments:
  • Impulse (NEW) - deals Shadow damage to enemies on activation, and increases your movement speed during Aether Shroud.
  • Instant Reload - instantly reloads your held weapon on activation.
  • Extra Charge - increases max charges by one.
  • Extension - increases the duration of invisibility.

One of the most popular and important Field Upgrades for completing Zombies main quests and surviving big boss battles, Aether Shroud Augments should be among the first you research, if you haven't already. Taking new Augments into consideration, our favorites this time around are After Image and Extra Charge.

New Augment After Image is great for the main Aether Shroud use - avoiding bosses and helping teammates during quest boss battles - since the decoy will keep enemies in place and prevent them from dominating other teammates. Extra Charge is just an obvious choice for a minor since it's always useful to have another Aether Shroud ready to go. For a second minor, we'd recommend Instant Reload, ensuring you're ready for anything when the shroud wears off.

With this combination of old and new Black Ops 7 Augments, plus more to come, there's a lot to learn in the latest outing of the iconic zombie game mode.