Call of Duty Season 5 Reloaded has arrived to Black Ops Cold War, and the mid-season update includes plenty of new Zombies content, with one major highlight being a rewarding new world event in Outbreak. The Black Chest event is a tough challenge to complete, but our guide will help you understand how to complete this challenge, earning powerful rewards for those high rounds of Outbreak.
The Black Chest world event is definitely one of the most interesting additions to Outbreak's arsenal of world events. Interacting with the Black Chest and completing the event will, as Treyarch describes it, "form a pact with a spirit that will be summoned against enemies when you’re low on health."
Here are the details of these new Black Chests, and how to complete this world event.
Interact with the Black Chest to get started. It will unleash three purple orbs, and each will fly off in a different direction. You need to destroy all three orbs, but they will continuously dart around you, and these are fast-moving targets.
Once you start shooting an orb, zombies will start spawning all around you. The orbs can also dart towards you and deal damage as well. After you destroy all three orbs, you can go back to the chest and open it.
One of the purple floating orbs before shooting it.Completing the event can reward you with powerful loot drops that can include helpful things like armor, high-tier weapons, and a chalice item that can be used to Pack-a-Punch the weapon you currently have equipped in your hands. It also releases a trapped spirit that offers to protect you. Basically, this spirit will swoop in and save you from the zombies if you get taken down to 1 health.
It's also worth noting that the spirit's help is shared with your teammates, so this is definitely beneficial for surviving rounds of Outbreak. However, the protective effect of the Black Chest will only last for as long as you stay in that current region. If you warp to another map, you'll no longer have the benefit.
Of course, this event is high risk for high reward. You'll want to make sure you're prepared for a tough fight. It's easy to get overwhelmed with zombies during this challenge, especially if it spawns somewhere in close-quarters. Equipment like decoys or monkey bombs are useful for keeping the zombies distracted.
If you encounter this event on Round 1, I highly suggest gearing up with weapons of a decent rarity and at least grabbing the Juggernog perk before attempting this. In later rounds, you likely want a powerful Pack-a-Punched weapon, so here are some recommended loadouts for Season 5 Reloaded. Solo players attempting the Black Chest could benefit from using a field upgrade like Aether Shroud or Frenzied Guard.
Trying to shoot the orbs when they fly around so erratically can be frustrating, but the Black Chest event can be a powerful way to gear up, especially in Outbreak's higher rounds of difficulty.
If you're new to Outbreak and run into the mode's Orda boss event, we have an Orda guide to help you survive. And you can find helpful weapon upgrades by getting your hands on the Aether Tool legendary item. There are also select Outbreak regions with hidden upgrades for the D.I.E. Shockwave Wonder Weapon.
In other news, Call of Duty: Vanguard is also offering a multiplayer beta this weekend for anyone on PlayStation who preordered the game. This closed PlayStation beta runs from September 10-13. The following weekend will host a crossplay beta.
Season 5 Reloaded also arrives to Call of Duty as as Activision Blizzard faces a lawsuit from the state of California over harassment and discrimination against women.