How to complete Vanguard Zombies The Archon Easter Egg: Main Quest guide

Call of Duty: Vanguard’s final season is here, with Season 5 bringing an end to the Zombies Dark Aether saga. Treyarch have converted Terra Maledicta into a round-based map, complete with a Main Quest and new boss fight, so here’s how to complete The Archon Easter Egg.

With Call of Duty: Vanguard wrapping up ahead of Modern Warfare 2’s launch on October 28, The Archon is expected to be the final Zombies update for a long time. Treyarch are set to return in 2024, but 2023’s Call of Duty still hasn’t been confirmed.

Vanguard Zombies carried on Black Ops Cold War’s storyline, with Season 5’s The Archon finally bringing players face to face with Lord Kortifex. Following on from the Terra Maledicta and Shi No Numa’s Easter Eggs, players need to complete a variety of steps and challenges to complete The Archon’s Main Quest.

Here’s everything you need to do to complete The Archon’s Easter Egg and wrap up the Dark Aether saga.

• Vanguard Zombies The Archon Easter Egg guide
  • Trial of Mindfulness guide
  • Trial of Sacrifice guide
  • Trial of Resilience guide
• How to defeat final boss in Vanguard Zombies The Archon

Vanguard Zombies The Archon Easter Egg guide

1. Load into The Archon on Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies
2. Play a few rounds until you can open up all of the areas
3. Retrieve the Pack-a-Punch parts (follow star objectives)
4. Head to the Derailment area and pick up the shovel found inside a train cart
5. Go back to the Pack-a-Punch and start the ritual
6. After the ritual is complete, interact with the Relic Mirror that spawns
7. Head through the red portal to the Dark Aether (Pack-a-Punching your weapon beforehand is recommended)
8. Fight the Zombies until Kortifex downs you
9. You’ll spawn back in the main map, so look for the glowing obelisks
10. You’ll need to complete the challenge set at each of the three obelisks to continue the Easter Egg

Trial of Mindfulness guide

1. The first obelisk you should complete is found behind the Pack-a-Punch machine on Merchant Road:
2. Look for the dig spots around the obelisk and use the shovel to dig them all up until you find the glowing red Orb
3. The Orb will float towards the cliff face behind the obelisk
4. This will spawn a memory challenge where you need to remember the order of the symbols that appear (we’ve embedded a cheat sheet from Reddit user Myst3ryo below)

Cheat Sheet image for the Trial of Mindfulness step on The Archon
byu/Myst3ryo inCODZombies

5. These symbols will spawn on the ground as runes, so stand on the runes in the order they appeared
6. This will spawn a random challenge, and once the challenge is complete, you’ll have to match the symbols to the runes on the ground again
7. Complete the challenge, then match the symbols one more time (this time there will be five)
8. Complete the final challenge
9. Head to the obelisk and start the Trial of Mindfulness
10. In this trial, you’ll need to stand on the runes on the ground until the bar fills up, but damaging too many zombies will fail the challenge
11. After the bar fills, the Trial of Mindfulness will be complete

Trial of Sacrifice guide

1. Purchase three Molotovs from the wall on Merchant Road West
2. Head up the trains where you found the shovel
3. Look for three torches and hit them with Molotovs so that they light
   • Inside the train car on Rail Path
   • Against the spikes in the middle of Derailment
   • To the left of the ammo box in Derailment
4. Interact with the Orb that spawns from the final lit torch
5. Head to the Mystery Box and purchase a weapon that will be Pack-a-Punched
6. Sacrifice the Pack-a-Punched weapon to the Orb
7. Defeat the incredibly tough Sturmkrieger that spawns
8. Look for the obelisk on top of the train and begin the Trial of Sacrifice
9. Ensure you have the Ring of Fire Artifact (a stone will spawn that lets you change)
10. Hop on top of the train by the obelisk you activated and kill zombies until a Full Power spawns, then pick it up
11. Stand right beside one of the obelisks in the area and pop the Ring of Fire Artifact, then kill a few zombies inside the ring until a red laser connects the obelisk with the main one on top of the train
12. Repeat these steps for each obelisk before the timer runs out, and you’ll have completed the Trial of Sacrifice

Trial of Resilience guide

1. Head to the Debris Field area of The Archon where you can find the Quick Revive Perk
2. Shoot the red crystals that are just outside of the map until a red Orb spawns
3. Approach the Orb and pay attention to what the Decimator wants you to find, then bring them back to the Orb:
   • Head to the Tents and pick up the Cursed Officer’s Hat
   • Head to the Bazaar opposite the Diabolical Damage Fountain and pick up the Cursed Skull
   • Head to the back of Derailment and dig up the pile of dirt and pick up the Cursed Femur
4. Once all of these items have been brought back to the Orb, pick up the Decimator Shield that spawns
5. Approach the Obelisk and begin the Trial of Resilience
6. Look for the pillars made of zombie heads and use the Decimator Shield’s Blast ability to destroy them
7. Press interact on the remains to fill the chalice, then bring it to the empty fountain on the north side of Debris Field to fill it
8. Repeat this for each zombie head pillar until the fountain is full (more can be found near the Juggernaut Perk)
9. Once all three Trials are complete, you’re ready for the boss fight

How to defeat Kortifex Vanguard Zombies The Archon

1. Ensure you have a long-range weapon that’s Pack-a-Punched to Tier 3 and your Perks are Tier 3 as well
2. Don’t drop the Decimator Shield either as you’ll need it for the boss fight
3. Head through the portal beside the Pack-a-Punch to fight Kortifex
4. Stage 1:
   • Shoot the red crystal on Kortifex’s forehead to deal damage to him
   • Use the shield to destroy the glowing red orb that chases you
5. Stage 2:
   • Destroy the red crystals and pick up the Crystal Shards
   • Using the Tactical Equipment button, throw these Crystal Shards into the glowing plants to destroy them
   • Revisit the destroyed plants and pick up the Corrupted Crystal Shards
   • Throw the Corrupted Crystal Shards at the floating pillars above, and they’ll float to Kortifex and destroy his shield
   • Kortifex will lean forward so shoot one of his eyes with everything you’ve got
   • He’ll bring his shield back up, so repeat the process until it shifts to Stage 3
6. Stage 3:
   • Stage 3 is the same as Stage 2, but you’ll need to fight zombies and Sturmkriegers at the same time
   • Once Kortifex’s shield goes down, shoot the other eye until his health bar is gone
7. And that’s The Archon Main Quest Easter Egg complete!

Unfortunately, there’s no cutscene to round off Vanguard Zombies so once Lord Kortifex is defeated, it’s all over and you have successfully completed the Easter Egg.

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Also, once you’ve unlocked the brand-new EX1 Energy Weapon, you can bring it to The Archon and level it up to create the best loadouts for both multiplayer and Warzone.

Image Credit: Activision