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The best Call of Duty Vanguard Zombies covenants

All of the Altar of Covenants upgrades explained

A player approaching the Altar of Covenants in Vanguard Zombies. It's a floating altar with a glowing skull on top.

Want to know what all of the Call of Duty Vanguard Zombies covenants do? You may notice the rather ominous looking altar in the central hub area as you start your Zombies run. This altar is where you can buy the new covenants that provide upgrades when equipped.

The key to surviving a Zombies run is to ensure that all of your upgrades have some level of synergy. While some combinations of covenants are powerful on their own, using them alongside particular Call of Duty Vanguard Zombies perks improves your chances of getting out alive. So, in a way, covenants can make the difference between life and death.

Before you go spending your hearts on the first upgrade that you see, it’s worth considering how well these covenants work with your current loadout and perks. Here’s what every Call of Duty Vanguard Zombies covenant does, as well as some tips for potential synergies worth considering for your run.

How to use the Altar of Covenants in Zombies

You can exchange sacrificial hearts earned by completing tasks. You can find these hearts by going through portals in the central hub. When you access the altar, you have a choice of three different covenants. You can buy and equip up to three covenants at any time, but you can choose to permanently replace an equipped covenant later on in your Zombies run.

Your choices refresh after every objective you complete, and each covenant has multiple rarities. While the nature of the bonus a covenant provides doesn’t change, rarer covenants give better quality bonuses. So, for example, the Unholy Ground covenant deals even more damage while you’re stationary if you use the epic tier version, than the rare tier version. In addition to giving the most bonuses to the covenant, Legendary covenants also increase your damage for a short time after you start moving, making them the most sought after upgrades.

These are the 11 unique Call of Duty Vanguard Zombies covenants at launch:

  • Ammo Gremlin – stowed weapons refill ammo from the stock automatically
  • Bloodlust – melee attacks do more damage and heal you
  • Brain Rot – gives you a chance to turn enemies to your side
  • Cryofreeze – gives you a chance to slow down enemies
  • Cull the Weak – deals more base damage to slowed or stunned enemies
    • Legendary – +100% critical damage to slowed or stunned enemies
  • Dead Accurate – consecutive hits on the same enemies deal more damage
  • Death Blow – critical kills return the bullets that hit the enemy to the clip
  • Mother Lode – gives you a chance to keep equipment after using it
  • Resurrectionist – revive downed allies faster
    • Legendary – automatically revive nearby allies
  • Splatterfest – any enemy killed by explosions has a chance to explode itself
  • Unholy Ground – deal more damage to enemies while you’re stationary
    • Legendary – this perk is active for a short time after you start moving

The first row of three is a selection of three Vanguard Zombies covenant buffs, and the second is what's already equipped.

The best Call of Duty Zombies covenants

It’s still early days, but already it’s clear that some combinations of covenants and perks are worthy of consideration. The obvious synergy between two different covenants is Cryofreezer and Cull the Weak, but you can also combine both covenants with a fully upgraded Diabolical Damage perk and an automatic weapon like an assault rifle or SMG to deal maximum damage to slowed enemies. However, other options such as Mother Lode and Splatterfest incentivise you to throw more grenades at enemies, causing an explosive chain reaction to deal with large clusters of zombies.

You should now have all the information you need about Call of Duty Vanguard Zombies covenants to make the best choice for your loadout. Some of the Call of Duty Vanguard guns work better with covenants than others, so it’s worth seeing how you can tinker with these weapons to get the most out of them. For those who prefer competitive multiplayer, we have a list of the best Call of Duty Vanguard perks and details about every one of the Call of Duty Vanguard maps.