Thundergun

The Thundergun is a wonder weapon featured in the Zombies game mode and can also be found via an Easter egg in the Call of Duty: Black Ops campaign mission "Numbers". It appears in the Zombies maps Kino der Toten, Ascension, and the Call of Duty: Black Ops edition of Nacht der Untoten and reappears in Call of Duty: Black Ops III on the zombies map Revelations and the remastered versions of Nacht der Untoten, Kino der Toten and Ascension. It also appears in Call of Duty Online in Cyborg Rising mode. It appears once again in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 in the map Tag der Toten. 
==Call of Duty: Black Ops==
===Overview===
The Thundergun is a large, cannon-shaped weapon that fires blasts of incredibly strong compressed air. It has no iron sights, meaning it must be fired from the hip (although when observed in third person, it is held on the shoulder). It is able to kill large numbers of zombies with a single shot, sending them flying backwards or up. Those who are not killed by the blast are thrown backwards and will remain on the ground for a few seconds before getting back up. The Thundergun holds two rounds in its magazine, and has 12 rounds in reserve. The Thundergun can only be reloaded when all shots have been fired. The Thundergun is important during the later rounds as it is useful for clearing large groups of zombies in order to reach a downed teammate or make an escape. It is extremely useful when swarmed as it will easily kill a large group of zombies in one shot.
It is often used as a reserve weapon, as it has a low amount of ammunition and a moderately slow reload. It can only be reloaded when the entire magazine is empty, except in the campaign mission "Numbers", where one is able to execute a partial reload, and on the Wii version of the game. Because of this, it is advised to shoot any extra rounds in a magazine before obtaining a Max Ammo power-up. Wasting ammo on one zombie or a small group is not advisable. It is also a decent weapon against Hellhounds as it can easily take large numbers of them out and will always kill them in one hit, with there also being a Max Ammo power-up at the end of a Hellhound round.
===Campaign===
The Thundergun can be found and used in the campaign level "Numbers" as an easter egg, similar to the Ray Gun in the Call of Duty: World at War campaign mission "Little Resistance".
The Thundergun found in "Numbers" comes with two shots in the magazine and 12 shots in reserve. However, unlike in Zombies, it is possible to reload without needing the entire magazine to be emptied. It also gains a full ammunition refill after sliding down the pipe and at the second weapons cache. Because of this, it becomes very useful when playing on Veteran difficulty. In essence, it works much like an extremely powerful shotgun, throwing and almost always instantly killing anyone caught in its massive spread, often with enough force to tear off limbs.
The player can swap out for another weapon, and the player will be able to pick it back up. Sometimes after picking up another weapon, however, the Thundergun becomes unusable because of a bug.
The steps and video on how to do it are shown below:
#After the interrogation scene ends there are six big white canisters in front of the player on the walls. (Note: they are not the small propane tanks on the ground; they are the big white ones).
#Shoot, or throw grenades at all six canisters until Nova 6 comes out (Note: the player must cause damage to the canisters before the enemies do, so the player might want to flashbang the enemies to prevent them shooting the canisters), the screen will shake when this step is completed.
#Run past the ladder to a small room connected to where the player first starts the mission.
#If done correctly the player will see a black tape sticking out of a cassette player next to the door way.
#Hold down the action key and the tape will disappear from the cassette player, or the obvious shake in the screen as cue.
#Continue on until the player gets to the first of Clarke's weapon caches, behind the fridge after the rooftop jump.
#Look to the left and the player should find a cassette player.
#When at the cassette player, press the use button and the cassette will go in.
#If done correctly, notice the tape goes in and the player hears several tunes, and the screen shakes.
#The Thundergun will appear on the wall above the cassette player.
337px|right|CoD: Black Ops - Thunder Gun Easter Egg
===Zombies===
The Thundergun can be obtained through the Mystery Box for 950 points in the maps Kino der Toten and Ascension, and in the revamped Call of Duty: World at War map Nacht der Untoten. It shoots a compressed air shock-wave blast that knocks any zombies backwards that survive the original hit. It is not advised to upgrade it until out of ammo.
When Pack-a-Punched via the Pack-a-Punch Machine, it becomes the ZeusCannon. The ZeusCannon's magazine capacity is increased to four, and its reserve capacity is increased to 24. It has increased range and radius, and can now knock over zombies off-screen.
The Thundergun is one of the most useful weapons in Zombies Mode, especially when another player is downed. It can clear huge amounts of the undead with minimum effort, which can help the player reach the downed player extremely easily. It can kill multiple zombies without hassle and can save the player's life, but the downside is its short range. Despite being unusable, the Thundergun also makes an appearance in "Five" in the weapons-testing lab, suggesting that the Thundergun was found by the United States and was being reverse engineered by the Pentagon.
It is debatable whether or not the Thundergun is better than the Wunderwaffe DG-2. The Thundergun will kill all the zombies within its range and, unlike the Wunderwaffe, it does not hurt the player when fired at close range. However, the Wunderwaffe DG-2 can kill zombies which would normally be out of the Thundergun's blast range, and has the ability to kill zombies around corners. The Thundergun also has less ammo overall, and cannot be reloaded without unloading the magazine, unlike the Wunderwaffe DG-2. It is, for all intents and purposes, impossible to miss with the Thundergun if the zombies are within its range, whereas missing with the Wunderwaffe DG-2 is certainly possible.
===Thundergun vs ZeusCannon===
===Creation===
The Thundergun was originally thought by Richtofen to have been created by Dr. Maxis and that Maxis had been deliberately hiding it from him as he grew to not trust Richtofen, although this could mean that Richtofen did not trust Maxis and became paranoid. Richtofen even referred to it as the DG-3 (meaning he considered it to be the Wunderwaffe DG-2's successor). However, one of the radios in the map, Ascension reveals the true creation of the Thundergun. It was a Russian weapon codenamed "Project Thunder" and was being worked on by the Ascension Group under Anton Gersh's direction. Gersh knew about its range problem and was trying to fix it. He also knew about its small ammo (power cell) count.
===Gallery===
Thunder Gun.png|The Thundergun in Kino der Toten; note the CCCP logo on the green tube
Thundergun Reloading BO.png|Reloading the Thundergun
tape player.jpg|Interact with the tape player to continue
thundergun ready.jpg|Thundergun ready for pick up
Thunder gun spawn.jpg|Zombie like arrow indicating the Thundergun "spawn" point
ZeusCannon.png|The "ZeusCannon"
COD BO Five M16 and Thunder Gun.jpg
Dempseythunder.jpg|"Tank" Dempsey holding the Thundergun
Moonloadingscreen.png|Thundergun seen in Moon's loading screen, on the right side of left page
Ascension.jpg|The Thundergun in Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies
Zeus Cannon eliminating zombies Iphone version.PNG|Zombies turn to ashes instead of disappearing in the iOS version
Zeus Cannon in action iphone version.PNG|Firing the ZeusCannon in the iOS version
==Call of Duty Online==
The Thundergun can be obtained from the Mystery Box in Cyborg Rising mode.
==Call of Duty: Black Ops III==
===Overview===
The Thundergun returns in Call of Duty: Black Ops III available from the Mystery Box in Revelations and the remastered versions of Nacht der Untoten, Kino der Toten, and Ascension.
The Thundergun performs near identical as its Call of Duty: Black Ops version, killing large numbers of zombies with a single shot. It also has a new look and animations and zombies killed with it can now drop power ups. It still holds the same ammo capacity as the Black Ops version. When Pack-a-Punched, it becomes the Zeus Cannon, with a larger magazine and more ammo and a larger radius, much like its Black Ops version.
In Revelations, the Thundergun is also very effective against the Margwas and Panzersoldats, being able to take them down in as little as three shots.
===Thundergun vs Zeus Cannon===
===Gallery===
Thundergun BO3.png|The Thundergun in first person
Thundergun Reload BO3.png|Reloading the Thundergun
Thundergun Pickup BO3.png|Picking the Thundergun up
Zeus Cannon BO3.png|The Zeus Cannon in first person
==Call of Duty: Black Ops 4==
The Thundergun reappears in Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 on the map Tag der Toten.
===Gallery===
Thundergun BO4.png|First-person view
Thundergun Reload BO4.png|Reloading
Thundergun Third-Person BO4.png|Third-person view
Thundergun Blast BO4.png|Blast from the Thundergun
Thundergun Model BO4.png
==Trivia==
===Call of Duty: Black Ops===
*Anton Gersh can be seen holding the Thundergun on the Ascension poster.
*In Zombies mode, while a single kill with the Thundergun gives the player 50 points, each additional kill provides less points and the total amount can not exceed a total of 300, meaning that killing 24 zombies will still add 300 points to the players score.
*The sound heard when receiving the Thundergun in "Numbers" come from transmissions of GKNOVA6.
*The gun has "Остережение большой плохой волк" written on its side, which is Russian for "Caution: Big Bad Wolf".
*The two red glowing lights on the front of the canister when loaded into the gun indicate how many shots are left in the magazine. When upgraded there are three lights visible as one of them is hidden by other parts of the gun. This is fixed on the iOS/Android version of the game. This is also the case in Black Ops III.
**From the animation, it appears as if it should be able to hold a maximum of eight rounds should Maxis and Gersh have fixed the Thundergun's magazine problem.
*If zombies that are knocked down by the Thundergun's blast are attacked by players, they will instantly be back up on their feet, instead of slowly rising up.
*The Thundergun deals no friendly fire damage in "Numbers".
*There is an unusable Thundergun in a metal locker in "Five". It is in the same room as the unusable Winter's Howl and Death Machine.
*If the player turns off rag doll effects, zombies will not fly backwards when shot; they just fall as if they were taken out by conventional weapons.
*Occasionally, zombies caught at close range in the blast will not be affected at all, as if the weapon missed them entirely. This seems to occur more often on higher rounds, though a second blast will usually work. 
*"Stainless Steel" can be seen written on the Thundergun.
*The Thundergun was originally going to be a usable weapon on "Five", as there are quotes in the games files for each character, as can be seen here.
*The Thundergun in "Numbers" can be reloaded mid-magazine.
**When the Thundergun in "Numbers" is reloaded mid-magazine, the current magazine will disappear and the empty reload is executed, as the Thundergun has no mid-magazine reload animation.
***Also, the glowing lights will still be visible, even though the magazine is out.
**In the Nintendo Wii Version of Call of Duty: Black Ops, if the player obtains the Thundergun from the Mystery Box on single player before updating their game, it is possible to aim down its sights.
***It is also possible to reload mid-magazine on single player before updating the game.
*** In the Nintendo Wii Version of Call Of Duty: Black Ops, there is no orange/red glow is present on the Thundergun.
**Before an unspecified patch, the Thundergun could be reloaded mid-magazine on Kino der Toten.
*Zombies killed by the Thundergun will not drop power-ups unless they are killed by the long range blast that doesn't do infinite damage.
**However, in the mobile version of the game and Black Ops III, they are able to drop power-ups.
*The ZeusCannon's wind shot looks slightly purple on the inside.
*An ad for the Thundergun can be seen on the loading screen for Moon.
*The Thundergun has visible iron sights, although the ability to use them was never featured in the game.
*In the mobile version, Zombies are instead turned to ashes instead of being blasted away.
===Call of Duty: Black Ops II===
*According to Call of Duty: Black Ops II PC game files, the Thundergun was originally going to appear in the game, but was removed for unknown reasons.
===Call of Duty: Black Ops III===
*The Thundergun does not have a wall running animation.
*Though the Thundergun lacks the ability to zoom aim, from a third person view, the character model retains the zoomed in animation.
*All four glowing lights can now be seen on the the Zeus Cannon. The front end of the weapon also now seems to bounce back when firing, where the former incarnation of the weapon just had a generic recoil animation.
*During an Insta-Kill, the Thundergun has infinite range.
Category:Call of Duty: Black Ops Wonder Weapons
Category:Call of Duty: Black Ops Single Player Weapons
Category:Easter eggs
Category:Call of Duty Online Wonder Weapons
Category:Call of Duty: Black Ops III Wonder Weapons
Category:Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Wonder Weapons