Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Zero Abilities Breakdown – How Scorestreaks and Abilities React to Her Skills

black ops 4 zero op

In case you didn’t know, Treyarch released a new Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 Specialist this week on PS4, and her name is Zero. Players can unlock Zero by earning the first tier in the Operation Absolute Zero Contraband stream.

As for the abilities of  the Black Ops 4 Zero Specialist character, she has the EMP Disruptor as her Special Issue, and the Ice Pick as her Weapon, which are both used to confuse, disorient and hack the enemy rather than downright be lethal.

With Zero’s abilities focusing more on hacking instead of outright killing enemies, some might be wondering how her skills react to scorestreaks, abilities and more. Thankfully, we now have the answer to that. We list down how each scorestreak and Specialist ability behaves against her EMP and Ice Pick, and you might be surprised at the results.

EMP Disruptor:

Aside from affecting the HUD of the enemy, the Disruptor also stops people from using their Specialist ability for the duration of the EMP grenade (around five seconds), though if you already have it out, you can continue using it. It can work through walls and has a pretty big generous AoE (area of effect). Each enemy tagged (hit) with the EMP will grant the Zero user 10 points each.

Specialist Effects:

  • Stops Firebreak’s Reactor Core.
  • Destroys Seraph’s Spawn Beacon even through walls, as long as the AoE is within the radius.
  • Destroys Torque’s Razor Wire as long as within AoE.
  • Will negate the  microwave effect of Torque’s Barricade, though the Barricade itself will still be usable.
  • Destroys Nomad’s Mesh Mines as long as within AoE.
  • Destroys Crash’s Assault Pack as long as within AoE.
  • Destroys Prophet’s Seeker Mine as long as within AoE.
  • Destroys Recon’s Sensor Dart as long as within AoE.
  • Destroys any equipment in its AoE.
  • Trophy System can be destroyed by the EMP as long as it’s not thrown within line of sight. If you want to destroy the Trophy System, throw the EMP close to a wall where the Trophy System is, or somewhere near it and the EMP’s generous radius will destroy it.

Scorestreak Effects:

  • RC-XD won’t be destroyed by the EMP even with a direct hit.
  • Sentry Guns will be disabled but not destroyed. Note that the Sentry Gun will not fire even when the effects of the grenade are done.
  • Disables the Mantis but not destroys it.
  • Drone Squad will get destroyed ASAP when it’s within the EMP’s AoE.
  • Note that the EMP cannot affect aerial scorestreaks (Strike Team is not affected in any way as well).

How to counter the EMP Disruptor:

Equipping Tac Mask (perk 1 tier) will negate any effects of the EMP.

Ice Pick:

Will affect entire enemy team’s HUD, prevent them from using any scorestreaks, abilities, weapons. For the HUD, it will show enemy dots on the enemy mini map even if there aren’t any, life, ammo counter and more will all show random numbers. Note that when damaged during the Ice Pick hacking time, players will not be able to heal as well. It’s most powerful use however, is destroying or hijacking scorestreaks! We’ve compiled the list below on what it hacks and destroys. The Ice Pick duration lasts 30 seconds and once activated, Zero will show up on the enemy mini-map while it’s active, and there is NO known counter to the Ice Pick as far as we know.

Ice Pick Effect on Specialist Abilities and Equipment:

  • Will hack and make Torque’s Barricade yours with a full microwave effect.
  • Will hack and make Recon’s Sensor Dart yours.
  • Will hack and make Nomad’s Mesh Mine yours.
  • Will hack and make Crash’s Assault Pack yours.
  • Will hack and make Prophet’s Seeker Mine yours (which will attack the enemy team).
  • Will destroy the Seraph’s Spawn Beacon.
  • Will hack and make the enemy’s Trophy System yours.

Ice Pick Effect on Scorestreaks:

  • Dart -Destroys it.
  • RC-XD – Destroys it.
  • UAV – Hack and make it yours.
  • CUAV – Hack and make it yours.
  • Care Package – Hack and make it yours (meaning: you can pick it up super fast and you can see it on the map as if you’re using the Engineer perk).
  • Lightning Strike – No effect.
  • Sentry Guns – Hack and make it yours.
  • Hellstorm Missile – Can be destroyed if you happen to call it in when the enemy Hellstorm calls theirs in.
  • Drone Squad – Hack and make it yours.
  • Snipe’s Nest – Destroys it.
  • Mantis – Destroys it (surprisingly).
  • Tresher – Destroys it.
  • Attack Chopper – Hacks and make it yours.
  • Strike Team – No effect at all.
  • Gunship – Destroys it (will take longer than usual).

As you can see from Zero’s abilities, she’s definitely a pain in the ass to fight against, and definitely game-changer in most objective-based modes. My advice? Use scorestreaks like Care Package, Hellstorm, Lightning Strike, and others that she can’t hack or destroy immediately, or wait for her to use her Ice Pick and then use your high scorestreaks so it’s safe from being hacked.

Are you playing as Zero? What do you make of her abilities so far? Is she too overpowered? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. We hope our Black Ops 4 Zero guide has been useful and if so, do let us know too.

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