COD Zombies: Best Mini-Boss Enemies

Mini-boss enemies in Call of Duty Zombies often involve special and elite variants of zombies that add further challenge to the excitement of round-based gameplay. Almost every Call of Duty Zombies game features a unique mini-boss enemy that has a few tricks up its sleeve to keep gameplay challenging, exciting, and even at times, frustrating.

Yet, across Treyarch’s 7 entries into the COD Zombies franchise, which mini-boss enemy serves as the most iconic? After all, if these enemies are to stand out against the hordes of relentless undead, they need to have unique aesthetics and mechanics that make them a true threat.

8 Amalgams

An Amalgamation of Zombies That Feast on Players and Other Zombies for Health

Amalgams are a recent addition to Black Ops 6, and they certainly bring back the horror vibes into the series. Amalgams are a cluster of zombies trapped within one fleshy being. Riddled with arms and legs oozing out of its skin, the Amalgam is an Elite Zombie that will make anyone’s skin crawl, and its unrelenting pursuit is terrifying.

The Amalgam has the ability in which it can use a tether to grab players and pull them into its grasp. It deals a great amount of damage, and the only way to avoid it is to keep a safe distance from the Amalgam, an enemy that has hard-to-reach critical hit spots and will eat zombies to heal itself.

7 Mimics

A Shapeshifting Zombie That Can Disguise Itself as Floor Loot

• Featured in: Firebase Z, Mauer der Toten, Forsaken

The Mimic is certainly an enemy to fear, for it has shapeshifting abilities that will make it hard to trust what’s been dropped on the floor. Whether players see some ammunition, a scorestreak, or an armor plate, they might be fooled as a Mimic pops up with a screech, ready to attack the player.

The Mimic plays somewhat like the Amalgam with its grab attack, but it’s far easier to kill. The problem with the Mimic is in its unpredictable nature, as players may just be running through a zombie train only to accidentally step on an obvious Mimic trap that’s immovable.

6 Megaton

Irradiated Goliaths That Split Into Two When Killed

• Featured in: Die Maschine

The Megaton only has one appearance, but it was certainly noteworthy. The Megaton was an elite zombie that roamed Die Maschine and could truly spice up the way that players interacted with the hordes of undead due to this hulking and irradiated mass that would charge at players with its absurd health pool.

The Megaton was a bullet sponge, and even when killed, it would simply split in two and share its health between the double trouble. Splitting into a Blaster and a Bomber, both of these enemies would have their own threatening mechanics, and players could easily be wiped out in two hits on later rounds if they were not careful.

5 Margwa

Three-Headed Tentacle Monsters With Deadly Slam Attacks and Charges

• Featured in: Shadows of Evil, Revelations

The Margwa was an intimidating enemy type that appeared in Shadows of Evil and Revelations, teleporting into the map with a purple smoke effect. If players run too far from the Margwa, it will just teleport once more within the area. It’s one of the harder mini-bosses to kill due to its deadly slam attack and its quickened speeds when enraged.

Players can only damage the Margwa when one of its mouths is open, but destroying the first one will cause it to sprint, which disrupts trains and genuinely just scares players due to how fast they can charge and how one slam attack could be the end.

4 Manglers

Slower Zombie Soldiers That Fire Tracking Cannon Blasts

• Featured in: Gorod Krovi, Firebase Z, Mauer der Toten, Forsaken, Terminus, Liberty Falls

The Mangler doesn’t know when to quit, and it’s featured in a variety of maps all the way from Black Ops 3 to its most recent and common appearances in Black Ops 6. The Mangler is a special zombie that has quite an abundance of spawns per round, thus adding to the challenge in high-round games due to the overwhelming numbers and damage output.

The Mangler has a cannon that can track players, so avoiding its violent blast is pretty tough. The Mangler does have some fair weak spots, like the cannon itself, and shooting off the armored helmet on its head. Manglers spawn quite frequently, but they’re a fair enough staple.

3 Panzersoldat

A Zombie Within a Mech Suit That Fires Explosives, Tethers, and Fire

• Featured in: Origins, Der Eisendrache, Revelations

The Panzersoldat is another iconic mini-boss that many players will fear. As he descends down to the map, he begins a chase that will only end with him dead or the player. The Panzer has a varied move set, and in his first map of Origins, he can use a grapple to pull players toward him so that he has an easier time in beating and burning them to death.

The Panzersoldat has a great design and fits perfectly with the aesthetics, and if players want to easily kill them, they are going to need a Wonder Weapon, or else all their other weapons will feel like throwing a sponge at a tank on repeat. The Panzer overwhelms with its speed and flamethrowers, so try and get rid of this monster immediately.

2 The Warden

Alcatraz’s Demonic Warden Who Chases Players and Locks Down Perks

• Featured in: Mob of the Dead, Blood of the Dead

The Warden of Alcatraz is another mini-boss enemy that won’t stop in his chase to take the player out with his security guard baton. The Warden’s hulking steps are intimidating, and his bullet-train charge is something to fear when he roars into the map every so often.

The Warden has some great lore behind him too with his ties to the Apothicons, and the fact that he can run around the map of Alcatraz and shut down Perks, the Mystery Box, and crafting tables, really shows that he’s not one to mess with, and should be put down fast.

1 George A. Romero

The Zombie Godfather Who is Always on the Hunt

• Featured in: Call of the Dead

George A. Romero is an absolute icon when it comes to zombies as a whole. This legendary horror movie director shapes the zombies audiences know and love today, and it’s great to see him involved in Call of the Dead. George A. Romero doesn’t just play a respectable cameo, but he actually plays a vital part in the way Call of the Dead feels due to his torment as a mini-boss.

George A. Romero will follow players around, slowly walking towards them with nothing to stop him. If players get hit by him or players shoot him, he becomes enraged and will chase players down until they calm him with some ice water. While George can be killed, he will always come back, and this is the series’ first and most iconic mini-boss.