The Pack-a-Punch machine must be activated to begin the Quest line, similar to the Liberty Falls and Terminus quests. The game will provide waypoints for where to go and what to do, such as using your essence to unlock certain marked doors. Eventually, you’ll encounter a door that can’t be unlocked with essence. To open it up, make your way to the battlements, rotate the lion cannon, and use it to blow up the main entrance of the castle.
The objective markers will become visible again inside; as you go down the stairs and into the final room, players will find a container with three locks. Shoot the three locks off the container door to activate an encounter with a Doppleghast, which you must kill. Afterward, pick up the Blood Aetherium Crytal the creature drops when you kill it, and put it in the portal inside the container you opened to unlock the Pack-a-Punch Machine.
After activating the Pack-a-Punch machine, players will need to speak with Krafft in the dungeon (he’s located on the left door that you have to interact with). This will then unlock the Alchemical lab.
On the way back to the room where the Pack-a-Punch machine is located, players can find the four Bastard Swords, each held by suits of armor in the dining hall. Each sword relates to a different emblem on the suits of armor. In order to complete the main quest, all four swords need to be upgraded. To get the swords, you will need to kill zombies that wear medieval helmets, which only spawn after you survive past round ten. The helmeted zombies will drop stamps that can then be exchanged for the swords, and the stamps are not exclusive to any specific sword, meaning that you can unlock them in any order you want.
Upgrade the Dragon Bastard Sword to Caliburn After exchanging a stamp for the Dragon Bastard Sword in the dining hall, take the sword to the Dining Hall Passage, where you’ll see a stone dragon statue that you must place the sword into, which will activate three braziers around the map.
From this point forward, you’ll need to locate each brazier. Whenever you find one, it will light the player on fire and slowly drain your health. When lit on fire, your objective is to return to the dragon statue from whatever brazier you interacted with and then interact with the statue to “deliver the payload.” To keep from dying on the way to the statue while you’re on fire, punching and killing zombies will completely restore your health. Below is the location of the three Braziers:
Southeast in the Town Square (spawn area), in the corner of the building next to the clock tower Southeast in the tunnel of the Nature Path To the left of the Lion cannon used earlier, in the Village Ramparts (this one is closest to the dragon statue). Once the third and final Brazier flame is transferred to the dragon statue, the dragon will come to life and breathe fire on the sword, transforming it into Caliburn, and you’ll have your first upgraded sword.
Upgrade the Stag Bastard Sword to Durendal After getting another stamp and exchanging it for the Stag Bastard sword. However, three lightning rods must first be recovered throughout the Citadelle Des Morts map before we can upgrade this sword. The three lightning rods are in the following locations:
At the Hilltop, leaning against boxes to the left of the Deadshot Daiquiri Perk At a Fuse Box in the Upper Village across from the Speed Cola, equip the Deadwire Ammo Perk, and shoot the fuse box to make it drop the second lightning rod The third and final lightning rod will drop when killing a random zombie After obtaining all three lightning rods, go to the Hillside Ramparts, and on the left side of the location, you’ll see a vase-shaped object. Interact with it to place all three rods, which will cause a thunderstorm in that area. From here, infinite zombies will continue to attack you in the area, and players must kill zombies with the Stag sword.
Killing zombies will cause the Stag sword to become imbued with lightning, which you must then use to hit the lightning rods to charge it up. This must be done three times in a row to power up all three rods. Once this is completed and all three rods glow with electricity, place the stag sword into the center of the vase, where it will slowly charge up and become upgraded to the sword Durendal.
Upgrade the Raven Bastard Sword to Balmung After getting another stamp and exchanging it for the Raven Bastard Sword, go to the Alchemical Lab. Now, here is where things get tricky; there is an animal skull displayed somewhere in the lab, though the location and type of skull change every game. So, while this guide can’t tell you exactly where it is, it will either be on one of the bookshelves, on one of the desks, or somewhere in the vicinity of these two locations.
After collecting the skull, players must return to the spawn area, reach the Tavern Cellar, and insert the skull into the circular carvings on the wall of the Tavern Cellar, as well as the Raven sword. Doing this will activate a puzzle. Depending on the type of animal skull you have, you will need to move the symbols in the innermost circle on the wall to the appropriate element and the outermost circles to the appropriate zodiac sign that correlates to your animal. Reddit User Bubbly_Parsley_6651 provided a helpful chart online that details what symbols go with which Zodiac signs to make it easier. All the possible solutions are as follows:
Scorpion: Water + Scorpio Raven Skulls: Air + Gemini Horn: Fire + Aries Jaw: Fire + Leo Fish: Water + Pisces Once you enter the correct combination of symbols into the circular puzzle, a purple portal will open on the floor of the Tavern cellar, along with floating orbs that follow you, and cause damage if they touch you. Be careful not to let the orbs touch you, as they will not respawn until the next round. The goal is to control your movements so that the orbs eventually fall into the portal on the floor.
If done successfully, a second portal and more floating orbs will spawn in the Tavern, where you must repeat the process, which will cause a third and final portal and set of orbs to spawn on the second floor of the Tavern. Once all of them are put in successfully, follow the purple orb back down into the cellar, where it will upgrade the Raven sword into the Balmug.
Upgrade the Lion Bastard Sword to Solais After getting another stamp and exchanging it for the Lion Bastard Sword, players will want to go toward where the Speed Cola perk is in the upper village. Going down the lower ramp and in the small tunnel, there will be a door with a lion’s head on it, which you must hit with the Lion Bastard Sword via melee attack. Every time you do this, a glowing, flying parasite will spawn that you have to kill with the sword, which will glow yellow every time you successfully do so.
Simply hit the door every time you kill a parasite to reveal a new glowing symbol on the door. Once there is a symbol on every corner of the door, melee it once more to “knock” on it, which will then teleport you into a sanctuary with a pedestal to place the Lion Sword in.
Placing the sword into the pedestal will trigger various symbols to light up and spread throughout the sanctuary. The goal for the player is to see which symbol engraved on the pedestal is glowing, then shoot that corresponding symbol floating somewhere in the Sanctuary. Rinse and repeat this until you’ve matched all four symbols. Once this is completed, you’ll have upgraded the Lion Bastard Sword to Solais.
How to Locate the Torn Page Fragments in Citadelle Des Morts To find the four torn page fragments, go into the Sitting Room of the castle (you’ll know it because it’s where the Stamin-Up machine is). To save time on this puzzle, be sure to carefully retrieve the page fragments based on where they are placed in the room from the left side to the right. The spawn points for these glowing pages change every match and can be tricky to find as they are surprisingly well hidden.
After collecting all four pages, ensure you have the Melee Macchiato perk, which you must use when going down into the Undercroft. Hit the wall at the end of the room, which looks obviously breakable and differently shaded, revealing a new puzzle and wall of symbols.
Solve the Undercroft Code Wall Puzzle This puzzle can be tricky simply because it requires memorizing six different symbols. After revealing the hidden wall with the various symbols, you must return to the spawn area and proceed to the Tavern, where you can find six bottles with the Roman numerals I through VI on them. Each bottle has a different symbol, and the goal is to memorize which bottle has which symbol and shoot the corresponding symbols on the wall in numerical order. Be careful, though, as every time you shoot the correct symbol, the wall changes the order in which it has these symbols.
The bottles in the tavern are as follows:
I: On the Bar in the Tavern on the left-hand side II: On the table in the Tavern next to the Barricade on the Northeast side III: On the booth in the Tavern that is above the cellar staircase IV: On the Tavern’s second floor, next to the pool table V: Located across from the armor upgrade in the Tavern, placed on a booth VI: On a small round table next to one of the entrances in the Tavern Instead of constantly going back up and down from the Tavern to the Undercroft, players should take screenshots of each bottle to know which symbols to shoot in order. After shooting all six symbols on the wall in the correct order, a red orb will appear and reveal a hidden slot next to the wall puzzle containing a book. Place the four torn page fragments into the book to begin the next puzzle.
Find the Book Symbols and Traps After placing the four torn pages onto the hidden book, four glowing red symbols will appear, each correlating to four different points of traps that will now be activated on the Citadelle Des Morts map. The four symbols in the book differ in every game, so we can’t definitively tell you where to go.
To complete this part of the puzzle, you need to activate the traps that correspond with the symbols in the book in the correct order. You must do the trap for the top left page first, then the bottom left symbol, then the top right symbol, and lastly, the bottom right. When locating these power trap symbols on the map, you’ll know you’re at the correct one when it is outlined in white.
Interact with the symbol on the floor and stay in the circle, allowing you to fire special bullets from your weapons. After killing a certain amount of zombies while standing on the symbol, you’ll get dialogue from Krafft indicating you completed it. The symbols will disappear from the book as you complete each power trap.
Find the Four Animal Ritual Items Once the Symbol Power Traps are all completed, you’ll want to locate four different Animal Ritual Items, as well as upgrade them. Here are the locations of the four animal ritual items, as well as how to upgrade them:
Ottos Horseshoe: hanging above the door of the Barn located at the Nature Path. Shoot at the horseshoe to enable you to pick it up off the ground. After retrieving it, go to the hillside Ramparts across the castle’s entrance, aim the Lion cannon towards the spawn area, and then shoot yourself out of it. This will create a trail of lightning that will follow you as you land in spawn and a storm cloud above the map. Follow the storm cloud, which will spawn zombies you must kill, eventually upgrading the item to the Pegasus’ Horseshoe . Ra’s Ank: To begin, craft three Molotovs, which you have to throw at three different locations on the map— one at a bonfire at the top of a castle in the Rampart area, one above the entrance to the castle, which you can see when facing towards where the Lion cannon is facing, and one bonfire that is above the speed cola. After lighting the final bonfire, a Doppelghast will spawn. Killing it will cause it to drop the Ra’s Ank item. Paladin’s Brooch: Go to the Dining Hall where all the armor suits are located, which have upgradable swords. Above the Vulture Aid Perk in the area is a red crystal players must shoot. This will create a beam of light pointing to another red crystal, and you must shoot each one that the light points to until you create a beam of light that leads to the Alchemical lab. When the light hits a statue/bust, it generates the Brooch, which you can pick up. Ravens Talon: In the Pack-a-Punch room, take the secret slide entrance back to the spawn area. During the animation sequence of using the slide, shoot a raven that you see on the right side near the exit of the area. This will cause the Raven to fly out into the open area of the map. Quickly shoot it; it will drop the final ritual item you need, the Raven’s Talon. After collecting the four ritual items as well as upgrading whichever ones are necessary, four golden circles will appear around the map. They work similarly to the Book Symbols traps mentioned earlier, and you must take each item and place it in the appropriate section, which will trigger waves of zombies you have to kill to complete the upgrades for each item. The Golden Circle locations are as follows;
Pegasus’ Horseshoe – Town Center Raven’s Talon – Castle Undercroft Ra’s Ankh – Castle Courtyard Paladin’s Brooch – Castle Dining Room Solve the Animal Symbol Puzzle Once all the above steps are done correctly, go to the Undercroft stairs, where the wall will now show four animal symbols (each represents one of the four upgraded swords) and a Roman numeral next to each one. As with several other steps here, the Roman numerical sequence for each animal symbol is randomized in each game. Be sure to memorize which animal goes first according to the numbers and the color associated with the animal symbol.
Depending on the order, you’ll want to find the box associated with the upgraded sword on the map. Unlock the box with the sword, pick up the incantation related to it, and return to the Dining Hall, where you’ll use the incantation on the armor as well as place the sword on the suit of armor, which will cause it to raise its arm as well as making it glow gold (if done correctly). Here are the locations of each incantation box:
Caliburn Sword – At the Entrance Hall of the Castle Durendal Sword – Town Square, Northwest, next to a boarded-up gate Balmung Sword – Undercroft, to the left of the entrance Solais Sword – Dining Hall, to the right of the doorway facing South Once the incantations and swords are placed on each suit of armor (in the correct order depending on the animal symbol that spawned for you in the Undercroft), a Mystic Orb will spawn in the center of the Dining Hall.
Charge the Mystic Orb Now that you have the mystic orb, you must take the orb to four different locations around the Citadelle Des Morts map and complete elemental challenges to charge the Orb. For once, it doesn’t matter what order you do these challenges. There will be small circular metal components sticking out of the wall where you will need to place the Orb to start the challenge, located in the following areas:
Caliburn (Dragon) – [Located in Castle Courtyard] Get elemental fire kills near the orb using the sword, the Napalm Burst ammo mod, or other fire-related items like Molotovs. Durendal Sword (Stag)– [Located in Town Center] Get Electrical elemental kills in the town center using the sword or the dead wire ammo mod. Balmung (Raven) – [Located in Undercroft] Get Void elemental kills using the Dark Incantation or the Shadow Rift ammo mod. Solais (Lion) – [Located in the Dining Room on the second floor] stays in the green orbs around the room and g ets kills. Defeat the Guardian in the Citadelle des Morts Final Encounter in Black Ops 6 Zombies After what will undoubtedly be twenty-plus rounds of zombies, all of these extensive and tedious steps will finally be completed with the mystic orbs’ charging. Before triggering the final encounter, ensure you have all the perks unlocked, as well as whatever Pack-a-Punched weapons you need for the final boss. Once you’re good and ready, take the charged orb and place it in the wall where the Undercroft stairs are located, at the center of the four animal symbols. This will then give you the Guardian Key, which you must take to the statue in the town center. This will then trigger the final boss fight.
From here, it’s entirely up to you to vanquish the Guardian in Citadelle des Morts, which will then complete the exhaustive main quest line of the zombie map in Black Ops 6 Zombies.
Completing the quest line will reward you with the Jackknife Operator Skin for Weaver, 5,000 XP, and a calling card.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6isavailable now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.
The above article was updated on 12/31/2024 by the original author to include the Citadelle des Morts Quest in Black Ops 6 Zombies.