The Staff of Ice is a bit of an oddity among Call of Duty Wonder Weapons. While its base version is rather weak, its upgraded variant is a must-have for high rounds and main quest Easter egg runs. Here’s how to upgrade the Staff of Ice in Black Ops 6 Zombies.
There are only two major prerequisites before you can upgrade the Staff of Ice on The Tomb in Black Ops 6 Zombies. The first is to obtain the Ice Staff itself. This Wonder Weapon can be acquired from the Mystery Box, or you can build the Staff of Ice by acquiring its three parts.
Many of the steps to upgrade the Staff of Ice revolve around and are housed within the Dark Aether Nexus. To progress the upgrade quest, make sure to open the Door to Nowhere and gain access to the Dark Aether as soon as possible.
The first step of the Ice Staff’s upgrade request revolves around the crystals within the Dark Aether lanterns. These lanterns can be found in the underground areas of The Tomb, with a black frame and glowing purple fire.
You’ll need to use the Staff of Ice to freeze three Dark Aether Crystals in rapid succession. For the best luck at this step, make sure you have Stamin-Up and/or PHD Flopper with the Tribologist Minor Augment, as both these perks vastly improve movement speed.
The route you take for this step is extremely important, as is manipulating the Dark Aether lantern spawns themselves. As such, you may find it worthwhile to wait a few rounds to rotate the locations and get them as close together as possible. The fastest route to take is to start in the tomb area of the map and shoot the crystal there. Then, do the same at the Shrine of the Hierophants, then the lantern at the entrance to the Subterranean Temple. Make sure that one of the Dark Aether lanterns pictured above is active, as the other location near Quick Revive is too far to get to in time. Once you’ve completed this step successfully, you’ll get a quote from Archibald. Then, head into the Dark Aether Nexus.
Once you’ve completed the first step, look for three specific floating rocks in the sky of the Dark Aether Nexus. Each of these will have a glowing purple Rune on them with a specific symbol. These can change every game, so make note of the symbol on each floating rock.
Once you find one of the floating rocks with a glowing Rune, shoot the Rune with your Staff of Ice. This can be tricky to aim accurately, but you should get a hitmarker when done successfully. Doing this will make the respective rock float downward, which makes it far easier to spot the Rune on it. It may also be worth considering having a sniper rifle or any weapon with a medium-high zoom scope so you can spot the symbols more easily.
These rocks can be shot in any order, so as long as you eventually shoot all three with the Staff of Ice.
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Once you’ve successfully completed the second step to upgrade the Staff of Ice in Black Ops 6 Zombies, run around the Dark Aether Nexus until you find one of the portals back to the main map to be replaced with a stone wall. Head back to the corresponding area within the map. There, you’ll see a wall with several glowing Runic icons. Three of these Runes will match the symbols you noted earlier on the floating rocks within the Dark Aether Nexus. Shoot the three symbols you spotted earlier with the Ice Staff. This will open and re-open the portal.
It’s important to note that the portal will open regardless of whether the three symbols you shoot are the correct ones or not. However, if you do not shoot the correct symbols with your Staff of Ice, you will spawn in the incorrect location and be dropped from mid-air within the Dark Aether Nexus. If you fail this step several times, you may need to wait until the next round or so before you see the stone wall back in your game.
If the three symbols you shot with the Staff of Ice are the correct ones, you’ll find yourself on a floating rock in the air once you head into the Dark Aether Nexus. A purple orb will be in front of you. Hold to interact with it.
Once you’ve interacted with the Orb, it will start moving. Follow the Orb, and get kills near it. You’ll notice a purple trail flowing from the killed zombies into the Orb. This is what powers its movement, so be sure to play aggressively and get lots of zombie kills near the Orb to keep it moving in the right direction. Eventually, the Orb will settle at the structure within the center of the Dark Aether Nexus. The Orb will settle within the structure, making the appearance of a small purple portal. Hold to interact with it, and your Staff of Ice will be upgraded to the Ull’s Arrow.
The Ull’s Arrow upgraded Staff of Ice has similar abilities to the one in the classic Origins map. Like the old version of the Wonder Weapon from Black Ops 2 and 3, Ull’s Arrow has a powerful charge attack that does high AoE damage. It also gains an alternate fire type, which is capable of reviving other downed players.
And that’s how to upgrade the Staff of Ice in Black Ops 6 Zombies.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6isavailable now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC
