You’re freezing. Literally. You are standing in the mud of Northern France, Giants are stepping on your head, and the Panzersoldat is screaming in the distance. If you’re playing Origins in Call of Duty: Black Ops II or the Chronicles remaster in Black Ops III, you know the Ice Staff—or the Staff of Water—is the absolute king of high rounds. But honestly, the base version is kind of a letdown. It’s a pea shooter. To survive past round 25, you need Ull's Arrow.
Getting there is a nightmare if you don't have the symbols memorized. Most players spend half their game squinting at a cheat sheet on their phone while a zombie chews on their ankles. It’s frustrating. But once you understand the logic behind the Crazy Place tiles and the graveyard torches, how to upgrade ice staff becomes second nature. It's basically a memory game mixed with a scavenger hunt, and I’m going to walk you through the nuances that most guides skip over—like why your tiles might not be flipping or how to handle the orb if it glitches.
Solving the Ice Tile Puzzle in the Crazy Place
First things first: head to the Crazy Place. You’ve got to use the blue portal located near Generator 6 (behind the church). Once you’re inside, look up. You’ll see a series of stone tablets floating above the exit portal. On the wall to your right, there’s a blue screen displaying a specific symbol. This is where most people quit because the symbols look like gibberish.
They aren't gibberish. It's a base-3 counting system. The symbols on the ceiling are "ternary" code, while the symbol on the wall is the "key." You need to shoot the ceiling tile that corresponds to the symbol on the wall. If you hit the wrong one, the symbols reset. If you’re playing with a team, tell them to stay away from the portal area so they don't accidentally pull zombies into your line of sight. It’s annoying when a stray bullet hits a tile and ruins your progress.
The Tile Cheat Sheet Logic
The symbols are dots and lines.
- One dot is 1.
- Two dots is 2.
- A horizontal line with a dot over it is 5.
- Two horizontal lines is 10.
Basically, you’re doing quick math in your head while dodging blue elemental walls that try to crush you. Match the wall symbol to the ceiling tile, shoot it with the Ice Staff, and repeat this five times. You’ll hear a chime when it’s done. If Samantha starts talking to you, you’ve nailed the first step of how to upgrade ice staff. If she doesn't, you probably missed a tile or shot them in the wrong order.
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The Graveyard Torch Hunt
Now, get out of the Crazy Place. You need to find three specific tombstones around the map. This is the "Physical World" step. These aren't just any rocks; they are glowing with a faint white/blue aura. You have to freeze them with the Ice Staff and then immediately shoot them with a kinetic weapon—meaning a gun that fires actual bullets. A Ray Gun won't work. The Mauser, the STG-44, or even a sniper rifle will do the trick.
The locations are static, but finding them in the fog is a pain.
- The Giant Footprint near Gen 4: This one is tucked away near the soul box. Look for the tombstone sitting right on the edge of the muddy water. Freeze it. Shatter it.
- Behind the Excavation Site: Go toward the path leading to Gen 2. There’s a tombstone sitting near the giant robot’s footprint. It’s easy to miss if the robot is currently stepping on you.
- The Tank Path near Gen 2: This is usually the last one people find. It’s sitting in the mud near the edge of the map.
Once all three are shattered, a giant blue orb will descend from the sky and hover at the bottom of the Excavation Site. This is the "Celestial Alignment" phase.
Aligning the Rings (The Boring Part)
Go to the bottom of the Dig Site. You’ll see four massive stone rings hanging in the air. On the walls of the catwalks, there are four levers. Each lever rotates a specific ring. You need to flip these levers until all the lights on the rings are glowing blue.
Sometimes the levers are finicky. You might pull one and nothing happens, or it rotates the wrong ring. Just keep circling. Once all four rings show blue lights, go to the very bottom, right under the rings. You’ll see that blue orb you freed earlier. Shoot it with the Ice Staff. The orb will fly up through the rings and head back to the Crazy Place.
The Final Charge: Feeding the Staff
This is the home stretch. Go back to the blue portal at Gen 6 and enter the Crazy Place one last time. Place your Ice Staff on the blue pedestal where you originally picked up the crystal.
Now you need souls. Specifically, zombie souls. You have to kill about 20 to 30 zombies in the vicinity of the pedestal. Their souls will fly into the staff. Pro-tip: Don't use the staff to do this, because you don't have it—it’s on the pedestal. Use a packed weapon or the shield.
Once the staff icon on your HUD glows with an outline, it’s ready. Grab it. You now have Ull's Arrow.
Why Ull's Arrow is Actually Broken
The upgraded Ice Staff isn't just a weapon; it's a map-control tool. When you charge it up (hold the fire button), it creates a localized blizzard. Any zombie that walks into that blizzard is frozen solid and eventually shatters. On high rounds—we’re talking round 50, 70, 100—this is the only thing that keeps you alive in tight corners.
But it has a weakness. It doesn't kill instantly on the highest rounds like the Wind Staff does. It’s a "damage over time" effect. If you’re cornered by a full horde, you can't just spam it and hope for the best. You have to place the blizzard strategically.
Common Mistakes to Avoid:
- Running out of ammo: The upgraded version has more reserve, but it goes fast. Always look for Max Ammo power-ups or use the "Alchemical Antithesis" Gobblegum if you're on BO3.
- The "Melee" glitch: In the original BO2 version, the upgraded staff melee was a one-hit kill for a long time. In the remastered version, it’s still strong, but don't rely on it past round 15.
- Forgetting the Revive: Ull’s Arrow has a secondary fire mode. If you press left on the D-pad (on consoles), you flip the staff around. You can shoot your downed teammates with a blue bolt to revive them instantly from across the map. It’s the ultimate "clutch" move.
Real-World Nuance: BO2 vs. BO3
There are slight differences depending on which version of the game you're playing. In the original Black Ops II, the ice tiles in the Crazy Place can sometimes "ghost," where you shoot them and they don't register. This is usually due to lag if you aren't the host. If you’re playing on Black Ops III (Zombies Chronicles), the visuals are much clearer, making the torch step significantly easier to see through the mud and rain.
Also, the Panzersoldat is way tankier in the BO3 version. Do not try to kill a Panzer with the Ice Staff blizzard. It slows him down, sure, but it takes forever to actually kill him. Switch to a Ray Gun Mark II or a Boomhilda for the big guy.
The Actionable Path to Success
If you want to master this, stop relying on looking at a guide mid-game. It’s the fastest way to get trapped in a corner.
- Memorize the Ternary: Just remember that a line is 5. That’s the most important part.
- Pathing: Always do the torch step immediately after the Crazy Place step. Don't wait. The earlier you get Ull's Arrow, the easier the mid-game becomes.
- The "G-Strike" Synergy: If you have the Napalm Grenades (G-Strikes), throw one to bunch the zombies up, then hit them with the charged Ice Staff shot. It maximizes your soul-collecting efficiency.
The Ice Staff is the undisputed goat of Origins for a reason. It turns the most chaotic map in Zombies history into a controlled, icy graveyard for the undead. Go get the crystal, hit your shots, and don't let the Giant step on you.
Next time you're in the mud, try focusing on getting the staff upgraded before round 10. It’s a challenge, but it sets you up for an easy run to the "Little Lost Girl" Easter egg completion. The timing of the snow rounds is key—since you can only get the parts when it's snowing, you have to be efficient with your digging. Once the snow stops, you're stuck waiting, so make every shovel flip count.