You’re standing in the mud of No Man’s Land, the giant robot Freya is about to crush you into a pancake, and you’re desperately digging for a piece of wood. Honestly, we've all been there. If you’ve played Origins—whether it’s the original Black Ops 2 version or the Zombies Chronicles remaster in Black Ops 3—you know the deal. The Ice Staff is basically the holy grail of high-round runs. But getting the Ice Staff upgrade, officially known as Ull’s Arrow, is a process that has broken more friendships than Monopoly.
Most people think the ice staff is just "the Blizzard gun." They’re not wrong, but they usually mess up the upgrade steps because they’re trying to eyeball a puzzle that was designed by someone who clearly loves ancient number systems way too much.
Let's break down how to actually get this thing done without losing your mind.
Solving the Crazy Place Puzzle (The Symbol Mess)
Once you’ve built the base staff, you have to go to the Crazy Place. You’ll see a row of stone slabs with blue symbols on them hanging from the ceiling. On the wall, there’s a stone tablet displaying a different set of symbols. This is the part where everyone pulls out a "cheat sheet" they found on Reddit in 2014.
Basically, the tablet on the wall shows a ternary (base-3) number system using dots. The floating tiles in the sky are in quaternary (base-4) using lines and triangles. You have to match the value on the wall to the value on the ceiling and shoot the ceiling tile with your ice staff.
If you hit the wrong one, the tiles reset. It’s annoying. You’ve probably heard people say you can just "guess" it, but that's a lie that leads to wasted ammo and a dead run. If you're doing this solo, clear the area first. The walls in the Crazy Place shift every few seconds, and nothing ruins a puzzle solve like getting crushed by a literal ton of blue rock.
The Real Trick to the Symbols
You don't need to be a math genius. Look at the wall.
- One dot is 0.
- Two dots side-by-side is 1.
- Two dots vertical is 2.
The ceiling tiles use a triangle for 0 and lines for numbers 1 through 3. Honestly, just keep a reference image open on your phone. It’s what everyone does. Nobody is out here doing base-4 conversions in their head while a Panzer is breathing down their neck.
The Gravestones: Don't Forget the Bullet Weapon
After you hear that sweet, sweet chime that means you finished the puzzle, you’ve gotta head back to the main map. You’re looking for three specific tombstones. They look like regular rocks until you look closely and see they're actually leaking water.
You have to freeze them with the ice staff and then—this is the part people forget—shoot them with a weapon that fires real bullets. A Ray Gun won't work. A grenade won't work. You need lead.
- The first one is right near Generator 4. It’s tucked away in the mud near where the soul chest is.
- The second one is between the Excavation Site and the Giant Robot footprint near Gen 4.
- The third one is outside the Tank Station (Gen 2), sitting on a hill behind the fence.
If you don't hear Samantha talking to you after the third one, you missed. Go back and check. Sometimes the hit detection is a bit wonky, especially on the older Black Ops 2 engine.
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The Blue Orb and the Pedestal
Now, head down into the bottom of the Excavation Site. You’ll see those giant circular rings. There are four levers located on the wooden walkways and the metal scaffolding around the rings. Flip them until all the lights on the rings are blue.
Once they’re aligned, a blue orb will appear at the bottom. Shoot that orb with the ice staff. It’ll fly up into the sky and head back to the Crazy Place.
The home stretch is simple but dangerous. Go back to the blue portal, place your staff in the pedestal, and start killing. You need about 20 to 30 souls to charge it. In the higher rounds, this is a breeze. In the early rounds, you might have to wait for a full horde to spawn. When the staff icon on your HUD gets a red outline, you’re done. You now hold Ull's Arrow.
Why Ull's Arrow is Actually Better in 2026
If you're playing the modern versions—like the fan-made mods or the official Black Ops 6 "The Tomb" map—the ice staff upgrade has seen some tweaks. In the original game, it was the king of the "camp in a corner" strategy. You’d charge up a shot, it would create a blizzard, and anything that walked into it died. Period.
In the newer iterations, the damage scaling is even more aggressive. The charged shot (which takes 3 ammo) creates a freezing vortex that lasts for about 10 seconds. It’s the ultimate "panic button." If you're cornered, you shoot the floor.
Sekhmet’s Vigor
Don't forget the "hidden" feature. If you press the D-pad or the swap-attachment button, you can flip the staff around and use Sekhmet’s Vigor. You can literally shoot your downed teammates with a beam of light to revive them instantly from across the map. It’s basically a long-range, infinite-use Quick Revive.
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Strategy for High Rounds
If you're going for Round 100, the ice staff is your best friend until about Round 95. After that, the "instakill" effect of the blizzard starts to drop off slightly in some versions of the game, and you’ll need to rely more on traps or the Fire Staff.
However, for 99% of players, the Ice Staff upgrade is the only thing that makes the Origins Easter Egg doable. Without that blizzard clearing the path during the "Staffs in the Robots" step, you’re basically just zombie food.
Keep an eye on your ammo. The upgraded version has a bigger reserve, but that charged shot eats through it fast. If you see a Max Ammo, don't just grab it. Empty your staff into the horde first, then pick it up. Efficiency is how you survive the mud.
Actionable Next Steps
- Screenshot a Symbol Key: Don't try to memorize the Crazy Place tiles; just have the image ready.
- Grab a Shovel Early: You can only find Ice Staff parts when it's snowing, and snow usually stops after the early rounds for a long stretch. Dig every pile you see during those first few snowy rounds.
- Save a Bullet Weapon: If you're using the Ray Gun or a Wonder Weapon, make sure your secondary is a standard SMG or Pistol specifically for the gravestone step.
The Ice Staff upgrade isn't just a weapon; it's the core of any successful Origins run. Get the symbols right, hit your gravestones, and enjoy the most satisfying blizzard in gaming history.
Stay frosty. Actually, don't. That's a terrible pun. Just go kill some zombies.