With the arrival of the new Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Season 2, players have been actively scrambling to complete the newest Zombie mission, The Tomb. This map is unlike any other in the game at the moment and features a level of difficulty that is not found in the other missions. In order to complete the Easter Egg quest, players must work together as a unit and communicate heavily. The Tomb serves as Season 2’s Zombies map for Black Ops 6, where the former Requiem squad ventures into an ancient excavation site in France, guided by an amulet in search of the Sentinel Artifact. Drawing some parallels to the fan-favorite COD Zombies map Origins, The Tomb reintroduces the iconic Ice Staff. Players will need to master its crafting process if they hope to advance through the map’s main easter egg and complete the core quest
First – Build the Ice Staff
To start the main easter egg in The Tomb, players must first assemble the Staff of Ice. Keep in mind, with the gobble gum Wunderbar, players will have a 50/50 chance of receiving the staff from the mystery box, making the following steps obsolete. The process is relatively simple—once they reach Round 8, the first Shock Mimic will appear. Defeating it will cause Archibald’s Monocle to drop, serving as the first necessary component for crafting the Staff of Ice.
The second component of the Staff of Ice requires solving two puzzles, the first of which takes place in the Tombs area, located between the Roman Mausoleum and the Shrine of the Hierophants. Players should focus on the northeast wall, which features a mural of a bull. The goal is to locate glowing purple fire lanterns scattered throughout the map in areas such as the Tombs, Shrine of the Hierophants, Neolithic Catacombs, and the Subterranean Temple. If a glowing lantern appears outside the Tombs and isn’t directly opposite the bull mural, players must shoot the active lanterns to force the fire to respawn in a random location. This process must be repeated until a lantern spawns in the correct position opposite the bull wall.
Afterward, eight symbols will appear, and players must shoot them in a specific sequence. These symbols represent Roman numerals, though their design may look slightly altered. The correct order follows standard numerical progression:
I – 1st symbol
II – 2nd symbol
III – 3rd symbol
IV – 4th symbol
V – 5th symbol
VI – 6th symbol
VII – 7th symbol
VIII – 8th symbol
After successfully shooting all the symbols in the correct order—mistakes aren’t a problem, as missing simply requires repeating the last symbol—a lockdown sequence will trigger. Players must then face waves of purple-eyed zombies within the Tombs, culminating in battles against Mimics and Doppelghasts. This encounter consists of approximately four waves, and once completed, the mural wall will open, revealing a piece of the Staff of Ice along with a Max Ammo as a reward.
The process of transferring the purple fire must then be repeated, but this time in the Neolithic Catacombs, located between the Dig Site and the Ossuary. Players need to obtain a glowing crystal at the center of this area, which will then reveal the Roman numerals puzzle near the Crafting Bench. This sequence requires memorizing 10 symbols, following this order:
I – 1st symbol
II – 2nd symbol
III – 3rd symbol
IV – 4th symbol
V – 5th symbol
VI – 6th symbol
VII – 7th symbol
VIII – 8th symbol
IX – 9th symbol
X – 10th symbol
Upon entering the Dark Aether, proceed to the central mound and interact with the circular slot to place the Staff of Ice. Players must then hold their ground, fending off an intense onslaught of zombies attempting to destroy it. This defense lasts for about three minutes, but once enough time has passed, all remaining zombies will despawn, allowing the Staff of Ice to be reclaimed.
Upgrade the Ice Staff
With the Staff of Ice in hand, the next step is to leave the Dark Aether Nexus and search for more of the glowing purple crystals in the underground sections of the map. Players need to locate three crystals that are relatively close together, as they must use the Staff of Ice to shoot all three within a 10-second window. A successful attempt will trigger a voice line from Archibald. Failing this step isn’t a major concern – simply continue shooting the crystals with a regular firearm until they respawn in a more favorable position.
After completing this step, re-enter the Dark Aether Nexus and look toward the sky, where floating rocks will display symbols. Players must carefully inspect each rock and all its sides to locate these symbols. Once found, shoot them with the Staff of Ice to register a hit and cause the rock to descend. Memorizing the three symbols revealed is crucial, as they will determine the next step.
Once all three rocks have been shot, players must search the Dark Aether Nexus for a portal that has sealed off. The closed portal indicates the next destination:
- Green Portal closed – Exit the Dark Aether Nexus and head to the Ossuary (Speed Cola).
- Blue Portal closed – Exit the Dark Aether Nexus and go to the Dig Site (spawn).
- Red Portal closed – Exit the Dark Aether Nexus and proceed to the Subterranean Temple (Quick Revive).
- Yellow Portal closed – Exit the Dark Aether Nexus and travel to the Shrine of the Hierophants (Stamin-Up).
After leaving the Dark Aether Nexus, head to the location of the corresponding closed portal. Instead of the portal, players will find a set of symbols. Using the Staff of Ice, they must match and shoot the three symbols they previously targeted in the Dark Aether Nexus. While these symbols may appear inverted, they remain the same. The order of shooting does not matter.
Once the correct symbols have been hit, the portal will reopen. Entering it will transport players onto a floating rock within the Dark Aether Nexus. Here, they must interact with the purple orb to initiate the next phase. Speed is essential for this step, so it’s highly recommended to come prepared with levelled up Pack-a-Punched weapons.
In this step, players must feed the purple orb souls as it moves around the Dark Aether Nexus. The orb waits for no one, so players need to eliminate zombies quickly to gather enough souls for the orb to complete a loop around the Nexus. Once the orb has collected enough souls, it will return to the same mound where the Staff of Ice was assembled.
If players fail to meet the orb’s requirements, they will need to find a new closed portal door and repeat the process, shooting the same three symbols to continue. After this step is satisfied, players need to simply interact with the orb to upgrade the Staff of Ice to Ull’s Arrow.
Following this step, players will have to use Ull’s Arrow’s secondary fire to interact with several statues of zombies across the map to activate the next step. By the final statue, players will likely be out of ammo. For 5,000 essence, players are able to restock this ammunition to finish this step. Destroying these statues will spawn a number of each respective zombie, so be sure that you are prepared to fight your way out!
Prepare for the Fight
After the statues demands are satisfied, players need to take the time to ensure that their loadout is ready to take on the final boss. This boss proves to be exceptionally difficult, so be sure to have golden three packed weapons when you are preparing to take on the Sentinel Artifact. It is extremely important to note that explosive weapons, such as the Ice Staff, Raygun, and the famous GS45 pistols will not be able to damage the boss. Instead, players should look towards equipping an XM4, or the Feng 82 in order to ensure high sustained damage.
Fighting The Sentinel Artifact
When your team thinks they are ready to take on the final boss of The Tomb, be sure to be sitting on the edge of your seat. This boss is able to essentially zip through your health with its energy beam. There will also be hordes of elite zombies to take on throughout the fight, so assigning rolls for ad clearing may not only be necessary, but imperative to your success.
Be sure to use elevation to your advantage, as the most damning attack from the sentinel has the ability to wipe your team entirely. This attack takes place on either the top or bottom floor of the arena, shooting an energy beam counter-clockwise. Players must ensure that they are out of harm’s way to stay alive. During this attack, players should capitalize on killing off as many zombies as they can to focus fire on the boss.
The Sentinel Artifact will then progress through four increasingly aggressive stages. On the fifth stage of the battle, the Artifact will be on the heads of zombies. Killing the zombie in question, and shooting the artifact is an excellent way to rip the boss’ health bar to shreds. At the end of this, the Sentinel Artifact will attach itself to a zombie named Doppelghast. Killing this will not be a walk in the park, and failure to approach this step with caution can result in death. Many players look at this phase as the hardest step of the mission, as it can easily one-shot players regardless of their armor level.
In the final phase, players must keep an eye on the Sentinel Artifacts as they arrange themselves in a semi-circle. The goal is to rush up the steps to the northeast wall, where a single Sentinel Artifact will be positioned. At this moment, players should activate Aether Shroud and focus on dealing as much damage as possible. Shooting this single Sentinel Artifact will end the boss fight. If players fail to destroy it, the entire team will be wiped.
If all goes according to plan, your team has successfully finished the easter egg/quest. The Tomb has been touted as one of the best Zombies maps so far within Call of Duty, and with overwhelmingly positive reviews, players can be sure that it is only a matter of time before another map drops. While The Tomb has been an extremely difficult experience and has taken countless attempts to complete for the sake of this article, it is undoubtedly enjoyable and feels like a nod to the Zombies‘ maps of the past.
