Ice Staff Code & Upgrades Guide for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins

There are several steps to complete before players come close to crafting an elemental staff in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins. It requires time and patience, and a powerful weapon that can deal with tonnes of enemies is also a must.

This guide explains how to craft the Ice Staff, for which players will need to complete a number of steps, murder zombies, and beat the Panzersoldats boss that regularly drops in the game to make everyone’s lives difficult.

Related: How to create the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins Lightning Staff: Code, How to Upgrade, and more

How Get the Ice Staff in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins

To get the Ice Staff in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins, players will need to gather the Gramaphone, Record, and Ice Crystal items before crafting it. We’ve broken this process down into digestible steps below so anyone can achieve this when jumping into the game.

Where to Find the Gramophone & Record in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins

Players must first find the Gramophone and Record when creating the Ice Staff in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins. To do this, they’ll need to pick up a shovel from the spawn room, though it’s possible to grab one from various points around the map too. The Gramophone can be found at the Excavation Site. This is on the floor below Pack-a-Punch.

The Record can spawn in one of three locations around the map. We’ve outlined where these are with a screenshot for all of them below.

Record Spawn Point	Record’s Exact Location
Record Location #1	Next to the Excavation Site sign between the machinery there. Players will see it close to the walkway leading up to the next level.
Record Location #2	Next to the Pack-a-Punch in a wheelbarrow. This location is on the floor above the Excavation Site.
Record Location #3	The path to the Church location behind the Excavation Site. The Record will appear on a wall next to this path.

What to do With the Gramophone and Record in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins

Once players have acquired the Gramophone and Record, they’ll need to place them on the table in the Dig Site location. Doing so will open up a path to the Staff Room downstairs from the Dig Site. After the path has opened up, players need to pick the Gramophone back up so they don’t lose it.

Where to Find the Ice Record, Ice Crystal & Ice Staff Parts in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins

Before they can build the Ice Staff, players next need to find the Ice Crystal, Ice Record, and Ice Staff Parts in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins. We’ve outlined the locations of each item with a screenshot below to make it obvious where they’re found.

Ice Record Locations

The Ice Record can spawn in one of three locations. The table below shows each one.

Ice Record Location	Screenshot of Exact Location
Ice Record on the table	The first spawn point for the Ice Record can be found in the Tank Station. It’s next to Generator 2 on the table in the building as players enter.
Ice Record on Shelf	The second location where players can find the Ice Record is next to the Mystery Box on the set of shelves.
Ice Record Next to Back Door	The final location the Ice Record can spawn in is on another set of shelves. This one is close to the back door of Generator 2.

Once players have the Ice Record, they need to head over to the designated tunnel for the Ice Staff, which is located behind the Church. The exact tunnel is across the lot from Generator 6. Players must enter the tunnel and place the Gramophone that they picked back up earlier before entering the Staff Room.

Placing the Gramophone will create a portal that goes to The Crazy Place. Players need to go inside, and they’ll see a blue pedestal rise out of the ground. This will give them a route over which to reach the Ice Crystal. Once the Ice Crystal has been picked up, players need to return to the main map.

Where to Find the Ice Staff Parts in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins

To find the Ice Staff Parts in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins, players need to interact with dig sites that will start to randomly appear across the map. Note that these dig sites only appear if players have a shovel when it’s snowing, which is why it’s so important to pick one up from the spawn room at the start of a round. There are three Staff Parts for players to collect in total.

The weather in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins changes between through clear, rainy, and even a mix of both, as well as snowy. It can take many rounds before players get the weather to change back to snowy. It’s worth speeding through the early stages of getting the Ice Staff so that a team can take advantage of the snowy weather when it comes around as soon as possible.

We’ve noticed that the snowy weather tends to occur most often in the Church, the middle region between Generators 4 & 5, and the bottom of the No Man’s Land location between Generators 2 & 3. We recommend players roam between these locations as rounds change to track down the snowy weather they desire.

How to Build the Ice Staff in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins

When players have managed to get all three Staff Parts, it’s time for them to put together the Ice Staff. To do this, they need to visit the bottom of the Excavation Site. There’s a blue alter there that will create the Ice Staff when they interact with it while holding all the previously acquired parts. It’ll use up those items and give players the Ice Staff immediately.

How to upgrade the Ice Staff Using the Ice Staff Code in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins

When players first get the Ice Staff, it’s a fairly simple weapon that deals low damage and a bit of a chill to enemies. The shot from it’s able to spread so that it hits a few enemies at once, but the base form really isn’t the best staff in the game. However, it’s possible to upgrade the Ice Staff using the Ice Staff Code, transforming it into the much more powerful form of Ull’s Arrow.

To upgrade the Ice Staff using the Ice Staff Code, players need to get back to The Crazy Place using a teleporter. Once there, they’ll see a row of tiles above the teleporter location they spawn into. The tiles are made up of white dots on a blue background, each correlating to a symbol that players need to shoot with the Ice Staff to correctly type out the Ice Staff Code.

What is the Ice Staff Code in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins?

The code for the Ice Staff in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins is randomized for every match. However, it’s easy for players to work out the code for the Ice Staff upgrade for their match using the code that links the tiles players see in The Crazy Place with the tile they need to shoot with the Ice Staff.

The tiles with white dots on a blue background and their corresponding symbols that players must hit with the Ice Staff to type out the Ice Staff Code are shown in the image below. We recommend players take their time to ensure they’re working out the right symbols for the code. Otherwise, this can be a frustrating process of trial and error that leads nowhere due to mistakenly translated tiles.

If players get a symbol wrong, they’ll have to start inputting the code for the Ice Staff again from the start. There’s no need to advance a round, though, and there are no other penalties to players in the match if this code gets inputted wrong a few times.

We suggest having teammates run the last zombie in a round everywhere they can without killing it while one player types out the Ice Staff Code. This takes the pressure off of everyone, with no need to kill waves of enemies and no rushing to get the code correct the first time.

While playing solo, players can pause between each symbol. This makes inputting the code much easier because players can really take their time to work out the next correct symbol and get it right the first time they try.

Players will hear Samantha talk to them when every symbol has been hit correctly and the Ice Staff Code is successfully entered. This marks the point when they can proceed to the next step.

Where to Find the Glowing Tombstones in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins

The next step in upgrading the Ice Staff is using the Ice Staff to shoot three tombstones that have a white glow on them. Players must freeze the tombstones with the Ice Staff before shooting them with a bullet-based weapon to smash them once the glow has faded. Note that the weapon used to shoot them must fire physical bullets or this won’t work, so no Ray Guns.

The locations of all three tombstones are listed in the table below. Use the screenshots to help work out exactly where they are.

Glowing Tombstone Location	Screenshot of Exact Location
Glowing Tombstone #1	This Glowing Tombstone is located on the footprint that a giant robot has left. It’s behind Juggernog.
Gowing Tombstone #2	The second Glowing Tombstone can be found in yet another giant robot footprint. To get to this one, face the Juggernog machine and then turn right. Go to the giant robot footprint between that location and the Excavation Site, and the Glowing Tombstone should be obvious.
Glowing Tombstone #3	The last Glowing Tombstone is behind the Tank Station next to Generator 2. Check the area left of the giant robot hand in the distance. The Glowing Tombstone should be easy to see.

With all three Glowing Tombstones destroyed, players will hear Samantha speaking to them once again. They now need to return to the area at the bottom of the Excavation Site. Once they arrive, they’ll see a blue orb floating under the rings above the staff alters.

Players must go around the room flipping the switches on the consoles until the rings all have blue lights on them. Once that’s done, they can shoot the orb with the Ice Staff, and it’ll fly into the ceiling after a few seconds.

After they get the Ice Staff back from its short flight, players need to return to The Crazy Place and put the Ice Staff on the pedestal where they found the Ice Crystal. We recommend that players use Zombie Shield to protect themselves while exploring and killing powerful zombies to charge the staff up.

Once the staff inventory appears, the process is complete. Players should be careful not to get themselves trapped in this region with all the changing walls, so take things slowly. The Ice Staff is now upgraded, giving players a far more powerful weapon than they had before.

With this upgraded version of the Ice Staff, players can charge the shot and throw out a blast of ice that freezes enemies in place. It’s also a lethal weapon to use against Panzersoldats. Using the D-pad, players can swap the staff to the opposite end and fire shots at downed teammates. This will revive them instantly from any distance, so it’s incredibly useful. It’s this version of the Ice Staff that’s on par with the other staves in Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Zombies Origins.