Origins:
Staffs

The four elemental staffs of Origins: where the parts of Fire, Ice, Lightning and Wind are, the records and tunnels to the Crazy Place, building them in the tomb, every upgrade riddle and Sekhmet's Vigor.

4 min read
7 chapters
updated 2026-10-06

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Elemental staffs

The wonder weapons of Origins are four elemental staffs, replicas of ancient “Amplification Rods” that Maxis drew up from the carvings of the tomb and ordered Richtofen to build. None of them can be reached in a First Room game: every part lies past the doors.

Staff of Fire, menu render, Call of Duty Black Ops II Zombies

Staff of Ice, menu render, Call of Duty Black Ops II Zombies

Staff	Upgraded	Ammo	Parts	Record	Tunnel
Staff of Fire	Kagutsuchi’s Blood	9+90	Generator 6, a burning plane, the first Panzer Soldat	Red	By the spawn, towards Generator 3
Staff of Ice	Ull’s Arrow	6+60	Dug up while it snows	Blue	Across from Generator 6
Staff of Lightning	Kimat’s Bite	12+120	Jump-off spots along the tank’s route	Purple	By Generator 5
Staff of Wind	Boreas’ Fury	3+40	Inside the three robots’ heads	Yellow	By Generator 4

Building a staff

Find the three parts of the staff, each element in its own way (see below).
Take the gramophone from the floor of the Excavation Site, and the record of the staff’s colour.
Open the gateway: put the gramophone on the table at the end of the matching elemental tunnel, then walk into the portal to reach the Crazy Place.
Take the gem from the pillar that opens with the staff’s colour. A gem can only be taken if you came in through its own tunnel.
Open the tomb: the black record, found around the outside of the Excavation Site, plays on the gramophone to open its lower levels.
Build the staff on its coloured pedestal in the lowest level. Anyone can pick it up; if it is dropped, swapped or its holder bleeds out, it goes back to its pedestal.

Staff of Fire

It fires three balls of molten rock that set the zombies around the impact on fire. Its parts:

Generator 6

Once it is powered, the reward box next to it opens with a part.

The orange plane

The round after the path to the church opens, a glowing plane crosses the sky; shoot it down and the part falls by the soul chest nearest the Excavation Site.

The first Panzer Soldat

It drops the last part, and it is the only way to get it.

To upgrade it: burn about 30 zombies on the metal grates of the fire side of the Crazy Place; light the four torches in the church basement whose numbers match the symbols upstairs, read in base 3; then align the rings and charge the staff (see the last steps below).

Staff of Ice

Its blasts slow zombies down, then freeze them until they shatter; on Black Ops II they do not die at once and can still strike. The three parts are dug up from dig spots on snowy rounds, usually rounds 2 to 4 and round 10, then at random: one between the spawn and the Workshop, one in the middle of the map, one near the church.

To upgrade it: flip the six floating stone panels of the ice side of the Crazy Place, shooting the one whose base-4 symbol matches the dots on the ice panel; then freeze and break three gravestones that pour water, by Generator 4 and behind Generator 2.

Staff of Lightning

Its bolts chain from one zombie to two or three others. The parts lie in places reached only by jumping off the Mark IV tank: a broken staircase on the way to the Tank Station, a broken scaffolding by the Excavation Site, and an upper level of the church. Riding alone, it is hard to grab two parts in one trip.

To upgrade it: play three chords on the purple keys of the lightning side of the Crazy Place, bottom row, keys 1-3-6, 3-5-7 and 2-4-6; then turn the dials of seven sparking panels around the map, one of them at the foot of the stairs in the starting room.

Staff of Wind

A blast of air that kills at close range up to round 23 and throws back the zombies further away. Each of the three giant robots carries a part in its head: shoot the lit foot, let it step on you, and you land inside. Only one foot is lit per pass, chosen at random.

To upgrade it: turn the four rings above the wind portal of the Crazy Place until their symbols match the pillars; then shoot the three smoking stone balls, at Generator 4, Generator 5 and on the tank’s return path, so the smoke drifts towards the Excavation Site.

Upgrading

Align the rings: in the lower levels of the Excavation Site, pull the four levers until the lights of all four floating rings show the staff’s colour.
Shoot the orb inside the rings with the staff: it glows and flies up.
Charge the staff: place it on its pillar in the Crazy Place and kill about 20 zombies there (25 for Lightning) so their souls fill it.
Take it back: Samantha announces the power is ready and the staff’s icon gets a red outline. An upgraded staff that is lost goes back to its pedestal, still upgraded.

Upgraded, every staff can be charged for a stronger shot, gains a melee swipe that kills in one hit up to round 16, and carries Sekhmet’s Vigor, a shot from the bottom end that revives a downed teammate.