BO6 Zombies: Exploiting The Tomb BOSS Fight TRICK

In Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies, players are constantly searching for new strategies to overcome the game’s toughest challenges. One of the most formidable challenge in the game is the Tombs boss fight, known for its difficulty and complexity.

However, there’s a trick that can turn this intense battle into a surprisingly manageable encounter, ending the Tomb boss fight with ease.

The trick in question involves a smart manipulation of game mechanics, combining the power of the Ice Staff (ISTA) with the Hand Cannon to deal devastating damage to boss enemies.

What makes this strategy particularly effective is that it becomes powerful at higher rounds, contrary to the usual difficulty curve in Zombies mode.

Understanding the Trick

The core of this strategy revolves around the interaction between the Ice Staff and the Hand Cannon. Here’s how it works:

  1. Charge the Ice Staff (ISTA) by holding down the fire button.
  2. While the ISTA is charged, quickly switch to the Hand Cannon.
  3. Fire the Hand Cannon at the boss enemy.

This sequence of actions results in the game applying the Hand Cannon’s maximum damage output to the Ice Staff’s attack, leading to massively inflated damage numbers against boss enemies.

The Damage Potential

Under normal circumstances, the Ice Staff deals a maximum of 50,000 damage in the boss fight, which is typically enough to instantly kill regular zombies.

However, when employing this trick, players have reported dealing upwards of 200,000 damage to boss enemies, effectively turning most of them into one-hit kills.

What’s particularly fascinating about this trick is its scaling with round numbers.

The higher the round, the more effective the trick becomes. This unusual property makes the boss fight easier to complete at higher rounds, which goes against the traditional difficulty curve of Zombies mode.

Testing the Trick

To demonstrate the power of this strategy, let’s examine its effectiveness at two different round levels: Round 35 and Round 55 (the health cap for zombies).

Round 35 Test:

At Round 35, the trick already shows its potency. Regular Ice Staff shots deal about 5,000 damage to elite enemies, making them significant bullet sponges.

However, when using the ISTA-Hand Cannon trick, players can deal upwards of 68,000 damage, taking down elite enemies almost instantly.

The test at this round revealed that most boss enemies, including the notoriously tough Sentinel Artifact zombies, were defeated in a single shot.

The only exception was the Amalgam boss, which required a bit more effort but still went down much faster than usual.

Round 55 Test (Health Cap):

At Round 55, where zombie health reaches its cap, the trick’s true potential is unleashed. Regular weapons, even when triple Pack-a-Punched, struggle to take down zombies efficiently at this level.

The Ice Staff maintains its instant-kill property on regular zombies, dealing about 50,000 damage per charged shot.

However, when the trick is applied to boss enemies at this round, the damage output skyrockets to an astounding 200,000 per shot.

This immense damage turns nearly every boss encounter into a trivial affair, with most bosses going down in a single hit.

Impact on Tomb Boss Fight Dynamics

This trick fundamentally changes the dynamics of the Tombs boss fight. Here’s how it affects different aspects of the encounter:

  1. Elite Enemies: Sentinel Artifact zombies, normally significant threats, are reduced to minor inconveniences. They can be eliminated so quickly that players might miss collecting the Sentinel Aura if they’re not careful.
  2. Special Bosses: Enemies like the Doppelganger and EMP Mimic, known for their dangerous abilities, can be dispatched before they have a chance to use their special attacks.
  3. Amalgam Boss: While not a one-hit kill, even the Amalgam boss goes down much faster with this trick, significantly reducing the fight’s difficulty.
  4. Crowd Control: The massive damage output allows players to clear large groups of enemies quickly, making it easier to focus on objectives and survive intense moments.

Implications for Gameplay

The discovery of this trick has several implications for Black Ops 6 Zombies gameplay:

  1. Accessibility: It makes the challenging Tombs boss fight more accessible to players who might have struggled with it previously.
  2. High Round Strategies: The trick’s increased effectiveness at higher rounds opens up new possibilities for high-round attempts, potentially changing the meta for record attempts.
  3. Speed Running: Speed runners may incorporate this trick to achieve faster completion times for the Easter Egg or boss fight.
  4. Balance Concerns: The extreme power of this trick raises questions about game balance and whether it was an intended feature or an oversight by the developers.

Potential for Patching

Given the significant advantage this trick provides, many players speculate that Treyarch, the game’s developer, may patch it out in a future update.

The trick’s similarity to a previous exploit in the “Origins” map (involving the Ice Staff and Claymore) suggests that it might be a result of how weapon switching and damage calculation are handled in the game engine.

If Treyarch decides to address this, it may require a complex solution due to the underlying mechanics involved. Players who wish to take advantage of this strategy are advised to do so while it’s still available, as it may not remain in the game for long.

How to Use the Trick Effectively

For players looking to employ this strategy, here are some tips:

  1. Practice the timing of charging the Ice Staff and switching to the Hand Cannon smoothly.
  2. Focus on eliminating boss enemies quickly to avoid missing the Sentinel Aura collection.
  3. Be prepared to deal with the Amalgam boss conventionally, as it’s the only enemy not instantly killed by this trick.
  4. Consider attempting the boss fight at higher rounds for maximum effectiveness.
  5. Keep moving and stay aware of your surroundings, as the trick doesn’t make you invincible.

Concluding Thoughts

The Ice Staff and Hand Cannon trick has transformed one of the game’s most challenging encounters into a manageable and even insignificant affair, especially at higher rounds.

While it offers a powerful tool for players struggling with the boss fight, it also raises questions about game balance and the developers’ intentions.

Whether you view this trick as a clever use of game mechanics or an exploit that should be patched, you can’t deny its impact on the Zombies experience.

That’s all for now.