Solo Origins - how to setup for high rounds (Dahniska style)

[Dahniska]

Note: This is just a small part of a much bigger and better Origins Solo Guide: http://www.callofdutyzombies.com/forum/index.php/topic/159122-the-complete-origins-solo-guide/

Basically what the topic name says.

A lot of people have posted their ideas on this forum on how to start Origins solo games. Some say that you should go slowly, or that you should stay in the spawn area or generator 2/3 till round 10, or that you should only go for the Ice Staff, etc. There truly are a lot of options in Origins.

I've played Origins almost non-stop for the past two weeks, and a lot since launch, and I've come up with my own way of starting up a game. Unlike other people, though, I took the time to record all of it - the way I start up a game is by going for all Ultimate Staffs and Air Strikes within an hour, by round 11/12. The strengths of this strategy over a lot of others are that you can use the robots (all 3) as regular traps for high rounds (when ammo starts becoming a problem), and that you don't get fire sales. For many people who want a round 50, this is too much work, and that's fine. This is truly a strategy focused on dedicated zombie warriors, the people who want to go for round 100 or world records, or people who want to do the easter egg.

I uploaded this yesterday and began putting a few subtitles in to explain why I do each little thing I do. I'm not done with them yet, so be patient on that. Also I made a few errors in this video (the biggest at 16:00) and could have done everything a bit faster if I'd had a bit more luck.

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I'd also like to add a few notes: I focus on getting the Ice Staff pieces by the end of round 3/4. This allows me to finish the Ice Staff early. I also hit the box 4 times (after that there is a chance of fire sales) in hopes of getting a Mark II or the monkeys.

If you've got time on your hands, go ahead and watch this is or just skim over it. This strategy I've found to be very good for starting games, as I've used it to get to 60+ at least 6 times and went as far as 86.

Edit: I've included below a written-out guide on what I do in this video, since it would take less time to read through it than watch it. Most of this is in the video though, so if in doubt as to what I mean, watch it.

Round 1: Pick up shovel and Maxis Drone piece in starting room, and hit the electrical switch twice. Turn on generator, knife 10 generator zombies, finish the process. Grab double points and shoot each zombie 6 times in the chest and finish with a knife. Hit a window 4 hits as well. This is to be done as fast as possible, then leave the room heading for generator 2.

Round 2: Don't dig unless it's snowing. The goal now is to maximize points so that you can open the church if necessary by the end of round 3. Head right for generator 2 quickly; if Thor (robot) comes through and his foot can be opened above the tank station, you just saved yourself time on getting Wind Staff pieces. If you dig up a Mauser or get a Max Ammo, shoot 8 times in the chest and knife each zombie. Otherwise, knife twice. Pick up Ice recording in Tank Station, tablet for airstrikes and hit the electrical switch 3 times. Flip on generator 2, and if you dug up a weapon (Ballista, R870, DSR 50 or M1216), kill as many generator zombies as you can for 10 points each.

Round 3: Every single game I've played, it snows on Round 3 or Round 4(sometimes both). If it doesn't snow this round, it's better, since you have more time to earn points. If it's snowing, however, it's time to start digging everywhere on the map. Slowly retreat into the workshop from Generator 2, killing the zombies one at a time. If you have Mauser ammo, shoot 8 times and finish with a knife. You MUST get at least one or two headshots from your 8 bullets though if you want to be able to kill them like this. Otherwise, go for headshots with your dug-up weapon. Make sure 1 zombie is left untouched so you can move around the map with it respawning. Search the trenches between workshop and Generator 1 for the Ice Staff piece that spawns in that area; if you don't find it, you'll have to get it last. Search all of No Man's Land (in the video I show the route I use to check all the spots), and then open the front of the church. If you're lucky, the piece will spawn here instead of behind the church and that will save you 1250 points. If you run low on points, keep digging for blood money, power generator 4 and if necessary go back to spawn and repair windows. If you see a chance to get inside any robots without spending more points, take it. Once you've found the pieces in No Man's Land and the church areas, if you haven't found the one near spawn in the trenches between generator 1 and 2, go down the tank track from generator 4 and drop down near the Semtex. If you still haven't found it, go on to round 4 and hope for the best.

Round 4: If you didn't get snow on Round 3, this round is a lot easier. Do the same stuff as on round 3, but instead you can probably afford a Five Seven from the wall. Two shots to the chest and a knife will kill zombies on this round when using the Five Seven. If possible, acquire all Zombie shield parts. Don't bother opening Gererator 3. Once you have all Ice Staff pieces, focus on getting Wind Staff pieces, and Juggernog. I don't recommend going for knife kills after Round 3 unless it's Insta-Kill or if you're using the Five Seven. Shoot down the plane with the Fire Staff piece if you see it.

Rounds 5 and 6: I recommend watching the video for these rounds to get the best picture of how to do this quickly. Get headshot kills and save a zombie. Your priority is to save points for the following: 1500-2000 for the Tank, 2250 for opening the Excavation Site, 1000 for opening Generator 5 and if you haven't opened the back of the church, another 1250. Once you have the gramophone, go to the church, put the tablet into the holy water, and flip the electrical switch by the water once. Flip the switch behind the tank twice, and flip the switch by the excavation site 3 times. Turn on generator 6 to get the fire staff piece and check for the Fire recording around the church. Go ahead and grab the Ice crystal from the Crazy place, and build it. A tip to save time is to flip the switches above the staffs right before you build the staff. In my video I show the fastest way to do it. Build the staffs in this order: Ice, Wind, Lightning and Fire. Go back to the Crazy Place and do the Ice puzzle. As with all other staffs, pick up the gramophone right after you complete the staff's puzzle - you can put the staff down in the Crazy Place when you go to pick up the next staff's crystal. Ride the tank and pick up the Lightning staff pieces (tip: call the tank from Tank Station to get the 3rd piece - this saves you 500 points). Open Generator 5, power it up, and flip the switch there 3 times. At the end of this round, you should have done all the puzzles for each staff, visited the Fire entrance to the Crazy Place (so you can pick up the crystal for it later from any entrance), have the Ice and Wind staffs in the Crazy Place ready to upgrade, and have the Lightning Staff in your hand and the Zombie Shield on your back.

Round 7: Now that all the staffs other than Fire are done, go to the church and start killing zombies with the Zombie Shield to get Air Strikes. Monkeys are nice, and if you get them from the box with your 4 hits, take them. But do this anyway just in case you don't get them. Your shield should break before the round's over, so grab another if you want to keep doing this, or kill the last zombies and save 1. Go to the Wind Tunnel and put the gramophone down, and kill the last zombie.

Round 8: It's King Queer time! The Panzer should spawn shortly after the round begins. You're camping at the bottom of the Wind Tunnel with the portal to your back. He thinks he's got you, but no. That's not gonna be the case today, because you can easily spray him with the Lightning Staff. Once you see that he's dead, go through the portal and put your Lightning Staff down in its pedestal. Then grab the Fire crystal, go through the portal, grab the last Fire staff piece from the dead body of the Panzer, and head for the excavation site. Quickly get to the bottom of the site, build the Fire Staff and try to worm your way out of killing any zombies as you head back to the Crazy Place. If things look tight, spray the Fire staff, but try not to kill any Zombies until you get back the Crazy Place and are ready to do the Fire Staff's riddle.

Round 9: Keep killing zombies. At the end of this round, if you didn't pick up a Nuke or kill many zombies on Round 8 away from the Fire Puzzle, you should be able to complete the Fire riddle and exit via the Ice Portal to head to church. Here, you can do the Ternary puzzle and then go and hit the switches for your last staff. Then, go back to the Crazy Place and put down the Fire Staff. The Ultimate Wind Staff should be available by now, so pick it up and finish getting the kills to upgrade all the other staffs.

Round 10-12: Finish getting the kills for all staffs, then head to the church and use the Ultimate Staff's Melee to get more kills for your tablet. Wind is the safest for this step as you can use it to save your life if things look tight. Grab the tablet and follow the route I show in the video to take it to the Tank Station. Stick the tablet down, get more Melee kills, and you should have the Air Strikes and all Ultimate staffs complete.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Dahniska

[PINNAZ]

Thanks for posting Dahniska.

I haven't watched all of the video as yet, but I know that your a high round player & I'm sure to learn a lot from you.

I enjoy learning solo strategies so thanks for giving me a different option to what I do already. I gotta learn & play this map more.

Thanks again Dahniska.

[Chopper]

Hey Dahniska, I flicked through the video a little bit, but it's hard to pick up the key things you do in an hour long video.

Anyway you can write a cutdown guide to go with it? To get all 4 staffs and the airstrikes in an hour is impressive, and clearly has a lot of logic behind it and a somewhat repeatable process.

[Dahniska]

Thanks Pinnaz, and sure Chopper, I'll add a more written out thought process for what I do there (was adding bits at a time in the video but it'll take a while as I'm not totally focused on that right now).

[xTOXXINx]

Going to end up trying you strategy. Could never figure out a good strategy myself

[Dahniska]

Going to end up trying you strategy. Could never figure out a good strategy myself

If you haven't hit 40 yet in the map I'd recommend just making the Ice Staff to start with and getting the air strikes, then camping with it. Once you've gotten to the point where the Ice Staff isn't good enough to get you further alone, that's where the rewards of making the other staffs come in

Up to you though. Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

[83457]

Cool. I love reading other peoples ways of doing things. Thanks for taking the time.

Round 8, should say PS appears just after the round starts, you have 'ends', maybe you meant after round 7 ends? Anyway it could be worded clearer.

Why do you say not to dig unless it is snowing?

You can't 'save up' mounds as snow rounds get their own mounds.

So, are you afraid of getting grenades? Or am i missing something important here?

Thanks again.

[MegaAfroMan]

Do you recommend just moving on if you're unlucky and the ice staff part does not spawn at church in the early snowfall?

I've had it happen twice now where there simply was no part until round 10.

I've checked in front of the church, near the tank, behind the tank, behind the church and around the generator. No dig spots during the snow round, save one, which just gives me a non-staff result.

[DeathBringerZen]

Do you recommend just moving on if you're unlucky and the ice staff part does not spawn at church in the early snowfall?

I've had it happen twice now where there simply was no part until round 10.

I've checked in front of the church, near the tank, behind the tank, behind the church and around the generator. No dig spots during the snow round, save one, which just gives me a non-staff result.

 

If you do not have enough points to open up to church by round 4 (if snowing of course), then it does not snow again till round 10. From 7-8 onwards, I no longer dig up any piles in the church area and that usually guarantees you will get the part.

 

In saying that, I have had a rare game where the part was not in any of the piles and had to play on to 16 before getting it. Very rare though.

[MegaAfroMan]

I've had it relatively commonly NOT spawn ANYwhere in the entire church area (front and back) in the early snow fall rounds (3+4 or so).

I don't think I've yet had a problem with not getting it during the round 10 snowfall.

[DeathBringerZen]

I've had it relatively commonly NOT spawn ANYwhere in the entire church area (front and back) in the early snow fall rounds (3+4 or so).

I don't think I've yet had a problem with not getting it during the round 10 snowfall.

 

Yeah, even if you DO manage to get into the church by 4 and it is snowing, that is no guarantee you will get the ice staff piece. Like yourself, I have got into it multiple times and have not got it.

 

To be honest, it is not make or break that you get the ice staff before 10 anyway. You can still get the boxes done by 9 and then use 9 and 10 to get the air strikes, keeping one alive and then get the ice staff and fire staff done.

 

It helps to get it early, but because of the rarity in getting the last staff piece, I just play on nowadays without going for it (unless I get lucky with points early).

[Dahniska]

Cool. I love reading other peoples ways of doing things. Thanks for taking the time.

Round 8, should say PS appears just after the round starts, you have 'ends', maybe you meant after round 7 ends? Anyway it could be worded clearer.

Why do you say not to dig unless it is snowing?

You can't 'save up' mounds as snow rounds get their own mounds.

So, are you afraid of getting grenades? Or am i missing something important here?

Thanks again.

Thanks for pointing that out, I edited it to say "begins". Good catch.

Unless it happens to rain on Round 3, the dig spots in the trenches by spawn will not respawn before Round 4 almost ever. What the game tends to do is it picks a dig spot that is already there for you to dig the Ice Staff pieces from. If there are no dig spots available, it will almost always spawn a dig spot for the Ice Staff piece that is supposed to be found in that area. The benefit of not digging before it snows is that it increases the chance that you will be able to dig up the Ice Staff piece in the Generator 2 area without having to go into the trenches by the Fire Tunnel, or even worse, Generator 3. It's a tip to save a little bit of points, hopefully.

 

Do you recommend just moving on if you're unlucky and the ice staff part does not spawn at church in the early snowfall?

I've had it happen twice now where there simply was no part until round 10.

I've checked in front of the church, near the tank, behind the tank, behind the church and around the generator. No dig spots during the snow round, save one, which just gives me a non-staff result.

 

It depends on my mood and how annoyed I am at the game, haha. I've encountered that glitch before where the piece won't spawn... the church area is the most common one but it can happen in the other two areas as well. If it is Round 2 or 3 and the piece hasn't spawned, I go on to Round 4 and hope for the best and sometimes it will spawn then. If it doesn't I'll just do everything else and make the Ice Staff last, on Round 10 (or restart if my luck has been bad, like getting a lot of nukes and other useless drops).

 

You can still get the boxes done by 9 and then use 9 and 10 to get the air strikes, keeping one alive and then get the ice staff and fire staff done.

 

It helps to get it early, but because of the rarity in getting the last staff piece, I just play on nowadays without going for it (unless I get lucky with points early).

 

I don't know why bother filling the boxes. You always do the whole easter egg?

With just a little bit of luck, I can open the church by the end of Round 3 every game. The free double points at the start of the game are half of it, but as long as I get a Max Ammo or Nuke from the 5th zombie on Round 1 (you always get a drop from the 5th one if you do it the way I do) or Double Points on Round 2/3 or dig up a Mauser, it's definitely do-able.

[DeathBringerZen]

I don't know why bother filling the boxes. You always do the whole easter egg?

 

I do the whole EE, yes. The reason why I do the whole EE though is simply because I do not have the time to have a 10-15 hour game much these days, so I just try to speed run my games.

 

Being married with 4 kids and working full-time means I cannot play for 10+ hours at all in my games. Even pausing it overnight is out of the question as my youngest boy plays on my console too and he would just turn my game off, even if I told him not to. 

 

Doing the robot trap strategy, or other methods designed to be used when ammo is dry are not really for me. I cannot afford the time it takes to make it through just one round doing that kind of strategy.

 

Nah... for me, it is all about trying to get through rounds as fast as possible. Than means finding ways to manipulate the spawn ins, without exploiting of course. If I had the time though, I would already have made it to 100+ on most of the BO2 maps by now. Instead I linger around the 65-88 mark on most of them.

[DeathBringerZen]

Oh. I must have missed something all this time. I thought making one staff was faster than all four.

 

I can usually finish the whole EE in about 1 and a half hours. I then camp it out with the ice staff before going to the crazy place and switching between that and wind until I run dry. I got to 88 in 6 and a half hours the other day, EE included.

 

Sure, I don't ever really use fire or lightning, but having the staffs on hand in the crazy place, and the crazy place itself is good for when I am low on ammo. If I had the time to run a 12+ hour game, I would obviously only do the EE up until the raining fire step and utilize the robots in my strategy, but because I don't have the time, I prefer to just finish it all and have the option of the other staffs and the crazy place if need be.

[Dahniska]

 

Oh. I must have missed something all this time. I thought making one staff was faster than all four.

 

I can usually finish the whole EE in about 1 and a half hours. I then camp it out with the ice staff before going to the crazy place and switching between that and wind until I run dry. I got to 88 in 6 and a half hours the other day, EE included.

 

Sure, I don't ever really use fire or lightning, but having the staffs on hand in the crazy place, and the crazy place itself is good for when I am low on ammo. If I had the time to run a 12+ hour game, I would obviously only do the EE up until the raining fire step and utilize the robots in my strategy, but because I don't have the time, I prefer to just finish it all and have the option of the other staffs and the crazy place if need be.

 

If you're really pressed on time, you should try camping behind the tank station. You might finally be able to hit 100 within your limited time frame - it's by far the fastest strategy. You can get to 70/80 in like 3 to 3 and a half hours there

[DeathBringerZen]

If you're really pressed on time, you should try camping behind the tank station. You might finally be able to hit 100 within your limited time frame - it's by far the fastest strategy. You can get to 70/80 in like 3 to 3 and a half hours there

 

I am unfamiliar with that strategy. I hear people saying it all the time but I am not sure where or how they mean. I have tried camping in the tank station beside the MP40 and that is pretty fast. I also don't have to put up with the derping zombies I get when camping at the semtex, but I find that if I leave the doors to gen 1 & 3 closed and use the gramophone at the fire tunnel, it is faster than camping at the MP40 and at Jug.

 

Do you know of any videos that show this strategy you speak of? I would love to actually see it in practice.

[Dahniska]

 

If you're really pressed on time, you should try camping behind the tank station. You might finally be able to hit 100 within your limited time frame - it's by far the fastest strategy. You can get to 70/80 in like 3 to 3 and a half hours there

 

I am unfamiliar with that strategy. I hear people saying it all the time but I am not sure where or how they mean. I have tried camping in the tank station beside the MP40 and that is pretty fast. I also don't have to put up with the derping zombies I get when camping at the semtex, but I find that if I leave the doors to gen 1 & 3 closed and use the gramophone at the fire tunnel, it is faster than camping at the MP40 and at Jug.

 

Do you know of any videos that show this strategy you speak of? I would love to actually see it in practice.

 

I don't know any videos that show exactly what I'm talking about, though I'm sure others have done the same as I have. Tell you what - next time I play Origins and use that strategy, I will record it and upload to Youtube, then I will make sure you get a link for it so you can see what I mean. It is by far the fastest and most ammo conserving camping strategy I've ever seen and trust me I've played so much Origins you wouldn't even know. It's so ammo conservative that you can camp to 70+ there before having to train at all in most cases. The only issue with it is that it is very unforgiving and if you aren't careful you can die so fast it's not even funny.

[DeathBringerZen]

 

I don't know any videos that show exactly what I'm talking about, though I'm sure others have done the same as I have. Tell you what - next time I play Origins and use that strategy, I will record it and upload to Youtube, then I will make sure you get a link for it so you can see what I mean. It is by far the fastest and most ammo conserving camping strategy I've ever seen and trust me I've played so much Origins you wouldn't even know. It's so ammo conservative that you can camp to 70+ there before having to train at all in most cases. The only issue with it is that it is very unforgiving and if you aren't careful you can die so fast it's not even funny.

 

Yeah, I have played Origins everyday now for about 2 months, and I have been trying to learn all the best strategies while doing it. I find I can camp to around 75 at the semtex with both doors shut before having trouble with ammo. I usually go down to the crazy place when low and swap for the wind staff and run the round out with that.

 

Got to the point now that I can leave my chest ammo till 80+. I used to rely on the tank power-ups for a max ammo too, but the last several games I went round on the tank, I would get everything but a max ammo.

 

I can usually get from 16-80 camping at semtex in about 3-3 and a half hours after doing the EE, but it's all about luck with ammo drops from then on in. The game I died on 88 was tragic seeing as I had full ammo in my ice staff. Only died because I stupidly tried to punch the last 3 zombies to death to end the round without QR (out of boredom I guess), and got too fresh with them and they decided to have their way with me.

 

I will NEVER make that mistake again.

 

[Dahniska]

 

 

I don't know any videos that show exactly what I'm talking about, though I'm sure others have done the same as I have. Tell you what - next time I play Origins and use that strategy, I will record it and upload to Youtube, then I will make sure you get a link for it so you can see what I mean. It is by far the fastest and most ammo conserving camping strategy I've ever seen and trust me I've played so much Origins you wouldn't even know. It's so ammo conservative that you can camp to 70+ there before having to train at all in most cases. The only issue with it is that it is very unforgiving and if you aren't careful you can die so fast it's not even funny.

 

Yeah, I have played Origins everyday now for about 2 months, and I have been trying to learn all the best strategies while doing it. I find I can camp to around 75 at the semtex with both doors shut before having trouble with ammo. I usually go down to the crazy place when low and swap for the wind staff and run the round out with that.

 

Got to the point now that I can leave my chest ammo till 80+. I used to rely on the tank power-ups for a max ammo too, but the last several games I went round on the tank, I would get everything but a max ammo.

 

I can usually get from 16-80 camping at semtex in about 3-3 and a half hours after doing the EE, but it's all about luck with ammo drops from then on in. The game I died on 88 was tragic seeing as I had full ammo in my ice staff. Only died because I stupidly tried to punch the last 3 zombies to death to end the round without QR (out of boredom I guess), and got too fresh with them and they decided to have their way with me.

 

I will NEVER make that mistake again.

 

 

Well, sounds like you have a decent game plan. Just for a speed run though I'd suggest that you just make the Ice/Wind staff combo and grab air strikes and PaP the Mauser, roll with the basic 4 perks, and camp behind the tank station. See how it works out for you.

I used to use the same spot you mentioned, but more recently I've become impatient in some ways and that glitched zombie at the end of the round gets annoying, so I started using behind the tank station, and I'm starting to use the Remmington wall buy in the trench as a camping spot. The Remmington spot with door to gen 1 closed is a tad faster than the semtex spot but less ammo efficient cause no semtex during insta-kill.

I found that opening the door to gen 1 from Fire Tunnel doesn't affect the semtex spot, since the zombies won't spawn from that area if you're at the semtex. They won't even spawn from Fire Tunnel either. Just some observations.

Don't feel bad about the last zombie thing. I remember at least twice I actually got trapped between two zombies at the end of a round. They had glitched in the wall by the Fire Tunnel and I went to Generator 2, like 2 respawned there, I figured that was it. Was backing up shooting them with the Mauser when another appeared out of nowhere behind me. Didn't even have time to finish the ones in front. I was rather irritated.

[DeathBringerZen]

I found that opening the door to gen 1 from Fire Tunnel doesn't affect the semtex spot, since the zombies won't spawn from that area if you're at the semtex. They won't even spawn from Fire Tunnel either. Just some observations.

 

That is good to know, as when I used to do the strategy in earlier attempts, I used to open both doors, and when a zombie derped out I would run to the spawn and he normally respawned down in the lower portion beside the box spawn.

 

I will need to try this Gen 2 strat you are talking about though. I can't imagine being able to camp behind there. On the tank path you mean? I am bemused as to how it is possible. lol.

 

Yeah, I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have died on Origins through stupid mistakes or general in-game bullshit! Been kicked under the map over a dozen times, had the panzers drop in and lock the game, died numerous times with only 1-3 zombies left, and even once I died jumping down from Mule Kick after getting slapped.

 

Good times...

[83457]

A Dahniska: thanks for the explanation. I always dig everything and still often get the staff parts on round 3. So I'm not sure that your point on saving mounds is valid, but I will try to keep an eye on this, see if i can see a difference.

Hmmm.

Happy gaming!

[brando]

i usually try to save all the dig spots for when its snowing and ge all ice staff parts by like round 6 (if im lucky) then just dig dig dig for the golden shovel and helm. the one thing i dont do is activate generator 2 in the first few rounds i usually do it around round 6 when looking for the final ice staff pieces but also depending on if the box spawned there (which it usually does for me! all the darn time!)

[DeathBringerZen]

i usually try to save all the dig spots for when its snowing and ge all ice staff parts by like round 6 (if im lucky) then just dig dig dig for the golden shovel and helm. the one thing i dont do is activate generator 2 in the first few rounds i usually do it around round 6 when looking for the final ice staff pieces but also depending on if the box spawned there (which it usually does for me! all the darn time!)

 

If you do not get the ice staff parts before round 4, you cannot get them again till round 10. It does not snow between round 4-10... EVER!

[Dahniska]

For you, DBZ. I recorded this just a bit ago - the camping strategy I mentioned behind the tank station. All relevant information should be in the captions. Enjoy!

[DeathBringerZen]

Very impressive Dahniska. I can see that the spawn in ridiculously fast, and the time it took to finish is at least 30 seconds faster that the semtex.

 

I will try this tonight and let you know how it goes. Good job man.