The Complete Origins Solo Guide

[Dahniska]

 

Introduction

What’s up ladies and gentlemen?

I’ve been a regular at this forum for quite some time now, but I’ve never made any huge posts to share with people here. Now, it’s time for me to share my own contribution to CoDZ, something which this forum has needed for a good while: a guide for Solo Origins.

Origins is one of the most challenging Zombies maps that Treyarch has ever released. There is so much to this map, from the giant robots to the staffs to the long Easter Egg. One of the hardest things about Origins is all the small things that you must learn by heart for you to be successful. The plethora of ways to die and the many things that can go wrong, combined with all the things you must do right, come together and lead to a very fun, but challenging and often frustrating Zombies experience. Despite this Origins is my favorite Zombies map yet, and my most played.

For the first month after Origins was released, I barely touched Black Ops 2 multiplayer or any other game or Zombies map. Almost every day I played Origins, learning how to survive and how to do the various tasks throughout the map. I tried various strategies to get further and further in Origins before finally settling on the ones that got me to Round 108 last year. Recently I returned to Origins, bent on surpassing my old record and went on to achieve Round 117, 10 rounds short of the world record! By this time there is very little about getting far on Origins that I don’t know, so I feel confident that I am now ready to share what I know to help you reach your own goal.

The Basics Of Zombies

To be successful at playing Origins, you must be adept at the utilization of a lot of Zombies skills that are not Origins-specific. Yes, you heard me right - there are things you must know that are not part of Origins itself. Origins is just one Zombies map and the general rules that govern other zombies maps are also important here. Therefore, before you go further in this guide I suggest you check out The Master Zombie Guide by Ehjookayted. There is a wealth of information in this thread that will prove very useful to any Zombies player and is very relevant to Origins.

The New Features Of Origins

Now that you’ve gotten a bunch of the basics of Zombies under your belt, it’s time to start familiarizing yourself with Origins itself. I’m including below a list of a lot of the important things in Origins that you won’t find in other Black Ops 2 Zombies maps, along with descriptions.

 <- One of the three Origins robots.

There are 3 giant robots that routinely walk a predetermined path from one side of Origins to the other. Being stepped on by a robot results in instant death (unless you have the Golden Helmet). Keep an eye on the sky and look up before you enter one of their footprints so you do not die by them. While these robots are lethal to you, they also are lethal to zombies. Each of the giant robots contains a piece of the Wind Staff, which can be retrieved by shooting the bottom of their foot when it is lighted up and then allowing them to step on you.

<- The evil Panzer Soldat.

The Panzer Soldat is a new boss zombie. He first spawns on Round 8 and then shows up again every few rounds. He is very dangerous and can kill you either by hitting you at point-blank, shooting you with his flamethrower or by grabbing and reeling you in with his claw. His only weak spot is his head. If playing Solo you will only encounter one Panzer at a time. When killed, he drops a piece of the Fire Staff the first time, then a random power-up each time after that.

 <- Nikolai and Takeo riding the Mark IV tank.

The Mark IV tank performs somewhat similarly to the bus on TranZit. You can ride it halfway around the map for 500 points. Its initial location is underneath the church, but it can also be parked behind the Tank Station. Riding the tank is the only way to retrieve the pieces of the Lightning Staff. If the tank rides over you, you will die instantly. The tank can also kill zombies with its flamethrowers.

<- A view of Generator 3 from above. 

 

Origins contains six generators. Each one is powered up individually by activating it and then staying on top of the generator pad, holding off special Agarthan Zombies until the time expires. Once a generator is powered on you will earn back the points it cost to activate it and then 100 more. To use the Mystery Box, perk machines or the Wunderfizz machine, the nearby generator must be activated. Once all six are online, you can use the Pack-A-Punch machine in the middle of the map.

<- A zombie defending Generator 1.

If it is Round 10 or higher and at least four generators are online, these special generator zombies will go around the map, turning all active generators off. They have the same health as regular zombies and they will drop a Max Ammo if they are killed while attacking a generator (or when they turn off the last active generator). (Note - They will not drop a Max Ammo if killed by a staff other than the Wind Staff.)

<- Maxis Drone in flight.

The Maxis Drone is a new buildable MQ27 Dragonfire. It flies around near you, shooting zombies and picking up power-ups for you. It can be used to obtain a free Pack-a-Punched MG08 LMG and it can also revive other players for you.

<- The Wunderfizz perk machine. 

The Wunderfizz is a new perk machine introduced in Origins. It functions similarly to the Mystery Box, giving you a random perk at the cost of 1500 points, and will move to another location once a teddy bear bottle is shown. All perks in Origins can be obtained from the Wunderfizz, including Juggernog, Speed Cola, Stamin-Up, Quick Revive, Mule Kick, PHD Flopper, Deadshot Daquiri, Double Tap 2.0 and Electric Cherry.

<- An Origins shovel.

The Shovel is a new accessory introduced in Origins. It can be picked up for free in 4 areas of the map: spawn room, wind tunnel, lightning tunnel and underneath the church. The shovel allows you to dig up dig spots around the map, and is essential for obtaining the pieces of the Ice Staff, the Golden Shovel and the Golden Helmet. It is always recommended to have a shovel. For more information about the shovel including how to get extra perks, click here.

<- One of the reward boxes showing the Max Ammo reward. 

There are two reward boxes in Origins, one in the spawn room and another like it by Generator 6. The reward boxes allow you to access the following rewards:

• 1 Max Ammo for powering on six generators.
• 1 Pack-a-Punched Assault Rifle/MG08 LMG for getting 115 headshot kills (does not include generator defense zombies).
• 1 Free Double Tap 2 perk for spending 30,000 points.
• One Inch Punch (Melee weapon that is a 1-hit kill till round 18) for filling the four soul boxes in Origins.

<- Air Strike model.

 The Air Strike grenade is a new tactical grenade that works like a Monkey Bomb but has a lot more kill power. Click here to see how to obtain it.

<- The Lightning Staff as seen on the Black Ops 2 stats screen.
 

The Lightning Staff is one of the four staffs featured in Origins. These are the Wonder Weapons of the map, and you are allowed to carry one at a time. The Lightning Staff kills zombies with electricity, as its name implies. It is pretty good as a weapon early in the game, but even after being upgraded it is basically worthless past Round 50. It is recommended to build it if you plan to get to Round 100, as once it is built, you can get free power-ups along the tank route every several rounds. Click here to see how. 
 

<- The Fire Staff as seen on the Black Ops 2 stats screen.

 

The Fire Staff is the next of Origins’ four staffs. As the name implies it kills zombies with fire (fireballs, or when charged, fire pits). This staff is not recommended for Solo play as it suffers from a glitch where sometimes zombies are entirely unaffected by it. It can kill zombies effectively until a bit after Round 60, but it is not recommended to use it for high rounds as it has been known to cause the game to crash. It is required to build and upgrade this staff to complete the easter egg, and it is recommended to at least upgrade it if you plan to get to Round 100.

<- The Wind Staff as seen on the Black Ops 2 stats screen.

The 3^rd of Origins’ staffs, the Wind Staff kills zombies by blowing them away. It functions similarly to a Thundergun, but if charged it creates a miniature tornado. The tornado has infinite kill power against zombies and instantly kills at any round, making this an ideal “panic” or backup weapon for high rounds. 

<- The Ice Staff as seen on the Black Ops 2 stats screen.

The Ice Staff is the least useful staff before you upgrade it, but once upgraded allows you to fire a charged shot to create a blizzard capable of freezing zombies at any round. This weapon is very useful as it is arguably the best weapon in Origins, perfect for camping or killing trains. It is recommended to have this upgraded in all high round (80+) Origins strategies.

(Note: Click this link to see how to build and upgrade all staffs.)
 

Before You Start

The hardest thing about Origins is getting started. No, really. The zombies in Origins have slightly improved AI over other Black Ops 2 maps, making survival without Juggernog in Origins harder than any other Black Ops 2 map. On top of that, there is no bank in Origins - you must earn all your points on the go. This makes it crucial that you start your game off smartly to earn as many points as you possibly can in as few rounds as possible.

Before we go into the specifics on starting your game smartly, let’s go over the schedule on Origins. Yes, there is a schedule to this map. More or less, this is the schedule that Origins follows in its early rounds:

• Round 1: Clear weather.
• Round 2: All weather patterns (rain, snow and clear skies) are possible.
• Round 3: It will snow on this round or round 4, sometimes both. It will always snow on one of these rounds.
• Round 4: In addition to maybe being a snow round, the plane carrying a fire staff piece will usually spawn this round.
• Round 5: If the plane with the fire staff piece does not spawn on Round 4, it will spawn this round.  This round cannot be a snow round ever, just like the rest of the rounds until Round 10.
• Round 8: Panzer spawns.
• Round 10: Generator Zombies spawn for the first time, if 4 or more generators are powered on. Snow round.

If you haven’t played Origins much, you may be wondering why the weather matters so much. The reason why is that the pieces for the Ice Staff, which is crucial to almost all Round 50+ strategies (and for getting all the perk slots), can only be dug up with your shovel while it is snowing. Therefore if you plan to get the Ice Staff, you will need to be watching the weather and saving your points so you can open the doors necessary to be able to dig up the pieces while it is snowing. Secondly, you need to be ready to handle the first Panzer on Round 8 - without Jug and the proper weaponry, it’s not uncommon for this bastard to end your game early.
 

With this in mind, let’s move on now to some strategies. I’m going to put it plain and simple: there are basically two ways you can go from the start of the game, two routes you can take. The path you choose should be based on your goal, your skill and how much time you have on your hands.
 

Route 1 - Quick Setup, Quick Game
 

You’ve only had Origins for about a month. You’ve played it a bunch with your friends so you have a decent idea of how the map plays. Now you’re ready to start zombie slaying on your own, and so you want to just get right into it. You don’t have all day, just a few hours, so you want to get going as fast as possible. The good news is, I know just how to get you started.

For the quicker strategies, the main thing you need to decide before you start is if you want to use a staff. The main advantage to not using a staff is that setting up the game is a lot more traditional and simple: you arm up with traditional weaponry, find a good place to train, kill zombies, that’s it. The disadvantage is that you will have a really hard time making it past Round 50 (assuming you play well), and that the rounds are a lot slower in general.

Solo Games Without Staffs

Without a staff, the game is very simple. Here’s a short rundown of how to start a game with no staffs:

Round 1: Turn on generator 1, grab shovel, knife zombies.
Round 2: Pick up Double Points from reward box, shoot 8 times per zombie, finish with a knife. Knife 2 times when you run out of bullets. When the last zombie is dead, leave the spawn room, heading for the Mystery Box (look up in the sky to see the blue light).
Rounds 3-4: Buy a wall gun (MP40 or AK74u depending on whether you went to generator 2 or 3) or hit the box if you are feeling lucky. Kill zombies with headshots.
Rounds 5-7: Get to generator 4 and turn it on, then buy Jug. Keep hitting the box in hopes of getting a Ray Gun or Ray Gun Mark 2. If not, at least try to get a HAMR or SCAR-H. The stronger your weapon, the easier time you’ll have dealing with the Panzer Soldat. A good place to camp is at the bottom of the Wind tunnel near Juggernog, where almost all the zombies spawn straight out of the wall in front of you and once in a while come down the tunnel from above.
Round 8: Hopefully you’ve got a strong weapon. When the Panzer spawns, make sure to keep a respectful distance, always moving and strafing back and forth to keep from getting sucked in by his claw. When you got the zombies trained up with the Panzer, let him have it. Keep on the move and make sure you don’t get trapped by any respawning zombies. Play really careful.
Rounds 9-20: Get the rest of the generators on and keep hitting the box until you get a loadout you like (monkeys, Ray Gun Mark 2 and the SCAR-H are some good weapons). Pack-a-Punch your guns, buy Stamin-Up/Speed Cola, Double Tap 2.0 and Quick Revive. You can actually get all 5 if you pick up Double Tap last from the Reward Box.

Now that you’ve gotten this far, you need a good place to train up the zombies. A few of the more popular ones are in the Crazy Place, by Generator 4 (Jug) and by Generator 5 (Stamin-Up). Click on the links to see what training in those spots looks like.

You should be able to hit 40 without much trouble, but once you get higher than that the rounds are going to start taking very long. Good luck!

Solo Games With Just One Or Two Staffs
 

You may have already realized that playing Origins without a staff is almost pointless. You want to enjoy the benefits of using a staff, but don’t have the time to do a full high rounds setup with all the staffs, so you want to just focus on one or two of them. The advantage to this strategy is that you will spend a little less time on setting up your game, but you will have the biggest advantage of a full setup, namely a staff.
 

Up above I wrote out descriptions of each of the staffs. Basically, early in the game (below Round 40), Lightning is an ideal choice if you like to train. It has a lot of ammo. The main flaw of this weapon is that it is the least powerful of all the staffs, which makes very few of the high level zombies players use it. Fire also seems decent, but in reality it isn’t that amazing either due to its limited kill power (not good past Round 60) and the fact that it occasionally glitches out and doesn’t hurt the zombies. Wind is very strong but has low ammo and is terrible for any camping strategies, leaving us with just the Ice Staff.

The Ice Staff is amazing. It’s my personal favorite weapon in all of Zombies. It is good at everything - always has kill power and is great at killing trains, amazing at camping and with a little foresight can save you when you’re about to die. The Ice Staff’s true potential is only shown through its charged shot, the blizzard; its single shot is horrible. I can guarantee that almost every player, if not every single player, who has gotten to Round 80 on Origins has used the Ice Staff. There is no reason to focus on any other staff as your main weapon if you want to get far on Origins (though it is recommended to build and upgrade Wind to use as a backup if you run out of Ice Staff ammo).

On the subject of ammo: never hit the box on Origins more than 4 times a game! After the fourth hit the box can move, and moving it will activate Fire Sale power-ups. I cannot begin to stress how important this is. After you reach a certain point in the game (Round 50 or something like that), you will be given 4 power-up drops a round. These can be any of the following: Nuke, Double Points, Insta-Kill, Zombie Blood and Max Ammo. You can get up to 2 of any of these per round, though the game almost always makes sure that you will get a Max Ammo at least once every two rounds. If you add Fire Sales to the power-ups, your chance of getting a Max Ammo will be 1/6 instead of 1/5! This may not seem like a lot but in reality, it is. If you do not get ammo, your rounds will take significantly longer and you will have to resort to using other ways to kill Zombies than killing them yourself, which both takes more time and is more risky. The only weapons that truly matter in Origins are the staffs, and for these you do not need to use the box. Therefore, NEVER MOVE THE BOX.

With that out of the way, let’s make a list of the things you’ll need to get to 70+ with one or two staffs:

• Ice Staff (upgraded of course)
• Optional Alternate Staff (Wind is recommended but if you were trying to get further you wouldn’t be just making two staffs)
• Boomhilda for killing the Panzer quickly (upgraded Mauser - though if you happen to get the Ray Gun Mark 2 from the box in your 4 hits, that works just as well)
• Air Strikes (if you get Monkeys from the box in your 4 hits you can use those instead)
• Zombie Shield in the workshop or Wind Tunnel (depends on your strategy)
• Juggernog
• Quick Revive
• Stamin-Up
• Speed Cola/PHD Flopper (depends on how much you want to use grenades)
• Semtex (for Insta-Kill)

The order you get these things in really doesn’t make too much of a difference. Optimally you want Jug ASAP, and the Zombie Shield pretty early on too. For the Ice Staff it’s a matter of preference whether to get its pieces by the end of Round 3 or Round 4, or to wait till Round 10. The advantage to having a staff early is that it helps a lot with killing the Panzer.

Camping With The Ice Staff

Now it’s time to look at some strategies using the Ice Staff. As I said before, this weapon is really versatile. It is one of the most amazing weapons for camping in the history of Zombies, which is actually the fastest way to get through the mid-rounds. Once you get the Ice Staff, you can camp with it comfortably till Round 50 all the way through Round 70 depending on where you camp! Here are links to some videos showing different locations for camping with the Ice Staff.
 

• By the Semtex wall buy. My friend bloodyhawk622 showed me this spot. It’s fairly fast and very easy to camp here.

• In front of Juggernog. While this guy shows himself camping with other people here and using other weapons alongside the Ice Staff, you can camp here reasonably well with just the Ice Staff on Solo.

• Behind the Tank Station. I found this by myself and later saw it on MatoMaster’s channel, where he explains it very well. 

• Right above the dead end in the trenches. This strategy (shown by boysta2011) is not slow but if you’re looking for a super fast camping strategy, camping behind the tank station is faster.

The thing to remember is that you can camp almost anywhere you want with the Ice Staff, assuming you can time your shots effectively. The real thing that matters is how fast the zombies spawn - how many kills you can get per shot on average. This will determine how long you can camp. There is no reason to train until Round 60 on Solo Origins ever, since you can use the Ice Staff.

Training With The Ice Staff Or Wind Staff

You’ve finally reached the point where ammo is starting to be a concern. Camping has sped up the rounds, but you’re getting awfully low on ammo at the end of each round. Now, it’s time to start training.

While it’s possible to train in a lot of places, for the sake of simplicity I’m going to show you only the two best places to train with your Ice Staff (or Wind Staff). Optimally, you should be using the Ice Staff as much as you can, but eventually you’ll start a round, get your four drops, and you will not get a Max Ammo among them. At this point you’ll need to consider an alternate source of ammunition, killing zombies in an alternate way, or swapping to another staff (usually the Wind Staff) until the next round. Either way, the best high round strategy for the sake of ammo conservation is training, so let’s take a look at the best places to do so:
 

• Training behind the Tank Station. This is, as far as ammo efficiency goes, the most effective training spot in Origins for high rounds (which is why you see it in a World Record video). The very factors that make this the fastest camping spot also allow extra zombies to be killed with each shot of your staff. The main challenge to it is that it’s easy to mess up and you must jump a lot.

• >Training by Generator 4. The main advantage of this spot (other than it being simple and good) is that you can use the giant robot’s feet to kill your zombies once in a while, which saves ammo for you. This strategy gives a few less kills per shot of your staff than the tank station training spot, but when ammo is low, it’s a good spot to fall back to.

In an ideal game you’ll get all your equipment and Ice Staff and camp till round 70, then start training at one of the spots above. With some luck you should be good till about Round 80, but then you’ll start running into ammo problems. Now, we’ve finally reached the part of the guide I’ve been waiting for: the real high rounds strategy.

Route 2 - Long Setup, Long Game
 

Yep, you heard me right. While everything I’ve shown you so far is important and relevant, I’ve been holding out on you. Why? Because not everyone wants to chase the really high rounds in Origins. Not everyone is ready to play for 15 hours, or to try to break the world record. So far, all the stuff we’ve gone over will probably be good enough to get you to round 90 or so. But if you want to hit Round 100 or  get even further, you’re going to need more. This part of the guide will show you how to set up your game by doing the full easter egg, and after that, my own strategy for Origins.

The Easter Egg Setup

Setting up your game by doing the complete Origins Easter Egg on Solo is the longest and hardest way to set up your Origins game. For the Easter Egg, you literally do just about everything that you can do on this map. You make all and upgrade all the staffs, get and upgrade the One Inch Punch, earn and use the Air Strikes and do almost all the challenges in the map. Depending on your skill and how practiced you are, this will take between an hour and a half, to over 3 hours to complete.

Click on this link to see the steps for the Easter Egg (and how to make/upgrade all staffs).

Follow the steps listed in that guide, and you will do the Easter Egg. Just make sure not to put the Maxis Drone into the portal or your game will end! While doing the Easter Egg, you will obviously earn yourself all the things mentioned above. You will also receive two more rewards right before the end of the Easter Egg: 1) the upgraded One Inch Punch (known otherwise as the Elemental Fist) and 2) the Crazy Place as a training spot (contrary to popular belief, though, this is NOT the best training spot in Origins).

Are these rewards worth all the work it takes to get them in Solo? Some would say yes, but my answer is no. Firstly, the Elemental Fist is practically worthless in Solo play as the zombies come too fast to justify using it - by the time you’re done camping with the Ice Staff, the fist will be obsolete. Secondly, the Crazy Place is actually not a very good training spot compared to the others I showed you above, and thirdly, once you complete the Rain Fire step of the Easter Egg, you can never again make all three robots walk across the map together unless it’s random. Overall, I would not recommend doing the Easter Egg because of these reasons and the time it takes to do it.

The Optimal Setup

Now we’ve reached the last part of the Origins guide. So far, we’ve looked at a lot of things: how to camp with the Ice Staff, how to train in the Crazy Place before and after the Easter Egg, how to set up with just one staff or with none. It’s finally time to look at the very best way to set up your Origins game to hit rounds higher than 100.

Earlier I wrote a list of things that you will need for a good game with one or two staffs. Everything there is good, but for the very best strategy, there’s more. Here is the full list of everything you will need to do and to have for the very best high rounds strategy:
 

• All perks except Electric Cherry (Juggernog, Stamin-Up, Speed Cola, Quick Revive, Mule Kick, Deadshot Daquiri, Double Tap 2.0 and PHD Flopper). Each perk is useful but having 8 perk slots will allow you to get unlimited Quick Revives more easily - see this video by MatoMaster21 where this is explained in more detail.
• Upgraded Mauser or Ray Gun Mark 2. This is used to take out the Panzer quickly.
• Air Strikes or Monkey Bombs. These can be used to save your life or to make sure that you and the Panzer get some one-on-one time when he shows up.
• All staffs built and upgraded (You will be primarily using the Ice Staff with the Wind Staff as backup). This is essential to activate the Rain Fire step of the Easter Egg which is a huge way to save ammo.
• Golden Shovel and Golden Helmet. These are needed to help you get all the perk slots and to save you from dying by a robot foot if you make a mistake.
• Semtex Grenades. These are useful on Insta-Kill, especially combined with PHD Flopper.
• Zombie Shield in the workshop. This is the ideal spot for it as it is the closest to your best training spot.
• Claymores (optional).
• Mystery Box in its original spot (4 hits on the box or less). Fire Sales are very, very bad.
• Easter Egg done as far as the Rain Fire step. Do NOT complete this step! This makes all three robots walk across the map every minute and a half. This is an easy way to kill your zombies without using ammo.

Now that we’ve gone over what’s on our checklist and why, click here to see the exact strategy I use to start up my game from Rounds 1-10.

In this thread there is a written-out guide telling you how to do what I did in the video above. It’s not very different from the way a lot of people play Origins, but it is very good at minimizing the time it takes to set up and maximizing points early on.

Once you’ve gotten the Air Strikes and all your staffs upgraded, you need to focus on getting the Golden Shovel. Once you’ve gotten this, you can start getting your perk slots. Here is a video by MatoMaster21 showing you everything you need to know about getting them.

Keep digging until  you get the Golden Helmet. Once you’ve gotten everything you need, you can proceed to camping with the Ice Staff to fly through rounds (see above for some locations to camp with it). Once you run out ammo, you can then proceed to train (also seen above). The strategies outlined for one or two staffs are basically the same as this strategy, but with one key difference: this one has backup plans for when we run out of ammo.
 

Alternate Sources Of Ammo

Pretty much every high rounds player who has played Origins will tell you that the main difficulty of getting very far on this map is ammo. As I have mentioned before, our main weapons are the staffs, and unlike past Wonder Weapons (like the WunderWaffe, Thundergun and the Wave Gun), we cannot recycle our staffs in the Mystery Box. This means that the only way to get more ammo is getting Max Ammo drops. Origins provides six ways to get a Max Ammo:

1.  Killing regular zombies.
2.  Killing the Panzer Soldat (1/5 of a chance to get it if Fire Sales are not activated, 1/6 if they are).
3. Digging up a Max Ammo (rare, and requires a Golden Shovel).
4. Getting it from the Generator Zombies. These will come every 3-5 rounds (provided at least 4 generators are active) and will always drop a Max Ammo when they die while attacking a generator (unless killed by the Ice Staff, Fire Staff or Lightning Staff). Alternatively you can nuke them or allow them to destroy all generators, after which they will die automatically and drop the Max Ammo.
5. From the reward box. You will get one free Max Ammo upon activating 6 generators which can be used whenever you so choose.
6. By riding the tank once the Lightning Staff has been built. You will get three free drops every several rounds, which have a 1/6 chance of being Max Ammos.  Look here to see how.

Having as many of these options available as possible will allow you to have more options in case you don’t get a Max Ammo from regular zombies. If your staff completely runs out of ammo and none of the other options listed here work, you will have to wait until the Generator Zombies show up to fill your staff up again.

Alternate Ways To Kill Zombies

You’ve tried all your options to get a Max Ammo, and nothing has worked. Things seem hopeless, but fear not! Just like Mob of the Dead’s traps and Buried’s buildables, Origins has a few extra ways to kill zombies without using up your ammo.

The first way to kill zombies without ammo is by use of the giant robots. As I hinted earlier, one of the advantages to having the Rain Fire step of the Easter Egg activated is that all three robots traverse the map together every minute and a half. If one of them steps on a zombie, that zombie will die. The best places to use this to your advantage are by Generator 4 and 5, Generator 4 being the easier place. The robots cannot be used effectively if you complete the Easter Egg.
 

• Click here to see the Generator 4 Robot Foot Strategy in action. 

• Click here to see the Generator 5 Robot Foot Strategy in action.

The second option is to use the tank. This tank is very deadly to you as well as to zombies and therefore it’s a little bit less safe than using the robot feet strategy. The main advantage to the tank is that you can use it while training behind the tank station, though there is also a decent strategy near the church for using the tank.
 

• Click here to see the Tank Station Tank Strategy in action.​

• Click here to see the Church Tank Strategy in action. 

​

Alternatively, one of the ways that Black Ops 2 Zombies differs from Black Ops 1 is that zombies now de-spawn when wounded if you leave the immediate area. The most obvious way that this affects your gameplay is that you can no longer leave a crawler while you do your various staff upgrades, but you can also use this to cause zombies to de-spawn on high rounds. It is slower and less effective than using the tank or robot feet, but it works. Damage your zombie and leave the area. 
 
Miscellaneous Tips And Advice
 

• Once you pass Round 30 or so, the safest way to move around the map is to gather up all the zombies close behind you and walk them to wherever you want to go. This is the safest way to get a fresh Zombie Shield or to buy your perks back when you go down.
• If you go down, it’s challenging to get going again. Throw a monkey, shoot your staff, do whatever you have to do to get control of the zombie hoard and get them all behind you. Then go buy Jug right away and get your other perks afterwards.
• Focus on getting a new Zombie Shield whenever you don’t have one. It can and will save your life.
• Try to keep the Wind Staff filled with ammo as much as possible. If your Ice Staff is mostly full or you know you’re going to get two Max Ammos (like on a Generator Zombie round), take advantage of the opportunity to fill up your Wind Staff again.
• Never build the Zombie Shield underneath the church.
• The Maxis Drone is completely unnecessary for all Solo strategies except doing the Easter Egg. It also will not get you up if you go down on Solo, and picks up power-ups like Zombie Blood when you don’t need them. I do not recommend using this thing much.
• Do not pick up Nukes if you are training your zombies behind the tank station or by Generator 4. Nukes kill a few zombies at a time and make the new zombies spawn a few at a time instead of together, which can lead to you getting trapped.
• Insta-Kill is best used by training up your zombies and killing them with a Semtex grenade (unless you’re camping in which case sometimes you should just keep shooting the Ice Staff).
• Zombie Bloods should be avoided unless you are in a tight spot or looking for extra perk slots.
• The Mystery Box isn’t necessary for any high round Solo strategies. It is best to avoid using it.
• The safest way to earn the Air Strike grenades is to get your melee kills with the Zombie Shield. Insta-Kill is not a bad option for this either, though.
• If you do decide to do the Easter Egg, use the Ultimate Fire Staff as your main weapon to kill Panzers and while upgrading your fist. The Fire Fist is the best version of the Elemental Fist.
• As mentioned above, avoid using Electric Cherry as much as possible. This perk stuns zombies when you go down, which means they will not move while you are down, causing you to be trapped instantly when you get up again.
• Getting collateral damage with your Mauser while setting up the game is a great way to maximize your points early on.
• If you decide to kill zombies with a bullet gun, headshots give the most points per kill. Take advantage of this while setting up if you are not comfortable shooting zombies to damage them and finishing off with a knife.
• If you see a Max Ammo, use up your Air Strikes/staff ammo until the power-up begins to flash, then pick it up.
• Max Ammos will fill both your upgraded staff’s clip and its reserve ammo. Don’t worry about reloading before you pick up the Max Ammo!
• Avoid being stepped on even if you have the Golden Helmet. Zombies can move underneath the robot foot while your screen is black, so you can die while stunned.
• ​The MP40 is the best wall gun to carry if you have your staff, a Mauser and Mule Kick. It is useful for Insta-Kill and for other uses and is conveniently located at three spots in Origins.
• PHD Flopper or Mule Kick are the most useful extra perks for Solo Origins. If you only plan to have 5 or 6 perk slots, I recommend these perks after Jug, Quick Revive, Speed Cola and Stamin-Up.  
• The Panzer is super gay to go against. Always have a Boomhilda, Ray Gun (Mark 1 or 2) or upgraded staff to deal with him quickly. Never underestimate this bastard or take him lightly, as you WILL die.
• If you get grabbed by the Panzer’s claw, shoot the red dot on the claw or kill him FAST! Getting sucked in all the way by him almost always results in your death.
• When a giant robot steps on a partially-filled soul box, it resets your progress. Wait until the robot has gone by to begin filling your soul box.
• You can charge your Ultimate Staff twice by holding down your trigger. The first charge is all that you need for the Ice and Wind Staffs, but charging your staff twice will increase its power if you are using the Fire Staff or Lightning Staff. Swap weapons to cancel the charge, or release the trigger to shoot.
• The easiest and most effective way to turn on a generator is to run in a circle around its center.
• More dig spots respawn on rounds when it is raining.
• Stamin-Up is probably the most useful perk on this map after Jug and Quick Revive in Solo.
• ​As shown in MatoMaster's video, you can get 1 free zombie blood each round by dousing the fires in the three burning wagons around the excavation site. This is done with the Ice Staff. The wagons are re-lit each round, provided it is not raining. 
• If the Generator Zombies come and you really need to fill your Ice Staff with ammo, allow them to turn off all generators and wait by the last one for the free Max Ammo.
• In addition to the loud sirens and your character's quotes, red lights will flash near the entrances to a robot footprint right before the robot steps. If you see the flashing light, watch out!
• If you have the Ice Staff by Round 7, you can shoot the wagons with it to get the free Zombie Blood and then kill the last zombie. Enjoy killing the helpless Panzer!​
• Stay off the tank as much as possible when riding it for power-ups or Lightning Staff pieces. If you are on the tank, zombies like to sprint extra fast, so wait till the last second to jump on the tank and then jump off to get your staff piece or power-up.

 

Conclusion

I’ve spent more time playing Origins than any other Zombies map and I must say that, to me, it is one of the most fun maps ever made in Zombies. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do. Don’t let the map discourage you, and always keep trying! Never give up!

The only way to improve is to practice and persevere. That is what separates those who succeed from those who do not.

I would like to thank MatoMaster21 (if you ever see this) for your useful video guides. I want to also give credit to everyone whose videos or other resources I referred to in this guide. I’d also like to thank perfectlemonade for writing really good guides for Solo Zombies in general - I hope this guide is as informative as your guides tend to be! And lastly, a big thanks to the Call of Duty Zombies community. This community is a great and helpful community and I am honored to able to contribute.

Thanks for reading! Peace.

-Dahniska
 

Edited April 5, 2014 by Dahniska

[Awful Lawton]

10/10, great guide! In my 116 game the rounds dragged on when I ran out of ammo, then had to run ALL THE WAY from The tank station to gen 4 to get the robot to come.

[PINNAZ]

You are an absolute asset to CoDz Dahniska. Another true strategist.

This is a follow on to Eye's 'Complete Solo Guide' and you have inspired me to really have a crack at a high Origins game. So many wonderful tips. You have written this in such a great way. For beginners to advanced slayers. And your 'Tips & Advice' is a nice finish. Great post!


PS - Most of the hyperlinks don't link to anything? Or are these future posts you are creating?

 

Edit - Links arent working on my phone, but work on my PC.
 

 

 

Great Guide - Pinned topic right here!

Brains!

[Chopper]

Nice guide, pretty similar to the one I did when Origins came out.

 

I have to ask - where did you first see or think about leaving the 3 robots doing the '3 step'?

I only found it out by a chance conversation in a party where my friend was testing the theory of it, and I wrote it in my guide.

 

It's just I've never seen anyone mention or do it anywhere else since!

[Dahniska]

@ Awful Lawton - Thanks buddy! In my games I use the Ice Staff behind the Tank Station with the Tank thrown in, otherwise I stay in No Man's Land. There's a super-advanced strategy I did not mention in detail in this guide that I use - I use the robot feet at one of the spots shown in the videos, then I train up and damage a hoard with the MP40, then I sprint as fast as I can for the other side of No Man's Land. By the time I've gotten another train together, the robots have returned. 
Sadly it's super slow. =

@ PINNAZ - Thank you for being so encouraging. You have more than once given me very appreciative comments and your confidence in my words is huge and I am grateful. Thank you again. :') You're one of the people whose words have encouraged me the most to write posts here. 

@ Chopper - I do not remember where I got the idea from. It was either in a conversation with my friend bloodyhawk622 a long time back, or it was from the post you made. I've had it in my mind for so long I don't really remember where I got it. I realized at some point last year that the triple robot option was huge and so I've been using it ever since. Most players have not realized yet how useful the 3 robot option is, but I think in time it will get more attention.
The tank is rather gay though. I considered using it but avoided it in the past, but when I saw how effectively TZP used it, I started to mix it in as well.

[Chopper]

Thanks for the response mate.  I'll speak to Lenny a bit later about this, because I'm sure I remember him saying in a party not that long ago that overall he didn't like the tank thing.

 

It amazes me that more people don't do this, as you said, I don't know anyone else who has ever even suggested it.

 

I like the idea of using the 3 robots from Jugg, which should be 1 in 4 waves taken out which is a great ammo saving.

[83457]

Great job, very clear and well written.

Thoughts: Robots. The first time that i saw the robot lock step, i figured this was a late game trap. Maybe point out that the red lights warn that a footprint is about to be stepped on? The red lights are pretty obvious and easy to see and give plenty of warning. Before round 4, the last zombie won't run, best time to hit a couple robot feet. Throwing grenades into the previous footprint, or next to the foot that is already down, can open the portal on the bottom of the foot so it is already open as it crosses the map. You can also shoot 1 ahead of time for a player waiting across the map, they stay open. The robot 3 step (not talking the Easter egg) comes every 4 rounds, not random (at least in solo). That being said, you can 'glitch' this; example: round 3, Odin starts to come through, you kill off round 3 and 4 before he finishes, as soon as he is done, you will get the 3 robot lock step (on 5, because it didn't get time on 4) It meant to come on 4, but the lone robot wasn't done. On every 4th round, as soon as a lone robot leaves, you get the 3 in lock step.

Activating generators: if you step off of the pad as it activates, you will lose your 200 points. 200 to activate, once done, you get 100, if you were on the pad as it finished, you get your 200 point investment back. Very common to step off in solo and lose out on 200 points.

Reward box: be sure to look at the correct orange icon for the reward that you want before hitting x. If you hit the wrong one, just wait for it to sink down and the box to close before hitting it again. G1 solo = x2, g1 mp = zombie blood.

ASMB aren't super necessary at first, it is easy enough to walk a zombie or 3 over at the ends of rounds, eventually getting them. Rather than using the shield method, which gives no points. Just a different take on that.

Generator zombies: once you pap, losing some generators can be fine. It its easy enough to reactivate them, so don't get yourself killed. Often enough 1 of the myriad nukes kills them during a round, just run for the max ammo. Early game, I'll let them take 2, 3, 6 as they are less important.

Lightning staff: charged shots also sometimes do nothing, zombies walk through the purple balls untouched. Every charged staff can/will glitch, be ready for it. Often charged shots just don't fire, sometimes continuing to make the charging noise.

Ice staff zombie blood note: it always rains the following round after use (except maybe 10/snow). Right? Doesn't it always rain next round? Also, round 7, do this, and kill the last zombie as you do. Then just take out the panzer in zb. Edit: does not always rain after ice staff/zb.

The red-staff-part plane will sometimes not show up until as late as 10. Rare, but occurs. Edit: solo should be 5, latest. Co-op may be later.

If the panzer downs you in solo, take a moment to shoot his face with the boomhilda while down.

Solo lightning staff/tank: you want to keep your zombie alive and get the parts. Tank station: run last zombie from work shop, wait in door to tank station, watch past g2, as soon as he enteres the g2 area, run for tank and activate. Then he should neither de/respawn in front of tank, nor should he catch you. At church, hop down the mud path towards g5 but don't go over the wall. Wait for zombies, hop back to tank and activate. Again, keeping him at the correct distance for this to be problem-free.

There is more, I'm sure, but i hope that this helps.

Edit: general Claymore tip, any map. You can always drop these to protect an area, but what i usually recommend for most bo2 maps is this; find a safe area to drop them facing out of map. Once enough (10? 12?) Are on the map, any that you attempt to drop will explode immediately. This can get you out of a tight spot, instakill a group during ik, or make a crawler at higher rounds. It is a close-range explosive that won't hurt you.

If you are actually placing them to protect an area, store extras in this method. Remember to drop them at the start of rounds, so you will get replenished by max ammo (good for bo1 Ascension monkeys).

[Dahniska]

Thanks 83457, I added a few of your tips to the bottom alongside my own. Thanks for the input! I hadn't thought of adding those to that list. 

In response to your question about the wagons, they will always light up again if it is not raining. There is nothing that you, as a player, can do to change the weather. It is indeed possible to get free zombie bloods multiple rounds in a row. I have done this many, many times. 

For the fire staff piece plane, I know that in Co-Op it sometimes will not spawn till Round 10 but in Solo I cannot remember the last time it didn't show up in the first 5 rounds. 

[83457]

Thanks for clearing up rain after zb step.

I probably am thinking of co-op on the fire-part-plane. Thanks for clearing that up too.

[DeathBringerZen]

You are an absolute asset to CoDz Dahniska. Another true strategist.

 

^This.

 

If anyone on CoDZ could write a solo strategy guide, it is YOU! Maybe me and Chopper prior, but you have clearly proven to be head and shoulders above us (for now! ).

 

I will try your strategies over time, and my aim is to obviously better you, but until then, I kneel before you. Your strategies and guide have been nothing short of spectacular, and I think you can easily be the sites new Superhands, though personally I would love nothing more than to see return of the master himself.

 

Anyway... if we get the chance to revote for a new user of the month, you have my vote man. Keep up the awesome work... you are a credit to this site!

[83457]

Round 7/8 panzer/robot advice:

Since round 8 will be a 3 robot lock-step round, be prepared. It would be best to wait for a lone robot (Thor g2/3 or Freya g6) to just start to come through. Then you kill the last round 7 zombie. That way, you won't have to deal with 3 robots while addressing the panzer on 8. By the time the trifecta appears, the panzer should be history.

[Dahniska]

 

You are an absolute asset to CoDz Dahniska. Another true strategist.

 

^This.

 

If anyone on CoDZ could write a solo strategy guide, it is YOU! Maybe me and Chopper prior, but you have clearly proven to be head and shoulders above us (for now! ).

 

I will try your strategies over time, and my aim is to obviously better you, but until then, I kneel before you. Your strategies and guide have been nothing short of spectacular, and I think you can easily be the sites new Superhands, though personally I would love nothing more than to see return of the master himself.

 

Anyway... if we get the chance to revote for a new user of the month, you have my vote man. Keep up the awesome work... you are a credit to this site!

 

Thanks DBZ, and good luck with passing me! (No sarcasm. =P) 

I honestly believe that with some luck and a lot of determination it is possible that someone may be able to get to 140 or higher on Origins, eventually. maybe 150? The tank and robot feet are slow ways to kill zombies but they work! Main problem is freezes and system memory. 

I bet you could write a really good guide for Solo on this site too if you tried. It just takes a lot of time... I spent 4 days or so compiling the information, getting links, uploading stuff and writing/proofreading this. Maybe there is a faster way. 

Thanks for the kind words man, I appreciate them and will strive in the future as well to merit the praise you have given for my work. ^^

 

[mmm chocolate]

"Also, round 7, do this, and kill the last zombie as you do. Then just take out the panzer in zb."

Genius.

[83457]

"Also, round 7, do this, and kill the last zombie as you do. Then just take out the panzer in zb."

Genius.

Thank you, glad to help.

Great guide.

[Edward Richtofen]

This is an amazing guide, thanks a lot! It literally answered every question I had about this map.

[Fariko Zomb]

Really is good, didnt miss to mention a single thing. I was a little late but its always refreshing