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Black Ops 6 Zombies: Citadelle des Morts Wonder Weapon Sword Guide

A step-by-step guide to the four Citadelle des Morts wonder weapon swords, their distinct upgrade puzzles, and the unlock details that may vary by mode or version.
Length4 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Citadelle des Morts has four elemental wonder weapon swords: Caliburn (fire), Durendal (lightning), Balmung (shadow), and Solais (light). Each starts as a Bastard Sword claimed from its matching knight statue, then requires a different map puzzle to upgrade.

There is a discrepancy in the published unlock instructions: Activision’s guide describes collecting a puzzle piece from an enemy after revealing Pack-a-Punch, while a detailed walkthrough says to reach Round 10 and kill a helmeted zombie for a Stamp. These steps may depend on mode or game version, so check what your current match requires rather than treating either prerequisite as universal. Activision recommends Directed Mode for learning the map at a lower pace. Activision’s Citadelle des Morts guide Detailed walkthrough

Choose a sword and know what its upgrade involves

Sword Element and knight Upgrade task Variable or demanding part
Caliburn Fire; dragon Carry Aether fire from three braziers back to the dragon statue. Carrying fire damages you.
Durendal Lightning; stag Collect three Lightning Rods and complete the storm-and-vase charging sequence. One rod is reported to drop from a Dungeon zombie; another requires a Dead Wire weapon.
Balmung Shadow; raven Use an animal-bone trophy to set a rune wheel, then guide dark orbs into three portals. The trophy, and therefore the rune solution, varies by match.
Solais Light; lion Charge the sword, transfer energy to the Lion’s Door, then shoot symbols in order. The reported symbol sequence must be entered correctly.

The walkthroughs describe how to obtain each sword, but do not establish a reliable current ranking. Which one is most useful depends on your needs and the live game version.

Get the matching Bastard Sword

  1. Progress until the current mode’s sword unlock prerequisite is met. The detailed walkthrough says to survive to Round 10, kill a helmeted zombie for its Stamp, and take the Stamp to a knight statue in the Dining Hall. Activision’s guide instead describes obtaining a puzzle piece from a random enemy after revealing Pack-a-Punch. Because those accounts do not align, verify the prompt and drop behavior in your match.
  2. Use the Stamp or other required item on one of the four knight statues in the Dining Hall to claim its Bastard Sword. Choose the dragon for Caliburn, stag for Durendal, raven for Balmung, or lion for Solais.

Upgrade Caliburn, the Dragon’s Fire sword

  1. Take the Dragon Bastard Sword to the dragon statue in the Entrance Hall.
  2. Find and return Aether fire from the braziers at the Ramparts, the Nature Path entrance, and Town Square. Bring the fire back to the dragon statue each time.
  3. Once all three fires have been returned, the sword is forged into Caliburn.

Carrying the fire damages your operator. Activision says melee kills while carrying it restore a little health, so move promptly between the braziers and use safe melee opportunities rather than lingering with the fire. Activision’s Citadelle des Morts guide

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Upgrade Durendal, the Stag of the Storms sword

  1. Collect three Lightning Rods. The detailed walkthrough places one near Deadshot Daiquiri. For another, shoot the fuse box near Speed Cola with a weapon fitted with Dead Wire. The third is reported to drop from a Dungeon zombie after you claim the Stag Bastard Sword.
  2. Place all three rods in the metal vase at Hillside Ramparts.
  3. During the storm, charge the Stag sword, then strike the vase to transfer its charge to a rod. Repeat the sword-charge and vase-strike process for each rod.
  4. After the rods have been charged, interact with the vase while holding the Stag sword to forge Durendal.

The rod locations and charging sequence are reported by the detailed walkthrough.

Upgrade Balmung, the Raven’s Shadow sword

  1. Find the animal-bone trophy in the Alchemical Lab and take it with the Raven Bastard Sword to the rune wheel in the Tavern Cellar.
  2. Place the trophy and sword at the wheel. Set its inner and outer symbols to match the animal trophy found in your match. The solution is not fixed: use the walkthrough’s trophy-to-rune reference rather than copying a code from a different match.
  3. Lead the dark orbs from the wheel into the portal that appears. Repeat as the portal moves, guiding the orbs into three portals.
  4. When the energy has returned to the wheel, Balmung is forged.

Because the trophy changes, a single universal rune answer would be unreliable. Consult the walkthrough’s rune reference for the matching animal and symbols.

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Upgrade Solais, the Lion of Light sword

  1. Use the Lion Bastard Sword to strike the glowing fields around the map and charge it.
  2. Transfer the sword’s light energy to the Lion’s Door in the Upper Village. Repeat until four symbols appear on the door.
  3. Enter the room and place the sword on its pedestal.
  4. Shoot the symbols in this order, as reported by the walkthrough: dot-circle, star, triangle, line-circle. Completing the sequence yields Solais.

See the detailed walkthrough for the symbol reference.

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What the published balance notes say

Activision’s Season 01 notes from November 2024 document historical balance changes, not a complete record of every later update. They say elemental swords could hit up to two enemies per swing; the additional hit dealt 100% damage at close-to-medium distance and 50% beyond that. The notes also list these sword-specific changes:

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  • In a best-in-class Multiplayer experience, players will test their skills across 16 new maps at launch, including 12 core 6v6 maps and 4 Strike maps that can be played 2v2 or 6v6.
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  • Balmung: charge kills required reduced from 40 to 25, and cooldown reduced from 20 to 10 seconds.
  • Durendal: special attack damage increased; electric beam tick damage changed from 40% to 65% of base zombie health; cooldown reduced from 25 to 3 seconds.
  • Caliburn: its sword proc began activating Napalm Burst Augments.
  • Solais: armor regeneration per swing lowered from 5% to 4%.

These are values recorded in the historical Season 01 patch notes; they do not establish whether later updates changed the swords again.

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