To get a Citadelle des Morts sword, first obtain a Bastard Sword, then complete its Knight’s elemental upgrade challenge. The four upgrades are Caliburn (fire), Durendal (storms), Balmung (shadow), and Solais (light). Activision’s January 15, 2025 guide details Caliburn’s three-brazier challenge; the other three challenge types are identified by secondary guides, but their full steps are not established here.
How to get a Bastard Sword
The Bastard Sword is the base weapon you upgrade into an elemental sword. It occupies the Dedicated Melee Weapon slot, so it does not replace a primary or secondary weapon, according to Activision’s Citadelle des Morts guide.
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- Reveal the Pack-a-Punch machine.
- Collect the puzzle piece dropped by a random enemy.
- Take the piece to a statue in the Entrance Hall. Activision’s guide describes the statue closest to the southwestern corner as yielding the fire-imbued Bastard Sword.
A secondary walkthrough describes a different base-sword route: collect Stamps dropped by helmeted enemies and exchange them at Knight statues in the Dining Hall. Since the sources describe these routes differently, the steps above follow Activision’s guide; see the secondary walkthrough for its Stamp account.
Which sword upgrade do you want?
| Sword | Knight and element | Upgrade challenge established by the cited guides |
|---|---|---|
| Caliburn | Dragon / Fire | Return three Aether fires to the dragon statue; detailed steps are in the section below. Activision guide, January 15, 2025. |
| Durendal | Stag / Storms | Lightning-rod challenge, identified by Game8; detailed steps are not established here. |
| Balmung | Raven / Shadow | Antiquity puzzle, identified by Game8; detailed steps are not established here. |
| Solais | Lion / Light | Glowing-parasite challenge, identified by Game8; detailed steps are not established here. |
The challenge types for the three non-fire swords are summarized by Game8’s sword upgrade guide, last updated December 7, 2024. These sources do not support a damage ranking or a claim that one sword is easier or stronger than another.
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How to upgrade the fire sword into Caliburn
Activision’s guide gives a complete route for Caliburn. Put the fire Bastard Sword in the pedestal at the dragon statue at the top of the Entrance Hall’s central stairs. Then bring Aether fire from three braziers back to the statue, one at a time.
- Go to the brazier on the Ramparts, interact with it, and carry its fire back to the dragon statue.
- Repeat with the brazier at the Nature Path entrance.
- Repeat with the brazier in Town Square. Returning all three fires turns the sword into Caliburn.
Carrying the fire damages your Operator. Melee kills while carrying it restore some health, so use them to help manage the return trips. The location and mechanic details are from Activision’s guide, dated January 15, 2025.
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What is known about the other three upgrades
The available secondary guide identifies the challenge themes but does not establish comparable, authoritative step-by-step directions for Durendal, Balmung, or Solais. In particular, their exact item locations, puzzle combinations, and sequences are not specified here. For those swords, use current in-game prompts or a current authoritative guide rather than treating an unverified sequence as fact.
The cited mechanics come from guides dated December 2024 and January 2025, so a later game update could affect them. Check in-game behavior if a patch has changed the map or its quest steps.
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- Black Ops 6 also marks the epic return of Round-Based Zombies, the fan-favorite mode where players will take down hordes of the undead in two brand-new maps at launch. Post-launch, players can look forward to even more exciting maps and groundbreaking experiences dropping into both Multiplayer and Zombies.
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