The Music Box Relic is one of the two Wicked Relics hiding in Totenreich, and it has a reputation for being the hardest unlock in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 Zombies right now. Reaching Round 60 is already a grind, but the headshot requirement on top of that stops most players cold. Once you know the trick, though, the unlock is far more manageable than it looks on paper.
What is the Music Box Relic and is it worth using?
The Music Box Relic applies a single, brutal modifier: enemies can only take damage from headshots and critical hit spots. Body shots, explosive splash damage, none of it registers. This makes the Relic essentially impractical for normal Cursed Mode runs, since you need pinpoint accuracy on every zombie, special, and elite enemy you face.
The one legitimate use case is farming critical kill camos for your weapons. If you need those camo challenges completed, the Music Box forces you into the exact playstyle required. Outside of that specific goal, most experienced players leave it unequipped.
Black Ops 7 Zombies Guide: How to Unlock Music Box Relic
What are the requirements to unlock the Music Box Relic?
Before the unlock sequence can even trigger, you need to satisfy several conditions. Missing any one of them means the portal will not appear.
Completing the runes arrows step for the Main Quest blocks your view out of Tyr's Head entirely, which makes the headshot challenge impossible. Hold off on that step until after you have the Relic.
If you have already completed the runes arrows step in the Main Quest, you will not be able to see out of Tyr's Head. Plan your Relic hunt before progressing that far in the Easter Egg.
How to trigger the unlock: the sniper headshot trick
Here is where most guides make this harder than it needs to be. The five headshots do not need to be consecutive, but they do all need to happen before you leave Tyr's Head. The trick is setting up the zombie horde before you ever climb the ladder.
At the start of Round 60, grab the Shadow SK Sniper Rifle from the wall buy at Tyr's Shoulder. Then pop the Temporal Gift GobbleGum, which extends your next time-based Power-Up to 60 seconds. After that, train a large group of zombies around Skallen Market (near the Mule Kick machine). Get as many zombies as possible funneled into that area.
Black Ops 7 Zombies Guide: How to Unlock Music Box Relic
Once the horde is packed into Skallen Market, run back to Tyr's Shoulder and activate the Kill Joy GobbleGum to trigger an Insta-Kill. Immediately sprint into Tyr's Head and climb the ladder. From that elevated position, aim your scope toward Skallen Market. The zombies will converge on that area and stand relatively still during the Insta-Kill window, giving you clean, unhurried shots.
Land 5 sniper headshots. You will hear Mister Peeks laugh as audio confirmation that the sequence worked. After that laugh, the Relic Trial portal spawns opposite Melee Macchiato in the Dry Dock area.
Train zombies at Skallen Market before entering Tyr's Head, not after. A pre-built horde combined with the Insta-Kill window turns a stressful challenge into a straightforward shooting gallery.
How to complete the Music Box Relic Trial
Activating the portal starts a multi-stage holdout trial. The structure is straightforward: look for a purple light in the sky, sprint to that location within 30 seconds, activate Mister Peeks, then survive a holdout wave in a restricted zone. Fill the meter by killing zombies and Necropincers, then repeat.
The zone gets smaller with each holdout. There are no High Value Targets to worry about, but the tighter spaces make crowd control essential in the later stages. Ziplines are mandatory for reaching several of the holdout zones within the timer, so do not try to sprint across the map on foot.
Holdout route order
Based on GameRant's confirmed trial sequence, the holdouts occur in this order:
- Fishery Island (run north from Dry Dock, take the zipline above PhD Flopper)
- Tyr's Foot (zipline from northwest Fishery Island, run through Core Foundry past Double Tap)
- Dry Dock (run back through Core Foundry)
- Beacon Island (run from Dry Dock across Fjord Road to Eidskallen Landing, take the zipline by the Ammo Crate facing northeast)
- Eidskallen Square (zipline northwest from the wall buy on Beacon Island)
- Skallen Market (head north through Skallen Market to the Ammo Crate by the zipline)
The final holdout at Skallen Market is the tightest area of the entire trial. GameRant's testing found that Frenzied Guard and Kazimir Grenades are the most effective tools for surviving the final wave, since the zone is small enough that Necropincers can overwhelm you almost instantly without crowd control.
For more Totenreich secrets, the full guide to all Totenreich Relics covers every unlock condition and trial tip across all six Relics on the map. You can also browse the complete Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 guides collection for loadout advice, operator unlocks, and every other Zombies easter egg currently documented.