How to Upgrade Hell's Retriever in BO2

The Hell's Retriever upgrade turns your boomerang tomahawk into the Hell's Redeemer, and you only get it by dying on purpose in Afterlife mode. No, that is not a typo. Yes, the game wants you to die. This is the short version of the whole Mob of the Dead easter egg, so read carefully or repeat the entire ritual from scratch, because the game does not care about your feelings.

This BO2 zombies wonder weapon starts life as a plain tomahawk that flies back to your hand like an obedient dog, which is ironic given what you have to do to it later. Before any upgrade talk, you need the base weapon in your hands and a working understanding of pain tolerance.

Step 1: Get the Base Hell's Retriever

Find the three dog heads locations scattered around Alcatraz and feed each one exactly six zombie kills nearby. Feed all three heads and a tunnel opens in the Citadel Tunnels where the Retriever sits waiting, smug and shiny.

Step 2: Prove You Deserve It

Once the tomahawk is yours, kill 10 to 15 zombies with it to trigger an audio cue, because apparently the game needs to hear you suffer before trusting you with the next part.

Do not touch any gun, grenade, or melee weapon during the bridge round. One trigger pull and the whole quest resets, and you get to enjoy this again from the start.

Step 3: The Golden Gate Bridge Grind

Take the plane to the Golden Gate Bridge zombies area on round 10 or later and get at least 30 kills using only the tomahawk. Two or three full rounds is the safe margin, since undercounting means starting over. This part of the Black Ops 2 zombies guide separates the patient from the people who rage quit.

Step 4: Feed the Lava

Head back through the Electric Chair fast travel to the prison side and locate the Cell Block lava pit, tucked beneath the floor near the first wolf head. Throw the tomahawk in. If done correctly, it will not fly back to your hand this time, which is the entire point.

Step 5: Die, Then Hurry

Finish the current round, then enter Afterlife mode and sprint to the room where the Retriever originally spawned. The Hell's Redeemer, the upgraded version of this tomahawk boomerang weapon, will be sitting there. Grab it, then rush back to revive yourself or beg a teammate before you bleed out for good.

What You Actually Get

• Longer chain range that reaches more zombies per throw without you doing anything smarter
• Three charges instead of two before it needs to recharge
• Faster charge and faster return so less time waiting around like an idiot
• A blue tomahawk instead of red, purely cosmetic, purely satisfying

That is the entire process. Simple on paper, miserable in practice, exactly like everything else in Mob of the Dead.