Buried is weird. It’s been over a decade since the Vengeance DLC dropped, and yet, here we are in 2026, still talking about a dusty underground western town filled with ghosts and a giant who loves candy.
Honestly, Black Ops 2 Buried shouldn’t work as well as it does. It’s objectively one of the "easiest" maps in Treyarch’s history, but that’s exactly why people keep coming back. It’s comfortable. It’s the gaming equivalent of an old pair of sneakers. You know exactly where the bank is, you know how to manipulate the big guy, and you know that if you get the Paralyzer, you’re basically a god until you get bored and quit on round 50.
The Arthur Factor: More Than Just a "Giant"
Everyone calls him Leroy. I know, his name is technically Arthur, but if you grew up playing this in 2013, he's Leroy. He is basically the Swiss Army Knife of zombies.
You’ve got two main ways to use him: Booze and Candy.
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Giving him booze makes him do a 180-degree turn and charge. If you aim him right, he smashes through those annoying debris barriers that usually cost a few thousand points. If you do it from a distance, the game actually rewards you with more points. It’s a nice little optimization trick.
Candy is where the real depth is. If you give him candy near the Mystery Box, he slams it into the ground. No more Moving Box. No more Teddy Bears. It’s just stuck there forever. Give it to him near a buildable table, and he’ll go fetch the parts for you. He’ll even babysit a crawler so you can go pee or do the Easter Egg steps without a zombie breathing down your neck.
The Economy of Buried is Broken (In a Good Way)
The Bank system is something modern CoD really misses. You can literally walk into a match with zero points, hit the bank vault in the back of the town, and withdraw 250,000 points that you saved up three weeks ago.
It completely changes the "setup" phase.
Most maps require 15 rounds of grinding just to get Pack-a-Punch open and your perks settled. In Buried, you can be fully "set" by round 1. You jump down the hole, grab the LSAT off the falling platform (if your timing is good), hit the bank, buy all your perks, and you're ready to camp.
Then there’s the Chalk.
The Gunsmith shop lets you pick up weapon outlines and draw them on the walls. It’s not just for convenience; every time you draw a weapon, you get 1,000 points. If you have Double Points active? That’s 2,000. You can literally fund your entire early game just by being a graffiti artist.
Vulture Aid: The Perk That Does Too Much
Vulture Aid is probably the most "overpowered" perk nobody complains about. It’s exclusive to Buried (well, mostly), and it gives you a ridiculous amount of utility:
- You see icons for every perk and wall-buy through walls.
- Zombies drop tiny ammo packs and point bags.
- Some zombies emit a green gas cloud. If you stand in it, the zombies literally ignore you.
It’s the ultimate "safety" perk. When things get chaotic in the town square, you just find a green cloud and wait for your health to regen.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Paralyzer
The Paralyzer is the defining Wonder Weapon of this map. It has infinite ammo. Let that sink in. In a game mode where ammo management is usually the #1 cause of death, they gave us a gun that never runs out.
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But it’s not just for killing.
You can use the Paralyzer to fly. If you aim at the ground and jump, the force lifts you up. This is how people find "broken" camping spots on top of the saloon or the courthouse. It’s also how you skip the Haunted Mansion if you’re quick enough.
Speaking of the mansion—the Ghost (or "The Witch") is the only thing that actually makes this map stressful. Every time she touches you, she steals 2,000 points. If you’re carrying a bank's worth of cash, she’s scarier than any boss zombie. But if you make it through the house and kill her, you get a free perk. Every. Single. Time.
The 2026 Perspective: Why Play Buried Now?
If you're playing on Xbox or PC (via Plutonium), the community is still surprisingly active. People realize that modern "open-world" zombies or the high-intensity round-based maps can be exhausting. Sometimes you just want to sit in a corner with a Subsurface Resonator and a Turbine and watch the rounds fly by.
Buried represents the peak of Jimmy Zielinski’s era of design. It’s quirky, it’s got a bit of that "weird West" charm, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a sandbox map before sandboxes were a trend.
If you haven't hopped back into Buried lately, go for a high-round run. Try to do it without using the bank. It changes the entire vibe of the map and makes you appreciate how well-laid out the town actually is. Just don't shoot Leroy—he’ll lock himself in his cell and you’ll have to go find the key again. It’s a total pain.
Quick Survival Tips for Your Next Run
- Don't ignore the Navcard. If you're doing the "Mined Games" Easter Egg, make sure you have the card from Die Rise.
- The LSAT skip. When you first spawn in, don't fall down the hole immediately. Go across the bridge and grab the LSAT. The platform falls after a second, so be fast.
- Head Chopper placement. Place this buildable at head-height in a narrow hallway (like the one behind the Saloon). It’s an infinite-damage trap that doesn't need a Turbine to stay active if it's hitting zombies.
- Time Bombs. They aren't just for the Easter Egg. If you're about to die, or you just got a "Nuke" when you really needed a "Max Ammo," pop the Time Bomb to reset the state of the game.
Buried is a masterpiece of "easy" design. It’s not meant to be a grueling test of skill like Origins. It’s meant to be a playground.
Grab the Paralyzer. Give Leroy some candy. Enjoy the chaos.