If you're hunting the Civil Protector Relic on Astra Malorum, don't treat it like a quick side quest. It's the kind of Zombies grind where you plan your whole session around it, same way folks plan a warm-up run in a CoD BO7 Bot Lobby before jumping into something serious. You'll want a Cursed Match at Tier 2 or above, mainly for the extra relic slots and the safety net they give you. Then it's simple, but not easy: stay alive long enough for the game to even let you start, because the trigger doesn't happen until Round 60, and those rounds don't play nice.

Setups People Regret Skipping

Round 60 isn't "bring your favourite gun and vibe." It's more like: if your armour economy is messy, you're done. Keep rotating upgrades, keep your plates topped, and don't pretend you'll "save" salvage for later—later never arrives. Ultra-rarity weapons help, sure, but what matters more is consistency: a loadout you can control when you're tired and your hands are a bit shaky. Golden Armor buys you breathing room. It won't fix bad positioning, but it will save you from the random slap that normally ends a run.

The Museum Candle Bit

Once Round 60 ticks over, head to Museum Infinitum and look up. You'll spot chandeliers with single lit candles. This is where a lot of players start getting annoyed, because it's not explained well and it's picky. You need PHD Flopper, and you're using the flop explosion to snuff candles out. There's an order to it, and the game won't spell it out. The practical way to do it is to pick a route—left side first, then clockwise, for example—and stick with it so you can remember what you already tried. Mess the sequence up and it resets, and you can't just spam attempts; you'll usually have to roll the round to take another proper shot.

Crash Site Trial, Wave by Wave

Get the correct combo and you'll hear the activation sound. Don't hang about—move straight to the Crash Site and hit the Red Relic Trial orb. It starts instantly in solo, and it's six waves, in order, with nothing but sprinters coming at you like they've got rent due. Treat Waves 1 and 2 as spacing practice. Wave 3 is the first real check, because an HVT Mimic shows up and it'll punish tunnel vision. Waves 4 and 5 are about not getting greedy—reload discipline, keep a lane open, don't chase kills into corners. Then Wave 6 repeats the Mimic pressure, and it's usually the moment people get clipped because they try to "just finish it" instead of resetting their position.

What You Actually Get for All That

Clear the sixth wave and you'll be teleported back with the Civil Protector Head Relic unlocked. It looks great in the collection, but the real story is what happens when you equip it later: Perk Decay. Every 100 kills, one perk drops off, which changes how you pace fights and when you decide to buy perks again. It's a flex item, no doubt, but it's also a self-imposed ruleset that makes regular matches feel sharper—especially if you're the kind of player who likes tweaking difficulty without needing custom settings, or you're bouncing between sweaty public runs and u4gm CoD BO7 Bot Lobbies to practice routes and movement under less pressure.