Ol’ Tessie is the central mechanic to Ashes of the Damned, the first map in Black Ops 7 Zombies. From basic navigation to battling the map’s final boss, this strange truck is arguably the most important member of your crew. While extremely useful from the moment you get behind the wheel, the Wonder Vehicle is not found in its final form. By completing a series of quests around the map, players can apply several upgrades to the truck, making it a deadly killing machine. Players who can build all of the upgrades in a single game will also unlock the “I Heard You Like Upgrades” Achievement and Trophy. Whether you want to build the ultimate vehicular weapon or are just a completionist, allow me to break down how to get every upgrade for the Wonder Vehicle. This guide will show players how to unlock all Ol’ Tessie Wonder Vehicle Upgrades in Ashes of the Damned in Black Ops 7 Zombies.
All Ol’ Tessie Wonder Vehicle Upgrades on Ashes of the Damned
There are a total of 3 Upgrades you can get for Ol’ Tessie: The Pack-a-Punch machine that also functions as a booster, the Abomination Head Beam weapon, and the DG-2 Turret.
Pack-a-Punch Booster
To unlock the Pack-a-Punch in Ashes of the Damned, you will need to repair the truck, Ol’ Tessie, take her to the Ashwood area at the center of the map, and build the machine into her. To do this, you will first need to find T.E.D.D.’s Head at Janus Tower Plaza. Go into the Server Room in the southeast corner of the area and look for a panel on the ground with the Project Janus logo. Melee the panel to reveal T.E.D.D.’s Head. Pick it up and take it to Ol’ Tessie parked outside. Interact with Tessie to build T.E.D.D. into the car. You will now be able to drive the car.
You will now need to drive through either of the wooden doors at the east and west ends of the Janus Tower Plaza. These will lead into the Fog and toward two separate Points of Interest: Vandorn Farm or Blackwater Lake. At both locations is a generator that you will need to restore power to. You only need to power one of the generators to open the path to Ashwood, so you can pick either one.
By going through the western gate, you will pass through the Monolith Forest and reach Blackwater Lake. Go to the south side of the cabin in the middle of the area to find a generator covered in spores. You will need to destroy all of the spores before you can power the generator. Shoot the spores to destroy them. You will have 45 seconds to destroy all the spores. When all of them are gone, a large clump of spores will spawn on top of the generator. Destroy this final spore to cleanse it.
Now, go into the Cabin and up onto the second floor. Go to the window that looks down toward the generator. To the left of the window is a switch that you can interact with to return power to the area and open the path forward to Ashwood.
By going through the eastern gate, you will pass through the Collapsed Tower and reach Vandorn Farm. You will find the generator for the farm next to a silo at the north end of the area. You will need to destroy all of the spores before you can power the generator. Shoot the spores to destroy them. You will have 45 seconds to destroy all the spores. When all of them are gone, a large clump of spores will spawn on top of the generator. Destroy this final spore to cleanse it.
Go into the Barn at the south end of the farm and go up to the second floor. You will find the classic power switch along the northern wall. Interact with it to return power to the area and open the path forward to Ashwood.
Now, make your way to Ashwood. Use either of the ziplines on the east or west side of the area to enter the remnants of a western town. Open a few doors until you reach the wooden bridge at the center of the area. This is where you will find the town’s generator. You will need to destroy all of the spores before you can power the generator. Shoot the spores to destroy them. You will have 45 seconds to destroy all the spores. When all of them are gone, a large clump of spores will spawn on top of the generator. Destroy this final spore to cleanse it.
Once all the spores are gone, go up the stairs to the east of the generator to find the power switch. Interact with to return power to Ashwood.
Drop back down to the area below the bridge and drive Tessie into the now-opened Garage. Once she is parted inside, go to the buildable table and interact with it.
When the building process is done, the Pack-a-Punch machine will be added to the back of Tessie. In addition to this machine upgrading your weapons, you will also unlock the Boost function when driving Tessie, allowing you to travel across the Dark Aether much faster and also shake off some of the Ravenger enemies when they grab onto your car.
Abomination Heads
After returning power to Ashwood and building the Pack-a-Punch machine on the back of Ol’ Tessie, head to Exit 115 in the southwest corner of the map. Buy your way into Reba’s Diner. Hang out inside the diner for a while until a Zombie called the Cook spawns. Kill him and he will drop the Freezer Key.
Go to the northeast corner of the diner and use the key on the right freezer to open it and reveal the Abomination Carcass. Pick up the Carcass to add it to your inventory.
With the Carcass acquired, go back to Ashwood and put Tessie in the same garage where you found the Pack-a-Punch machine. Once she is parted inside, go to the buildable table and interact with it.
When the building process is done, the Abinmation Heads will be attached to the front of the truck. These heads will eat any Zombies that get close to them and will have a rechargeable beam attack that you can shoot while driving Tessie.
DG-2 Turret
To get the Ol’ Tessie DG-2 Turret upgrade, you will first need to complete about half of the map’s Main Quest. This includes upgrading Tessie to get both the Pack-a-Punch Booster and Abomination Head upgrades. You will also need to free Klaus from his cell in Ashwood and get the Necrofluid Gauntlet Wonder Weapon. Here are all the steps to get the Turret upgrade.
Get the Ingredients for the Serum
You will now need to find 6 items that are necessary for creating a Serum found in Yuri’s Lab at the Zarya Cosmodrome. Many of these items can be found at any point in your game and in any order, but some of them require that you have either the Abomination Upgrade for Ol’ Tessie or the Necrofluid Gauntlet.
Powder of the Forgotten
To get the Powder of the Forgotten, you will need to first get the new Wisp Tea Perk. You can buy this from the machine at Zarya Cosmodrome or complete the TV Twins Easter Egg at Vardorn Farm to get a guaranteed Wisp Tea can for free. Either way, you will need to go into the x at Ashwood while the Wisp is active. Go into the Tailor Shop next to the Vulture Aid machine to find the Mirror of the Forgotten. The Wisp will fly into the mirror, emitting a strange energy, revealing an image of an octahedron. Shoot the mirror with the Necrofluid Gauntlet to break the glass. The Powder of the Forgotten will then fall onto the ground in front of the mirror.
Widow’s Lantern
Go into the kitchen of the Cabin at Blackwater Lake. Look under the sink to find the Jar of Spores. Interact with it to pick it up.
Go to Vandorn Farm and interact with a horse corpse outside of the fence to place the spores into the body. Come back after 3 rounds, and the spore will grow into the Widow’s Lantern.
Mysterious Limb
You will need to kill a Zursa bear enemy with the beam attack from the Abomination Head upgrade to Ol’ Tessie. You can damage the bear with your usual weapons, but the final blow must come from the beam attack. The first Zursa will always spawn on Round 16, but you can complete the Skulls Easter Egg with the Necrofluid Gauntlet to get the bear to spawn earlier. When the bear explodes, the Mysterious Limb will appear among its remains.
Ravenger’s Eyes
Kill a Ravenger with the Saw Blade Trap found at either Vandorn Farm or Rabbit Alley in Ashwood. The first Ravenger killed by the trap will drop the Ravenger’s Eyes.
Hoard Hunk Chunks
In the Fog areas between the Points of interest, you can find strange purple rocks that you can shoot with the beam attack from the Abomination Heads on Ol’ Tessie. By doing this, you will break the rock, and it will drop some useful rewards. The first rock you destroy will also drop the Hoard Hunk Chunks.
Human Bones
Go to the Barn at Vandorn Farm and look at the hanging bodies. There is a body above the Ryden 45K Wallbuy that has blood dripping from its right foot. Throw a Combat Axe at the bleeding foot to cut it off and have it drop to the ground. Throw a Molotov at the foot to melt away the flesh. Interact with what remains to pick up the Human Bones.
Create the Serum and Survive the Lab Lockdown
Now that you have all the ingredients, go to Yuri’s Lab, the small room at the northeast corner of the Zarya Cosmodrome. You will find the Serum ingredients on the table in the lab with a large beaker. Interact with the Powder of the Forgotten and 3 words written in a pigpen cipher will appear on the wall behind the beaker. You will need to decrypt these words to figure out which items you need to interact with.
IMPORTANT TIP: If you interact with the Powder of the Forgotten once you acquire it and get the cipher, you will know which ingredients you need to complete the Serum on your current run. This means you won’t need to get all of the ingredients, and you need to focus on the ones needed for your current game.
Here are all of the possible ciphers that can appear:
= FUNGI: Widow’s Lantern
= LIMBS: Mysterious Limb
= OCUI: Ravenger’s Eyes
= CONCH: Hoard Hunk Chuncks
= TALUS: Human Bones
Interact with the items in descending order of the ciphers, and you will then be prompted to interact with the beaker. You will offer your blood to complete the Serum, and you will begin a lockdown where you’re stuck in the lab. You will need to kill Zombies to charge the Serum with their souls. Once you’ve killed enough Zombies, the room will fill with purple gas, your character will inhale it, and you will complete the lockdown. After inhaling the purple gas, you will be able to see wisps fling around 4 of the Points of Interest: Zarya Cosmodrome, Exit 115, Vandorn Farm, and Blackwater Lake.
Open the Seal of Sorrows
To complete the trials involving all of these wisps, you will first need to get the DG-2 Turret upgrade for Ol’ Tessie. Go to Rabbit Alley in Ashwood to find the same octahedron that was seen in the mirror you broke to get the Powder of the Forgotten. This is the Seal of Sorrows.
To open it, you will need to find 3 keys to remove the chains wrapped around the strange artifact. These keys are found in the Fog, and each one will cause a negative effect to the player who is carrying it. Each key has 3 possible spawn locations, and you can collect these keys in any order. Each of them requires you to shoot the key with the Necrofluid Gauntlet and then recall the spikes with the reload button to pull the key back to you.
Terrapin Key
The Terrapin Key is a green key that can be found in the Grounded Ship between Vandorn Farm and Ashwood. Here are the 3 locations.
- Go under the ship and look at the barrels at the east end of the vessel. You will see the glowing green key behind some barrels.
- Up on the deck of the ship, look through the window at the south end of the vessel. You will see the key behind a shelf.
- Look in the cargo container to the west of the ship to find the key behind the closed container door.
When you pick up this key, your movement speed will be greatly reduced, so make sure Tessie is nearby so you can quickly drive away from the Zombies in the Fog.
Bruin Key
The Bruin Key is an orange key that can be found in the Crashed Rocket area between Ashwood and Zarya Cosmodrome. Here are the 3 locations.
- On the western cliffside close to the Ashwood entrance.
- On the east side of the fallen tower near the Ashwood entrance.
- On the roof of the Control Room, near a spinning radar to the east of the Zarya Cosmodrome entrance.
When you pick up this key, you will be forced to equip your melee weapon until you drop the key.
Nightbird Key
The Nightbird Key is a red key that can be found in the Orda Graveyard between Ashwood and Exit 115. Here are the 3 locations.
- In the mouth of a T-Rex skull on the west side of the road near the Ashwood entrance.
- Climb up a rock near the center of the graveyard and look at the top of a cliff to your southeast to see another T-Rex skull. This key is also in the skull’s mouth.
- Go to the end of the road leading away from the Exit 115 entrance. Look to the right of the Project Janus vehicles to find this key against the icy cliffside.
When you pick up this key, your health will be greatly reduced, so make sure Tessie is nearby so you can quickly drive away from the Zombies in the Fog.
Once all of the keys have been brought to the Seal of Sorrows, a cutscene will play where the crew is contacted by an aetherial being known as The Entity. After the cutscene, you will be able to pick up the DG-2 Turret in the same place as the Seal of Sorrows.
After picking up the DG-2 Turret, go down to the same garage in Ashwood. Go to the buildable table and interact with it. When the building process is done, the DG-2 Turret will be added to the top of Tessie. A player can now control the turret and shoot it as a mounted weapon, firing electric bolts like the Wunderwaffe. If you’re playing solo, the turret will sometimes just fire on its own while you drive, meaning it will remain useful even when no one is controlling it. If you’re able to acquire all of these upgrades onto Tessie in a single game of Ashes of the Damned, you will unlock the “I Heard You Like Upgrades” Achievement/Trophy.
You now know how to get all of the Ol’ Tessie Wonder Vehicle Upgrades on Ashes of the Damned and unlock the “I Heard You Like Upgrades” Achievement in Black Ops 7 Zombies. Stay tuned to Gameranx for more news, updates, and guides for Black Ops 7 as well as other great games in the future.
