Ashes of the Damned: Ol’ Tessie

The Wonder Vehicle

Ol' Tessie, a rusted pickup truck with a cage of bars over its bed and its hood, Wonder Vehicle render, Ashes of the Damned, Call of Duty Black Ops 7 Zombies

Ol’ Tessie is the first Wonder Vehicle of the Zombies mode: a beaten-up pickup truck that carries the crew through the Fog of Ashes of the Damned. Treyarch built the map as a successor to TranZit, and one of its first choices, in its own words, was that instead of the Bus driving the players, the players drive the bus. Any player can drive her; the others ride in the passenger seats, in the bed or on the roof, all four at once.

At the start of a game she stands in the Janus Towers Plaza and does not run. She needs a driver: the head of T.E.D.D., the robot that drove the Bus of TranZit, hidden in the Server Room across from the towers. Once installed, T.E.D.D. comments on the trip and slowly repairs the truck when it is left idle.

The head of T.E.D.D. in a blue Bloodhound driver's cap, with glowing blue eyes, quest item icon, Ashes of the Damned, Call of Duty Black Ops 7 Zombies

T.E.D.D.’s head

Under a metal floor plate of the Server Room, which has to be broken with a melee attack. It is carried straight to the truck; in Standard mode the objectives of the map point the way.

Wooden gates

Only Ol’ Tessie can smash the wooden gates that close the roads between the places of the map. She cannot break the metal gates, which open with the power of Vandorn Farm and Blackwater Lake.

Running over zombies

Zombies hit by the truck outside the Fog earn Essence. In the Fog, kills give nothing and drop nothing.

Upgrades

Ol’ Tessie takes four upgrades. T.E.D.D.’s head is fitted on the spot; the three others appear on the workbench of the Garage of Ashwood once their part is found, and any player can build them there when the truck is parked inside. The Garage only opens once the power of Ashwood is restored at its Power Pump.

The Abomination carcass, three heads with blue skin and rows of teeth, quest item icon, Ashes of the Damned, Call of Duty Black Ops 7 Zombies

Abomination heads

At Exit 115, a zombie dressed as a cook in Reba’s Diner drops the key of the freezer, which holds the carcass. Three heads then sit on the front of the truck: they make it tougher, fire streams of lightning ahead and bite any enemy that comes too close, even with no one on board.

DG-2 Turret

A Wunderwaffe DG-2 mounted on the roof, with a gunner seat. It fires on its own at enemies and at the red spores on the road, and its lightning jumps from target to target. Its barrel is the reward of the first steps of the main quest and needs the Necrofluid Gauntlet.

Pack-a-Punch Machine

Waiting on the Garage workbench from the start. Mounted on the back bumper, it lets the crew upgrade their weapons on the road, and its jet turbine gives the truck a speed boost.

How the DG-2 barrel is earned in the main quest

Repairs and the Fog

Ol’ Tessie can be damaged and break down. Ravagers are the main threat: they jump on the truck in the Fog and tear it apart unless they are shot or shaken off with a boost. She can be repaired with Salvage on the road, by T.E.D.D. while she stands idle, at the Garage, or by driving into the green Hoard Husks that grow along the roads; the red Wraith Seeds explode and damage her. A truck that is lost or stuck can be sent back to the Garage of Ashwood, whose teleporter also takes the players straight to her.

The large purple Hoard Husks that grow by the roads during a game explode when hit by the Abomination beam or the DG-2 Turret, and spill Salvage, Essence, perks, weapons, Aetherium Crystals and Aether Tools.

Ol’ Tessie in a First Room game

T.E.D.D.’s head and the truck are both in the starting area, but the roads out of the Plaza are closed by wooden gates that only the truck can break, and its Jump Pad leads to the other places. Whether the truck may be built and driven inside the Plaza in a First Room run is not written in the rules of the leaderboard.