The first post-launch map for Black Ops 7 is Ashes of the Damned.


Useful Links:
Official Tactical Map[www.callofduty.com]
Pigpen Cipher Solver[codzombiessolver.com]

As soon as you spawn into the map, head to the Server Room and pick up the T.E.D.D. Head.



Run to the pickup truck located opposite the Server Room. Get in and drive to one of two optional locations — the Blackwater Lake House or Vandorn Farm (it doesn't matter which one you choose first).


Now you need to clear the Power Pump of Infestation. To do this, shoot the orange cysts surrounding the pump. You have 30 seconds in total, so you need to quickly clear the small growths first, then immediately destroy the large one in the center.


After that, you need to turn the power on. These steps are identical for both routes; the only difference is the location.



Once the power is on, return to the pickup truck and drive to the final location — Ashwood.


Take your preferred route to the central bridge and repeat the process of clearing the power pump and turning on the power.


After this, get back in the pickup truck, drive it into the garage, and approach the workbench on the right to install the upgrade onto your truck.

Head to the location Exit 115. There, you need to kill a zombie inside Reba's Diner. This zombie will randomly drop the Freezer Key — pick it up.



In the same location, approach the freezer, open it, and take the Abomination Head.


Get in the pickup truck and drive back to Ashwood, to the same garage where you installed the upgrade. Interact with the workbench again to mount the Abomination Head on the hood.

In the center of the Ruby Rabbit (Ashwood), an essence cube sealed with three locks will appear. You need to find three keys in three foggy locations (they have a faint glow around them):

• Yellow Key: Crashed Rocket (on the way to the Zarya Cosmodrome);
  ㅤPickup Effect: Knife-only sprinting.
  
• Red Key: Horde Graveyard (on the way to Exit 115);
  ㅤPickup Effect: Health is greatly reduced.
  
• Green Key: Shipwreck (between Ashwood and Vandorn Farm);
  ㅤPickup Effect: Slowed movement.

To retrieve a key, you must use the Necrofluid Gauntlet to shoot it and pull it back with the hook. The main challenge is the large number of zombies that will surround you and the method of transporting the key back to the cube.


Once a key is retrieved (using the pickup truck is recommended), return to the cube at the Ruby Rabbit (Ashwood). After delivering all three keys, interact with the cube to start a cutscene. Once it ends, the DG-2 Turret Barrel Part will be lying in its place.


Pick up the part and go to the workbench in the garage to install the turret on the pickup truck. Important: The pickup truck must be in the garage :)

Wait for the Uber-Klaus boss to spawn at the Janus Tower Plaza (starting area). Defeat both of its variants and pick up the Stabilization Chip it drops.


Take the chip and head to the Sheriff's Office in Ashwood, where Klaus is locked in a cell. Install the chip into the terminal on the door. (and see a meta joke, as a restart is required due to an update)


Now you need to wake up Klaus. To do this, throw several Stun Grenades at him. He will then burst out of his cell, and you will receive the Klaus Controller.


Use the nearby Jump Pad to travel to the Zarya Cosmodrome. There, direct Klaus to hit the broken electrical panel in the "Support System" area. After he strikes it, interact with him to activate a scanner. A timer will appear, and you must stand still within the beam for the duration.


After a successful scan, pick up the Aether Canister. Get in your vehicle and drive to the Power Pump in Ashwood.


You need to charge the Aether Canister by placing it into three different Power Pumps in sequence. It is recommended to follow this route: Ashwood → Blackwater Lake House → Vandorn Farm.


The challenge here is that after picking up the Charged Canister from a pump, a timer activates. You must reach the next Power Pump before it expires.


After the canister is charged at the final pump, head to the Vandorn Farm Basement. A cube will be waiting in the center of the room — interact with it to activate it.


Now, use the Jump Pad at the Janus Tower Plaza to return to Vandorn Farm, but pay close attention and memorize the symbols on the rooftops.


Return to the Vandorn Farm Basement and input the memorized rooftop symbols on the Cube, then press the eye on its back side.


The Necrofluid Gauntlet will appear from where the eye was — pick it up. You will then be trapped inside a circle around the cube.


To escape the circle, you must destroy all the green orbs and zombies with purple eyes that spawn from the cube.

To begin the main Easter Egg, you must first acquire Ol' Tessie (with the Abomination Head Hood upgrade) and the map's Wonder Weapon — the Necrofluid Gauntlet.

The first major step is to create a serum by collecting all 6 ingredients:

• Widow's Lantern
  
• Devourer's Eyes
  
• Human Bones
  
• Keeper's Shards
  
• Mysterious Limb
  
• Powder of the Forgotten

Head to the shack at the Blackwater Lake House. In the kitchen, grab the Jar of Spores from the cupboard. Then, drive to Vandorn Farm and find the horse corpse with red spores — interact with it. Return to this spot after 3 rounds have passed and collect the Widow's Lantern.


Wait for a Devourer to spawn (in a standard or bonus round) and lure it into a spike trap on Exit 115 or Vandorn Farm. After it's killed by the trap, pick up the Devourer's Eyes.


With a Combat Axe in your inventory, go to the barn on Vandorn Farm. Near the haystack, throw the axe at the hanging corpse. Then, use a Molotov Cocktail on the dropped leg piece to obtain the Human Bones.


After Ol' Tessie has been upgraded with the Abomination Heads, drive into the foggy areas and look for purple crystals. Shoot them using the truck's beam attack and pick up the Keeper's Shards.


Wait until round 16 for the Zsursa Bear boss to appear. Use Ol' Tessie with the Abomination Heads to kill it. It is recommended to damage it down to 25% health with regular weapons first to make the final step easier. After you kill it, collect the Mysterious Limb.


With the "Tea Spirit" Perk active, go to the Ashwood Atelier. Inside, you must summon the spirit and guide it into the mirror. Then, shoot the ghost with the Necrofluid Gauntlet and pick up the Powder of the Forgotten.


Head to Yuri's Laboratory in the Zarya Cosmodrome and interact with the powder. This will make three Pigpen Ciphers appear on the board behind it. You must now interact with the ingredients on the table in the order specified by these ciphers.


Use the reference table below to solve the ciphers:



After entering the correct sequence, interact with the central apparatus to add your blood. This action teleports all players to Yuri's Laboratory and sets everyone's health to 75 with no natural regeneration.


The goal is simple — survive. The only way to regain health is by getting kills with the Necrofluid Gauntlet.

You must now free the souls in the correct order: Vandorn Farm → Zarya Cosmodrome → Exit 115 → Blackwater Lake House. However, each of these soul-related steps requires a Charged Gauntlet.

To charge it, use the pickup truck with the DG-2 Turret to shoot the Clock Tower above Ashwood. This will stop the clock's hands.



Then, use the Necrofluid Gauntlet to shoot the center of the clock face and immediately retract the hook upon impact. The gauntlet will turn purple and translucent — this means it is charged.


Important! You can only shoot the clock tower once per round, but you can potentially use the charged gauntlet twice per round. Therefore, timing is crucial to save as many rounds as possible. Also, avoid wasting the charged shot, as the effect will be lost.

Head to Vandorn Farm and enter the main farmhouse. Take note of the clock on the wall to the left of the family dinner table and remember the hour it shows.



Roman numerals are drawn on the floor around the table. Find the numeral that corresponds to the hour hand's position on the clock. If you stand on the correct numeral, the head of the family figure will turn towards you. Wait for it to fully turn, then shoot it with the Charged Necrofluid Gauntlet.


After this, four orbs will fly out of the skull, and four items will spawn somewhere on the farm. You need to find them:


After collecting all 4 items, four red, glowing circles will appear outside on the farm grounds. Interact with each one to place the items inside them.


Afterwards, interact with any one of the placed items in its circle to start a one-minute defense sequence, where you must protect the items from zombie attacks.

Use the Charged Gauntlet to shoot the rotating satellite dishes at the Zarya Cosmodrome.


The dishes will slow their rotation. At this moment, head to the Control Room. Enter from the right side, and you will see two monitors displaying the now-familiar Pigpen Cipher. Memorize the symbols that appear and input them on this website: https://codzombiessolver.com/ashes-of-the-damned/


In my case, I got LAUNCH (depending on which symbol combination is entered first, the word may be slightly distorted, but the meaning will remain the same). There are 4 possible combinations in total:

• LAUNCH: 11 - 00 - 20 - 13 - 02 - 07
  
• WEAPON: 22 - 04 - 00 - 15 - 14 - 13
  
• ENGINE: 04 - 13 - 06 - 08 - 13 - 04
  
• ROCKET: 17 - 14 - 02 - 10 - 04 - 19

Now, to the left of these cipher monitors, find 6 other monitors, each cycling through possible numbers for the code. Shoot the red button at the bottom right of a monitor when it displays the number you need for your sequence. If done correctly, the rocket will launch.

What you need to know before starting this step:

• Shooting the clock with the Gauntlet starts a one-minute timer;
  
• You must have the "Melee Macchiato" Perk purchased;
  
• This step involves some RNG, as the lightning does not strike every round;
  
• This step is significantly easier in co-op than in solo. However, you can attempt it over multiple rounds if needed, though this will extend the total round count.

Wait for the moment when multi-colored lightning begins to strike over Exit 115, and head there immediately. Using the Charged Gauntlet, shoot the reverse side of the clock on the roof of the Auto Shop.


After this, you must "awaken" three zombies, each tied to a specific location.

Summon Klaus and direct him to the zombie corpse located in the same room.


Using the pickup truck (Ol' Tessie), use the boost to ram into the container located near Reba's Diner.


Using the "Melee Macchiato" Perk, melee the cash register inside Reba's Diner.


Each awakened zombie will have its own colored glow (matching the lightning color). You must lead each zombie to its corresponding colored lightning strike within the time limit. As mentioned before, completing this solo in one attempt is very difficult.

Head to the dock near the Blackwater Lake House, where a soul will be waiting — interact with it.



After this, run to the shack, into the room with the projector, and shoot it with the Charged Gauntlet. The projector will then show 4 slides of locations — you need to memorize their order.


Each slide is linked to a specific film reel, 4 in total. The table below shows each slide and its corresponding reel location. Using the Gauntlet, shoot each reel once until it begins to glow purple, then run to the next one.


After successfully shooting all 4 reels, a spirit will appear on the second floor of the shack — interact with it. Afterwards, summon Klaus and direct him to the ornate box.

Klaus will now be waiting for you at the dock near the Blackwater Lake House — interact with him.




Get in the truck and follow this route: Forest of Monoliths → Collapsed Tower → Shipwreck → Abandoned Cabins. In each location, you must drive through three smoking red orbs, 12 orbs in total. It's important to note that each point has exactly three smoking red orbs, and you must drive through all of them at one location before proceeding to the next.


If you fail, a whistle will sound, and you'll need to try again in the next round. If done correctly, you will be teleported to the Tomb of Veytarión for the final boss fight.

The primary mechanic for this boss fight is the pickup truck (Ol' Tessie). Use the boost and the ramp in the center of the arena to crash into the boss, revealing its weak points for critical damage.


The main threat during the battle is the boss's constant "artillery strikes", which severely hinder your movement in the truck. Be prepared to frequently get out of the pickup and repair it.


Periodically, the boss will become invulnerable. To break its shield, you must drive into the electrical pillars that appear around the map and then ram the boss while empowered by the pillar's beam.

You can find a Canister and sprouts of an Aether Plant scattered around the map. Watering a sprout will cause it to begin growing.


At this point, zombies will start attacking and attempting to destroy the plant. Fend them off to receive a random reward.


However, if you use the "Toxic Growth" Field Upgrade while watering the plant, you will receive much better rewards upon its maturation, such as Aetherium Crystals or a Random Perk.

On this map, you can craft 4 Perks — Quick Revive, Stamin-Up, Speed Cola, and Juggernog. To do this, you must find 3 ingredients linked to each Perk. You can craft only one Perk per match.






After collecting all three ingredients for a specific Perk, go to Reba's Diner and interact with the cup at the Soda Machine behind the counter to craft your Perk. Important: Picking up ingredients for different Perks at the same time will "spoil" the Perk.


Your first successful mix will grant you the "Lemonade Sommelier" emblem, and crafting all 4 Perks (across 4 matches) will unlock the "Bartender" achievement.

In the "Crashed Rocket" location on the way to the "Zarya" Cosmodrome, head to the central-right part of the area, towards the burned corpses. Opposite them, you'll find Dempsey's Dog Tags — interact with them.


After this, a mini in-game cutscene — a flashback — will begin, in which Dempsey recalls one of his traumatic wartime memories.


Upon its completion, you will receive the in-game achievement "Good Soldiers" and a random reward, guaranteed to contain a Legendary item.

To activate the Music Easter Egg, you need to find and interact with 3 headphones located in the following spots:


After activating all three headphones, the Music Easter Egg — Turn to Ashes by Kevin Sherwood — will start playing.