The Civil Protector Head is a Wicked tier relic on Astra Malorum, and it has the harshest effect on the map, because you lose a perk every 100 eliminations. To unlock it you reach round 60 in Cursed Tier II or higher, set off an Energy Mine next to Ol’ Tessie, read the order her lights flash in, and copy that order on four chandeliers with PhD Flopper explosions. Then you clear a trial where every zombie is a sprinter.
- Cursed Tier II or higher on Astra Malorum, main quest done, round 60 or later
- Get an Energy Mine elimination next to Ol’ Tessie at the Crash Site to start her light code
- The code changes every round, so read it and use it in the same round
- Match the four lights to the four corner chandeliers in the Museum Infinitum and set off PhD Flopper next to each in order
- Mr Peeks laughs, a red portal opens in the Crash Site, and you clear 6 waves of sprinters
- Reward: the relic, 1000 XP and a Reign Drops GobbleGum
We unlocked this one as a two-player team and screenshotted every step, from the Energy Mine elimination to the Trial Complete banner on round 68. We had to redo the whole step six rounds in a row because of misread lights, so most of this guide is about reading Tessie correctly the first time. If you want to see the method on video, ZoneX covered it the day after it was found.
What the Civil Protector Head Does
The effect card reads “Perk decay - every 100 kills, you lose a perk.” It sits in the Wicked row of the Cursed relic menu, the highest of the three tiers. One Wicked relic fills a whole tier bar on its own, which is the only real reason to want it.
The head belongs to the Civil Protector, the robot bodyguard you could call in on Shadows of Evil in Black Ops III.
Requirements
| Requirement | Details |
|---|---|
| Map | Astra Malorum |
| Relic tier | Wicked (highest tier) |
| Cursed access | Tier II or higher. Mister Peeks Mayhem counts too. |
| Main quest | The Astra Malorum main quest must be completed before relics can be found. |
| Round | Round 60 or later |
| Field upgrade | Energy Mine, without the Turret Major Augment |
| Perk | PhD Flopper, from Der Wunderfizz in Stargazer’s Courtyard |
| Team | Solo is possible, but a teammate makes reading the lights far easier |
PhD Flopper has no machine on Astra Malorum. The only way to get it is Der Wunderfizz in Stargazer’s Courtyard.
Step 1: Reach Round 60
Round 60 is the real wall here. Nothing about the puzzle is hard once you are there, but Astra Malorum is not a great map for high rounds, and from round 50 O.S.C.A.R. gets faster and actively hunts you.
We played it in Mister Peeks Mayhem, the reward for finishing the Super Easter Egg. It turns a Cursed Standard game into Tier III with Pack-a-Punch IV and Ultra rarity weapons, without equipping a single relic. With that firepower round 60 was a plain grind. We farmed the high rounds on Mars, and nothing else special was needed.
On a normal Tier II run you carry relics, so choose them with this step in mind. Leave the Gong at home. With it, field upgrades only recharge from Full Power drops, and every new attempt needs a fresh Energy Mine elimination. Leave the Bus relic from Ashes of the Damned out too, because enemy health regeneration makes O.S.C.A.R. much harder to take down at high rounds. One trick from Toungesten is to take O.S.C.A.R. down during round 59, so he is out of your way when you start the puzzle.
Step 2: Energy Mine Next to Tessie
Once round 60 starts, go to Ol’ Tessie, the crashed car in the Crash Site where you spawn. Place an Energy Mine next to her and let it eliminate a zombie. The elimination is what counts. A mine that goes off without eliminating a zombie does not start the lights.
Click to enlarge Energy Mine elimination next to Tessie (round 66) 
Skip the Turret Major Augment on your Energy Mine, because it turns the mine into a turret instead of letting it detonate. Doughnuts ran Smart Mine, Recycle and Extra Charge.
Step 3: Read Tessie’s Lights
After the mine goes off, clear the round down to one zombie. A teammate keeps that last zombie busy while you stand at Tessie and watch. Playing solo, the Zombie Sitter Wisp Tea augment does the job. In our Wisp Tea testing it held the last zombie for 9 minutes and 20 seconds.
The sequence starts with both headlights flashing together. We counted four flashes. The wiki and most videos say three, so do not rely on the count. It only tells you the code is about to start. Then each of the four lights (two headlights, two brake lights) flashes once in a set order, and the whole thing repeats until the round ends. Watch it at least twice and write it down.
The code changes every round. If you misread it and fail, you wait for the next round and start again from the Energy Mine.
Click to enlarge Opening flash, both headlights 
Click to enlarge Front right (on your left from the front) 
Click to enlarge Front left (on your right from the front) 
Click to enlarge Back right (seen from behind) 
Click to enlarge Back left (seen from behind) 
Take your time here, because misread lights are what cost us six rounds. Left and right always mean Tessie’s left and right, as if you were sitting in the driver’s seat. From behind the car that is easy, because her left is your left. From the front it flips, so the headlight on your right is her front left, and the one on your left is her front right.
Click to enlarge An example code read off Tessie. Your order will be different. 
Stand behind Tessie, where her left and right match yours, and there is nothing to flip. If you watch from the front, say the flip out loud for every flash. A clear room matters more than speed, because the code stays the same for the whole round.
Step 4: Hit the Chandeliers With PhD Flopper
Go to the Museum Infinitum, the room next to the spawn with Speed Cola in it. Keep that last zombie alive the whole time. If the round ends before your fourth chandelier, the code changes and you have to start again from the Energy Mine. The room has four small chandeliers in the corners and big ones in the middle. Ignore the middle ones, only the corners count.
To match the lights to the corners, imagine driving Tessie into the museum through the door from the Crash Site. The two chandeliers at the far end of the room are her headlights, and the two next to the door you came through are her brake lights. Left and right are as you walk in. According to the Call of Duty wiki, the far pair hang above the Crafting Table and the Ammo Cache.
Click to enlarge Which chandelier each Tessie light means (layout reference: ZoneX) 
Now set off a PhD Flopper explosion next to each chandelier, in the order Tessie gave you. A normal dive to prone works. Our teammate ran the Stuntman PhD Flopper Minor Augment, which makes every wall jump explode, and wall-jumped off the pillars and the wooden lectern near the corners. That saves you from diving to prone at every chandelier. Careful with sliding in the room, because a slide can set off an explosion by accident.
Click to enlarge Heading to a corner chandelier 
Click to enlarge Stuntman wall jump off a pillar 
Click to enlarge Wall jump off the wooden lectern 
Click to enlarge Wall jump next to the rope barrier 
There is no visual sign that a chandelier counted. You only find out after the fourth one, when a correct order gets the Mr Peeks laugh.
The Mr Peeks laugh (your confirmation sound)
Hear this after the fourth chandelier and the red trial portal has spawned in the Crash Site.
No laugh means the order was wrong. Survive the round, trigger Tessie again in the next one and read the new code.
Step 5: Enter the Red Portal
Head back to the Crash Site. A red portal sits toward the end of the starting area, near the GobbleGum machine and Quick Revive. Ours appeared on round 67.
Click to enlarge The red portal in the Crash Site 
Click to enlarge Trial prompt: every zombie is a sprinter 
Step 6: Survive the Trial (6 Waves)
Start the trial and the “Wicked Trial Activated” banner drops. The modifier is “Every zombie is a sprinter”, for all six waves, and at round 67 that is a lot of speed coming at you.
| Wave | Objective in our run |
|---|---|
| 1 | Sprinting zombies |
| 2 | Sprinting zombies |
| 3 | Kill all HVT(s) |
| 4 | Sprinting zombies |
| 5 | Sprinting zombies |
| 6 | HVTs together with zombies |
The Shock Mimics were our biggest problem. Their electric pulse disables equipment, and they took out our Kazimirs, which we were using to pull the sprinters into one spot. Our fix was to keep a Death Machine ready, take the Shock Mimics down before they reached the Kazimir, and then throw the next one. Now and then we also used the trap in the middle of the map.
Toungesten and MysteryHQ both say the last wave ends with O.S.C.A.R. Clear wave 6 and the Trial Complete banner pops up. We finished in Stargazer’s Courtyard on round 68 with the relic, 1000 XP and a Reign Drops GobbleGum.
Click to enlarge Trial complete on round 68 
Click to enlarge Civil Protector Head unlocked, 1000 XP 
Relic Effect
Equip it and every 100 eliminations cost you a perk. By the time a game gets to the rounds where you need your build, you have almost none of it left. The wiki says the perk is random and that Eternal Perks are not removed. We have not run the relic ourselves yet, so take those two details as the wiki’s, not ours.
Is It Worth It?
To unlock, only if you want the Wicked slot or a complete collection. To equip, no. This is the worst relic on Astra Malorum, and we both came out of the unlock thinking the same.
Run it for a challenge or because you want to punish yourself. In a serious Tier III run, pick a Wicked relic that does not take your perks away.
All Astra Malorum Relics
Astra Malorum has six Cursed relics across the three tiers. Our What Is Cursed Mode guide explains how the tiers and tier bars work. For free perks while you grind to 60, our Mr Peeks Astra Malorum guide shows where he spawns.
| Tier | Relic | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Grim | Seed | Mystery Box disabled |
| Grim | Gong | Field upgrades charge only from full power-ups |
| Sinister | Spider Fang | Perk prices only ever increase |
| Sinister | Matryoshka Doll | Salvage drop rate halved |
| Wicked | Golden Spork | Enemies deal double damage |
| Wicked | Civil Protector Head | Lose 1 perk every 100 eliminations |
Tips
- Roll PhD Flopper from Der Wunderfizz in Stargazer’s Courtyard before round 60. There is no machine on the map.
- Leave the Gong and the Bus out of your relic setup for this run.
- The Energy Mine has to eliminate a zombie next to Tessie. A mine that goes off on nothing does not start the code.
- Read Tessie from behind if you can. From the front, her left and right are flipped.
- The code changes every round. Read it and do the chandeliers in the same round.
- Only the four corner chandeliers count. Ignore the big ones in the middle of the museum.
- Stuntman makes wall jumps explode, which is the fastest way to hit all four corners.
- Keep a Death Machine for the trial and take the Shock Mimics down before they reach your Kazimir.
- Our best BO7 Zombies loadout covers a stronger setup for the round 60 grind, and our GobbleGum guide explains the Reign Drops you get from this trial.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Civil Protector Head relic do in BO7 Zombies?
The in-game description reads "Perk decay - every 100 kills, you lose a perk." With it equipped in a Cursed run, you lose one of your perks for every 100 eliminations. According to the Call of Duty wiki, the perk is picked at random, and Eternal Perks are not removed. It is a Wicked relic on Astra Malorum.
How do you unlock the Civil Protector Head relic?
Reach round 60 on Astra Malorum in Cursed Tier II or higher. Get an elimination with an Energy Mine next to Ol' Tessie at the Crash Site, then read the order her four lights flash in. Set off a PhD Flopper explosion next to each matching corner chandelier in the Museum Infinitum, in that order. Mr Peeks laughs, a red portal opens in the Crash Site, and you clear a 6-wave trial where every zombie is a sprinter.
Does the Tessie light code change every round?
Yes. In our run the order changed every round, so you have to read Tessie and do the chandeliers in the same round. If you get the order wrong, wait for the next round, trigger Tessie again with a new Energy Mine elimination and read the new code.
How do Tessie's lights match the chandeliers?
Use Tessie's own left and right. Standing in front of her, the headlight on your right is her front left. Then imagine driving Tessie into the Museum Infinitum through the door from the Crash Site. The two chandeliers at the far end are her headlights, the two next to the door are her brake lights, and left and right are as you walk in. Only the four corner chandeliers count.
Where do you get PhD Flopper on Astra Malorum?
There is no PhD Flopper machine on Astra Malorum. You have to roll it from Der Wunderfizz in Stargazer's Courtyard. Do that before round 60 so it is ready when you trigger Tessie.
Where is the Civil Protector Head relic portal?
A red portal spawns in the Crash Site, the starting area, toward the end of it near the GobbleGum machine and Quick Revive. In our run it appeared right after the Mr Peeks laugh on round 67.
What do you get for the Civil Protector Head trial?
The relic itself, 1000 XP, and a Reign Drops GobbleGum. We got all three when we cleared the trial on round 68.
Is the Civil Protector Head relic worth using?
Not to run. Losing a perk every 100 eliminations strips your build bare before you reach the rounds where you need it. Unlock it for the Wicked slot and your Cursed collection, and only equip it for a challenge.
If you keep misreading Tessie, join 50,000+ players in the COD Central Discord. Our Zombies channels run Cursed relics every day, and someone is usually around for a round 60 attempt on Astra Malorum.
