Guide · 05

Zombie bestiary: kill the problem first

The nearest zombie is not always the most dangerous. Learn the behaviour. Then point the squad where the run can still be saved.

Squad Surge auto-aims at nearby threats, but your lane decides what the guns can see and what the formation collides with. Basic enemies trade bodies for soldiers when they reach you. Specialists create a worse fight: acid zones, shields, speed buffs, summoned runners, or an ambush that drops into your lane. The numbers below are base values before sector threat and squad-pressure scaling.

Priority is positional. A Wailer that can scream matters more than a far Walker. A Blister beside your formation matters more than a Brute at the edge of range. Steer to expose the support enemy; use a grenade when the target you need is buried inside a crowd.

Regular horde archetypes

Walkers and Runners

Walker and Walker II: basic crowd pressure. They shamble forward, bite one soldier if they reach the formation, and die in the clash. Their role is to hide more dangerous targets and consume ordinary fire. Counter them with volume: line up with the thickest part of a flood and let automatic fire work.

Runner: low health, high speed, and 14 score rather than 10. Runners arrive early and later appear in larger mixes, ambushes, Wailer calls, and elite splits. A runner can cross open road before the back line catches up. Counter it by steering the formation into the runner’s lane early. Piercing Rounds and shotgun pellets are excellent when runners pack together.

Brute: the contact test

The Brute has 520 base HP, moves at 2.0, and has very low knockback response. On contact it smashes up to three soldiers per swing rather than trading itself away like a Walker. It is worth 8 coins and 90 score, but the payout is not permission to ignore it. Let it absorb fire at range; use a grenade if it is about to reach the formation. A Heavy Rifle, LMG, Minigun, Ion Rifle, Piercing Rounds, and damage perks all help because the Brute stays alive long enough to block a line.

Retcher: kill the acid source

The Retcher stops 10–24 metres away, winds up, then lobs a green acid glob toward the squad. The impact makes a pool that can keep taking losses over several seconds. Retchers first enter normal horde mixes in sector 2. They are a priority target because they attack from a range where ordinary collision control does not solve them. Shift your lane to give the squad a clean firing cone, or throw a grenade into the Retcher’s cluster.

Do not stand in a fresh acid pool after killing the Retcher. The source can be dead while the area remains dangerous. If a Blister dies near you at the same time, its acid can stack the pressure.

Blister: pop it away from the squad

Blisters are slow, large, 150-HP enemies. When killed, they burst into acid. If one reaches close range, it swells and bursts on contact. The best counter is distance: kill it while it is embedded in enemy bodies, not inside your formation. The explosion can hurt nearby zombies, so a controlled far-away pop is useful. A close pop is a road problem.

Crawler: low, fast, and easy to miss

Crawlers have only 30 base HP but move at 4.4 and ride low to the ground. They begin in sector 2. Do not assume a tall enemy is the only threat in the firing lane. Keep the squad aligned with their approach. Spread and explosives solve a crawler rush well; a grenade can clear the low pack if a larger target is screening it.

Riot: break the front shield

Riot enemies arrive from sector 3 with 130 base HP and a 260 × threat-scale front shield. Frontal bullet hits lose 80% of their damage to that shield until it breaks. Their contact attack is heavy: they can kill a soldier on an 0.8-second rhythm instead of dying in the usual crowd trade. Do not let one soak the whole formation’s attention while runners flank. Keep firing until the shield breaks, use explosions when available, and take pierce so bullets can still affect bodies behind it.

Wailer: the urgent support target

Wailers arrive from sector 3 with 90 base HP. At medium range they stop, scream, haste nearby zombies for three seconds, wake idle enemies, and call three Runners. Their cast repeats on a six-second cooldown. This is the target that changes an ordinary horde into a collapse. Break sight to the crowd if needed, center the Wailer in your firing cone, and kill it before committing to coin crates or gold gates.

Elites: 3.2× health plus an affix

Elites become possible after the first sector and have 3.2 times the normal archetype health, a larger frame, a glowing aura, and four times their normal coin reward. They are not a new body; a shielded Brute and a splitting Runner require different answers. The chance rises with threat, capped at 12% in horde generation. Treat the affix as the first thing you identify.

Rooftop and wall ambushes

Leaper

Leapers perch on rooftops from sector 1. Their glow nodes pulse, then a red landing ring marks each target for the whole leap. Move out of the ring before the landing. A landing can take a capped share of the squad if it hits, then the Leaper fights on with 120 base HP, 8.2 speed, and two kill value. The counter is simple: move first, kill after it lands. Do not stay under a ring to keep shooting a distant target.

Quiller

Quillers join rooftop packs from sector 2. They crawl down building facades, hop onto the road, then can spit one or two fans of bone spines while at range. The spines target individual soldiers; each hit can remove one. Once it lands, kill it before it gets space for more volleys. It has 85 base HP and moves at 6.5, so a close, direct firing lane is better than trying to outrun its approach.

Burrow ambushes

Gulper

Gulpers begin in sector 2. A dirt mound and rumble travel under the road, then a red ring marks where the Gulper will erupt. Leave the ring. It has 440 base HP and can lash with a tongue from under 9.5 metres away, snatching up to two soldiers if it connects. It dives and resurfaces further ahead while it still has surfacing charges. Keep moving off its lateral line and put fire into it between eruptions.

Howler

Howlers begin in sector 3 and are the largest ambush threat: 1,150 base HP, 16 coins, and 220 score. After erupting, the throat sac glows and it charges a lane-wide sonic blast. A red rectangle shows that lane. You have 1.75 seconds to leave it, or deal 15% of the Howler’s maximum health during the charge to rupture the sac and cancel the blast. Shoot hard if the sac is already in your cone; otherwise leave the lane. Do not split the decision.

Priority order when the road is crowded

1. Leave an active trap or red ambush ring first.
2. Kill a Wailer before its scream creates a runner problem.
3. Kill Retchers and close Blisters before their acid controls your path.
4. Break or avoid the nearest Riot / elite that blocks fire.
5. Clear Runners, Crawlers, and landed Quillers headed into contact.
6. Burn down Brutes, Gulpers, Howlers, and the remaining crowd.

That order changes when a boss is active or a barricade stops forward movement, but it is a reliable default. The key is not to chase the biggest health bar while a support enemy turns the rest of the road against you.