The Corpse Catalog
Howdy Vados!
It’s Jonathan here with another signature DR:TX Rules Ramble, with a special summer edition before we lead up to our games of Season 8. In these types of posts, I’ll discuss in detail an aspect of the game mechanics, compiling the rules and lore into one easy place to read! This week, we are covering some updates to the core rules with the release of THE CORPSE CATALOG!
Read about our recent changes for Season 8. TL;DR, our access to Bluebonnet has changed dramatically. It’s a challenging update, but we appreciate your support of our game and our community. Take a look!
Our EARLY BIRD promotion continues! If you purchase your ticket BEFORE September 4th you’ll receive a bonus XP for FREE! If you’ve already bought a ticket with additional XP, send us an email to info@dystopiarisingtx.com!
I’ll be covering this new book in a DISCORD Hangout, on Tuesday, August 4th. Come spend some time on Discord with our team as we talk about the primary threat of Dystopia Rising Live, the humble zombie.
Our photos for this post were taken from previous DR:TX events by our talented Photo Team, including Lily-Jay Jones, Miranda Farmer, Heather Halstead, Noah Goodman, and Max Pohlmeier.
The New Corpse Catalog
We have a saying behind the scenes at DR:TX, from one of our former game runners: The secret of Dystopia Rising is zombies.
We tell our Guides that when in doubt, send out zombies. If it’s been a while since you last saw zombies in the world, send out more zombies. If it’s a little quiet, send out zombies. In practice, this seems like an obvious thing, but we’ve found over the years that nothing adds to the world of Dystopia Rising like encountering zombies in the world. From the first new player mods, to “white noise” mods sent out during the weekend, zombies are an ever present threat in the wasteland.
Since the release of Dystopia Rising Live almost two years ago, the network team and Michael Pucci have been hard at work releasing new content for the game system we love. This summer, we now have the latest update the core rules of the game, in a dramatic new update to the zombie threat guide, THE CORPSE CATALOG. Like the previous update to the raider threat guide, zombies have gotten a glow up and gained some spicy new abilities. Just in time for our games of Season 8, we now have a threatening new set of rules and mechanics for the key threat of the universe.
This post is designed as an introduction to the big changes for our live events, including an introduction to the core changes in the new book, and a technical breakdown of some important new mechanics you’ll need to know to play the game. At the end, I’ll include some tips in a sort of “Zombie Survival Guide” for a world post-update.
++ To be clear, this post will contain SPOILERS. ++
I’ll try to warn about sections that involve specific noteworthy spoilers for game play. If you want to be surprised by the new zombie updates in game, you might want to skip this one. However, the first NPC shift you attend will involve these updates, so I’ll try to keep most of this focused on the stuff that can be helpful to learn BEFORE your game versus trying to pick it up during the NPC shift.
The Zombie Update
The new book is a complete revamp of the previous edition of The Corpse Catalog. The layout has completely changed, we have new zombie sub-types (including new APOCALYPTIC undead threats!), a new clearer list of common undead abilities, and a much needed primer on the ‘why’ behind the zombie threat in Dystopia Rising Live.
If there’s one extra book you read past the Player’s Guide, this one is certainly worth your time, especially if you want to be a Guide or part of the DR:TX staff. You can find the book for yourself on the network website, found HERE.
Let’s look at the basic layout and how to best use this new book:
The first seven pages of the book are an essay about zombies, and their inherent connection to the setting of Dystopia Rising Live. This reinforces our saying of “the secret is Zombies”, and provides unique insight into the role that zombies play in the wasteland. This section is well worth reading for every player, even if you aren’t a Guide or member of staff.
Zombie Mechanics (page 11) - This is going to be a bit part of blog post below, but it’ll be a frequently referenced section of this new book. I really appreciate how these are organized, and it resolves a lot of the more confusing scenarios involving undead abilities. These mechanics are broken down into smaller sections, by basic type of function.
Zombie Threat Templates (page 18) - Like the previous edition, each general ‘theme’ of zombie threats are outlined together. This includes costuming and roleplay tips for NPCs and Guides and an overview of each threat within the theme. Notably, every core zombie type gained a new RANK FOUR variant, providing new and deadlier threats to go bump in the night.
The Endless Horde (page 18) - This is the most common theme for zombies in Dystopia Rising Live, and you’ll see these zed probably every single game. This theme focuses on the inevitability of the undead horde, including Shamblers, Flesh Tanks, Bursters, Gore Hounds, and a brand new core zombie type called Chitters.
Lurking Threats (page 33) - This theme covers the sneaky predators that lurk in the shadows and hunt at the edges of “safety”. These threats are almost as common as the Endless Horde, and include Hunters, Rad Hunters, Trappers, Bone Heads, and my favorite returning threat from 2.0, the Lost Boy.
The Violent Dead (page 48) - This theme represents the vicious savagery of the horde, and includes many of the more dangerous threats you’ll see from the undead. These zed are big, tough, and deadly. This sections covers Mass Cadavers, Ragers, Abominations, Maulers, and the returning 2.0 threat called the Gemini.
Apocalypse Threats (page 62) - These are the pinnacle of the undead threat, and you’ll never see these encounters ‘just because’. If these threats show up, it means something is terribly, terribly wrong, and you’ll be in for the fight of your life. They are like ‘raid bosses’ in video games, and are meant to be a town-wide threat. Joining the Bone Harvester from the previous edition, comes two threats from the 2.0 edition, in the Fallen and the Toy Box. These threats even gained new OMEGA variants, that are even more monstrous than the basic Apocalyptic threat.
Zombie Customization (page 75) - The last new section of the book includes a much requested and needed update, detailing exactly what happens when a PC or key NPC survivor suffers their final death and emerges from the Mortis Amaranthine as a zombie. Similar to the “Lost Raiders” from the recent Raider update, this allows games to customize the traumatic events when an important character succumbs to the infection and becomes a greater threat to your home. These mechanics give unique modifiers to the zombie that emerges depending on some key characteristics of the fallen survivor, like specific Lineage changes, or if they were particularly faithful or died while suffering from a disease.
All in all, this is a solid update to our most common threat in Dystopia Rising Live, and it’ll make for some challenging threats in the season to come. Let’s cover some of the highlights of the new update in detail.
Notable New Mechanics - the Corpse Catalog
Let’s get in the crunchy bits of the Rules Ramble - the new mechanics of the Corpse Catalog. Most of this section covers the new stuff starting on page 11.
These mechanics are broken down into smaller sections, by basic type of function:
Ongoing Zombie Mechanics (page 11) - These rules cover constant effects, defenses, immunities and other active rules while the zombie is in play.
Zombie Abilities (page 13) - These rules function like Impact Skills for a zombie and are the active powers of a zombie during a fight. Some of these are unique to the zombie threat, while others are just Profession or Impact Skills they can access.
Target & Delivery Augments (page 15) - This is a underrated addition, but one I certainly appreciate. This covers ways abilities might be changed rather than becoming a new ability, like changing how the skill targets in a wider area like an Area of Effect or changing targets and triggers for an effect.
Damage & Potency Augments (page 16) - This covers ways abilities might be changed in potency, rather than becoming a new ability, like increasing damage, adding a damage type, or extending the duration.
Apocalypse Abilities (page 17) - These are powerful and unique abilities of the Apocalyptic Undead threats, but you’ll sometimes see individual skills from this list on other specific high-Rank threats. These are game altering effects, but are probably the biggest spoilers in the book.
The biggest change in this section is simply the clarity and organization of the abilities. While many of these did not measurably change, this section has had a major quality of life update.
Here’s some of the more exciting and interesting updates we’ve noticed on our first read-through:
Every class of zombie has a new Rank 4 variant. Additionally, many of the common threats gained new, dangerous abilities. Expect some new surprises in basically any zombie encounter.
Rad Hunters no longer use “AOE, Break All Brews!”. Thank goodness! They gained some new dangerous powers instead, so don’t rest TOO easy.
Bigger zombies gain a longer reach, with the new Zombie Combat - Close Range (Extended) ability. This enables them to use Standard length brawlers as weapons. Anything with a larger reach is likely swinging for additional damage with some of the Potency Augments too!
There are several NEW Zombie Abilities. I’ll cover some of my favorites below, but these new abilities update and augment several classic zombies and introduce new tactics to dealing with a zombie horde. You might have to worry about a zed spawning Critters through its HIVE FLESH, devouring you while alive with FRESH MEAT, burrowing a hole into your shelter with BREACH POINT, or even deadly new Apocalyptic abilities like NO RETURN.
There are five (5) new Zombies in the book. Each of these zombies is a new Dystopia Rising Live look at a classic threat from an earlier edition of Dystopia Rising. These are brand new, but capture the spirit and synthesis of some of the classic zombie threats from 2.0 and 3.0.
Lost Boys are one of my favorite undead from the older editions, capable of basic mimicry and luring survivors into traps through deception. These new versions are a combination of some of the older zed like the Weepers, Widowers, and Screamers, and join their sneaky brethren in the Lurking Dead.
Chitters are a new staple of the Endless Horde, and offer a powerful force multiplier that helps prevent easy escape from a horde. A combination of a few older threats like the Septics, Toxic Terrors, and Animates, they are capable of some powerful ranged abilities, inflicting dangerous diseases, and spreading Lingering Damage at a distance.
Gemini are a new look at the dangerous infiltrating dead like the Diggers, 13th Story Ghasts, or the namesake Gemini. They are durable, tough, and capable of digging a BREACH POINT with powerful claws into a building. When they emerge, the horde will follow along with them, spawning from inside the area instead!
The two new Apocalyptic Undead, the Fallen and the Toy Box are returning favorites from older editions, but these will be a more telegraphed threat like the Bone Harvester. The Fallen is a powerful undead that make a mockery of faith and are extremely dangerous to those that once shared their tenets, while the Toy Box can warp reality around it, creating a nexus of the Mortis similar to a Corrupted Morgue that must be dealt with before they can be defeated.
There are many quality of life updates, from a game runner perspective. While not every ability in the book is new, the organization is now more user friendly for use in Ops, and the clear break down of augments, abilities, and ongoing abilities makes it much more clear how each of these powers function in game. It’s easier to read, and a lot of the weird interactions with skills and defenses are much clearer.
Weird choice of image, right?
updated Zombie Abilities
Several abilities got a glow up in the new edition of the Corpse Catalog, but remain mostly the same as before with a few tweaks. Let’s cover the ones that will come up frequently.
Cannibalism
First up is the key mechanic of zombies - the ability to tear apart and devour fallen survivors. Functionally, this makes every zombie threat “killing blow active” and makes even the common Shambler a potentially deadly ending to a fight. This signature skill of zombies now has FIVE (5) variants. While many of these were implied in other abilities previously, they are clearly each outlined here as variant of Cannibalism - Standard, Death Eater, Fractured Meal, Fresh Meat, and Infectious Disease.
Cannibalism (Standard)
When a Lineage enters Bleed Out within Brawling range, call “GNAW” and role-play eating the Target. After 10 GNAW counts, call “Killing Blow” and refresh the zombie’s Body and Zombie Abilities. Multiple Zombies can GNAW the same fallen Target
Cannibalism (Fractured Meal)
May only Target a Lineage in Bleed Out within Brawling range. During cannibalism role-play call “Fractured Meal: Terror, Cause 1 Fracture”; the Target can only gain 1 Fracture from Fractured Meal per 6 hours.
Cannibalism (Infectious Disease)
On the first GNAW count, call “Inflict Disease: [Disease Name] Stage 1.” The Disease applies even if the Cannibalism does not reach Killing Blow.
There are some returning favorites here. The two non-standard uses here function mostly like before, either inflicting a FRACTURE on a fallen target, or inflicting a DISEASE. A particular note on the Infectious Disease version is that this doesn’t require the zombies to finish a Gnaw count, and works right away. This was basically how it functioned before, but it’s much more clearly defined, and there’s now many, many more Infectious zombies in the book - be warned! I counted six different diseases that can be spread by zombies, so doctors have their work cut out for them!
The new two new forms of Cannibalism are only found on particularly dangerous threats, but answer the question of “what if cannibalism was even worse?”.
Cannibalism (Fresh Meat)
May Target a Lineage that is under the effect of Nail, Paralysis, or otherwise can no longer escape (such as being Grappled by another zombie). Zombie may strike the immobilized Target and call Gnaw with each successful strike. On the 10th successful sequential Gnaw strike the Zombie calls “100 Body, Murder. No Avoid. Cannibalism.”
Cannibalism (Death Eater)
May engage in a Brawling strike against a zombie and call “Cannibalism - Death Eater”. Target Zombie gives role-play of resistance but is destroyed after 5 seconds. This restores all Body and Zombie abilities to the user.
The variant Death Eater is basically what happens when a Zombie is eaten by a meaner, scarier zombie. It fully heals and refreshes the zombie threat that did the devouring, and makes every zombie near them a quick source of extending the fight further. It’s worth mentioning this is still a pretty rare ability for now, but when it shows up you will need to worry about controlling the battlefield and keeping easy targets for the zombie to devour away. Watch out for those Gorgers and make sure they don’t die!
Fresh Meat is the truly terrifying new option though — The zombie can use Cannibalism on a STILL LIVING TARGET. As long as you are pinned in place by something like Grapple or Nail, the zombie can start feeding while you are still wriggling in their grasp. If this use is successful, you are D-E-A-D, taking an unavoidable Murder call along with enough damage that will finish any character in the game. There’s only a few abilities to survive something like this, and none of them really deal with the initial problem of being paralyzed or trapped, so even if you survive the first use you’ll still probably die on the next one. It’s just a variant of Cannibalism, so it can be used again and again. Gore Hounds just got even worse.
Rise Again
The second key ability that zombies possess is the ability to regenerate from virtually any wound by Rising Again.
Rise Again
10 seconds after being dropped to 0 health, or with both legs Mangled, a zombie regains full Body, all mangled limbs are repaired, all Impact Skills refreshed (except Rise Again), and is immune to damage for 5 seconds. A verbal growl/moan signals reanimation. If a “Double Tap” skill is used, Rise Again is negated. Physically moving a zombie that has a pending Rise Again may cause the zombie to be able to activate this skill in less than 10 seconds (NPC’s prerogative). This includes, but is not limited to, carrying a zombie away before it uses its Rise Again. In the instance that a mechanic prevents the user of this effect from regaining body (I.E. - No Healing) their Body is set 10 Body instead of regaining Full Body.
There are no major changes here, but this ability now interacts with anti-healing items like the “Perfectly Safe” Radium Rounds similarly as raiders. This makes ammunition items some of the best things you can use against the undead. However, you need to pay attention to when the zombie last used the Rise Again ability as they gain a few seconds of invulnerability when they stand up. Don’t spend your best item while they can ignore the damage!
Tap Threshold “X”
This ability is a refresh of the previous mechanics that made zombies resistant to Double Tap. It’s been clarified and simplified, and now all versions of this skill follow the same basic mechanics.
Tap Threshold “X”
When “Double Tap” is used on this Zombie, it has a Threshold where multiple uses of the skill Double Tap need to be used to have an effect. The threshold count resets with each Rise Again. I.E. - A zombie with a Tap Threshold of 3 needs to have Double Tap used on it 3 times when the Zombie falls before it uses Rise Again to prevent Rise Again from occurring. NPC should groan and twitch in response to each use of Double-Tap to show that they have heard and registered the skill use, but then otherwise provide signs that the Threshold has not been hit (twitching, spasming, groaning, or otherwise showing that the Zombie has not been destroyed)
You’ll need to pay attention when you Double Tap on a zed, as there’s now a decent chance you might need more than one use of the Impact Skill. This ability commonly requires two or three uses of Double Tap to stop the undead, but some more powerful versions might need five or more! It’s also on a lot more threats, so this remains a useful Impact Skill to pick up, even for a character that doesn’t do much fighting. It’ll come in clutch when you need one more hit to down that Flesh Tank.
Siege
The old Swarm Break Door power got a fancy update, worth covering here.
Siege
A Zombie with siege calls “AREA OF EFFECT, SIEGE” when it reaches a closed or locked door. This zombie, and all other zombies present, start role-playing breaking down the door. Very loudly the Zombies start beating on the door and the Zombie that triggered this skill starts counting “Siege 1, (two second pause), Siege 2, (two second pause), Siege 3...)”. If a door is a non-item card door, the door is broken open and the Zombies can then enter by yelling “DOOR SIEGED”. In the instance that the door is a door with a Blueprint crafted Item Card the Zombies will need to do a full count to “Siege 10” instead of “Siege 3” before entering.
Once AREA OF EFFECT, SIEGE has been called, killing the Zombie that called it does not end the effect. Only destroying all zombies within the area of effect when it was called. If additional Zombies enter the Area of Effect while there are still active Zombies attempting to Siege a door, those new Zombies are considered under the effect of Siege and may join the efforts to break in.
Doors that require more than one Break require multiple successful uses of Siege before breaking the door down. Check door card before using Siege.
Notably, this skill isn’t interrupted as long as zombies remain at the door. You won’t be able to pick off a few zombies to stop the horde from collapsing the doors of your defense like before, and this makes crafted doors even more important for smaller cabins. That extra 15-30 seconds of time to prepare might make the difference between being able to post a shield in the way and reload a shooter.
Forward Arc
While most of the target and delivery augments are easy to understand, there’s one particular addition worth covering here. This new addition is effectively a modified Scatter Shot for zombies, providing a nice middle step to scale up attacks from ranged to forward arc to area of effect.
Forward Arc
Call “Forward Arc: [Ability].” The Ability affects up to 5 valid Targets in a 180-degree forward-facing arc within approximately 10 feet of the user.
All Targets take the same effect. This cannot be combined with Area of Effect or Sound of My Voice.
This is used on many of the zombies now, delivering dangerous attacks like simple Damage, or even more dangerous abilities like Break, Betrayal, or even Bleeding Mark. This solves a lot of the weird mechanic effects and restrictions of Scatter Shot, and creates an undead version that is much simpler.
New Zombie Defenses
While these abilities aren’t technically new, they are now codified across the undead range, and you’ll encounter these more regularly across all types of zombies. Previously, these effects were one-off abilities of certain zombies, and now has its own Zombie Ability that combines a few similar abilities into one.
Hardened Limbs
This zombie is immune to Knock Back, Mangle, Nail, and Take Down effects. Strikes to the Zombie’s brawlers and arms count as blocked.
Leathery Flesh
This zombie has a layer of hardened exterior skin that counts as 20 points of armor. This armor refreshes with Rise Again but can be broken as per regular armor. The value of this armor may be increased with Ability Modifiers by 10 points per Augmentation (20, 30, 40, 50).
The Hardened Limbs ability is similar to one that was on some Critters, but recently joined the list of defenses for certain undead threats. Previously, these effects were one-off abilities of certain zombies, and now has its own Zombie Ability that combines a few similar abilities into one. Leathery Flesh can make certain fights tougher, but also provides some reward for using Break Armor on the bigger Undead threats. While they regain the armor upon a Rise Trigger, a well-timed Break can easily half the damage the zombie can take.
New Zombie Abilities
Lastly, there are few brand new abilities worth mentioning, as they will likely be encountered on a somewhat regular basis.
Hive Flesh
Hive Flesh (Rank X [TYPE] Critters)
This zombie is riddled with parasitic, irradiated, Mortis, or swarm Critters. These additional threats will regularly climb out of the Zombies flesh and attack. The threat sheet lists the number and timing of the spawned critters. All critters must be of a certain type, but otherwise created by standard Critter Creation rules.
This ability is terrifying, offering a new way to complicate an encounter. Imagine a threat that can spawn Mortis Spiders or Corpse Worms into the middle of a horde of a zombies! You’ll see this primarily on the more deadly ranks of zombies, particularly within the Raging Dead or Lurking Dead.
Breach Point
The signature ability of the new Gemini zed, this echoes a number of Zone of Mechanics you might have encountered before in a game, so you can expect this to be a staple of zombie threats in Season 8 (we already have the props!).
Breach Point
Call “Creating Breach Point” and slam both fists into the ground. A guide them places a 6-Foot diameter hole physical representation with a black tarp flap, or other visual representation of a hole that NPC zombies can crawl out of. This location functions as a spawn point for up to twenty zombies to come out of. Multiple uses of this ability may be used at the same time to create multiple Breach Points but each requires its own visually engaging physical representation to be placed.
This ability creates a new threat that must be dealt with, and makes letting zombies behind a line even more dangerous. With a Breach Point, the line of the attack is moved up into the building, letting the undead respawn from a new central place. This ability lasts until the end of the mod, or when 20 zombies have come through the breach.
Augmented Abilities
These aren’t technically a new ability, but rather an example of modifiers and augments that change an ability into something else entirely. They aren’t specific abilities on their own, but rather combinations of several skills, range modifiers, and potency modifiers. There’s two major variants that stick out to me as an example, but there are numerous others throughout the book.
Rise From Your Grave (Rise Trigger, Sound of My Voice)
Rise Trigger - The Ability triggers when the zombie completes Rise Again. The call occurs after the zombie rises, during the 5 seconds of post-rise damage immunity.
By My Voice - Call “Sound of My Voice: [Ability].” The Ability affects all valid Targets within 50 feet who can hear the call. Sound of My Voice ignores walls, doors, and barriers
This ability makes all zombies in the area immediately refresh Body, Skills, and gain 5 seconds of post-rise damage immunity. It functionally is just a combination of a range modifier and a death trigger, but used offensively.
Toxic Cloud (Sound of My Voice, Bleeding Mark)
Bleeding Mark - Call “2 Lingering Damage” with a successful attack. For 5 minutes, each step the Target takes deals 2 Body Damage. A successful First Aid use that heals the Target ends this effect. Stabilize does not end.
By My Voice - Call “Sound of My Voice: [Ability].” The Ability affects all valid Targets within 50 feet who can hear the call. Sound of My Voice ignores walls, doors, and barriers
This ability comes in a few ranged varieties now, but inflicts the dangerous LINGERING DAMAGE debuff. Every step deals damage, functionally forcing you to stay put and fight. This ability is ended by a use of First Aid, but requires the doctor to actually expend the Impact Skill rather than using the free “Stabilize” use of the skill. The Toxic Cloud skill simply spreads this debilitating condition to an entire group of survivors, as all zombies are immune to Lingering Damage.
The New Zombie Survival Guide
The new CORPSE CATALOG will require you to shift some of the common Zombie tactics you might have used before. Let’s talk about dealing with the undead threat in Dystopia Rising Live.
While primarily aimed at new players, it’s worth revisiting the SURVIVAL TIPS tips we outlined on our site. There’s a few key concepts I’ll repeat here, but if you want to be the new badass known through out the wasteland, it pays to think strategy when it comes to survival during a Dystopia Rising Live event. These are the tactics that virtually any fighter in the wasteland will pick up from a lifetime of dealing with zombies, but this could be a bit of SPOILER. You’ve been warned!
Learn how to fight zombies. This is the most common enemy threat in the wasteland. Ask your fellow survivors what tips and tricks they’ve learned for fighting zombies, and always keep your eyes open during a fight. Watch for patterns and listen for dangerous abilities. This is the threat you need to know how to deal with, as it’s always going to be present at during a DR Live event. You can still keep this training in game if you want to avoid spoilers, but it’s definitely worth your time to think about how you will survive a zombie encounter. After all, the secret is zombies.
Control where the fight happens. The quickest way to get overwhelmed while fighting against zombies is to fight in the open field or woods. When the zombies can surround you, it increases the danger of the horde. If you can control how many zombies can attack you at once by staying near a door way or fighting with your back against a wall, you can limit some of the damage they can inflict. Keep your eyes open, and be ready to move or shift positions as a group if it looks like the zombies are coming from every direction or flanking through another door.
Don’t get outnumbered - run or hide if you there are too many zombies. In the world of Dystopia Rising Live, survivors can usually handle an equal amount of zombies. If there are 5 of you and 5 zombies, you’ll probably be able to win the day if you pay attention and work together, unless there’s some nasty threat hiding in the horde. If you are outnumbered, it’s going to be much tougher to survive. Don’t stay behind and try to be a hero. If the zombies outnumber you 2:1, it’s a matter of when they take someone down, not if.
Don’t leave downed zombies unattended. Rise Again is a powerful ability and it can lead you to losing track of where the threats are. While the humble Shambler isn’t much of a danger by itself, every hit it can sneak through when it Rises behind your line adds up. Its a death by a thousand cuts — each hit adds up over time. Survivors with extra uses of Double Tap can be very useful behind the fight to finish off any zed that remain.
Zombies are a test of endurance, not speed. The undead horde is a implacable threat that can’t really be stopped, made even more apparent by the ability RISE AGAIN. Every zombie exhausts your Impact Skills, inflicts damage in the unblocked strike, and forces you to react with defenses, and then just gets back up to do it all over again. Every downed survivor means a chance at refreshing the skills and Body of the zombies feeding on your friends, so try to respond quickly when you hear the GNAW calls. Every survivor slain by the horde just makes them that much more resilient. Deny them resources by healing your friends and making sure they don’t become meals for the zed threat.
Zombies are VERY durable, so avoid the tricks and just deal damage. Most undead have a truly exhaustive set of defenses, being virtually immune to most useful Impact skills. Almost every zombie is immune to Agony, Lingering Damage, Murder, Stun, Suffering, Poisons that aren’t Zed Bane, Knockout, Fear, Blinding, Choking Blow, and effects that require pain, breath, or living nerve responses. Many of the bigger undead gain immunities to Mangle, Nail, Knock Back, and Take Down, so my best recommendation is to focus on just dealing damage instead.
Zombies come in all shapes and sizes, so focus on the threats you can handle. With new Rank 4 options, bigger hordes will have bigger threats, but a horde of zombies will rarely be just Shamblers. If you are a new player, focus on fighting the lesser shamblers and mopping up the regenerating corpses that can’t be Double Tapped in time. The veterans should focus on dealing with the larger threats if they can, and try to call out when you see a particularly nasty looking zombie approaching. It’s better than you retreat and focus on something else rather than creating a new corpse for the zombie to Cannibalize.
Shields are the natural enemy of the undead. Most zombie abilities are built around melee attacks. There are very few ranged attacks on zombies, and short boffers on most zombies means you if you can control the distance between you and the zombie they will not be able to get many good hits in. Save your Avoids for any Break Shields being thrown, as if you can keep a barrier up you can control the fight with most shamblers. If you don’t have a shield, try to keep the zombie at the limit of their range and don’t let them get too close.
Watch out for surprises! While I’ve covered several of the new abilities of the new Corpse Catalog, there’s still many more that I didn’t cover here. Its likely you are going to encounter some new, scary thing when facing the undead hordes, so be ready for anything. Pay attention to what zombie is calling what skills, and try to identify the biggest threats on the field — it may not be the massive Flesh Tank, but rather the Chitter in the back spreading out Lingering Damage.
Here’s a few skills and items that are useful when facing the undead:
Most Impact Skills don’t work on zombies, but there are still some that are useful.
While most zombies are immune to the Stun effect, many zombies can still be slowed down by Take Down — they still need to stop and take a knee before continuing their shamble.
Break is useful against anything with Leathery Flesh, but it can’t do much against the mostly Brawling Strikes used by zombies.
Piercing Strike, Scatter Shot, and Pyrokinetics can be useful in a fight against the horde, especially when you are just focusing on dealing damage. With more zed gaining Armor points, things that inflict Body damage will always be useful.
Psychic Propulsion and Knock Back effects are useful for controlling the fight, pushing back the most dangerous threats and gaining space to breathe.
Double Tap remains the MVP in a zombie fight, but choose your targets wisely. Try not to use this against common shamblers if you can, and save it for the truly dangerous threats. Work with your friends to team up against something with a Tap Threshold, and communicate for help if you have something down but about to get up with Rise Again.
Stealth is very useful for surviving a horde, as many zombies don’t have Awareness. Even if you have a single use, it could make the difference between life and death when you get outnumbered at night.
Drag Handle is literally a lifesaver in a world with FRESH MEAT. Anything that can free a friend from a Nail effect might make a huge difference in a fight against Gore Hounds and other frenzied undead. Remember, Telekinesis and Psychic Propulsion have a few expendable items like the Subcutaneous Magnifier and Feedback Loop Generator that can end Nail too, without needing a Profession Skill.
Powerful Profession Skills are still powerful, and ones like Shield Master, Ground and Pound, Trick Shot, Momentum, Dead Trigger, and Dead to Rights will still be useful in a zombie fight. Anything that enables you deal damage really shines, and Shield Master is one of the few ways to avoid deadly attacks like “AOE Break Shield” or “Toxic Cloud”.
Bring the right equipment. Crafted Weapons like Cullingwood Blade or the Wildwind Machete shine against zed, as simply reducing their Body is often the best course. Zombie Bane attacks with the Freeiron Hawkbill and Hebar's Glowing Green Hatchets, or Caustic Poison laced attacks with Piercing Strike are very effective.
Be cautious with ranged attacks. Guns are mostly useless against zombies, but not every zombie is completely immune to Ranged damage, particular fast moving versions like Bursters or Chitters. Generally speaking, if it’s slow, guns won’t be much use. Ammo items like Another Tomorrow, “Perfectly Safe” Radium Rounds, or Lawn-Clearing Slugs can still make gunplay effective against the undead, if a bit expensive.
What other tips and tricks have you learned when fighting the hordes of undead? Share your favorite ideas with your fellow players on our Discord server!
Wrap Up
That’s it for today, Vados.
Stay tuned for next Tuesday, August 4th, where we will host a DISCORD HANGOUT about the new Corpse Catalog! Come hang out with us online and talk zombie tactics and tell us about your favorite part of this new book.
We hope that you will come join us for our first event of Season 8, FROM THE ASHES! Will you beat the heat or succumb to the flames of The Burning Season? Will you fight off the Raider menace of Pride’s Hold? How will you prepare for another year in the Zombie Apocalypse?
Let’s find out together! See you soon, Vados!
