Overview
A little guide to help new players and people looking to solo maps.
Solo Tips
When playing the game solo, it gives you the chance to experiment with all the items, and improve your skills with them. Item weight must be taken into account as well as ammunition. I reccomend using melee weapons for a majority during objective maps, and during the starting rounds in survival maps. Torches are usually dead weight, and are only useful in some areas. When soloing the most economical weapons to use are the fire axe, and Colt 1911. When realism is on, using the Beretta M92FS or the Glock 17. Adding a rifle or a shotgun can be impractical, due to their weight and the increased drain of stamina when sprinting. Ammo can sometimes be a problem also. There will be plenty of 5.56mm for the M16A4 in Chinatown on most playthroughs, although it’s found in small-ish amounts and you must know where to look. To get better playthroughs, always avoid unnecessary combat, and go for the objective. Go for weapons if you need them, but stay on track. Be quick, the longer you’re in one spot the more vunerable you are. Do not camp. It’s a one way ticket to hell. Only kill what’s in your way, don’t just kill zombies for the heck of it.
Melee Weapons
Melee weapons are arguably the most useful weapons in the game. Over the patches, there have been various changes, and different kings at the top of the grab and go list. Currently, there is only one melee weapon that does not require a charged swing to kill a zombie. The sledgehammer. Plus, with the new melee system that hits anything within the trail left by the weapon, the sledgehammer can kill multiple zombies at once. With practice, you can kill around 5-6 zombies per swing. This makes it very useful for survival maps when conserving ammunition. But, it also drains stamina very quickly, sometimes draining it in 2-3 consecutive hits. This can be impractical when facing multiple runners, especially in tight spaces. I reccomend using it outside whilst your friends remain inside, to protect them and clear out any surplus zombies. The fireaxe is the second best melee weapon, being able to kill a zombie in one quick-charged swing. It has a relatively low drain on stamina to boot. This makes it good for solo runs, and killing things in your way whilst being able to quickly run to your objective. The machete is the next best melee, killing in 2 swings, or a relatively short charged swing. If you’re carrying a lot of guns, this lightweight weapon is a handy backup. The rest of the melee weapons are less powerful. If you find either the sledgehammer, fireaxe or machete, take them, but keep in mind your teammates might need them more. The lead pipe is in the blunt weapon class, and is in my opinion the best of the 2-hit-kill melee weapons. The blunt weapons have a very high change of knocking back zombies, allowing for a follow up swing with a lower risk of getting hit or grabbed by the zombie. It also makes it practical for a hit and run escape, but yet there is still the chance of it not knocking back the zombie. The other 2-hit-kill weapons are the hatchet, the crowbar and the spade. The spade is similar to the pipe, yet weighs more making it slightly less practical if you need to carry more. The hatchet is a very light 2-hit-kill melee weapon, but has no knockback bonus, so more care must be taken to not get hit or grabbed. The crowbar also does not have the bonus, and weighs more. The rest of the melee weapons, the torch, the knife, the hammer the baseball bat and the pipe wrench are very ineffective and should be dropped as soon as a better weapon is found. They are light, but should only really be used as a last resort.
Firearms
When playing normally, the weapons that use 22.lr, and 9mm kill zombies in 2 shots. This must be taken into consideration when picking a gun, as they will use more ammunition, but they also have a larger capacity and the ammunition overall weighs less. The most practical sidearm when playing without realism is the Colt 1911, as it has a maximum of 8 rounds, and plenty of ammunition can be carried along with an effective melee weapon. It kills zombies in one shot, and has a decent rate of fire, capable of taking out following runners and kids, as well as being able to take out what’s in front of you with relative ease. With practice, the Colt becomes easy to shoot without using iron sights, so running and gunning becomes a viable option. The most practical rifle when playing normally is the M16A4, as it has similar properties to the Colt, but in a bigger format. It can also be used effectively without using iron sights of course with practice. When playing with realism, the most practical pistol becomes the Glock 17, due to it’s higher capacity and ability to carry more ammunition. The most practical rifle remains the M16A4. It is best to avoid using the automatic weapons, the MP5 and the MAC-10, as it can be difficult to control the rate of fire, especially with the MP5, as 2 shot bursts must be used when playing normally. The SKS and the CZ-75 are practical weapons, especially with the bayonet on the SKS, but ammunition is quite rare, and is only avaliable in boxes of around 10. The Ruger MK2 is overall more practical than the Ruger 10/22 as they both have the same capacity and the MK2 weighs less. The Sako should generally be avoided, only being used to kill zombies when there is an abundance in survival, as long range killing is very impractical as remaining stationary means you are more vunerable.
Runners and Kids
These enemies are essentially the most dangerous, especially in large groups. The runners do 20 damage per hit, and 40 when they use 2 hands, meaning they can kill quickly and in few hits. Sometimes, multiple runners can be encountered and a chase will ensue, and you cannot stop. Do not sprint, as you only need to walk forwards to evade getting grabbed. Keep the runners on your tail until the area in front of you is clear, then turn round to swing or shoot at one before carrying on, keep doing it in short bursts until they are dead. Stopping will get you grabbed, hit, bitten or even killed. The sledgehammer is practical when running outside with an abundance of runners if you have enough stamina. Keep out of corners or tight spaces that may have walkers in the way, stopping you and getting you killed. With single runners, simply shove and shoot/hit to get rid of them quickly. Care must be taken around child zombies when you have low health, as they’re the fastest hitting zombie out there, and do 8 damage per slap. They used to be worse, doing 20 damage per hit. This was excruciating when being followed by 4 or 5 children at a time. Be thankful.
Infected Players
If you encounter a teammate who is infected, do NOT kill them. Even on objective mode, as they can still be useful in killing zombies, doing objectives and pills are likely to be nearby. If they ask you to kill them, then you can abide by their wishes. In survival, just let them kill 20 zombies to get a respawn, as it’s more useful to have more players to fight the zombies.
Conclusion
I’ve played the mod for 2 years, since the day it came out, and I’ve learned a lot on how to play it. I hope these tips might be able to help new players or players wanting to improve their skills.
This is my first guide, so any constructive criticism in the comments would be appreciated.
Thanks for reading.