Overview
The final Zed. The big one. It’s time gentlemen. Let’s rip this one apart.
Introduction
Kevin Clamely, the founder and CEO of Horzine Biotech, is the one responsible for the outbreak of Bloating, Fleshpounding, Gorefasting, and Stalking creatures roaming about London. After fitting himself with a large amount of weaponry, he took to the streets to protect his creations. He thinks of them all as his children, and you just murdered a good number of them. As a result, he is not very happy with you. The Patriarch has the most health of any Zed, reaching a cap of 33250 health on a six man Hell on Earth game. He appears as the final boss after all waves have been completed. The most imposing of the Zeds, he requires efficient teamwork to be put down for good.
Behavior
At the beginning of the final wave, the player’s camera will switch to a third-person view of the Patriarch spawning in a certain location, be it a location out in an identifiable area, or a dark spawn used by Zeds that is unable to be accessed by players. He will then cloak and the camera will then switch back to the player, in which the final fight begins. Should the Patriarch see a player, he will either do one of two things. He will either cloak and charge at the player, or use one of his firearms. His firearms are very dangerous, being able to dish out hideous amounts of damage, with his rocket launcher being able to instantly kill a player upon direct contact, and his minigun will drain a player’s health at an alarming rate. His melee attacks are brutal, and on Hell on Earth, they can instantly kill a player without armor. Once he has taken a certain amount of damage, he will kneel in pain and then retreat while cloaked. During this time, he will summon Zeds to his aid, while they distract the players, he will inject himself with a syringe that will heal him by twenty-five percent of his max health. The Patriarch has three of these syringes at his disposal and he will use them when he needs them most. He will use his syringes when at certain percentages of health.
During these intervals, he will summon different Zeds to back him up. When he retreats the first time to heal, he summons Clots. Upon the second time, he will summon Clots and Crawlers. During his final retreat, he will summon Clots, Crawlers, and Stalkers.
Firearms
The Patriarch’s firearms are why he is so deadly. If he did not have them, he would just be a Stalker on super steroids. His minigun does a large amount of damage in a short time, but it can be avoided if a player hides behind a corner quickly enough. His rocket launcher should be avoided at ALL costs. Simply running behind a corner is not good enough to avoid his rocket launcher. The rockets it fires have a large splash damage radius. It alone can kill a player if it is close enough. A rocket can be avoided by closing a door, which will not cause any splash damage effect.
Strategy
- Get to the trader BEFORE the final wave in advance. This way, players will be able to purchase all the weapons they need to, with enough spare time to find a good position for the final wave.
- There is a dangerous occurance when the Patriarch can spot a player during his introduction sequence. He will most likely open fire without returning the camera to the player which will easily lead to their death. Try to find an indoor section of the map, as long as it is not too closed, so as to avoid the Patriarch seeing a player before his cutscene ends.
- The Patriarch will not stop firing his minigun unless there are no players in sight. This means that he will continue firing his minigun after he has killed a player. This could lead to multiple player deaths at once, which can be avoided by finding cover around a nearby corner.
- When there are multiple players attacking the Patriarch at once at a close range, he will perform a circular attack that does massive damage to all nearby players. Attempt to stay as far from the Patriarch as you can if there are multiple players by him.
- When attacking a welded door, he will use his rocket launcher, which will cause his splash damage to pass through the door. Once he starts to attack a welded door, he will not stop attacking it until it is destroyed or he goes down on a knee. If he retreats to heal, he may go back to the door due to a glitch. It may be worth trapping the Patriarch inside a room with only one exit to prevent him from healing. He also takes self-damage from shooting a welded door.
Your weapons will barely be effective against the Patriarch, but you can use them to attempt to have the Patriarch focus on you so you can tank his melee attacks while the team fires. A medic should also focus on healing people during this wave as well, and should always rush to a player’s side should they take a hit from the Patriarch. Though a Field Medic should watch their own armor, for when they lose it, they will die very quickly to many of the Patriarch’s attacks.
The Support’s weapons can cause a large spike of damage in a very short time, which is why having a Support is essential during the final wave. A full clip of an AA12 can lower his health significantly along with a sidearm, such as the combat shotgun or hunting shotgun. A Support should stay behind a Medic, so that their chances of survival are increased. If a Support dies, the team will lose a large amount of its damage, which will make the fight much harder.
The Sharpshooter should only aim for the head. The Sharpshooter can not do much damage when simply aiming for the body, and since every team member should do their part, doing little damage with a rifle will not fare well in the fight. A Sharpshooter should hide behind corners if they are being chased, and aim for the head when the Patriarch comes around the corner.
A Commando can see the Patriarch when he cloaks, so they can callout to the team where the Patriarch is going. If available, a Commando should purchase the flare revolver. The Commando can light the Patriarch on fire while he is cloaked so the rest of the team can see him, and then switch back to their primary gun and open fire. This will maximize the effectiveness of a Commando.
A Berserker, much like a Medic, should draw the Patriarch’s attention and tank his melee attacks while getting in a few swings with their melee. If there is a Medic on the team as well, they can use their damage reduction to attack the Patriarch constantly while being shot by the Medic’s healing darts.
As a Firebug, a player can use their flame weapons to light the Patriarch on fire with much damage output. However since the flamethrower can obscure other player’s views it is best to use a trenchgun, MAC-10, flare revolver or Husk Fireball Launcher. The latter can be annoying for other players, since charging the fireball launcher makes a loud noise that makes it hard to hear specimens.
A Demolitions gains bonuses from all explosives, so pipe-bombs can be very useful. However the Patriarch’s resistance to a select number of pipe-bombs will ensure he will not die from them. A Demolitions should throw grenades while the Patriarch is down on a knee, and then open fire with their grenade launcher, which will cause the Patriarch to take massive explosive damage.
Statistics
The Patriarch’s head health is equal to his total health.
Pipe bombs should not be placed too close to each other when facing the Patriarch, since the Patriarch gains damage resistance to them after each consecutive blast. The Patriarch will be fully immune to pipe bombs after getting hit by 14 in a row. He loses his damage resistance by 33% per second. So the Patriarch will take full damage from a pipe bomb if they are detonated at an estimate of 0.225 seconds apart.
A specimen’s movement speed is based off the difficulty multipliers. 95% for Beginner, 115% for Hard, 120% for Suicidal and 130% for Hell on Earth. Humans run at 200 units when at full health and jump 325 units.
Conclusion
Work as a team. The Patriarch truly enforces the concept of “play your role.” The Patriarch will always be a tough fight on multiplayer, but work as a true team, and victory is in your grasp.
Community Feedback
Did I miss something? Comment about it and I will post it in this section of the guide!
~Ren~
Just something to add, the Commando can also let team members know the health of the Patriarch too, I have 2 binds set up specifically for this reason, he has less than 50% health and he is almost dead. You can be a bit sneaky with the first message, if he has say 60% health you could still say it and give the team a little boost, of course I’d never do that 😉
Zearro
One other thing to note is that when the Patty is revving/firing his minigun, a single hit from any melee weapon will stop the minigun, this makes medics and zerkers super helpful when fighting the Patty due to their high running speed and tankyness. Just keep in mind that after you melee him he will attack you with a melee of his own, so remember to turn and run as soon as you hit him.