Overview
Do you want to become a near god-tier No More Room in Hell player? Do you want to single handedly carry entire teams of noobs by yourself all the while barely taking any damage at all on almost any map? Do you want to be able to complete even the hardest of maps solo? Do you want to be feared by every zombie within a 50 mile radius of you? Then this is the guide for you.What inspired me to make this guide? I was fed up with all the other guides on here giving completely wrong advice while trying to teach players, and at the same time leaving out crucial information, so I decided to make this guide and do it myself. This guide will not only serve the purpose of helping new players, but if you’re aspiring to be a master at NMRiH regardless of your current skill level, then this guide is also for you.This guide will be going over Classic difficulty.
Fundamentals
====Melee and Not Being Dependent on Guns====
if you want to be a good player, learning how to use melee properly and efficiently is an absolute must. Melee combat is the foundation of NMRiH, and once mastered, you’ll find that you’ll be able to carry yourself through a lot of maps on just melee alone, no guns even necessary at all.
This brings me to another very important point, Do not use guns at all unless it is absolutely necessary. Guns are only to be used if either: Your back is against the wall, if you need to clear a path/get through a chokepoint quickly and instantly, or more simply, any scenario where melee just won’t cut it. Guns are like NMRiH’s version of the BFG-9000, extremely powerful and useful, and only to be used when absolutely necessary.
====Fundamentals of Melee’ing====
Most people would tell you to shove after every melee attack, and although this is not necessarily a bad practice, you should get into the habit of being able to melee successfully without needing to shove, this way you can kill zombies with maximum efficiency and speed, and with minimal stamina loss. Get used to the range of the melee weapons as well as the range at which zombies can hit you, once you get used to these ranges, you can melee zombies without needing to shove, like so:
(You don’t really have to do this with heavy attacks, with heavy attacks you can still shove after every hit, but with light attacks it’s better to do it without shoving if you don’t have to shove)
Remember, practice makes perfect, so try to practice light attacks without shoving until you get the hang of it.
Don’t just exclusively use these light attacks though, because it eventually will take a toll on your stamina, so once your stamina starts getting low when you’re light attacking, use heavy attacks until your stamina returns to a normal level, and keep alternating between light and heavy attacks accordingly. It’s also important to note that your stamina regenerates faster while you’re crouching.
Also, when using 1-hit kill melee weapons such as the Pickaxe and Sledgehammer, if you hold down left click in order to charge up a heavy attack, and you let go of left click as soon as you see the animation start playing and just let it swing automatically, then that swing will use 0 stamina, this trick is essential when using 1-hit kill melee weapons.
Also, because 1-hit kill melee weapons can 1-hit kill zombies with a light attack, they can be used to instantly clear a path if a zombie is blocking it, similar to the instant path clearing ability of a gun, making it useful in scenarios where you need that instant path clearing ability but you don’t have a gun or you want to conserve your ammo. However the Pickaxe and Sledgehammer are not the most effective at taking out large volumes of runners and kids, which is a job usually better suited for a light melee or a Fire Axe. However you will almost never need to carry a light and heavy melee at the same time, only on nmo_urbanhazard and nmo_mayday do I feel like it is really necessary.
====To Kill or Not to Kill?====
You should only kill zombies that pose an immediate or potential threat, or zombies that are just blocking the way. Standing around playing zombie slayer for 5 hours straight isn’t gonna help you win the map, and this is something that I see a lot of noobs do for some reason.
And to clarify what I mean by “potential threat”, lemme paint a picture for you:
There are some zombies at the top of a staircase, however they are not blocking your path and are not an immediate threat, so you just ignore them and walk past them and go down the staircase, however at the bottom of the staircase there are several runners, so you quickly turn around and go back up the staircase in order to avoid the runners, however those same shamblers from earlier that you didn’t kill are now blocking your path and you’re now trapped in a chokepoint, and are now dead. Scenarios like these and scenarios that are similar to these is what I mean by “potential threat”.
Viable and Non-Viable Melee Weapons
The following is a list of all the viable melee weapons in NMRiH:
-Machete
-Hatchet
-Lead Pipe
-Crowbar
-Fire Axe
-Sledgehammer
-Pickaxe
-E Tool (The E-Tool must be used in it’s alternate mode in order to do enough damage to be considered viable, the alternate mode can be used by right clicking with the E-Tool)
If a melee weapon is not on this list, it is un-viable, and if you have an un-viable melee weapon, you should exchange it for a viable melee weapon at the earliest opportunity.
What makes a melee weapon un-viable? If a melee weapon takes 3 or more light attacks to kill a zombie, it is automatically un-viable due to not doing enough damage, and remember, several melee weapons were designed by the devs to be useless, keep that in mind. The Shovel is also un-viable due to it taking up way too much inventory space for its lack of sufficient damage. The FUBAR is also considered un-viable due to it being painfully slow to swing and having a painfully high stamina cost. Not to mention, that a lot of these unviable melee weapons have very delayed and slow shoves as well, such as the wrench, FUBAR, etc., making them even more unviable. No viable melee weapon has a problem with it’s shove being too slow, so don’t worry.
Despite the E-Tool being included on the list of viable melee weapons, just because it’s viable, doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s preferable. The E-Tool should be swapped out for a better weapon if possible as well, due to it’s weird swings, timings, hit reg, and range, and also a lack of a horizontal swing.
Viable and Non-Viable Guns
The only guns in the entire game that are un-viable are the JAE, the Sako, the Winchester 1892, and the Double Barrel. The reason why these guns are considered un-viable is because of their very low ZPS (Zombie Kills Per Second). Both of the sniper rifles and the Winchester are single shot, which makes them extremely dangerous to use, and remember, guns should only be used when you need to clear a path instantly or when your back is against the wall, meaning that if you miss with a single shot weapon in either of these contexts, you’re basically dead. As for the Double Barrel, even though it’s semi-auto, it only has 2 shots before you have to reload, and the reload time is very long, making it un-viable.
As for the Flare Gun and the Bow and Arrow, the Flare Gun is only useful on nmo_miner_detour for killing the special zombies, and the Bow and Arrow, although it is a good means of killing zombies and being able to replenish the ammo used to do so, I still wouldn’t really consider it to be practical.
====Fire Modes====
Some guns in the game give you the option to toggle between semi-automatic, 3 round burst, and automatic. You should always try to avoid using a gun on full auto if possible, as this greatly reduces the control you have over your shots and wastes a lot of ammo, and 3 round burst also doesn’t really have any practical use either, since every gun in the game kills a zombie with either 1 or 2 headshots depending on the ammo type. Should you find yourself stuck with something like the MAC-10, try to tap your mouse lightly and fire it in single shots.
====Skillshot Mode====
If you have a pistol, then you can do something known as a Skillshot. Basically what a Skillshot is, is if you stand still while holding a pistol for a certain amount of time (you can still move your mouse), then your screen will turn orange and you will enter Skillshot mode, which allows you to kill zombies with 1 headshot as opposed to 2 headshots with .22 and 9mm. However Skillshot mode has VERY little use, and you will almost never find yourself needing to use it. The only scenarios I can really think of where Skillshot might be useful is maybe if you’re trying to pick off a runner from a relatively far distance while in a safe spot with a Glock or something. Like I said, the scenarios where Skillshot is actually useful are very rare and specific, so don’t really worry about using Skillshot mode.
Dealing With Runners and Kids
Contrary to what a lot of noobs seem to think, runners and kids are by no means your worst nightmare, not even in large numbers. They can be easily made quick work of without even using guns (Yes you heard that right, guns are not necessary in taking out runners and kids, not even hordes of them). All you need is skill.
====Kiting====
Kiting is a crucial component of dealing with runners and kids. Basically, as long as you’re walking forward (you don’t have to be running), then runners and kids will not catch up to you, so use this to your advantage. Keep in mind though, that if your inventory is 100% full then they CAN catch up to you, so make sure your inventory is never at 100% capacity.
The basic strategy is to charge your melee weapon as you’re walking forward, then once you’ve charged it enough for a 1-hit kill, turn around, swing, then immediately shove, then immediately do a 180 and snap back to the front of you, then rinse and repeat that until you’ve cleared the horde (if you’re using the Machete then you can just do light attacks since the Machete can 1-hit kill runners with a light attack).
Here are some examples in action:
Hordes that have runners mixed with kids can be very dangerous, since you have 2 targets at completely different heights, the best way to deal with this is to just try your best guess as to whether the kid or the runner will be closer when you swing. However if you have a melee weapon that has a great vertical swing, such as the Fire Axe, then you can easily take out both the kids and runners at the same time, as shown in one of the GIFs above.
It’s also crucial to note that when fighting runners and kids in any scenario, ALWAYS shove after every attack.
You also don’t need to crouch to kill kids, you can hit them easily while standing.
The zombies in this game can also only move in straight lines, so when they wanna turn, they have to stop moving and re-orient themselves, so keep that in mind.
Shoving Intricacies
This section of the guide will be going over some useful shoving tips to help increase your survivability.
The technique I’m about to show you is what I call the VQV, because those are the buttons that you have to press in quick succession in order to do this technique. Basically what this allows you to do is eliminate the shove cooldown by shoving, then quickly switching weapons in order to remove the shove cooldown, and then shove again, as shown in the following examples:
You can also do this technique in order to cancel the animation on some guns and be able to instantly shove after firing, like so:
Medical Items
This section of the guide will be going over some useful information when it comes to medical items, and some general gameplay tips when it comes to medical items.
====Medkit Usage====
It’s important to know when to use Medkits in NMRiH. Remember, Medkits heal 30 hp, meaning that ideally you would want to use one when you get to around 70 hp, don’t wait for your hp to get too low before using a Medkit. Think about it, would you rather use a Medkit while you’re at 10 hp and go to 40 hp? Or use a Medkit while you’re at 70 hp and go to 100 hp? The choice is obvious.
====Other Miscellaneous Medical Item and Medical Information
-Bandages heal 15 hp when used
-You can only use bandages if you’re bleeding
-The damage taken while bleeding is 1 damage every time you get the blood splash on your screen
-You cannot sprint while bleeding, and stamina usage while bleeding is also higher. This makes it especially important to bandage yourself up as soon as possible
-Medkits also stop bleeding
-You can quickly check if you’re bleeding by either looking down and seeing if there’s blood effects or not, or by quickly holding down the shift key and seeing if your character sprints or not, remember, you can’t sprint if you’re bleeding
-Pills do not permanently stop the infection, once you take a bottle of pills, the infection will return after a short while
-Gene Therapy acts as a vaccine and a permanent cure to the infection at the same time
-The lower your hp is, the higher your chance is to get infected, so for example, if you get bit while at 100 hp, you have a very low chance of getting infected, and if you get bit while at 20 hp, then you have a very high chance of getting infected
-The only way to get infected from zombies is to get bit. You cannot become infected from being hit or scratched
-The colours on your screen don’t begin to get desaturated until your hp gets to 40 and below
====Numbers and Damage Values====
It’s important to know how much damage each zombie attack does, so that you can know roughly how much hp you have, so you can know when to heal etc.
-A hit from a kid does 8 damage
-A bite does 15 damage
-A single handed swing from a shambler does 15 damage
-A double handed swing from a shambler does 30 damage
-A single handed swing from a runner does 20 damage
-A double handed swing from a runner does 40 damage
Map Knowledge
Map knowledge is an important part of NMRiH and it will give you a great advantage, so be sure to familiarize yourself as much with each map as possible. Map knowledge is basically just familiarizing yourself with a certain map, which includes knowing where secrets are, memorizing keypad codes, memorizing the locations/spawns of certain items (Machete spawns, Gene Therapy and Medkit spawns, etc.), or knowing various map logic (For example on Suzhou, the zombies in the Old Quarter don’t respawn, and the zombies around the evac center don’t respawn until the radio is interacted with, and several other factors that make the map easily cheesable.)
However even more importantly is memorizing all the godspots on each map. A godspot is a particular spot on the map where you can stand in order to avoid taking any damage from zombies, like so:
Godspots can make certain objectives and finales easily cheesable.
Miscellaneous Tips and Information
This section is just a series of various random tips and information that I thought didn’t really fit in any other category.
-You can jump over crawlers
-You can use crawlers as a boost to jump onto zombies’ heads. This is a very specific tip and you will probably never find yourself having to use this, but it could just save your life if you’re completely blocked off by zombies and you’re lucky enough that a crawler is near enough. Something like this:
-When welding or interacting with something, try not to have your back turned to the zombies. Try to move your camera so that you can weld/interact with the object and keep an eye on the zombies around you at the same time so you can see if any zombies are getting too close to you
-If you see a gun on the ground that has the same ammo type as the gun that you have, you can pick it up and press U to unload the ammo out of it
-Standing on top of a zombie’s head is actually a safe place to be, since standing on a zombie’s head will freeze it in place and it will also be unable to attack you, however nearby zombies can still attack you, so keep that in mind. This can be useful if you want to fall from a certain place and not take any fall damage by landing on a zombie’s head, or to access the chainsaw secret on Suzhou for example. Both examples are shown by the following GIFs respectively:
-Your movement speed isn’t dependent on the exact size of your inventory. How it works is, if your inventory is between 0-49% full, then you move at X speed, if your inventory is between 50-99% full, then you move at X speed, and if your inventory is 100% full, then you move at X speed
-You regain stamina faster while crouching
-It’s a good idea to equip your gun first and then equip your melee, so that should you need to quickly take out your gun without needing to fumble around in your inventory, you can just press Q in order to quickly and easily switch to your previously equipped inventory item, in this case, your gun
-If you want to be able to instantly equip medical items without needing to fumble around in your inventory, you can bind them to certain keys on your keyboard using the developer console, like this for example: bind MOUSE5 “use item_first_aid”
You can replace MOUSE5 with whatever key or button you want to bind it to, and the names for the other medical items are item_bandages, item_pills, and item_gene_therapy
-You cannot be grabbed by kids
-Zombies when set on fire have a chance to become runners, so be aware of that
-A Glock is technically better than a Beretta, since a Glock can hold 2 more bullets in the clip and takes up slightly less inventory space
-The Pickaxe is technically better than the Sledgehammer, since the Pickaxe takes up slightly less inventory space and is slightly faster than the Sledgehammer
-If your melee weapon hits a zombie and a wall/object in the same swing, it will use up extra stamina
-The Fire Axe can actually 1-hit kill runners with a light attack, however you have to be aiming slightly to the left of the zombie in order to do so, even then however it’s still not consistent 100% of the time
-National Guard zombies have a chance of dropping certain items when they’re killed, the possible items that they can drop are 9mm ammo, 5.56 ammo, an empty Beretta, a grenade, or bandages
-When breaking boards, press H in order to holster your current weapon and switch to your fists. Using your fists is the most effective and consistent way of breaking boards and other breakable things in the world, since it uses up very little stamina, and your hits will always register. This tip I would say is one of the things that I almost never see noobs doing, so when I see someone using their fists to break something, I can right away tell that that player is at least somewhat skilled/experienced
-Always play NMRiH with max brightness gamma settings, this helps you to better see in dark areas (which this game has a lot of), and depending on the brightness of your monitor itself combined with the brightest gamma settings, you might not even need a flashlight at all for almost any area
-Zombies can’t grab you if you’re in mid-air, so if you need to slip through a tight space or a tight group of zombies, you can jump as you pass through in order to ensure that you don’t get grabbed, this is a very useful tip
-You should get used to being able to accurately hit headshots on zombies without aiming down sights. 90% of the zombies you will shoot in this game will be from hip fire, since it’s not often that you’ll be able to afford to majorly slow yourself down by aiming down sights, so practice hitting shots from hip fire until you can hit at least 95% of your hip fire shots, this is crucial
Credits/Sources
The various GIFs used in this guide were taken from the following YouTube videos:
The End
Hope you’ve been able to learn some useful things from this guide, if you have any questions about a certain part of a certain map, or if you just have a question about anything in general, feel free to ask in the comments, I will try to answer any questions you guys may have. Also, if you think I forgot to add something or forgot to mention something in this guide, let me know in the comments as well.
Now go and slaughter some zombies