[WIP] Basic/Advanced Tips to Escape Mode

Overview

A short list of things to think about when trying to increase the difficulty in escape mode !

Introduction

Welcome, here is a list a tips you could find useful in the game. I chose to center it on Escape mode as it is my favorite mode, but several of the tips are working for other modes as well.

Easy and normal modes are pretty straight forward, and easily completed. But Hard and Extreme are much much harder, and I might be useful to help you !

You basically needs 2 things to win : Knowledge and Teamwork

Knowledge

Maps

• Know all the maps or the map you are trying to complete, practice in solo or easy/normal mode to get the map in head. If you are lost, you are dead.
• In each map they are several missions, BUT each one of these mission should be known (you can practice a few time before) because the checkpoints order is always the same in a given mission.
• There is always only ONE path to get from a checkpoint to another checkpoint. As soon as you understand that properly, it means everything that stands between 2 checkpoints is space to scavenge.
• Practicing will teach you most of the loot places, get used to look everywhere, one guy could actually have 300 hours on this game and still discover new loot spawns.

Zombies

• There are only 3 kinds of zombies :
  – Basic zombies : The easy ones. They will run straight forward to gut you, just put that bullet in their head and move. They need a few hits to kill you on Hard, and 2 hits to kill you on Xtreme.
  – Riot Cop zombies : The medium ones. Around 1 on 50 zombies. It’s a well protected zombie that will suck all your clips. If you play hard or hard difficulty, killing this guys is a decision to take, because it will cost a lot of ammo, which you usually don’t have, especially on Xtreme.
  – Player Zombies : The hard ones. They are not especially more resistant than basic zombies, but they are faster (the easiest way to recognize them in a horde). Good zombie players will try to come at you erratically and strafe right and left to dodge your bullets. They will try to grip you if there are other zombies nearby. A player zombie needs exactly 5 hits to kill you, remember that. The best way to get rid of them is killing them of course, or being stealthy (melee weapon, do not take the white shirt characters, everything that gives them a very hard time to find you after they spawned somewhere on the map)
• Don’t get touched even once by zombies, they will infect you, it’s random.
• Zombies will aggro you if you are too close, shoot with a gun or sprint. They will aggro you when you get to an objective somehow (especially true when you reach any loot building in Barlow Square)

Weapons and inventory

• Sig, KG9 and MP75 use the same ammo. The 2 long rifles use the same ammo too and the 2 shotguns and the 2 Assault Rifles as well. Your best bet is to choose one weapon usually the best suited depending on your play style or the situation.
• UNLOAD WEAPONS you don’t use. The key is “U” by default. It will unload the clip of the current weapon and throw it away. For example you find a KG9 on the ground. Unload your Sig Sauer by pressing “U” and you will earn 15 more ammo for your KG9 to use (and an inventory space !).
• Sig Sauer (Starting weapon) is a very good weapon and can last you the entire game. Unlike the Colt and the Revolver, its ammo are more common, and all 3 pistols require 1 shot to kill zombies.
• Only use Flashlight when absolutely needed. And if it’s turned on, do not sprint. When you sprint your weapon is looking at the top, and you will look like a walking lighthouse or a holy light beacon. Zombie players won’t miss you on this one.
• Melee weapons are very nice once you get used to them. Aim for the head as well, and be ready to run away if you miss your shot. It saves ammo and even more useful : it is quiet. Having a skilled melee user in the group is a blessing for everyone.
• With Melee weapon, if you are behind a zombie, a new option will appear if you are close enough. When you have it, press your Melee Key and it will instantly kill the zombie with a cool animation.
• Bullets go through bodies. You can kill multiple zombie with only bullet (my record being 7 zombies, a zombie player ordered his crew to go through a tight alley so they were all aligned :D). Beware though, it means that you can also hurt your teammates as well if he is aligned with the zombie.
• The best thing you can find is a medkit. Left Click to use on yourself, Right Click to use medkits on another player. It does NOT cure infection.
• Explosives (Grenade and IED) are always more dangerous for you than for zombies. Consider the use of explosives very carefully. If you cannot find a place to hide safely, you will blow.
• PRESS J. Ok, now press J again. And again ! It drops all the ammo you are not currently using in a gun. Why bother to carry revolver ammo if your mate next to you has a revolver and you don’t have any ?!

User Interface

• On your phone, you can find the distance to next objective at the bottom, it sometimes helps if you are not fully aware of your mission objectives.
• Pressing Tab (by default) gives you the list of players with their inventory, their current life. If their portrait is greyed out, they are dead and you should look behind you. Especially on Escape mode you can even guess where people are depending on the objectives points they have. Each time your phone rings you get 1 point. (it’s more useful for zombie playing who have harder time locating sneaky humans :D)

Teamwork

Hard thing to get to work on in a public game. You usually don’t need it in Hard difficulty but you can’t do Xtreme without it.

• Stick together. If you are far ahead stop for the group and if you are behind move up, look behind you and join the group.
• Voice chat (Key “C” by default) or a third party voice chat software is useful to warn people, check ammo in the group and coordinate that “bunch of newbies getting owned for the 12908th time”
• Spliting is smart but has to be done after careful consideration. Never gone alone. Smart people always check your health and won’t hesitate to kill you if you have lost some life alone, because they don’t want an infected (so a potential 16 zombies army) BEHIND them.
• Nobody will watch your back. Even in an organized group always check your back and flanks. You have to have a 360° vision else you will die. There are 2 reasons for this :
  – Bad reason : Your mates are lazy, don’t know a zombie on your back, are infected…
  – Good reason : It’s much harder to kill a zombie with a tangent direction than a zombie going straight in your direction, because the hitbox for the head does not move when zombies go into your direction. I always shoot zombies I aggroed, and I rarely shoot the zombie someone else aggroed, unless I’m next to the guy who aggroed them, else I would waste ammo.
• Set up traps with your mates. One takes the aggro and run, and the melee user can go behind the zombies and kill them in one shot. Or one takes the aggro to group the zombies, and you throw a grenade while your mate runs.
• PRESS J (see above). If you are very coordinated you can have one player with a revolver and one player with a colt as long as you can sustain them with the ammo.
• If you have a medkits, check the score list to see who is low on life and needs it more than you.
• Sprinting is overrated. Learn to walk. If you always walk, you will always have the stamina to run when needed and it will help you sticking with the group.
• If you are comfortable with a map or a path in a specific map, you cant try to lead the group. Take a character easy to recognize (Girl or Black Guy, no racism involved :o) ) so that your teammate can follow you easily. As stated before, all the space between 2 check points is loot space. So it’s not hard to know and order when to move forward, when to scavenge, when to clear a specific place and when to defend an objective.

Closing words

Play smart, do not be selfish, knowledge is power !

This game has a lot of fun, badass actions, fails involved and you can do beautiful things if you play well !

I hope these very few tips helped, and maybe see you in the game. Of course any suggestion is welcome to try getting new player getting better ! And sorry for the bad English.

Regards,

PinkPingPenguin