If you’re a trophy/achievement hunter, then you know going in you’re eventually going to need to overcome hard and 20 waves of hoard mode in Zombie Army 4: Dead War. While it is inevitable, it can still be an intimidating thing, especially in a game that is all about overwhelming and causing problems for players. Thankfully, there are some tricks that vastly decrease the difficulty of Zombie Army 4: Dead War.
Feel Free to Start Later
Since progress, weapons, gears and abilities unlock as you progress, don’t feel like you need to start by doing hard. Even returning to it after level like 25 is enough to have a massive advantage and reduce some stress.
Sometimes it Legitimately is Easier Solo
While I did my first run on hard solo, something I don’t advise but you can also do, it’s one of the few times where it is legitimately easier to play by yourself. The one advantage you have to playing with others is revives, another target and the ability to scale the difficulty to one player instead of up to four, but this mode also includes friendly fire. A lot of random players will not realize this and unknowingly kill or at least damage you, making it harder to come out ahead.
Build Smart and Defensively
Many players make the rookie mistake of thinking more bullets or explosions are going to make or break your run, but often times it’s your defense, not offense, that is lacking. For this reason some of the best skills include Takedown Frequency, Second Chance, Hardened, Enhanced Vigor and Combo Extension.
The idea here is, most damage will honestly come from melee attacks and you’ll most likely spend a lot of time on hard at low health, which makes it easier to stay alive with minimal health. From there, takendowns are the most effective ways to kill heavies (when they take a knee you can kill them instantly with it) and also heals you a small amount. Combo extension, while good for score, also makes it easier to maintain the streak required to do takedowns. By abusing these tactics you can actually overcome most challenges.
Kill Orders are Extremely Important
More often than not I didn’t die to a low tier enemy. It was either a heavy (butcher, gunner, flamer), officer, sniper or screamer. The only real exception were suicider for obvious reasons. Whenever I saw one of these enemies, I would drop everything and attempt to dispatch them as quickly as possible. Even if I had to rush enemies to get a takedown, I would take that chance and most times I would honestly come out alive. It’s when you ignore them for too long or lose track of them that you get shot in the back, overwhelmed or something equally grim.
Don’t Worry About Officers Reviving
What makes officers unique is, unless they’re killed a certain way, they will keep reviving and causing trouble. For this reason some people spend a lot of time trying to shoot their critical spot and kill them once and for all. If you can, that is a wonderful tactic, but sometimes it’s easier to just keep killing them. A downed officer simply can’t use their powers against you, so if you can down one, finish some enemies, down him again, kill some more and then finally kill it, that might be a better tactic than allowing enemies to get close trying to get a critical hit in.
And if you’re having trouble finishing them off, a takedown is an instant kill. Another useful trick is, while they’re down, you can also shoot their critical spot and/or stomp them to death.
Whenever Possible, Get a Headshot
What makes headshots extremely important isn’t the increased damage or extra points per se, it’s that a headless zombie can’t revive. Not only can revived zombies throw you off by appearing behind or near you, they’re great at wasting all your bullets.
Never Use a Medkit Unless You Can Immediately Replace it
At the time of writing I have killed just under 20,000 zombies in Zombie Army 4: Dead War and I can legitimately tell you there was no situation where healing was the right call. The issue is actually pretty simple.
Since medkits can self-revive, they’re a great way to make a last stand and/or do something reckless. Not only that, healing via a medkit gives you something stupid like 50 percent of your health anyway, so it’s always better to use it to gamble or in case of an emergency than healing anyway. But, if you’re worried about dying, certain weapons heal on critical hits, the hammer can be used to gain plenty of health and takedowns give some too. If you play to survive, you’ll be surprised how long you can last.
Know Where Ammo Is
Regardless of how good of a shot you are, often times you’ll run out of ammo and need to resupply. This is especially true in hoard mode. One of the quickest ways to come out of that situation alive is to know where ammo is and make a plan to get it. Even if you’re not down to your pistol, when you know it will be an easy, wait for an opportunity and take advantage of whatever you need to.
Don’t Bother With Traps
Sadly, Zombie Army 4: Dead War, like a lot of games, has neat things in there for the sake of having them. Things like mines, lightning traps and honestly grenades in general have value, though often times not a lot. Many times you won’t get enough power to justify the time it took to set up or bother with the trap, making it less practical in the long run. This isn’t to say you’re a fool for using them, just that they likely won’t make or break your run.
Use Suiciders to your Advantage
What makes Suiciders so tricky is they explode near you, but it isn’t instant and often times causes a problem. I found one of the best ways to deal with one that gets too close is to rush it so it explodes and get out of the way. Not only does this limit or in many cases prevent damage, it makes them as a whole a lot easier to deal with.
While all these tips won’t make you a perfect player they can help you overcome a lot of the challenges in Zombie Army 4: Dead War and likely get all the trophy/achievements.