Community Zombie Infection strategy

Atoll

This article is about Community Zombie Infection strategy.

General strategy

Humans

• Prioritise shooting Medic Zombies, their healing can undo a lot of the damage done and heals incredibly fast.
• The main objective for Humans is to survive, remember to prioritise surviving over killing Zombies.
• Be wary of staying close to each other, although it is important to stay near your teammates, being too close may be ideal for a Demoman Zombie to charge into you and your teammates.

Zombies

• Try to prioritise killing lone Humans, as they are much more vulnerable than a group of people.
• Work together effectively and maintain close proximity to your fellow Zombies. Coordination and teamwork are crucial for overwhelming and isolating Humans. However, avoid being clumped up together as explosive classes can take easy advantage of this.

Class-specific strategy

Humans

 Scout

• Due to Scout's mobility and unlocks, Scout can easily fullfil different roles, from an aggressive damage-oriented class to a more support-oriented playstyle.
• The Baby Face's Blaster gives you much more speed, but reduces your vertical mobility. With a max speed boost, you are the same speed as a Scout Zombie, allowing you to keep your distance much easier.
• The Bonk! Atomic Punch can save yourself from a tricky situation, but it can also be used as a distraction for your teammates or to block the Zombies from reaching them. Be careful of the movement speed penalty after using it, however.
• The Force-A-Nature's knockback can help keep dangerous Zombies at bay, as well as potentially save a teammate by knocking the Zombie back when they're about to hit your teammates.
• On more open maps, the Shortstop is an excellent choice, allowing you to keep your distance while still being lethal.
• The ability of the Candy Cane to cause a small health pack to drop stacks with the small health pack already dropped by all the Zombies (except for the Pyro Zombie), resulting in 2 small health packs. Zombies are unable to heal themselves using these health packs, which means that all the health drops can benefit your team. Additionally, the only source of explosive damage is the Demoman Zombie's ability, which you can easily avoid as Scout.
  • This can be particularly useful against Pyro Zombies, because they don't drop a health pack by default. The health pack can partially negate the fiery explosion when a Pyro Zombie dies.
• The Pretty Boy's Pocket Pistol's up to +3 health on hit is very useful for keeping you alive while simultaneously still having a consistent damage output.

 Soldier

• Engineer Zombies cannot build any buildings making the Cow Mangler 5000 an excellent choice of primary. The downside of less building damage does not come into play while still keeping the infinite reserve ammo. Be sure to check which Medi Gun your Medic is running, the Kritzkrieg's Critical Hits from the ÜberCharge turn into Mini-Crits instead!
• The Beggar's Bazooka can be a good choice of primary, it allows for a consistent stream of rockets. Note that every shot needs to be loaded first, making it more important to be aware of where the Zombies are.
• The Reserve Shooter can be very effective against pouncing Soldier Zombies.
• The Concheror can be a good supportive secondary, as the passive regeneration along with the healing when it's activated makes you hard to kill. Compared to the other banners, the Concheror requires less damage to be fully charged, allowing for more banners to be deployed. The healing can be of great use to slow classes that are prone to being targeted such as the Heavy or Soldier.
  • The Beggar's Bazooka and Cow Mangler are both good rocket launchers to use with the Concheror, due to the Beggar's supplying a consistent stream of healing through its constant stream of rockets, and the Cow Mangler's infinite reserve ammo.
• The Battalion's Backup is incredibly useful for helping keep your team alive during those high adrenaline moments when you are defending against a horde of Zombies, due to it greatly dampening the damage of the Zombie's attacks.
  • Additionally, it allows every class in the game to survive a single punch from a Heavy Zombie, reducing its damage to a measly 93 damage.
• Due to the lack of objective outside of killing, the Pain Train is essentially reduced to a Stock melee reskin.
• The Disciplinary Action is extremely helpful for support, allowing you and your teammates to outrun the Zombies with the speed boost it provides. It also has an incredibly increased melee range, which can help to edge out fights you otherwise would have lost. It is however not recommended to engage in melee combat with the Disciplinary Action, due to the reduced damage.
• The Buff Banner can be helpful in the early game, however it is rendered useless when 3 or less Humans are left and against Heavy Zombies. The damage boost is still helpful in instantly killing or heavily crippling most Zombies, in addition to the non-existent damage falloff. Equip it if your team absolutely needs that damage boost, or if other Soldiers on your team are running the other Banners.
• The Gunboats can be extremely useful for quick escapes due to the immense damage reduction they provide for rocket jumps, allowing you to possibly run away long enough to win the round for your team. However, the support the Banners provide are extremely helpful your entire team, so consider this if your team is inexperienced.

 Pyro

• The Dragon's Fury's 300% damage to burning players can be useful for taking down large groups of Zombies or Zombies with high health.
• The Reserve Shooter can be very effective against pouncing Soldier Zombies. Pyro Zombies are immune to flames, making a bullet-based secondary an ideal choice.
• Because every Zombie (except Pyro Zombies) drop small health packs, the Back Scratcher's 50% extra health when picking up health packs is particularly helpful. It also allows you to survive better on your own.

 Demoman

• Consider equipping the Ali Baba's Wee Booties or Bootlegger as they provide more health, although beware that it leaves you with only your secondary!
• The Quickiebomb Launcher is a good choice, because the infinite Zombie hordes will quickly chew through your secondary ammo and will likely not leave you enough time to set up traps, which makes the Quickiebomb Launcher's more stickyspam-oriented playstyle a good option.
• Due to the lack of objective outside of killing, the Pain Train is essentially reduced to a Stock melee reskin.
• The forced melee combat makes Demoknight a good option, allowing you constant health regeneration with the Half-Zatoichi or giving you a large health and speed bonus with the Eyelander.
  • The Tide Turner makes a good escape tool, the resistances don't really come into play, while the increased turning control gives you extra control over your escape route.
  • The Splendid Screen's increased recharge means you can charge more often, with every impact hit guaranteeing a critical hit from your melee weapon, it can be a good choice for an offensive playstyle as well as providing an escape tool quite regularly.

 Heavy

• Consider using yourself as a human shield for your fellow survivors if you have full health and have a healing source nearby, as you can tank multiple hits from Zombies. As a result, you make it easier for your teammates to dispatch the Zombies, as they will have their attention directed at you.
• Natascha's ability to slow down enemies can be very useful to keep Zombies at bay, especially since they respawn endlessly. The slowdown has no range limit, meaning you can assist your teammates in escaping Zombies too.
• The Dalokohs Bar assists in prolonging your survival by providing you with extra health, thus enabling you to stay alive for a longer duration. However, be wary of the time it takes to consume it, make sure you have your team or a Sentry Gun protecting you if you cannot find a safe spot to eat.
• The Natascha and Brass Beast's 20% damage resistance when below 50% health and spun up is very useful, making you able to survive more hits from the Heavy Zombie if actively healed by a level 3 Dispenser and Medic, overhealed, and under the effects of the Dalokohs Bar at the same time, taking a total of 5 hits to kill you.
• Due to its faster recharge, the Second Banana can be useful once your Medic dies. It heals 100 health less than the Sandvich, but recharges in only a third of the time.
• The Gloves of Running Urgently can serve as a last-resort option for making a quick getaway when you've run out of ammo.
• Zombies are mostly locked to melee combat, consider using the Warrior's Spirit or the Killing Gloves of Boxing due to the ability to heal on kill or get crits on kill respectively.
• Avoid the Fists of Steel, Zombies don't deal any of the damage you are resistant to, only the ones you are weak to.
  • It does however allow your Medic to gain ÜberCharge at a heavily increased rate.

 Engineer

• Dispensers are absolutely necessary simply for the sake of ammo, due to ammo packs being scarce in this gamemode. Build one as soon as possible to ensure your team can keep the pressure up on Zombies.
• Sentry Guns are great as a knockback tool, helping keep Soldier Zombies at bay, and mowing down every other Zombie except for the Heavy. They are the bulk of your defense, so ensure that you construct a level 3 Sentry as soon as you finish building your Dispenser.
• Teleporters generally aren't as useful in this gamemode due to Humans never respawning as humans, however they can serve as a good getaway tool for you if things get too hectic.
• The Eureka Effect can be good for quick getaways using a hidden teleporter, however the utility you provide with your Dispensers and Sentry Guns are generally more useful. Only consider this Wrench if you are playing a more lonely playstyle with Engineer.
• The Rescue Ranger excels at defense, as the healing bolts allow you to quickly save your sentry from death from a safe range. Additionally, if a horde of Zombies swarm your Sentry Gun, you can teleport it to safety, and plop it down somewhere more oppressive.
• The Jag is especially useful for quickly setting up an Engineer nest, due to the greatly improved build rate boost and increased attack speed. However, it is ineffective for self defense, so ensure your team protects you and your building.
• The Wrangler is extremely effective for denying damage from all Zombies, save for the Heavy and Demoman Zombies. Use it in situations when your Sentry Gun is being swarmed, then use the Rescue Ranger to quickly bring it back to a safe position.
• Avoid using the Southern Hospitality due to its fire vulnerability, which extends to the Sniper Zombie's acid ball.

 Medic

• The Amputator's ability to apply a healing effect to all nearby teammates is useful for keeping your entire team alive at the same time, especially if there are no Dispensers.
• It is a bad idea to use the Vaccinator, it lacks a resistance against melee damage and it only reduces the explosive damage from a Demoman Zombie charge or the fire damage done by a Pyro Zombie's death and the Sniper Zombie's acid ball. Additionally, it builds Overheal slower.
• Due to a lack of respawn, the Vita-Saw does not provide any benefits, only downsides.

 Sniper

• The Machina's +15% damage on full charge is useful to take down the Heavy Zombie.
• The Cozy Camper's health regeneration can assist you in surviving for longer periods of time, which is particularly useful in this game mode, or surviving on your own.
• The Darwin's Danger Shield's fire resistance also applies to the Sniper Zombie's acid ball, however the afterburn immunity does not.
• The Bushwacka's ability to crit whenever it would normally mini-crit also applies to the mini-crits all surviving Humans deal when there are 3 Humans left, which could help you edge out a win.

 Spy

• The Enforcer's ability to pierce damage resistances is helpful against Heavy Zombies.
• The Spy-cicle's afterburn resistance also applies to the Sniper Zombie's acid ball. Keep in mind this also means it will melt if you touch the acid pool.
• The Cloak and Dagger's infinite cloak duration can help you hide from the Zombies for prolonged periods of time, however you should remain mindful of the Zombie Spy's ability to reveal you.
• Beware that you cannot hide forever. When there are only 3 Humans remaining, the Mini-Crit particles will reveal you.

Zombies

Scout

• Use your triple jump to get to high ground and to make yourself harder to hit.

Soldier

• When using your ability, try to jump at the same time. This will greatly increase the height gained and will allow you to deal more stomp damage or get to higher places.

Pyro

• Although you cannot set them on fire and deal less damage, if a Human Pyro has a flare gun equipped they will be unable to deal significant damage to you, making them an easy target.

Demoman

• You can start your ability in mid-air and you won't lose your momentum. Use this as a way to surprise Humans, especially in the top of vertical-oriented maps, like Devastation.

Heavy

• With your Tank ability, you excel at taking down Sentry Guns and blocking damage for your teammates.

Engineer

• If you realise that you are about to get killed by a Human, waste your EMP ability anywhere (if possible, try aiming on a Sentry nest, or any standalone building), to avoid an ammo pack from spawning and potentially giving an extra advantage to the enemy team.

Medic

• Your ability makes you temporarily invincible, but still allows you to attack, use this to your advantage. Remember that your ability also heals those around you.

Sniper

• You can use your spit ability to deny Humans from walking in an area, rather than damaging them, possibly forcing them into an unfavourable situation.

Spy

• Use your Cloak ability to reveal key targets to your teammates. Additionally, your stealth makes you a perfect single-target assassin, as you can gain the upper hand in combat by attacking first from an angle they may not expect.
• If you are about to die and haven't used your ability yet, make sure to use it. It's better for your teammates to have some information where Humans are than to have none.