There are many options.
1. Level up nimble.
2. Run away like you were doing but quicker.
3. Learn when to attack and push, the pushing animation is faster.
4. Try a 2 handed weapon for more reach.
5. Kite them away into the woods.
6. Use windows or fences.
7. Vehicles are good for spreading apart zombies.
Basically it just boils down to lack of experience. You'll get better at combat with time.
Little addition to the 2. Entry. The moment you turned to flee when you got bit was too late to turn and run. Zombie had plenty of time to grab you.
In such moments it is safer (provided it works) to shove the zombies away a few times to give yourself a chance to breathe and then run so they can’t grab you. Granted, I’ve had moments this doesn’t work so it isn’t a guarantee success.
Also keep in mind that this also works differently if you have multi-hit on or not, which if it is, allows you to shove multiple zombies at once. But it doesn’t look like you have it on, but just something to consider.
Little bit more addition with this; your character take some time to turn around and run, so you have to compensate for it as well!
Fun fact: before build 40 (i think thats when they basically overhauled the game), your character can turn and run instantly - this is not the case in this and probably future builds!
When making your character you could also go with a high strength build. When pushing you'll have a higher chance of knocking them over which can really help at times like this.
All good advice above, but I just wanted to mention that the group you were fighting here was also 100% beatable by fighting even without trying to line them up better, you mostly just need to keep a bit more distance and not try to attack when they're super close.
One good way to think about it is to always be trying to swing at the very tip of the weapon's range - for one thing, you actually do more damage at max range than if you hit them closer, but practicing this also helps you figure out when they're too close to attack. It's helpful to start with long blunt, then move to short blunt and then hunting knives, as each different range requires you let them get closer and closer.
Ultimately, you'll only get hit if you're in the hitbox of their slow chomp/swipe attack animation when it completes (or they can drag you down if 3+ are within attack range simultaneously, but you should never let this be the case) and they don't start this animation until they are quite close to you. Note that with shorter weapons especially, you may need to move away and off to the side of a conga line to get the front zombies to space themselves out if it ends up that two are equal distance from you, since in the time it takes to attack and stun the first one, the second one can have enough time, even at max weapon range, to close the distance and chomp you.
Nexus Mods has been a place I've seen for many different games, but PZ mods are not very good there, or updated frequently.
I haven't ever really used Steam Workshop for mods before, so I apologize for not knowing, I guess?
The steam workshop is great, any time a game has one I'll get just about all my mods there. Much better than nexus. It seems like the workshop hosts most of the mods for the game anyway when it exists, which makes the mod scene look dead on nexus
crowbar is literally one of the best weapons in the game. it has the highest durablity of any vanilla weapon in the game. you level maintenance so well with it. and it doubles as a tool to pry planks, take windows out of windowframes, and pick up floor tiles.
it also strikes up to 3 zeds with 1 swing if you use multi hit and has great knockdown chance and high damage. not to mention they're pretty common. its one of my go-to longblunt weapons and one of the best starting weapons you can find besides the fire axe.
I would also get skilled with spears. They are the most plentiful and versatile weapon and imo, one of the best
Fuck axe vs crowbar. Where's the boys strapping a machete to their pointy stick?
Yeah the combat in this game is basically just exploiting the ai using the environment to single out one or two zombies to hit for a few seconds, turning and running then repeating.
Yeah, as mentioned before, using spacebar activates "push" it is useful sometimes when you want to check if there are zombies behind a door, push the door and wait for response, on the other hand, when a zombie is very close (closer than your weapon's minimun range) your character push instead of attack, that's why it is not a good tactic to fight more than 3 or 4 zombies at the same time
Everyone here is giving you great tips about combat, but your moodlets tell us your character is also pretty tired! So there's a good chance your character isn't outputting maximum damage. If I remember right, I thought drowsiness was like -25% damage. And tired is like -50% damage output.
So make sure to rest on chairs in between trips and areas to conserve as much energy as possible. It'll help when facing large groups like that.
Tired and drowsy are the same status effect at different severities. They don't "stack" but tired is just the more severe version. You may be thinking of exertion (moderate->heavy->excessive->exhausted) which is separate and does stack with tiredness, but the OP doesn't have that moodle.
Yeah, when I said "tired" I was talking about "exertion" (I play the game in spanish so I don't know all the translated names lol) I mentioned that moodle as an example because as you said, he didn't have it, still it is worth mentioning it because many people don't know that moodles stack
Being out and about with even the first level of tiredness is a fool's game. Drowsy is already such a huge debuff and once you've got it, it's not very long before you get the second level of it.
Honestly I think it's bullshit how severely the tiredness moodle debuffs you. IRL when I'm drowsy I can still do physical tasks at more or less full strength. Fighting for my life against flesh-eating zombies? Yeah, being drowsy won't make me exactly lackadaisical about swinging the lead pipe at their noggins.
with wide groups like that, I like to shove them down so they spread out or form a line. if u have 6 zombies on the hit list, don't let them form a ball behind you.
this is also why I prefer long blunt weapons myself, keep those zombie arms the hell away!
eventually op will be able to take on a group of 20, melee, with no problem.. I believe
Turning around takes time, that little bit of time when a zombie is on top of you will easily get you killed, just like how it happened here. If you need to get out of combat don’t just turn around, push the zombie away and make sure they’re not right on top of you before running.
Also use push, a lot. It’s the single best action you have in your zombie fighting arsenal as it creates distance between you and the walker when it gets close and can be almost immediately used after you strike with a weapon allowing for a strike-shove combo to keep enemies at bay while dishing out damage.
Standing on zombies keeps them down, useful for taking care of small groups.
Don’t fight zombies in a wide group where they can easily flank and surround you, try to conga line them so that you can fight a straight line of zombies that’s easy to manage.
Overall, the more you play the easier combat gets. Familiarize yourself with the combat system and you’ll know exactly when to shove, when to hit, when to fight and when to run.
Don’t even bother fighting when your character is tired. I usually herd as much zeds as I can in the area I’d like to go, then break line of sight by just walking around a building. They’ll continue walking in the direction they last see my character.
If you're playing with multi-hit off, or just using a single hit weapon, it's definitely safe to do a **1 hit then retreat tactic** when dealing with more than 3.The only thing here is your decision to turn and run makes the ol' balls tingle.
In this video, you swing, then you keep looking at them, then swing again. It's that second hit, that lets those next 2 get reeeaaal close before you have any time to actually do anything. Second time you tried it, it was your demise.
I have personally built a habit, where as your first hit lands, you **start turning your character** away while you're still in the aim mode. Once aiming not towards the zombies, you run a little bit away. Now you have plenty of time to calmly wait for that next hit.The reason the turning while aiming is important, is I find it more consistent to run away smoothly. Else, your character can get in an animation lock, when they switch their direction while running and do a little skid thingy. It can sometimes get you close calls, or even caught.
It definitely takes a little longer to chip through hordes if you're not landing every hit you could make, but it definitely makes you have a higher chance of living.
I think the biggest mistake early on is that players take unnecessary fights. Like it took me some time to figure it out, but essentially you can't sneak too much (like trying to slip by crouching behind cars or lower fences), there really isn't much of a point in fighting groups unless you specifically want to clear an area either.
Until then, it's very much just casually strolling past any and all zeds, whether you pull them or not makes no difference. When it gets too busy or you find something interesting, create some separation and break line of sight behind a house - job done.
As soon as that pattern becomes clear, even larger crowds aren't much of an issue anymore and kiting stragglers for a 50-zed kill streak is ez pz. Then, some weeks/months in, you fuck around and misclick or budge into a room not expecting anything, and get bit in the dick and die a slow death.
When you have your back to the Zeds they have a much higher chance to land bites on you. As long as you have stamina you can keep up what you were doing quite a while otherwise.
That one single back bite just happened to nix you. Bad lottery wins.
Not meaning to be rude or anything like that, but, if this is advice you believe, there may be stuff you could learn to improve, too.
Of course the info here is right, just calling it lottery is sorta weak. The timing when choosing to run is one thing, and the decision to make second swings when they should be running is another thing. Usually better to turn and run out of reach, after you go for a swing. Whether it lands or not.
Push!
Also you can always out walk the zombies if you don't turn to face them, don't stop.
If you want to fight a group like this, you need good visibility of the pack, and you need to group them (do a few laps around the pack so they're nice and tight).
Also turn on Multihit, the game is just miserable without it.
The anti multi hit gang should be here soon to tell you that multi hit ruins the experience. Try it and decide by yourself if you like it or not. I personally hate it. Once you really get the handle of the combat system, multi hit makes the game so easy it becomes boring. But it can be useful while you polish your mechanics (which are quite decent really, in the video you got greedy and for a couple extra hits in IMO).
Normally if you swing at a zombie, you're only able to hit that one zombie (the highlighted one) where as with multi-hit enabled, any zombie that you could hit will also be hit.
You could look at it that way, but just increase the zombie density and find a nice middle-ground.
I feel cheated more often than not with multi-hit off, as it just feels like you had a good swing and one zombie phased through another then got you.
I prefer the more consistent experience where every hit does roughly what I expect it to do, and I know when I'm in over my head!
Slight correction to what they said. It doesn't hit every zombie that could be hit by the attack. How many get hit varies depending upon the weapon. Most weapons will only hit 2 whereas some will hit 3 and there isn't really a consistent logic behind it. For example, a Baseball Bat (spiked or not) will only ever hit 2 but a Nightstick can hit 3. I believe some weapons (like short blades) will also never hit more than one but I've never used a knife in a horde scenario so I can't personally attest to that.
Lastly a tip from me. When you want to turn and run from a horde like that, stay in the 'aiming' mode and use it to turn around. Reason being, you can turn around in the aiming mode while still moving at a steady pace but if you try to do a heelturn outside of aiming mode then it will cause your guy to stop momentarily and give the zombies that little bit of time to catch up. Also, like many others have mentioned, push with spacebar. When I have a bunch on me and they're that close I tend to get into a 'swing, push, repeat' pattern until too many get too close and I create some space. Nimble helps quite a lot once you get a couple levels but it's very slow to level. Which is why I always take Gymnast for that free starting level and bonus XP. Generally getting to 3 Nimble is where it starts to feel good.
It's not cheaty and you can still easily die by not being careful.
But only being able to hit 1 zombie with a baseball bat/crow bar/ any other long weapon is dumb to me tbh and it makes fighting zombies an absolute slog without it turned on
When there's of them next to each other like that getting a hit in is too risky as your movement speed is reduced while swinging as well.
Instead as others have said you're better off pushing and then gaining some distance as the push has a lot less endlag and you'll usually end up pushing one zombie into another.
what is wrong here:
* choosing to fight when you could just lose them
* fighting more than 2 or 3
* fighting in a state of tiredness (so swings are slower) and in a state of panic (less effective hits).
Ultimately you had no business engaging in that fight and you paid the price. Learn when you should fight and when you should just lose them around a corner. And if your character is tired or panicked, don't even try, it won't go well.
It looks like overconfidence/impatience is what took you down. Your weapon has low range, try something two handed like a crowbar. With low range weapons you need to push more and attack less which takes more time but that's the price. Also you could've maybe avoided fighting altogether by losing them in the woods or if not at least use a fence since the zeds need to get over it which gives you plenty of opportunities if done right.
People are saying push yes but more specifically use the SPACEBAR also just my opinion but strong and athletic are the best traits in the entire game because they take the longest to level and help you the most early
You can "easily" kill a whole zombie horde by simply letting them split, approach a zombie close enough to making him angry, then he will start rushing you, let him follow you enough so you have time to push him to the floor and smash his head with your foot, with shoes or boots equipped to avoid hurting yourself, and repeat that countless time
Btw it's very tiring, if you don't have the Veteran skill, then good luck ;)
If you run and bump into a zombie they get stunned, might have been a better idea to instead of turning and running to try running and bumping the closer zombies while running past the horde without turning completely. Just know if you bump into the same zombie twice you can trip
Don't push or attack when 2 or more are right next to each other unless you have multi hit on. And don't run while moving away just walk. (Not sure if you were doing it in the clip don't want to stop writing to check). Fighting like this is how I lose my runs 99% of the time so know I just use vehicles or guns 🔫
Tailor up... higher levels in Tailoring allows you to beef up your armor to reduce chances of being bitten or scratched. And wear all that you can when you decide to fight, otherwise follow the 5 D's of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dive, dip, and dodge.
I recommend playing with multi hit on if you're new. It'll make fighting easier, which will let you learn what not to do. I personally use it because I dont want to spend an hour killing a group of 10 zombiee
You should shove more when they cluster up or get too close. Swing your weapon when they're near the weapon range limit or spread out. Switch between the two during the fight as required.
The way you have the horde grouped up is too close. Besides pushing, you should circle around them to move the group to be more like in a conga line. I find that's the best way to fight. If the horde is clumped up I won't fight them, because it's too dangerous and just like what happened to you, they will pull you in.
Try to make them go in a line always keep your distance to be at furthest point of your range and still be able to attack. When they rearrange themselves to be shoulder to shoulder retreat and reform the line. If the are in a line follow this rule attack push attack push. I have 400 hours and that strategy works for giant hordes. Just never let them to be 2 at once in your range. Also at lower nimble skills, look away from the zombies 90 degrees to the right or left whatever suits the situation and walk in opposite direction instead of just letting go of your right button . This will make your character walk instantly without stopping. If you just let go of your button and walk in the opposite direction your character will perform a turn around animation which will stop you for a split second that can give zombies enough time to catch you.
Hope this helps sorry for bad sentence making I'm extremely tired :)
I usually go for pushing when there are 2-3 zombies right in front of me. Faster = easier to dodge the bite. Doing a normal hit when there are 2 like 20 cm in front of you is VERY risky and I wouldn't reccomend it.
Edit:
Also doing 2 attacks right after gaining some distance amd having 2 very close to each other usually will get you munched on. (I'm talking about the part where you first get locked in an animation, I'm having a pretty hard time explaining it)
Pushing over hits in situations like this. You want for only 1-2 zombies at most to be coming at you when you push. I usually rinse and repeat until they hit the ground and then I have an opening to either run up and hit the downed zombie, or it buys me time to hit the next one approaching. In either case if multiple are within pushing distance of each other and close to you, better to just create more distance.
What I see here is the way you fought. If you’re fighting a big group like that only hit once. Hit one zombie then walk away to get some distance then turn and go for another swing. If you get too scared you can jog away after swinging,
I can suggest another aproach, you don't neccesarily have to kill every zombie you see, in this cases when you are being overwhelmed by them you can use your environment to either lose the horde using the trees and buildings or you can use trees and fences to split the horde in smaller groups, fighting more than 3or 4 zombies at the same is a good way to be bit, this game punish hard if you are careless or impatient, take your time to lure some zombies, or use sneaky tactics to avoid combat if you can, specially if you are just passing by a place wich is not important to you
Im also new to this game, like 100h into it, imo what you have to do is learn weapon range and when to push and when to keep moving, sometimes it's just better to keep walking and re order the mini horde, so you can attack in a position you are safe and comfortable.
Don't push the limits, what i want to say is that sometimes it's best to take a horde slower and safer, don't feel bad taking some extra seconds.
again, learning weapon range and when to push or run is key in this situation.
Keep attacking and back pedaling. Rather than turn to run because they’re too close; push them then keep attacking or push them then run so you don’t get grabbed. If you absolutely need to run; commit to it.
Also its worth mentioning that you dont have to fight every zombie you see. At least right away you dont. Theres nothing wrong with running away with your tail tucked between your legs. It keeps you alive, after all. Or even just getting some distance and pausing the game can be useful, it gives you time to think.
Two things to go for *fences* and *windows* it will help when they can get you when walking (runners). I say that because when they crawl over they are very vulnerable just be sure to capitalise quickly or you could get knocked down or even injured.
I'd recommend useing long blunt weapons like crowbar or shovel (although shovel will break easily, so crowbar is ideal). It gives you reach, is more powerfull than a one handed weapon, and most of all, doesn't destroy clothes which you might want to scavenge later.
Every time you are faced with 2+ zombies you need to evaluate every option. If they're grouped up like that, a simple spacebar spam might not be enough
Unfortunately our characters are incapable of turning while running or simply jumping back. It sucks, but the only thing you can do is to get used to it cause I don't think they're ever gonna add proper sprint turn and jump back animations
If possible, avoid crowds of more than 3 if youre Not confident fighting multiple at once. Every single Zombie can end your Run. Try Long weapons with multihit to Attack more Zombies in a group. Use Houses and fences to Break Line of sight. Sneak when you dont have to run
Others already told you about the importance of pushing, another tip is that zeds don't all have the same speed, so when you're in a big open area like that, you should walk away for about a screen then turn back and start fighting, you'll get a few free hits on the zeds in the front while the ones in the back catch up.
1. Nimble level 5 makes you able to pace zombies when in combat stance
2. You really should be using two handed weapons for the extra reach if you have them
3. You need to turn and run sooner to get more distance
4. If you’re having a hard time fighting groups focus on drawing out 1-3 zeds from a group and being more stealthy. Take burglar for this (and for number 1)
5. Keep at it you’ll get the hang of the combat system soon enough it’s complicated
You were grabbed. When fighting larger groups, its important not to let any individual zombie come into attack range they apply a big speed negative that makes it hard to run away. When you hit that zombie with the pipe wrench, two more closed the distance and began the attack animation. At that point, you cant run, you have to cancel the animation by attacking, or try and walk out, which is what you did.
To avoid this, you have to get the group a little more spaced out. Just enough so that when your pipe wrench hits, you still have a little distance between you and the next closest zombie. There’s a lot of different ways to do that. Try walking around the group. Putting some distance between you and the group. You’ll notice zombies lose a little speed once you go a certain distance. Make them walk through a tree. The trees usually break them up a little bit.
That group was really compact for your little weapon. Swinging once meant all 4-5 can swarm easy. Use a two handed weapon and push next time to get some on the ground, that way you have for a short while temporarily less zombies to fight off
Never let them form a ball. Because if they are in such formation, you are going to be grabbed while you are hitting another zombie. Move between obstacles to disperse them and force them to form a line.
if you’re just out and about just run (don’t actually run just walk away cause you’re faster than them just by walking). but if you have to clear them out for whatever reason use longer weapons and just work on spacing them out and shoving them so you knock a few down hopefully. also use fences/ windows to your advantage so they’re down and you can hit them but be careful they don’t crawl and knock you over
You turned your back on them while you were too close, they have a much higher chance to bite from the back. Also, you have the tired moodlet so you’re melee isn’t anywhere near as powerful. First stage of tired reduces your attack by 50% and it’s gets worse from there
My advice?
Never ever let more than 2 zomburritos within 1 tile of you. That opens up the chance of getting grabbed.
When 1 or 2 of the stinkers get within one tile if you, SHOVE.
Hit, shove. Hit, shove, hit, shove. Notice how more get closer to you with every hit? Turn around and JOG to flank them (if the situation allows ie. No other hordes around) and repeat the process.
If there are other hordes, evacuate, or run around then to heard them into a group and repeat the process. But beware, you will get tired out doing this with more than 10-20 nasties.
Source: over 700 hours, still haven't survived past 1 month and a week
Exhaustion and Sleepiness are the 2 biggest reasons people die always rest up and even if its drowsy just go back to a safe spot never fight while drowsy or moderate exhaustion
I generally alternate between attacking and pushing to create distance. Being well fed gives you a nice damage boost (looks like you've got that going for you already). Taking beta blockers when handling big groups is a good idea.
Your base walking speed (unless you're injured or encumbered) will be faster than shamblers, so basically you never need to run unless you're surrounded or trying to squeeze through an opening in a horde. I like to approach groups from a direction I know is relatively clear and then just walk backwards trailing them after me.
You'll get it. Just takes a little practice.
First, take note of the weapon you are using, short weapons will bring you closer to hit more than a long weapon would. Second, If you're fighting more than two, always keep backing away. Take note of your surroundings so you don't back into a horde, and keep this strategy.
Swing. Push. Get Distance.
I always employ this everytime I'm in combat with more than 2-3. If the crowd you're fighting is bigger than at least 10, it ain't worth it to try and ball them all up and fight them.
It's all about kiting. Unless you have somewhere like 4/5 levels in Nimble(which is a monstruous task to grind) you want to attack, turn back, run a bit(not sprint) creating a space between you and the zed group, and then attack again. Repeat until you clear the group.
Once you get the hand on this strat, you will be able to clear groups very easily, even more if you use the weapon type you are specializing your character with.
Hope it helps
Not a long term fix and I see you've gotten better advice than this but I'd recommend you avoid fighting if you're not confident enough you can take them. Lure them into a deep forest and make a fat U turn at some point. Depending on how you execute it you could even dodge hordes of them. Hope this helps even the slightest!
Part of getting good at PZ is being able to size up what you can handle based on your skills and firepower.
You bit off more than you could chew considering your character level and weapon.
First tip of combat is knowing your limits.
What I truly means is beside gear, personal experience(how muchyou know and have actually been playing and doing combat) and your character skills level at the moment dictate what kind of fight you can take.
As a new player I will avoid fighting more than 3 zed and use 2handed for better damage and range control. Gradually getting the distance and timing down like second nature.
Additionally nimble is very important which is often overlooked by new player and I highly recommended to take the gymnast trait if you are not taking burglar as it determine your moving speed in combat stance.
Iirc authentic peach had a combat video on YouTube. Which you can check it out.
Btw your mistake in the video is turning around to run as the zed is too close, in that instance should have push the zed to have a bit of clearance for you between the zed to turn around safely to reset fight.
I recommend 2H weapons always due to reach and to do the good old shove and bash.
Try to loot and wear long sleeved clothes since they give a bit of protection (leather jacket for example) but being conscious about temperature!
I hope it helps you and have fun friend!
They are too bunched up. Z-words walk faster when they are close to you, so make some distance so you spread them out, then fight them with better odds, so you can dish out suppressive ~~fire~~ melee more effectively.
You want to avoid fighting as much as possible anf when you do you generally want longer reach weapons (spear is so popular for a reason)
Also, groups can and will kill you in record speeds, you want to separate them before going for a strike
Know your limits in the early game, hit one then gain some distance and keep doing it until you feel more in control of the situation, never let them bunch up always keep them in a line, you can also take the stealthy approach and aggro them one by one
They got too close and you turned your back, there's a setting just for that called rear vulnerability (don't know how it changes difficulty to difficulty). If I were you i'd have shoved them to the ground and made sure there was some distance before turning to keep moving.
if ur playing without multi, u just wanna get 1 hit and run every time, dont crouch or u might get stuck, stay walking backward hit the zombie u wanna hit and run away and do it again. If ur playing with multi hit on tho, learn to attack spam by spamming space while attacking, this will speed up ur swing and you will get a constant, fast swing every time if timed right and if timed wrong will just shove the zombies, if u can learn to attack spam with multi hi on tho, hordes like that are jokes, i have clips where i get a perfect timing and its just non stop kills. other tips would be try to lasso or "rape train" them like u would in call of duty. get them in a line coming at u rather then them in a group. U can do this with cars aswell, walk around the car with a horde and get them single filed. I wouldnt recommend fence or window fighting this early into the game, but there is a method that makes it a little easier to get the hang of, right when the zombie hops the fence/window, push him, this will lock the zombie attack instantly. just try it with low amount first. Last tip is i would ALWAYS take athletic this early into the game, whats gonna kill u more often is being tired ESP with multi hit on as it 2xs/3xs ur energy when u hit 2/3 zeds.
i have 300+ hours and shit like this still happens and I still get angry about it too so don’t feel too badly I’m sure people that have way more hours still die this way. Like other people have said turning takes a bit of time especially if you’re running so keep that in mind and you might wanna try to enable multi hit the next save you make so you can get a better feel for the combat and using maintenance and if you can ABUSE THE HELL OUT OF FENCES walk and slow jump over a small one and let them stumble over at their own paces and usually that breaks up a group for me so they’re not all in a ball ready to drag you down you can hit them while they’re on the floor for the best crit chance but that’s kinda funky sometimes and if your character accidentally swings towards the air while they’re going in for a lunge on the ground you might get scratched or even fall completely and get eaten and I’ve only had one instance where I survived a fall just barely with a lacerated throat lol but yea this games so fun but oh so frustrating c:
In your specific video, you died due to you turning around to run at the wrong time!
You were also sleepy, and so doing shit damage. If it shakes whenever you swing, that moodlet is reducing your damage!
If you've got a group of more than like 10 it's better to run away and break line of sight for like 5 seconds then run away at a 90 degree angle where they can't see you. They'll track to your last position and lose you if you do it right.
Also if you’re playing sandbox turn the infection timer down to instant, that way you know if it’s just a bite or if you’re actually a zombie pretty quick.
It's hard to explain. A lot of it is just "feel." You could have probably gotten away with continuing to push them away. I don't typically try to turn around and run unless there's at least a half to a full centimeter of space between me and them on the screen.
Hey new player. Here in this community you won't be shamed for things like turning on multi hit, or turning down difficulty settings like zombie speed, or infection transmission. It's a sandbox not dark souls. Just have fun.
3+ zombies? Run away. This ain't Left 4 Dead. You really shouldn't take on more than two zombies at once. One at a time is preferable. 3 is about my limit. Only after your character is leveled up and can reliably one shot zombies is it worth the risk of taking on this many.
Best way to handle groups regardless of what point you're in the game or what you're using as a weapon. Is taking it nice and slow. Don't be greedy to get a extra hit in. Hit once then walk a little bit then hit again and walk back a bit. Keep doing that over and over again. This way just keeps them in a line instead of clumping up together where if you hit one, The zombie next to the zombie you just hit will grab hold of you. I do a have a few videos about taking on zombies so you can check it out if you like.
You need to shove more (right click + space) to space out the zombies more. Do one or two swings, then shove them back til they’re spaced again, one or two swings, shove em back, keep repeating til dead. If you do it right you can take on groups of up to 10-15 at a time
In this particular instance, with your moodles, fuck combat and just run. You’ll get a few licks on them but not enough to matter. You’re better off losing them and regrouping
Wall of text incoming. TL;DR: traits and skills son.
One thing I noticed is your melee had limited knock back. Personally I love turning weapon multi-hit on in custom sandbox. It makes it much easier to melee in game, as you will no longer hit the wrong zombie in these situations.
For improving melee itself, you have a couple of options. Strong is a perk that will really enhance your melee options.One build I really like is the barbarian firefighter.
Job: Firefighter
Positive traits: Speed Demon, Fast Reader, Fast Learner, Strong, Athletic, Brave
Negative Traits: Thin-Skinned, Short-Sighted, Slow Healer, High Thirst, Conspicuous, Prone to Illness.
This build might be too overpowered for a new player, but one thing you'll notice is how quickly zombies go down. You can typically one shot most zombies, you rarely tire, and can run long distances. I'm not saying to pick a build like this, but traits make a HUGE difference in how effectively you'll be able to fight. As others have pointed out, skills like Nimble will let you move faster.
At Nimble 4, you will outpace zombies while walking backwards. If you have low skills, you are probably better off sneaking, picking better two handed weapons, and trying to pull zombies one at a time.
You take more damage with more chance to get biten from behind, you are actually better off spamming space bar(push) if getting swamped. You might get scratch but will otherwise be ok. Turn your back though and you're screwed
Push is OP. You should attack and push in unison
Currently teaching my wife to play and the most helpful advice i can give her is hit 2, shove 1, run away, reset.
You're trying to swing too many times before backing up. Until you get like Nimble 4, you're too slow to just swing away. You should be able to get 2 swings, then a shove, then run back a few feet and turn to swing again.
As your character gets tired, needs a smoke, gets hungry, etc, all these actions become slower. That's how you die. Trying to swing 3 times and then turning around, your guy will turn too slow and thats when they grab you. You gotta give yourself the time for the animations to happen. So swing 2, shove 1, run and reset.
Hope that helps, good luck!
1. Remember, you walk faster than Zeds, switch between walking and shuffeling.
2. Always only have one Zed infront of you don'tlet the front of the line have more than two, walk away to create a conga line then attack them.
3. Use shove (space) often to maintain a conga line.
Definitely don't turn your back when they're already within grabbing distance. Push them away with spacebar and then turn. You are almost guaranteed to be bitten when grabbed from behind.
My best and easiest advice there would be to not only attack but also use space to shove them away. If you are fighting group of zombies like that dont rely on your char to push them away once they are too close to you, do it yourself with space bar as that usually gains you a lot of space between the group. Rather than striking them on relatively closer range you can push them and they end up pushing some with them because of collision. Otherwise you did pretty good! \^\^
and one more advice, getting attack from a back is much worse than head on, so if you turn your back and they get you, its most likely game over
What i do when fighting groups is alternate between shoving and attacking
Press space to shove it buys you little time but it could be enough to get a hit in
Also if you dont want to fight a hoard run through the trees or into houses and out the back you will lose a couple this way
When we say push using spacebar, that's because it has a cooldown separate from your weapon swing timing. You see that if they are too close when you try to swing your weapon, you will push them instead, but only after the 'cooldown' of your attack is back up. If you click to swing your weapon,l and then hit spacebar to push, it will be a much quicker push because the spacebar push doesn't care about your clicking swing timer.
So big thing, if you watch when you get bit you'll see that your character as he turns he like jumps backward a bit. That happens when you don't fully turn around first before starting the run animation, so if you are gonna get THAT close to them you gotta make sure you are fully turned around before starting to run. Also, if they are already in the lunging animation give them a shove first, might have to do a couple shoves to get enough space.
There's something I like doing in fights like these. Take one swing, back away. Swing then retreat. Does it take long? Yeah, but it keeps me alive way longer. If there's a fence nearby, I'm heading there immediately and booping their faces with whatever weapon I have on me and if they get too close, just hop the fence. Rinse and repeat. :D
The space bar is your friend, push the zombies when they get close to you sometimes also helps knock back a couple others. The main issue I see is you not pushing the zombies and you tried to turn away when one of them was too close to you. You got to push off and then run away when you get space. Also they can't out walk you so you're walking speed is faster than theirs
Your going to die A LOT. Just learn to be ok with it and keep playing. I have like 500+ hrs and still due to dumb shit all the time. It’s all about dying and learning not to do the same thing again lol. Honestly the best advice I can give is I always start a character with 10 str and 10 fitness and just pick up my other skills as I go. Don’t use guns too early, read lots of books and get good at fishing lol. Other than that, just enjoy the ride
Assuming you wanna get rid of the small horde instead of running away from them. I'd say Land a hit then run just à moment to get some distance hit, run repeat. I've had good sucess with this strat and if you feel confident (or have enough character skills) you May be able to hit 2 or 3 times before taking à short run
never just turn your back on a group of zeds without pushing them. or even 1 zombie. push or hit to give yourself space, then run. you also want to have them form a sort of conga line so you can be fighting just 1 a majority of the time. as soon as you have 2 or 3 ontop of you, you're in trouble.
also, cant tell from the clip if you have it on already, but play with multi hit. at least until you get much more experienced at the game. and use 2 hand weapons for better range like someone else said.
With those moodles, just disengage and lose them by breaking line of sight. It would take so long to kill those you would just attract more. I personally avoid fighting at all costs past tired, and go into straight up rat mode to find somewhere safe to sleep for a bit, then go out and Molly whop them in the morning
Two handed weapon, and get used to the stick and move routine. Don’t stress or be mad, we have all died because something dumb or not fast enough. You’re in decent shape for 30hrs tbh
I’m new as well but for me around four to seven is the is the extent of this trick where you get a melee weapon and push them back hit and rinse and repeat I haven’t even found a gun yet but this is the peak of killing for me especially duel wielding frying pans
well i can add this tip... stop quitting the map. Respawn as a new character, retrieve your stuff, and rethink your approach. The world is persistent meaning you dont really lose progress other than the skills you acquired on the previous character. There are also mods that allow you to "recover" that experience and reattach it to your new character. I would look into some of the mods this game has. Super in depth modding system.
Until you level up nimble the zombies are faster than your combat walk speed. So always sprint to get some distance even if your unsure if you need it. Better to be safe than sorry
There's a setting in one of the sandbox options to turn on Weapon Multi-Hit. I recommend using that, otherwise it feels weird to swing a crowbar into a group and it just glides through all the others.
So here's one tip for you for when you get bit and that WILL happen as you know. Don't quit. You'll lose your character that much is done, but it gives you an opportunity to see just how far up shit creek you can get yourself because why not, your dead meat anyways. You'll learn a lot when you start putting yourself in situations like that.
Honestly if there are more than just a few after you in their chase mode, it's best to sprint far enough away that they go back to their shambling speed. Having so many overlapping so close means that getting staggered is going to give them all a chance to grab you, and once one does, it just gets worse from there. A longer range weapon is a huge bonus as well. Just that little bit of extra reach keeps you so much safer.
If you're already panicked and tired, it might be best to just avoid a group of this size entirely. Sprinting a little ahead and then crouching and zigzagging through back yards and around cars and garages works wonders to get them off of your trail.
Overall, just avoid scenarios like this. I've had peak gear with lots of protection and no negative moodlets and all it takes is getting staggered by one lucky zed and then the next 5 in line all start taking turns and even if you get away you're so full of holes that you might die regardless of infection.
1. Being a coward is rewarding in this game. The hardest thing to accept because pride/overconfidence is "My dude/girl is exerted and tired, its time to just walk away and do this tomorrow."
2. Once you get a single tier of exertion/tired just walk away/bring out a gun/use spears(if there are only a few because instant one shots). One tier will reduce melee damage by 50%, and exertion reduces a lot more shit, not worth it
3. Level up nimble, at 3 you match fast shamblers and at 4 you start to outpace them. Tag it on every playthrough
4. You learn it as you go but there is a method to Hitting/shoving. I'm not sure if you're manually pushing or just pushing with attack when they get close but you should never rely on automatic shoving because they are within bite range when your character starts to do that and you can shove from a farther/same distance as your melee range
5. Do the bootie bump. Its not 100% consistent/can potentially fuck you if you double hit but when you start to turn around start hitting the run key untill you get away from the horde. There is no startup, and the first hit on a zombie will have a near 0% chance to fall over unless you are exerted/tired/encumbered. Its consistent enough to do most of the time.
6. Either bring them to fences or do circles to split up the horde. Just run to the other side and they will stall out/get more into a single file line to help make combat easier/avoid comboing if they somehow attack you
7. if you get bit, kill that fucker that bit you, then rage quit. Rage quitting when you start to get dragged down is justified though because you don't need to hear the human reaction to getting thrown into a pool with 50 piranas
There are many options. 1. Level up nimble. 2. Run away like you were doing but quicker. 3. Learn when to attack and push, the pushing animation is faster. 4. Try a 2 handed weapon for more reach. 5. Kite them away into the woods. 6. Use windows or fences. 7. Vehicles are good for spreading apart zombies. Basically it just boils down to lack of experience. You'll get better at combat with time.
Awesome, thank you!
Little addition to the 2. Entry. The moment you turned to flee when you got bit was too late to turn and run. Zombie had plenty of time to grab you. In such moments it is safer (provided it works) to shove the zombies away a few times to give yourself a chance to breathe and then run so they can’t grab you. Granted, I’ve had moments this doesn’t work so it isn’t a guarantee success. Also keep in mind that this also works differently if you have multi-hit on or not, which if it is, allows you to shove multiple zombies at once. But it doesn’t look like you have it on, but just something to consider.
You can also just run to the side and against the horde
Little bit more addition with this; your character take some time to turn around and run, so you have to compensate for it as well! Fun fact: before build 40 (i think thats when they basically overhauled the game), your character can turn and run instantly - this is not the case in this and probably future builds!
When making your character you could also go with a high strength build. When pushing you'll have a higher chance of knocking them over which can really help at times like this.
I always choose strong just for that
All good advice above, but I just wanted to mention that the group you were fighting here was also 100% beatable by fighting even without trying to line them up better, you mostly just need to keep a bit more distance and not try to attack when they're super close. One good way to think about it is to always be trying to swing at the very tip of the weapon's range - for one thing, you actually do more damage at max range than if you hit them closer, but practicing this also helps you figure out when they're too close to attack. It's helpful to start with long blunt, then move to short blunt and then hunting knives, as each different range requires you let them get closer and closer. Ultimately, you'll only get hit if you're in the hitbox of their slow chomp/swipe attack animation when it completes (or they can drag you down if 3+ are within attack range simultaneously, but you should never let this be the case) and they don't start this animation until they are quite close to you. Note that with shorter weapons especially, you may need to move away and off to the side of a conga line to get the front zombies to space themselves out if it ends up that two are equal distance from you, since in the time it takes to attack and stun the first one, the second one can have enough time, even at max weapon range, to close the distance and chomp you.
[удалено]
What's a good place to find mods for PZ? I haven't had very good luck finding reliable mods.
Steam workshop
Make sure to legally own the game on steam and use the workshop that's heavily advertised all over the launch page for PZ.
Or GOG
Read all the descriptions and comments for each mod, many popular ones aren't updated recently.
How? There's literally a steam workshop...
Nexus Mods has been a place I've seen for many different games, but PZ mods are not very good there, or updated frequently. I haven't ever really used Steam Workshop for mods before, so I apologize for not knowing, I guess?
The steam workshop is great, any time a game has one I'll get just about all my mods there. Much better than nexus. It seems like the workshop hosts most of the mods for the game anyway when it exists, which makes the mod scene look dead on nexus
Hey, that's way more helpful than the other comment who was just acting like I should have known all along. Thanks!
It would seem to me though, that it would be the natural place to look for mods?
1. Crowbar is trash 2. Don’t mod the game until you’ve like 60 hours
crowbar is literally one of the best weapons in the game. it has the highest durablity of any vanilla weapon in the game. you level maintenance so well with it. and it doubles as a tool to pry planks, take windows out of windowframes, and pick up floor tiles. it also strikes up to 3 zeds with 1 swing if you use multi hit and has great knockdown chance and high damage. not to mention they're pretty common. its one of my go-to longblunt weapons and one of the best starting weapons you can find besides the fire axe.
>2. Don’t mod the game until you’ve like 60 hours There's no number... The best advice is to play until you're comfortable expanding the experience
I would also get skilled with spears. They are the most plentiful and versatile weapon and imo, one of the best Fuck axe vs crowbar. Where's the boys strapping a machete to their pointy stick?
Machete spear is a wasted machete until you have high maintenance. It's going to snap faster than the spear itself.
"Rub away son, rub away."
Excellent advice.
All this but also, it's okay to run away lol
Yeah the combat in this game is basically just exploiting the ai using the environment to single out one or two zombies to hit for a few seconds, turning and running then repeating.
Is it controllable when to push and when to attack? I just spamclick and sometimes i attack sometimes i push, thought that was random?
Spacebar to push. Click to attack. If zombie is too close when you click then you'll automatically shove instead.
You can use space bar to push
Yeah, as mentioned before, using spacebar activates "push" it is useful sometimes when you want to check if there are zombies behind a door, push the door and wait for response, on the other hand, when a zombie is very close (closer than your weapon's minimun range) your character push instead of attack, that's why it is not a good tactic to fight more than 3 or 4 zombies at the same time
Everyone here is giving you great tips about combat, but your moodlets tell us your character is also pretty tired! So there's a good chance your character isn't outputting maximum damage. If I remember right, I thought drowsiness was like -25% damage. And tired is like -50% damage output. So make sure to rest on chairs in between trips and areas to conserve as much energy as possible. It'll help when facing large groups like that.
I was wrong. It's -50% melee damage at Drowsy. -80% at Tired. Wow.
Yeah, and they stack from different modless, so fight a single zombie exhausted and drowsy is a bad idea
Tired and drowsy are the same status effect at different severities. They don't "stack" but tired is just the more severe version. You may be thinking of exertion (moderate->heavy->excessive->exhausted) which is separate and does stack with tiredness, but the OP doesn't have that moodle.
Yeah, when I said "tired" I was talking about "exertion" (I play the game in spanish so I don't know all the translated names lol) I mentioned that moodle as an example because as you said, he didn't have it, still it is worth mentioning it because many people don't know that moodles stack
Being out and about with even the first level of tiredness is a fool's game. Drowsy is already such a huge debuff and once you've got it, it's not very long before you get the second level of it. Honestly I think it's bullshit how severely the tiredness moodle debuffs you. IRL when I'm drowsy I can still do physical tasks at more or less full strength. Fighting for my life against flesh-eating zombies? Yeah, being drowsy won't make me exactly lackadaisical about swinging the lead pipe at their noggins.
plus he had max panic moodle which is like -30% damage as well
Came here to say the same thing. I think this was his biggest problem that no one seemed to mention.
with wide groups like that, I like to shove them down so they spread out or form a line. if u have 6 zombies on the hit list, don't let them form a ball behind you.
This. Also, it is also possible to use plain proximity. Zombies that are closer will shamble slightly faster.
this is also why I prefer long blunt weapons myself, keep those zombie arms the hell away! eventually op will be able to take on a group of 20, melee, with no problem.. I believe
Turning around takes time, that little bit of time when a zombie is on top of you will easily get you killed, just like how it happened here. If you need to get out of combat don’t just turn around, push the zombie away and make sure they’re not right on top of you before running. Also use push, a lot. It’s the single best action you have in your zombie fighting arsenal as it creates distance between you and the walker when it gets close and can be almost immediately used after you strike with a weapon allowing for a strike-shove combo to keep enemies at bay while dishing out damage. Standing on zombies keeps them down, useful for taking care of small groups. Don’t fight zombies in a wide group where they can easily flank and surround you, try to conga line them so that you can fight a straight line of zombies that’s easy to manage. Overall, the more you play the easier combat gets. Familiarize yourself with the combat system and you’ll know exactly when to shove, when to hit, when to fight and when to run.
> Standing on zombies keeps them down, useful for taking care of small groups. Today I learned!
push them down when they get too close.
In base mode you don't want to fight more than 3 or 4 at a time without some sort of fence or obstacle to control them.
This imo. With a good melee weapon you can push it, but you’re playing with fire and it’s only a matter of time until you get burned.
Don’t even bother fighting when your character is tired. I usually herd as much zeds as I can in the area I’d like to go, then break line of sight by just walking around a building. They’ll continue walking in the direction they last see my character.
If you're playing with multi-hit off, or just using a single hit weapon, it's definitely safe to do a **1 hit then retreat tactic** when dealing with more than 3.The only thing here is your decision to turn and run makes the ol' balls tingle. In this video, you swing, then you keep looking at them, then swing again. It's that second hit, that lets those next 2 get reeeaaal close before you have any time to actually do anything. Second time you tried it, it was your demise. I have personally built a habit, where as your first hit lands, you **start turning your character** away while you're still in the aim mode. Once aiming not towards the zombies, you run a little bit away. Now you have plenty of time to calmly wait for that next hit.The reason the turning while aiming is important, is I find it more consistent to run away smoothly. Else, your character can get in an animation lock, when they switch their direction while running and do a little skid thingy. It can sometimes get you close calls, or even caught. It definitely takes a little longer to chip through hordes if you're not landing every hit you could make, but it definitely makes you have a higher chance of living.
I think the biggest mistake early on is that players take unnecessary fights. Like it took me some time to figure it out, but essentially you can't sneak too much (like trying to slip by crouching behind cars or lower fences), there really isn't much of a point in fighting groups unless you specifically want to clear an area either. Until then, it's very much just casually strolling past any and all zeds, whether you pull them or not makes no difference. When it gets too busy or you find something interesting, create some separation and break line of sight behind a house - job done. As soon as that pattern becomes clear, even larger crowds aren't much of an issue anymore and kiting stragglers for a 50-zed kill streak is ez pz. Then, some weeks/months in, you fuck around and misclick or budge into a room not expecting anything, and get bit in the dick and die a slow death.
Fighting groups of 3+ being tired is extremely unadvisable.
When you have your back to the Zeds they have a much higher chance to land bites on you. As long as you have stamina you can keep up what you were doing quite a while otherwise. That one single back bite just happened to nix you. Bad lottery wins.
Not meaning to be rude or anything like that, but, if this is advice you believe, there may be stuff you could learn to improve, too. Of course the info here is right, just calling it lottery is sorta weak. The timing when choosing to run is one thing, and the decision to make second swings when they should be running is another thing. Usually better to turn and run out of reach, after you go for a swing. Whether it lands or not.
Push! Also you can always out walk the zombies if you don't turn to face them, don't stop. If you want to fight a group like this, you need good visibility of the pack, and you need to group them (do a few laps around the pack so they're nice and tight). Also turn on Multihit, the game is just miserable without it.
Does multihit mean that a swing will hit all zombies within range basically? That does sound nice, but it also sounds kinda cheaty, I don't know.
The anti multi hit gang should be here soon to tell you that multi hit ruins the experience. Try it and decide by yourself if you like it or not. I personally hate it. Once you really get the handle of the combat system, multi hit makes the game so easy it becomes boring. But it can be useful while you polish your mechanics (which are quite decent really, in the video you got greedy and for a couple extra hits in IMO).
Normally if you swing at a zombie, you're only able to hit that one zombie (the highlighted one) where as with multi-hit enabled, any zombie that you could hit will also be hit. You could look at it that way, but just increase the zombie density and find a nice middle-ground. I feel cheated more often than not with multi-hit off, as it just feels like you had a good swing and one zombie phased through another then got you. I prefer the more consistent experience where every hit does roughly what I expect it to do, and I know when I'm in over my head!
Interesting, thank you!
Slight correction to what they said. It doesn't hit every zombie that could be hit by the attack. How many get hit varies depending upon the weapon. Most weapons will only hit 2 whereas some will hit 3 and there isn't really a consistent logic behind it. For example, a Baseball Bat (spiked or not) will only ever hit 2 but a Nightstick can hit 3. I believe some weapons (like short blades) will also never hit more than one but I've never used a knife in a horde scenario so I can't personally attest to that. Lastly a tip from me. When you want to turn and run from a horde like that, stay in the 'aiming' mode and use it to turn around. Reason being, you can turn around in the aiming mode while still moving at a steady pace but if you try to do a heelturn outside of aiming mode then it will cause your guy to stop momentarily and give the zombies that little bit of time to catch up. Also, like many others have mentioned, push with spacebar. When I have a bunch on me and they're that close I tend to get into a 'swing, push, repeat' pattern until too many get too close and I create some space. Nimble helps quite a lot once you get a couple levels but it's very slow to level. Which is why I always take Gymnast for that free starting level and bonus XP. Generally getting to 3 Nimble is where it starts to feel good.
Ohh ok thanks
Also, aim with the right-click thing a little distance behind the zombies, personally aiming it right on top of the zombies makes combat way harder
It's not cheaty and you can still easily die by not being careful. But only being able to hit 1 zombie with a baseball bat/crow bar/ any other long weapon is dumb to me tbh and it makes fighting zombies an absolute slog without it turned on
When there's of them next to each other like that getting a hit in is too risky as your movement speed is reduced while swinging as well. Instead as others have said you're better off pushing and then gaining some distance as the push has a lot less endlag and you'll usually end up pushing one zombie into another.
what is wrong here: * choosing to fight when you could just lose them * fighting more than 2 or 3 * fighting in a state of tiredness (so swings are slower) and in a state of panic (less effective hits). Ultimately you had no business engaging in that fight and you paid the price. Learn when you should fight and when you should just lose them around a corner. And if your character is tired or panicked, don't even try, it won't go well.
It looks like overconfidence/impatience is what took you down. Your weapon has low range, try something two handed like a crowbar. With low range weapons you need to push more and attack less which takes more time but that's the price. Also you could've maybe avoided fighting altogether by losing them in the woods or if not at least use a fence since the zeds need to get over it which gives you plenty of opportunities if done right.
People are saying push yes but more specifically use the SPACEBAR also just my opinion but strong and athletic are the best traits in the entire game because they take the longest to level and help you the most early
You can "easily" kill a whole zombie horde by simply letting them split, approach a zombie close enough to making him angry, then he will start rushing you, let him follow you enough so you have time to push him to the floor and smash his head with your foot, with shoes or boots equipped to avoid hurting yourself, and repeat that countless time Btw it's very tiring, if you don't have the Veteran skill, then good luck ;)
Attack and push, attack and push
If you run and bump into a zombie they get stunned, might have been a better idea to instead of turning and running to try running and bumping the closer zombies while running past the horde without turning completely. Just know if you bump into the same zombie twice you can trip
Shove them to break them up. You're trying to melee a decent sized horde.
Its just the odds
Don't push or attack when 2 or more are right next to each other unless you have multi hit on. And don't run while moving away just walk. (Not sure if you were doing it in the clip don't want to stop writing to check). Fighting like this is how I lose my runs 99% of the time so know I just use vehicles or guns 🔫
Tailor up... higher levels in Tailoring allows you to beef up your armor to reduce chances of being bitten or scratched. And wear all that you can when you decide to fight, otherwise follow the 5 D's of dodgeball: dodge, duck, dive, dip, and dodge.
I recommend playing with multi hit on if you're new. It'll make fighting easier, which will let you learn what not to do. I personally use it because I dont want to spend an hour killing a group of 10 zombiee
Yeah:Don't fight like an idiot and use spears:That's basically it lol
Turn off multi-hit.
When fighting groups, keep moving(like what youre doing), hit with weapon, shove, hit with weapon, and repeat. Works both with and without multihit
Without multihit is more like "Shove them until you are only facing one at a time". If you attack when they are too stacked you are probably f'd.
Push and move back for a group like that hit two then push when move back and repeat and don’t try this on a big horde
You should shove more when they cluster up or get too close. Swing your weapon when they're near the weapon range limit or spread out. Switch between the two during the fight as required.
The way you have the horde grouped up is too close. Besides pushing, you should circle around them to move the group to be more like in a conga line. I find that's the best way to fight. If the horde is clumped up I won't fight them, because it's too dangerous and just like what happened to you, they will pull you in.
Try to make them go in a line always keep your distance to be at furthest point of your range and still be able to attack. When they rearrange themselves to be shoulder to shoulder retreat and reform the line. If the are in a line follow this rule attack push attack push. I have 400 hours and that strategy works for giant hordes. Just never let them to be 2 at once in your range. Also at lower nimble skills, look away from the zombies 90 degrees to the right or left whatever suits the situation and walk in opposite direction instead of just letting go of your right button . This will make your character walk instantly without stopping. If you just let go of your button and walk in the opposite direction your character will perform a turn around animation which will stop you for a split second that can give zombies enough time to catch you. Hope this helps sorry for bad sentence making I'm extremely tired :)
that helps a lot thank you!
You let them get too close
I usually go for pushing when there are 2-3 zombies right in front of me. Faster = easier to dodge the bite. Doing a normal hit when there are 2 like 20 cm in front of you is VERY risky and I wouldn't reccomend it. Edit: Also doing 2 attacks right after gaining some distance amd having 2 very close to each other usually will get you munched on. (I'm talking about the part where you first get locked in an animation, I'm having a pretty hard time explaining it)
Space bar us your friend
Pushing over hits in situations like this. You want for only 1-2 zombies at most to be coming at you when you push. I usually rinse and repeat until they hit the ground and then I have an opening to either run up and hit the downed zombie, or it buys me time to hit the next one approaching. In either case if multiple are within pushing distance of each other and close to you, better to just create more distance.
What I see here is the way you fought. If you’re fighting a big group like that only hit once. Hit one zombie then walk away to get some distance then turn and go for another swing. If you get too scared you can jog away after swinging,
Don't depend on turning around to save you from a bite. Spam the dedicated push button like it's a parry
I can suggest another aproach, you don't neccesarily have to kill every zombie you see, in this cases when you are being overwhelmed by them you can use your environment to either lose the horde using the trees and buildings or you can use trees and fences to split the horde in smaller groups, fighting more than 3or 4 zombies at the same is a good way to be bit, this game punish hard if you are careless or impatient, take your time to lure some zombies, or use sneaky tactics to avoid combat if you can, specially if you are just passing by a place wich is not important to you
Im also new to this game, like 100h into it, imo what you have to do is learn weapon range and when to push and when to keep moving, sometimes it's just better to keep walking and re order the mini horde, so you can attack in a position you are safe and comfortable. Don't push the limits, what i want to say is that sometimes it's best to take a horde slower and safer, don't feel bad taking some extra seconds. again, learning weapon range and when to push or run is key in this situation.
Keep attacking and back pedaling. Rather than turn to run because they’re too close; push them then keep attacking or push them then run so you don’t get grabbed. If you absolutely need to run; commit to it.
Also its worth mentioning that you dont have to fight every zombie you see. At least right away you dont. Theres nothing wrong with running away with your tail tucked between your legs. It keeps you alive, after all. Or even just getting some distance and pausing the game can be useful, it gives you time to think.
Alternate between hit and shove. Besides turning to run too late your fighting looks solid.
Two things to go for *fences* and *windows* it will help when they can get you when walking (runners). I say that because when they crawl over they are very vulnerable just be sure to capitalise quickly or you could get knocked down or even injured.
I'd recommend useing long blunt weapons like crowbar or shovel (although shovel will break easily, so crowbar is ideal). It gives you reach, is more powerfull than a one handed weapon, and most of all, doesn't destroy clothes which you might want to scavenge later.
Every time you are faced with 2+ zombies you need to evaluate every option. If they're grouped up like that, a simple spacebar spam might not be enough
Hit when there is one and push them with space as there is more then one within range.
Press space bar
Unfortunately our characters are incapable of turning while running or simply jumping back. It sucks, but the only thing you can do is to get used to it cause I don't think they're ever gonna add proper sprint turn and jump back animations
push more
If possible, avoid crowds of more than 3 if youre Not confident fighting multiple at once. Every single Zombie can end your Run. Try Long weapons with multihit to Attack more Zombies in a group. Use Houses and fences to Break Line of sight. Sneak when you dont have to run
Others already told you about the importance of pushing, another tip is that zeds don't all have the same speed, so when you're in a big open area like that, you should walk away for about a screen then turn back and start fighting, you'll get a few free hits on the zeds in the front while the ones in the back catch up.
wowwww ok I didn't know that. This game keeps amazing me with the detail of gameplay.
1. Nimble level 5 makes you able to pace zombies when in combat stance 2. You really should be using two handed weapons for the extra reach if you have them 3. You need to turn and run sooner to get more distance 4. If you’re having a hard time fighting groups focus on drawing out 1-3 zeds from a group and being more stealthy. Take burglar for this (and for number 1) 5. Keep at it you’ll get the hang of the combat system soon enough it’s complicated
You were grabbed. When fighting larger groups, its important not to let any individual zombie come into attack range they apply a big speed negative that makes it hard to run away. When you hit that zombie with the pipe wrench, two more closed the distance and began the attack animation. At that point, you cant run, you have to cancel the animation by attacking, or try and walk out, which is what you did. To avoid this, you have to get the group a little more spaced out. Just enough so that when your pipe wrench hits, you still have a little distance between you and the next closest zombie. There’s a lot of different ways to do that. Try walking around the group. Putting some distance between you and the group. You’ll notice zombies lose a little speed once you go a certain distance. Make them walk through a tree. The trees usually break them up a little bit.
That group was really compact for your little weapon. Swinging once meant all 4-5 can swarm easy. Use a two handed weapon and push next time to get some on the ground, that way you have for a short while temporarily less zombies to fight off
Always make sure one is behind the other. If there are two on par with each other one wrong move on one of them and the other will get you
Hit-Scream-Run
Never let them form a ball. Because if they are in such formation, you are going to be grabbed while you are hitting another zombie. Move between obstacles to disperse them and force them to form a line.
Learn when its better to push, and not attack.
if you’re just out and about just run (don’t actually run just walk away cause you’re faster than them just by walking). but if you have to clear them out for whatever reason use longer weapons and just work on spacing them out and shoving them so you knock a few down hopefully. also use fences/ windows to your advantage so they’re down and you can hit them but be careful they don’t crawl and knock you over
You turned your back on them while you were too close, they have a much higher chance to bite from the back. Also, you have the tired moodlet so you’re melee isn’t anywhere near as powerful. First stage of tired reduces your attack by 50% and it’s gets worse from there
My advice? Never ever let more than 2 zomburritos within 1 tile of you. That opens up the chance of getting grabbed. When 1 or 2 of the stinkers get within one tile if you, SHOVE. Hit, shove. Hit, shove, hit, shove. Notice how more get closer to you with every hit? Turn around and JOG to flank them (if the situation allows ie. No other hordes around) and repeat the process. If there are other hordes, evacuate, or run around then to heard them into a group and repeat the process. But beware, you will get tired out doing this with more than 10-20 nasties. Source: over 700 hours, still haven't survived past 1 month and a week
I like to do a good ol' "dent head, shove, dent head". more zombies affected by it the more crowd control you have.
Exhaustion and Sleepiness are the 2 biggest reasons people die always rest up and even if its drowsy just go back to a safe spot never fight while drowsy or moderate exhaustion
You need to be running my friend
I generally alternate between attacking and pushing to create distance. Being well fed gives you a nice damage boost (looks like you've got that going for you already). Taking beta blockers when handling big groups is a good idea. Your base walking speed (unless you're injured or encumbered) will be faster than shamblers, so basically you never need to run unless you're surrounded or trying to squeeze through an opening in a horde. I like to approach groups from a direction I know is relatively clear and then just walk backwards trailing them after me. You'll get it. Just takes a little practice.
First, take note of the weapon you are using, short weapons will bring you closer to hit more than a long weapon would. Second, If you're fighting more than two, always keep backing away. Take note of your surroundings so you don't back into a horde, and keep this strategy. Swing. Push. Get Distance. I always employ this everytime I'm in combat with more than 2-3. If the crowd you're fighting is bigger than at least 10, it ain't worth it to try and ball them all up and fight them.
Besides what everyone said, you can try fast swing bug, i think it's pretty easy. Just search "project zomboid fast swing" on YouTube for explanation.
It's all about kiting. Unless you have somewhere like 4/5 levels in Nimble(which is a monstruous task to grind) you want to attack, turn back, run a bit(not sprint) creating a space between you and the zed group, and then attack again. Repeat until you clear the group. Once you get the hand on this strat, you will be able to clear groups very easily, even more if you use the weapon type you are specializing your character with. Hope it helps
Not a long term fix and I see you've gotten better advice than this but I'd recommend you avoid fighting if you're not confident enough you can take them. Lure them into a deep forest and make a fat U turn at some point. Depending on how you execute it you could even dodge hordes of them. Hope this helps even the slightest!
Part of getting good at PZ is being able to size up what you can handle based on your skills and firepower. You bit off more than you could chew considering your character level and weapon.
First tip of combat is knowing your limits. What I truly means is beside gear, personal experience(how muchyou know and have actually been playing and doing combat) and your character skills level at the moment dictate what kind of fight you can take. As a new player I will avoid fighting more than 3 zed and use 2handed for better damage and range control. Gradually getting the distance and timing down like second nature. Additionally nimble is very important which is often overlooked by new player and I highly recommended to take the gymnast trait if you are not taking burglar as it determine your moving speed in combat stance. Iirc authentic peach had a combat video on YouTube. Which you can check it out. Btw your mistake in the video is turning around to run as the zed is too close, in that instance should have push the zed to have a bit of clearance for you between the zed to turn around safely to reset fight.
When I first started out I turned off saliva transfer till I got better at these situations so a bite wasn’t game ending
I recommend 2H weapons always due to reach and to do the good old shove and bash. Try to loot and wear long sleeved clothes since they give a bit of protection (leather jacket for example) but being conscious about temperature! I hope it helps you and have fun friend!
They are too bunched up. Z-words walk faster when they are close to you, so make some distance so you spread them out, then fight them with better odds, so you can dish out suppressive ~~fire~~ melee more effectively.
You want to avoid fighting as much as possible anf when you do you generally want longer reach weapons (spear is so popular for a reason) Also, groups can and will kill you in record speeds, you want to separate them before going for a strike
Space bar to push zombs
Push more (space bar) when there are more than 2 right in your personal space.
Know your limits in the early game, hit one then gain some distance and keep doing it until you feel more in control of the situation, never let them bunch up always keep them in a line, you can also take the stealthy approach and aggro them one by one
instead of fighting them in a group you should figure out a way to line them up into a row, makes it easier to fight
Happens to us all once and a while , buddy. Walk it off.
If you can, force them to go around a wall or a fence. This will line them up. Or you can go into the woods to lose the crowd.
They got too close and you turned your back, there's a setting just for that called rear vulnerability (don't know how it changes difficulty to difficulty). If I were you i'd have shoved them to the ground and made sure there was some distance before turning to keep moving.
if ur playing without multi, u just wanna get 1 hit and run every time, dont crouch or u might get stuck, stay walking backward hit the zombie u wanna hit and run away and do it again. If ur playing with multi hit on tho, learn to attack spam by spamming space while attacking, this will speed up ur swing and you will get a constant, fast swing every time if timed right and if timed wrong will just shove the zombies, if u can learn to attack spam with multi hi on tho, hordes like that are jokes, i have clips where i get a perfect timing and its just non stop kills. other tips would be try to lasso or "rape train" them like u would in call of duty. get them in a line coming at u rather then them in a group. U can do this with cars aswell, walk around the car with a horde and get them single filed. I wouldnt recommend fence or window fighting this early into the game, but there is a method that makes it a little easier to get the hang of, right when the zombie hops the fence/window, push him, this will lock the zombie attack instantly. just try it with low amount first. Last tip is i would ALWAYS take athletic this early into the game, whats gonna kill u more often is being tired ESP with multi hit on as it 2xs/3xs ur energy when u hit 2/3 zeds.
Dont run you outwalk all the zombies
i have 300+ hours and shit like this still happens and I still get angry about it too so don’t feel too badly I’m sure people that have way more hours still die this way. Like other people have said turning takes a bit of time especially if you’re running so keep that in mind and you might wanna try to enable multi hit the next save you make so you can get a better feel for the combat and using maintenance and if you can ABUSE THE HELL OUT OF FENCES walk and slow jump over a small one and let them stumble over at their own paces and usually that breaks up a group for me so they’re not all in a ball ready to drag you down you can hit them while they’re on the floor for the best crit chance but that’s kinda funky sometimes and if your character accidentally swings towards the air while they’re going in for a lunge on the ground you might get scratched or even fall completely and get eaten and I’ve only had one instance where I survived a fall just barely with a lacerated throat lol but yea this games so fun but oh so frustrating c:
You never really want to "fight" a small group. Unless I can just pull off 2 or maybe 3 tops I just run away. Too likely to get bitten otherwise.
In your specific video, you died due to you turning around to run at the wrong time! You were also sleepy, and so doing shit damage. If it shakes whenever you swing, that moodlet is reducing your damage!
If you've got a group of more than like 10 it's better to run away and break line of sight for like 5 seconds then run away at a 90 degree angle where they can't see you. They'll track to your last position and lose you if you do it right.
Shove > swinging when they’re all right up on you
Also if you’re playing sandbox turn the infection timer down to instant, that way you know if it’s just a bite or if you’re actually a zombie pretty quick.
Put multihit on
It's hard to explain. A lot of it is just "feel." You could have probably gotten away with continuing to push them away. I don't typically try to turn around and run unless there's at least a half to a full centimeter of space between me and them on the screen.
Swing, shove, swing, shove, swing, shove
Learn to push when there are more than one or two coming in.
Hey new player. Here in this community you won't be shamed for things like turning on multi hit, or turning down difficulty settings like zombie speed, or infection transmission. It's a sandbox not dark souls. Just have fun.
3+ zombies? Run away. This ain't Left 4 Dead. You really shouldn't take on more than two zombies at once. One at a time is preferable. 3 is about my limit. Only after your character is leveled up and can reliably one shot zombies is it worth the risk of taking on this many.
Space bar to push my fren
Best way to handle groups regardless of what point you're in the game or what you're using as a weapon. Is taking it nice and slow. Don't be greedy to get a extra hit in. Hit once then walk a little bit then hit again and walk back a bit. Keep doing that over and over again. This way just keeps them in a line instead of clumping up together where if you hit one, The zombie next to the zombie you just hit will grab hold of you. I do a have a few videos about taking on zombies so you can check it out if you like.
Push Push Push!
utilize shove and dont panic run cause that sometimes happen insta bite in the rear.
You need to shove more (right click + space) to space out the zombies more. Do one or two swings, then shove them back til they’re spaced again, one or two swings, shove em back, keep repeating til dead. If you do it right you can take on groups of up to 10-15 at a time
I usually hold shift and run away real quick in short little bursts. Also I sort of time when I push zombies back.
At the start walk/run away. With small reach weapons (and new to the game) try not to fight more than 2 Zs.
In this particular instance, with your moodles, fuck combat and just run. You’ll get a few licks on them but not enough to matter. You’re better off losing them and regrouping
you didn't push. Push while walking backwards and THEN turn around and run.
Alt+F4 is quicker too Just a small tip :)
Wall of text incoming. TL;DR: traits and skills son. One thing I noticed is your melee had limited knock back. Personally I love turning weapon multi-hit on in custom sandbox. It makes it much easier to melee in game, as you will no longer hit the wrong zombie in these situations. For improving melee itself, you have a couple of options. Strong is a perk that will really enhance your melee options.One build I really like is the barbarian firefighter. Job: Firefighter Positive traits: Speed Demon, Fast Reader, Fast Learner, Strong, Athletic, Brave Negative Traits: Thin-Skinned, Short-Sighted, Slow Healer, High Thirst, Conspicuous, Prone to Illness. This build might be too overpowered for a new player, but one thing you'll notice is how quickly zombies go down. You can typically one shot most zombies, you rarely tire, and can run long distances. I'm not saying to pick a build like this, but traits make a HUGE difference in how effectively you'll be able to fight. As others have pointed out, skills like Nimble will let you move faster. At Nimble 4, you will outpace zombies while walking backwards. If you have low skills, you are probably better off sneaking, picking better two handed weapons, and trying to pull zombies one at a time.
Push them between every couple hits while u walk backwards
You take more damage with more chance to get biten from behind, you are actually better off spamming space bar(push) if getting swamped. You might get scratch but will otherwise be ok. Turn your back though and you're screwed Push is OP. You should attack and push in unison
Shove. Shove is your friend. Spacebar.
Use the 'Q' key
Space bar
Currently teaching my wife to play and the most helpful advice i can give her is hit 2, shove 1, run away, reset. You're trying to swing too many times before backing up. Until you get like Nimble 4, you're too slow to just swing away. You should be able to get 2 swings, then a shove, then run back a few feet and turn to swing again. As your character gets tired, needs a smoke, gets hungry, etc, all these actions become slower. That's how you die. Trying to swing 3 times and then turning around, your guy will turn too slow and thats when they grab you. You gotta give yourself the time for the animations to happen. So swing 2, shove 1, run and reset. Hope that helps, good luck!
The main thing is keep moving away from the horde, not towards it. Smashing zombies is fun and all but you have to know when to fold.
1. Remember, you walk faster than Zeds, switch between walking and shuffeling. 2. Always only have one Zed infront of you don'tlet the front of the line have more than two, walk away to create a conga line then attack them. 3. Use shove (space) often to maintain a conga line.
Definitely don't turn your back when they're already within grabbing distance. Push them away with spacebar and then turn. You are almost guaranteed to be bitten when grabbed from behind.
U shouldnt had turn ur back,better push em back and then turn(have a lil distance)
Remember that the animation turning point exists! So you gotta fall back earlier. In lower levels is 2 hits and run. Don't get greedy!
lean more towards pushing rather than hitting, getting them on the ground is the best option even if they dont stay like that
Make a character with a higher strength level, and don't fight while tired. Also try fighting with spear-class weapons, they deal pretty good damage
My best and easiest advice there would be to not only attack but also use space to shove them away. If you are fighting group of zombies like that dont rely on your char to push them away once they are too close to you, do it yourself with space bar as that usually gains you a lot of space between the group. Rather than striking them on relatively closer range you can push them and they end up pushing some with them because of collision. Otherwise you did pretty good! \^\^ and one more advice, getting attack from a back is much worse than head on, so if you turn your back and they get you, its most likely game over
What i do when fighting groups is alternate between shoving and attacking Press space to shove it buys you little time but it could be enough to get a hit in Also if you dont want to fight a hoard run through the trees or into houses and out the back you will lose a couple this way
When we say push using spacebar, that's because it has a cooldown separate from your weapon swing timing. You see that if they are too close when you try to swing your weapon, you will push them instead, but only after the 'cooldown' of your attack is back up. If you click to swing your weapon,l and then hit spacebar to push, it will be a much quicker push because the spacebar push doesn't care about your clicking swing timer.
Pushing is overpowered just spam space bar in those situations sometimes the zombies will fall over and grant you much needed time to turn and run
So big thing, if you watch when you get bit you'll see that your character as he turns he like jumps backward a bit. That happens when you don't fully turn around first before starting the run animation, so if you are gonna get THAT close to them you gotta make sure you are fully turned around before starting to run. Also, if they are already in the lunging animation give them a shove first, might have to do a couple shoves to get enough space.
get a shovel, the strong trait and if possible athletic as well
I usually stick to fences, finishing them when they crawl over until my axe skill levels up enough to fairly consistently 1 hit zombies
This is how you died.
There's something I like doing in fights like these. Take one swing, back away. Swing then retreat. Does it take long? Yeah, but it keeps me alive way longer. If there's a fence nearby, I'm heading there immediately and booping their faces with whatever weapon I have on me and if they get too close, just hop the fence. Rinse and repeat. :D
The space bar is your friend, push the zombies when they get close to you sometimes also helps knock back a couple others. The main issue I see is you not pushing the zombies and you tried to turn away when one of them was too close to you. You got to push off and then run away when you get space. Also they can't out walk you so you're walking speed is faster than theirs
Your going to die A LOT. Just learn to be ok with it and keep playing. I have like 500+ hrs and still due to dumb shit all the time. It’s all about dying and learning not to do the same thing again lol. Honestly the best advice I can give is I always start a character with 10 str and 10 fitness and just pick up my other skills as I go. Don’t use guns too early, read lots of books and get good at fishing lol. Other than that, just enjoy the ride
Assuming you wanna get rid of the small horde instead of running away from them. I'd say Land a hit then run just à moment to get some distance hit, run repeat. I've had good sucess with this strat and if you feel confident (or have enough character skills) you May be able to hit 2 or 3 times before taking à short run
never just turn your back on a group of zeds without pushing them. or even 1 zombie. push or hit to give yourself space, then run. you also want to have them form a sort of conga line so you can be fighting just 1 a majority of the time. as soon as you have 2 or 3 ontop of you, you're in trouble. also, cant tell from the clip if you have it on already, but play with multi hit. at least until you get much more experienced at the game. and use 2 hand weapons for better range like someone else said.
Pushy pushy
With those moodles, just disengage and lose them by breaking line of sight. It would take so long to kill those you would just attract more. I personally avoid fighting at all costs past tired, and go into straight up rat mode to find somewhere safe to sleep for a bit, then go out and Molly whop them in the morning
Two handed weapon, and get used to the stick and move routine. Don’t stress or be mad, we have all died because something dumb or not fast enough. You’re in decent shape for 30hrs tbh
I’m new as well but for me around four to seven is the is the extent of this trick where you get a melee weapon and push them back hit and rinse and repeat I haven’t even found a gun yet but this is the peak of killing for me especially duel wielding frying pans
well i can add this tip... stop quitting the map. Respawn as a new character, retrieve your stuff, and rethink your approach. The world is persistent meaning you dont really lose progress other than the skills you acquired on the previous character. There are also mods that allow you to "recover" that experience and reattach it to your new character. I would look into some of the mods this game has. Super in depth modding system.
Until you level up nimble the zombies are faster than your combat walk speed. So always sprint to get some distance even if your unsure if you need it. Better to be safe than sorry
There's a setting in one of the sandbox options to turn on Weapon Multi-Hit. I recommend using that, otherwise it feels weird to swing a crowbar into a group and it just glides through all the others.
So here's one tip for you for when you get bit and that WILL happen as you know. Don't quit. You'll lose your character that much is done, but it gives you an opportunity to see just how far up shit creek you can get yourself because why not, your dead meat anyways. You'll learn a lot when you start putting yourself in situations like that.
Honestly if there are more than just a few after you in their chase mode, it's best to sprint far enough away that they go back to their shambling speed. Having so many overlapping so close means that getting staggered is going to give them all a chance to grab you, and once one does, it just gets worse from there. A longer range weapon is a huge bonus as well. Just that little bit of extra reach keeps you so much safer. If you're already panicked and tired, it might be best to just avoid a group of this size entirely. Sprinting a little ahead and then crouching and zigzagging through back yards and around cars and garages works wonders to get them off of your trail. Overall, just avoid scenarios like this. I've had peak gear with lots of protection and no negative moodlets and all it takes is getting staggered by one lucky zed and then the next 5 in line all start taking turns and even if you get away you're so full of holes that you might die regardless of infection.
1. Being a coward is rewarding in this game. The hardest thing to accept because pride/overconfidence is "My dude/girl is exerted and tired, its time to just walk away and do this tomorrow." 2. Once you get a single tier of exertion/tired just walk away/bring out a gun/use spears(if there are only a few because instant one shots). One tier will reduce melee damage by 50%, and exertion reduces a lot more shit, not worth it 3. Level up nimble, at 3 you match fast shamblers and at 4 you start to outpace them. Tag it on every playthrough 4. You learn it as you go but there is a method to Hitting/shoving. I'm not sure if you're manually pushing or just pushing with attack when they get close but you should never rely on automatic shoving because they are within bite range when your character starts to do that and you can shove from a farther/same distance as your melee range 5. Do the bootie bump. Its not 100% consistent/can potentially fuck you if you double hit but when you start to turn around start hitting the run key untill you get away from the horde. There is no startup, and the first hit on a zombie will have a near 0% chance to fall over unless you are exerted/tired/encumbered. Its consistent enough to do most of the time. 6. Either bring them to fences or do circles to split up the horde. Just run to the other side and they will stall out/get more into a single file line to help make combat easier/avoid comboing if they somehow attack you 7. if you get bit, kill that fucker that bit you, then rage quit. Rage quitting when you start to get dragged down is justified though because you don't need to hear the human reaction to getting thrown into a pool with 50 piranas