Zombie skills

A "Scent Death" map. Zombie skills are available to zombies at a cost of 100 XP. List of Zombie skills Scent Fear: Survivors with fewer than 25 HP are shown as "wounded", and those with fewer than 13 HP are shown as "dying" in room descriptions. Both are asterisked on the map. Scent Blood: The HP values of nearby survivors are displayed next to their name. This skill also allows zombies to distinguish infected survivors from the uninfected. Infected survivors' HP are shown in light green with this skill. Scent Trail: Zombie is able to sense the new positions of survivors it's had recent contact with (if the survivor is within 10 blocks of the zombie and neither one has been either killed or revived). Scent Death: When a zombie or survivor with this skill sees a pile of bodies, they can tell how many of them are in the process of revivifying. They get a message like "There are x dead bodies here. y of them smell strange", where x is the number of bodies in total and y is the number of revivifying bodies. "Scent Death" also is an action that can be used by the zombie for 1 AP to view a "map" that indicates how many dead bodies and zombies are in the surrounding 5 block radius, plus directions to the nearest grouping of members of the zombie's own group, if any such exists. The map looks as shown at the right. It seems that zombie show up as progressively brighter values of green (more zombies) and dead bodies as brighter values of red (more bodies). When green and red mix, you get various shades of brown, orange, yellow, or lime, indicating squares with both zombies and dead bodies (as most often seen in a siege, or anywhere zombies are being killed / revived). Digestion: Whenever the zombie deals bite damage, it gains HP equal to the damage dealt. Also, zombies with Digestion can "Feed on a corpse" if a corpse is nearby; this costs 1 AP and restores 4 HP. Infectious Bite: Bitten survivors become infected and lose 1HP per action until cured. Speaking does not cause survivors to lose health. (Anyone can cure the effects of a bite with a First Aid Kit. Experience points are not granted to the zombie when victims lose HP from the infection.) (Note, if your zombie appears unable to bite anyone, check that you are not wearing a mask.) Vigour Mortis: Zombie gets +10% to hit with all non-weapon attacks. The Corpse class starts with Vigour Mortis. Neck Lurch: Zombie gets an extra +10% to hit with bite attacks. Death Grip: Zombie gets an extra +15% to hit with hand attacks. Rend Flesh: Hand attacks deal an extra 1 damage. Tangling Grasp: If the zombie hits with hands, its further attacks on that victim get +10% until it loses its grip. Tangled attacks on other zombies seem to be ineffective. 50% of missed hits result in loss of grasp. It also seems that only one zombie can grasp a target at a time - you may well lose your grasp if another zombie with tangling grasp makes a successful attack on your target before you do. Feeding Drag: Zombie is able to drag dying survivors (those with 12HP or less) out into the street, provided there are no barricades and the doors are still open. Memories of Life: Zombie is able to open doors to buildings. Death Rattle: Zombie is able to communicate in kiZombie or through a limited, groaned form of speech. Feeding Groan: If faced with one or more survivors, the zombie can emit moans audible to characters (zombie or survivor) in nearby locations. The range (in blocks) at which this call can be heard is equal to the number of survivors, with a maximum range of 6 blocks. Feeding Groans can not be heard by characters who are inside a building other than the one the originate inside of, but can always be heard if you are outdoors and in range. When hearing a groan, the directions to its source are given, similar as for flares. If you are a member of the same group as the zombie who groaned, the groan will additionally be described as "familiar". Ransack: Zombie is able to damage the interior of abandoned buildings, making them harder to search until they are repaired. (Ransacked buildings cannot be repaired if active (standing) zombies are present. In addition, ransacked buildings cannot be barricaded until the damage is repaired and it is harder to find items in a ransacked building. Only buildings containing no standing survivors can be ransacked. The act of ransacking a building also provides the zombie with 1 XP. After five ransacks, the building is ruined, requiring the construction skill and a toolbox to repair.) Flailing Gesture: Zombie is able to gesture towards people, objects, buildings and compass directions. Lurching Gait: Zombie can walk as fast as the living. They spend 1AP to walk from one square to another, versus needing 2 AP. Ankle Grab: Zombie only spends 1AP standing up (unless they died from a Headshot, in which case 6AP is spent). (This skill also works when standing up as a human.) Brain Rot: Zombie is harder to DNA-scan, and can only be revivified in a powered NT building using NecroNet access. Flesh Rot: This is the equivalent of having died with the Body Building skill and a flak jacket, and doesn't stack. Strategy considerations Zombies can attack with their Hands or Teeth (or with blunt weapons, should they die holding them, though these are less accurate than a zombie's unarmed attacks). Characters beginning as a corpse possess Vigour Mortis, which alone makes the Bite the slightly more effective attack (see Table, below). Slain characters that started out alive become zombies without Vigour Mortis, making both of their attacks less accurate, and making the Claw attack the more reliable until Vigour Mortis is gained. The only ways a Zombie can earn XP to purchase skills are to attack others, ransack buildings, destroy barricades, radios, or generators. Strategic consideration thus focuses on dealing the greatest amount of damage in the shortest amount of time. Basic Combat Skills With the first few skills acquired, the most sensible options are to enhance either the claw or bite attack as much as possible. Players who began without Vigour Mortis need to purchase it before making further improvements to their skills. After Vigour Mortis, improving the bite attack with Neck Lurch gives the greatest power increase available in a single level. However, the claws can be made into an even more powerful attack with two extra skills. The combination of Death Grip and Rend Flesh gives an attack that, while weaker than the bite, is far more accurate. Claw attacks using these two skills provide the highest average rate of damage available to zombies. In addition, you cannot break down barricades by biting, so Death Grip has another advantage in that it helps you break down barricades more quickly. Tangling Grasp further enhances the accuracy of either attack, though its usefulness relies on landing a successful claw attack in the first place, and so it is best purchased after Death Grip. The main use of Digestion and Infectious Bite is to increase the odds that you remain standing while your enemy dies, as well as adding variety to gameplay. No extra XP is gained for the health extracted from a survivor, or for the damage done by their infection. They may not be the ideal choice for players whose main aim is to level up quickly. Although not exactly a combat skill, Feeding Drag gives a third attack that moves the zombie and a survivor with fewer than 13HP outside. It is a useful tool for killing humans outside of survivor-filled areas, or letting lower-level zombies enjoy a good feeding. Zombie Killing If your main food source is zombies, you'll earn XP equal to half the damage you deal. This means that each successful bite attack yields 2XP, and each successful claw attack yields 1XP. Note that this does not improve after acquiring Rend Flesh, as the game rounds down the resulting decimal. Maxed out claws (including Tangling Grasp) yield 0.6 XP/AP, which is the same as a maxed bite attack without using Tangling Grasp. Therefore, the strategy which yields the most XP from damaging fellow zombies is to use bite attacks after grabbing your victim with Tangling Grasp. Finishing a zombie off earns the full 10 XP bonus in addition to the above (reduced) rewards for causing damage, so it really pays to maximize your kills if Zombie Killing is your main source of XP. The best way to do this is to contact list as many zombies as you can, so that you can select them as individual targets whenever you see them. Hit each one you see with your most accurate attack in order to find out which has the lowest HP's, then attack that one consistently until you kill it. This works especially well at revive points, where many zombies will "Mrh" so that revivers (and you) can add them as contacts, and these Mrh Cow zombies less often move away or get killed by XP seeking survivors. By using this tactic, a level 1 zombie can normally expect to earn 30-40 XP per day, and might also help prevent a few survivors from getting revived. AP Saving Skills Two skills reduce AP costs, which allows a zombie more attacks per day. Lurching Gait may be rarely used or totally essential depending on one's playing style. A zombie who finds pickings slim and must hunt for his food will constantly benefit, while a zombie in a siege will rarely have to move between blocks to find targets. Ankle Grab is perhaps the most powerful zombie skill, since it largely removes the penalty associated with a zombie's death. Zombies in areas densely populated with survivors should acquire this skill as soon as possible, though others may find they rarely encounter the inconvenience of death anyway. Other Skills The Scent skills may not appear powerful, but can aid a zombie to choose his targets wisely. Scent Fear gives an indication of a zombie's odds of killing a survivor - a satisfying experience that yields a 10XP bonus on top of the damage inflicted. Scent Blood gives a more precise indication, and is particularly useful when infecting a large population of survivors, as it becomes obvious which characters have already been bitten. The survivor skill Diagnosis lacks the 'infection-detection' aspect of Scent Blood, giving it an edge. (see below). Scent Trail enables a zombie to chase down survivors that have recently attacked them or otherwise interacted. Useful when pickings are slim or vengeance is called for. Scent Death eases the task of finding a horde. Co-operating with other high-level zombies can greatly improve a zombie's success in finding and destroying survivor populations. The remaining skills are generally used by advanced zombies; they yield no XP gain and are most useful when part of a horde. Memories of Life is essential for breaking in to food sources, but only one zombie is needed to open a door - a low-level zombie can still manage to eat well if there are others present with the skill. Feeding Groans can be heard by both zombies and humans who are standing outside within range. Groans can be made inside, but will still be heard outside rather than in neighbouring buildings. Groans are much more likely to attract zombies than humans, since the latter tend not to spend long periods of time outside safehouses. The range at which a groan can be heard matches the number of survivors present, up to a maximum 6-block range. Players hearing a groan will not be able to identify the zombie who made it, but zombies in the same group will notice the cry is 'familiar'. Death Rattle makes it possible for zombies to say more than just the preset couple of groans. In fact, an entire language has developed using the Death Rattle skill, as well as vocabulary listed in Guides:The Zombie Lexicon and in Guides:kiZombie-English_Dictionary. Some zombies use Zombie Speech Translators to "encrypt" plaintext into decodable strings containing only the characters that Death Rattle can transmit. Ransack may only be used when a building is emptied of survivors. It damages the building, reducing search rates for any survivors that enter. Ransacked buildings may not be barricaded, and survivors may only repair the damage if no zombies are present. This is primarily a way for zombies to stake territory and cut off human access to buildings that provide useful items. Ransack cannot be used on Junkyards. A location after being ransacked 5 times turns it into ruin. Flailing Gesture allows zombies to point at most things near them. The default 'Pointers' are: North, North East, East, South East, South, South West, West, North West, the sky, the ground and yourself. The other things you can point at are the barricades, the buildings in radius of you, nearby zombies, and nearby humans. You can select which human to point at by name, and when you have pointed at said human you get a link to his profile in the pointing message. You can also gesture at any zombie or corpse you have in your contact list. Brain Rot makes it almost completely impossible for a zombie to be revived. (Brain Rotted zombies may still be brought to life by a survivor with Necronet Access in a powered Necrotech building.) Humans trying to peform DNA extraction on Brain Rotted zombies will also have less success. This skill is taken on only by those truly dedicated to the zombie cause. Human Skills useful to Zombies Certain skills purchased by survivors are also useful when dead. Even a dedicated zombie might find a brief spell of living useful. Body Building gives a zombie 60HP instead of the standard 50. Slowing down the rate at which your enemies can kill you is always helpful. Diagnosis is similar to Scent Blood, the crucial difference being that it does NOT detect infections. It works when alive or dead, allowing you to see other survivors' Hit Points. Another difference is that survivors can purchase it straight away for 100XP, while Scent Blood requires the previous purchase of Scent Fear, making a total of 200XP. Low level zombies may find a well-timed revive will help them get this skill faster. Necrotech Employment, among other things, labels Necrotech Buildings on the map screen. This works for zombies as well as survivors, and may be of some use in selecting targets. There is also one human item that presents a significant benefit to zombies: the Flak Jacket. This will reduce the damage a zombie receives from firearms by 20%, so that pistols inflict 4 damage and shotgun blasts inflict 8. Comparison of Attack Skill Combinations The Bite skill (Neck Lurch) offer more damage and experience per action point than the Claw skills at early levels and complements Digestion (to restore hit points) and Infectious Bite (to harass survivors), however biting has no effect on the barricades which survivors hide behind. The flesh-ripping power of the Claws is slightly greater in the long run (see below), but doesn't offer any "healing" ability - you'd have to backtrack and cover both bases later. Unless you intended to gain XP by attacking other zombies at the start of your zombie career, it is generally accepted that Death Grip and then Rend Flesh are the two attacking skills that zombies should buy first. Here's how the damage breaks down: # of Skills Skills Attack Damage per attack Chance Average Damage per Action Point Average XP gained vs. zombie / survivor 0 None (Slain survivor only) Bite 4 10% 0.4 0.2 / 0.4 Claws 2 25% 0.5 0.25 / 0.5 1 Vigour Mortis (Starting zombie) Bite 4 20% 0.8 0.4 / 0.8 Claws 2 35% 0.7 0.35 / 0.7 2 V.M. + Tangling Grasp Bite 4 32.5% (15%)1 0.95 0.475 / 0.95 Claws 2 40.6% 0.812 0.406 / 0.812 V.M. + Neck Lurch Bite 4 30% 1.22 0.6 3 / 1.2 V.M. + Death Grip Claws 2 50% 1.0 0.5 / 1.0 V.M. + Rend Flesh Claws 3 35% 1.05 0.35 / 1.05 3 V.M. + Death Grip + Tangling Grasp Bite 4 38.24% (17.65%)1 1.118 0.559 / 1.118 Claws 2 57.14% 1.143 0.571 / 1.143 V.M. + Rend Flesh + Tangling Grasp Bite 4 32.5% (15%)1 1.125 0.479 / 1.125 Claws 3 40.6% 1.218 0.406 / 1.218 V.M. + Death Grip + Rend Flesh Claws 3 50% 1.53 0.5 / 1.5 V.M. + Neck Lurch + Tangling Grasp Bite 4 37.69% (21.54%)1 1.185 0.592 / 1.185 4 V.M. + D.G. + R.F. + Tangling Grasp Bite 4 38.24% (17.65%)1 1.324 0.559 / 1.324 Claws 3 57.14% 1.7144 0.571 / 1.714 V.M. + D.G. + N.L. + Tangling Grasp Bite 4 43.75% (25%)1 1.375 0.688 / 1.375 V.M. + R.F. + N.L. + Tangling Grasp Bite 4 37.69% (21.54%)1 1.346 0.592 / 1.346 5 V.M. + D.G. + R.F. + N.L. + Tangling Grasp Bite 4 43.75% (25%)1 1.563 0.688 / 1.563 1 XX% (XX%) = Chance of hitting target (chance of biting target). 2 Best possible combat effect after two skills, V.M. + 1. 3 Best possible combat effect after three skills, V.M. + 2. 4 Best possible combat effect after four skills, V.M. + 3. Figures that involve Tangling Grasp are based on calculations using methods from this source. Claw for Grasp, Bite for Threes Swiers does it again. The following is a quote of his recent forum posts: "What does this mnemonic mean? Well, first, make a claw attack to establish a grasp. Then, if your target's HP total is any value that is NOT a multiple of three, make a bite attack. This attack routine will always ensure you (statistically speaking) spend minimal AP killing a survivor, because it avoids doing any "overkill" damage. It also maximizes the bonus of tangling grasp, and generally ensures you infect a survivor before they die. The one exception to this rule is when a survivor is at 4 or 8 HP, its not worth clawing for the grasp- just bite them, as (even without the tangling bonus) its the fastest way to get them to 0HP. "Claws are best on a damage per AP basis, but on a kill per day basis (IE, when you consider the race to 0HP vs the race to 0 AP), a mix of claws and teeth (aimed at efficiently getting survivors to a point where they have HP as a multiple of 3, then clawing them to death) works best. . . For a simple case, look at a survivor with 4 HP; pure bite attacks are obviously gonna result in a faster kill than claws, even if the claws have 60% to hit, and the bite only 30% (which means claws always get tangling, and bite never does). Suprisingly, the same goes when the human has 8 HP; pure bites give a faster kill on average if the target has 8 HP. From there, its easy to add multiples of 3 to 0, 4 or 8 to get ANY HP value higher - which indicates you should always bite if HP is not a multiple of 3 and you have a grip, as its the fastest way to get rid of that 4 or 8 HP that you will eventually need to deal with (ideally via bites, as shown above) anyhow. ". . . if your aim is purely to kill them, claws alone will be fastest vs 60HP. If you want to infect them as well, you'll need to toss a bite in for good measure. Tossing in one bite takes them to a non-multiple of 3, meaning you ideally toss in another a couple more bites over time to get them back to a multiple of three. In the end, you end up attacking for a combo of 16 claw hits interspersed with 3 bite hits, to do 60 total damage and cause an infection." Feeding Groan Messages The message seen by groaning zombies depends on the number of survivors present and on whether or not the zombie is inside a building: You have no instinctive reason to groan. (There are no survivors here.) (0 survivors) You murmur at the lone survivor in front of you. (1 survivor) You give a low and unsteady groan. (2 survivors) You give a low and unsteady moan. (3 survivors) You give a deep and echoing groan. (4 survivors) You graagh threateningly, your call echoing out into the streets. (5 or more survivors, indoors) You graagh threateningly, your call echoing through the empty streets. (5 or more survivors, outdoors) Groans are heard by others as (for example): "You heard a loud and low groaning X blocks to the <direction>. (timestamp GMT)" Ransack Messages Ransack Messages vary depending on the building being ransacked. This is an incomplete list. Feel free to add to it to enhance the information. Armoury Ransack Message: You punch dents in weapon lockers and tip crates over. Building Description: You are inside ... armoury, a small grid of concrete tunnels running under the military base. The majority of its shelves and lockers have been cleared. The weapon lockers have been smashed and ransacked. Auto Repair Ransack Message: You ransack the building. Building Description: You are inside ... Auto Repair. The building has been smashed and ransacked. Bank Ransack Message: You ransack the building. Building Description: You are inside ... Bank. The building has been smashed and ransacked. Building Ransack Message: You ransack the building. Building Description: You are inside ... Building. The building has been smashed and ransacked. Church Ransack Message: You ransack the building. Building Description: You are inside ... Church. The building has been smashed and ransacked. Cinema Ransack Message: You ransack the building. Building Description: You are inside ... Cinema. The building has been smashed and ransacked Club Ransack Message: You smash at the bottles behind the bar. Building Description: You are inside Club ..., in the near-darkness of the main dancefloor. The building has been smashed and ransacked. Factory Ransack Message:You wreck the machinery. Building Description: You are inside a factory. The machinery has been ransacked. Hospital Ransack Message: You ransack the building. Building Description: You are inside ... Hospital. The building has been smashed and ransacked. Library Ransack Message: You topple shelves onto the floor. Building Description: You are inside ... Library. Shelves and racks have been toppled, books scattering out across the floor. Mall Ransack Message: You smash through window displays and pull shelves from the wall. Building Description: The store fronts have been smashed and looted, the shops ransacked into dereliction. Museum Ransack Message: You ransack the building. Building Description: You are inside the ... Museum. The building has been smashed and ransacked Necrotech Building Ransack Message: You overturn the desks, smash computer screens and sweep lab equipment onto the floor. Building Description: You are inside a NecroTech Building. The NecroTech logo is set in the wall behind the front desk, and doors open onto powered-down computer rooms and laboratories. The lab equipment has been smashed and ransacked. Police Department Ransack Message: You overturn desks and punch dents in the lockers. Building Description: You are inside ... PD. The building has been smashed and ransacked. Pub Ransack Message: You smash bottles onto the floor, and tear at the bar fittings. Building Description: You are inside ... an abandoned pub. The bar has been ransacked, dark puddles pooling around broken glass. Railway Station Ransack Message: You ransack the building. Building Description: You are inside ... Railway Station. The building has been smashed and ransacked. Towers Ransack Message: You ransack the building. Building Description: You are inside ... Towers. The lobby has been ransacked. Warehouse Ransack Message: You crash piles of crates to the floor, and punch dents in lockers. Building Description: You are inside a warehouse. It looks like it's been out of use since before the quarantine. The building has been smashed and ransacked. Skill Tags Each skill in the game is assigned a letter by the system. These are normally not visible, but are used in the code that purchases your skills, submitted to the server in a form. Skills can not be purchased without using this form, in order to prevent abuses where people were tricked into buying skills (most often brain rot) by following a link. Scent Fear = "k" Scent Death = "R" Scent Blood = "m" Scent Trail = "x" Digestion = "l" Infectious Bite = "H" Vigour Mortis = "o" Neck Lurch = "s" Death Grip = "t" Rend Flesh = "F" Tangling Grasp = "O" Flailing Gesture = "T" Memories of Life = "v" Death Rattle = "z" Feeding Groan = "M" Feeding Drag = "S" Ransack = "P" Lurching Gait = "w" Ankle Grab = "J" Brain Rot = "B" Related Zombie Skills Usable by Survivors Available skills: Civilian | Military | Science | Zombie Hunter | Zombie → Suggestions for new skills