Short Blade 1 hit kill from front?

[Itharus]

I had this randomly happen to me. A little animation I was too zoomed out to see happened -- I thought I got bit -- but the zombie turned out 1 shot from my kitchen knife. My survivor's combat skills aren't impressive.

What triggered this? I thought 1 hit kills only happened from behind while undetected?

[Larus]

It can happen randomly when you're close enough. I think its also necessary that no other zombie stands close to your target. Same with the spear headstab.

[Seedling]

Zombies in certain poses are susceptible to instant-kill attacks. Like, if you sneak up on one from behind, you can OHKO them. There is another such pose when they are about to bite you, and if you happen to have the right weapon equipped and faced towards them, you can stab a knife through their throat and sever the spinal cord, doing an OHKO.

[Trindalas]

If they are close enough you ram the knife up into their head from under their jaw. Be careful as the blade can get stuck and you will need to retrieve it. I think higher level short blade gives better chances for the move and low chances to have the blade stuck. It’s got tricky timing. Used to be able to pull it off a lot easier in an older build, but I think they made it riskier to try. I think.

[Eternal]

Jaw stab from the front is almost entirely rng based
Better knifes have higher chance to roll jaw stab with each attack and the higher your short blade skill the better the chance

[tickletank]

Originally posted by Aeternus:

Jaw stab from the front is almost entirely rng based
Better knifes have higher chance to roll jaw stab with each attack and the higher your short blade skill the better the chance

I think you may be right about this. I used knives religiously in Build 40 because you could perform the one hit kill animation every time (if you timed it right). Now it seems random...or maybe the chance of it happening is tied directly to your blade skill? I'm not sure. All I know is that I don't really rely on knives anymore since build 41 came around!

[Itharus]

Originally posted by Seedling:

Zombies in certain poses are susceptible to instant-kill attacks. Like, if you sneak up on one from behind, you can OHKO them. There is another such pose when they are about to bite you, and if you happen to have the right weapon equipped and faced towards them, you can stab a knife through their throat and sever the spinal cord, doing an OHKO.

That must be what happened, he was RIGHT on top of me and biting and I was frantically clicking.

[Mike]

It doesn't happen randomly. The higher the skill, the greater the chance of doing so. Furthermore, with knives you can kill them with one blow if you can get close to them from behind without being noticed. Be careful because it can happen that the knife gets stuck in the body.

[Bullshat]

Originally posted by Reeven:

It doesn't happen randomly. The higher the skill, the greater the chance of doing so. Furthermore, with knives you can kill them with one blow if you can get close to them from behind without being noticed. Be careful because it can happen that the knife gets stuck in the body.

Do you have any raw data on this? I'd love to know the % chances of hitting a front execution at each skill level.

[Envixity]

it's not a chance thing, a front-facing jaw stab is a real thing

[Nordil(Hun)]

Originally posted by Bullshat:

Originally posted by Reeven:

It doesn't happen randomly. The higher the skill, the greater the chance of doing so. Furthermore, with knives you can kill them with one blow if you can get close to them from behind without being noticed. Be careful because it can happen that the knife gets stuck in the body.

Do you have any raw data on this? I'd love to know the % chances of hitting a front execution at each skill level.

It is timeing. It used to be the main killing method for some folks in version 40. Front jaw stabbing, now there are certain restrictions on it.(Like no zombie nearby:P) And it is harder to hit that split second you need to strike. Because if you do not suceed you get bit:D

[Ducklord]

It's simple, look at your character.
When he lift his left hand up, he's ready to grab the zombie head and stab with the knife for a one shot hit.
Work in front but will not if there is too many zombies around, in the back you will most likely do it every time.

Like I said, look at the animation.
Your character will raise his left hand, sign he is ready to do the OS move with the knife

In multiplayer, I was able to grab zombies following a friend in the back and do it multiple time, it's almost stupid to do it because if one turn around i'm certainly dead and the zombie movement in MP is quit chaotic for me, they turn suddenly around and changing target in a second.

Just zoom and look at your character when you approach a zombie behind.