AP vs HP ammo

[ganjou241]

Does anyone have info on AP vs HP? With and without the Penetrator Perk?

[Grumpy Old Guy]

Generally speaking AP is almost always better. It goes through one additional target and ignores half of their armor. HP ammo is better in exactly one scenario and that is "You are shooting exactly one zombie and it does not have armor to ignore" and in that exact scenario it does slightly more damage than AP ammo.

Considering I'm almost never wasting bullets on single zombies I've never made it.

The penetrator perk has two functions, scaling ignoring of armor with any ranged damage the other half of the perk where it goes through higher hp blocks and more targets only works with rifles and even then only the hunting rifle, lever action, and sniper rifle. It's 100% worth it if you use rifles, otherwise it's nice but not mandatory to have if you already use AP ammo.

Notably not all zombies have armor. It depends on the type of zombie. Soldier zombies do, Feral wights do, other than that I'm not 100% sure which do and which don't I think rule of thumb is that if the zombie is on the fatter side or is somehow special like the cop or the mutated zombie it probably has armor but don't quote me on it.

[ganjou241]

Originally posted by Grumpy Old Guy:

Generally speaking AP is almost always better. It goes through one additional target and ignores half of their armor. HP ammo is better in exactly one scenario and that is "You are shooting exactly one zombie and it does not have armor to ignore" and in that exact scenario it does slightly more damage than AP ammo.

Considering I'm almost never wasting bullets on single zombies I've never made it.

The penetrator perk has two functions, scaling ignoring of armor with any ranged damage the other half of the perk where it goes through higher hp blocks and more targets only works with rifles and even then only the hunting rifle, lever action, and sniper rifle. It's 100% worth it if you use rifles, otherwise it's nice but not mandatory to have if you already use AP ammo.

Notably not all zombies have armor. It depends on the type of zombie. Soldier zombies do, Feral wights do, other than that I'm not 100% sure which do and which don't I think rule of thumb is that if the zombie is on the fatter side or is somehow special like the cop or the mutated zombie it probably has armor but don't quote me on it.

If you only had HP and Normal Ammo (7.62) versus an armored zombie? Would using HP on armored deal less damage?

[Grumpy Old Guy]

Originally posted by ganjou241:

Originally posted by Grumpy Old Guy:

Generally speaking AP is almost always better. It goes through one additional target and ignores half of their armor. HP ammo is better in exactly one scenario and that is "You are shooting exactly one zombie and it does not have armor to ignore" and in that exact scenario it does slightly more damage than AP ammo.

Considering I'm almost never wasting bullets on single zombies I've never made it.

The penetrator perk has two functions, scaling ignoring of armor with any ranged damage the other half of the perk where it goes through higher hp blocks and more targets only works with rifles and even then only the hunting rifle, lever action, and sniper rifle. It's 100% worth it if you use rifles, otherwise it's nice but not mandatory to have if you already use AP ammo.

Notably not all zombies have armor. It depends on the type of zombie. Soldier zombies do, Feral wights do, other than that I'm not 100% sure which do and which don't I think rule of thumb is that if the zombie is on the fatter side or is somehow special like the cop or the mutated zombie it probably has armor but don't quote me on it.

If you only had HP and Normal Ammo (7.62) versus an armored zombie? Would using HP on armored deal less damage?

No, HP ammo all it does is more base damage. It used to have a thing where it did less damage to armored zombies but that was removed ages ago.

Now normal ammo is the standard, HP is a straight upgrade to normal, and AP is a straight upgrade to HP. Once you can make the next tier there isn't much call to use the lower stuff.

Notably I will warn you turrets are finicky about using other types of ammo. I don't remember if SMG turrets will take AP ammo but I know shotgun turrets won't take slugs.

[DC| TehAgent]

Regular ammo is fine for shooting a random zed here and there, like out scavenging during the day.

HP ammo is great for situations where you cant get them lined up in a choke point. Multiple zeds outside, multiple zeds in areas that are more open or they come from many directions all at once.

AP ammo is best for when you can lure them into a choke point, get 2+ lined up, and get 2 for 1 shots in.

They all kinda have their place.

I prefer AP ammo for the sniper rifle and desert eagle. I prefer HP ammo for tac rifle and SMG. When you need to just be a bullet hose, regular ammo for the M60 or 9mm.

I dont feel like guns that shoot a lot of bullets fast need to be HP or AP. In most situations where you need to be a bullet hose, regular ammo should be fine, but HP ammo might work a little better without being wasteful on resources.

On that note, I really havent found a situation where slugs work better for the shotgun. I tried them and pellets (buckshot) just seems to be better.

[Hogman]

HP stands for HiPower, but it used to stand for Hollow Point. They changed the name when they stopped it from doing less damage to armoured zombies.

I don't see any need to make HP ammo because the small increase in damage doesn't justify the large increase in resources.

[Dr. Rockso]

Originally posted by DC| TehAgent:

On that note, I really havent found a situation where slugs work better for the shotgun. I tried them and pellets (buckshot) just seems to be better.

That's because TFP nerfed the heck out of slugs.

[Sky Wizard]

Originally posted by DC| TehAgent:

On that note, I really havent found a situation where slugs work better for the shotgun. I tried them and pellets (buckshot) just seems to be better.

Slugs increase the range of the shotgun, allowing you to kill Zeds from further away.