Effective plague destruction in Nightmare

[Eternal Paladin]

So with the nerf to the pyrolauncher on damage to plague hearts what are some effective ways to destroy the hearts in Nightmare Zone?
Doing a new playthrough (after finally getting good enough to finish a legacy) and it takes six pipe bombs to kill a single heart.
So, what are some of the more effective/faster ways to kill hearts?

[SpunkyJones]

I typically just use grenades or the pyro launcher. Bloater grenades, followed by a molly can be effective,

[Fenris]

ah the easiest way I found was just to get some C4, and a soda can or pipe bomb, and a gun with a couple bullets, sprint in you can ignore all the zombies, throw down the c4, run to the other side of the building, detonate and then throw the other bomb youre carrying and shoot it at the same time like a handful of times and its dead. This is good because you don't have to waste 10 minutes killing all the other dudes outside. The c4 probably does like 75% of its hp and the soda can or pipe bomb will deal the rest, with just a few bullets needed. It's super fast and you can knock out a handful of plague hearts in a half hour if you know where they all are. Added bonus is that because its so fast they heart wont have enough time to spawn in a feral, so even though its nightmare difficulty you can often kill a heart without killing more than 1-2 zombies that you find inside the building

[drednicolson]

If I can sneak in and quietly get rid of the 4-5 plague zoms that are usually hanging around, I'll first beat on the heart with a melee weapon until the first "call for help" starts. (Use a weapon with good Impact for this. Heavy weapons tend to have the most, blunt weapons a decent amount, bladed the least.) Then back off and toss whatever nades I have available until the second call starts and my character says it's almost dead. Then finish off with an automatic gun. (Big caliber and/or muzzle braked preferred.) Then bug out in my car or walk out under scentblock. I can come back for the loot later after the zombie crowds wander off.

Crafting costs double the resources in Nightmare, so I try to be efficient. :)

A couple other tips,

-If the heart is in a Swine & Bovine (a regular one, not an Express), you can climb an inside ladder to the roof and attack through the skylight at no risk to yourself.

-If the heart is in an open location (like inside a shipping container), you can 1-shot it with an artillery or drone strike. You'll need to place the marker so there's an unobstructed path between it and the heart, or any obstacles in the way could block the explosions.

[Yes, I have a Mic.]

BFG50 or Timberwolf.
8 50 cal rounds is enough to bring down a heart. You can go the c4 route but in my experience circuit boards are a pain in the ass to gather where as you know where you are with ammo bags. Plus you only need to find one of these weapons to make this work.
With munitions you can craft 8 rounds with 6 ammo. 18 hearts, if I remember correctly so, 18 x 6 = 108. At least 108 ammo to cruise around blasting all the hearts.
With a trading post you can gather that much fairly easily, you won't be too short on influence in nightmare. Just takes time.
Might take a while to get the resources but its the safest, most effective method I have found.
It allows you to get in and get out in seconds with the least risk to your character.

If you do some recon beforehand to locate all the hearts you could even use like 3-4 scentblockers with a plague cure to knock them all out in a single road trip.
Preparation is key.

[Panic Fire]

Originally posted by Eternal Paladin:

So with the nerf to the pyrolauncher on damage to plague hearts what are some effective ways to destroy the hearts in Nightmare Zone?
Doing a new playthrough (after finally getting good enough to finish a legacy) and it takes six pipe bombs to kill a single heart.
So, what are some of the more effective/faster ways to kill hearts?

Drone strikes will generally kill in on hit. (these will kill heats through walls no problem, hearts in the center of warhouses though can't be hit with these.
C4 in two hits
Use a invisibility potion and swing or shoot away.
Use a fast firing assault weapon into it quickly.
Willy Petes (ussually takes 2)
Fire Bombs (these are way easier to make in large quanities than other flamables and generally work pretty great against plague hearts)

50 cals work but I would suggest you save that 50 cal ammo for juggernauts and rival Survivors.

[Tregrenos]

Unless I can snipe them I just toss some noise makers outside, open the door on the opposite side of the house/building when stealthing to spawn the ones on the inside, then grenade the hell outta it.

[Fenris]

Originally posted by The Narrator:

BFG50 or Timberwolf.
8 50 cal rounds is enough to bring down a heart. You can go the c4 route but in my experience circuit boards are a pain in the ass to gather where as you know where you are with ammo bags. Plus you only need to find one of these weapons to make this work.
With munitions you can craft 8 rounds with 6 ammo. 18 hearts, if I remember correctly so, 18 x 6 = 108. At least 108 ammo to cruise around blasting all the hearts.
With a trading post you can gather that much fairly easily, you won't be too short on influence in nightmare. Just takes time.
Might take a while to get the resources but its the safest, most effective method I have found.
It allows you to get in and get out in seconds with the least risk to your character.

If you do some recon beforehand to locate all the hearts you could even use like 3-4 scentblockers with a plague cure to knock them all out in a single road trip.
Preparation is key.

bro that's insane! you should never try to get 100 ammo lol that would take ages. Just get the munitions and electronics perks, some chemicals and parts and you can create 6 c4 for very cheap. Do that twice and then you basically have enough to kill 12 hearts. I did this yesterday when I put my favorite characters in drucker and wanted to get out asap. It took me an hour to kill 14 hearts this way. And it netted me at least 5k influence that I could spend on anything since I never had to trade for resources

[Yes, I have a Mic.]

Originally posted by Fenris:

Originally posted by The Narrator:

BFG50 or Timberwolf.
8 50 cal rounds is enough to bring down a heart. You can go the c4 route but in my experience circuit boards are a pain in the ass to gather where as you know where you are with ammo bags. Plus you only need to find one of these weapons to make this work.
With munitions you can craft 8 rounds with 6 ammo. 18 hearts, if I remember correctly so, 18 x 6 = 108. At least 108 ammo to cruise around blasting all the hearts.
With a trading post you can gather that much fairly easily, you won't be too short on influence in nightmare. Just takes time.
Might take a while to get the resources but its the safest, most effective method I have found.
It allows you to get in and get out in seconds with the least risk to your character.

If you do some recon beforehand to locate all the hearts you could even use like 3-4 scentblockers with a plague cure to knock them all out in a single road trip.
Preparation is key.

bro that's insane! you should never try to get 100 ammo lol that would take ages. Just get the munitions and electronics perks, some chemicals and parts and you can create 6 c4 for very cheap. Do that twice and then you basically have enough to kill 12 hearts. I did this yesterday when I put my favorite characters in drucker and wanted to get out asap. It took me an hour to kill 14 hearts this way. And it netted me at least 5k influence that I could spend on anything since I never had to trade for resources

I mean, I've got like 500 50. cal in my lockup right now. If you order ammo trader regularly and have a heavy ammo press its really not difficult to gather.
You're right about the c4 but I just never liked it much. Something about kicking the door down and just immediately ending it appeals to me.
It doesn't matter what you encounter, a BFG50 will end it.

[drednicolson]

Just be ready to bug out after you do. A BFG50 shot in Nightmare makes enough noise to cover 3x the size of your minimap and will bring more zeds running that than you'll have bullets for. :O