Back 4 Blood: How to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse (Or At Least Run Away Screaming)

Welcome to Back 4 Blood, where you and your three not-so-capable friends will fight through hordes of mutated zombies, aka the Ridden, in a quest to save humanity—or die trying. Spoiler alert: you’ll probably die trying. This guide will help you figure out how to be less bad at surviving, how to effectively yell at your friends when they ruin everything, and why friendly fire is the real enemy.

Grab your baseball bat, load up your gun, and let’s dive into the madness of saving the world, one ridiculous mistake at a time!

1. The Basics: Welcome to the Zombie Meat Grinder

In Back 4 Blood, you’re a Cleaner—a zombie apocalypse survivor with the ability to fight, shoot, and argue with your teammates. Your goal is simple: kill the Ridden, avoid getting turned into zombie chow, and somehow make it through each level with all your limbs intact.

Teamwork Makes the Dream Work (Until Someone Throws a Molotov): This is a cooperative game, so you’ll have to work together to survive. Unfortunately, “working together” often means frantically yelling at each other when someone triggers an alarm or throws a grenade directly into a crowd of friends. If you thought your friendships were solid, wait until your buddy accidentally shoots you in the back during a zombie rush.

Special Ridden: AKA, the Creatures That Ruin Your Day: Sure, regular zombies (Ridden) are annoying, but the special Ridden are here to make sure you never feel safe again. Expect giant bruisers, exploding slobber monsters, and screaming zombies who alert every other zombie within a 5-mile radius. If you hear a strange noise, it’s probably already too late.

Friendly Fire Is a Thing (And It’s Personal): Yes, you can shoot your teammates, and no, they won’t be happy about it. In the chaos of battle, it’s easy to mistake a friend for a zombie, especially when they’re running directly into your line of fire. Just remember: accidents happen, but revenge is forever.

2. Meet the Cleaners: Your Dysfunctional Zombie-Killing Family

There are 8 Cleaners to choose from, and each has their own unique skills, personality, and (sometimes questionable) fashion choices. Here’s a quick rundown of the gang:

Walker: The team leader who’s good with guns and good at stating the obvious. His special ability? Being slightly more accurate when everything’s going to hell.

Holly: She’s your go-to melee expert, always armed with a baseball bat and ready to smash skulls. Holly’s the person you want by your side when things get up close and personal. Also, she never shuts up about being tough, which is both inspiring and exhausting.

Doc: She’s the team medic who somehow keeps everyone alive while also dropping sarcastic comments like grenades. Need healing? Doc’s your savior—just don’t expect her to be nice about it.

Hoffman: The conspiracy theorist who’s oddly prepared for the apocalypse. He drops ammo like candy, which means he’s your best friend when you’re running low on bullets. Also, he’s probably hoarded enough toilet paper to survive three more apocalypses.

Evangelo: He’s fast, he’s loud, and he’s annoying in a lovable way. Evangelo’s great at escaping danger—because he’s usually the one who caused it in the first place.

Karlee: She’s the quiet, edgy one who can detect hazards like alarms and traps, which sounds useful until you ignore her warnings and set them off anyway. Karlee’s the team’s voice of reason, though nobody ever listens.

Mom: The group’s matriarch and general badass. Mom boosts team health and brings that tough-love energy to the battlefield. She’ll heal you and then yell at you for being an idiot. Classic mom.

Jim: The sniper of the group who excels at picking off zombies from a distance. Unfortunately, the rest of the team is always up close and personal with the Ridden, so Jim’s usually stuck screaming from the back while everyone else does the dirty work.

3. Weapons: Everything Is a Zombie-Slayer (Even if It Shouldn't Be)

In Back 4 Blood, your weapons are your lifeline—and also the fastest way to accidentally kill your friends. Whether you’re using a shotgun, a sniper rifle, or a rusty machete, there’s always a tool for the job (and a way to misuse it).

Guns, Guns, Guns: You’ll find guns everywhere—pistols, shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles. Your job is to pick one and try to use it responsibly. The shotgun is great for when zombies are right in your face (or when you want to ensure you shoot your teammate in the back). Sniper rifles are for those rare moments when you actually want to aim at something more than 5 feet away.

Melee Weapons: Get Personal: Whether it’s a baseball bat, a machete, or a fire axe, melee weapons are your best friend when you’re knee-deep in zombie guts. Holly especially shines here, but even the rest of the gang can appreciate a good old-fashioned zombie bashing session. Just remember: if you’re too close, the blood spray is your problem now.

Grenades: The Bigger the Boom, the Bigger the Oops: Throwing grenades sounds like a great idea until you realize you’ve just lobbed one into the middle of your own team. From Molotovs to pipe bombs, there’s no shortage of ways to blow yourself and your friends up. Use them wisely—or don’t. Just be prepared to apologize.

4. The Ridden: The Undead, But Make It Extra

The Ridden are here to ruin your day, but at least they come in a variety of flavors! Knowing your enemy is half the battle, though let’s be honest—you’ll probably still panic.

Common Ridden: Zombie Fodder: These guys are your basic zombies, and they show up in the hundreds. Sure, they’re easy to kill, but they’re everywhere. You’ll be casually looting a house, and suddenly 50 of them will burst through the windows like they’re on a Black Friday shopping spree.

Tallboys: These hulking monsters with massive arms will charge at you like the Kool-Aid Man on steroids. They love smashing things, especially your skull. When one appears, just start shooting and hope you don’t get swatted into next week.

Reekers: Imagine a giant, bloated zombie with the ability to puke on you from across the room. That’s a Reeker. If it gets too close, it’ll explode, covering everyone in bile and summoning more zombies. So basically, it’s a walking gross-out factory.

Stingers: These nimble jerks love to hang on walls and spit acid at you from a distance. Stingers are like mosquitoes, except 1,000 times worse because they can pin you in place. When you hear their creepy little laugh, know that you’re about to have a bad time.

Ogres: Ogres are massive boss Ridden that rise from the ground like nightmares. They throw giant chunks of rock and meat at you while you scream, run, and question your life choices. It’s a fun time for everyone (except you).

Snitches: These are the tattletales of the zombie world. If you don’t kill them quickly, they scream and summon hordes of Ridden to come ruin your day. If you trigger a Snitch, just know that you’re about to be very popular with the undead.

5. The Deck System: Choose Your Own Disaster

One of the unique features in Back 4 Blood is the deck-building system, where you create a deck of cards that gives you perks and abilities for each run. Think of it as customizing your inevitable doom!

The Perks You Need (But Will Still Forget About): You’ll unlock all sorts of cards, like increased health, extra ammo, or stamina boosts. These sound great in theory, but in practice, you’ll forget you even have them until you’re lying on the ground, bleeding out.

Corruption Cards: Just to Make Life Harder: Each mission starts with the game selecting Corruption Cards, which are basically challenges designed to make your life miserable. Whether it’s “the zombies explode on death” or “you can’t see anything because it’s foggy,” these cards add just the right amount of “why am I even playing this” to each mission.

Synergy or Sabotage?: Building your deck is all about synergy. Will you focus on healing? Melee? Ammo conservation? It’s all about creating the perfect balance—or throwing in random cards because you forgot to plan ahead.

6. Tactics: Because Running and Screaming Isn’t a Strategy

In Back 4 Blood, you’ll need more than just a trigger finger to survive. You’ll need to think (yes, it’s hard, I know).

Stick Together (Or Die Apart): Splitting up is a bad idea, but you’ll do it anyway. Whether you’re running off to loot a nearby building or just chasing a single zombie, you’ll find yourself alone and surrounded in no time. The moral