KEY POINTS

  • The difference in difficulty between Veteran and Survivor is jarring
  • Players will have to manage their resources better to survive in Veteran difficulty
  • Every bit of damage should be avoided at all costs

The full public open beta for “Back 4 Blood” is about to start this week and if there’s anything that the early access beta players have to say, it’s the game is much harder than what was initially expected.

In the beta, playing “Back 4 Blood” in the default Survivor difficulty doesn’t exactly provide much of a challenge. However, Veteran mode is a much harder difficulty level that can seriously challenge even organized teams during their first few runs.

While “Back 4 Blood” is still the most direct spiritual successor to “Left 4 Dead,” the game still plays very differently. So much, in fact, that the usual tactics for surviving in the latter won’t always apply to the former. Players will have to adapt to the new mechanics in order to survive the harder difficulties.

Here are some tips and tricks on how to play “Back 4 Blood” in Veteran difficulty without dying as much.

A variant of the Tallboy Ridden in Back 4 Blood
A variant of the Tallboy Ridden in Back 4 Blood Turtle Rock Studios

Mind The Friendly Fire Damage

Veteran difficulty increases the damage that players deal to other players, which makes friendly fire much more punishing. Always pay attention to the positioning of teammates to avoid accidentally firing at them and try not to stand or walk into the line of fire when the hordes come rushing in.

Ammunition Management

Unlike in “Left 4 Dead,” ammunition is separated based on what weapon type they’re used in. Not only will this make ammo RNG-dependent but it will also punish groups that use four of the same primary weapon types, as they’ll all be forced to split ammo between all of them.

Try to have each team member be equipped with different types of weapons to ease the burden on ammo and share any unused ammo to others that may need it.

Aim For Weakspots

Special zombies in “Back 4 Blood” are much more durable than in “Left 4 Dead,” but they all have glowing weakspots that can be exploited. Always aim for these as much as possible and try to find ways to reach them.

The Tallboy, for example, is best fought with two people; one person lures the zombie from the front while another moves to its back to shoot at its exposed weakspot from there.

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