Infected

"Don't waste your tears on them.The fucking Infected, undead, blighters, straight-up cannibal fucking zombies, whatever... All that matters is, they're not human any more."

–The Prepper

The infected, also known as zombies or blighters, are the main antagonists in ZombiU, they are humans infected with a contagious virus, commonly known as the Second Blight.

Description[]

The infected were formerly normal everyday humans, but upon the outbreak of the predicted Blight, they became infected with a deadly, contagious virus that kills and reanimates humans into aggressive, cannibalistic creatures with superior senses but far less intellligence. They can sniff-out the uninfected and are attracted to bright lights and loud sounds. They do not appear to feel pain like normal people and will continue to attack survivors even after having the limbs broken or severed off. Getting bitten or killed by an infected individiual will result in the person also turning into an infected. The Prepper will tell the survivor that until an infected's corpse's head is decapitated or completely destroyed, it is not actually dead. Corpses will vanish if the player leaves an area.

Blighter (Standard Infected)[]

The most common infected in-game are known as Blighters, they are seen pretty much everywhere. They don't have any sort of special abilities, making them able to be killed in any way with minimal fuss. Their health is completely random between 350 - 750, but the difficultly does effect this (Chicken Mode has zombie health at the minimum; Survival tends to max out the health bars). The only known attack is the Clawing Punch which deals 20 damage to the player, however, when the player loses health, they may start trying the lethal lunge and grab, which is an instant death. Though weak on their own, like any infected in game, they are strong in packs and could easily ambush the player and kill the survivor.

Crawler[]

These infected are a subtype to the common Blighter. These infected have lost the use of their legs and using ammunition to kill Crawlers is pointless as they can simply be killed by one hit of the Cricket Bat or the stomp of the survivors boot.

A survivor can make most infect in the game a Crawler with a well placed shotgun or carbine shot to the knee. This can actually be quite helpful on Survival where zombie health is almost always higher.

Hunter[]

The Hunter is a subtype of the Blighter which moves much more quickly and can spot survivors from afar. They will try to tackle you, so a weapon must be equipped quickly. This type of infected is also a common use for the player in the King of Zombies multiplayer mode.

Sprinter[]

These infected have the ability to run, and also have more health than Blighters or Hunters. Sprinters can also climb ladders.

They can look the same as Blighters in the campaign, but in the Multiplayer, they're always different in that they sport a yellow and white striped sweatsuit; this is likely because they have increased health in multiplayer.

Shambler[]

This is another subtype to the common Blighter zombie. This infected is almost opposite to the Hunter infected as it is slow-moving and also has a short line of sight. Sometimes, this infected will even ignore the players flashlight.

In the King of the Zombies multiplayer, this infected is known as the Grunt, and their role is to try and capture the flag before the survivor does. They sport a torn-up Royal Guard uniform in the multiplayer.

Infected Survivor[]

These Infected are the soulless remains of a survivor that was likely doing the same as you, but they were caught unguarded and now they are wandering the streets looking for their next victim. These could be one of the players recently deceased survivors or a survivor of a friend of the player (This case is only possible in the WiiU version). Above the infected survivors head is the name of the survivor and the survivor score that they reached before death. Items can likely be found on the infected survivor.

The players survivor score plays a role in what kind of zombie the player turns into. Survivor Scores below 500 have them return as Shamblers, 500 to 1000 spawns Blighters, 1000 to 2000 spawns Hunters (with increased health to boot), and anything above 2000 spawns an enraged zombie. Scores of over 5000 can spawn even more dangerous enraged zombies that are stronger than any naturally spawned enemy in the game; if the player is about to die and has a high enough score, it might be better to use a molotov or explosive to end their own life and spare the next soul the hassle.

Armoured Infected[]

Zombiu полицейский — Armored Infected on left

Armoured Infected are police decked out in heavy bulletproof riot gear. Unlike other zombies, they cannot grab survivors as long they are wearing their helmet. In order to kill them, their helmet must be removed by shooting it repeatedly or, more preferably, knocking it off with the cricket bat. After that, two pistol shots to the head will down them (body shots will continue to ricochet off); you can take them down with the cricket bat, although even without the helmet they take more hits to kill than a standard infected. Body shots do technically damage this infected, but it'll take 3-5 mags to do the job. Otherwise, the zombie will disappear completely, the reason for this is unknown. If encountered in a group of zombies, make sure you have a grenade handy - if not, run. Molotovs are ineffective against them; they'll take damage while standing in the fire, but they won't suffer from afterburn, which makes up the bulk of fire damage.

If push comes to shove, a single shotgun shell from any gun will remove the helmet.

Dancing Infected[]

These infected are only encountered once in Brick Lane Flats. Basically in the Flats, a party had been going on, just before the outbreak. If the music is on then the infected will stop and become hypnotized. If it is turned off, then they will attack the survivor. So long as the music is playing, the infected will completely ignore the survivor, even if they make physical contact, fire a gun, or outright attack them. As such, the player could use them as a means to level up their firearm skills if they should have the ammo to spare. This is the most recommended with the Hunting Crossbow.

( Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rXm-gswx6c&t=15s )

Special Infected Types[]

Spitter[]

These enemies will walk around the survivor, trying to hit them with their vomit. If the player gets too close it will attack like a normal infected. Once the vomit hits, the survivor will be unable to see for a short while, rendering them defenceless. Two ways to avoid the spit is taking cover before it hits you, or start moving once the spit exits the spitter's mouth, as moving before the spit is directed will be homed in on your current direction. They can be recognized by their white ripped straight jacket and by a whitish mist around their body.

Said ripped strain jacket implies that these infected where driven insane while they were still alive.

Spitters are stronger than most infected, and can tank a great deal of damage (they can survive a crossbow bolt to the head, something enraged zombies can't). A strange but effective tactic is to use a shotgun or carbine to take out one of the legs; Spitters lose their vomit attack when crawling and can then have they heads stomped in like any other infected.

Screamer[]

One of the most dangerous Infected in game, they won't pose much of a threat on their own, but if a survivor is spotted by it, they will start to scream, rallying any Infected to their position, creating massive hordes in seconds. When it screams, lightning can be seen flashing everywhere. You can recognize them by electricity zapping everywhere around their body. They also can be recognized by their leathery jacket, skinny Jeans and Spike Mohawk-like Hair Cut, which resemble that of a Punk rocker (who are known for being loud).

Killing Screamers are a priority. A gun is recommended because if they notice you they will scream and attract huge amounts of the undead, so don't worry about how much sound your gun will make (the scream is louder). Screamer also seems to spawn infected considering that the infected that appear from its scream muffle on your map, come in at incredible speed. It is possible that the scream causes a trigger that causes all blighter spawns to instantly jump into effect (Though actually shooting in any area does not spawn any infected).

Explosive Hunter[]

Zombified utility workers wearing gas masks hooked up to air tanks on their backs. These zombies have the same behaviour as Hunters. They can spot the player from afar and move quicker than regular Blighters. The main threat presented by them are the tank on their backs: a single body shot will cause them to violently explode, killing all nearby zombies and damaging survivors, as well as briefly deafening them. It's extremely important to keep in mind that you should never fight these with the cricket bat, as that will detonate them and drain all of your health. If one of these approaches you, shove it away and quickly shoot it once out of range; you can also blow their heads up and shoot their downed corpses when other zombies walk by, although their staggered movement can make this difficult. You can tell when one is nearby by their strained breathing and the sound of gas leaking out of their tanks.

King Borris refers to this infect type as the "inhuman bomb." What's interesting is that his dialog implies this is the first time the player encounters the infected. This could mean that either his mission was meant to be earlier in the game, or that the other Explosive Hunters had escape from his circus.

Enraged[]

These infected have a reddish flame around their bodies as well as red eyes. They are extremely hard to kill and are faster than regular infected. They normally have an item on them, but they have also been seen with weapon upgrades when looting their corpses. If your survivor dies when he has over a certain Survivor Score, they will be found as one of these. This includes a certain survivor who perishes towards the end of the game's story.

Enraged Zombies will always contain a gun upgrade with them, so defeating them is often worth while.

Due to their speed, red eyes and the name 'enraged', these infected are an obvious reference to the Rage zombies from the British horror film 28 Days Later, who can run, have red eyes and the virus causes them to become enraged.

Evolved[]

These infected appear only a few times throughout the game. One is found in the nursery after you get the antibiotics for Vikram, another one is optional and can be encountered when revisiting an unmapped area in the Tower of London's flooded catacombs, and two more are fought just before finding Dr Knight past point of no return in Buckingham Palace. Evolved will ghost through the Survivor as an elevator will struggle to open its doors. Prepper's Pad will also be constantly bombarded with jamming waves as the layer traverses through the area. At last the ghostly version of Evolved will appear inside of Royal Wing of the bunker in front of the locked door that leads to the Panacea formula, However, it seems that another encounter with Evolved in this area was cancelled. An Evolved looks like a half bold woman in a sky blue nurse outfit. It is very resistant to damage and has a movement speed of a sprinting Survivor. It is important to note that Evolved never presents a player with opportunity for a Finisher Move. Unlike any other Infected Evolved cannot be dropped to the ground by pushing or hitting it with melee. These Infected possess an ability to disengage from combat by switching into their static 'spooky' form and running away. They do that a few times throughout their encounter after getting a sufficient amount of damage dealt to them. They also emit charges of electricity that act as a Prepper's Pad jammer that can also cause the flashlight to flicker. If the player scans or tries to loot the defeated Evolved in the Nursery then it will provoke a "Screamer" event.

The rarity and name of these Infected could mean that they are afflicted by a certain mutated strain of the virus, or have been infected for a long time, possibly since the start of the outbreak.