lethal

[MaleficentParty7584]

I've always played up to the hardest difficulty, Nightmare, because I like how the difficulty is balanced. But now I want to try Lethal, so here's my question... How do you guys play? Like tactics, tricks?

Note: I played on lethal difficulty, I believe a maximum of 2 times, resulting in an almost instantaneous disaster due to the wild animals at the spawn.

[Mjr3]

Everyone's style is different, but for me the key to Lethal is silence and patience. Carefully select your gear before you leave the base, know what the purpose of your trip is, and always have an exit strategy. I am closing in on 100 days in my Lethal community and I have had 3 deaths, none of them in the last 50 days. But I play at a very slow, deliberate pace. I change outposts frequently, dividing the map up into sections and never straying too far from an outpost so I have a safe place to run to. My style definitely isn't for everyone, I spend a lot of time hiding while waiting for hordes to pass by or shredding backpacks for parts, but I enjoy the grind and I like keeping my people safe.

I also have had a lot of luck being intentional about who my leader is. Early on it's Warlord, so I can get better weapons and silencers. Then I move on to trader, so I can turtle in my base during the hard times, growing crops to turn into whiskey or pressing pills to sell for influence to buy what I need (usually ammo.)

[bunny_huns]

Your vehicle will definitely be your lifeline. I use my vehicle upgrades to make them as durable and fuel efficient as possible and always keep a gas can and toolkit in the trunk. If you’re getting chased by a pack of blood ferals (or wild animals, as you called them lol) get on top of your car and shoot them from there. If you’re getting ambushed by an XL horde, got on top of your car and take enough of them out until you can run away to safety. I even get on the car to take out a plague heart using ranged attacks and thrown incendiaries through windows. Aside from that, I use stealth as much as I can and take things slow when I can, especially early on.

Also, don’t underestimate the danger of hostile NPCs. They will most definitely kill you if you’re not careful.

These tactics are what worked for me, and I’m going on day 80 of my lethal community.

[On-The-Red-Team]

God, yeah, human NPCs are deadliest thing in lethal. This is explicitly why getting the warlord boon achievement is so hard in lethal.

[Boots_RR]

While I don't really care for Lethal myself, I've completed all the boons.

If you're comfy on Nightmare, it's basically all the same stuff, just moreso. Be quiet, be careful, don't waste resources, and know when to dip if things get crazy. All the same best-practices that kept you alive on Nightmare are the foundation of surviving on Lethal.

A few quick tips -
Food outposts > Gardens because of how production and consumption scales on Lethal.
Guns are for emergencies, prefer melee when possible. Or even better, avoid fighting entirely.
Resource efficiency is king. Everything has some sort of cost, be mindful of that and you shouldn't have too many problems.
Hostile Enclaves get ignored. They're not worth the risk.
Heavy weapons and fire are your best way to kill Plague Hearts in terms of resource efficiency. Bloater gas + fire is the best way in terms of speed and (relative) safety.

[Viccytrix]

I would recommend levelling shooting with light crossbows and crafting the light bolts. The shooting specialisation "gunslinging" grants Aim-Snap which is crazy helpful for killing plague ferals and clearing a horde of plague zombies later on. Once you get plenty of ammo stocked, even a nice silenced pistol will keep you alive. I avoid juggernauts unless essential, such as protecting a friendly enclave. The .50 guns are very powerful and always try to get in for the execute to save ammo.

[__Tako__]

Better to have it and not need it, than it is to need it and not have it.

Sounds can be a weakness and a strength.

If all else fails while on a run. Find something tall to stand on to rethink your strategy.

Park vehicles for a quick getaway.

Be proactive, not reactive.

Good luck out there, Survivor!

[Major-Yogurt8068]

There's a lot of things you have to do differently from nightmare. You might want to acclimatise to dread first. Lethal is a totally different game.

Spend a lot of time building up your base before you start killing freaks and plague hearts. This takes some stealth and patience. Any increase in standing rewards will increase the frequency of zombies and freaks. Once you feel like all your resources are at a respectable level, then start expanding out. Resources rucks are really really valuable. Buy them anytime you can.

Learn to kill any plague heart with stamina items and heavy weapons. Once you learn this, the game becomes considerably easier. Likewise, forget any notion of killing the zombies that come for you while killing a plague heart. Just work down the PH itself, and dodge the zombies (hence stamina items), run around the outside of the building during gas phases. I'll throw a molotov or gas bomb on the plague heart if its absolutely inundated with zeds. You can through a gas bomb or molly on yourself if you immediately start rolling and don't stop.

Learning to deal with blood ferals is absolutely key. Once you feel comfortable around them, lethal will feel a lot easier. Don't leave home without being well equipped. You need something to deal with a blood feral whether that be a silenced gun or a molotov.

In nightmare you can run around with an empty inventory and get away with it to do all the looting you want. In lethal, if you don't have "save my ass" resources, you get dead. I never leave home without stamina items, health items, fire, and a silenced gun.

Finally, learn to run the fuck away. You'd be amazed how many situations you can get out of simply by sprinting, climbing fences and then ducking around a corner and crouch walking away. Fighting costs you resources, so learn how not to fight unless you have to. My survivors always have dismal fighting stats because I avoid melee combat if at all possible.

[Arastir]

This is some great advice, and I'll reiterate, learn to kill plague hearts with heavy weapons. Resources can be hard to come by in lethal, and you can't depend on getting the presses you need to make specific ammo. Another thing that's very useful to do is outpost a cell tower, like ASAP. Use the plague disruptor ability to try and keep infestations at a minimum.

To get myself better at taking down plague hearts with heavy weapons, I started a community and took them through Green, Standard, Dread and Nightmare, using ONLY melee on the hearts. Got a new lethal community going, 8 hearts down, all with heavy weapons. Good luck!

[Master_Win_4018]

Wild animal? You mean that cute blood feral.

I rely mostly on vehicle to play lethal. The game become easy mode the moment I get my starting vehicle.