• First half: cards and deckbuilding
  
  • omitted cards aren't necessarily bad or unviable
    
  • gadgets and burn cards won't be covered much
    
  • in-game card descriptions aren't always clear and the way things are calculated is convoluted
  
  

  ---

  
  
• Last half: builds that I use for No Hope & Nightmare campaigns
  
  • mainly designed for quick play and playing with friends who are casual players
    (ie. little to no build coordination)
    
  • you won't need all that damage for Recruit and Veteran
    
    • I'd replace a damage card for Admin Reload and/or Mad Dash (whatever is missing)
  • some tips and tricks including for solo play

Disclaimer: I mainly like playing with "no aim down sight" aka "no ADS" builds and sniper rifles. All builds are designed for mouse & keyboard users.

Is it an essential card, or just a decent card that would be nice to have and potentially bought for 500 copper? (there are random cards that you can buy in most levels, aka "card shrines")

Put the essential cards in your builds and leave the rest to RNG

• Know what you want to do with a given build and your main weapon
  
• Ask: "why am I taking this card instead of ___?" and "is there a better, more useful card?"
  
  • Can this card's effects be replicated by common weapon attachments instead?
    
  • Does it provide something beneficial that attachments and burn cards don't?
• Consider what other players/bots might have or lack

Build a solid foundation to be effective at something. Then sprinkle in a few powerful cards that'll help everyone when ♥♥♥♥ hits the fan. The goal isn't to be a jack of all trades but rather to be flexible enough to adapt to chaos.

Beware of diminishing returns. You won't miss, notice, or need that umpteenth damage, mobility, money, or healing card. A mix of direct and indirect DPS, team/money cards, and mobility helps everyone survive.

Optimize damage by mix and matching different damage types, and adding indirect damage cards. Don't go all-in on weakspot, or bullet damage, or weapon-specific cards, or reload speed, etc, as your only source of DPS.

• Core cards for the role & weapon
  
  • Don't need builds specific for every Cleaner. But support/healer is best played as Doc, Heng, or Mom. For melee, Sharice is ideal (Heng, Holly, Doc, Evangelo are alternatives).
• 1-3 money (Copper Scavenger +/- Money Grubbers +/- Lucky Pennies)
  
• 1-3 non-money cards that help everyone (Amped Up, On Your Mark, Utility Scavenger, Needs of the Many, etc)
  
• 1 mobility (Run Like Hell)

One of the best and most unique cards in the game. And arguably the most cost-effective one.
I can't think of another card where just one copy out of 60 cards in a team can have such a noticeable impact. Its absence is noticeable and sorely missed.

• Everyone gets healed instantly for free - It mitigates attrition. It relieves a lot of pressure, especially in the absence of a Doc or healing items. It relieves pressure on Doc. It saves healing supplies and money.
  
  
• Nothing else gives you this free healing* - You can get similar effects of many cards (damage, reload/ADS/swap/move/sprint speeds, stumble, extra lives, etc) through weapon attachments, better weapons, or burn cards. If you don't have money, you could loot Hives or use burn cards (Hired Gun gives up to 1000 copper, Team Upgrade card = 1500 copper value; Squad Armor = 1600 copper value). But there's no burn card, weapon, or attachment that does what Amped Up does.
  
  There are many possible cards that you will find at card shrines, but there's only 1 Amped Up. What are the odds you'll find it?
  
  
• Not dependent on incaps - *Inspiring Sacrifice gives free health regen. But Amped Up prevents players from going down in the first place. It's more versatile and useful. Less incaps = less trauma. Less incaps = more secondary objectives passed = more copper
  
  
• Its effects stack - disagree that more than 1 copy is overkill.
  1 is game-changing. 2 is ideal. The 3rd gives diminishing returns (limited by trauma) but worth buying. 4 is overkill (but worth buying for bots).
  
  *Unnatural Healing, a legendary intel card, gives team-wide health regen when out of combat. It complements Amped Up and if found early on, can make more than 1 Amped Up unnecessary. But it works slowly, and you may not find it until midway or later (if you make it that far). Also, if someone takes a legendary card and later leaves the game, that team effect may eventually disappear from the team's decks.
  
  
• Fits into any deck - Not synergized by other cards. No penalties. You can support the team as a DPS player with no effort.
  
  
• Not affected by Pure Chaos which halves healing efficiency
  
  
• Helps the team even if the card bringer is dead
  
  
• It is possible to play an entire Act on No Hope without getting incapped if you're good enough (and with some luck) thanks to Amped Up

Caveats

• Bots have Amped Up, so if you're playing with at least 1 bot, no one needs to get it
  
• Triggers once in non-stop horde events. So for levels like The Crossing, T5, The Body Dump, you're out of luck

Take advantage of Amped Up:

• Watch the horde timer (or know when a boss will spawn) and not waste healing when Amped Up will kick in soon
  
• Intentionally trigger hordes under the right conditions to top off the team (strong positioning, Silence is Golden not active, about to exit a level, etc)

---

Money
Copper Scavenger
Money Grubbers
Lucky Pennies*

Damage
Glass Cannon
Hyper-Focused
Confident Killer

• For gun builds, I would prioritize Glass Cannon, Confident Killer and Hyper-Focused before adding other damage cards. These are always on, "set and forget" universal damage buffs that work independent of aiming down sights or.pinging mutations.

Shredder (shotguns/SMG/auto pistols)
Marked for Death (not with bots or if you rarely ping)
Fill 'em Full of Lead
Patient Hunter (if aim down sights not disabled)
Large Caliber Rounds
Ammo For All*

Indirect Damage/Crowd Control
On Your Mark (not with bots)
Admin Reload
Suppressing Fire (LMG/sniper rifles)
Empowered Assault
Down in Front

Mobility
Run Like Hell
Mad Dash
Adrenaline Fueled (when paired with either of the above for kiting)

Support
On Your Mark (not with bots)
Utility Scavenger
Needs of the Many**
Medical Professional**

Utility
Headband Magnifier

*stacking in premade groups
**For No Hope
**For No Hope, if Needs of the Many is present

Copper is essential and versatile. You can buy team upgrades and cards which will compound over time. You can afford trauma healing at first aid cabinets. You can afford armor and unbolting weapons. Higher difficulties have less copper spawns and less free cabinet heals. Not all copper cards work in Hives. Two cards is the sweet spot.

You can get away with less copper cards in your builds once you've unlocked a lot of burn cards (Hired Guns, Team Upgrades),


Copper Scavenger
If you only take one money card, this is the one.

• It can't be bought at card shrines
  
• Two more copper piles spawn for every player that runs it (+400 copper per card)
  
• Wallhack vision is an overlooked benefit:
  
  • Quickly find easily missed copper - important because of how frequent timed hordes and mutations spawn on higher difficulties

Money Grubbers
Synergized by Copper Scavenger. Money Grubbers by itself generally won't give as much copper.

The wording is misleading. You don't get a max of +75 copper per level. The first copper pile picked up, everyone with Money Grubbers gets +3 copper. Then the next pile, they get +6. And then +9, etc, all the way to +75 per pile, if there are enough copper piles.


Copper Scavenger + Money Grubbers

• The standard 2-card combo for money since launch
  
• Works well whether you're playing multiplayer or solo
  
• If you only take 2 cards, these are usually the ones to get*
  
  • *In a coordinated group, you could try 4 x (Copper Scavenger + Lucky Pennies)

Lucky Pennies
Synergized by Copper Scavenger. Lucky Pennies is bugged and works way better than stated. When someone gets lucky with extra copper, everyone else with Lucky Pennies also receives that amount. Unlike Money Grubbers, this team effect also triggers on Warped Copper. Lucky Pennies nets significantly more copper on average than Money Grubbers, if at least 3 players run Lucky Pennies instead. 2 Lucky Pennies give similar results to 2 Money Grubbers. But if you have Tala on the team (more Gold Pipes/Warped Copper) or Cost of Avarice corruptions, Lucky Pennies has the edge.

Most people aren't aware of the Lucky Pennies bug (or don't want to abuse it). So in quick play, Money Grubbers is the safe and reliable choice. Or you could run all 3 copper cards.


Bounty Hunter
Gives a decent amount of copper and not dependent on looting. Works in Hives. Worth buying. Bots have it.


Share the Wealth
Doesn't trigger in Hives but nice card to buy.

If everyone puts it in their deck, you can buy a team upgrade every level. But then again, you can just use a team upgrade burn card instead of using up 4 card slots. 4 x Copper Scavenger, Money Grubbers or Lucky Pennies will give more copper in the long run.


Stealthy Passage
Potentially lucrative but also time consuming and risky. You can disarm birds, police cars, doors, bear traps, and trip wires. Takes 6 seconds to disarm (unaffected by Use Speed). Consider the big trade-offs of not being able to carry or use any quick slot items. May help complete Silence is Golden on levels with alarmed doors in the way.

Mobility helps you survive especially when ♥♥♥♥ hits the fan. Sometimes you can't out-shoot your way to victory but to run instead (eg. non-stop horde events). And they make the game more fun.

I prioritize sprint speed over stamina cards:

• Sprint speed helps kite attacks and make long jumps that wouldn't otherwise be possible
  
• You can find free "intel" cards every level which may increase stamina
  
• You can buy team stamina upgrades
  
• There are more cards that affect stamina. You're more likely to find stamina cards in card shrines

Run Like Hell
Most versatile mobility card. The game feels sluggish without it. It's great not just for survival and creating space between the enemy. It's for taking initiative and getting things done quicker, like establishing beachheads before timed hordes push you back. It's good for skirmishing if you want to play aggressive. And It helps to reposition and create space from others to reduce friendly fire risk.

If you get hit while running away (note the hit marker), quickly turn around and bash once to buy time for the speed bonus to recover.


Mad Dash
Fastest sprint card but noticeably cuts your sprint duration. Best for short bursts of speed. More reliable than Run Like Hell for dodging after taking damage. Pairs up nicely with Run Like Hell.

if you can only take one, either are top candidates. I prefer Run Like Hell for the move speed bonus and because you can sprint longer.

Speed from attachments will stack with card effects. Remember to switch to the weapon that has it when you need to run.



Cross Trainers, Superior Cardio, Rhythmic Breathing
Always useful and no drawbacks. Worth buying.
Cross Trainers recovers your stamina a bit faster, while Superior Cardio allows you to sprint a bit longer. Cross Trainers may be more useful overall since regen helps with bashing/melee too, and there's increased move speed.


Mandatory PT
Not a card I'd usually have in a deck. But in a group, having 2-3 copies is more efficient than everyone running their own Cross Trainers, Superior Cardio, or Rhythmic Breathing.
Buy - it's a cheaper and stronger team stamina upgrade.


Adrenaline Fueled
A staple melee card that's also an overlooked, fun, and powerful mobility card. Regenerates stamina for run and gunning and bashing. Great for running away from hordes. You can kite or make big circle strafes around bosses while killing their hordes to recover stamina. This mostly excels for open space levels. Buy (or pair it up with Run Like Hell or Mad Dash).


Marathon Runner
The speed increase is more noticeable for backpedaling. Useful for everyone. Melee players can sidestep tallboy attacks easier. It's nice to have but not a card I'd typically add unless going for some fast gunplay build.

DPS = "damage per second" but used here for "damage".
Prioritize universal damage before guns-only/specific cards so you'll be effective even without your preferred guns.

Refer to the excellent visual cheat sheet made by redditor /u/Tennoz for how to optimize DPS by using multiple damage types.



Glass Cannon (unique damage type but also counts as weakspot)
The strongest damage card that affects all types including guns, accessories, weakspot, and melee. The core of all DPS builds. Not for beginners or those with poor survival skills. Not important for Recruit or Veteran.

Some players pair it with Canned Goods to offset health loss. But that kills your stamina at the start when you don't have stamina intel cards. Some then try to mitigate that by adding stamina cards, when they could take cards that benefit the team instead. Canned Goods is not a bad card to have but I'd rather take Amped Up. Canned Goods is a card I'd buy.


Hyper-Focused
The strongest weakspot card. Hyper-Focused is sufficient for weakspot damage. Glass Cannon also adds to weakspot. Prioritize other damage types before adding more weakspot damage. Throughout the run, you may find many cards and attachments that affect weakspots.

You can mitigate the slow-down effect by jumping and shooting in mid-air. This trick works better for some guns and builds (no-ADS). Hellfire isn't very effective at countering the slow-down. If going for a "+move speed while firing" build, don't take Hyper-Focused.


Confident Killer (unique damage type)
It's like a weaker Glass Cannon but without the health penalty. If you're new, I'd run this instead of Glass Cannon. You'll often reach 10-15% within the first 5 minutes of a level, especially if there are cultists (plentiful and easy to kill) or timed hordes.

If you have Glass Cannon + Hyper-Focused, prioritize Confident Killer over a 3rd weakspot card. You'll do more damage overall.


Shredder (unique damage type)
One of the best damage cards but not for every gun. Helps the team destroy bosses and mutations. They'll take more damage from everything. Best for shotgun and SMG builds. Works well with automatic pistols. Suitable for LMG when paired with Fill 'Em Full of Lead.


Marked For Death (unique damage type)
Another great card for deleting bosses and mutations. Wherever possible, take MFD over Silver Bullets or Stock Pouch. 10% damage buff for everyone > 10% for yourself. But for ammo-intensive guns, I'd prioritize the +10% weapon damage/30% ammo card.

Underappreciated highlighting effect helps track and anticipate targets in poor visibility and is a mental trigger for others to focus-fire on that target.

MFD is usually taken by snipers and shotgunners, so I don't usually take it in other builds.

Some people don't like taking it because they think it's a waste if someone else has it. But when playing with randoms, it's too good to pass up and to rely on someone else having it. Most people don't run it, let alone ping enemies.

Caveats:

• Effect doesn't stack
  
• Bots have it
  
• If you rarely ping enemies (default key: Q), don't take it

Patient Hunter (unique damage type -- doesn't actually increase bullet damage)
Up to +30% damage for holding right mouse button is a no-brainer for most gun builds, particularly Sniper, LMG, and AR. The buff lasts as long as you're aiming down sights. But beware - the longer you're zooming in, the higher chance for friendly fire or getting mobbed. It gives the optionality for more damage but that doesn't mean you should always lock yourself in ADS. If you have a mobile or run and gun play style, you may not get the most out of it. Useless for no-ADS builds.


Fill 'em Full of Lead (unique damage type) *unlock with duffel bag
Works well with many guns. Makes it easier to proc Shredder with LMGs. Works even better if you have +mag size and/or reload speed. Admin Reload helps maintain the buffs. But make sure you have ample reload speed (if not, Admin Reload can't keep up with super fast swap speeds). After unloading your mag, switch to your other gun and continue filling 'em full of lead. Repeat until dead.

The more you shoot, the higher the DPS buff. Before boss encounters/inner lair fights/snitchers, you can charge up stacks in advance by spraying somewhere safe.

FeFoL helps counter the downside of "Less is More" legendary attachment.


Large Caliber Rounds
LCR increases the number of targets a shot can penetrate and the damage to those struck. Bullet damage also increases stumbling power. Helps guns shoot through wooden walls. It rounds out DPS builds.

---

Why I prioritize Large Caliber Rounds over Silver Bullets most of the time:
Silver Bullets: if you want to min-max single-target damage
LCR: trade off a modest amount of single-target DPS for horde clearing DPS and enables shooting through wooden walls

With LCR, even a pistol can quickly thin out multiple ridden with good positioning. Bullet penetration can help you survive chaos and preserve ammo.

LCR also helps you kill enemies through wooden walls and hedgerows (particularly useful if you play Karlee or use Marked for Death).

A damage calculator[docs.google.com] shows the benefits of having LCR, at 10m distance from target:

Glock auto without and with LCR:



AK47 without and with LCR



Tac14 without and with LCR



I mainly care about damage to the first 3 targets. The rest is just noise. Enemies in B4B rarely come single-file in a convenient straight line or in very dense groups. Even if you hold at a long narrow chokepoint, hordes come in a long, steady trickle so it's hard to penetrate more than 2 targets. Bullet penetration works best with shotguns because of the bullet spread.


Silver Bullet's extra 2.5% bullet damage won't make a noticeable difference. Within effective range*, LCR does negligibly less damage than SB against a single target but gives you versatility in horde clearing.

Silver Bullets
The main advantage of SB over LCR is the 15% effective range boost. Silver Bullets will give a decent damage boost over LCR (or any other +10% damage card except Marked For Death) outside of a gun's baseline effective range.

*Shotguns and SMGs have very short effective ranges so any range increase will increase overall DPS. SB helps kill bosses/mutations a bit faster outside baseline effective range. But long range barrel attachments are plentiful (you can find range increase from 25% to infinite with Spray'N Pray legendary). With LCR, you can forgo bullet penetration mods and get more versatile mods like +magazine size, + reload speed, +fire rate.

So if I only take 1 bullet damage card, I'd usually take LCR. I'd take SB over LCR for Act 4 or if you're sniping on a good team.


Ammo For All (unique damage type)
In a premade team, 3 or 4 x Ammo For All is a lot better than everyone running their own gun-specific 10% damage/30% ammo card. Buy if you see it - it's a cheaper and stronger team ammo upgrade.


Belligerent (unique damage type)
Potentially strong given how frequent hordes spawn on higher difficulties. But player incaps can be frequent too. YMMV. Good for offline (great if you want to "true solo" with no bots), but for multiplayer, rather buy it instead.


Chemical Courage (unique damage type)
A big damage multiplier. But there are many cards that give permanent DPS increases. Nice card to buy if you like to carry pills. Generally not used in a deck unless it's some kind of support build.


Avenge the Fallen (unique damage type)
The effects stack. It's abused in niche team builds involving Dan and with other cards to trigger powerful effects. A teammate is intentionally downed when needed. But in general, I'd consider this a buy card.

can't be measured or appreciated by theory and damage calculators.

• Reload speed
  
  • Also increases fire rate of Barrett, Phoenix, Tac14, 870 Express
• Magazine size and ammo capacity
  
• Effective range
  
• Bullet penetration
  
  • Sniper rifles and LMGs have the best. SMGs and pistols (except Revolver and Desert Eagle) have the worst
• Fire rate
  
• Positioning and timing
  
  • To optimize bullet penetration and effective range and minimizing risk of FF
    
  • Timing with your abilities (eg. activating Shredder and Marked for Death before using explosives. maximizing Patient Hunter stacks)
• Accuracy
  
  • Buffs/debuffs only affect hip fire - I don't run accuracy cards unless it's a no-ADS build
• Recoil
  
  • Not usually a concern unless there's Noxious Fumes or running a Belgian with super fast reload speed
• Aim and weapon swap speed
  
  • Can find attachments that increase these which is why I rarely run cards like Cocky, Tunnel Vision, Steady Aim, and Shooting Gloves
• No friendly fire risk
  
  • Simplifies combat, reduces pressure, and makes it easier to play aggressively
• Stumble/Stun
  
  • Buys more time to attack

On Your Mark
One of the best team cards. Multiple cards stack. It's great to have at least 1 or 2 in a team. I use it in ammo-intensive builds (pretty much anything besides snipers) to mitigate ammo depletion. All the other perks are good too. On No Hope without bots, ammo quickly becomes scarce. It's very noticeable when no one runs On Your Mark leading to everyone begging and fighting for scraps of ammo. Not as important for Recruit and Veteran as ammo is plentiful and mutations have low health. Like Amped Up, bots have it, and it won't be of much help for non-stop horde events.

The ammo top-up scales up with your ammo capacity.
If you're full on ammo, you can drop some excess before a horde is triggered to milk the free ammo top-up.


Admin Reload
Synergized by reload speed. I love this card. Anyone that says Back 4 Blood's gunplay is boring has never played a good build with Admin Reload.

• A versatile card for indirect DPS, survival, and quality of life -
  It reloads your guns like magic when you're doing an objective, reviving/healing, opening a crate, clearing a webbing, climbing a ladder, carrying an item, etc. It eliminates the need to juggle reloads between killing. Admin Reload saves lives. It's a godsend for guns with long reloads, such as sniper rifles and LMGs. As a sniper, it allows you kill commons with your secondary and then snipe mutations/bosses with a fully loaded chamber. And vice versa. Essential if you're running Two is One and One is None.
  
  
• One of those cards with unique powerful effects (not replicated by other cards, burn cards, or attachments)
  
• Beneficial regardless of what type of build you're playing

Note that if your swap speed is too fast, some guns may not reload in time.


Mag Coupler, Quick Kill
The core of no-ADS hipfire gun builds. Quick Kill is useful to buy as melee so you can shoot stuff.
Do not buy if you're using aim down sights.


Scattergun Skills
Great for shotgun-only builds and pairs up well with Mag Coupler and Quick Kill.


Cold Brew Coffee
Four useful perks that adds the finishing touches to any DPS build. Three of the perks can be replicated by common attachments. It's not worth taking if you barely have any DPS cards as Coffee alone isn't strong. Reload and swap speed synergizes with Admin Reload.

Front Sight Focus, Line 'em Up, and Shooting Gloves are alternatives but I think Coffee's more versatile.

Generally, if have to take one only, Coffee > Reload Drills. More benefits for -5% reload.
If using Admin Reload, Reload Drills > Widemouth Magwell. +25% swap speed instead of 10% faster reload and -5% damage resistance is worth it


Ammo Belt
Good, versatile ammo capacity card. Fits well with any gun DPS build. The higher your ammo capacity, the more ammo you can receive from On Your Mark. Don't need if playing offline.


Ammo Stash
It's a big practical and psychological advantage when you never have to worry about ammo. You can just focus on killing non-stop. Very useful, particularly if you're the last 1 or 2 players alive, or there are no On Your Marks, or if The Dark corruption card is present. It'll come in clutch when the the team runs low on ammo. I like taking it in Sniper, Belgian, and SMG builds. A nice card to find and buy but not needed with bots.

The reload speed debuff is quite noticeable, so I don't suggest using it without any reload speed cards.

Two is One and One is None
Opens up new ways to play and gives more flexibility for legendary attachments (eg. Sharpshooter's Monocle on both guns). Some popular combos: LMG + M1A, dual LMG, dual shotguns, SMG/AR/Shotgun + Sniper.

• use with Admin Reload
  
• the -25% swap speed is painful without a +swap speed card or two to mitigate
  
• Ammo Stash won't give the second gun unlimited ammo. Bring Ammo Belt and On Your Mark for multiplayer (maybe Ammo Mule too, depending on the guns)

Empowered Assault *unlock with duffel bag
A strong, fun card that's become part of the meta. Effects stack. Stumbles save lives. You can stumble snitchers on No Hope which generally can't be. Helps expose weakspots on tallboys and bruisers. Less useful on lower difficulties because you can easily kill mutations outright.

You don't need it in every single build (people got by just fine before this card existed), But it's worth buying at the very least. Certain shotguns and snipers already have high stumbling power, and you can just kill with high DPS. I mainly use it to augment guns with weak stumbling power.

Quickly kill a weak mutation to stumble tanky ones.


Suppressing Fire *unlock with duffle bag
A powerful, unique crowd control ability that works wonders to counter Blitzing/Sprinting ridden and melee mutations. Use this card with any LMG and/or M1A build. You're missing out otherwise. Suppressing Fire makes mobility cards less useful for a team that sticks together. Not typically used for Phoenix/Barrett snipers as LMG or M1A users can proc it better (but may be worth buying or bringing it if you know no one else will).


Experimental Stun Gun *unlock with duffel bag
Another powerful crowd control ability once you get used to how gadgets work (managing cooldowns and reactivating it after you take enemy damage). Enhanced bashes can stun many foes in an area including bosses and mutations. It causes enough damage to kill many of the common ridden types. Works with Pinata to create free loot. Bring On Your Mark, Ammo Belt and/or Mule as this ability will eat up sniper ammo. Be aware that it can trigger nearby hazards like police cars.

It takes 1 second after activating the gadget before it's usable. It takes a 10 second cooldown to "refresh" after use. Whenever you take enemy damage, the gadget "breaks" and you have to reactivate it. It's faster to take damage and reactivate it instead of waiting for it to come off its 10 second cooldown. eg. Acid breaks gadgets. When the gadget is on cooldown, quickly step into and leave acid to break the gadget to reset to a shorter 1 second cooldown.


Down In Front
When you can attack without friendly fire, it can significantly increase DPS when it might otherwise be high risk. It's very powerful and reduces pressure in cramped or chaotic situations. A lot of people swear by it. But I think it's become a crutch for many, including veteran players, who unfortunately can't play with the possibility of friendly fire.

Imagine playing a FPS where you can negate one of the biggest risks and the default setting of higher difficulties by simply pressing a button. Down in Front is the only thing in the game that allows you to disable a core mechanic.

It's overpowered and ruins the thrill and tension of No Hope, where there are no respawns. It makes the game boring. It eliminates the risk/reward decision of attacking or moving. It enables and rewards aggressive play but also lackluster game sense, positioning, movement, and trigger discipline. Down in Front gives strong optionality but it's hardly essential. People aren't going to learn how to get better if they always use or rely on others having Down in Front.

When you don't have Down in Front, you're forced to check surroundings to see where teammates are. That is a good thing because this crucial easy habit also allows you to see enemies creeping all around. Too many people just crouch and shoot, oblivious to what's going on around them. They often crouch when they don't need to and take avoidable damage. They become unaware of the positioning of others and how they're faring. They often crouch out of habit when they don't have DIF (eg. taking over a bot deck) and cause friendly fire.

I'm not saying you should never run it, just that you don't need it in every single build. The game becomes more rewarding and satisfying.

Amped Up - covered earlier


Utility Scavenger
Versatile card that can provide a lot of value though it's RNG.

• Four free utility accessories per level
  
  • The addition of bear traps to the game dilute chances of tool kit/defib/ammo spawns, lessening some of this card's value
    
  • ditto for Emergency Transfusion. Defibs aren't as important as before
• can unlock free first aid cabinet use with tool kits
  
• On No Hope, item spawns are scarce. You'll unlikely find a tool kit or defib somewhere without someone running Utility Scavenger or going into Hives. But first aid cabinets are also less common, so even if you find a tool kit, you might not be able to use it in time.
  
• Ammo pouches are underrated for No Hope
  
• The effects stack like all scavenger cards
  
• Can't be bought in card shrines

Support Scavenger
Four free healing accessories per level. Doesn't actually give defibs. Utility Scavenger is more popular; this is generally viewed as a healer/Doc card. Can't be bought.


Needs of the Many
Important for No Hope since there are no respawns and everyone has one life by default (but not with bots as they have NOTM). At least one person should run it. For No Hope quick play, you may want this even if you're not playing support. Sacrificing some health and a card slot so everyone gets another life can have a big impact. It makes mistakes less punishing.


Medical Professional
Life restore card with some trauma heal. The life restore is important for No Hope if someone is running NOTM. You don't get a life restored for free at the start of each level like on Nightmare. It's a versatile card that can fit into any build. But if you're just running Medical Professional and everyone has only one max life, it's kind of pointless. Doc support players are expected to have this regardless of the difficulty.

For most players (except melee and Doc), that would be 0% and thus less beneficial than before.

It's not really worth using first aid kits solely to heal trauma unless you have blue or purple kits and/or you're healing yourself and have healing efficiency.


EMT Bag
Strongest healing efficiency card. A core melee card.
Lost value as a support card since it boosts trauma healing only for yourself now (and because Unnatural Healing is a thing now too).


Medical Expert
Can use this in lieu of EMT Bag due to the bug. It exchanges some healing potential for a little more trauma healing. The revive speed is a bonus. It's worth buying especially if there's a Doc and/or melee on the team.


Field Surgeon
A decent Doc card though not essential. Field Surgeon helps mitigate trauma build up with any healing item. It even works on Doc's free heals (field bandages). Gives extra value to bandages and pills. Spare bandages and pills can be used instead of being left behind. Improves trauma healing on first aid kits and defibs.

Some argue that it's not cost efficient, that you can just run Utility Scavenger or a money card instead. That may be true, but first aid cabinets aren't always available. The tool kits are RNG. What's the point of playing Doc if you can't heal trauma with any item? It's weird and inconvenient, kind of like playing melee that can't generate temp health. It does lose value later on as Monstrous ridden causes a lot of trauma and outpaces trauma healing from Field Surgeon.


Group Therapy
Good Doc card to reduce chip damage since her free heals also proc Group Therapy. Doc's perk and healing efficiency cards affect it. Adds extra heal to the initial target. Everyone, no matter where they are, gets healed. That's the main benefit and can help on big maps with endless hordes where people are likely to be separated and Amped Up doesn't help much. But once you find Unnatural Healing, it loses quite a bit of value.


Box O' Bags
Good support card

• +4 slots overall > 2 slots (Shoulder Bags)
  
  • use Shoulder Bags if 1) you're playing solo or with 1 other player as bots don't benefit
    2) running Needs of the Many + Glass Cannon
• equivalent to a team support slot upgrade, worth 1500 copper

Team gets 8 slots total from the start. May get away without spending a single copper on support slot upgrades. Going from 1 slot per player to 2 is an underappreciated game changer that gives a margin of safety. And sometimes the team support slot upgrade isn't available for purchase until deep into a campaign. Or you might not be able to afford it when it is available.

Don't take Revive Speed cards when you can have Use Speed instead

Use Speed is versatile and speeds up anything requiring holding 'E' (except Stealthy Passage):

• reviving and healing
  
• mission objectives
  
• opening crates
  
• clearing Hive webs and bear traps
  
• extinguishing flames from arrows

It has more use besides loading up artillery in Act 1 finale.

Use Speed makes it much easier to heal or revive under pressure (eg. non-stop hordes).
Someone about to fail the secondary objective by getting incapped or dying and you saved them just in time? You just saved 2000 copper. You can pull off clutch revives without having to waste the only defib. Stepped into a bear trap and there's a tallboy on its way? Need to desperately clear webbings in the Hives? Use Speed saves lives and copper.


Headband Magnifier
Go for the best Use Speed (unless you have epilepsy or migraines). The extra speed does make a real difference. The blinding effect is short and the chance is low unless you're constantly taking damage. Sometimes I run through a few maps forgetting this was even a side effect.

If you have game sense and take initiative, Headband Magnifier is a great quality of life card that can come in clutch. I like running it as a healer or when playing offline. And I always buy it when I see it.

Naive players will laugh and scoff at Headband Magnifier, but they won't ever know or appreciate that you pulled a clutch move just in time because of it.

What's the point of carrying first aid kits if you can't use them in time during emergencies?




3 seconds to apply a first aid kit can be an eternity under pressure. Even 2 seconds for a common bandage can be a long time. Use time for bandages improve with upgrades but not for first aid kits.

With Headband, applying first aid takes a little over 1 second (2 seconds with Multitool).
Bandages and Doc's free heals become a near instant.

Fast thinking + fast use speed = life saving


Pinata
A powerful, unique ability to generate any non-legendary accessory. You can generate plenty of free loot with an offensive accessory build or Experimental Stun Gun (use fire crackers to gather a horde before stunning, but this requires teammates not killing them). Synergized with Hoffman.




Fit as a Fiddle
Gives everyone bolstered health (increased temporary health capacity). Note Sharice gives 25% team bolstered health.

Well Rested
Gives everyone overheal which converts a portion of excess healing that would've done nothing into temporary health.

---

Fit as a Fiddle only: can use pills even at max health with little to no trauma

Well Rested only: can get some temp health with any healing item if you have trauma

Fit as a Fiddle (or Sharice) + Well Rested: can get some temp health with any healing item regardless of how much trauma you have

To get the most out of either, you need both. They're nice to have but not essential for a Doc. On No Hope, temp health decays faster, so it's harder to justify a 2 card investment. It's more of a luxury. If there is a melee player on your team, then it would be more worth it. Buy.


Food Scavenger
A versatile card that synergizes with Heng's perks. But not worth taking if no Heng. It's a good buy.
(To counter Ravenous corruption, use Extra Padding burn card. Its team effect stacks)

Spawns 7 food items with various perks (damage, reload/swap/melee speed, health regen, trauma heal, accuracy). Heng receives double the effect from food and also heals 1 trauma from any food that he consumes. He also receives the benefits from food that others consume. It saves him money on healing trauma. It also counters Ravenous corruption card. One of the few scavenger cards that can be found in card shrines.


Wasteland Chef
You can provide trauma heals to the team as Heng with this and Food Scavenger. Punch food to avoid friendly fire. There's a 30% chance to find Gourmet Dinner by punching, and 40% with Combat Knife. I don't think it's worth taking Combat Knife for this when you can take a money card instead.

A typical melee uses damage resistance and generates heals and trauma heals.
Then they either focus on:

• generating lots of temporary health to prevent damage and trauma, and to create a shield on top of existing trauma or bolstered health
  
  or
  
  
• maximizing trauma resistance so they don't rely on temporary health

Or you can run a mixed approach which is what I recommend.

I disagree with the notion that "temp health is useless on No Hope and that you should just use trauma resist instead" that's often regurgitated on Reddit and elsewhere. Temp HP drains quicker on No Hope but it's still important. It's a mistake to not be able to generate temp HP as melee.

• if you get hit with max trauma resist, you'll still take trauma and damage
  
• with temp HP, you can prevent both damage and trauma outright (or at least blunt a portion of it)
  
• temp HP provides a buffer that allows Battle Lust to slowly heal trauma
  
• max trauma resist limits room for other cards (eg. you can take 2 or 3 copper cards instead and buy whatever you want, including cabinet heals when necessary)
  
• Face Your Fears & Well Rested + Wooden Armor & another trauma resist card will give better synergy than 4 trauma resist cards
  
• temp HP shines during hordes (in particular, endless hordes). You are nearly invincible against commons with horizontal swinging weapons
  
• during Break Time corruption, all 4 trauma resist cards become deadweight

One caveat: if you don't have bolstered health (from Sharice or Fit as a Fiddle), temp health won't be as protective as it could be. You'd have to take damage/trauma before you can gain temp health.

The core of a typical melee build:




Meth Head: improves melee stamina efficiency and melee attack speed. Without Meth Head. your attacks can get "stuck" (can't complete full arc of your swings) when you run out of stamina. To maintain and charge up this buff, you can bash every few seconds.

Spiky Bits + Motorcycle Helmet: 35% damage resist, and DPS increase allows you to kill commons by bashing. If you only take one, definitely take Spiky Bits.

Battle Lust: crucial for trauma healing and heals. Common ridden become your life blood.

Vanguard: heals the team and can provide temp health if someone has Well Rested. Makes it easier to get overheal/temp health from Well Rested.

EMT Bag: improves healing/trauma healing/temporary health that you generate. Also gives more health from +heal on kill attachments.



Build your own melee:

• DPS - Slugger, Ignore the Pain, Mean Drunk, Heavy Hitter, Berserker, Down in Front, Glass Cannon (always take Mean Drunk before Glass Cannon - more damage, no health penalty)
  
• Temporary Health - Face Your Fears, Well Rested, Fit as a Fiddle
  
• Trauma resistance - Wooden Armor, Body Armor, Durable, Fanny Pack
  
• Trauma heal - Food Scavenger +/- Wasteland Chef (Heng), Utility Scavenger, money cards
  
• Healing efficiency - EMT Bag, Antibiotic Ointment, Medical Expert, Well Rested
  
• Damage resistance - Padded Suit, Hunker Down
  
• Other resistances - Scar Tissue, Hazmat Specialist, Bomb Squad
  
• Money - Copper Scavenger, Money Grubbers, Lucky Pennies
  
• Utility - Heavy Hitter, Down in Front, Mugger, Food Scavenger, Breakout
  
• Mobility - Marathon Runner, Hellfire, Run Like Hell, Mad Dash, Berserker

---

Brazen and Slugger
Both are bugged and give twice the amount of stamina efficiency. Taking both gives unlimited melee stamina efficiency after attacking for a few seconds. You don't need both unless you want that extra DPS, quality of life, and some 🧀.

Meth Head + Brazen + any weapon except axe --> can attack for a very long time
Meth Head (10 stacks) + Brazen + 1 Peanut butter + any weapon --> infinite stamina
For axe, just charge up Meth Head by punching before chopping.

Slugger only gives 5hp, not +5% hp.

If not playing melee, both are still worth buying so you can bash more.


Adrenaline Fueled
A staple melee card obsoleted by Brazen and Slugger both being broken. I prefer Brazen instead for the attack speed bonus.


Heavy Hitter
Don't sleep on this card -- it is another form of damage and trauma prevention. Guaranteed stumbles prevents a lot of damage, save lives, and buys time for Ignore the Pain and hitting weakspots. You can instantly free someone from a Crusher, interrupt a retch while it's spewing, stop stalkers in mid-air, etc. You can knock down all ridden just by punching. Helps kill Slashers and Tallboys. On No Hope, snitchers can't be stumbled without Heavy Hitter or Empowered Assault. It's also a great card for non-melees to buy.


Ignore the Pain
Great versatile card that gives DPS and unlocks another way to generate heals. All the other heals/temp heal cards require kills to proc. Ignore the Pain allows you to leech health/stamina off of mutations/bosses when you hit their unarmored parts. Sometimes there's just no commons around to heal from to sustain against mutations/bosses. Can literally allow you to ignore the pain (somewhat on No Hope), but beware of Monstrous foes. Not having Ignore the Pain is a mistake, especially if you have Well Rested.


Mean Drunk
For killing mutations/bosses and military/festering ridden. The cleave effect doesn't seem to do anything. Becomes obsolete if you use the Grim Reaper. Prioritize Ignore the Pain before this.


Berserker
A fun card to chain up kills before charging at mutations but is overkill for clearing trash. I'd prioritize Ignore the Pain and Mean Drunk before this. The duration is too short to be reliable.

Well Rested
Well Rested gives you temp health if:
1) you're at max available hp
and
2) you have trauma or bolstered health
and
3) you kill or
4) hit mutations/bosses (if you have Ignore the Pain)

If you have Vanguard, enemies you kill can also generate temp health for players within range if they meet 1 and 2.


Face Your Fears
Face Your Fears will give you temp health as long as:
1) you're missing health
2) you kill, within 2.5m

• Axe and baseball bat have a range of 2.4m
  
• Machete, Claws, Hatchet are 2.1m
  
• Attachments that increase melee attack range may prevent Face Your Fears from proc'ing
  (this might have been fixed in an update)

---

Well Rested vs Face Your Fears (if you only take one)
Both generate temp health but with different conditions.

Well Rested is more versatile.

• synergizes with Resonant Metal attachments (give heals on kills)
  
• allows Ignore the Pain to generate temp health
  
• allows Vanguard to give temp health to the team
  
• gives team overheal, healing efficiency

But you would not be getting temp health unless you're "overhealing". You have to fill up the empty life bar before temp health kicks in.

Face Your Fears provides temp health immediately after every kill.

I suggest Well Rested over Face Your Fears if running Ignore the Pain and Vanguard.
But I recommend using both as they complement each other and help you survive a long time during hordes.

---

Fit as a Fiddle
Expands temp health capacity beyond max health. If you can't play as Sharice or have her on the team, then this helps to get the most out of temp health. Because with bolstered health, you can build up a temp health reservoir without first having to take damage and trauma. One of the reasons Sharice is the best melee is that you don't need to run this card with her. Bolstered health loses some value if you accumulate too much trauma -- it gets harder to fill up all that extra space with temp health. Temp health fills up your trauma before bolstered health.





Wooden Armor, Body Armor, Durable, Fanny Pack
On No Hope, you start with -30% trauma resist (-20% on Nightmare) and can't rely on temp health as much to prevent trauma. Stacking trauma resistance mitigates trauma build up but is a big card investment that limits your versatility. You can heal trauma through Cursed Keys, Nurse Purses, and with copper cards. Wooden Armor is sufficient if you don't get too cocky. Not as important for lower difficulties.


Scar Tissue
Strongest acid resistance card. More of a buy card. I'd prioritize Face Your Fears and Well Rested before this. With a little bit of temp HP, you can escape from acid with little harm if you react quickly. You can circle strafe Retches or stop them with Heavy Hitter. You can jump over acid pools. You can avoid acid from Blighted Ridden if you defend on top of an object.

• Bots no longer have Fit as a Fiddle and Well Rested -
  temp health isn't as effective as before when playing with bots
  
  
• On Nightmare and lower, temporary health decays about 1 hp every 1.5 seconds.
  But on No Hope, it drops 1 hp every second.

---

affects the amount of healing (including temporary health and trauma) from:

• cards that say "Efficient Healing" on hover (Medical Professional, Field Surgeon, Group Therapy, Antibiotic Ointment, Battle Lust, Vanguard, Ignore the Pain, Face Your Fears).
  
• Doc's free heals, Holly's heal on kill
  
• Resonant Metal attachments

Trauma healing is bugged and scales off of the target's healing efficiency rather than the user's. So if you have healing efficiency and trauma healing cards and you heal yourself, you benefit more. But if you heal someone else without healing efficiency, they won't get as much trauma healed as you.

---

• Buy Well Fed, Ammo for All, and Mandatory PT. They're like team upgrades but cheaper and better.
  
• +1 team slot cards are just cheap team slot upgrades with a minor drawback
  
• Marked For Death > Silver Bullets > Stock Pouch (low value unless doing a M1A build)
  
• 3 x Mandatory PT > 4 x Cross Trainers
  
• 4 x Ammo for All > 4 x gun-specific 10% dmg/30% ammo (Shotgun Carrier, Mag Carrier, Tactical Vest, Stock Pouch)

---

Barrel: Long Barrel - you can't go wrong with an effective range increase with any gun.
But it's most important for shotguns.

Get Spray n' Pray and shotguns become very op.


Shotguns and non-auto pistols: long barrel
Snipers: long barrel, silencer, or All-Bite
Automatics: long barrel or compensator (mainly to help with horizontal recoil as that is harder to control)


Magazines: can't go wrong with +magazine size or +reload speed.

• stumble doesn't help with hordes or bosses
  
• bullet damage doesn't help much with hordes (unless it's Less is More)
  
• bullet penetration generally doesn't help with bosses, and you'd have more than enough with Large Caliber Rounds

Look for legendary attachments:
"Magazine Size + Reload Speed", "Fire Rate + Magazine Size", "Magazine Size + Bullet Damage" , "Reload Speed + Bullet Damage" are the most versatile as they'll help with hordes, mutations, and bosses.


Also strong and versatile.










Optics: mostly preference. I prefer 2x scope for sniping and no-ADS shotguns, and holo-sight/reflex sight for everything else.

I avoid 4x scopes:

• high chance of friendly fire
  
• hard to ADS up close
  
• can't see surroundings when zoomed in
  
• blocks more of your hipfire view

For no-ADS builds, you still benefit from any damage bonus.


Best scope

Stock:
Primary gun: ADS or swap speed
Pistol: move/sprint or swap speed


Materials: kills heal X health (Resonant Metal)
Grip: melee attack speed
Handguards: melee: damage (or stumble damage for bat). bow: arrow speed or damage



Very broken and op; you can kill an ogre in 1 hit with a white melee/bow.
It obsoletes your melee DPS cards.

Shotguns are the strongest guns. You can take on anything.

Tac14 - my general go-to shotgun. Best for destroying mutations and bosses. Highest damage and stumbling ability per shot by far. Most ammo efficient - you'll rarely run out. You can have 2 Tac14 users and not be starving for shells with On Your Marks. Can't say the same for any other shotgun. Cons: 1) can't use Sharpshooter's Monocle unlike the other shotguns and 2) tiny mag size (not as good for horde clearing without a lot of reload speed to compensate).

870 Express - my preferred shotgun with the right attachments (Spray N' Pray + Sharpshooter's). Great all-rounder. Best range, 2nd highest damage & stumble damage per shot, decent mag size for horde clearing. More ammo efficient than AA12 and Super 90.

AA12 - best shotgun for crowd control (biggest magazine size, fast fire rate/reload). Highest DPS potential but very ammo inefficient and tiny effective range. I usually avoid it because you'll be starving and competing for shells if there's another shotgunner. Fine for pre-made groups, and amazing for offline play with the best attachments.

Super90 - the worst shotgun by far. AA12 and Super90 have the worst effective range (2.5m).
I'd take a white Tac or 870 over a green Super90 any day.




My go-to build for Tac14 and 870.

• no-ADS for mobile, point and click and less chance of FF. Plays more like boomer shooters and Left 4 Dead
  
• 50% accuracy is the sweet spot for shotguns. Good enough to land most of your shots at mid-range while spread's still wide enough for horde clearing. Can kill a sniper from extreme range with 50% accuracy in 1 to 3 shots
  
  • Optics Enthusiast or Front Sight Focus can be used instead of Quick Kill if you prefer a wider spread.
• faster reload speed and fire rate helps with horde clearing and picking off zombies coming from different angles
  
• versatile and can be used with any Cleaner (though Tala is best)

Some other useful cards:
Marked for Death (if you're a habitual pinger)
Empowered Assault (useful and fun though not essential with Tac14 and 870)
Widemouth Magwell
Front Sight Focus (makes shotgun more like a sniper; better for hitting weakspots)
Shotgun Carrier

Jumping backwards and shooting in mid-air will allow you to kite faster than holding S and shooting. You won't get slowed down by Hyper-Focused. But you're more likely to get friendly fired from unexpected movement if there's people behind you.

---

Use Experimental Stun Gun to stop anything that gets too close. Great for mutations and bosses. Empowered Assault is optional but helps prevent ranged mutations from breaking the Stun Gun gadget. Ammo Mule is for feeding the Stun Gun.

Some useful cards:
Fill 'em Full of Lead
Copper Scavenger/Money Grubbers (instead of Pinata, Empowered Assault)
Run Like Hell
Stealthy Passage (since Quick Slot is disabled already)
Down in Front (for max crowd control potential)

---

---

A spinoff of the first build that uses Belgian with unlimited ammo for general use and another shotgun for killing the tanky stuff.

Mom starts with a Belgian. You don't need to play as Mom though as this build is good with any shotgun and secondary until you find one.

Belgian's DPS is hamstrung by its fixed range and limited compatibility with attachments (eg. no Long Barrels/Spray and Pray, +mag/Less is More, or scope/Sharpshooter's). Effective range is 5m. But it is good enough for the commons.

Belgian is uniquely unaffected by "move speed while firing", so you don't get slowed down by Hyper-Focused.

Since this is meant for frontlining and skirmishing, you can also try Experimental Stun Gun.

Widemouth Magwell isn't used as it gives diminishing returns and nausea-inducing recoil. And the only mag attachment worth using with Belgian is +reload speed.

Buckshot Bruiser is something you can try but I've rarely bothered with. You have to build around it to get the most use which lowers your DPS. You get the most temp health from hitting large targets but it drains fast on No Hope. Amped Up is better overall.

Take a little bit of time to line up enemies between shots.

---

(Not recommended for No Hope quick play)

A fun AA12 build designed for high fire rate, fast move speed while firing, and fast reload.

Gear up an AA12 with these attachments:
Compensator - recoil control and move speed while firing

• For dramatically increased DPS, use a Spray N' Pray if you find it. Worth the trade off

Can of Whup-Ass - to Fill em' full of Lead
Walking Stick or Lightweight Stock - for the +move speed
Wandering Eye (+75% to 100% move speed while firing) - amazing speed

Marathon Runner would be nice to have but with Rolling Thunder and most of these attachments, you'll be flying.

Barrett > Phoenix >>> M1A
A Barrett is as powerful as a Phoenix that's a tier higher in quality. Phoenix has faster firing rate so it's more forgiving against fast ranged mutations like stingers and hockers if you miss. M1A is good for horde clearing/crowd control with Suppressing Fire but has inferior stumbling power and is not ammo efficient. Sniper ammo capacity is also the smallest.



You can also use it for any gun since none of the cards are weapon-specific. It's not a problem if you can't find a good sniper rifle. This has important cards to be self-sufficient and take initiative: copper, Amped Up, Ammo Stash, Admin Reload, and Run Like Hell.

Some other useful cards:

• Empowered Assault - not necessary with Barrett but it helps if you get stuck with an M1A, or have your sidearm out at an inopportune time
  
  • could swap out FeFoL, Marked for Death, Run Like Hell, or Money Grubbers depending on what you want to sacrifice
• Suppressing Fire - not as popular as Empowered; doesn't proc as well as LMGs but could still be useful
  
• Tunnel Vision - for ADS speed. I prefer Tunnel Vision over Steady Aim because it doesn't cripple your mobility if you have a bad habit of aiming down sights when you don't have to
  
• Food Scavenger - to play as Heng and get free trauma heals and buffs

Admin Reload is a godsend if you want to be an effective sniper. It makes it effortless to kill, switch targets, etc. With an automatic pistol/magnum/deagle/belgian, large caliber rounds, unlimited ammo, decent reload/swap speed, you can horde clear and not just be a one-trick pony. The main weapon of a sniper should be their secondary, not their sniper rifle. Don't be one of those passive snipers that only sits and waits for mutations because "it's their job". Don't hold yourself back by having to juggle reloads. You need to be able to multitask and Admin Reload lets you.

ADS and weapon swap speed attachments are plentiful, so I only use Coffee and Reload Drills.
Don't need Cocky for swap speed in your deck. Just use Fill 'em Full of Lead for more damage, fire rate, and swap speed. Cold Brew and Reload Drills are already adequate for swapping.

If you rarely ping (or there's a bot), then Marked for Death is a waste.
Use Fill 'em Full of Lead, Stock Pouch, or Silver Bullets instead.

• FeFoL is like the newer, cooler cousin of Silver Bullets. It gives a unique damage multiplier, separate from bullet damage. It's nice if you multitask with your sidearm a lot. But it doesn't affect stumble power like bullet damage or Stock Pouch. If you don't shoot often, then you're probably better off with something else
  
• Silver Bullets buffs all guns. But adds additively to Large Caliber Rounds and to bullet damage attachments. Long range barrels are plenty so the 15% extra range boost isn't that beneficial.
  
• Stock Pouch only boosts sniper rifles but is a unique damage multiplier too. So you'll do a little more damage than with Silver Bullets. The extra sniper ammo isn't that useful unless you get stuck with an M1A or running Desert Eagle without Ammo Stash.

Two is One and One is None isn't necessary for a sniper. More often than not, Two is One users are starved for ammo especially on No Hope. What do you use to kill commons when there's no ammo to spare, or your team is dying and all you have is a sniper rifle? You can kill commons just fine with a secondary, good positioning, and Admin Reload. Two primaries can be a friendly fire hazard. The -25% swap speed is also very noticeable.

I'd take Ammo Stash over Two is One any day. Ammo Stash gives peace of mind. It keeps you productive because you never have to worry about ammo as a sniper. It'll give you more flexibility than having that umpteenth damage card. Automatic pistols/Belgian (ammo guzzlers) and Embezzler/Desert Eagle (uses sniper ammo; compatible with more legendary attachments than revolver) become viable. Tec 9/Glock Auto with unlimited ammo is a gamechanger. Adding legendary mags like The Motherload or Can of Whup Ass is icing on the cake.

---

Snappier gunplay (faster aim down sights, reload and fire rate) and more stumbles at the cost of some self-sufficiency.

Reload speed also affects the rechambering and de facto fire rate of guns like the Barrett, Phoenix, and revolver. Reload speed for sidearms are noticeably faster giving up Ammo Stash for Ammo Belt.

---

Or you could make some hybrid version between the two builds, eg:

A fun viable alternative that plays like a sniper from Unreal Tournament, Left 4 Dead, and boomer shooters. Just point and click. It's become my favorite sniping style. After going no ADS for three years, it's hard to go back. If you're not a fan of sniping in general, this build might change your mind.

Pros of no ADS sniping:

• fire deadly shots sooner. first shot advantage helps a lot against mutations with ranged attacks
  
• allows a faster play style with greater awareness and lower risk of friendly fire because you're never zoomed in
  
• none of that clunkiness, delay, and slowed movement speed from aiming down sights
  
• much easier to snipe at close range (eg. breaker's weakspots)
  
• faster reload and firing rate

Cons:

• less max damage per shot potential (no Patient Hunter)
  
  • noticeable early on, but the disadvantage narrows as you acquire stronger guns, attachments and cards. eventually the first shot advantage really takes over as you don't get anything for overkilling something. you can one shot things before traditional snipers can even lock on to their targets
• card intensive; less flexibility
  
• trouble hitting small targets at extreme distances (may require a few shots to hit a tiny node at > 70m. certain map tricks are harder to do) but these are niche cases
  
• Noxious Fumes will still be a pain

95% accuracy is sufficient for the vast majority of the time. Being able to move and shoot opens up more ways to play. You can sprint back from commons, jump, spin 180 and shoot at a mutation with accuracy. You can jump and shoot over player's heads.

I don't recommend builds with less than 95% accuracy as the shots won't be dependable for hitting weakspots. Some builds use Hunker Down and Quick Kill for 90% accuracy. They use Down in Front to synergize with Hunker Down. But this forces you to crouch and be a sitting duck every time you need to shoot. It makes it much riskier trying to snipe while avoiding enemies. It defeats one of the main benefits of no ADS: run/jump and gunning.


Mobile no ADS sniping > Hunker Down sniping

Don't use Cocky with no ADS, or it'll become hard to snipe when you take damage.

Why Shooting Gloves (95%) instead of Front Sight Focus for 100% accuracy:

• Front Sight Focus' Aim Speed is useless here, and 10% weakspot damage isn't much
  
• Gloves give swap speed for Admin Reload
  
• Get 1 Peanut Butter and you'll have 100% until end of level

---

Cleaner choice
Jim - highest DPS and good starter guns
Heng - best self sustain and useful team buffs but starts without the guns you need
Walker - decent. +10% damage isn't all that much
Karlee - versatile, starts with Tec 9 (best sidearm with Ammo Stash and Admin Reload). wall hack vision helps you kill through wooden walls and bushes. team-wide Use Speed is nice

Gameplay tips

• Ping every mutation for Marked for Death
  
• Don't snipe commons. It's a high risk, low reward friendly fire hazard that's too slow for clearing them
  
• You can Immediately reload after firing to cancel the slow down effect. This allows you to sprint away from danger. Swap also works but is slower with sniper rifles.
  
• When you see an idle tallboy, aim at the weakspot, then Mark for Death and immediately shoot. If you ping it before aiming, he'll turn around, hiding the weakspot.
  
• To maximize chances of killing snitchers before it alerts, snipe within 22m (effective range drop-off)
  
• Destroy cars to quickly kill tanky mutations
  
• Can loot and then destroy police cars from at least 28m away to prevent them from being triggered (preventative maintenance)
  
• If you jump and snipe, you can lower the risk of friendly fire (works best with bots because they can't jump too)

1. Kill commons with secondary gun
2. Whip out sniper for mutation/bosses
3. Swap back to secondary for commons.
4. Rinse repeat.

If you have a sniper rifle out most of the time, you're not being as effective as you could be.

Superior crowd control, higher DPS and bullet penetration than assault rifles. Melts all enemies, but less mobile than a shotgunner, takes time to power up, and eats ammo.


On Nightmare and lower: you can get away with less ammo, so you can replace Ammo Mule with whatever you want.


Two gun types to get the most out of Suppressing Fire. Attach a swap speed mod to LMG to counter Two is One's debuff. Use M1A or the Witness to kill bosses/mutations.


No aim down sights makes it easier to tap enemies and proc Suppressing Fire for crowd control, while reducing friendly fire risk. Use Experimental Stun Gun for even more crowd control.


Some useful cards:
Empowered Assault
Large Caliber Rounds - allows you to shoot through wood with M249
Steady Aim/Tunnel Vision - makes Noxious Fumes less painful for ADS builds
Trigger Control - gain accuracy with headshot kills; allows no ADS play style without sacrificing
Patient Hunter
Widemouth Magwell
In the Zone - fun with no ADS for reload speed but not consistent unlike Widemouth
Shredder
Down in Front

M249 vs RPK

• M249 - overall higher DPS. Larger magazine and faster fire rate. Easier to handle if using aim down sights. Easier to proc Suppressing Fire.
  
• RPK - stronger damage and penetration per bullet. Higher recoil
  
  • LCR isn't as beneficial

Gameplay tips

• LMGs become more accurate after the first few shots. You don't even need to ADS for close to mid-range. I mainly ADS on bosses/mutations for Patient Hunter stacks.
  
• Use sidearm to preserve ammo and between Admin Reloads
  
• Spraying with ADS makes you a sitting duck. Beware of scopes with zoom (limits field of vision)
  
• Play as Hoffman for chance of ammo drops (or Heng/Jim for faster reload)

Assault rifles are jack of all trades. Can't proc Suppressing Fire making them less useful than LMGs. This is also good for sniping if you can't find a good AR.

Rifle ammo is usually highest in demand as it is also used with LMGs. Preserve it by tapping into all that extra pistol ammo you have. Don't need to reload; just spray 'til empty and swap to an auto pistol and repeat.

Fill 'em Full of Lead kind of counteracts Patient Hunter with small mag sizes, so you could use Tactical Vest instead (but that won't boost your sidearm).


More mobile. May need to lean more into sidearm to preserve rifle ammo.

Weapons:
M4 - lowest DPS by far; easiest to handle
M16 - stronger than M4; burst-fire only
AK-47 - very good all-rounder; a little weaker than Scar but easier to handle
Scar - highest DPS (in theory; best used with a compensator); high recoil, slowest reload
Ranch Rifle - like a weaker M1A but faster fire rate and more ammo capacity. most ammo efficient. higher rarity doesn't scale as well as AK-47 and Scar

Enable "All Weapons-Full Auto" in gameplay options so you can just hold down left click for Ranch Rifle instead of clicking rapidly.

Some useful cards:
Run Like Hell
Tactical Vest (good buy; or swap with Fill 'em Full of Lead or Ammo Belt/Mule)
Marked for Death
Shredder - AR shoots too slow to proc as well as shotgun/SMG (a "buy" card)

My go-to SMG build. It's versatile and uses Empowered Assault to make up for SMG's weak stumbling power . Use Tec 9 or Glock Auto as your "main" with SMG of your choice.

Vector - fastest rate of fire, lowest recoil, smallest clip. Laser beam that literally goes brrrrrr.
UMP - highest damage, penetration, stumble per bullet. But small clip, slow rate of fire, reload, and slowest move speed
MP5 - well-rounded attributes. Second largest mag size.
Uzi - largest mag size, weakest damage per bullet. Both Uzi and MP5 have fastest move speed.

Get compensator, +mag size, and speed sprint attachments for both guns.

SMG eats ammo like crazy. Ammo Stash conserves all the ammo from Ammo Belt and Mag Carrier for the primary SMG, while ensuring no killing downtime. The more ammo you have, the more ammo On Your Mark gives. On Your Mark also boosts move speed while firing.

You can charge up Fill 'em Full of Lead by spraying with Tec 9/Glock Auto right before boss fights or to kill a Snitcher on No Hope.

Patient Hunter doesn't work as well here. Reaches 1 stack, sometimes 2 at the end of a clip. I'd only buy it. SMGs have decent hipfire accuracy so you don't need to ADS at close range. Compensator attachments help a lot with hipfire. Unless you're aiming at a weakspot, you can get away with hipfire at close range (<15m) to kill commons. I recommend not aiming down sights most of the time so you can see your surroundings.

There are SMG builds that use Power Swap. I find Power Swap finicky to use and unreliable with automatics. I prefer cards that are set and forget so I can focus on other things. If you forget to use it or can't proc it half the time, you might as well use something more consistent like Patient Hunter, Marked for Death, Silver Bullets, or even Belligerent.


(Not recommended for No Hope quick play)

Fast move speed while firing, fast fire rate with little downtime and backed up by a large amount of ammo. The amount of bullets you can fire makes up a bit for the lack of sheer power. SMGs have low DPS, so this is designed to be a fun, mobile gunslinger to clear trash and non-tanky mutations and softening up mutations with Shredder.

With this deck, Tec 9 is preferred over Glock Auto because it counts as an SMG and is affected by Speed Demon (+35% reload speed, +4% move speed). Cold Brew Coffee is a good alternative to Speed Demon and allows you to benefit from Glock Auto too.

You won't be going brrrrr until you start getting attachments:
Compensator - recoil control and move speed while firing
Can of Whup-Ass or Magazine Size - to Fill em' full of Lead
Walking Stick or Lightweight Stock - for +move speed
Wandering Eye (+75% to 100% move speed while firing) - amazing speed

You can move and spray to propel yourself faster than sprinting.

Some useful cards:
Front Sight Focus, Shooting Gloves
Highwayman
Patient Hunter
Reckless Strategy
Cold Brew Coffee, Reload Drills
Empowered Assault
Run Like Hell

Support builds are always the most contentious.

There are different ways to play support, ranging from pure healer to something with as little as Amped Up and Needs of the Many +/- Medical Professional. There are also niche builds that focus on pills and temporary health, some using gadgets, or using Heng with Wasteland Chef to create Gourmet Meals to heal trauma.

Dedicated healing or support builds aren't necessary to beat No Hope. All the power creep and bugs have made it more forgiving to play with less support. Healing builds have lost value because of:

• Amped Up, Utility Scavenger
  
• Free legendary intel: Unnatural Healing, Emergency Transfusion
  
• Legendary tool kits (Cursed Key)
  
• Legendary first aid kits (Nurse Purse)
  
• Tala, whose Warped Chests on every level may have Cursed Keys and Nurse Purses
  
• Break Time (fast life regen, no trauma)
  
• Food
  
• Lucky Pennies bug
  
• trauma healing efficiency bug and Medical Professional nerf

Powerful cards that you can find for free, introduced in one of the final updates.

The No Hope quick play meta revolves around Needs of the Many, Medical Professional, Amped Up, money cards, and the rest mostly DPS. Can't count on others to bring the most useful cards. Kill things before they kill you.

That said, support/healers are still viable and can be fun to play if you have a decent team that can make up for your lack of firepower.

---

For those that like to play pure support, this has something for everyone. The best 3 copper cards. More options to heal trauma: tool kits, bandages/pills, money. More team slots for accessories. Heals that affect the entire team. Ammo replenishment and indirect DPS support.


For Nightmare and under: Needs of the Many is not necessary so Fit as a Fiddle and Well Rested are used for creating big temp health (drains slower on all difficulties below No Hope).

If you find Unnatural Healing early on, high healing efficiency loses value. So Antibiotic Ointment is used instead of the traditional EMT Bag. First aid kits and bandages give temp hp too which can block trauma and come in clutch. Pills can heal trauma, give even more temp HP, and a whopping +25% damage for 60 seconds. There are more free accessories lying around than in No Hope, so pop spare pills to give a boost.

No extra slots suck early on but a third copper card scales better and gives stronger value throughout the run.

Amped Up - any one can run it, but most people don't. It's bizarre seeing Docs and support players that don't run Amped Up when it's a healer's best friend and one of the best cards in the game.

Headband Magnifier - controversial pick for anything but Act 1. Use Speed has more use/value than simply loading up artillery in Act 1 as mentioned before. First aid kits only take 1 second to apply instead of 3. Revive time is ~3 seconds compared to ~6. You can replace it if not playing Act 1.


Some useful cards:

• Magician's Apprentice - 10% increased reuse chance on everything including tool kits and legendary accessories. Sometimes RNG works really well in your favor
  
• Experienced EMT
  
• Run Like Hell
  
• Saferoom Recovery - effects stack
  
• Admin Reload
  
• Fit as a Fiddle and Well Rested - in No Hope, more of a luxury since temp HP drains faster. unless playing in a group with melee or temp health builds, these are more of a "buy" than deck cards. If there is Sharice, you can just get Well Rested.
  
• Poultice - okay to buy but obsolete once you find Unnatural Healing

Combat Medic, Charitable Soul, Smelling Salts, or Rousing Speech -
They're okay cards to buy. There are better cards to have in your deck. Why have Charitable Soul when you can have Amped Up or Group Therapy? Why Combat Medic/Smelling Salts when you can have Headband? If you want revive speed, go for the best Use Speed. Or use Multitool if you can't handle the occasional blinding effect.

Recommended guns:
Tac14 - easy to play, ammo efficient, high damage/stumble per shot, some horde clear ability
Barrett or Phoenix - ammo efficient, high damage/stumble per shot
M1A - crowd control; can 1 tap commons. fast fire rate
The Witness (legendary M1A) - Marked for Death on steroids
Prototype (legendary UMP) - slowing mutations and horde clearing

Gameplay tips

• Watch horde timers and take advantage of Amped Up before wasting supplies or free heals
  
• Doc's free heals trigger Group Therapy and Field Surgeon
  
• Save your free heals until later when healing accessories become scarce
  
• You can use spare defibs to heal trauma when reviving
  
• If you don't have Use Speed, you can use defibs to revive someone quickly in an emergency
  (eg. to secure secondary objective where all cleaners have to survive, if someone gets incapped at the last few seconds. An example of how a smart player with Headband can clutch things.)
  
• Don't rush to revive if it'll endanger you, or if they're just going to die again (eg. on acid or fire). Kill threats or make sure you have backup. Move the camera around when you're reviving. Use smoke, bait jars, etc if you have to

Support/DPS hybrid builds for No Hope quick play.

Powerful set and forget team cards do the work so you can focus on killing. These aren't healer builds. These are for experienced players who can handle having -40% max hp with cards to counter/compensate for the chaos of No Hope quick play.




A versatile build with some of the most important support and damage cards. You can restore lives with defibs and med kits. A support player that's better at killing/stumbling can prevent a lot of damage. You'll have a better chance of survival amidst all the chaos if you don't have teammates with good DPS. You don't necessarily have to play Doc with this build since there are no cards that take advantage of her free heals. Heng is a good alternative since he spawns extra food.

If not playing No Hope: you can replace Needs of the Many with something like Patient Hunter, Marked for Death, or Tool Belts.

Why no healing efficiency cards or Group Therapy?

• Amped Up does heavy lifting for free
  
• Unnatural Healing, if found early, complements Amped Up and devalues Group Therapy and healing efficiency
  
• your healing efficiency doesn't help with healing other's trauma
  
  • would you rather have EMT Bag or On Your Mark? No one will ever complain that you brought On Your Mark
• on No Hope, trauma is easily accrued and is a limiting factor for heals
  
  • lower trauma resistance
    
  • no trauma healed between levels
    
  • no free first aid cabinet heals
    
  • stronger enemies earlier on
• you need Fit as a Fiddle (and/or Sharice) and Well Rested to create phat heals, otherwise excess healing goes to waste

Don't underestimate Admin Reload - it can easily double a support player's kills in the right hands. It is hard to kill with few DPS cards when you are busy juggling reloads. It also helps you survive no matter what guns you're using. Remember, there are a bunch of reload/damage/penetration/stumble cards and attachments you can find throughout the run but literally nothing gives what Admin Reload does. That and Headband will help you multitask.



Provides trauma heal via food rather than relying on support items. Can use any gun.

My go-to melee build. A versatile, team-oriented build for any difficulty. There are tankier, higher DPS, or easier to play melee builds. But it has balanced abilities, and upgrades/cards/heals/items you can afford here compounds over time. Wooden Armor negates the -30% trauma resist of No Hope. It's sufficient if you play Sharice and use a machete/claw/bat with Resonant Metals. You can also use Lucky Pennies instead of Wooden Armor. I like the bat because it can stun-lock mutations and protects better against commons/volatile ridden than axe/hatchet.

This build requires some stamina management since it only has Brazen to min-max versatility. But once you find a Peanut Butter, it becomes less of an issue.

Bash for a few seconds to charge up Meth Head (and then let some stamina recover) before big fights or you may have stamina problems. Or use Slugger instead of Mean Drunk.


Much skill, much wow! Abuses infinite stamina bug and no friendly fire for brain-dead gameplay. But at the expense of no money cards to support the team or yourself.


Still mostly brain-dead gameplay but with money to afford stuff. I recommend this over the second one.


Extra lives will help the team more than infinite stamina, Mean Drunk, Berserker, Scar Tissue, or Breakout. Grubbers can be used instead of Wooden Armor.

Breakout is a waste of a slot.
Just use Slippery When Wet burn card for levels with corruption cards for Hockers, Stalkers, Sleepers, or Crushers (though you shouldn't be getting grabbed by Crushers with Heavy Hitter and circle strafing). Also good for levels with infinite hordes or large open spaces where the team is likely to become separated.

---

For best results, play as Sharice and have Doc on the team (+team trauma resistance). To optimize as Heng, replace Slugger with Food Scavenger. Get Resonant Metals (+heals on kill) to make it easier for Well Rested to work.

Cleaner choice

• Sharice is the best. She has built in Fit as a Fiddle and trauma resist. You can generate a temp health buffer without having to take trauma damage first. The free armor spawns are invaluable when Cost of Avarice isn't present. She also starts with an axe which is OP if you have unlimited stamina and Down in Front.
  
  
• Heng is also strong with Food Scavenger. He gets food buffs, and heals trauma from every food he eats. Increased food spawn helps counter Ravenous.
  
  
• Holly is decent for sustain though anyone can get heals per kill from Resonant Metals now.
  
  
• Doc gives 20% team trauma resistance and has 15% healing efficiency which makes her usable and arguably better than Holly.
  
  
• Evangelo has free Breakout but everything else is inferior.

Weapons

• Machete, iron claws, and baseball bat are great for horde clearing and generating temp health
  
  • Bat excels at crowd control. it has lowest single-target DPS but highest stumble power and wide arc and long range. With Heavy Hitter and a stumble mod, you can stumble mutations repeatedly
• Axe is the best for killing mutations/bosses. Melee stamina bug makes it viable for horde clearing and overall strongest melee. But volatile ridden can cause a lot of trauma. Some axe mains use Combat Knife or Heavy Attack to counter them
  
  • Hatchet is like a weaker axe with faster swings
    
  • The narrow arc and slower attack rate of axe/hatchet makes you more vulnerable to commons without good positioning (also slower to generate temp health)
  
  
• Gun - shotgun, M249, or The WItness. The Witness is ideal (long-range, accurate hip-fire with strong team buff). M249 becomes more accurate the longer you shoot
  
  
• Grim Reaper attachment turns the game into a joke

Gameplay tips

• Charge up Meth Head by bashing before combat (the sword icon).
  Bash occasionally to maintain the stacks (max 10) which last 7 seconds.
  
  • Avoid stamina reaching 0 or your attacks become weak (bash, retreat and let some stamina recover).
• Kill commons to heal trauma, generate health and temporary health
  
• If you don't have Down in Front:
  
  • Bash commons when near others
    
  • Minimize crouching when attacking so people know not to go too close or shoot near you
    
  • Stand perpendicular to the doorway so you can see if teammates are approaching the door
    
  • It's a good idea to let people know in advance whether you have Down in Front
• Circle strafe Crushers from your right when you hear their grunt. Keep circle strafing while attacking and they shouldn't be able to grab you

Adapted from my earlier guide which hasn't been kept up to date.

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2929276667

tldr: Play Sharice, unequip all weapons to unlock the heavy bash, and hold W + M2.

It can be a lot easier to play with bots than with the average player. Bots have a lot of health and don't take trauma unless a player takes over them. They don't waste money and they give all their money to you. There is zero friendly fire risk to you so you can move as you please. They get unlimited free first aid cabinet heals (cooldown period around a minute or more). They also run many powerful team cards that the average player neglects.

Bots have:
Needs of the Many
Amped Up
On Your Mark
Ammo For All
Marked for Death
Inspiring Sacrifice
Well Fed
Medical Expert
Bounty Hunter
Silver Bullets
Large Caliber Rounds

Take risks early on and enter Hives for tons of loot.

You can trigger hordes to abuse Amped Up to heal everyone. This is important to maintain secondary objectives for 0 incaps. It sounds counterintuitive, but you can easily fend off the horde with good DPS and positioning.

If a bot has a tool kit, go in front of the stash room and spam ping until the bot opens it. Everyone needs to gather in front of the door. Get the bot to use theirs to save your own for free heals.
You can also ping alarmed doors with locks above the handle, and they will disarm it without using up their tool kit. Great for maintaining Silence is Golden.

It's cheaper to burn a Group Hug as a stopgap rather than using first aid kits/Medical Professional to restore bot lives. Restore bots' lives in the stash room. Go close and ping first aid cabinets. if a bot is missing multiple lives, you can stay there for a few minutes to milk all the free life restores. This is good for No Hope if you don't have Medical Professional or haven't found Emergency Transfusion yet.

Bots are terrible against bosses so do have strong DPS.

---

You can easily beat Nightmare in offline mode to unlock Zwats. You can use the same build for every Cleaner.

For No Hope:

• expect an extra boss for most levels
  
• bots don't respawn, and that'll be one of the biggest challenges
  
• trauma can be a problem. There are fewer first aid cabinets on No Hope. They're usually only found in the stash rooms, and you don't get any free heals.
  
• you don't get any lives or trauma restored for free at the end of every level

If you do Hives, you'll have lots of copper even if you fail secondary objectives.
Cost of Avarice is a trap if you load up early in the level. All that warped copper will go towards your medical bills.

You can restart the Act until you get the bots you want.
eg. for Act 1 and 6, you can restart until there's Karlee for Use Speed.
Tala, Sharice, and Hoffman are great to have. Tala is very overpowered. The benefits of all her Warped Chest loot are immeasurable. It's ideal if at least one bot has a tool kit and one with a defib.

If you're still struggling with bots, try taking Money Grubbers or Needs of the Many for the extra bot lives. Or play as Tala or Heng.

I recommend shotguns for your first foray into Nightmare and No Hope. They are easy to play and the strongest guns with the right attachments. Or try the no ADS LMG build.

Get range barrels/Spray N' Pray, Can of Whup-Ass/Less is More, Sharpshooter's Monocle, move/sprint speed attachments.

Can use any shotgun though I don't recommend Super 90. AA12 is great in offline mode since you have unlimited ammo. It becomes amazing with Spray N' Pray.

• Sufficient damage with fast reload speed - melt mutations, bosses, and hordes. Bots will provide unlimited ammo so just keep pewpewing everything with shotgun. Two is One and One is None is not needed at all.
  
  
• Versatile accuracy - 50% is a good all-purpose accuracy for shotguns. Sufficient for mid-range. Spread is not too narrow for horde clearing. You can even kill snipers at extreme ranges with 1 - 3 shots. You can replace Quick Kill for Optics Enthusiast for a wider spread.
  
  
• No-ADS; hipfire - for simple point and click, Left 4 Dead style gameplay. Be effective quicker without sacrificing peripheral vision/situational awareness.
  
  
• Very fast Use Speed - to do objectives, revive bots, apply first aid, clear Hive webs, etc. It'll come in clutch. Don't underestimate how important it is to quickly pick up bots with full life bars in an emergency.
  
  
• Fast mobility - for quality of life, to get stuff done, and survival in non-stop horde events in levels such as Pain Train, Abandoned, T5, Body Dump, No Sanctuary. And cause it's fun.
  
  
• Copper Scavenger - to hustle and find all the copper quickly. Timed hordes are more common on higher difficulties.
  
  
• Double Grenade Pouch* - sometimes you go through a campaign without being able to buy any Team Offensive Slot Upgrades which can be a pain. This card also saves you 3000 copper on slot upgrades. Paying 3000 for +2 slots for yourself is poor value. Most useful for Acts 1, 3 and 6.
  
  
• Medical Professional* - mainly for No Hope as bots don't respawn and missing lives aren't restored at the start of each level. On Nightmare, there are more first aid cabinets and each one has a free heal.

*You can forgo cards like Medical Professional, Money Grubbers, and Double Grenade Pouch as you become more experienced with No Hope. Once you find Emergency Transfusion, Medical Professional loses a lot of value. Without Medical Professional, hang around and milk the First Aid Cabinets to restore bot lives.


Empowered Assault is optional. I've included it in a lot of these offline builds since you have more leeway not needing team or ammo cards. You get diminishing returns having a lot of damage cards. EA can prevent damage from ranged mutations particularly if not playing sniper or shotgun.

---

Light Machine Gun


Widemouth Magwell is used instead of Reload Drills because too much swap speed may cause LMGs to not Admin Reload in time. Fill 'em Full of Lead provides ample swap speed.


Get a Compensator, Less is More/Can of Whup-Ass, and Sharpshooter's Monocle. Melts everything at all ranges. It may be easier than shotgun because of Suppressing Fire. Use an automatic pistol in between Admin Reloads and bots' ammo drops.


Also works well with any pairing as long as it has an LMG or sniper rifle to use Suppressing Fire. Can use Barrett/Phoenix instead of M1A. Shooting Gloves is used instead of Front Sight to mitigate Two is One's swap debuff.

---

Sniper

Use ADS speed stock on the Barrett. You'll have enough swap speed with Fill 'em, Coffee and Reload Drills.



Proc Shredder and Fill 'em Full of Lead with Glock Auto/Tec 9 on tanky mutations before sniping.
Can use Belligerent, Stock Pouch or Power Swap instead of Shredder. Silver Bullets instead of LCR. Empowered instead of Suppressing.

Sniping commons isn't something I generally recommend due to friendly fire risk, but you can fire a shot every now and then to proc Suppressing Fire if there are no mutations to snipe.

SMG

You know the drill by now. Spray til empty, Swap to Tec 9/Glock Auto, repeat. No-ADS because hard to maximize Patient Hunter with SMG. High accuracy is important given SMG's wild spray patterns and because each bullet is relatively weak. Get a compensator. High recoil control + accuracy will turn SMG into a laser beam.

Mag Carrier can be used instead of Belligerent.

---

Assault Rifle

---

Melee

Playing melee with bots is a bit different than multiplayer. Rather than guarding chokepoints, you should play aggressive and hold W + M1 most of the time:

1. To generate temp hp/trauma heal before bots kill the commons
   
2. To avoid friendly fire without Down in Front (bots never run in front while you are moving ahead)
   
3. To stumble mutations with Heavy Hitter

EMT Bag is optional since you get 45% healing efficiency from the bots' Medical Expert.

No trauma resist cards because you get all the copper, Cursed Keys, Nurse Purses, and Peaches for yourself.

Use the baseball bat for crowd control and generating lots of temp hp quickly, or the axe for killing mutations/bosses.

If you see a lot of ridden idling around, spray some bullets to attract them and make it quicker to W + M1 them.

Ideal guns would be The Witness or a shotgun with Spray n' Pray + Less is More + Sharpshooter's. M249 can be used (becomes more accurate after spraying for a few seconds) if you don't have those. Ogres are annoying without the right guns or Axe+flashbangs+armor. You can use a bait jar and try to rush through the level if you aren't properly equipped.

For Act 1, switch out Berserker, EMT Bag, or Copper Scavenger for Headband Magnifier.


Unconventional hybrid. Soften up tanky stuff with an AA12 + Spray n' Pray before closing in for the kill.

---

Act 3
Move + sprint speed attachments help a lot.

T5 Mansion
Use Slippery When Wet burn card if there are corruption cards for Hockers, Stalkers, or Crushers. It sucks to fail at the last moment because of them.

Wires help but aren't required. With limited wires, it's best to place them on the staircase inside.

With a sprint speed attachment and Run Like Hell or Mad Dash, it's very doable if you learn how to loop around the mansion to control the crowd. Watch Youtube for solo'ing T5 and you'll get ideas. Practice moving around T5 on Recruit checkpoint. T5 is all about having a process and following it. Before the event starts, you can shoot down certain doors, and place spare accessories on the truck or some other convenient spot along your looping path. Avoid killing stuff that aren't in your way as this can cause more to spawn ahead of you.

Using bait jar on the ogre can help kill two birds with one stone. Burst down the ogre to half health so it runs away. If you're melee, use a tool kit to unlock the minigun/flamethrower on the roof.

Unless you have Unnatural Healing, don't bring pain meds or you might die from attrition. Bring bandages or first aid kits instead. You can apply those big heals easily thanks to Headband Magnifier.


Act 4
You can use any of the non-melee builds above for this level. You won't need cards like Copper Scavenger, Medical Professional, and Headband Magnifier. Add cards like Shoulder Bag, Double Grenade Pouch, and maybe an extra mobility card or two to help with last section.

eg.


Bring bandages instead of pills or you might die from attrition. First aid kits might take too long to use during the last part without Headband.

Youtube for positioning and strategy. When the boss starts moving away, stay near the entrance of the giant cavern and wait for two of the weakspots to appear. After destroying those, sprint past the horde along the left side and you should see the other weakspot eventually.

There's no such thing as the perfect or best build.

The beauty of Back 4 Blood is all the cards and builds that you can try. Experiment!

Adapt and tweak to your play style, preferred gun, who you're playing with, and the campaign/difficulty.

Consider Amped Up and Admin Reload. They have unique powerful effects. They'll save more asses than that umpteenth damage, mobility, copper, or healing card ever will.


Check out my other guides:
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2670543389
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2828098664
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2929276667


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