Putrid

A very strong zombie. It breaks into several zombies when it dies.

Nickname "**Putrid**" is a large infected. It appears to be an amalgamation of multiple zombies. As a result, it has several large bulges of veiny flesh, a number of haphazardly strewn clawed limbs throughout its mass both for moving and attacking, and two identifiable heads with faces. Blue energy radiates in several areas and certain spots are covered in yellow pustules.

Putrid is a very problematic zombie to fight against in part due to its large health pool, high damage, and on-death abilities. Upon being killed, Putrid explodes, dealing high Area of Effect damage to all units, stationary units, and zombies in a large radius around the spot where it was killed. Immediately after exploding, three Rottens spawn from where it died. Putrid is usually accompanied by more of its kind, making them a highly dangerous obstacle during battle.

It's advised to use ranged shotgunner units like Ranger and Policeman Diaz during missions with Putrid in it. Alternatively, ranged units with a high rate of fire like Carlos, Sonya, and Turret also work. In general, ranged units are the only effective units capable of killing multiple Putrids as well as dealing with the Rottens that are spawned afterward. Agents are a powerful ranged duo with perks that allow them to easily sneak forward without gaining attention and dealing a fair amount of damage at the start of the mission. Flamethrower is a very powerful ranged unit as well, capable of burning Putrid's health down fairly quickly. However, his weapon's short reach almost always means that he will get caught in Putrid's death explosion, killing or severely weakening him in the process. This can be alleviated by bringing Medkit along or having another TMF unit in the battle deck to activate the 2/2 team power that provides a 50% chance to ignore explosion damage.

Mechanic is a fairly decent option as a melee unit thanks to his additional damage. However, using other melee units is not highly recommended since Putrid deals huge damage and can easily annihilate all units around it with its death explosion. It's still important to bring along some other spam melee units like Private Rodriguez or Redneck as meat shields when necessary.

Firefighter is sort of a direct counter to it as he won't take damage from its death explosion. Additionally, Firefighter's own death explosion can deal additional damage and set Putrid on fire. Despite these advantages, Firefighter is still not a good choice for fighting against Putrid as he will very likely get killed before dealing enough damage and his death explosion is never guaranteed. Since Putrid is often present in swarms, it’s recommended using Red Barrel as it can deal a great amount of explosion and fire damage and the fire pool can also burn the Rottens it leaves after dying. Molotov is also a good choice thanks to its high fire damage in a greater radius.

Due to its size and height, it can be difficult to tell if Putrid has the red aura buff. If it does, the signature red glow is largely covered, and only a small part of it can be seen around the edges of its mass. Players will need to look carefully for the other sign of the buff, the floating red particles, as those will be easier to spot. However, enemies might hide behind Putrid's large frame and give it the appearance of being stronger than normal. Putrid benefits greatly from the red aura effect as its damage output is essentially a death sentence for spam units, and is far more capable of killing damagers and other more tankier units. As such, it is important to find and kill these particular Putrids using the aforementioned rage abilities at the earliest convenience.

### Abilities

* Explodes on death, causing a large, ring-shaped blast of blood.
	+ Damage depends on proximity. Closer units and enemies can take up to three hits in total starting from the highest possible damage down to the lowest possible damage, with the max possible explosion damage able to be taken totaling up to 105.
* Spawns 3 Rottens on death.
* Knockback resistance.

## Trivia

* Putrid appears differently in-game than what is shown on its Zombiepedia page. Upon close inspection of its image, the yellow pustules can be seen missing from its energy sack and lower flesh bulge.
	+ It's possible that Putrid's sprites were changed during development but were not entirely updated, leaving portions of its animation incomplete and its journal photo appearing as the previous version without the yellow pustules.
* There is a visual error where Putrid's pustules on its blue energy sack located between the heads disappear while moving.
* Although its description states that it breaks into several zombies when it dies, it is more likely that the three Rottens that are spawned on death are simply stored within the large bulges of flesh.

## Gallery

Journal entry.