recursal/Fanatic-Fandom huggingface dataset:
Fast Zombie

* Animated
* Still
* Xmas Animated
* Xmas Still

An ordinary running zombie.

Nickname "**Fast Zombie**" is an infected dressed in black pants.

Fast Zombie has near-identical stats as a regular Zombie, so fighting against him is quite similar. However, because of his faster movement speed, melee units must be sent out just as quickly to prevent him from reaching and attacking the bus first.

### First Encountered

* Stage 1, Mission 5.
* Crazy immediately turns into this infected upon death.

## Trivia

* Although this zombie is formerly introduced in Mission 5, Fast Zombie appears briefly in the cutscene of Mission 4. However, it reverts into an ordinary Zombie after the cutscene ends.
* During the old Christmas event, Fast Zombie, along with Zombie, Girl, and Cop, would all be dressed in unique festive outfits and drop presents when killed.

## Gallery

Journal entry.
Harvest Day event/Strategies

## Harvest Day

Harvest Day is the most recent event to be added in DA;ZW, your main goal is to keep the generator running so you can earn bags of grains from x amount of time, your units will hold off the oncoming horde while the generator runs. The generator takes 2% damage every second while also being vulnerable to other zombies attack, Welder is required for this but you do not need to purchase him as he's available in the event, and this is the only event that have a unit to use for free. The event take place on rainy weather, rendering most of the fire effect useless, in addition, the rarely seen lightning in rain level will strike more than once and more often, similar to the paramedic's lightning in addition to inflicting ice-based stun at the nearby unit as well
Events

**Events** are special game modes that occur on a regular basis. They require event tickets to enter, two of which are given for free upon checking the event page when a new event starts. This mode is unlocked from the Star Reward system after the player collects 40 stars.

Depending on the event, the player can obtain various rewards, such as coins, power points, tokens, and red keys.

Events can be divided into two categories: weekly and exclusive.

### Weekly

**Weekly events** happen once a week during the weekends, typically lasting 3 days and 6 hours. They cycle through a fixed rotation, and the goal and methods for success vary from each event to another.

Each weekly event has a set of 4 goals, which provide rewards when completed. Completing goals will also increase the difficulty of the event, which increases the level of the enemies.

While the objectives vary, the rewards are fixed for all weekly events:

* **1st Goal** - 100 coins
* **2nd Goal** - 250 coins + 250 tokens
* **3rd Goal** - 10 money + 250 power points
* **4th Goal** - 500 coins + 500 power points

In addition, each weekly event features a leaderboard that awards top players with extra rewards:

* Top 100 players receive 10 blue keys by the end of the event.
* Top 200 players receive 1,500 coins by the end of the event.
* All other participants receive 500 coins by the end of the event.

Currently, there are four events in the weekly rotation. These are:

* Wall Mart
* Harvest Day
* Princess Rescue
* Corn Farm

### Exclusive

**Exclusive events**, also commonly referred to as **annual events**, are held during special occasions, mainly Holidays, for a limited time only. Each of these events have a special event-exclusive collectible that can be exchanged for unique cases that hold many different rewards, including themed skins, unique bus paints, and exclusive units. These events usually last 14 days.

Two different exclusive events have been held so far. These are:

* Halloween Event
* Christmas Event

The previous versions of the exclusive events have been retired and are no longer part of the game, having been replaced with more current versions. These are:

* Halloween Event (Legacy)
* Christmas Event (Legacy)
Scout (Item Set)

**Scout** is an mid-to-late game item set. It consists of camping and outdoors equipment often provided in scouting organizations.

## Items

Scout items are available in Epic and Legendary quality. The set includes the following items:

## Set Bonus

This set rewards its wearer with a 1-point shield whenever they kill an enemy. Shields do not stack, and do not recover points of a unit's already existing shield. Queen, Grenadier, and Lionheart will not receive a shield if they kill an enemy with their activated abilities: it's only provided for kills done with primary attacks.

### Analysis

Scout is one of the few sets that has a "winmore" status. While it theoretically allows a strong unit to have prolonged onslaughts, it implies that said unit has high damage output, and is used in a mission where there's a plenty of enemies to get shields from. Should Scout be used on weaker units, or in levels where most enemies are bulky, it's unlikely to be of any use. And if you have enough patience to grind for perfect damage-boosting builds on Scout, you might as well do that for different sets that properly capitalize on units' destructive power.

However, Scout's situation is much more positive in Skirmish. Since damage tanking alone can win games in that mode, Scout becomes a solid option for units who are able to naturally dish out big damage, while also valuing whatever defense they can get. This set especially shines on Carol, whose dash attack isn't too difficult to buff, and she can easily farm shields there by ping-ponging from one opponent to another.

It's important to mention that Scout isn't useful against Insectoids: they deal damage upon landing, effectively removing your ranged unit's shield before starting to use proper attacks.

## Location

The table below displays which Supply Runs have the Scout set in their reward pool.
Blue Runner

A running zombie that can stun enemies.

Nickname "**Blue Runner**" is an infected dressed in torn black pants. He has grey flesh and glowing blue skin. He has blue eyes that are constantly blinking brightly.

Blue Runner is one of the most dangerous runner type enemies in the entire game. He has near-identical stats as Blue, meaning he can be rather difficult to take down before he gets to the bus. Nonetheless, they should be prioritized at all costs as they are quite powerful, especially in groups.

Mechanic is a great melee unit when fighting against Blue Runner, as when used properly, the sledgehammer attack can immediately kill Blue Runner, and if his special ability is unlocked, he can chain it, killing massive groups of them with terrifying ease. Unlocking Mechanic's special ability is highly recommended as he can single-handedly take care of any amount of Blue Runners (and any other weak enemies) rushing on the field. Private Rodriguez, while not as strong in comparison to Mechanic, still is a good option. Besides preparing very quickly, he fares well enough against Blue Runner thanks to his fast attack speeds and knockback perk, which could allow him to kill one or even two before being stunned and/or killed.

Policeman Diaz is a great choice for a ranged unit as he as a moderate courage cost, decent preparation time, and is able to stand for himself thanks to his melee resistance, to the extent even if stunned, he might get the final shot on and save himself. Sonya is also a good choice thanks to her high DPS and being able to knock Blue Runners back should they get too close. While this stands to be the case, they will be helpless if a swarm manages to overwhelm and stun them before they can react properly. However, having a few ranged units out at the same time can drastically lower the chances of it happening, as the sheer amount of gunfire will tear them apart and leave a few strays to other melee units to handle.

### Abilities

* Can deal critical hits, causing stun.
* Fire resistance.

## Gallery

Journal entry.
Drone

A quadcopter that can be used as a crowd control tool.

**Drone** is a large quadcopter wrapped with blue wiring carrying a yellow alarm device and a green box.

## Functionality

### Basics

funny 9/11 artifact made by the scientists.

"Why make it explode exactly in the scientist location????"

-Jackson

The Drone is a disposable item, meaning it will be disappeared after its destruction. It has good explosion damage and moderate preparation time. However, it has a huge rage cost.

### Perks and abilities

The Drone is sent from outside of the bus, able to be put almost anywhere the player chooses by being placed directly on the battlefield.

The Drone will lure zombies toward itself in a range of 120 units upon reaching its desired location. It can draw them away from the bus/units, but usually only works for zombies that are ahead of it. After staying there for 3 seconds, the Drone slams to the ground, dealing explosive damage in a small area. Naturally, intelligent enemies, namely Marauders, will ignore the drone entirely.
Drones will also fly out upon the death of a scientist due to the 3/3 Scientist team power and explode on where the scientist was killed without luring enemies.

## Gameplay

### Main Campaign

The Drone is a relatively versatile support item, able to be used offensively and supportively. It can lure a large horde of zombies away from important units and possibly killing, or heavily damaging them. With correct timing, the drone can also be used to lure a group of running-type zombies, giving units enough time to dispatch the group should they be weakened by the drone's explosion.

Despite its versatility and rarity, the Drone is rather mediocre overall due to its inadequate overall damage output when compared to its preparation time and huge rage cost. And since it only has damage to offer, the Drone's performance quickly diminishes.

### Skirmish

While it is unavailable in League like all range abilities, it can be summoned with the Scientists 3/3 Team Power. However, the Drone's level value is set to 0 in this mode, resulting in a pitiful damage, especially for mid-level Skirmishes and above, making it only a minor add-on bonus at best, and ineffective at worst.

## Trivia

* The Drone is the first support item to be obtained through purchasing a premium unit pack.

 Humans
 TMF Squad
Sergeant

This zombie comes back after death.

Nickname "**Sergeant**" is an infected dressed in a torn dark brown shirt, urban camo pants, and an urban camo jacket. A section of his head is missing and one of his eyes constantly twitches.

Sergeant has the ability to revive once with half his original health. He is not difficult to fight against as only two spam melee units are the most that will be needed, the first for when he appears and the second once he comes back up. Alternatively, Empty Barrel can easily deal with Sergeant as he is reviving as his lower health makes him an easy target.

Another method is to obliterate Sergeant's corpse with whatever method necessary. Fire-based sources like Molotov and Red Barrel are both excellent choices when fighting against Sergeant as they will burn his body while it lays on the ground if he hasn't revived yet.

Sergeant's bullet resistance is somewhat negligible since damage isn't as severely reduced compared to other bullet-resistant enemies. Using decently upgraded ranged units can work well enough to kill Sergeant and his revived form if they manage to keep distance from where he was killed.

### Abilities

* Ability to come back to life once at ~50% health.
* Bullet resistance (30% damage reduction).

### First Encountered

* Stage 3, Mission 38.
* Ranger turns into this infected upon death.
* Light Soldier turns into this infected upon death.
* Red Hood turns into this infected upon death

## Trivia

* Due to being a reviving enemy, whenever if something turns into Sergeant, they will have a partial health bar due to the transformation consuming one of their revives, which in turn reduces the health they rise with.

## Gallery

Journal entry.
Fast Pumpkin Zombie

* Animated
* Still

Nickname "**Fast Pumpkin Zombie**" (FPZ) is an infected dressed in black pants. A jack-o'-lantern has been placed over his head.

This zombie only appeared in the old Halloween Event and was supposed to be killed to obtain that event's rewards. Each FPZ dropped one pumpkin.

He is near-identical to a regular Fast Zombie but with much greater health. Ways of fighting them were still very similar but properly-upgraded units were better suited for more easily defeating them.

### First Encountered

* Halloween Event.
Quotes

**Quotes** are lines of dialogue that can be uttered by units and some **enemies** through text bubbles during a mission. Though most of these lines appear randomly throughout the game, most of these lines are contextually triggered depending on what is happening during battle.

## Quote List

### General

Lines used whenever Bill, marauders, or units spot an enemy:

* ???

Lines used by ranged units after shooting:

* Damn!

* Good lord!

* Oh s\*\*t.

* Come on!

* You one ugly m...

* Eat this!!!

Lines used by ranged units while reloading:

* Oh no!

* Come on!

* Need assistance!

* Need backup!

* Cover me!

* I'm reloading!

Lines used after units defeat an enemy with a melee attack:

* Hasta la vista, baby!

* Hell Yeah!

* Take that!

* Die!

* Enemy down!

Lines used after units get hit by a melee attack:

* Aaaaaargh...!

* Holy s\*\*t!

* Why you...

* Oh heck...

* Stay away from me!

* Damn...

* Crap!

* Ouch!

* What?!

* Crap!

* That's gotta hurt.

* Arrgh!

Lines used while units are dying:

* Dammit!

* Oh, God...

* I'll be back.

* \*\*\*\*

* Kill me!

* Nooo...

* Come on...

* Please...No!

* It cannot end now

* ?!

* ...

* All... is... lost...

* S\*\*t.

Lines used by a random unit on either team before a Skirmish round starts:

* I didn't plan on killing anyone

* You'll give up everything you have

* You'd have been better off not showing up...

* And it was such a good day...

* See you on the other side

* Say goodbye to each other

* I hope you have something to live off...

* I really love blood...

* Could you tell me what time it is?

* Not a bad place for a graveyard

* I'll come visit your graves

* Just don't hit the face...

* This day will be your last

* I'm sick and tired of all this...

* I don't hit first...

* Let's see what you're made of

* Ha ha, you look more like tramps...

* Maybe I should help you with something...

* You asked for it

* Let's play a game...

* A little more and I'd have been scared

* I'm late for dinner, let's hurry up...

* Hmm, very interesting...

* Great, a full set!

* Something reeks

* Time to give you a lesson!

* Ready to chicken out?

* I don't like it when my people are killed

* You'll be sorry you crossed paths with me

* You didn't expect to get out of here alive, did you?

* Ha ha, don't make me laugh!

* Didn't get enough last time?

### Character Specific

Line used whenever Policeman's special ability is activated:

* !@!#?

Line used when Cap uses his inspiration perk:

* Go go go!

Lines used when Dr. Kane uses his mark perk:

* A weak spot...
* Open wounds...
* So fast...
* Fire...
* Aim for the head...
* Vulnerability...
* Fragile bones...
* Thick skin...
* Now, that's power...
* Blind spot...
* Reacts to movement...

Line used by Marauder Vehicle:

* Go go go!

Line used by Robber during Mission 31:

* You shall not pass!
Firefighter (Zombie)

The firefighter's suit worn by this zombie protects it against fire. Its oxygen tank explodes when it dies.

## Base Stats

###  Melee Damage

* 15 / 54 (Level 13)
* 35 (explosion)

###  Speed

6

Nickname "**Firefighter**" is an infected dressed in a yellow firefighter suit with white reflective strips, a red firefighter's helmet, and a firefighter's open-circuit SCBA air cylinder.

Firefighter isn't a particularly difficult enemy to face, as it boils down to his fire resistance and death explosion. Being unable to use fire against him is not a big deal, but the explosion can potentially destroy many nearby units.

A common solution is to use another Firefighter with his resistances. Unlike his unit counterpart, the infected Firefighter lacks explosion resistance, so Red Barrel or Grenadier can still be of great use and can safely take him out at a distance.

Mechanic can also be used when fighting Firefighter since his additional damage attack has extra range, keeping him safe from the explosion and the fire pool should he manage to kill Firefighter in one clean hit. However, this (assuming his special ability has not been unlocked) will only work for the first Firefighter he encounters and will become much more vulnerable once he loses his sledgehammer to whatever threat he faces.

More accessibly, using any ranged units are highly recommended to not only kill Firefighters from a safe distance, but also potentially save resources used to send out melee units for other threatening enemies.

### Abilities

* Fire resistance.
* Explodes on death (35 damage, alongside leaving a 8s fire pool).

### First Encountered

* Stage 4, Mission 55.
* Firefighter may turn into this infected upon death.

## Trivia

* In reality, Firefighters' breathing apparatus draws from a tank of compressed air while actual oxygen tanks are used for medical purposes, since breathing extreme concentrations of oxygen can cause lethal lung damage. The inclusion of an oxygen tank may be an adherence to a common misconception, and the fact that oxygen tanks, when damaged, can produce a violent, incendiary blast.

## Gallery

Journal entry.
The Zombies

We all know that initially "Dead Ahead" was planned with 2 game modes - Story Mode (Shooter) and Survival (Runner on a motorcycle). It was decided to leave only one - Survival. The changes affected not only the mechanics of the game, but also the design, sound design, etc.

Let's pay attention to the player. In "The Zombies" he had eyes, in the final release they are no longer there. Plus, in the final release, you can paint the player's helmet, at the same time, his tie is also painted. In "The Zombies" the player had only a standard color - Red-Gray and it was impossible to repaint to your taste. In Story Mode, there was a HUD with a player's icon displaying his health and armor (it is impossible to say for sure why the second bar on the HUD is needed, but we think that this slot was meant for armor).

How much has been lost with the removal of Story Mode. The player could freely move around the world on foot, run, shoot, hit with melee weapons. The player had unique animations such as death animation, reloading, etc.

He could also pick up ammo boxes and a first aid kit.

## LOCATIONS

In "Dead Ahead" we saw 5 locations: Forest, Suburb, Metropolis, Bridge and Slums. As for "The Zombies" ... in the screenshots we can observe three locations: Suburb as the main one, the entrances of the apartment building and the duty section as internal.

In the Dead Ahead release, we never saw the interior locations, the Suburb remained, but was significantly cut in design.

A playground was cut out, some inscriptions on the fence, an empty area, a duty section, a store, a safe area, etc.

The background also underwent slight changes - the sun was removed.

Let's move on to the next one.

## NPCs

The game has a fairly large variety of zombies. Let's start with what was removed.

## ENVIRONMENT

Those items that block the path of the main character have also been changed.

The MAGNET truck has been removed. In the beta version of "The Zombies", he could be seen if he traveled a large amount of distance.

## FATE "The Zombies"

The shooter was never completed and was left gathering dust on the developer's computer. Developed since 2011. There are chances of an exit in the future, but they are very small.

After all, we all want to look at the game that started the story of "Dead Ahead".

## Trivia

* It was thought that the game was lost until youtuber MASTER GAMES YT shared the download link.
* the game only got to have the survival mode.
Objectives

Objectives are tasks that player has to complete in order to progress further into the game. Each individual objective has to be complete in a single run, otherwise its progress resets.

Completing a group of 3 objectives instantly moves the player to a higher rank, which in turn rewards them with a few coins, and unlocks certain locations, or new weapons and vehicles for purchasing in the shop.
Halloween Event (Legacy)/Strategies

The following page acts as an archive of strategies that could be applied to the old version of the Halloween Event.

## Strategy

Due to the nature of this event, there's no specific strategy for it, meaning players can farm pumpkins in whatever way they find the most enjoyable.

Because of huge similarities with the Wall Mart event, the general approaches and strategies towards these events are identical. The only difference is that during the endless horde section bonus coin pickups would stop spawning.

Even though the event lasts for 10 days, it's advised to play several games each day, as the event rewards are worth grinding for.

### Units

The list of necessary units:

* Redneck/Marine/Both – Level 11 min., 13+ recommended.
* Generator – Level 5 min.
* Turret – Level 11 min., 13+ recommended.

Other recommended units:

* Mechanic
* Glenn
* Lester
* Policeman
* Empty Barrel
* Red Barrel
* Molotov

 Bosses
Pooch

A weak, but very dangerous zombie.

Nickname "**Pooch**" is an infected canine. Patches of its skin and fur have rotted off, exposing its rib cage.

Pooch's very low health makes it quite an easy enemy to fight against as it can easily be defeated in one hit. However, its low health is compensated by its incredible speed and the fact that it almost never comes alone. Several Pooches can appear, usually one by one or in a small group.

The best way to deal with Pooch is by spamming cheap melee units with fast speed like Redneck. Farmer can be used in hope that his shotgun will hit several Pooches at once. Although difficult, dropping an Empty Barrel can also work but it requires precise timing and being able to predict their sporadic, zig-zagging movement. Although this method is risky, dropping Empty Barrel just as Pooch reaches the bus but right before it attacks it could prove easier to land since Pooch will stop moving before it attacks. Alternatively, both Empty Barrel and Red Barrel can be placed right in front of the bus ahead of time to create a small barricade of its own, allowing Bill to pick off the hounds with his rifle and/or letting Red Barrel eliminate some of them with its explosion, manually detonated or otherwise. Given their speed and unique movement pattern, fighting against Pooch may simply come down to luck, making several retries a possibility in order to get a 3-star rating in missions where it appears in.

Although Pooch is not fire-resistant, its speed allows it to move through fire pools relatively unharmed. Pooch can, of course, still be harmed with fire if it stands in place by attacking units or the bus but it's still possible, albeit unlikely, for Pooch to catch on fire simply by stepping into it just like any other zombie.

### Abilities

* Moves in a zig-zag pattern.
* Very fast attack speed.

### First Encountered

* Stage 1, Challenge 3.
* Stage 2, Mission 23.

## Trivia

* Currently, Pooch is the only known zombified animal in the game.
* According to a Q&A answer that addresses the presence of canine units (which are often for searching), Pooch was presumably used by emergency services to locate victims but succumbed to the infection. This echoes with the common presence of Aidman and Paramedic in earlier locations.

## Gallery

Journal entry.Pooch as seen in a Facebook advertisement, alongside Robber (notice the different pose Pooch is in).Ditto. (Recreation)
1. ↑ https://i.ktplay.com/app/id100572/topic/21342253
Sapper

A slow, but nearly invulnerable zombie.

Nickname "**Sapper**" is a Dark Skeleton dressed in a black Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) suit and a black combat helmet.

Sapper boasts significant resistances which makes it a fairly dangerous enemy throughout stage 4, which is further compounded by its already good health, allowing it to soak heavy punishments from the majority of units' melee and bullet attacks, and eventually push through the formation. In addition, it also has a chance to turn into another zombie upon death.

While melee damage is greatly reduced and bullets have practically no effect, Sapper is vulnerable to fire and explosive damage that exploit its low health pool. Using a properly upgraded Red Barrel is a perfect tool against it, being able to deal heavy damage and set it on fire, potentially preventing it from ever reviving again if it is reduced to ashes. Should it appear in missions affected by rainy weather, Grenadier is one of the best counters. It can be killed easily or gravely crippled with a well-timed throw. Even if the Grenadier fails to kill it on the spot, the degrades are still much easier to deal with, since Armored Skeleton has rather meager health and damage with no melee resistance. When using ranged units, it is advisable to provide them with the Tactical Item Set, which cuts its resistance by half, making Sapper and its degrade much easier to kill.

While melee unit spam may not be the most ideal strategy when fighting against Sapper, it's recommended to use Medkit on a group of units that targets Sapper to keep them fighting longer to potentially make it work. If necessary, use Fury buff to increase their DPS.

### Abilities

* Bullet resistance (95% damage reduction).
* Melee resistance (70% damage reduction).
* Knockback resistance.
* Has a chance of turning into Armored Skeleton upon death.

## Trivia

* Although Sapper doesn't actually die when it degrades into Armored Skeleton (its suit simply breaks down), it still counts as a "kill" due to the game treating them as separate enemies.
	+ Due to this, Austin is still able to earn coins from degrading it into Armored Skeleton. A degraded Sapper will also drop item pickups and red aura boosted ones will grant extra rage points, just like any other defeated enemy.
* Although Sapper wears an EOD suit, it lacks the proper protective headwear that covers it from blast fragments, which may explain its lack of explosive resistance.
* Sapper, along with Twins and Cephalopods, has the highest bullet resistance among enemies in the entire game.

## Gallery

Journal entry.
Abby

An extremely dangerous zombie that gives weak opponents no chance.

Nickname "**Abby**" is an infected dressed in a torn gray tank top, black pants, a brown belt, and a gray glove. She is partially decaying with a few patches of skin rotting into a darker color. She has an Insectoid-like physique, becoming lankier, growing an extra pair of limbs on her back and side, and one of her arms turning arthropod-like. She has a blue eye.

Besides some visual similarities, Abby fights almost identically to Insectoid as well, so methods of dealing with them are similar. The only thing that differentiates them is Abby's notably slower attack speed and base damage. This can make her less of a threat in a lot of scenarios since she provides a larger room for error when it comes to deploying Medkits or sending out melee units for support.

### Abilities

* Pounces on a random ranged unit, dealing 10 damage to all units and enemies in a small area upon landing.

### First Encountered

* Builder Abby turns into this zombie upon death.

## Trivia

* Abby, along with Crooked, Forest Firefighter, and EMT, are the only exclusive undead unit enemies within the main campaign. All being exclusive zombies that can only be encountered if a specific unit dies and turns. In the newest update as of writing however, she was included in the Harvest Day event, along with Crooked.

## Gallery

Journal entry.
Gentleman (Item Set)

**Gentleman** is an early-to-mid game item set. It consists of luxurious high-status items.

## Items

Gentleman items are available in Epic and Legendary quality. The set includes the following items:

## Set Bonus

This set provides its wearer a 50% increase to all damage, which lasts for 2 seconds. The bonus is triggered once a unit initiates their *melee* critical attack animation. Ranged critical strikes will *not* trigger the bonus, but such units can still benefit from it if they have a proper melee crit attack (such as Sonya's kick). Additional melee crits will reset the bonus duration back to 2 seconds. Mechanic's extra damage blow animation triggers the effect, since it's a critical attack.

### Analysis

Because of how this set works, it acts as a direct upgrade to Hitman, which not only grants a greater guaranteed boost to criticals, but also allows units to deal massive damage afterwards. It essentially turns any of its wearers into burst damagers, with those who are already designed around criticals becoming overly effective. It's easily one of the best sets for melee units in the entire game, and if a different option is more preferable for someone, it's likely due to overspecialization or massive downsides that hinder the unit's favorable critical damage.

## Location

The table below displays which Supply Runs have the Gentleman set in their reward pool.
Big Blue

A very slow zombie that can stun enemies. Can regenerate health and is very sturdy.

## Base Stats

###  Melee Damage

* 15 / 54 (Level 13)
* 17 / 59 (Level 13) (crit)

###  Speed

4

Nickname "**Big Blue**" is an infected dressed in torn black pants. He has grey flesh and glowing blue skin. A portion of his stomach is missing and some short appendages have begun to grow around his upper body. His eyes are constantly blinking brightly whenever he's standing or attacking.

Big Blue boasts significant health for a non-boss enemy, with immunity to fire/knockback, and can stun units on critical hits, which invalidates the likes of Red Barrel/Molotov/various melee units. To compound this he has a healing ability. When it is active, he will emit a blue glow, a white-bluish glow flashes through the blue portions of his body and appendages, while both eyes shine at the same time, all followed by a sound cue. During this, he won't move or attack. He may perform this ability several times in a row if left uninterrupted. What's worse is the fact that Big Blue frequently appears in hordes, allowing them to potentially overwhelm units and the bus easily, whether alone or supported by the likes of Insectoid and Egg.

The only sure way to defeat Big Blue is by dealing it as much damage as possible – high DPS is the only way to nullify his regeneration ability since he can use it at any time, and while healing, he is vulnerable to attacks. Ranged units with the high rate of fire perk and Turret are highly recommended to accumulate as much DPS as possible. Shotgunners also work well, but only if they can keep a consistent stream of damage. If players decide to go with HRoF units, then it's advised to bring at least two of them in a mission with Big Blues. Sonya and Carlos work together perfectly. If one decides to stick with shotgunners, then Policeman Diaz is never a wrong option and either Farmer, or Lester will aid him nicely. It's worth mentioning he can also activate a 2/2 Police synergy (doubles the amount of shots a ranged unit can fire without affecting reloads) together with Sheriff Charlotte, further boosting the devastation of ranged units, as well as that of Turrets. Aside from these, Shotgunners can possibly hit and chip several at once, or even damage and intercept smaller threats that have just slipped past Big Blue.

Melee units should only be resorted to stall Big Blues' advance, since they can easily hinder any kind of attacks and kill melee units easily thanks to their stun ability and full knockback resistance.

### Abilities

* Occasionally regenerates health (30 hp/pulse).
* Can deal critical hits, causing stun.
* Knockback resistance.
* Fire resistance.

## Gallery

Journal entry.
Soldier (Zombie)

An ordinary zombie.

Nickname "**Soldier**" is an infected dressed in a light gray tank top and urban camo pants.

Soldier can be considered an upgrade from Zombie. Apart from movement speed, Soldier's stats make him ever so slightly stronger. Not throwing up and needlessly stopping does make him slightly faster overall. Despite this, Soldier doesn't behave any more different to Zombie, thus hardly making him a threat either.

### First Encountered

* Stage 4, Mission 56.
* Private Rodriguez turns into this infected upon death.

## Gallery

Journal entry.
Fast Food (Item Set)

**Fast Food** is an early-to-mid game item set. It consists of food service items and worker equipment.

## Items

Fast Food items are available in Rare and Epic quality. The set includes the following items:

## Set Bonus

This set provides its wearer with a 25% health bonus.

### Analysis

Fast Food is one of those sets that suffers from having a poor placement in progression. While it's technically not outshined by anything, units have rather low health during mid game, which makes 25% only a moderate buff. And by the time Fast Food's bonus becomes more effective, far superior options become available. This could've been avoided had Fast Food had a legendary tier, but as it stands, it's as good as it can get.

Fast Food sees best use on support units who are unable to properly focus on damage, said units being Medic and Nancy. It's still possible to use FF on other units, like damagers, but it's only advised to do so if you have nothing else to give to them.

## Location

The tables below display which Supply Runs have the Fast Food set in their reward pool.
Bulletproof

A tough, powerful zombie whose flak jacket provides partial protection against bullets.

## Base Stats

###  Speed

6

Nickname "**Bulletproof**" is an infected marine dressed in a flak jacket, urban camo jacket, urban camo pants, and a black combat helmet.

Bulletproof is essentially a more durable Lubber that appears earlier in the game, is less intelligent and does not turn into something nasty when slain, so the same strategies still apply. The best way to fight this enemy would usually boil down to using either fire or strong melee units like Grenadier since he can kill off weak fighters quickly.

### Abilities

* Bullet resistance (90% damage reduction).

## Trivia

* Bulletproof appears to be a zombified counterpart to Lubber due to having similar equipment and bullet resistance, with the transformation ultimately dropped for the sake of balance (having to kill a tough enemy with 90% bullet resistance **twice**) and presumably realism (combat damage weakening the flak jacket's resilience).
* At the start of Mission 26, a cutscene plays showing a dying marine slouched against a wrecked Humvee who soon turns into Bulletproof. This strengthens the connection with the U.S. Military, whose deserters or losses may have became Lubbers and Bulletproofs respectively.
* Bulletproof is possibly designed after the Armyman zombie in the original Dead Ahead.

## Gallery

Journal entry.The human marine in Mission 26 who dies and turns into a Bulletproof.
Double Barrel

**Double Barrel** is one of the weapons available for use in Dead Ahead. It's a sawed-off Stevens DB, and is the fourth weapon that can be unlocked by the player.

## Description

Double Barrel is a shotgun type weapon that can be purchased in the shop for 5000 coins, starting from rank 4. It's the very first gun of its type presented in the game. A single shell of this gun contains 6 pellets that have very wide spread.

Double Barrel is essentially an obligatory purchase, because one of rank 5's objectives requires to make several double kills. Outside of that challenge, it's far from ideal choice due to high pellet spread and quite slow firing speed coupled with low shots count. Players might still find success in use of this gun, however, if they are ready to put up with aforementioned drawbacks.

### Characteristics

Real values
 Reloading
 Ammocount
 Firingtype
 Shotdelay
 Pelletsper shot

Shop values
 Speed
 Ammo

## Trivia

* Double Barrel has the second lowest ammo count among all guns in the game, only surpassed by Grenade Launcher.
Special Ability

**Special abilities** are an unlockable skill for units (and their respective skins) once they have been upgraded to level 13.

The cost of unlocking a special ability is always 10,000 coins. When a unit has their special ability unlocked, it will permanently affect their gameplay and cannot be removed or deactivated.

Support items such as Red Barrel, Nitrogen, and Generator do not have special abilities to unlock once they have been upgraded to level 13.

Perks and special abilities, while similar, are separately distinct from each other. While special abilities are only unlocked after a unit has been upgraded to level 13, perks are tied to a unit from the beginning.

*Note: All special abilities are listed in order of appearance within a unit collection containing every acquirable in-game unit.*

## Ability Table

Below is a table for every special ability currently in the game.
Undead

This zombie is virtually indestructible, but it burns nicely.

Nickname "**Undead**" is an infected dressed in a torn black bullet-riddled shirt, urban camo pants, and a black combat helmet. He carries a weapon attached to a sling on his back.

Undead shares the same stats with Sergeant. While not being any more difficult to fight against directly, Undead is certainly the more annoying of the two as he can revive up to five times if his body is intact, very significantly increasing the amount of punishment he could take. However, he does revive with less health each time (20% less per revival), minimizing the impact of his ability over time until he has only one health in his last revive. Due to this, Undead fulfills a role similar to Skeleton or its darker counterpart as an obstacle for units who are trying to fight other zombies or reach the barricade.
Undead, despite his persistent ability, is one of the very few zombies who can be used to players' advantage. Since this zombie revives several times, they can be used for rage farming as he sometimes revives with red aura. This is useful for sending out several units that cost rage or using multiple different rage abilities in quick succession. Being able to build up rage very quickly also allows players to use Bill's powerful LMG to easily chew through every enemy on screen and clear a path directly to the barricade.

If Undead's push is too strong during a mission, you can consider using fire-based attacks and reduce him to ashes. This can be done the most effectively using Molotov or Red Barrel. Its body, whether he's moving or laying on the ground, will be obliterated and he won't revive. Flamethrower is a unit that can single-handedly defeat groups of Undead and guarantee they won't revive as his main form of damage is fire.

Melee unit spam works fairly well as long as said spam units are decently upgraded to be able to defeat several Undeads. It is possible to brute force through hordes of Undeads using several melee units at once or in rapid succession. Using Fury buff to counter the likely potential of the fear debuff affecting melee units and increase their damage twofold can further guarantee the success of such tactic.

Much like Sergeant, Undead's bullet resistance is somewhat negligible since damage isn't as severely reduced compared to other bullet-resistant enemies. Using decently upgraded ranged units can work well enough to kill Undead and even his revived forms if they manage to keep distance from where he was killed.

### Abilities

* Revives up to five times on death. Each subsequent revive subtracts 20% of its original health, down to 1.
* Bullet resistance (30% damage reduction).

### First Encountered

* Stage 4, Mission 53.
* Guard turns into this infected upon death.
* Lubber turns into this infected upon death.

## Trivia

* Due to being a reviving enemy, whenever if something turns into Undead, they will have a partial health bar due to the transformation consuming one of their revives, which in turn reduces the health they rise with.

## Gallery

Journal entry.
Team Power Rankings

This page provides a ranking of all currently existing team powers. It aims to objectively evaluate each synergy's performance in order to determine which teams are the best to use, and which are the worst.
**These rankings are made for regular missions, and largely ignore Skirmish and events.** This is because more than two thirds of existing synergies are simply unusable in PvP modes, meanwhile events usually require an unortodox approach to themselves.

The ranking is based on two main factors:

* **Team composition** − combination of multiple factors related to units themselves:
	+ How much chemistry team members have between each other;
	+ How well the optimal team rotation performs without the synergies;
* **Power efficiency** − how strong the synergy is, and how much effect on overall gameplay it has.

Combinations of these factors determine the synergy's overall efficiency:

* If a synergy falls into +/+ quadrant, it means it's a good option, if not one of the best. These team powers can be used for game progression, and are generally safe to invest into, as long as you follow the most optimal unit rotations.
* If a synergy falls into -/+ quadrant, it means it's a mediocre option. You can achieve good results with it, but you would perform just as well by simply using a deck with the exact same units.
* If a synergy falls into -/- quadrant, it means it's a bad option, if not one of the worst. These team powers don't provide any meaningful help, while also failing to compensate for their poor unit rotations.
* If a synergy falls into +/- quadrant, it means it's an option that isn't useful for anything but fooling around. Such team powers are usually very strong, but are held back by poor unit rotations that fail to bring them to maximum potential.

## Ranking

### Commentary

* Mechanics
* Builders
* Internal Forces
* Emergency
* TMF
* Military
* Psychos
* Rednecks
* College
* Northerners
* Marines
* Patriots
* Jailers
* Police
* Scientists

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   ( /  / )
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 3/3
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 3/3
 5/5

 3/3
 5/5

 3/3
 5/5

 3/3
 5/5

 3/3
 5/5

 3/3
 5/5

 3/3
 5/5

 3/3
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 5/5

 3/3
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 3/3
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    ( / )

 3/3
 5/5
Locations (DA)

**Locations** are places where the events of Dead Ahead take place. The player has to ride their vehicle through them in order to earn coins.

There's a total of 5 locations in the game. Three of them become available to player via new ranks, and another one has to be unlocked by killing special zombies or purchasing it with coins instead.

Locations mainly differ by difficulty, which affects coins multiplier, layouts of generated obstacles, enemy health, how each killed Boss affects enemies that chase the player, and how soon a Super Boss appears.

## List of Locations

 Suburbs | Medium(2x coins)
 Megalopolis | Hard(3x coins)
 Bridge | Nightmare(4x coins)
 Slums | Nightmare(4x coins)
Vera the Shooter

**Vera the Shooter** is one of the weapons available for use in Dead Ahead. It's an AK-47, and is initially available for purchase. It's one of the two weapons wielded by the Girl, other being Betty Boomer.

## Description

Vera the Shooter is a nickname of a machine gun type weapon that can be purchased for 230,000 coins at any time. It's technically the first gun of its kind in the game, since it's unlocked in the shop initially.

This weapon can't be upgraded.

Vera's price, its initial stats, and the fact that this weapon is utilised by the Girl, all give this gun an image of something powerful. In reality, this is just another illusion intentionally made by developers. It must be said that Vera does has notable upsides over other end-game machine guns (Assault Rifle and Twins' gatling gun), which are higher single hit damage, and initially swift reloading time. However, unlike them it has the staple ammo count of 30. Because of that, in practice both other options are able to provide higher overall damage output, and allow for likelier survivability thanks to knockback occuring more often. In the end, the only reason to buy Vera over them is in case the player likes machine guns a lot but isn't ready to invest into super Assault Rifle, and they don't want to use Twins' bike.

### Characteristics

Real values
 Reloading
 Ammocount
 Firingtype
 Shotdelay

Shop values
 Speed
 Ammo
Lubber

A tough, powerful marauder whose flak jacket provides protection against bullets.

## Base Stats

###  Speed

6

Nickname "**Lubber**" is an infected marauder armed with a spiked lead pipe and dressed in a flak jacket, brown t-shirt, black pants, and a black combat helmet. He has a tattoo on his arm, blood seeping from his mouth and his hand is green, displaying physical signs of prolonged infection exposure.

He can be considered a stronger Builder, having bullet resistance and high health, but slightly lower speed and damage.

As a human enemy, he will ignore any barrels and tanks that are dropped in his way, navigate around fire pools, and move to face the closest enemy. He will attack Generator and Turret when he is near them. As the only marauder with bullet resistance, he can easily take down turrets. He will be overwhelmed with fear if a unit's level is higher than his, or if too many units swarm him.

Despite his bullet resistance and decent health, Lubber is not too difficult to fight against. A simple way to defeat him is to just send out several melee units at once such as Redneck or Mechanic, with the latter being preferred for his additional damage attack. It's preferable that melee units have a relatively good health pool since Lubber is capable of dealing decent damage. However, even a few fragile spam units can be enough in most cases. Using Red Barrel and manually detonating it is recommended not only to kill small groups of Lubbers but also to destroy their corpses with the fire pool if he happens to be close to it after it explodes, as Undead can be an annoying zombie to deal with. Ranged units are not recommended unless they somehow get around his bullet resistance, be it Flamethrower (deals only fire damage) or with help from the Tactical set items (ignores 50% bullet resistance).

### Abilities

* Bullet resistance (90% damage reduction).
* Knockback resistance.
* Turns into Undead upon death.

## Trivia

* Lubber bears more than a passing resemblence to Bulletproof with their appearance and bullet resistance. The transformation was likely dropped for the sake of balance (having to kill a tough enemy with 90% bullet resistance **twice**) and presumably realism (combat damage weakening his flak jacket's resilience).
* Although Lubber is formally introduced in Mission 33, he first appears in the cutscene of Mission 19. However, players do not fight him as he drives off with Rifleman towards the end of the cutscene.

## Gallery

Journal entry.Lubber as seen in a Christmas preview image (notice his mohawk helmet, lack of sleeves, and extra tattoo).Ditto. (Recreation)
Fitness (Item Set)

**Fitness** is an early-mid game item set. It consists of items used for various physical activites.

## Items

Fitness items are available in Epic and Legendary quality. The set includes the following items:

## Set Bonus

This set prevents units from pausing during attacks.

Despite its effect, Fitness doesn't affect its wearer's agility. Respectively, it won't interact with Rogue's special ability and will not grant him any bullet resistance.

### Analysis

Fitness is best used on fighters and damagers prone to losing track of targets, which is essentially its intended purpose. It must be noted that this set makes agility unnecessary to level up, which means that watch items with preparation time decrease can safely be used when going for the combo. Inversely, if you've managed to score multiple agility boosts as extra buffs on items of another setы then it's better to save Fitness for someone else. In general, Fitness is more of a crutch than anything actually worth sticking to, despite having access to legendary items. Once a better set is acquired that also has agility among its extra bonuses, it's better to ditch Fitness entirely and use it on someone else.

The Marines team can negate issue with pausing through their synergies (although that requires a huge investment, with Rodriguez being the only exception), making it redundant for them.

## Location

The table below displays which Supply Runs have the Fitness set in their reward pool.