Zombie Battle Royale

Zombie Battle Royales (colloquially known as ZBR) are annual events that may take place during the Easter, Halloween, and Christmas periods. ZBR is a parody of the standard Battle Royale mode that puts emphasis on teamwork in a PvE (player vs environment) situation rather than the Free-For-All (FFA) elements Battle Royale is known for.

ZBR refers to all variations of the event; ZDC—or Zombie Dead City—being its counterpart. Each holiday period provides either a ZBR or ZDC event.

Variations[]

Each ZBR event is themed to the relevant holiday period. This means that zombies aren't always present despite the mode being referred to as such. These variations include:

Premise[]

ZBR is a PvE game mode based on the player working with others to wipe out all zombies (or relevant creatures) across the map. The game functions like a normal Battle Royale match by dropping you from a jet into the map and pushing you to a spot by a shrinking zone enforced by "the storm". In some versions of the mode, there may additionally be a boss; a gigantic enemy with a high amount of health and various weapons.

Strategy[]

While it is more fun to team up with friends, it is also possible to solo ZBRs. The following strategies are suggestions for solo players.

When soloing it is more important to be able to foresee and avoid predicaments than to be able to fight off one. Time spent to get into a tactical position safely is well worth leaving behind a few loot items, for example. If you can survive to the 6th Zone, you are very likely to win.

Soloing means you can win on your own, but it does not mean you cannot win with others — be nice to friendly players.

Ability[]

As of Halloween 2022, the most useful soloing ability is probably Aggro. It affects every zombie, virtually reducing their damage to zero for 45 seconds, over the duration of which you are free to get under a tree, kill some zombies, gather ammo ... a truly versatile ability.

Foraging[]

It is advisable to carry at least one rapid-fire weapon such as an AK Rifle. With your weapon(s) gather ammo for 60 zombies, i.e. ~300 rounds for a typical rapid-fire weapon, more if you are going to fight a Boss; shortage can be mended by luring in melee zombies and living off their loot. Since zombies respawn before the 5th Zone, refrain from killing them then unless they are within your loot range.

Some other useful items are Backpack, Smoke Grenade, Energy Can, Car

Tree-hiding[]

If the entirety of the top of your box-head is buried inside a map object, zombies will not target you. Even when provoked, they will only target but not attack you. The easiest way to achieve this is to crouch beneath the shade of a short tree. For beginners, a tree is 'short' enough if your character cannot enter its shade without crouching. The necessary condition, however, is only to hide the top of your head, so the prostrate trees that straggle over the southern slope of Skywatch Base, for example, are actually viable hideouts even though you are 99% exposed to anyone downhill. When using these hideouts, however, you should be aware that there will not be an encircling tree crown that shelters you from charging zombies shoving you away.

Smoke Grenade[]

Tree-hiding is the safest and easiest way to hide, but trees may not be present in some Zones. Smoke Grenade is another option: Zombies will not attack you when you are covered in smoke. Beware though that:

Melee zombies can push you out of the smoke by running at you.
Ranged zombies might have fired BEFORE you entered the smoke, and with their finite projectile speed, knock you out of the smoke. This process can repeat itself...
A Smoke Grenade can take any amount of time rolling down a hillside, trying to settle down, before it produces smoke.

A Smoke Grenade is effective for about 10-15 seconds. Before it runs out of smoke you can toss another to provide yourself with the much-needed time to recharge your Ability, Better still, if you deploy the next Smoke Grenade slightly later, it is possible to lure in, without taking too much damage yourself, melee enemies. which you cannot miss even when in smoke.

History[]

The mode remains mostly the same each time, however there are some changes made between each release around theming for the event or balancing. The primary difference between each ZBR is the pool of enemies and their stats.

Zombie Royale (Halloween, 2019): The first Zombie Royale. Only Zombies spawned, each decorated with blood; there were about 150 of them each game. The absence of ranged enemies leave players in high positions (e.g. radio towers) untouchable. Notably it had a red Storm.
Holiday Royale (Christmas, 2020): The first Holiday Royale and the first ZBR to include multiple enemy species; Elves, Yetis, Gingerbread Men, and Nutcrackers.
Giant Bunny Royale (Easter, 2020): The first Giant Bunny Royale. It was the first ZBR to include a boss (a giant bunny). It featured Zombies, Yetis, Chicks, and Easter Bunnies.
Monster Royale (Halloween, 2020): The first ZBR to have an absence of Zombies. The enemies featured were Skeletons, Frankensteins, Vampires, Witches, and Goblins.
- The gas (outside circle) has been changed to blue.
Holiday Royale (Christmas, 2020): A giant Santa boss was added for this Holiday Royale.
- Loot in the searchable green crates were since increased from three items to ten, with plenty of healing items (notably Needles) and ammo.
- The fourth and fifth Zone apparently are more likely to include part of a location.
- Enemies do not reach for the next Zone immediately.
Giant Bunny Royale (Easter, 2021): The first ZBR to disable PvP to allow a focus on teamwork. PvP was enabled in servers with more than 16 players to allow a reduction on lag (and then be disabled again once the player count lowered). A large portion of enemies were spawned around the map rather than dropped at the beginning.
A break in ZBRs to trial the new ZDC happened over Halloween and Christmas events for 2021.
Giant Bunny Royale (Easter, 2022): ZBR returned! Bunnies (high jump) were the main enemy and were accompanied by Chicks (self-destruct) and Zombies (RPG).
- The loot system implemented in ZDC was introduced to ZBR (every enemy drops loot).
- First ZBR to have Heli Lvl-0s available.
- First ZBR to use the new inventory restrictions (smaller bag sizes, smaller stacks).
- First ZBR with new AI to allow climbing of ladders.
Monster Royale (Halloween, 2022): A repeat of the original Monster Royale from 2020. All enemies jump high and the storm was grey. Enemies had a chance to spawn with a cosmetic item.
- The gas (outside circle) has been changed to grey.
- 12 Abilities were introduced (equipped on slot 7)
- All other players are considered friendly, with a visible green health bar, but friendly fire is on.
Giant Bunny Royale (Easter, 2023): A repeat of the Giant Bunny Royale from 2022. However, along with the Bunnies, Chicks, and Zombies, Yetis were added to the game.