State of Decay 2: Lethal Zone Tips and Tricks

Introduced in Update 23, State of Decay 2 Lethal Zone ups the ante over Nightmare Zone by ramping the difficulty up to ten. Seriously, the toughest difficulty in the game features blood plague freaks, freak hordes, tougher human opponents, more zombies, less loot, and a whole lot of headache. As such, you might want a few Lethal Zone tips and tricks to ease your journey!

Dealing With Blood Plague Freaks

Let me tell you, this is a whole new level of freak encounter. When every single freak, from the puny Screamer to the terrifying Juggernaut, has Blood Plague, you must devise new tactics to survive.

Screamer – As per usual, your main priority when dealing with a screamer, Blood Plague or otherwise, is to sneak up from behind and insta-kill with a stealth melee strike. On a screamer, Blood Plague doesn’t matter much if you one-hit or snipe from afar. But if you let them scream on Lethal Zone, you’re inviting terror and hardship.
Bloater – Once again, like the usual Bloater, you want to remain well away from its cloud. In Lethal Zone, that cloud is even more dangerous, as it infects you with Blood Plague quickly. If you must kill a Bloater, do not use melee or vehicles; instead, opt for a firearm from a reasonable distance away.
Feral – Go to hell, Blood Plague Feral, seriously. A Feral is tough enough without Blood Plague, but when every hit could mean your untimely death, you need to show excessive caution. Your best option here is to juke in a vehicle and run them down. Otherwise, opt for a heavy rifle and aim for the head from afar.
Juggernaut – The high-profile monstrosity that is the Juggernaut, while more dangerous and with more health on Lethal Zone, can still topple with enough bullets to the noggin. Alternatively, use explosives, like a coveted grenade launcher, to knock down the mountain of flesh and plague.

Skills to Focus On

While your survivors are randomly generated when forming a new colony, you can still re-roll to find desirable skills if you have the patience. For Lethal Zone, I recommend finding said patience quickly.

Mechanic – Seriously, your vehicle is now your best offensive and defensive tool. You can run down most zombies without fear of Blood Plague, except for the Bloater, and scoot quickly if things take a turn for the worse. Of course, vehicles can also take more damage in the hardest difficulty level, so prepare to use repair kits often. Skills can help you craft repair toolkits, utilize gas more efficiently, and even endure a greater number of hits before smoking.
Pathology/Surgery – With these skills, you can buff your survivors with +50 Health, -50% Injury Chance, and -50% Plague Infection. Effectively, these desirable skills will keep you alive longer.
Pharmacology – You’ll take more than a few tough hits in Lethal Zone, so the right first aid can make or break your community. Pharmacology allows you to craft strong painkillers to either use for yourself or sell for large amounts of influence.

Of course, you could always re-roll for the usual top-rated skills, like Blood Plague Survivor, Incredible Immune System, or simple ones, like Left for Dead.

Suppressors Only

When it comes to dealing with the Blood Plague, distance is your friend. That means utilizing firearms more often in Lethal Zone. Unfortunately, an unsuppressed shot could mean your early demise.

When playing on the highest difficulty setting, do not ever fire a gun without a suppressor. Ideally, you’ll only use professional-grade suppressors, though we can’t all be lucky enough to find a stockpile of them.

If you must fire a gun, let it be in an emergency. For instance, you’re about to be overrun, or you’re attacking a Plague Heart, or you literally have no other choice.

Daytime Attacks on Plague Hearts

In State of Decay 2, nighttime is dark as hell. It’s tough going, especially when a single bite from a Blood Plague zombie could mean your end. As such, attacking a Plague Heart in the dead of night is a no-go.

Utilize the daylight. At least, for now. There is no better reward for dealing with Plague Hearts at night, so why not wait until morning when zombie spawns appear less troublesome and you can actually see your surroundings?

First Facilities on Lethal Zone

One of the easiest Lethal Zone tips I can offer, especially in the early game, is to rush the construction of an Infirmary. You want a level two Infirmary fast, so that way you can craft plague cure and heal plague victims.

On the topic of crafting plague cures, you’ll receive a quest to provide a nearby enclave with plague samples or plague cures. Don’t! Seriously, save them for yourself, at least for now. If you have an adequate stockpile of samples and cures, then why not share the love and earn a little influence. But if you’re struggling, don’t put yourself in a worse position by being too nice to your neighbors.

Setting Up Outposts

On Lethal Zone, where resources are scarce, making use of all available options makes sense. By options, I mean outposts.

Early on, rush outposts nearby to set up safe zones and aid in the production of primarily food and medications. Once you unlock more outposts, then you can focus on ammunition. But food production proves immediately useful, and medicine is always worthwhile on any difficulty but especially on Lethal.

Love Thy Crossbow

The crossbow is the only truly silent long-range weapon in-game. It’s also one of the easiest to find in any difficulty mode, plus crafting bolts is a breeze.

If you want to take out a Screamer or Bloater with one shot from a distance, but don’t want to risk excess noise, the crossbow is the only surefire solution.

Furthermore, crossbows provide you with a greater chance at recovering Plague Samples from downed zombies, unlike firearms.