Barricades
General#
Barricades are the blocks standing between a group of survivors and the things trying to reach them. Zombies break them by hand, humans patch them with cobwebs, and the whole fight over a room usually comes down to which side runs out first.
Breaking Through#
Zombies hold left-click on the barricade from within about three blocks. Step back and you lose your progress. You can only work on one barricade at a time, so switching targets throws away everything you have done.
Damage stacks with every zombie on the same block. Four zombies break a door four times faster than one, and a Tank counts as two by itself. This is the single biggest reason to push as a group.
Your XP bar shows the barricade's remaining health while you break it, and the block cracks visibly so everyone can see how close it is.
Break Times#
One zombie deals roughly four damage a second.
| Barricade | Health | One zombie | Four zombies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cobweb | 12 | 3 seconds | Under a second |
| Glass | 25 | 6 seconds | 1.5 seconds |
| Dark Oak Planks | 30 | 7.5 seconds | 2 seconds |
| Mangrove Planks | 33 | 8 seconds | 2 seconds |
| Spruce Planks | 35 | 9 seconds | 2 seconds |
| Acacia Planks | 45 | 11 seconds | 3 seconds |
| Jungle Planks | 50 | 12.5 seconds | 3 seconds |
| Bamboo Planks | 55 | 14 seconds | 3.5 seconds |
| Birch Planks | 60 | 15 seconds | 4 seconds |
| Cherry Planks | 60 | 15 seconds | 4 seconds |
| Warped Planks | 65 | 16 seconds | 4 seconds |
| Crimson Planks | 65 | 16 seconds | 4 seconds |
| Oak Planks | 70 | 17.5 seconds | 4.5 seconds |
| Pale Oak Planks | 75 | 19 seconds | 5 seconds |
| Iron Door | 150 | 37.5 seconds | 9.5 seconds |
Iron doors are worth twice the toughest planks and five times a pane of glass. Learning which rooms have them is most of what map knowledge is good for.
Repairing#
Hold cobwebs and right-click a damaged barricade. Each repair spends one cobweb and puts back 3 health, with a one second cooldown between repairs.
Two rules matter:
- You cannot repair a barricade while a zombie is actively breaking it. You have to drive them off first, which is why a defended door needs someone shooting as well as someone patching.
- You cannot take a barricade past its original strength.
At 3 health per web against 4 damage a second per zombie, one person with a full stack can hold a plank door against a single zombie almost indefinitely, and cannot keep up with three.
Repairing barricades counts toward a daily quest and a lifetime achievement.
Building Your Own#
Cobwebs are the only block you can place during a round. Crouch and right-click to place one as a fresh barricade rather than repairing an existing block. They are craftable from 2 sticks and 2 thread and drop constantly in common loot chests, so webs are the most renewable defence in the game even though they are the weakest.
Shears salvage a cobweb back into your inventory, but only while it is at full health. A damaged web cannot be recovered, so pick up your walls before the zombies arrive rather than after.
Blowing Them Open#
Zombies are not the only way through.
- Grenades do more damage to barricades than anything else in the game.
- Guns chip them. The Remington 700 is the best barricade-breaker a human can carry, while SMGs barely mark them.
- Melee weapons do nothing to barricades at all.
Humans shooting their own barricades is a real hazard in a firefight through a doorway, and occasionally the only way back out of a room you sealed too well.