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Tactics Sharpshooter's Field Guide to Enemies

Nanostrike

Grizzled Veteran
May 19, 2009
2,025
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Hi all. I've been playing as a while and I've tried every class so far. Some of 'em are simple, like the Support's 'Blast everything in sight' and some are more complex, such as the Commando. The Sharpshooter is one of the more complex ones in my opinion. As a sharpshooter, choosing targets quickly, knowing what targets are capable of, and knowing how to bring one down is essential.

Quite a few rookie sharpshooters are having serious trouble with this, doing such AWESOME things as blasting Fleshpounds on sight or trying to headshot Clots while a band of Crawlers are tearing your teammates apart...others are blasting away at the wrong enemies with the wrong weapons, making themselves near useless and ending up broke. This guide is a quick tactical guide to help you know what to shoot first and what to shoot it with.

As the title says, this is a field guide, based on my experience in the field. I haven't had time to test EXACTLY how many headshots with each weapon it takes to bring down everything, so if it's innaccurate, I apologize, but I can give a general estimate of things in the field. To keep this from being a "Wall of text", I'll put this into a couple of posts here as well. I've underlined and/or bolded a few of the more important points to take from this so they'll be easier to see and I've tried to make it as easy on the eyes as I can without going into a ton of advanced formatting.

NOTE: Most of this experience is from a Level 2 and Level 3 Sharpshooter perspective as that is what I consider to be an 'average' level (And it's what levels I've been at currently. Almost to rank 4, though!). If your level is lower, you'll notice that enemies take more shots to bring down, if it's higher, less.
 
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Normal Mode Enemies:

Most normal mode enemies can be easily dispatched by your Action Rifle and Hand Cannon. For hordes, use a Grenade, but for the most part, try to aim carefully and go for headshots. In normal mode at Sharpshooter level 2, you can kill most enemies wit a single, well-placed headshot (And a little luck! Damage seems to vary...).


Clot (LOW PRIORITY) - Your basic, slow, weak, grabby zombie. Very weak and easy to take down. You can easily down one with a couple well-placed 9mm pistol shots or even a couple of knife swings, despite getting no damage bonuses with those. That can work well in early rounds and can help save ammo for your better weapons in the later rounds.

These are low-priority targets, though. They do pathetic damage and the threat of grabbing non-berserker teammates is their only real threat. If you see one grab a teammate, shoot it ASAP, especially if the teammate is surrounded or trying to retreat. They are good for free headshots, though. One shot of the Action Rifle or Handcannon will usually take it's head clean off and have it drop instantly.


Gorefast (MEDIUM PRIORITY) - These crimson-colored critters are easily mistaken for Clots. There are two big differences though. First, they have a nasty blade that can hit for pretty big damage. Second, when near someone (Usually within 7M on normal, give or take), they speed up both movement and attack! This means that when they close in on you and your team, they attack fast and hit hard, making them more important targets than the clots they usually attack with. When they attack, so long as you are moving away from them, they can't hit you, but if you back into something and get stuck...they can and WILL hit you.

Often times, these are best left to teammates who can quickly down them with Shotguns or Bullpups. When you do leave them to your team, it's VERY important to make sure your teammates' backs are covered...you don't want them backing up into an enemy and getting clobbered.

You can drop one with a lucky headshot from the Action Rifle or Handcannon at range, but if they get up close and rush, a frantic, but well-aimed burst of Handcannon fire to the head will drop one before it can hit you. The Action Rifle is usually too slow-firing to use in close against these. Note, though, that often a headshot is NOT FATAL off the bat to these. Beheaded Gorefasts often don't drop on the spot and while they bleed out, they CAN and WILL attack you and your team. Keep on your toes around these!


Bloat (LOW PRIORITY) - These are fat, damage-resistant critters who have 2 main ways of dealing damage; At close range they can puke on you, dealing acid damage over time. And when slain by shots to the body, they explode in a shower of acid, also doing damage over time. As a sharpshooter, you should seldom be close enough for either to be a threat. However, they can be a threat to your teammates, especially berzerkers. Their main attack, and thus most of the bloat's combat effectiveness, the acid puke, can be neutralized by a single headshot with the Action Rifle or Handcannon. This often doesn't kill the Bloat, but it renders it unable to puke and will leave it aimlessly staggering around until it dies.

Headshot these when you have a chance, and once the head pops, don't give 'em a second thought, as they're useless then. NEVER aim for the body on these, though, as it's a waste of ammo. Generally not a threat for Sharpshooters at all due to both their slow speed and their HUGE headshot vulnerability.

(MORE COMING. NO POSTS YET PLEASE)
 
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Crawler (HIGH PRIORITY) - These tiny buggers are more of a hassle than some of the much, much larger specimens! They move quickly and, at close range, will execute a leaping attack. The Crawler's leap is very fast and is one of the few attacks that can even hit teammates running away at full speed. They also have the nasty habit of leaping over teammates and attacking from behind or dropping down behind teammates, preventing a retreat. They have the biggest capability of any enemy in the game for disrupting a solid defensive line due to this. And the fact that they attack in packs doesn't help at all!

These are usually said to be the prime target of Commandos because they can drop them with a few bullpup rounds. And while that's true, your team may not have a Commando or if it does, he may be occupied. That's where you come in. Shoot these ASAP. You don't want these to slice apart a retreating teammate, or block an escape route. They're also a nightmare for Berserkers, who have to frantically dodge and cut them before they're pecked to death by the pouncing.

Fortunately, one shot from almost anything kills one. At range, the Action Rifle is great. If you MUST, even 1 or 2 9mm shots will take one out. At closer ranges, one handcannon shot will work, and it's 8-round clip will let you tear through a pack of them in no time. Just aim for the center of mass on them and let the lead fly. More often than not, this'll get a headshot, but even if it doesn't, it's fatal if it hits at all. Killing packs of these not only keeps your team safe, but gives you a decent income as well.


Stalker (HIGH PRIORITY) - These nearly invisible women are very similar to the Crawler. They tend to drop down from high places and attack from the sides or back. They are notorious for blocking retreats, harassing frontliners, and causing formations to break as people turn to see what hit them in the back. Don't let them do this.

They are an even more favored target for Commandos than Crawlers, but once again, often the Commando won't see these behind him or his teammates. Killing these quickly, before they can do damage is a good habit to get into. If they're charging straight at a group, I'll let the Commando have at 'em, but if they're flanking and going to hurt someone, I'll take the shot!

First off, know how to spot them. They will have a 'shimmer' that is fairily easy to spot. They also have a distinct shadow that's even easier to spot. Just aim for the shimmer and let the bullets fly. Aiming at the top of the "shimmer" usually results in a headshot. It doesn't take much to bring 'em down, either. One Action Rifle or Handcannon shot and they're out. In desperation, 2-3 9MM shots will end one as well.


Siren (TOP PRIORITY!) - Sirens are your top priority, with good reason. Their scream hits a large area for good damage, ignores armor, and distracts teammates. Take them out as soon as possible! 3-4 of them sneaking in close to a team and screaming at the same time can easily wipe out several teammates in an instant! They tend to come along with a large group of other specimens, making them tempting Grenade targets. But don't waste the 'nade; they can and will scream just to destroy a grenade in front of them!

Learn to pick out these from the rest of a mob and take 'em down fast. One shot, even a headshot, usually isn't going to do it. 3-4 Action Rifle or Handcannon shots aimed at the body usually drops them the fastest. Their head is a tiny target, difficult to hit, which makes it easier to just hit the body on these ones. Take them out at as long of a range as possible, because once they close in, your team will almost have to fall back, which can lead to disaster...

(MORE COMING, NO POSTS PLEASE...)
 
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Skrakes (LOW PRIORITY) - Uh-oh! This is where the Sharpshooter's low damage weakness starts to come into play big-time! These are slow, chainsaw-toting critters who can take loads of damage. When they've taken enough damage (When they're worn down to around 25% of their health on normal, I believe), they go 'berserk', constantly running instead of their slow walk and doing quite a bit more damage per hit. As with the Gorefast, moving away makes them unable to hit you, but backing into something or being cornered (Or grabbed by a clot!) is often fatal when these are berserking!

While other classes, such as the Firebug, Support, and Berserker can take 'em down fast, you can't. It'll take MULTIPLE headshots to down them. With the Action Rifle, they don't even go Berserk on you until after 7-8 headshots. It takes more than an entire clip of Handcannon shots to berserk one! (At least 15-16 handcannon headshots!) Even the mighty Crossbow still doesn't even Berserk them until 6 or more headshots! That's almost 10% of your total crossbow ammo! With the time and effort it takes to land each headshot, this isn't feasable in battle, especially when your 'Zerker can chainsaw one apart in 5 seconds or your Support can end one with 2 double-barrel blasts!

With these, it's best to just keep your distance and pick off the lesser critters around it. Wasting time and ammo on it isn't wise. Talk to your team and let them know about it. They can usually deal with it for you, especially 'Zerkers. However, if one does go berserk on you, blasting a clip of Handcannon rounds away into it's head can usually finish it while you backpeddle. Until something is done to beef up Sharpshooter damage, it's just not reasonable to go toe-to-toe with this beast!



Fleshpound (LOW PRIORITY, HIGH THREAT) - These are a nightmare. Huge, hitting-on-the-move enemies who go into a rage if they take over a certain amount of damage in a 5-second period. When not raged, they're slow, but when in a rage, they can outrun any player, period. And combined with their hit-on-the-move, this can easily kill players. I'll say it right now: Sharpshooters are nearly useless against these!

There are two ways to kill one; multiple teammates hitting at once for enough damage to insta-kill it is the first way. It's possible, but will usually take a pair of supports to do. The only way you can really contribute to this is by simultaneously grenading it with your teammates, or frantically blasting with the handcannon when they all attack. With newbies who usually can't coordinate an attack, this is iffy at best.

The second way is to deal damage, but not enough to rage it, and whittle down it's health. This is very tricky. At level 3, these are the following you can do in a 5-second period and NOT rage the Fleshpound:

-3 Handcannon shots to the body (2 to the head)
-2 Action Rifle shots to the body (1 to the head)
-1 Crossbow shot to the body (A single crossbow shot to the head WILL enrage it as a level 2 Sharpshooter!)
-1 Grenade

ANYTHING more than that will enrage it. This is especially tricky to do because your (idiot) teammates will undoubtably shoot it on sight and even 1 9mm shot over what I listed above will send it into a rage. The '3-handcannon shots to the body' method works best for me, though it takes at least 20+ shots to take it down. At 3 shots every 5 seconds, that means it'll take at least 30 seconds to take one down by yourself. The problem is that other specimens will be around! I suggest avoiding the fleshy until your team can coordinate a takedown. Kill everything around it and communicate with your team.

(Hard mode enemy tips coming up next...no posts still, please)
 
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HARD MODE ENEMIES:

In hard mode, enemies do more damage, take more damage, and are generally better at what they do. The Action Rifle and Handcannon are still your go-to weapons, but the Crossbow, with it's higher damage, even with it's slower firing rate, is incredibly useful on Hard! Generally, there is less room for error here and mistakes can be fatal...

NOTE: HEADSHOTS, EVEN ONES THAT REMOVE THE HEAD, ONLY KILL INSTANTLY AROUND 50% OF THE TIME IN HARD MODE. EXPECT HEADLESS ENEMIES TO ATTACK!


Clot (LOW PRIORITY) - Your headshot damage is a good thing here; most players will notice now that clots have enough HP to live long enough for a grab once their head has been shot off! Your headshots do enough damage that they usually won't if you use the Action Rifle or Handcannon. The crossbow can also insta-decapitate a group of them lined up. Other than the increased health, they're mostly the same as before: shoot them when you have the chance, but other specimens are more important to kill!


Gorefast (MEDIUM PRIORITY) - These are much deadlier than before. Not only do the charge from farther (Around 10m), charge faster, and do more damage, but they have a lot more health. Unless one is a 'lucky' headshot, they can take 2-3 Action Rifle headshots and 3-4 Handcannon headshots. As they're more likely to charge, you'll have to be better at quick, headshot bursts from the Handcannon. Whenever you can, let teammates handle these. Though it's important to keep them from charging, they start to take a serious toll on your ammo! And even when you get that head-splattering shot, having them dash around headless is very common on hard...though less common for us with our headshot damage bonus!

Salvation from these can come from a more rarely-used weapon: the crossbow! It usually decapitates them in 1-shot and deals enough damage that they'll almost always drop instead of run around headless and cause havok. A well-placed shot into a line of them coming at you can insta-kill 3-4 of them in 1 shot. Not bad. Consider the crossbow as an alternative to the Action Rifle when lots of these start appearing!


Bloat (MEDIUM PRIORITY) - The Bloat is far deadlier on Hard than normal. He can take a lot more hits, even headshots, and keep moving. His puke range is much father and hurts much worse, and he explodes pretty violently on death now. If he can get close to your team, he can and likely will do serious damage, especially since most players underestimate them. They're near-useless on normal, but on hard are one of the more underestimated foes!

Headshotting them still makes them useless and is where you come in. Unfortunately, they seem more resistant to headshots now. Unless one is 'lucky', it takes 2-3 Action Rifle shots and 4-5 Handcannon shots to the head for it to pop. Popping the head this way almost never kills them, but they will quickly bleed out. IT IS WORTH NOTING THAT A BLOAT THAT BLEEDS OUT WILL NOT EXPLODE. Since it's explosion is VERY painful on hard, this is good.

Again, the Crossbow is an oddly-effective weapon. One shot usually decapitates the Bloat and often insta-kills!


Crawler
(HIGH PRIORITY) - On normal, these are nasty. On hard, they're lethal. On normal, most classes can down one with a few handgun rounds. On hard, they can take 4-5 handgun shots! That's almost 1/4 of a clip just to kill one!

Fortunately, you're here. One Action Rifle or Handcannon shot is enough to take one down and it's important that you do so! These being more durable means that it takes longer for your teammates to dispatch them, allowing deadlier enemies to close in on them! Shoot them as fast as possible.


Stalker (HIGH PRIORITY) - Nearly the same as with Crawlers, these now take 4-5 handgun shots. This means that they'll distract and damage your teammates for longer. They still tend to charge directly into teammates' fire, though. Commandos can still murder them, and supports' shots literally cut through them, but Stalkers have a nasty habit of blocking shots from Firebugs and Medics (And other sharpshooters!), who lack penetration power in their weapons. They do more damage now, which means that you can't let them flank your allies.

Fortunately, they still die to a single handcannon or Action Rifle shot. Also worth noting, is that the Crossbow will punch right through them if one of 'em hops in front of you as you're aiming...


Siren (TOP PRIORITY!) - These are team-killers on Hard. Being stuck and forced to endure even one full scream will take 1/3 of your health (It bypasses armor too, remember!). Their scream also goes further and the Sirens themselves have more health.

Deal with them the same way as before, but remember that they can take quite a bit more punishment. At least 3-4 Action Rifle headshots, and twice that many body shots will drop one, as will 5-6 Hand Cannon headshots or twice as many body shots...that can take a while (Especially since the Action Rifle shoots slow), giving them time to close in and scream.

Once again, our crossbow will help. As few as 2 headshots with a Crossbow will drop one (Sometimes 3 are needed, though), and that's faster than the corrosponding number of Handcannon or Action Rifle shots.

Still, overall a huge threat. Take down ASAP!

(One more post...)
 
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Skrake (LOW PRIORITY) - A bad situation got worse. These have far more health, berserk sooner (At around 1/3 health instead of 1/4), and are generally a lot tougher. Get Supports or Zerkers to help you, as even with the Crossbow, you'll need a ton of headshots to take one down. I've had one not go berserk after 10 headshots with a crossbow on hard! That's 25% of your ammo right there! And just imagine how many Action Rifle or Handcannon shots it'd take!

You cannot afford to waste ammo on these. Take out everything else and have your team deal with the Skrakes...


Fleshpound (LOW PRIORITY, HUGE THREAT!) - Another bad sitation got worse. They have more health, yet it takes less to Rage them! A single crossbow body shot will set one off, as will a single Action Rifle shot to the head! As few as 2 Handcannon shots to the head set one off as well. The only things you can do to not set one off now are:

-4 9mm body shots (3 head shots)
-1 Action Rifle body shot (Head shot WILL enrage)
-2 Handcannon body shot (1 head shot)
-NO Crossbow shots whatsoever!
-No Grenades whatsoever!


You can see from that that it's near-impossible to not enrage him while still doing damage...this is why the games' hints say to do big damage; you can't whittle them down on hard! You MUST coordinate with your team for a quick takedown as was said before. Only now, DO NOT SHOOT THEM AT ALL UNLESS COORDINATED WITH YOUR TEAM. To whittle one down would take forever and to shoot at it with enough force to do anything will just set it off on you...and on Hard, that's usually fatal...



That's it for now. I hope it helps. I'll be hitting Sharpshooter Level 4 soon and I'll let you know if it makes much difference. Feel free to post now!
 
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This is a very good guide. Good job =D However, I don't know if it's just me or not, but when I play on solo the scrakes are on of the easiest to take out, and I'm a level 2 sharpshooter. It only takes me 3 handcannon shots or one crossbow bolt to the face to take his head off. Don't know if me playing Solo mode has anything to do with it or not, but very nice anywho.
 
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This is a very good guide. Good job =D However, I don't know if it's just me or not, but when I play on solo the scrakes are on of the easiest to take out, and I'm a level 2 sharpshooter. It only takes me 3 handcannon shots or one crossbow bolt to the face to take his head off. Don't know if me playing Solo mode has anything to do with it or not, but very nice anywho.

Tbh Scrakes are laughable by comparison to the Fleshpound. On the 1 side you have an enemy that can't touch you aslong as you move backwards and can easily be solo'd by the majority of classes and on the other you have a ridiculous high hp tank that either takes forever to kill or becomes a high speed killing machine. Its not worth trying to killing a Scrake when any Supporter in the area will run upto it with a Hunting Shotgun and waste it for you.
 
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More people ingame = more health on specimens.

Nanostrike, does all your info come from 6 player games?

Yeah, all of the info is from 6-player games. If you play with less, it'll take proportionally less shots. In Solo play, you can drop even the bigger critters pretty fast with just the Handcannon and Rifle!

Also, I've been lucky enough to have a team that seems to know how to properly handle Fleshpounds lately. We coordinate using mics. When one of us sees a FP, we let the others know immediately. We all converge on it and when someone gives the signal, we all simultaneously grenade it. When the nades all go off on it and it hunkers down, going into rage, we unload everything we have into it. On normal, this method almost always kills the 'pounder before it can do any real harm!

The best part is that this method racks up the damage and thus you can see the fleshpound get decapitated, dismembered, disemboweled, and whatnot. When our two supports hit it with simultaneous Hunting Shotgun double blasts, it blew the pounder's torso away completely, just leaving a pair of legs there! It's not uncommon to completely gib one this way, or at the very least, send it spinning through the air hilariously. I actually managed to get the fatal hit with a headshot from my handcannon once. It feels really good!

And yes, Skrakes are much easier than Fleshpounds, but still a low priority target. They're mainly just bullet sponges for us Sharpshooters...
 
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It should be noted that a skilled Sharpshooter can take down a Fleshpound with a crossbow, given enough room.

On Hard, as a level 5 Sharpshooter, with 6 Players, I can take down a Fleshpound in 4 Crossbow Headshots alone. Haven't gotten the chance to do it on Suicidal yet.
 
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It should be noted that a skilled Sharpshooter can take down a Fleshpound with a crossbow, given enough room.

On Hard, as a level 5 Sharpshooter, with 6 Players, I can take down a Fleshpound in 4 Crossbow Headshots alone. Haven't gotten the chance to do it on Suicidal yet.

Like I said, I haven't gotten that high in Sharpshooter levels yet. I know for a fact that at Level 2 or higher, it insta-berserks the Fleshpound with even a single Crossbow headshot, so in any situation but one with extreme range and a lot of room like yours, it's generally a bad idea to shoot it.

I hear that the gap between perk level's 3 and 4/5 is pretty big, though, so I hope to level up soon. The Damage % bonus multiplied by the Headshot Damage % bonus gets some serious damage if you calculate it out...

Arbitrary number: 10 damage per shot, 3x for headshots

Level 3 Sharpshooter (20% extra damage, 30% headshot damage)
10 (+2) x 3 (x 1.3) = 47 damage (rounded up) for a headshot

Level 5 Sharpshooter (50% extra damage!, 50% headshot damage!)
10 (+5) x 3 (x1.5) = 67 damage (rounded up) for a headshot!

That's a total increase of around 40% damage! And the more powerful the weapon, the bigger the damage, of course, so the Crossbow must be devastating.
 
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Yes it would be nice to have more info on the weapons and enemies.

Health
Damage Resistance
Damage
Cash recieved
Skill level changes
Player number multipliers
Foe specific changes (Fleshpound/Scrake Berserks limits)

At lvl3 Sharpshooter on Hard, solo, it takes 2 headshots to kill a Fleshpound with the Crossbow. The problem is you need so much room to do this without it catching and mutilating you theres no chance of doing so on any map but Farm and West London.
 
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Yes it would be nice to have more info on the weapons and enemies.

Health
Damage Resistance
Damage
Cash recieved
Skill level changes
Player number multipliers
Foe specific changes (Fleshpound/Scrake Berserks limits)

At lvl3 Sharpshooter on Hard, solo, it takes 2 headshots to kill a Fleshpound with the Crossbow. The problem is you need so much room to do this without it catching and mutilating you theres no chance of doing so on any map but Farm and West London.

I'd imagine that the only way to look this all up would be with the SDK and I don't know much about it. Maybe I'll look into that soon. It'd be nice info to have.
 
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I find that Berserker class's tent to have more problems with Crawlers then anything. I'm speaking from first hand experience Everything else you can see coming or at less don't have to move from head shot range. Crawlers are fast and low to the ground I found that If you play Beserker's you should take them out first weather it be crouch and tilt upwards some so they jump into the blade or take out a 9mm or Hand cannon and shot them down then attack the incoming enemy(s).
 
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I find that Berserker class's tent to have more problems with Crawlers then anything. I'm speaking from first hand experience Everything else you can see coming or at less don't have to move from head shot range. Crawlers are fast and low to the ground I found that If you play Beserker's you should take them out first weather it be crouch and tilt upwards some so they jump into the blade or take out a 9mm or Hand cannon and shot them down then attack the incoming enemy(s).

That's why they're a HIGH priority target. About 90% of the time, as a Sharpshooter, it's better to take out 2 crawlers and let the Berserker deal with the cluster of 4-5 clots than to do the opposite...
 
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Indeed, crawlers are no problem as long as other players prioritise them.

Crawlers and Stalkers can be INCREDIBLY annoying if no one prioritizes them, though. You'd expect that Commandos would focus on the Stalkers, but they tend to not care and just spam the bullpup at everything. So the Stalkers get behind you and whack you while you're sniping. VERY annoying...
 
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This is a pretty decent guide. I follow a similar approach, but obviously it's all about designating key targets... although I give a higher priority to Crawlers depending on how close they are. A crawler can mess up your aim and can sometimes be a pest to kill up close.

But Sirens as top priority is the best thing here. One (or two) bolts to the head can take out a Siren before she becomes a problem. I was playing a map yesterday, it was a small map, two sirens got into close proximity of a group of players who had their backs turned, one of them died. (Admittedly it was a comination of the screams and gorefasts but still..)

However I wouldn't consider Stalkers as high priority at all. In fact they're lower than Gorefasts for me. They're relatively the same height as a clot and just as slow to move. And if you can see their outlines when they're cloaked they're nothing. A Stalker is predominantly a minor annoyance for me.

Hmm.. While I'm writing an essay here lol.. I may as well give my priority list:
Siren
Crawler (If closer than Siren, becomes top priority, easy to dispatch, can then focus on Siren)
Gorefast
... In fact everything beyond this shares a similar priority for me.. Low. You can outrun it all with a knife and just be careful not to rage the FP.
 
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