This is a guide to the overall play in Zombie Survival on the GameModes server. If you are the actual zombies in normal Terraria difficult, then unfortunately you might just not be very good at this game.
Firstly, it is important to know that sharing Score is one of the most effective things you can do in Zombies. This is especially important when you play certain roles. Here’s an example: On Hill House there’s two classes, Gun Slinger and Mage; with Mage, you can get the Aqua Scepter (highly recommended), which will grant you a lot of score. It is important to note that this amount of score is what you must share. If the Gun Slinger does not shoot, you can get maximum score out of the zombies and with sharing, you can quickly muster the greatest weapons. The Mage on this map quickly tails off as a healer with fairly low DPS. This is intentional. With all the score that gets put into the Gun Slinger, you should then be at a great position. While the Mage will not be able to tear through enemies, they are still a useful tool in ensuring teammates are at good health. Often other maps will have similar ways of gaining a lot of score for certain classes, and the same can be applied. Usually, classes without great score gain have greater weapons, with the difficulty dampened by another class giving score. For classes that tail off like mage, you can complement them with abilities that deal damage.
Secondly, it is important that you revive teammates. You may not think much of someone who is constantly dying, but if they are willing to listen, you can give them enough score to survive and eventually punch out a lot of damage. Regardless of skill, a teammate with good weapons will be a great asset in the later rounds. If you do not revive teammates, what happens is they either leave or perform worse and can become a detriment.
Thirdly, crowd control. In the earlier rounds, on some maps, you may find yourself unable to keep back the zombies. In these desperate times, you must jump. The best thing you can do for yourself and teammates in this time, especially if someone needs reviving, is to clump them up. If someone needs reviving, it is also important you kill as little as possible unless it is the end of the current rounds waves. If you kill too many and the next wave spawns, it will be harder to revive any teammates and all the clumping will be for nothing. To clump up zombies, you simply jump over them repeatedly and when you have 2 clumps on either side of you, let them come really close, and then jump over one. A single clump is a lot easier to manage especially when you are in danger as they act as a unit (as though they’re just one zombie).
Fourthly, damage. A lot of people who start to play will think that they must get the best weapons available as quickly as possible. And they think this means to upgrade whenever possible. Unfortunately, this is misleading. Once you get to a particular weapon that has low damage but high rate of fire, often something like boomstick (for Gun Slinger on Hill House), Minishark (Beach House) or even a shortsword (in the beginning rounds especially), you do not upgrade it unless it is absolutely necessary. But why? Because if you do, you will kill zombies more quickly. Remember that score is gained per hit, not per damage. The more hits per round you can do, the more score you gain in that round. Of course there is a point where it becomes min-maxing of score, so chase this at your own peril. The best way to achieve this is to use low damage but high fire rate weapons. It is important you upgrade your armor or buy defense accessories over all else to ensure survivability until you are better at avoiding damage. It is also important for anyone who is not particularly good yet, to get an alt weapon that has high damage in case of emergency. Once you get enough score, you can then proceed to max out everything. Doing it this way ensures you get the best tier of everything more quickly and at an earlier round.
Finally, if you follow the above, you should be able to consistently get to Round 10 at least. And with teammates all doing this, you should easily make Round 13+.
Summary / TL;DR
- Share you score with others if they are falling behind, or have picked a class that is inherently more difficult due to weapon costs
- Revive teammates; everyone is useful in some way
- Clump up zombies into one if you find it hard to revive someone, or if you find it hard to do anything[/li]
- Best Armor before best Weapons, always
- Use low damage, high fire-rate weapons for as long as you can
- Avoid mob despawn when people need reviving
- Use mob despawn in the later rounds to your advantage
- You will die on Round 16 if you ever make it; if you don’t you are either l33t or
- There is a legend that if you make it to Round 16 on a public lobby you get something magical
