Kiting/ Training tips?

[lead_psychopath]

Hi guys!

I would consider myself an average zombies player, I probably average at a 25-35 round game, but have had plenty of higher and lower games.

As for kiting, I'm not bad, but it's always a sloppy train that downs me. I'll run too wide, or cut where I shouldn't and get trapped. Or I'll run backwards shooting for too long.

I really want to get to the next level, make it so most my games are 40+.

Do any of you zombie pros have any training (as in getting better, not zombies) tips? Do you guys do challenges in nearly impossible areas to get better?

I'd appreciate any advice, or even videos/ pictures would be an awesome help!

Thanks in advance CODZ!

[swappingspit]

I know one thing that held me back for a long time was being married to the idea of keeping one, continuous circle, like the Kino stage. Using cut-backs instead of trying to squeeze through really tight gaps in order to continue the circle made a world of difference. 

 

Also, playing No Man's Land will make you 1000 times better. You don't even have to do well, just doing it is great practice.

[Boom115]

I wouldn’t consider myself a pro by any means, but the best tip I can offer is slow down. Even at a walking pace the zombie AI can’t keep up with you once they are grouped up(unless you’re in mud of course), and with stamin up you’re even faster. Train at a walking pace; if you need to run ahead do so, but try and anticipate their next move. Zombies is basically a way more advanced version of the game snake from the old nokia phones. Understanding the path and being aware of your environment are all you need(how many times have you died because you got caught on the random obstacle on the ground). The difference between you and I and a high round player boils down concentration, determination, and time dedication.

Tight circles/clever corners

[ETEl2NAL407]

You remind me that my training guide I've meant to do for TranZit would have value.

 

In a nutshell, that would be my advice on how to train/kite. Every area in TranZit (all the individual stops) offers a different approach to training. Some areas are more difficult than others, some are smaller, some with built-in cutbacks, others with zero margin for error.

 

What I would do is abandon the bus, except for crossing lava, and try to train for a round or 2 at every stop. Pay attention to the spawn areas and do not think about killing a zombie until they all spawn. The key to training is to keep moving and try to take a fluid, continuous route, weaving around the zombie spawns.

 

As you begin to find the spawn points and funnel routes the zombies come from, you'll more clearly see the intended, safest route to train them through. After that, it's all about timing the spawns to when you start your route. If you notice you're ahead of behind of the spawns, timing-wise, you can make a small correction with a cutback or my personal favorite, just stop and let the train catch up. Often I've seen new players attempt to train and move too fast. They wind up overrunning their train and lose the tempo of the spawns. You should keep moving, but stay close enough to your train so they follow your route and stay in sync.

 

Ultimately that's what training is all about, rhythm, tempo, repetition.

 

When you get really good at training, you will start to look for training lanes based on the spawn points and room shape everywhere you go. TranZit is a great map to practice this skill on because nearly every area has an easy escape: The Fog. Sure you'll get mauled by Denizens, but you will have plenty of space to run around your horde and get back in sync if you mess up.

 

As to dispatching the horde, once you have them...Pick a long straightaway either within the route or attached to it and when you're ready to kill them, run ahead of the horde some and turn and fire, but keep in mind that as you kill, new zombies will be spawning to take their place, so try to do this without losing your place in the rhythm, or by leaving yourself enough space to get back in. A big mistake new players make this way is by killing at different points. This messes up the rhythm even more and makes it more difficult to stay in sync, so it's best to always kill at the same point. You also don't always need to ADS. As the levels get higher you won't need to be killing with your shots, just scoring, plus the zombies will get so strong it would take too long to kill them all, so you'd end up far out of sync if you tried.

 

So, the basics are simply:

 

Watch the spawn points and pick a route

Stay close to the horde, don't overrun them

Don't kill until all are spawned

Kill in the same place

 

TEMPO, TEMPO, TEMPO

[lead_psychopath]

Really appreciate the comments guys!

 

All of you have epic points.

 

Swapping-  I don't think I cut back enough at all, and I don't really play No Man's Land enough will try more of those!

 

Boom- Slowing down is definitely something I need to work on, that really does make a game I find. One of my problems is I try to do a speed run without meaning to, everything is quick quick quick! One thing I need to work on is how to get into the mind-set of slowing down.

 

Eternal- that's a really good idea with the Tranzit stops. I think I might even take it one step further and try and run in the buildings alone, say a round of each building.

 

Once again, thanks for the tips/ ideas.

 

Any more, please keep them coming!

[Dahniska]

The biggest one: practice. And then practice some more and then some.

Literally that is the main thing. Knowing the zombie spawns and understanding their pathing is crucial too.

For all of the high round training strategies you will need to understand these things. Good luck!

[ETEl2NAL407]

This is only meant as a quick sketch, but here's an example of the Diner in TranZit.

 

 

Notice, the main route you want to be on is a figure 8 (Red)

 

The Green area is the route you would take while killing and it allows you to easily get back to the main route.

 

Alternate routes are marked as Blue, but are the more difficult routes to actually train with and are only noted as a way to illustrate that the entire area has a fluid route that can be taken. Remember these are meant to work one way, so if you enter a building through one entrance, you should leave from the other, unless you cutback.

 

The orange line is an escape I use when running the figure 8 often. It will actually expose you the the Fog briefly, sometimes a denizen will attack, but the majority of the time you aren't in the fog long enough and it's just a great way to make the figure 8 a bit larger and create more space when it's needed.

 

Sorry the graphic is so amateur, I'll probably make better ones if I ever get the motivation to write my training guide.

 

 

[Electric Jesus]

The term "training" is misleading because it Implies that you run on a fixed path. The best advice I can give you is to freestyle it. The only way to do this is to pick an easy train and practice cutbacks a lot. I played ascension almost every day for a while and I can do triple cutbacks on the flopper train with my eyes closed. You eventually reach the point where you're making a series of deliberate juking motions instead of running in a circle.

There are two types of zombies when running a train: Those that are a part of the train, and those that are not. Your objective is to make all of the non-train zombies become a part of the train. You can treat the train itself like a single entiry because the entire train moves the same way. However, It is a lot more dificult to predict the non-train zombies which each act as their own entity. If 23 zombies are coming one way and 1 is coming from the other side, that 1 zombie is the most deadly. You need to practice learning how to accomodate certain anomalies in your train. "There are two zombies standing next to each other. do I have enough space to run between them?" You need to be able to kbow the answer to this kind of question automatically.

More specifically, I'd suggest you run boomerang trains. On trains where a majority of the zombies enter your train area from one direction, you will want to concentrate on a motion that will bunch those zombies up the most quickly so that you have less anomalies to deal with. Look at the flopper train for example. 90% of the zombies run right up the staircase at you. Run a little paranola shape at the staircase gradually growing wider and wider, catching their AI like you're casting a net. Then you should use the previously mentioned methods to take care of the one or two that come from the other direction, maintaining control of the main cluster.

[InfestLithium]

As EJ was saying, your main concern will be walkers among the sprinters. See, sprinters are easier to take out because they flow together and never deviate from the path. Walkers/crawlers, however, will screw you over by getting in your way or forcing you to change routes.

 

But I do have to disagree with one thing: training is not a fixed motion or direction. Rather, it's a systematic process of grouping all the zombies together in such a way where you can manage flood control. Once you group them accordingly, you take them out. Rinse and repeat. It's not to say that you shouldn't freestyle; in fact, it's encouraged because you may find yourself running the same tedious route for 10+ rounds when each round is the equivalent of half an hour even with infinite-damage weapons/traps. The only thing that actually changes in terms of difficulty is the amount of zombies. Health becomes irrelevant when you use those said traps or weapons. 

 

Pointed out like before, learning pro moves like cut-backs or drags can really strengthen your training abilities. You learn how to do more than just circles, figure-8s or simple kiting maneuvers. These techniques help you find new spots to train, how to get out of tricky situations where basic routes would spell certain doom, and you sharpen your danger senses. Practice using super basic, yet small to medium-sized maps. If you can pull of a successful train somewhere in Nacht der Untoten or Shangri-la or No Man's Land, you can certainly do it in any given map.

[Awful Lawton]

If anything, PhD lander is where I go my start with the trains lol

[lead_psychopath]

Again, thanks to everyone who responded!

 

Just a mega quick update-

 

I just had a game of Nuketown, was round 31 before I got my first down. Had my last down at 42, but was a massive improvement from my previous best, round 36.

I slowed it down big time, walked a lot more rather than sprinted, and didn't panic as quickly.

 

On the note of practising, I decided to start a load of custom games, and try and make a train in the first room without opening any doors. I find it really difficult, but its definitely helping.

 

Once again, thanks.

[InfestLithium]

That's great to hear friendo! See? Taking your time is better than running around thinking the zombies will never catch you. A great deal of dragging involves moving quite slowly; no sprinting necessary.

[ETEl2NAL407]

When you get really good, you'll be able to go in a small room and run back and forth quickly to get the zombies in with you, then just by knowing which direction to walk at the right time, drag all the zombies to one side so you can leave the room. Might look something like this:

 

[83457]

Being calm is key: i often did my best solo games almost asleep on the floor in the early a.m. No anxiety, no choking.

Cut backs are so important, the thing i try to get in new zombies players heads is this: the zombies come straight at you, they won't act like a person and try to get in your way smartly, just mindlessly tail you.

So, i would be in a hallway with zombies between me and my downed teammate. I step to the left wall, wait until the zombies almost get me, go around to the right and turn sideways to make myself skinnier, then slide right past the train in a narrow hall. My friend would be amazed. But it is just knowledge. Know how they move, watch as they move so you can predict where/when to move.

Run into a dead end room, used to mean death.

Now, go in as far as i can double back to one side, c-curve around them and then back, like a pendulum, to pool them up, then around them again and out of the room.

Especially in waw and bo1, turning sideways quickly as you were about to pass them 1. Made you skinnier as your guy is like a coin, turn sideways to fit through, and 2. This often throw off the zombies attack; they would turn a little, rather than swing.

We called it doing a little 'juke' to get past them.

I hope some of that was clear enough.

Edited May 19, 2014 by 83457