S.O.D NETWORK
THE
Blood plague
Blood Plague is a secondary ailment separate to other injuries and trauma your character will suffer - It is contracted by making contact with zombies or freaks that are infected with it. You can differentiate between a regular zombie and a plague zombie by their appearance. Plague Zombies and Freaks are red in colour with eyes to match, where as regular zombies are relatively grey coloured with yellow/amber eyes. Plague zombies are also much more aggressive and persistent than regular zombies which is representative of the effects of blood Plague itself.
​
Contracting Blood Plague from freaks like blaters can cause you respiratory issues
​
In the event that you contract blood plague your survivor will have to be eventually treated or they will die due to the infection. Below are images and explanations of what each stage of infection means and how to treat or cure it before you lose your character.
PLAGUE mETER
Partial Infection
Upon being struck or bitten by a plague zombie you will notice a meter pop up above your map and health cores, This meter is a plague meter which will increase the more you are attacked by plague zeds or freaks. Depending on your difficulty choice the penalty for partial infection will differ meaning on lower difficulties you will recieve less partial infection each time you are struck, whereas on higher difficulties it is much more severe and can progress to its next stage of progression much faster.
​
Partial infection can be cured by admitting your character to your infirmary or giving them the plague cure.
PLAGUE mETER
PLAGUE iNFECTION
When your partial infection meter fills up, your character will move on to the next stage of Blood Plague Infection. This stage requires much more immediate attention due to a timer being present that varies per difficxulty. At this stage on Lethal for example you will be left with minutes to get home for a cure (or less if you have taken additional damage) after the timer has started.
​
If you have an infected survivor at this stage then your only options are to put them in the infirmary to stabilise the infection, cure them with a cure or put them down and out of their misery.
PLAGUE HEART
Abilities
Plague Hearts are your primary enemy on every map. They are a fusion/congealment of zombies whose infection has mutated into what's known as Blood Plague. This form of infection has in-turn riddled and infested other zombies and freaks with Blood Plague - all of whom are under the hearts control/influence
Each heart on your map has a red cloudy radius which is the active area of effect for that heart. Multiple hearts overlapping one area have stacked effects - this means you will need to be more cautious in these scenarios than with singular hearts.
Primarily these hearts remain dormant until player activity in its radius awakens it, upon awakening a heart it will increase zombie spawning rates and their level of aggression which makes them increasingly tougher to get to on higher difficulties.
BLACK HEART
Effects
gf
brief
These zombies and freaks have all the same attacks and near identical characteristics as regular Zombies & Freaks, Only their attacks are imbued with Blood Plague and on any difficulty it will not take much for a group of any of them to take you out because the damage dealt is base health and and plague infection. Their red glowing eyes are usually their most prominent feature (especially at night) We advise extreme caution when trying to take on groups of this type of zombie. Most hoardes on higher difficulties will contain multiple of each of these.
Attacks
-Swipe
-Lunge
-Grapple
Zombie
Plague Zombies can be encountered on any difficulty to start with, Their Presence seemingly phases out with each heart you kill on Green Zone - Dread Zone difficulties. Contact with this zombie will cause Blood Plague Infection
​
When a zombie is aware of you and is aggravated it will call out for its nearby friends, it is important to neutralise them as quick as possible for this reason - especially on high difficulty settings.
​
You can stealth kill Plague Zombies by crouching and sneaking up on them, you can also clear an area of them from a distance by using a ranged weapon with a silencer.
​
Be extra mindful of their grapple while ferals or juggernauts are around as it inhibits your ability to move and dodge their plague inducing attacks.
Attacks
-Charge
-Plague Slam
-Grapple & Slam
Juggernaut
These brutes do life threatening damage to your characters, you will see them as a replacement to regular juggernauts on higher difficulties. All of their attacks deal Blood Plague damage as well as base health damage.
​
As with regular Juggernauts - If you are confident and capable with your melee skills then this is also an efficient strategy if you dodge its attacks in between your strikes. It is also an effective strategy if you attack it from behind.
​
All of this behemoths attacks can be devastating to your character as its slam attacks have a Blood Plague Area of Effect, these juggernauts also roam around with XL Hordes alongside Plague Screamers and Plague Ferals on higher difficulties.
For the most efficiency in defeating them attack them from a distance with ranged weapons, Sniper support also works perfectly in assisting taking these down though unfortunately it's targeting priority isn't always the juggernaut.
Attacks
-Charge
-Plague Slam
-Grapple & Slam
Screamer
Unlike their much friendlier, slightly more approachable cousin these things are not to be trifled with. They do the same scream as a regular Screamer but they also have the ability to projectile vomit Blood Plague at you if you are close enough.
​
You will mainly encounter these on Nightmare and Lethal and on those difficulties they can create absolute mayhem if not neutralised quickly.
​
As with the regular screamer this guy goes down easy to most ammo types, his only genuine threat is his blood plague attacks so always be mindful.
Attacks
-Charge
-Plague Slam
-Grapple & Slam
Bloater
The threat level of these freaks is at red alert. Plague Bloaters are capable of all the same things as a normal Bloater, but deal significantly more damage, can cause injury and constantly applies Blood Plague for as long as you're in their gas cloud.
​
You will find these on Nightmare and Lethal and they often appear in groups, they can often also be found laid down tucked behind walls or in gaps so always be wary when taking shortcuts in vehicles..
​
Though they are a lot more dangerous, they still share the same weaknesses as their non-plague counterpart, one bullet should be enough to dispatch it.
Attacks
-Charge
-Plague Slam
-Grapple & Slam
Feral
A Blood Feral is fortunately only found on Lethal Zone - while being similar to their regular counterpart for speed, agility and maneuvering danger these things have attacks with Blood Plague attached.
​
You will not outrun these freaks without depleting your stamina in the process so your only options are to avoid from a distance or to attack directly/indirectly with any type of Heavy Weapon - whether that be a .50 Cal or Heavy Melee. If you choose melee to deal with these it is advised you time your hits between dodging its attacks.If you choose ranged weapons then just tap until it's dead.
​
The reason for specifically heavy combat is because unlike regular ferals these things have armour plated heads which has to be broken first before you can have any chance of taking one out. Did we forget to mention these can roam in packs of 3-5 too?
​
This is arguably the most consistently dangerous threat you will encounter in the entire game. Approach with caution.