My Zombie Observation Notes (Vanilla)

This is just my personal notes, where I keep track of everything I’ve tested with zombies so far.
I also include stuff I’ve noticed while actually dealing with them.


Feel free to skip anything that doesn’t seem useful, just take what works for you.

📌 Note: This note is written for the Patch version 1.51.a

wiki[peak.wiki.gg] about the Zombies

Zombies are basically scout players controlled by AI.
They share many traits with human players,
but there are some key differences:

• Can’t use rope, chain, or vine.
  
• Immune to lava (why…).
  
• Can’t be pulled up with right-click while climbing.
  
• etc.

Zombies have 3 phases (I made them up)

1. Inactive
   
2. Hunting
   
3. Recovering

• When zombies spawn, they lie down and do nothing.
  
• Only players can wake them up.
  
• Their 2-minute lifespan starts once they wake up.
  
• After waking, they must detect a player before entering the hunting phase.

• Zombies hunt every awake player until they themselves die.
  
• They ragdoll each time they attack.

• Zombies enter the recovering phase when they ragdoll.
  
• They can get up again, but if their lifetime is up, they die instead.
  
• If they stay ragdolled for 1+ minute, they die in their sleep.

Has 3 sub-phases

• 1.1) Spawning
  
  • Each seed has fixed zombie spawn points.
    
  • Newly spawned zombies don’t have fully grown fungus yet, so they can look like a downed player.
    
  • They won’t get up on their own, only a player can wake them.
    
• 1.2) Waking Up
  
  • Zombies can’t be woken up by sound.
    
  • A zombie wakes up if there’s a clear line of sight from its eyes to the player’s eyes.
    
    • Ignore dead or passed-out players
      
    • The range is ~20 meters
      
    • The zombie’s eyes need to be in front of the player
      
    • The line can be traced even when the player is looking straight up.
      
    • The line can be blocked by terrain, walls, or deployed items like scout cannons, cloud/shelf fungus, magic beans, etc.
      
    • The line cannot be blocked by teammates, other zombies, backpacks, held items, or golden bing bongs
      
  • Each zombie lives for 2 minutes ⏱️, which starts from the first frame they wake up.
    
• 1.3) Scanning
  
  • Once they stand upright, zombies start drawing lines from their eyes to every player’s eyes.
    
    • Ignore dead or passed-out players
      
    • Detection lines cover a full 360° around the zombie.
      
    • Lines can be blocked by terrain, walls, or deployed items, but not by players, zombies, or backpacks (same as before).
      
    • Lines have infinite range.
      
  • If there is at least one valid line, the zombie targets that player and enter the Hunting Phase.
    
  • If there are multiple valid lines, the zombie targets the nearest player.
    
  • If no valid line can be drawn:
    
    • The zombie just stands there.
      
    • Turns on wallhack and stares through the terrain at its targeted player.
      
    • Grunts nonstop.
      
    • Keeps scanning every 10 seconds in case another player approaches from behind.
      

• Once zombies enter this phase:
  
  • They don’t go back to the Inactive Phase.
    
  • They have wallhack.
    
  • They know where all players are on the map, no matter how far away.
    
  • They ignore dead or passed-out players.
    
• There are 4 primary actions in this phase:
  
  • Climb: when they collide with climbable obstacles.
    
  • 🚶‍♂️ Walk: if the target is > 8m away.
    
  • 🏃‍♂️ Sprint: if the target is < 8m away.
    
  • 🗡️ Lunge: if the target is < 3m away.
    
• Every time a zombie enters its Hunting Phase, it must wait at least 3 seconds before they can sprint or lunge.
  
• If their mouth hits the target during a lunge, the target gets bitten.
  
• They always ragdoll after lunging.
  
• They retarget to the nearest player every 10 seconds.
  
• After the target player dies or passes out 😵, they immediately go after the nearest awake player.

• They enter the Recovering Phase whenever they ragdoll or pass out
  
• Before getting back up, zombies go through a game check:
  
  • If their time is up, they die. ☠️
    
  • If they still have time left, they stand back up. 🚶🏃‍
    
• If they remain passed out for over 1 minute, they die immediately, ignoring remaining lifetime.
  
• They usually take about the same time as scout players to start getting back up.
  
• The moment they start getting up, a 4–5 second lock prevents them from returning to the Hunting Phase.

• After zombies wake up, they always make sounds to alert players of their presence.
  
• They occasionally make groaning sounds and can be heard from far away.
  
• Their climbing and footsteps sound the same as a scout player's (within the Roots biome).
  
• They also make sounds when they lunge, stunned and pass out

• No pathfinding, only blind following.
  
• Horizontal movement: zombies move toward their target in a straight line.
  
  • If a target player is hanging on a vine, zombies will walk toward that player and spin in circles right underneath.
    
    
  • Zombies really commit to their straight-line path, even when there’s a drop ahead.
    
    
• Vertical movement: Zombies start climbing when they bump into climbable obstacles.
  
  • If their target is still on the same side of the obstacle or cliff they are climbing, the zombie climbs over it.
    
  • Otherwise, they ascend to the same height as their target, then jump (not a lunge attack) toward them.
    
    
• Example: In The Roots,
  
  • If a player is on a wooden platform on a giant redwood, a zombie below will walk in circles under them.
    
  • If the player gets too close to the tree, the zombie will follow, slam into the tree root, climb up to the player’s height, and then jump from the tree toward the player.
    
    

• Zombies can’t change direction midair during a lunge (no curving or strafing)
  
• Lunges last ~1 second; bites can only happen within this window.
  
• ❗ A bite can happen on the very first frame of the lunge. ❗

• Zombies can only lunge where they can stand upright (even standing for a split second counts). Some examples of surfaces they can stand on:
  
  • Sloped ground
    
  • Crouching players
    
  • Luggage
    
  • Bounce fungus (usually when too many zombies are jumping on it)
    
• They cannot lunge while climbing, jumping off a climb, or when airborne.
  
• In the previous Redwood scenario, once the zombie jumps off the tree, it can lunge as soon as its feet touch the platform.

• Zombies walk & run slightly slower than players.
  
• Zombies lunge at roughly the same speed as a player's sprint jump.
  
• Zombies climb at the same speed as players but with infinite stamina.

Zombies usually make sounds when forced into ragdoll from being stunned, tripping, or similar effects.

Things that make a player scout ragdoll also work on zombies:

• Stunnable objects like coconuts, flying discs, basketballs, Antidote, or Cure-All
  
• Sleep debuff reaching the threshold (Technically, it’s ‘pass out,’ like scout players, but whatever)
  
• Explosions from:
  
  • Dynamite 🧨
    
  • Explosive Bombshroom
    
  • Items that explode when cooked
    
  • Opening a cooked energy drink
    
  • Farting
    
• Falling from a high place and hitting the floor too hard
  
• Getting dragged by a rescue hook (distance doesn't matter)
  
• Geysers
  
• Waterfalls & water streams
  
• Jellyfish

Zombies sometimes ragdoll when they try to climb into a scout cannon barrel (they usually get stuck rather than trip).

• Zombies can tank the sleep debuff up to the equivalent of a full stamina bar of a scout player before they pass out.
  
• They also have a death timer when they pass out, similar to scout players. Theirs is 1 minute.
  
• Only blowguns and the Mandrake’s scream make them sleepy; NapBerry trees don’t.
  
• 1 blowgun can put them to sleep for 1+ minute (equivalent to 2 full stamina bars of a scout player).
  
• They receive the same sleep effect rate from Mandrake's scream as scout players.
  
• Their sleep debuff decays at the same rate as scout players.

• Once their timer has started, it cannot be paused except by pausing the game
  (only in a ‘Play Offline’ lobby).

• Zombies despawn when they are far enough from all scout players.
  
  • 45 meters when in Inactive Phase AND not awake
    
  • Otherwise, 100 meters
    
• A passed-out player can prevent nearby zombies from despawning.
  
• Despawned zombie players do not leave their skeleton behind, so the Book of Bones cannot be used on them.

• Zombies can get up when their sleep debuff falls below one full stamina bar, but only if their two-minute lifetimer has not expired (not possible without someone deliberately curing them).
  
• Their sleep can be cured with:
  
  • Exploded Cure-All (from cooking, throwing, or breaking on its own)
    
  • Explosion from a Faerie Lantern
    
  • 10+ explosions from Pandora Boxes
    
  • Having 20+ activated Faerie Lanterns around them
    
• They only need to be cured twice, then let their sleep debuff decay below 100 points before their death timer & lifetimer expire.

A few notes before we go in...

• Zombies lunge in a straight line and cannot change direction midair.
  
• Zombies move toward their target in a straight line.
  
• 💨💀 Don’t forget about the wind.

The typical strategy usually goes like this:

The idea is not to spend too much time dealing with them directly
No reward on killing them anyway

Players can do other things while zombies follow them.
When the zombies catch up, players can dodge them or bait them away.
Baiting a zombie off a cliff takes about 4–15 seconds.

Let the zombies chase again to drain their lifespan.
Once the zombies’ timer runs out, players can finish them off.

Leaders of a group should know how to handle zombies efficiently,
since they’re usually the first to draw aggro.
If zombies aggro onto inexperienced players,
there’s a good chance the zombies will end up causing damage, either directly or indirectly.

Inexperienced players should avoid putting themselves in spots where they get trapped with zombies and have no room to maneuver.
For example: cliff face, hanging tree roots above a huge drop, hazard-filled areas, or

• If the terrain ahead looks dangerous, and the current area is safe enough
  
  • Players can wait for the zombies to come to them and deal with them, whether the zombies are catching up from behind or spawning ahead.
    
• If both the terrain ahead and the current area are dangerous:
  
  • It’s okay to take a detour before dealing with the zombies.
    Players should keep avoiding all threats while retreating.
    
• If the terrain ahead looks safer
  
  • then players can move forward and deal with the zombies there. (rare and can sometimes be misleading)
    

Experienced players can take risks and push into rough terrain to shake zombies off
usually with hanging tree roots above a huge drop, or sometimes on cliff faces.

If players are cornered and can’t escape immediately but still have room to dodge,
they can keep juking zombies until they die.
Each time a zombie ragdolls, players can heal, push them off, plan routes, and so on.
It depends

Kill them on the spot if there’s no way to get rid of them,
or if they’re likely to become a problem later.
Experienced players take aggro and kill them.
Less experienced players avoid taking aggro and other hazards.

Long before the Mesa update...
fast climb pace = less worry about debuffs, fog, food, resources, etc.

...also applies to zombies in the Roots update
fast climb pace = outrun them, lowers their threat, sometimes even despawning them

Things that change climb pace on the fly:
- traversal skill, panic level, current stage of players and teammates
- accidents
- smooth terrain suddenly becoming challenging
- items found along the way that dynamically alter climb pace
- number of teammates. More players = more food, healing items, helper climb tools, extra resource gathering, etc., which can slow climb pace

If players keep getting stuck often, get ready to deal with chasing zombies.

This DOESN'T mean fast climb pace is mandatory
Zombies might have exhausted their lifetime by the time they catch up.
They’re just one extra factor to consider, not a big deal if players play it safe based on the situation.

This section can be skipped if the climb pace is mostly constant and rarely drops.
Or, just become a monke 🐒, hopping from tree to tree.

Wasting time on zombies in asc5+ is usually not worth it.

---

Before moving on, here are some quick reminders:

• Our climb process is usually slower than theirs
  
• Zombies have infinite stamina
  
• 2-minute lifespan
  
• Die when
  
  • lifespan expires + ragdoll
    
  • ragdoll for 1+ minute
• 100 meters despawn range
  
• The wind 💨

I like to divide the map by height.
I come up with 3 levels: Lower, Middle, and Top.



Difficulty: Moderate (🟡 Yellow)

On this ground level,
Height tricks aren't that effective.
and there's no feasible way to make zombies despawn.

However, players can still use these items to remove zombies permanently:

• Blowgun 🔫
  
• Scout Cannon 🔒

In practice, players can let zombies follow,
dodge & bait them away.
finish them off once their timer runs out.

If players are not in a rush (e.g., playing on normal difficulty),
they can exhaust zombies to death.

Before ascending to the Middle part.
⚠️ If the climb will be slow, zombies are close, and players struggle with dodging on complex terrain
it might be safer to kill them first.
Experienced players take aggro and deal with them
Inexperienced players avoid getting the aggro and other hazards

Avoid fighting in tight areas:
dodging under tree roots surrounded by cliff faces or in a 1.5 m² space is difficult.
Drag zombies out to a wider area (don’t get bitten while retreating).

💨 Don’t forget about the wind.


Difficulty: Hardest (🛑 Red)

• Complex terrain (huge drops, small work areas, difficult terrain to traverse, dead ends)
  
• Multiple threats all at once (spore clouds, spiders, beetles, spore bushes, etc.)
  
• More zombie spawn points
  
• The wind…

Group leaders should be experienced enough to handle zombies in tricky situations.

Blowgun 🔫 and Scout Cannon 🔒 can instantly neutralize zombies.

🌿 Vines are very useful in this part. Players can use vines:

• To bait zombies to fall off
  
• To reach higher places and make zombies waste time climbing up

In the early to mid section of this Middle Part.
Players can use height tricks to instantly eliminate zombies,
but the zombies usually won’t despawn.
They’ll simply fall 20–60 meters below.
If players often get stuck, zombies can close the distance and catch up.

Players should be more aware of their surroundings when dodging or baiting zombies,
because the terrain is more complex and full of hazards.
They’ll have a lot of threats to deal with all at once.

Players can avoid handling zombies in dangerous areas:

• Spore clouds
  
• Hanging tree roots above a huge drop
  
• Cliff faces
  
• Very small platforms (Roughly 1–2 scouts wide)
  
• Steep cliffs prone to strong wind
  
• Spiders & beetles
  
• Spore bushes & explosive bushes

If the current area is safe enough, then it's ok to stay.
Bad things can happen while detouring or pushing forward, but not always.

Skilled players can use hanging tree roots above a huge drop to shake zombies off. It’s very risky,
but Roots is only the second biome anyway. Replaying Shore isn’t that big of a deal.
Might be worth a try 🤷‍♂️

For the upper-Middle:
Terrain baiting tactics become more effective due to the increased height.
When zombies fall off, they might land in the early-Middle or Lower level.
They might despawn.
They might get stuck down there.
Or, at the very least, they’ll exhaust all their timer, allowing players to finish them off with ease.

⚠️ 💨 Be aware of the wind. Remember the last time it blew.
💨 🧍‍♂️ ↓ ↓ ↓ 💀

Here are some terrain examples from this Middle part:



ⁿᵃʰ ᶦ'ᵈ ʷᶦⁿ


Difficulty: Easy? (🟢 Green 🚩)

When players reach the top, a zombie may still be chasing them.
If it came from the middle section, it’s already exhausted its timer trying to catch up
just put it out of its misery.

Blowgun 🔫 and Scout Cannon 🔒 are still good,
Players can use them if they plan to move on to the next biomes very soon.

In case of a newly spawned zombie (yes, they can spawn at the very top, on the left or right edges),
there are a few options for dealing with them:

• Exhaust them to death, so much space to dodge, and almost no other threats.
  
• Use terrain tricks to remove them. At this height, zombies will fall far enough to trigger despawn logic.
  Unless teammates are still down there… then it’s their problem.

And yet again, the wind... be aware 💨

These notes are mostly based on my personal experiments and observations.

While I’ve done my best to make them accurate, Mistakes and differing perspectives still exist

If you spot anything that seems off, or have tips and insights to share, I’d love to hear from you!