Infection is a Deathmatch Challenge/Game Mode that officially became a part of the game on December 1st, 2023 (This means you can play Infection on any server/lobby), and received its formal introduction with a major update on January 1st, 2024. The Human Team wins by surviving against the zombies until the time ends, the Zombie Team wins by infecting all humans before the time ends. As the author of Infection, I will be going in-depth about the mechanics of this game mode throughout this guide. (Chinese Version / 中文版：https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3153700179) How to Enable this Game Mode The lobby needs to first have an active Deathmatch game running. Next, the Lobby Leader needs to open the map tab and activate Infection via Challenges. The game begins immediately when there are at least two players ready. The Zombies The Zombie Team wins by infecting all humans before time ends. HealthThe zombies have access to a health pool that is 20 times what their marines normally have. This means Sarge, with a base hp of 140, would have a maximum health of 2800, compared to, for example, Wildcat's 1600. Prime Zombies, on the other hand, have a max hp of 40 times their base hp instead of 20. Wildcat, for example, would have 3200 max hp as a Prime Zombie. AttacksThe zombies can attack humans in three ways: One, the zombies can use the chainsaws attached to their limbs to damage humans to immediately infect them, turning them into fellow zombies on the spot. This will be your main method of attack. Two, the zombies can also use physical melee attacks that do damage instead of infection. Humans without Last Stand activated will be insta-killed by this attack. This is difficult to pull off but can be an alternative option in certain situations. (Although cannot insta-kill, this attack can still cause significant damage against Last Stand users) Three, the zombies also have access to special hand grenades that regenerate over time. These grenades can create knockbacks, making them tools for disrupting the footholds of humans rather than killing as their damage isn't enough to effectively kill humans. Prime ZombiesPrime Zombies are stronger zombies that not only have access to an even larger health pool than a normal zombie, but also a shield that regenerates very shortly after the zombie stops taking damage. Prime Zombies' shield has a health pool of 10% of their own health. This means Wildcat's shield, for example, would have 320 max hp. This shield also cancels any excessive damage when it takes enough damage to break, meaning if, for example, you have 1000 hp left and the shield has 100, you would still have your 1000 hp when your shield breaks from a single 200 damage hit. Prime Zombies also have access to a tracker that displays the distance to the nearest human, which gives Prime Zombies somewhere to go and lead the "herd" of regular zombies when no immediate target is in sight. Furthermore, Prime Zombies' grenades also regenerate faster than normal zombies. When a round begins, a random player (or two if the lobby is large enough) will become Prime Zombies for the rest of the round. They are the source of the infection and this is the only way for them to spawn. Grenade JumpThe zombies' special hand grenades can not only launch humans, but also the thrower of the grenades themselves (cannot launch fellow zombies), making them an effective tool for grenade-jumping. Mastering this mechanic can create huge flanking potentials. Health RegenerationZombies can rapidly heal when out of danger. Taking any damage from humans will reset the delay timer before regen begins again. Medic zombies begin their regeneration process sooner. The Humans The Human Team wins by surviving against the zombies until the time ends. HealthThe humans have access to a health pool that is 10 times what their marines normally have. Although, this does not mean too much to the humans as their deaths from zombies are usually the results of instant infection (or occasionally insta-kills from zombies' physical melee damage if they do manage to score a hit). It is like this so humans are not as fragile against damage sources other than zombies' infection and melee damage. AttacksHumans' damage against zombies can create knockbacks, with its force directly correlates with the damage dealt (with a very few special exceptions). This will be humans' main method of self-defense. Additionally, zombies that are electro-stunned will receive doubled damage. Marine StatsMarine stats still make a great impact on the gameplay. For example, the most apparent impact is health, as the bonuses come from the marine stats can be hundreds of health point differences. The only exception is the speed bonus, as all marines have the exact same speed in this game mode, making Wildcat's speed bonus an invalid incentive for picking her over the others. Last Stand ModeWhen the lobby has more than 4 active players, the last humans standing have access to Last Stand mode. This mode can be activated via the melee key when the prompt shows up. In this mode, humans will lose all of their weapons (but not their offhand equipment) and will only have a chainsaw to use. Meanwhile, humans in this mode are immune to infection. Furthermore, humans that activate Last Stand will gain an amount of bonus maximum health that scales with the number of existing zombies in the match (marines' health bonus skill still makes an impact here), meaning the more zombies you are versing, the tankier you become. Last Stand users can also deal lethal melee damage that can insta-kill. Prime Zombies' shield, however, being able to nullify excessive damage when broken, would mean that a healthy Prime Zombie technically takes two hits to insta-kill: One hit insta-kills the shield, and another to insta-kill the Prime Zombie. The ChainsawsThe chainsaw deals much greater damage in this game mode, with enough DPS to kill any zombie in split seconds (but not enough to one-shot full health zombies). Although this isn't a stat exclusive to the Last Stand mode, it is much safer to make use of this in the Last Stand mode since humans are immune to infection in Last Stand mode. Special Damage BonusesThe following sources of damage receive a damage multiplier AFTER the knockback force is calculated. These are the mentioned "special exceptions" where damage is much higher than its corresponding knockback force. Rifle Grenades Hand Grenades Trip Mines Gas Grenades Mode Variant: Classic The Classic variant has only the following two differences from the base variant: Last Stand mode is disabled Prime Zombies no longer have shields In this variant, combat will be more straightforward between the two teams when the mentioned assist mechanics are no longer present. About Official DM Maps DM Desert: (Edited by Infection) Balanced, if the humans put efforts into working together. Recommended. DM Deima Surface Bridge: (Edited by Infection) A large map with a lot of excellent potential, but may be confusing for those that do not know the map well. Great for lobbies that are larger than usual. Recommended. DM Residential: Disabled: Currently unbalanced. Also consists of numerous exploits, with some of them being game-breaking. Will be unbanned again if ever fixed and edited in the future. DM Test Lab: A very straight forward map with no strong environmental advantages for holdouts, which leads to a very high demand for strong cooperation between humans in order for them to survive. About the Medal Infection has a dedicated medal to it, which also comes with a stat tracker. To acquire one, you need to win a match as a human or simply perform one infection (or kill) as a zombie. The match must consist of at least two players, meaning offline games cannot grant you the medal. In order for the stat tracker to record any data, you must have the medal equipped in a match with at least five players. The medal tracks the following: Rounds Survived:This refers to the total number of rounds you have survived as a human. Important note: A round you have survived as a human will not count if you activated Last Stand! Zombie Infections Spread:This refers to the total number of infections and kills you have scored as a zombie. Last Stand Kills:This refers to the total number of kills you have scored as a human using Last Stand. Suicide Command !suicide !s The function of this command is identical to kill binds: it kills you. This is simply there for those who do not have a kill bind to use but are stuck somewhere they do not wish to stay in. Useful for showing new players a quick way to respawn themselves without having to teach them the whole process of making a kill bind. Scoring Score points have zero impact on the gameplay. This is just here for anyone interested in how it works: A kill gains you a point as they always do. An infection gains the zombie a point. Humans that survived a round will gain a number of points that depends on the number of existing zombies. Thank You Thank you for reading this guide and thank you for playing Infection. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave comments or, preferably, contact me on the official ASRD Discord[discord.gg]. Have fun!