Proving that day one Xbox Game Pass releases actually do well for a game’s popularity and sales overall, Back 4 Blood – has maintained an admirable amount of hype since its release back at the start of October 2021. Yes, while this is obviously a spiritual successor to the Left 4 Dead franchise, B4B is ready to stand on its own, and apparently has a lot more content on the way.
That said, it’s not like Back 4 Blood is an “easy” game, in any sense of the word. True to its inspiration, the Left 4 Dead games, B4B is difficult, and a lot of higher-level gameplay revolves around learning level layouts and taking advantage of the complex game systems. So, to help with that, here are all the most awesome mechanics and tricks players in the community might not know they could even do.
9 You Can Take Out The Birds
Birds are the most common “environmental hazard” in Back 4 Blood, and they function as a way of summoning the horde, similar to alarm doors, Reeker explosions, and so on. If these avian annoyances get spooked, they all fly off screaming, calling in a big horde of Ridden behind them. The most common tactic to avoid this is just steering clear of the Birds altogether, but, luckily, there are some more direct methods of taking care of them. There are two ways to get rid of birds in a flash, and that is:
If done correctly, players can chug right through areas heavily infested with Birds, something that would usually take them two to three times longer.
8 Use Bots To Easily Find Copper
Let’s not get started on the actual AI of the Bots in B4B, as it leaves a lot to be desired, but, they can be pretty helpful from time to time. Obviously, when missing someone to fill the lobby, a Bot works as a relatively reliable revive machine in a pinch. But, not many players know of this secondary service that Bots provide, and it’s incredibly helpful.
Back 4 Blood isn’t quite as fast-paced as Left 4 Dead, it’s close, but B4B requires a lot more scrounging. In particular, Copper is a vital resource for purchasing new weapons, upgrades, and attachments between Acts. But, if a team intentionally has a Bot fill one of their slots, that Bot will ping any piles of Copper they even come close to, which is a big timesaver.
7 Grind Supply Points In Solo
So, one of the biggest faults in Back 4 Blood, unequivocally, is the fact that people who love to grind games out solo are sort of out-of-luck. In the solo campaign, players gain almost nothing, and they especially don’t get any Supply Points.
Thankfully, there are some ways around this while players wait for it to officially get fixed, though getting around it sort of means being annoying to others in the matchmaking system, so use it sparingly, if at all. There are three main methods:
6 Miss Left 4 Dead? Use These Cards
While it’s sort of tedious how often this game is compared side by side with Left 4 Dead 2, it is sort of warranted considering this is the same team that made both franchises (Turtle Rock Studios). That said, for those who like B4B but wish it “felt” a bit more like L4D, here are some cards that basically make that a reality:
5 Maximize Money Grubbing
Anyone who has played Back 4 Blood for more than a few hours quickly learns that the Team Upgrades in the shop at the start of each Act are tantamount to a successful run. But, to buy those, players need Copper, and to get tons of Copper, they need to run the absurdly useful “Money Grubbers” Card.
But, how many people knew that this card actually stacks if equipped by multiple people in the same Lobby? Frankly, with four people running it, there’s almost too much Copper to even spend without being wasteful.
4 Completely Avoid The “Hag” Special Ridden
Next up is a neat little trick to get around Hags, one of the more annoying Special Ridden in the game, as they can insta-kill teammates by eating them whole and burrowing away. They take way too much ammo to kill and usually get away with eating a teammate nine times out of ten. Thankfully, there is an aspect of this Ridden that most players don’t know, even though it’s sort of obvious when looking at the Hag’s “face” and that’s the fact they are literally blind.
They can’t see and use audio cues only to find Cleaners, randomly occurring voice lines included. So, if a Hag is nearby, sneak around while crouched, try not to make any noise, and pray that your Cleaner doesn’t start spouting off some sarcastic quip.
3 Have The Ridden Open Doors For You
The Alarmed Doors in Back 4 Blood are a huge pain in the butt, especially during the more chaotic parts of a run where players are just trying to gain as much ground as possible while running away from multiple Crushers, Bruisers, and Tallboys the game likes to spawn all at once. Once these doors are shot, melee’d, or opened, their alarm goes off drawing a ton of Ridden to the noise. Thankfully, there are a few ways to get around this:
2 Kill Hazards & Special Ridden Through Walls
Speaking of Karlee, how many players actually appreciate how useful her passive ability is? With it, Karlee can see all hazards through walls, though the range of this “x-ray vision” is relatively small. But, in certain areas, this ability is straight-up overpowered.
In particular, in the corn/wheat fields, the hedge maze, and some houses with thin wooden walls, Karlee can shoot at enemies from the other side with no fear of repercussions. And, if a player is running some of the better bullet penetration cards out there, this is even easier to pull off.
1 Force Bots To Heal Themselves
On any difficult past Recruit, it’s actually sort of important to keep the Bots alive, if there are any. But, once again, the AI in Back 4 Blood isn’t great, though it does show signs of improving. And, a primary complaint was that the Bots are often too busy running into walls or staring into space to heal themselves.
Luckily, if players ping the red medicine cabinets they sometimes find on walls, Bots will run up and use it to heal themselves. Basically, just keep spamming ping on these things until all the airheaded Bots are all topped off.
Back 4 Blood is available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
