Warzone Zombie Royale guide - best loadout, tips, and tricks

Call of Duty: Warzone’s Zombie Royale is absolute mayhem. I love it. Dropping into Verdansk armed with nothing and ending up with a horde of zombies bearing down on you like ravenous dogs is a terrifying thrill. I’d actually say the feeling of terror I’m always in whilst playing Zombie Royale is an ideal horror experience. Aside from the unfortunate supply box jumpscares, the feeling of constant insecurity thanks to the fact that literally anything can happen and the chaos can always claim you gives me a truly immersive, creeping horror experience. I’m scared to move, I’m terrified of going outside, I’m constantly twitching, checking my six just to make sure a zombie isn’t getting the jump on me. It’s bloody brilliant, and I’ve been on it almost constantly since launch. With that in mind, here are some Zombie Royale tips and tricks to help you not die.

• Zombie Royale tips and tricks
• Best Zombie Royale loadout

Zombie Royale tips and tricks

After playing a whole load of Warzone’s Zombie Royale since its launch, I’m gutted it won’t be here to stay after the spooky season. You might as well make the most of it for the time being though, so here are a few pointers to consider when playing Zombie Royale.

• Zombies can’t hit other zombies, even if they’re on the enemy team. Keep this in mind when protecting your friendly humans, as they’ll have to dispatch zombies themselves.
• Despite their thirst for brains, zombies take extra headshot damage, so get that MP5 and take them down quickly.
• As a zombie, you don’t have to get any actual kills. If you bounce around and find two antiviral syringes from dead bodies other players have killed, you can respawn as a human without any bloodshed.
• The initial circle crams 150 people into a much smaller amount of space, so loot quickly as the action will start immediately.
• It takes three hits for a zombie to down a human.
• Zombies deal damage on health, not armour, so if you’re a human getting swamped by zombies, armouring up won’t help you.
• There’s no gulag here - you respawn immediately as a zombie and can only be fully eliminated once you’re killed as a zombie.
• Be careful - Trick or Treat supply boxes have the potential to jumpscare you!
• You can see the number of zombies remaining in the top right side of the screen. It’s the number by the cracked skull icon to the left of the squads remaining icon.
• When you die as a human, you can go back to your own body and take the antiviral syringe if another zombie hasn’t taken it already.
• When you respawn from being a zombie you’ll have the same gear you died with (minus armour), but your dead body will also have the same gear on there, so land there to double up on ammo if needed.
• Zombies can be seen on heartbeat sensors despite being zombies and thus having no heartbeats. They are also visible on UAVs.
• Speaking of UAVs, zombies have a constant radar going on, so you’re always going to be visible to them. They can also see your footprints super brightly.
• In my experience, killing zombies drops absolutely loads of gear - you can get your entire squad back in the game with the money gained from a couple undead kills.
• In the final circle, focus on killing human players. The last human standing wins, regardless of how many zombies there are.

Best Zombie Royale loadout

Because Zombie Royale takes place in the dead of night, I’m prescribing you with a loadout that includes thermal scopes and zombie-busting close range weaponry. With a thermal sniper, you’ll be able to get those sick cross-map snipes and pick jumping zombies out of the sky, whilst a few headshots with the MP5 will stop the undead from clawing your face off. Here’s the best loadout for Zombie Royale.

Primary Weapon - HDR

• Muzzle - Monolithic Suppressor
• Barrel - 26.9” HDR Pro
• Laser - Tac Laser
• Optic - Thermal Dual Power Scope
• Stock - FTAC Stalker-Scout

Secondary Weapon - MP5

• Barrel - Subsonic Integral Suppressor
• Stock - FSS Close Quarters Stock
• Underbarrel - Ranger Foregrip
• Ammunition - 45 Round Mags
• Rear Grip - Stippled Grip Tape

Perks

• Cold Blooded
• Overkill
• Amped

Equipment

• Lethal - Claymore
• Tactical - Heartbeat Sensor

So, why is this the go-to loadout for Zombie Royale? Well, firstly it’s an Overkill class, meaning you get double the primary weapons. If you can get two loadouts in a match though, definitely switch over to a class with Ghost and keep your weapons - staying off the radar is extremely important.

Having thermal sights on your sniper will help you to no end though, as in the night time it’s very hard to spot tangoes with normal sights. This is why we use the Cold Blooded perk too - it’s great for staying out of sight of enemies with the same bright idea. Amped lets you switch to and from your HDR nice and quickly too, and with it you should be able to hit some nice cross-map shots. The HDR offers one-shot headshots (on both humans and zombies), so at mid- to long-range you’ll be all good.

The MP5 is my favourite close-ranged weapon for Zombie Royale because it absolutely shreds baddies who get in your face. Even at mid-ranges it deals solid damage, and you can follow up a body shot with your HDR by switching to the MP5 and finishing the enemy off. I use extended mags for when multiple enemies show up at once, and both weapons are silenced in an effort to stay off the enemy radar.

Finally, the Claymore makes an appearance, although it’s just as valid to bring out a Proximity Mine. These lethals are great for when baddies sneak up on you, which happens all the bloomin’ time in Zombie Royale what with the zombies’ ludicrous jump distance. If you’re hunkering down somewhere, it’s helpful to cover your back with an explosive and make sure you can stay focused on the task ahead.

That’s all for our Zombie Royale guide! If you’re feeling spooky, check out how to go Trick or Treating in Warzone, and if you fancy a standard sesh in Verdansk then have a look at the best SP-R 208 loadout, Season 6’s Marksman Rifle.