Zurganids

Welcome to Zurganids
''Fresh from the brood and filled with curiosity. You shall find out everything you need to know here. Make the Hive Proud.''

Alternative and Forum Version here

The Basics
''We assume you know how the Lobby works so we shall get straight to the point. Once you spawn in, you will be inside a Brood Chamber and there shall be this HUD to the top-left of your screen ingame.''



''Click on one of these. It shall bring up a menu to select Bodies from like Predator, Swarm and such. Choose one of them that you like. We recommend Resin or Acidic due to their ease of use.''



''Never click Evolve on everything once you get your body. Every point must be spend wisely. Now to explain what each of the 4 Core Stats do.''


 * Claws increase your melee damage and make you more red in color.
 * Acid makes you digest faster and able to melt stronger objects and makes certain abilities stronger
 * Resin makes you grow and get health back much quicker.
 * Exoskeleton increases health and mass, but decreases speed.

''While you were busy reading this, you been growing inside the Chamber. Growth starts out at 0/20, and you get 5 points each tick, meaning it will take 4 ticks or seconds to grow. Each purchase that is NOT Resin, be it either Core Stat or Ability will increase Max Resin Needed by 5, meaning 0/25. Each Resin Purchase however increases the Point Gain by 1, meaning 6 points each tick. So for a fairly evolved Zurganid, 0/95 and 10 Points each tick can be fairly normal.''

''There is however, unfortunately a soft-lock on bodies. While you may have a All-Acidic hive if you wish, at 6/11/16/21 intervals, your Point Gain is decreased by 2 every time. A hive of 21 Acidic Bodies even with Max Resin will only grow at 7 Points each tick (Unknown if there is a minimum to prevent Negative Growth)''

''If you dislike your choice of body or you accidentally picked one you did not want, you may purchase Reset Xeno from Resin. This will consume 1 Evolution needed and remove it from you permanently. The only thing that will not reset is if you pick Queen's Crest.''

''Many Abilities and Boosts are hidden until you purchase something beforehand. For Example, Claws need to be purchased once to be able to unlock pounce, or Resin needs to be purchased once to be able to go Queen and etc. CARE Menu down below details the choices and abilities and at which point you acquire them.''

''Now, once you have spend your very few Evo points and build your own Body, you most likely have grown and need to get out. Look to the left of your HUD like you would as a Merc, and you will spot 2 abilities. "Teleport" and "Exit". "Exit" will make you get out of the Brood itself, but since you are in the main off-map Brood, that's not what you want so get back in. "Teleport" however, will bring up a menu and a list of various anchors, brood and spores. Teleport to one of them and begin your hunt. Either begin planting Spores at Power Breakers (Those red+orange things on walls) if you are Resin OR devour Monkeys and Corpses to gain Evolution points. Do note that if there is a Acidic Body nearby or a Digester and you are not one, drop the body next to them instead. Acid Zurganids devour things much faster, and you want to get points ASAP. Do not go out and fighting with a body inside you either, or it will drop out if you die. You can tell in chat when you have devoured something as it will say so.''

''While wandering around you will see Mindless Hunters, Spitters and etc. Those are your meatshields that a certain Body can spam out. They are quite useful as a distraction or tanking a few shots and distract Mercs attention from you. Meanwhile you may have noticed that your "experience" has granted a extra point when evolution happens. Starting Zurganids and whatnot each 2-3 Evolution Acquirement will get a extra point due to how long they stayed. Starting Zurganid might have 20 Points while a Zurganid who joins later on will maybe have 15 or less.''

''As a Zurganid, Queen or not, you always respawn when you die. However even if you do, you almost always drop Cores unless you are a Spore/"Baneling" Zurganid. Mindless and such will drop a 1-point core 25% of the time, while you and other Zurganids and some buildings drop 2-point Cores 100% of the time, unless Spore as stated beforehand. Queen meanwhile along with the Brood Chamber drop 4-point Core, the most valuable. Manage your deaths carefully or prevent Mercs from obtaining Cores to prevent feeding them too hard.''

''Zurganids have a advantage in speed over Mercs and range in Melee. They can attack from further away and also easily escape most encounters. Abuse this as much as possible. They also can click on a wall, a tree or such that has a "Roof" level to begin climbing up, although be wary that Mercs can still look up and shoot at you''

''By now you must be wondering how the hell to win this. We recommend you check Game Mechanics and Gamemode for explanations. But in a Nutshell, you need to gain enough Progression of Objectives to be able to board Saltshaker, destroy its IPS before it jumps away or destroys you. Pretty simple.''

Predator Body

 * A Hit-And-Run Body at its fullest. Focuses Primarily on Claws and Exoskeleton/Resin.
 * Your special ability is Pounce. A short-ranged and quick leap. Whoever you hit directly is stunned for 2 seconds or so and is free to be punished.
 * Hunt down Loners. You excel at killing small squads or lone people with your stuns and damage.
 * Exo will allow you to take more bullets and unlocks a boost to pounce if you go 5 Exo (Essentially you become Large) which makes the stun longer.
 * Killing a Veteran is your Priority. If he gets digested, the Hive unlocks several heavily useful boosts and abilities, you included, that makes your pounce MUCH Stronger.
 * Avoid Direct Fights at all costs. Even with High Exo you die very quickly to a Merc Push, wait for them to spread out and a good opportunity to strike at their weakest.
 * Move and Fight! Never stand still, especially when fighting a Melee Merc. A quick and always moving Predator is much more dangerous than one that simply dashes at his enemies.

Swarm Body

 * A Frontline Body. You are the answer to high-power single-shot weapons that aren't ENGULFING or AOE. Focuses Primary on Exoskeleton and Claws.
 * Your special ability is that you are a army of Multiple Zurganids in One. Each one has its own health that adds up in total. A high-power weapon like a Sniper will only hit one of such bodies, and won't kill you instantly unlike other squisher Zurganids.
 * Your special ability however also gives you a weakness. Weapons such as the Flamethrower, Explosives or any other weapon that hits in a AOE or ENGULFING will hit ALL your bodies, depleting your health way much faster than others.
 * Exoskeleton increases health of your bodies AND at certain points give more. You will have around 7-8 by the Exo 10. This makes you easily the second tankiest Zurganid, only surpassed by a Demolisher.
 * You have no true priorities on killing anyone, but killing a Medic for Pheromones would be a good bet, as you will boost Zurganids nearby, yourself included.
 * You may be durable, but Direct Fights are STILL a bad idea. Assist Predators, Acidic/Spitters and alike with much smaller separated groups.

Acidic Body

 * A Ranged Body. You are the Hive's resource gatherer and ranged backup. Your tougher against PIERCING and IMPACT but SLASHING like Swords do a number on you. Focuses Primarily on Acid and Resin/Exoskeleton.
 * Your special ability is that unlike other bodies, you may upgrade your acid spit even further to spit faster and hit harder and you gain other abilities like long-ranged gas and acid spray.
 * Unless someone has put a Digester, you will be the one consuming most Corpses, as upgrading Acid also upgrades your other abilities like Acid Spray to do even more damage.
 * Stay away from most mercs and use cover and other hiding spots. Bait Mercs if needed as you glow in Darkness.
 * You have no priorities on killing a specific merc for yourself, but a dead Veteran will make Predators very dangerous and Medic will let Zurganids give off boosts to their comrades.
 * Avoid Melee Mercs as much as possible. They WILL kill you if they get close enough, but if you can keep your distance, they won't be able to do much because they can't get close enough.

Spore Body

 * The Suicider. Your job is to charge into the enemy at their weakest as well as deny area, being both good on offensive and defensive. Focuses Primarily on Acid and Resin/Exoskeleton.
 * Your special ability is that unlike other Zurganids, your Core only has a chance to drop 25% of the time. Meaning that you can be more careless with your life than others in comparison. You also leave a gas cloud that scales with your ACID level.
 * This Body can be easily perplexing and hard to play. Mindless charging will not let you get close enough most of the time to do any significant damage and it can be difficult to setup a good position. You need patience and knowledge of the map.
 * As said before, WAIT. A bad Spore always charges off and achieves nothing as it gets shot to death from afar. A good Spore waits for a perfect opportunity to do the most Damage.
 * Flank if needed. Climb ontop of buildings and drop down in the middle of mercs. The more Medical Supplies they have to use, the better. Your Cloud stays for a while even after death.
 * Your ACID level is especially important. The more you have, the more your Cloud will do. A Acid 10 Cloud will achieve tremendous results if 15 Mercs get hit by it than a Acid 5 Cloud.
 * Your Defensive and Offensive potential are great if you coordinate with the Hive. If mercs are pushing in, your cloud can stop their push, or if they start retreating, flank and die infront of them as they run, either having to wait out your cloud or forced to push through it and endure damage.
 * You especially cause problems for Melee Mercs, as your damage does not get blocked by their weapons or armor. You have no priorities on who to eat but getting someone like a Veteran is always a benefit to the entire hive.

Resin Body

 * The Builder and Backup. Your role is to spread Resin across this entire world and provide support to your fellow Zurganids, upclose or from afar. Focuses Primarily on Resin and Exoskeleton/Nothing Else.
 * You build Much, MUCH Faster than any other Zurganid can ever hope to. You also have unique structures that you can place to provide various benefits, such as the Digester.
 * If nobody else has, Grab Acid Melt and Advanced Resin Manipulation. Then evolve a Digester and place it somewhere next to the primary Brood. Countless of Zurganids will thank you for this, as Digester serves like a Acid 7-8 in terms of eating bodies and anyone can use it by just placing corpses next to it.
 * Place Spores ASAP before Mercs land. They serve as a early game boosters and can bring free points that can make a difference later on. You can also teleport to them, letting Zurganids attack from multiple places.
 * If you get Exo 5 and become large, and then get Resin 5, you can get special abilities that make you into a "Carrier". You can create Facehuggers, Mindless Eggs and Personal Guard. Spam the hell out of these if you do and use them as meatshields for every other Zurganid.
 * Use your Resin Doors! They are rather durable once grown and Zurganids can freely pass through them, and they have around 90% of PIERCING armor, which is what Guns tend to use. Combined with a Coordinated Hive, they can make a retreat easy or help stop a push in a fight.
 * If someone manages to get a Engineer, your structures become even more durable and take less time to grow. If someone gets a Crewman you become faster. But if someone gets a Veteran, then your Construction Time becomes incredibly low, making life true hell for Mercs in a defended hive.

Serpentine Body

 * The Flier and Swimmer of Sky and Sea. Your role is to win the Air Battle against Beta Squad and give support to your comrades down below. Focuses Primarily on Claws and Resin/Acid
 * You are capable of accessing the other 2 height levels, that being "Roof" and "Sky". On "Ground" you are rather slow, easily outran by almost everything, but on "Roof" and "Sky" you are THE FASTEST Zurganid in the game.
 * While Fighting Beta, you are both rather squishy. They lack good Armor to protect against your Claws while they have Guns. But you are still much faster than them. It will take some practice, but you can easily outmaneuver them with proper play and end them.
 * You have a ability called "Dive". It let's you pounce onto things that are on down below, even if you are up in the "Sky". It quite a good ability that stuns for a fair bit and can be done safely until the right moment.
 * If you manage to reach Acid 6 you can buy a Acid Bomb for yourself. It will let give you another way to support the Ground besides the Dive option. If you manage it, you can time your Dive and Acid Bomb hits for maximum damage.
 * Try killing Engineers and Medics first, while leaving Veterans alone. Veterans are very tough and require more than one Zurganid to take down, while Engis and Medics provide useful buffs when devoured, and even if not, them not being there makes it much easier to fight Mercs.

Armored Body

 * The Mighty Rolling Donut. Your role is to roll at Barricades and Mercs at EXTREME SPEEDS. Other Zurganids can also fit inside you as if you were a APC. Focuses Primarily on Exoskeleton and Resin/Claws
 * Your special ability is that if you go in one direction constantly, you curl up and begin rolling. The longer you do this, the more speed and damage you accumulate. You are also INCREDIBLY Tough, easily tanking Bullets and even SLASHING weapons take a while to kill you, only being vulnerable to IMPACT.
 * Be Prepared to be hit a lot. You are much bigger than other Zurganids and can easily get stuck in some spots, and bullets are likely to hit you first because of this size.
 * Despite your powerful durability, you are slow as hell when you aren't charging and your claw damage is nerfed and pathetic until you upgrade it quite a lot to become dangerous again.
 * Support others with your powerful rolling. It stuns regardless of how much charge it has built up, making it very useful for taking out Veterans or a small squad. A powerful fully charged up Charge can nearly kill a squad of atleast 5 people and stun them for easy kills.
 * Tonks and Small Squads will be your primary target most of the time. You can do quite a good amount of damage to them if you hit and they have to waste a lot of bullets to kill you. Since Tonks can't reload on the ground and need to go up, this can make a big difference if they retreat to reload.

Queen

 * Queen is not exactly a body. It is a free upgrade you can pick up once you have Resin 1, and there can be only one Queen. Its a fairly important role and should not be picked by a newbie. Queen can still be any other body.
 * Once you pick Queen you will be able to place Brood and use a ability called Screech as well as make Orders and Message the Hive.
 * Screech is a powerful ability that can stun Mercs in range. As the range from Merc to Queen increases, the stun also decreases. A merc 5 tiles away vs Merc 1 tile away is going to be stunned for way less longer than the closer Merc.
 * Placing the Brood is VERY Important, and where indeed. A Brood in the middle of nowhere is likely to die and give Mercs a ton of cores. A Brood positioned in a secure position filled with natural chokepoints will survive much longer.
 * Die as little as possible. As a Queen you drop 4-point Cores, which can really speed up Merc progress if you die too often and don't deny the Cores.

CARE Menu
NOTE: Remember that each level in Core Stats does increase something like your Damage if Claws, Health if Exoskeleton and etc.

CLAWS
''Swift and Deadly. Shine brighter than Blood. At Claws 10, your claws are very powerful, able to rip unarmored people to pieces in a few swings and even give Veterans some trouble.''

ACID
''Endless Spam. Mercs just walked into a hallway. They are all now fucking dead. At Acid 10, you can melt corpses VERY quickly, almost as soon as you consume them, your Acid Spray, Acid Bomb and such are also at their maximum power, doing A LOT of damage.''

RESIN
''Swarming and Building. At Resin 10, you are likely to respawn VERY quickly and be able to build pmuch anything. Enjoy watching Mercs go from Nexus to Caves as they try to bash down ALL the doors you just placed.''

EXOSKELETON
''Durable and Large. At EXO 10 you are rather tough, able to absorb a lot of bullets and likely to be able to solo 2-3 Mercs with ease. Have fun seeing that one poor Merc with a SMG use all of his ammo on you as you casually rip him to pieces.''