Brute (Charged)

"Yeah, now brutes can actually make a difference!"

―SunAnts and 70coolguy70

Walther's Notes - Restored

This note was found smudged under a dock box. It has since been partially rewritten through conjecture.

Addendum: Of all the events that unfolded so far, this is absolutely the worst - and most abrupt. Out of the blue, one of the fiery idiots went directly for this beast and erupted. For god knows why, it immediately became bloated of zest and glint, more menacing than before. Without having trouble, it already had killed half of everyone around me, spurting sparks with every move. They're smart, and they're helping each other. I was blessed to outrun that thing, even the heavily equipped got pulverised as their bullets barely scratched it.

Summary

For survivors, the Charged Brute is the second most dangerous zombie in the game, the first being the Skull Champion. Should you ever hear the audio cue, you should always be careful, as this zombie is the strongest and most unpredictable in the entire game (not including the Skull Champion). Do not be thrown off by its faster club attacks or high HP. Stay level-headed and focus it down. Try to take down an Elemental as soon as possible if you see one.

Combined with a good horde of zombies, this super-powered brute can easily take out an entire team if they're not prepared. If you're a zombie, work together to disrupt and take out survivors.

Background Story

As a group of survivors walked the old ruins of a backwater town, they had stumbled across a gigantic horde of zombies, ranging from normals to Brutes. After clearing out the entire wave of the dead, only a lone Elemental & Brute stood standing, although barely. However, despite their fellow shamblers now in pieces, the injured Elemental had an unnerving, almost maliciously intelligent grin spread wide across its flickering face. The Elemental proceeded to shove his hand into a damaged transformer and with a horrifying flash of light, the once burning, bright creature became enveloped with electricity. With it, the once nearly dead Brute became charged with an overzealous amount of searing power now coursing through its undead veins. The remaining survivors tried fighting it off, but with its superior strength, it quickly killed most of the group and those who did live fled into the unknown, carrying this devastating information that would soon haunt survivors all around.

It can be a horrifying reminder that the SANI virus can be as smart as survivors themselves. Perhaps, even smarter.

Controls

PC	Gamepad	Tablet	Description
			Charged Smash: The Brute smashes its club into the ground, creates a huge shockwave that shocks nearby survivors and deals 10 damage. Consumes no energy.
			Sonic Throw: The Brute throws its club that zips through the air, dealing over 200 damage to any survivor that is directly hit. Survivors who are caught in the explosion are dealt mid to high damage. The blast radius itself is larger than a regular throw. Consumes 30 energy.
			Block: The Brute emits a forcefield, which prevents damage from being taken while it is in effect. Movement is completely halted. 1 second cooldown between each block. Consumes 20 energy per second.

Tips

As a Survivor

You can prevent this mob from becoming charged by wiping out Elementals.
- Don't shoot an Elemental near a Brute unless you are sure you are able to kill it.
  - Weakening it without actually killing it will grant you a bigger problem on your hands unless the Elemental has used all of its stamina.
Getting out of the way of a Charged Brute is a good idea. Try to shoot it down from afar with your fellow survivors.
Some weapons are better at taking this down than others.
- The Minigun has to go through at least half a belt to kill one, even with headshots.
- The M249 can kill one with an entire mag as long as you land most of your shots.
- The SCAR-H and P90 can take down a Charged Brute fairly well, possibly even better than the M249 as you'll have more mobility to dodge attacks.
- A sniper such as the Barrett 50 Cal. and the Winchester may be a good idea to shoot at the Charged Brute from long range.
  - Aim for the head and pay attention as the Charged Brute may throw its club at you.
- The AK-47, Thompson, or FAMAS are good choices as long as you have enough ammo to back them up.
- On the other hand, using shotguns like the Spas-12 may be difficult due to the Charged Smash.
- The Ice Gun makes fighting this zombie quite easy. Fire the gun when necessary to disable the Charged Brute while other survivors kill it.
  - If you do not have the Ice Gun, Ice Bullets or the Ice Sledge work just as well.
    - If you do not have access to any of these, the Ice Staff and Frost Knuckles can still get the job done, but you might take a few hits if you are not careful.
      - You cannot reload Ice Bullets, so try to save them when you need to freeze a Charged Brute.
- The Boo Buster is also a good weapon to completely render a Charged Brute useless. If practised well, you can fling a Charged Brute into lethal water, across the map, into the void or into the crossfire of fellow survivors.
  - Be wary that you have to get in up close and personal if you plan to use the Ice Gun or the Boo Buster. Be ready to run if things do not go well in your favour.
- An RPG is a good choice to kill it from afar, but you have to be near an Ammo Station since it takes 4 rockets to kill it.
  - You could also use it to kill Elementals trying to charge the Brute up.
- In general, close-range weapons, like the Flamethrower or the Shotty 12, are not recommended.
Anything that forcibly attracts zombies, such as the Pipebomb and the Clockbomb, is recommended.
- Throwing one off the edge of a map or into water (when applicable) can work well.
Despite appearances, it can still be stunned. Use this to your advantage to keep it still for a while.
Keep a head out at all times. In big maps like Last Harvest, it's possible to not hear its roaring sound when it charges.
The Faraday Vest is effective for those who want to get up close and personal to a Charged Brute to freeze it as it nulls one of the Charged Brute's attacks, the Charged Smash.
- However, you still may be significantly damaged by a Charged Brute's Sonic Throw as you are not immune to it.
The Flakvest will reduce the damage taken from the explosion caused by the Sonic Throw, but like the Brute's Throw, it does not prevent you from getting flung into the air.
Explosive Bullets deal double damage in comparison to normal bullets, making them somewhat effective against Charged Brutes.

As a Zombie

The Sonic Throw is useful for any players trying to pull a fast one on you. The gravity doesn't kick in for a while and the club travels much faster, giving them less time to react.
The Charged Smash radius may be larger than you think. It both damages and stuns survivors at the same time, leaving them vulnerable for a few seconds.
- It does do less damage than a regular smash, but it does have an afterburn.
- If you only have to fight with one survivor, you can use your Charged Smash or another zombie to stun them, such as a Digger, before using your Sonic Throw to significantly damage them.
- Its radius even extends through walls and floors, allowing you to take out Survivors with ease if they try to avoid you by taking cover in buildings.
Prioritise who you want to kill. Killing a player that uses a Skorpion is outweighed by one who uses a Minigun.
Try not to be too stingy with your HP. You have a lot of it, so don't be afraid to take risks when travelling.
- This does not mean that you cannot die, however, so be sure to take cover as much as possible, otherwise the survivors will effortlessly dispatch you.
If you want, you can take some cover while you wait for an Elemental to charge you.
- An Electric Elemental's Recharge and Charge move cannot charge you, regardless of what the name says.
The Charged Smash replaces the trip effect with the zap effect, meaning you cannot trip a survivor with a Faraday Vest equipped.
- Use your Sonic Club to counter this.

Trivia

The Charged Brute makes an angry sound when charged.
- This sound is very similar to the sound a Tank from R2D 2014 makes when spawning.
This has the second largest HP pool for a zombie, after the Skull Champion.
Like the Brute, it has a one zombie limit across all servers apart from Survival Unlimited and some VIP Servers.
In v1.3.8, a kill assist reward for assisting a brute kill was added.
- This only rewards an assist kill if you damaged the Charged Brute sufficiently enough, not to anyone who damaged it before it was charged.