Defeating State Of Decay 2 Plague Walls

I had a chat with my supervising director before the holidays, where he asked me what I will be doing over the holidays. I gave the usual response of Sleep™. He said I was lying because knowing me, I would be spending my time in front of code and learning a new framework. Well guess what? We were both wrong. Instead, I spent the last few weeks completing State of Decay 2's Heartland campaign. In particular, taking down the plague walls solo.

And here's how I did it.

Loadout

We will not need anything special to take down the walls. No Scentblock, no energy drinks, no medkits, not even plague cures. All we need is a bunch of plague busters (bring 10 per plague wall), and a lot of incendiaries (e.g. thermite, molotov, willie petes, etc. whichever is easier to obtain). Fill your vehicle cargo with them even. Optional but recommended is a pack of fire crackers or any other tossable distraction in case we need to run away.

We do not really need a gun for the job. But in the event that we run out of incendiaries and have to shoot the plague wall, or deal with a stray freak (juggernaut or feral), or just feel the sudden itch to just shoot zombies unnecessarily, a silenced semi-auto rifle that shoots a 7.62 round is recommended (e.g. AK-47). Bring a couple of mags for peace of mind.

Find a truck

Any truck will do, even one that is not upgraded. That means either a Rhames V or Military Truck, the two most common trucks in game. There are three reasons for getting a truck. First, they are obviously beefier than the other vehicles. Second, it has a bigger roof area compared to other vehicles which means we are less likely to fall off when we strafe the wrong way. And third, they have a lot of storage to carry our spoils.

Cordon off the area

Free up outpost slots to make a safe zone around the plague wall area. One reason is to have nearby outposts to run to, recover, and restock. The other reason is to prevent outside zombies from spawning nearby, juggernauts and ferals in particular. Because once we start attacking the plague wall, the noise from our explosives and Screamers will attract zombies from outside. That is... if there is any. See what I mean?

First plague wall

The first plague wall is the easiest since it is just outside. To take down the first plague wall safely, position the truck in front, making sure that it is ready to drive away should we need to do a quick getaway. Then just climb up the truck to get to higher ground away from outside zombies, and start lobbing explosives at the plague wall.

Second plague wall

This time, we will not have the safety of our truck. However, near the second plague wall is a communications container where we can perch safely. It can easily be found by looking for the two solar panels sitting on top of it. To get up there, go around and scale the door found behind the pile of zombie meat. From there, we have a safe and direct sight of the second plague wall.

Third plague wall

The third plague wall is deeper into the compound and is much more dangerous because of the lack of high ground and its distance to the exit. However, we can easily lob explosives from outside the compound. Simply head over to the north outside of the compound and start lobbing explosives from there. We will need to climb the broken orange truck to stay away from outside zombies while doing all this.

Fourth plague wall

The fourth and final wall is pretty much the same as the third wall. But since the fourth plague wall is farther from the wall compared to the third, we will need to get closer to get the health bars. At the same time, we need enough overhead clearance to lob explosives, and high ground to be safe from outside zombies. To do this, park the truck near the awning in front of Iron Donkey, climb up the truck, then climb up the awning from the truck. Once up there, start lobbing explosives into the compound.

Conclusion

During my first playthrough, my community lost a survivor because I underestimated the horde the plague wall summons. The first two plague walls made it look so easy, the game set me up to fail on the third. This drove me to put some more thought on how I would approach this problem, and eventually found a way to cheese my way to victory. A win is a win.

So there you have it, that is how I defeated all four plague walls solo in State of Decay 2. Hopefully this will help another solo player complete this campaign and sleep in peace.