Back 4 Blood: Insane melee build makes you a drug berserk

 A zombie shooter as a pure melee game? That works in Back 4 Blood - even if it makes you look like you have a speedhack or are on drugs.

Back 4 Blood will not be released until October 12th, but some players are already romping through the Early Access in the zombie shooter and trying out the different systems. Especially the deck system with its numerous cards allows a lot of creativity and sometimes creates pretty crazy excesses for wacky playing styles. A deck from the Reddit user "jochinhs" is doing the rounds - because in it he becomes a true melee berserker who looks like he's using a speed hack.

What are decks? Decks and the cards associated with them are, so to speak, the individualization in Back 4 Blood. Each card grants its own bonus and ensures that you gradually get stronger as the levels progress. The decks can be freely adapted and individualized, so that a lot of different combinations are possible. One player can focus on healing, for example, while another shoots a shotgun particularly well - or goes completely crazy in close combat.

What kind of deck is it about? The deck consists of the following cards, all of which improve melee combat:

• Meth Head 
• Run Like Hell 
• Adrenaline Fueled
• Mean Drunk 
• Face Your Fears
• Brazen
• Breakout
• Battle Lust
• Berserker 
• Fresh Bandage 
• Evasive Action
• Slugger
• Fleet of Foot
• Marathon runner
• Body Armor 

Note that the deck is not yet fully optimized. After all, not all players have unlocked all cards yet.

Why does it work so well? Many of the cards in this deck build on each other and effectively reinforce each other. High synergies ensure that a constant stream of zombies is not a threat, but also keeps the character permanently alive.

The most important effects are an increase in melee damage and an extreme increase in melee speed. This even continues to stack up the more zombies approach and are defeated. Combined with massive self-healing and even temporary life points whenever a zombie dies nearby, it can be used to beat almost any horde to a lump. At the same time, melee attacks use less stamina and every kill regenerates part of the stamina - so the chopping and shredding can go on forever, as long as zombies come running and you don't hit the void too often.

Once the bonuses are stacked, even special zombies topple over with a few blows - the tallboy looks pretty stupid when he is cut off with a machete.

In the video shown here, by the way, jochinhs did not yet have the self-healing through "face your fear" and "lust for battle" - otherwise he would have had more life at the end of the video than at the beginning:

 

However, the deck does not have the ability to sprint, but the normal movement speed is drastically increased. At the same time, the character is inexperienced in handling most firearms. So more than one person shouldn't play such a deck in a team - unless you want to go out as an absolute "meme troop".

Incidentally, the deck can also be played solidly on the highest difficulty level "Nightmare", but here you should ideally have a character with healing abilities in the neck - because even normal infected people can do well here. Not to mention the special zombies.

Have you tried any interesting builds in Back 4 Blood? Or have you already planned which cards you will use to fight the zombies?