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Main Characters
Sheriff Bill
A sheriff with a bleak outlook on life. Bill is the protagonist of Dead Ahead, starring in the game's story cutscenes. In gameplay, he serves as the last line of defense, shooting anyone that gets too close to the bus. And for 100 Rage points, he can use his LMG to light up the entire battlefield, shredding most enemies.
Playable Units
Fighters
Melee units with a cheap Courage cost. they’re versatile and expendable, lacking in health and resistances in favor of being quicker and more agile.
- Cannon Fodder: Usually their main role before they can reach the barrier.
- Subverted by Lionheart, who can take the role of a tank.
- Fragile Speedster: They’re usually the fastest units you can play in the game, but with low health.
- Subverted by Lionheart, again, who seems like he was put into the wrong class of units, fitting more as a Damager/Heavyweight hybrid. Being slow, but sturdy and with resistances.
- Glass Cannon: Despite being cannon fodder, they deal out a very good amount of damage.
Redneck
A shirtless country guy with a shovel. Redneck is the first unit unlocked in the game.Redneck’s level 13 special ability grants him 3 extra points of running speed.
- Starter Equipment: The first unit unlocked in the game.
- Improvised Weapon: Uses a shovel to bash enemies.
Mechanic
A mechanic who starts his fight by rushing into battle with a sledgehammer. After using it to bash the first enemy he encounters with a critical hit, he switches to a normal wrench attack.- Begin with a Finisher: His opening sledgehammer attack deals 3x his normal damage.
- Chain Lethality Enabler: Mechanic’s level 13 special ability allows him to reuse his opening sledgehammer attack as long as he kills his target with it, allowing him to go on massive chain kill sprees.
- Simple, yet Awesome: Mechanic is a standard Fighter who uses his strongest attack first. Coming out of the bus with his sledgehammer, he'll slam it into the first enemy he encounters and deal 3 times his normal damage before switching to his wrench. This opening attack is effective enough to deal with some powerful threats in one hit, or at least take out a massive chunk of their health. It gets better with his special ability, which lets Mechanic keep the sledgehammer if he gets a kill with it, allowing him to chain kill after kill with high damage as long as he doesn't miss and as long as the target doesn't have too much health.
Jailer
A prison guard who survived the disaster at the nearby prison. Armed with a stun baton that stuns enemies on critical hit.- Crutch Character / Overshadowed by Awesome: Being the starter pack unit, this is a pretty fitting role for him to have. He can make the early game a breeze, but afterwards, could be considered pay-2-lose as he’s a very redundant Fighter. Amplified by the existence of Rogue, who is his direct upgrade in every way. Rogue has the highest base attack in the game, is part of better team powers, and is free compared to Jailer costing 5$ in real money, stopping Jailer from ever being a formidable force, or even being seen outside the early game.
Glenn
A pizza delivery boy armed with a kitchen knife. Has the unique ability to come back to life after death.Glenn’s level 13 special ability grants him a second self-revive.
- Expy: He's an obviously direct one of Glenn from The Walking Dead comics and TV show. Even his flavor text, being "He was always hard to kill." directly makes fun of how many times Glenn has cheated near death in both of The Walking Dead series'. This is even integrated into gameplay, with his self-revive ability after dying.
- Magikarp Power: Glenn is quite a weak unit on his own. He's essentially a spam unit who costs 10 more Courage than the actual spam units, and even though he has higher stats than Redneck, Mechanic, and Rodriguez, that still isn't enough to save him. However, to compensate for him normally not being part of any team powers, he was given 3 skins. One for Military, one for Police, and one for Northerners. And he can synergize pretty well with each of them, giving him a resurgence in use. Glenn and Lester (with special ability unlocked) activating Northerners 2/2 allows the two of them to blast through hordes. Glenn can try to activate Military 3/3 twice, or even 3 times, meaning he has multiple chances of spawning a free SpecOps. And he can activate the powerful Police 5/5 of giving every other police member on the battlefield the Fury buff (permanent 100% damage increase) when a police member dies, multiple times by himself.
Private Rodriguez
An infantryman from the Navy, whose fighting ability has helped him survive. Armed with a knife, he punches, stabs, and kicks enemies back.Rodriguez’s level 13 special ability lets him throw his knife from a distance every 20 seconds.
- Artificial Stupidity: The developers intentionally made Rodriguez enter the "???" state much more often than other units, even when he's at full agility.note in order to balance his increased attack speed and to not make him completely overshadow Redneck.
- All There in the Manual: According to the (Likely retconned) deleted KTPlay backstories, Rodriguez is Redneck's brother, and it's implied that their father is Farmer.
Carol
A well-trained survivor who has had it rough. With one eye left, wielding a makeshift spear she made herself, Carol's lightning fast attack allows her to reach enemies in the blink of an eye.- Flash Step: Her lightning-fast attack is essentially this. Allowing her to cover a short distance in an instant.
Lionheart
A Forest Firefighter with a spear and a drip torch to scorch the surrounding area. Even though he is classified as a Fighter, this should be wrong, as his stats make him fit more closely as a Damager and Heavyweight hybrid.Lionheart’s level 13 special ability doubles his damage as long as there's either a pool of fire or a burning unit or enemy present on the battlefield.
- Playing with Fire: As close as one will get in this setting, spreading fire around everywhere in front of him with his ability.
Rogue
A Scout in SWAT armor and a cape for the Toxic Lab Military Forces. he wields a stun baton like Jailer's, which stuns on critical hits.Rogue’s level 13 special ability gives him bullet resistance equal to 90% of his current agility.
- Critical Hit Class: Heavily encouraged, as Rogue can stun enemies upon landing a critical hit.
- Obvious Rule Patch: The game's developers nerfed Rogue's special ability to only gain bullet resistance equal to 90% of his agility instead of 100% just one day after Corn Farm came into rotation. This is because players abused this combined with the TMF 2/2 team power (100% explosion immunity on TMF units) to basically make Rogue become invincible in the Corn Farm event. Not that this stopped players from using Rogues combined with Medics and Medkits to reach high levels.
- Lightning Bruiser / Master of All: Has very high health, damage, and speednote , all for a mere 15 courage. in fact, he actually has the highest base melee attack in the entire game among all of your melee units.
Cashier
A former fast-food worker armed with a spiked bat, now serving smacks instead of snacks. Cashier is exclusively available during the Christmas Events.Cashier’s level 13 special ability makes his critical hit deal x4 damage.
- Critical Hit Class: Has a high crit rate combined with his special ability granting mass power to his crits.
- Simple, yet Awesome / Magikarp Power: Cashier is a standard fighter, but he has a relatively slow crit animation, and doesn't have any special perks to his name. He does have unusually high health and attack for what kind of unit he is. Which at least makes him a somewhat powerful bunch of stats. However, his special ability is when he truly shines, granting his critical hits quadruple damage. A 4x in damage on crits on a unit who already has a high crit rate makes Cashier a powerhouse who can deal with some of the most dangerous or tanky threats in the game all by himself.
Damagers
Melee units that cost more than Fighters, and are slower in speed, but are made to have higher attack to deal large amounts of damage.
Builder
A construction worker who now knocks buildings down with his pipe wrench. Builder's vest and hard hat give him resistance against bullets.Builder’s level 13 special ability doubles his damage against the barricade or enemy base.
- Master of None: The most basic damager in the game, with only his knockback crit and bullet resistance to his name. When compared to the line of other bullet resistant damagers, he has much lower stats than Guard and Light Soldier, and loses out to Grenadier due to his ability. There is nothing else special about Builder, leaving him in this role of being a mediocre unit.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: To add salt to the wound of Builder being such "nothing" Master of None unit, Grenadier has nearly the exact same base stats as him, with the exact same resistance as him, with a much faster attack speed and a powerful ability on top. Even Guard and Light Soldier outclass, who both fulfill his same role, and have significantly higher stats than him, despite being at a higher cost.
Firefighter
A Firefighter who now fights zombies. Armed with a short fire axe, his suit makes him immune to fire and lightning.Firefighter’s level 13 special ability has him throw a Molotov Cocktail right as he dies.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Firefighter has a unique set of resistances. Being fully immune to fire, (which includes lightning) poison, and explosions. In fact, he's the only human unit in the entire game who is immune to explosives. (The only ones who come close are the scientists, who have the poison and fire immunity, but only 50% explosion resist) He can fight off Epidemiologists, Slobs, Forest Firefighter, Paramedics, not have to worry about getting caught in Lionheart’s fire or getting caught in units who explode on death like Juggernaut, Welder, Paramedic Nancy, and especially Grenadier, with the fact that he specifically trips backwards instead of exploding on the spot. and in Skirmish, he can take on anyone who explodes on death, or uses explosives like Grenadier. But his slow attack speed, mediocre attack and health ensures that this is most of what he's useful for, and not much else.
Grenadier
An Internal Forces member who specializes in explosives. His ability allows him to throw a grenade in an arc every few seconds.Grenadier’s level 13 special ability lets him throw one last grenade right as he dies.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Falls backwards after being hit in the neck and explodes.
- Crutch Character: Not for the early game, but for the mid game. His grenade toss takes care of densely packed hordes that are common throughout the mid game, and the gun wielding Marauders in Location 3. He is basically required to take care of some of these threats, he’s so good. However, when the end game comes, Damagers start falling off in viability, and Grenadier is not excluded from that. Especially considering that a lot of the end game enemies have so much health that 160 damage is nothing to them.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: Upon death, Grenadier falls backwards and blows up. Compared to other units that explode on death, Grenadier's is a huge detriment. Because he specifically falls backwards; other teammates are likely to get caught in it and die with him.
Guard
A prison guard who survived the disaster at the nearby prison. Armed with a short axe, his vest protects him from bullets.Guard’s level 13 special ability gives him infinite agility, never pausing between attacks.
- Jack of All Stats: Similar to Builder, Guard don't have any unique traits outside of bullet resistance and knockback on crits, albeit with much better stats.
Builder Abby
A heavy weapons gal who starts out her fight with a minigun. Abby runs out of ammo after 5 seconds of firing, or drops it if she takes damage, and switches to using a carpenter hammer at close range.Abby’s level 13 special ability lets her fire her minigun for the full 5 second duration, even if she takes damage while firing.
- Begin with a Finisher: Uses her strongest attack first with the minigun, usually shredding through a horde, before switching to the frankly very weak hammer.
- Expy: of Abby Anderson from The Last of Us Part II.
- More Dakka: Abby’s minigun boasts a ton of firing speed, putting out more bullets than what the actual High Rate of Fire Shooters can do in 5 seconds.
Light Soldier
An Internal Forces Soldier armed with a sledgehammer.Light Soldier’s level 13 special ability grants him knockback depending on how much charisma he has. For every 60 points of charisma he has, he gains 0.1 knockback distance.
- Late Character Syndrome: Suffers from this more than anyone else. Light Soldier is an alright, if basic Damager, but he’s unlocked at the very last level that has new units, at a point where damagers have stopped becoming viable. And the fact that he doesn’t really have a unique gimmick to set himself apart doesn’t help either, just being the next in the line of bullet resistant Damagers.
Turbo
A speedster armed with a baseball bat, who is fully immune to bullets. Turbo is exclusively available during the Halloween event.Turbo’s level 13 special ability buffs her critical hit’s knockback depending on how much valor she has. For every 90 valor she has, she gains 10 knockback distance.
- Batter Up!: Uses a baseball bat as a weapon. Her critical hit animation is a long animation of her winding her bat back before swinging, like if she was hitting a home run.
- Expy: of Apple, the deuteragonist of the film Turbo Kid. The bat Turbo uses in this game uses the color pallet of her weapon from the film.
- No-Sell: Is the only unit in the game with full 100% bullet resistance, making her immune to all ranged attacks that don't ignore the resist.
Heavyweights
The resident tank units. High health, knockback resistance, and usually another resistance. But are slow in both walk and attack speed, and are often more expensive in Courage than other units.
- Awesome, but Impractical: See here.
- Mighty Glacier: Being designed as tanks, they are obviously this. However, Soldier doesn't exactly have as strong attack as the others.
- Completely subverted with Willy, who doesn't have the highest attack or health.
Chopper
A big, tough lumberjack who still gets use out of his old profession. Has a unique ability to eat a can of food to heal himself for half of his max health.Chopper’s level 13 special ability gives him 5% more attack for every 25 health he has.
- Mighty Lumberjack: Despite appearing to be the fattest unit in the game, he still manages to look pretty imposing.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Simply eating his can of whatever food he’s carrying around can heal him up pretty quickly. On par with the literal Medic and Paramedic Nancy.
Policeman Diaz
A policeman who prefers to be a bit of a lone wolf. Diaz is the only ranged Heavyweight, holding a shotgun, and is the only unit to have resistance against melee attacks.Diaz's level 13 special ability gives him a 30% speed bonus to everything he does when he's below 50% health.
- Master of All: Undeniably the best unit in the entire main game, Diaz has almost everything good going for him when fighting against zombies. His slow speed, moderate cost and preparation cooldown time can be negligible when he has high damage with spread that can take care of multiple enemies, and high health combined with a unique melee resistance, in a game where zombies only attack via melee.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: brings a hefty pump action as his weapon of choice.
Juggernaut
A hefty patriot in makeshift armor, wielding his own self-made electric-powered sledgehammer powered by a single car battery. He can create explosions with his critical hit, slamming the ground to clear out large hordes with a single strike.- Cruel and Unusual Death: Falls to his knees after getting hit in the neck, and explodes.
- Defeat Equals Explosion: His death animation involves him dropping to his knees as his neck starts spewing blood, and then promptly exploding.
- Improvised Armor: His armor definitely looks like it was crafted together from scrap metal.
- Improvised Weapon: And an awesome one at that. His sledgehammer was constructed by him, and then he was able to power it with a car battery and gave it enough electricity to create whole explosions from simply slamming it on the ground.
Willy
A soldier with a shield, bulletproof vest, and a stun gun that always stuns enemies in place.- Blocking Stops All Damage: His shield blocks all damage that would’ve damaged him when destroyed. However, he loses it after that, and it becomes fair game.
- Static Stun Gun: Willy uses a short ranged stun gun to stun enemies in place for a short time.
- Throw-Away Guns: An odd case. Willy will toss his stun guns when he still has his shield on him, simply pulling out another one from his back pocket after firing 3 shots. However, after he loses his shield, his animation changes to just taking a breath after every 3 shots. Since he doesn’t reload at all, it implies he has infinite ammo, yet chooses to toss his guns anyway.
Soldier
A soldier in SWAT armor for the Toxic Lab Military Forces armed with a shield and baton. Apparently, not much has changed from his last job.Red Hood
A mysterious figure in a red gas mask with a large machete, who is said to give out Christmas spirit when touched. His machete summons psi waves and deals large amounts of knockback. Red Hood is exclusively available during the Christmas events. Shooters
Ranged units whose automatic guns all have high rates of fire.
Gunslinger
An old prison guard who survived the disaster at the nearby prison. Holds an MP5 to burst down enemies with.Carlos
An immigrant who managed to illegally cross the border into the United States before the apocalypse. Dual wields Uzi’s into battle for lots of ranged firepower, but is vulnerable up close.- Guns Akimbo: His weapons are two Uzi’s he dual wields.
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Carlos is quite the formidable force himself, putting out high amounts of sustained damage from a distance. However, he often gets overshadowed by Sonya because of one thing: she has good close combat skills. Even though Carlos actually beats her out in having more sustained firepower and dps, he's still a vulnerable unit and is often easy kill if even just one zombie gets close to him. Sonya's punches, on the other hand, do respectable damage. And on top of that is her critical hit spin kick, which knocks enemies back for her to finish off with her SMG. When the late game comes and the player starts meeting Insectoids, this matters a lot more, as they're constantly going to be jumping into many Ranged unit's most vulnerable range. Sonya is one of the few ranged units who can deal with Insectoids who pounce on them, due to her good melee combat capabilities.
Sonya
A Navy SEAL with experience in close-quarters combat. Sonya carries a TEC-9 into battle, and has a good punch combo if she has to fight up close. Her critical hit is her “deadly signature move” as she performs a jumping spin kick that knocks enemies back.- Expy: of Sonya Blade from the Mortal Kombat franchise.
Swat
A Toxic Lab Military Forces member armed with an automatic rifle. He’s mixed in some incendiary bullets into his ammo, allowing him to sometimes light enemies on fire.SpecOps
A paratrooper who was part of a special forces unit. SpecOps drops in from the sky on a parachute, uses an AK rifle to burst down enemies, and has a 3-hit melee combo for if his enemies get too close.- Dynamic Entry: For is appearance, a signal flare is dropped on the ground before he appears out of the sky coming down on a parachute
- Taking You with Me: Tries to. When taken down, he pulls out a pistol and fires 3 final shots in his last breath. But, it does the same damage his normal shots have, so it’s not very likely to do any more than take out one extra opponent.
Shotgunners
Ranged units who carry weapons that work best against tough single targets, or hordes. whether that's due to pellet spread, or short range.
Farmer
An old farmer whose farm got destroyed by zombies and is now looking for revenge. Carries a double barrel shotgun with a large spread into the fight.Ranger
An Internal Forces Warrior equipped with a SPAS-12 Shotgun. Ranger occasionally dodges a hit by stepping back.- Glass Cannon: He can be considered a glass cannon version of Policeman Diaz. Ranger fires and reloads faster than he does, but has 1/3 of his health, and no melee resistance.
Flamethrower
A pyromaniac in SWAT armor who is part of the Toxic Lab Military Forces. He uses a short-ranged flamethrower to burn his foes.- Pyromaniac: His flavor text implies that he enjoys setting fires alight, and that wielding a flamethrower as a weapon is an excuse for him to burn more stuff.
- Logical Weakness: Helpless against fireproof enemies.
- Video Game Flamethrowers Suck: Downplayed. While his flamethrower's range is much lower than one in real life, it still have a very high damage output, capable of melting any (non-fireproof) enemies in seconds.
Dr. Norman
A crafty scientist and inventor who used to work at the liquid nitrogen depot. Norman has a nitrogen tank on his back and uses a connected nozzle to spray enemies with bursts of freezing nitrogen gas, slowing them down a great amount.- Cruel and Unusual Death: His death involves his nitrogen tank exploding, which launches Norman face first into the ground. And then consider that he's also wearing a full glass helmet.
- Support Party Member: Lower damage on his own compared to other ranged units, but his slow-down comes in very handy, usually saving himself or other units.
- Kill It with Ice: An oddly and uniquely realistic example, as he does this with his liquid nitrogen hose.
Lester
A white-collar worker trying to save his own life. He’s armed with a double barrel shotgun that has a large spread. Lester is exclusively available from the Christmas event.- Expy: of Lester Nygaard from the first season of the TV show Fargo.
- Glass Cannon / Difficult, but Awesome: He might just seem like a simple reskin for Farmer at first, which, to be fair, is mostly true due to them sharing stats, function, and the same special ability. That is until you notice that Lester fires and reloads significantly faster than Farmer, making Lester his direct upgrade. This faster action speed is exactly why the white-collar worker is great. He puts out lots of burst damage in a short amount of time, all while being cheaper and having a faster cooldown than Policeman Diaz and Ranger, the two other main shotgun users. However, unlike them, he doesn’t have a single resistance to his name, and on top of that, has lower health than both of them. This puts him in a similar situation to Carlos, being extremely fragile, but also extremely powerful. If you can protect him properly, he can prove to be an amazing Shotgunner.
Snipers
The longest ranged units made for picking off targets with high single shot damage.
Sheriff Charlotte
A Texan deputy armed with a revolver. Charlotte takes out enemies from farther away than other units.- Revolvers Are Just Better: Wields a revolver that deals high damage and can shoot farther.
Sniper Polina
A prison guard, and designated sniper with a nice shot. Polina is the longest ranged unit in the game. Support
Various units who aren’t the best in direct confrontations, but through their special abilities, can assist their teammates in different ways.
- Support Party Member: All of them, in their own unique way.
- Pepper is a secondary gunner who provides a little extra damage and gives her allies the inspiration buff at level 13.
- Medic heals nearby allies by dropping her medkits on the ground.
- Welder repairs the bus, turrets, and generators, and avoids zombies to attack the barrier directly.
- Paramedic Nancy heals units and can revive anyone from the dead with their body still intact.
- The Agents prepare the battlefield in the beginning by quietly clearing out idle zombies with their suppressed pistols.
- Cap gives all his allies the inspiration buff.
- Dr. Kane marks enemies' weak points, making them take 1.5x damage. (50% more damage)
- Dr. Miller places a landmine down upon entering the battlefield.
Pepper
A road traffic patrol officer for the Internal Forces. Pepper peppers enemies from afar with her pistol, and rolls back to dodge hits if foes get too close.- Magikarp Power: Pepper is a very weak unit; doesn’t excel at much besides rolling back to keep herself alive, and she isn’t used really past the early game. However, her special level 13 ability has her give the powerful inspiration buff to all other allies when sent out, essentially making her an accessible version of Cap. As Cap is locked behind a 925 money pack, is tied for having the second highest Courage cost in the game at 35, and having worse survivability skills than Pepper, she pretty much becomes his direct upgrade, barring the fact that she can’t use her ability more than once per life and lacking some resistances.
Medic
A field surgeon who carries a pistol, and a supply of medkits to constantly heal her teammates.- The Medic: Obviously. Drops medkits on the ground for her teammates.
- Combat Medic: Probably fits the "combat" part more than the medic part, sadly due to her awful AI that prioritizes shooting over healing.
Welder
A handyman armed with a welding torch attached to an acetylene tank. The Welder has very low health, and can’t even attack enemies, as he’ll dodge everyone to directly attack the barricade. But he has the ability to repair the bus, and any turrets and generators on the field. Welder’s cost is valued in Rage instead of Courage.- The Engineer: Repairs the bus and the machines assisting your team, and he can even build a turret with the right teammates. If Welder activates the 3/3 Mechanic team power synergy, that normally 25% chance to spawn a turret becomes 100% guaranteed.
Paramedic Nancy
A professional paramedic who carries around a pair of defibrillators. Nancy runs around the battlefield looking for teammates to heal with her syringes, reviving dead teammates she comes across, and will strike enemies with her bag if she has to.- Magical Defibrillator: Nancy’s defibrillators bring anyone back as long as their body is still intact. Zombies, bullets, or poison. She can’t revive those who have already turned, had fire or lightning burn their corpse to a pile of ashes, or units that explode on death, like Grenadier, Juggernaut, or Welder.
Agents
A duo consisting of two members of the secret FDD organization. The Agents are always ready to deploy the moment the mission starts, and always enter the battlefield together. Their suppressed pistols and knives don’t draw the attention of any idle zombies that haven’t noticed the bus yet.- Hollywood Silencer: Their suppressed pistols are quiet enough to count as this.
Cap
A captain for the Toxic Lab Military Forces. Cap inspires all his allies with the inspiration buff and carries a handgun for extra damage support.Dr. Kane
A field researcher and leader of the scientist survivors traveling with Sheriff Bill. Kane isn't very experienced with firearms, but he is knowledgeable about every enemy's weak points. And he can mark them for both him and his teammates, which makes them take 50% more damage (1.5x) from all sources.- Damage-Increasing Debuff: Marks enemies to make them take extra damage.
- Reckless Gun Usage: In battle, Kane fires wildly with seemingly little control over his gun's recoil, even having to step back a little. It doesn’t help that he’s hip-firing with a stockless gun.
Dr. Miller
A scientist and professional perimeter guarding expert. Miller places one mine on the ground upon being sent out and uses a handgun for self-defense. Psychos
An odd wild card group of units who all cost Rage to send out instead of Courage. Most of them have an immunity to fear, but all of them have low, or even negative charisma.
Saw
A maniac with a chainsaw who would fit as a Damager. Saw slices enemies apart with his chainsaw, and his critical hit is actually five crits in a row, but it takes time for him to rev up the chainsaw.- Chainsaw Good: His saw is his weapon of choice.
- Hockey Mask and Chainsaw: Has the standard look for this trope.
Berserker
A fast and fearless psychopath wearing a yellow smiley mask, who would fit as a Fighter. Berserker wields two cleavers which he uses to deal out double attacks with two swings.Queen
A deranged carnival jester with a grenade launcher, who would fit in as a Damager. Queen's grenade launcher can fire off grenades much faster than Grenadier can, but she's also much weaker than him.Austin
A former criminal and bank robber who knows a thing or two on how to make money. Austin has the ability to gain coins upon killing enemies.- Expy: of Dallas from PAYDAY: The Heist.
- Item Caddy: Being able to generate coins from killing enemies, Austin is this.
Enemies
Location 1 Zombies
Basic zombies found throughout rural areas. Unaffected by blue energy, they don't pose much of a threat.
Zombie
The very first enemy of the game. A shirtless zombie wearing black pants.- The Goomba: The first enemy a player encounters.
Fast Zombie
A variant of the Zombie that runs. Identical in appearance.Tipsy
A sluggish zombie that's studier than others. Often vomits on the ground, slowing them further.Skeleton
A heavily rotting corpse. Comes out of the ground near churches.- Clown-Car Grave: An absurd amount of skeletons can crawl out of the ground in church missions.
- Rise from Your Grave: Rises out of the ground in certain missions.
Paramedic
A large zombie in a paramedic uniform. Carries a defibrillator on it's back, when charged, grants it bullet immunity and delivers a deadly attack to any melee unit that damages it. Paramedic serves as the final boss of Location 1.- Body Horror: It's jaws are split in two, with strands of flesh connecting the two halves.
- Degraded Boss: Gets degreaded to Elite Mook outside of one stage.
- Mini-Boss: Considered to be this in location 1, having high health and a unique attacking gimmick.
- Puzzle Boss: Paramedic's defibrillator will be charged randomly.note When charged, Paramedic becomes immune to all bullet damage. If it takes damage from other sources, disintegrating any unfortunate units that come near it, before losing it's charge.
Location 2 Zombies
These zombies appear around a deserted city.
Builder
A zombified construction worker. Its helmet grants it bullet resistance, somehow.- Immune to Bullets: It's helmet gives them resistance against bullets.
Pooch
A skeletonized zombie dog. Can sprint forward quickly in a diagional pattern.- Fragile Speedster: Extremely fast and hard to catch out due to them zig-zagging around the battlefield and dodging units or bullets. But if they get hit once, it's usually enough to kill them.
- Raising the Steaks: The only zombie that is an animal.
Runner
A running zombie wearing a black hoodie.Girl
Another fast zombie, wearing torn clothing.Aidman
A zombie in full paramedic uniform that provides him resistance from fire.- Immune to Fire: The paramedic uniform protects him from fire.
Cop
A fat infected policeman. Slow, but very sturdy.Ram
A slow, but large zombie. Hits hard, and is extremely tough.- Elite Mook: The closest thing to one in Location 2.
- Giant Mook: A large one that hits hard and is extremely tough
Fat Zombie
A zombie with gases filled inside its body, giving it a swollen look. Very fragile, and explodes when killed.- Action Bomb: Blows up upon death, dealing damage to both survivors and fellow zombies.
- Dead Weight: Look at its name.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: Have a whopping seven points of base health. A scratch can trigger its death.
Foreman
A running construction worker with a piece of rebar impaled in its chest, with the same bullet resistance as Builder. Gets knocked down after ramming into a unit, becoming much slower afterwards.- Unique Enemy: Appears exactly once in the entire game: Mission 25.note Foreman doesn't even appear in normal events or Supply Runs.
- Evil Counterpart: More like undead counterpart, but he can be considered an enemy version of Mechanic. Both of them rush forward with their strongest attack first, use it on the first foe they run into, then switch to normal attacking.
Boss
A large, hulking zombie. Its arm is somehow stuck to a crane, which it slams on the ground to deal devastating damage. The Boss serves as the final boss of Location 2.- Puzzle Boss: In addition to its immunity to fire, Boss is invincible when its hook is blocking its body and its eyes turn blue. Its hook attacks do a small amount of damage (5) to the bus and the barricade, and 999 to everything else. Boss however has a long attack interval, only have weak Fast Zombies as support (which it kills often) and is vulnerable during every other attack.
Location 3 Zombies
Various zombies found in a dense city area, being stronger than their earlier counterparts.
Bulletproof
An undead soldier wearing a helmet and flak jacket, which as the name implies, grants it bullet resistance.- Bulletproof Vest:
- Heavily Armored Mook: Wears a bulletproof helmet and flak jacket.
One-armed Soldier
A zombie with a heavily mutated arm. It can knock enemies back while attacking with it.- Knockback: It has a heavily mutated arm that can knock back your units
Epidemiologist
A scientist wearing a fireproof hazmat suit. Poisons enemies upon landing a critical hit.- Hazmat Suit: It wears one that is fireproof.
Slob
Another scientist wearing a fireproof hazmat suit, with heavy gases filled up inside it. Explodes and poison any survivors damaged by it on death.Medic
A skeleton wearing a lab coat with an open ribcage. Spreads an infection every so often that grants nearby zombies shield health.Charged Zombie
A skeleton heavily affected by blue energy. When it spots a target, it'll begin charging up, and charge at the unfortunate victim at lightning speed.- Taking You with Me: It'll shatter into pieces once it lands its charge attack, but it deals massive damage to anyone it collides with.
Marauders
Other human survivors trying to stop Bill and his group from progressing through their city. They appear scarcely throughout the game, but they do star as minor antagonists for Location 3.
- Evil Counterpart: The Marauders are essentially enemy versions to your units.
- Naked to Redneck. Both have high speed and good damage, but are ultimately frail cannon fodder who are usually spammed throughout levels they appear in.
- Robber to Sheriff Charlotte. Both are backline revolver users who specialize in single shot damage.
- Lubber to Builder. Both are slower but stronger damager type units who have bullet resistance.
- Rifleman to Farmer. Both are double barrel shotgun users who are slow, but fire powerful blasts.
- Biker to Gunslinger. Both are units wielding automatic firing guns who spray their enemies with bullets.
- Crazy to both Redneck and Mechanic. He takes the speed from Mechanic's opening attack with Redneck's sustained damage with the shovel.
- The Truck Driver to Sheriff Bill. Considering the fight against him is essentially a Mirror Match. The driver mans an armored vehicle just like Bill's bus, sends out the Marauders to defend the truck like how you send out your units, and uses an LMG to shoot down at enemies just like Bill's LMG.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The Marauders get exactly 5 Missions to themselves, the last of which is Mission 91, then they never reappear for the rest of the game. The actual reasoning for this is because the late stages of the game were added a long time after the game’s release, with the developers never getting the chance to use them again. And they probably didn’t clash well with the super mutated alien and blue energy zombies that take up the end game.
- Zombie Infectee: Almost all of the Marauders are said to be infected, except for Biker, although it's implied with him. Even though the rules of this world's zombie infection are unclear, and they seem to be fine with being like this, they're still infected.
- Naked has fully green hands and a whole green face.
- Lubber has green hands and blood pouring out of his mouth.
- Rifleman has a small amount of blood coming from under his cap.
- Crazy is said to have almost transformed into a zombie, and immediately turns upon death without even falling to the ground.
- Robber and Biker both appear to be perfectly fine, but Robber is said to be infected, and Biker is implied, being with all the other Marauders.
Naked
A shirtless man with a machete. Naked has high speed and good damage but lacks in health.- Machete Mayhem: He is armed with a machete to kill enemies.
Robber
A captain and leader type person for the Marauders. Robber carries a powerful 5-round revolver to keep enemies away.Lubber
A tough guy holding a spiked lead pipe. Lubber is slow, but strong, and his flak jacket and helmet protect him from bullets.- Heavily Armored Mook: The toughest of the Marauders, with his equipment protecting him from bullets.
Rifleman
A shotgunner wielding a sawn-off double barrel shotgun. Rifleman fires powerful shotgun shots towards his enemies.- Cutscene Incompetence / Gameplay and Story Segregation: Throughout Location 1, various missions show cutscenes of other people trying to survive, to establish the setting. In Mission 4, a Rifleman is mourning the death of his friend when he suddenly reanimates. And when he puts them down, a Fast Zombie comes out and ambushes him, killing the Rifleman. In gameplay, he would've just turned around and shot the Fast Zombie. And even if he didn't, he likely would've survived the one hit, and killed them reactively anyway.
- Non-Indicative Name: The "Rifle"man uses a double barrel shotgun.
- Sawed-Off Shotgun: His gun definitely is short for a double barrel. Especially when compared to Farmer's shotgun, which is much longer in comparison.
Biker
A Biker wielding AK-47 that can burst down enemies quickly.- Badass Biker: A biker in a zombie apocalypse.
Crazy
A mentally unstable and reckless man who charges into battle with little regard for himself. Crazy immediately turns into a Fast Zombie upon death, without even falling to the ground.- Unique Enemy: Doesn't appear in the main game's missions at all. He only appears in Supply Runs and the Corn Farm event.
Truck Driver
A Rifleman who mans an armored vehicle, and challenges Bill and his group to a fight. He serves as the final boss of Chapter 3.- Mirror Match: His fight is essentially this. Both sides have armored vehicles, Bill's bus and The Marauder's truck. And send out their own units in an attempt to destroy the other's vehicles, being your units and the Marauders themselves. The Marauder Truck even has its own LMG that the driver uses to clear out your units.
Location 4 Zombies
More dangerous zombies found in the once military-controlled town in Location 4.
Policeman
An undead policeman wearing riot equipment, protecting it from melee attacks.- Kung Fu-Proof Mook: It wears a riot equipment that protects it from melee attacks
Dark Skeleton
Stronger varients of the Skeleton, having more health and damage. These seem to be burned bodies reanimated via blue energy.Armored Skeleton
A Dark Skeleton wearing bulletproof armor. Much faster than their unarmored varients, and have a chance to degrade into a Dark Skeleton on death.Sapper
A sturdy Dark Skeleton wearing an EOD suit, making it resistance to both bullets and melee damage. May degrade into an Armor Skeleton on death.- Heavily Armored Mook: The EOD suit makes it resistance to both bullets and melee damage.
Soldier
An infected Marine.- Palette Swap: Is nearly identical in every way to the basic Zombie. The only difference it have are slightly higher stats and a grey shirt.
Sergeant
An infected soldier. It can reanimate once after being killed, unless burnt.- Burn It With Fire: Cannot reanimate once burned to ashes.
- Back from the Dead: Its main ability.
- Evil Counterpart: To Glenn, as it shares the ability of come back to life with reduced health.
Undead
A stronger variant of Sergeant. Like Sergeant, it can reanimate up to 6 times after death, unless burnt.- Burn It With Fire: Cannot reanimate once burnt to ashes.
- Back from the Dead: Its main ability.
- Evil Counterpart: To Glenn, as it shares the ability of come back to life with reduced health.
Demon
A large zombie with exposed guts and blue crystals growing out of its back. Occasionally slams its fists into the ground, damaging all enemies with spikes from the ground.Necromancer
A floating zombie. Summons Dark Skeletons around itself when alive.- Mook Maker: Summons Dark Skeletons rapidly.
- Necromancer: It's in the name. It raises Dark Skeletons around itself.
Location 6 Zombies
These zombies are seen around an urban Chinatown district. Most of them are able to knock enemies back on hit.
- Knockback: Their main ability.
Chinese
A basic zombie with a rotting arm. Can knock back enemies on hit.Rotten
A Chinese that is in a significantly more rotten state. Can knock back enemies on hit.Monk
A running zombie in similar clothing as the Chinese. Can knock back enemies on hit.Rebel
A Chinese with several molotov cocktails tied to its waist. Explodes and generate pools of fire upon death. Can also knock back enemies on hit.- Action Bomb: It explodes on death and leave a fire pool behind.
Psy
An undead scientist whoose brain is heavily mutated by blue energy, causing it to become extremely swollen. It constantly sends out waves of psychic energy that knocks back enemies very far.- Mind over Matter: It's main ability to knock back enemies.
Small Insectoid
A running skeleton covered in blue energy. Can, yet again, knock back enemies on hit. Location 7 Zombies
Zombies that are close to the source of blue energy, granting them extreme mutations.
Putrid
An amalgamation composed of multiple zombies jointed together into one large mountain of flesh. When killed, blows up and spawn three Rottens in its place.- Body Horror: It is composed of multiple zombies jointed together into one large mountain of flesh.
Blue
A normal zombie heavily affected by blue energy. Its crits can stun enemies.Blue Runner
A fast zombie heavily affected by blue energy. Its crits can stuns enemies and it's fire resistance.Big Blue
A fat blue zombie heavily affected by blue energy. Its crits stuns enemies. It can regenerate health and it's fire and knockback resistance.Insectoid
A heavily deformed and much more alien-like zombie that can jump over any ranged enemies. Other Zombies
- Unique Enemy: All of them except for Witch. Free Hugs is a rare Piñata Enemy, while the others are exclusive undead forms of your units, who can only be encountered by having the respective units they come from die and reanimate.
Free Hugs
The most harmless zombie ever. Free Hugs is a rare zombie that will just stand in place, units won't even register her as a target or try to kill her intentionally. If she is killed, she will grant the player 50 Rage Points.- Friendly Zombie: The only zombie in the game that poses zero threat.
- Piñata Enemy: While she doesn't drop any currency, her dropping 50 Rage Points will certainly help out with the current mission being played.
- Series Mascot: To a lesser extent than her definitive mascot status in the original Dead Ahead, but she's still likely the most recognizable zombie in the game.
Crooked
Willy's undead form, with his helmet and head caved in. His bulletproof vest still protects him from bullets.- Immune to Bullets: Its bulletproof vest provides bullet resistance.
Abby
Builder Abby's undead form. She's gone through harsh mutilations with decaying body and skin, and becoming lankier and her arms turning arthropod style, as well as gaining more of them. Abby essentially gains the abilities of the Insectoid and pounces on ranged units.EMT
Paremedic Nancy's undead form. After trying to save herself with her own defibrillators, Nancy accidentally sets off a lightning strike and kills herself, leaving behind a charred and mindless shell of her former self as a zombie. EMT essentially gains the ability of the other Paramedic zombie.Forest Firefighter
Lionheart's undead form. His skin has set ablaze upon his death and reanimation, now constantly burning and emitting flames from his hands and head. Forest Firefighter runs forwards in bursts and burns any unit he attacks.- Ascended Fanboy: Its design is inspired by Reddit user u/Indo_SpecOps, who posted a concept of this zombie after Lionheart's first release. note
