Black Amd Whiyr Bar Above Map State of Decay 2

Plague Heart

Plague Hearts, is a new form of infestation and a catalyst for the Blood Plague disease in State of Decay 2. Found on all maps in the game, plague hearts are the primary targets for a player's community to eliminate. When all the hearts on a map are destroyed, the plague zombies become less frequent.

Contents

• 1 Description & Behaviour:
  • 1.1 Plague Wall:
• 2 Plague Territory
• 3 Effects on a Community:
• 4 Locations:
• 5 Strategy:
  • 5.1 Difficulty:
• 6 Choose Your Own Apocalypse:
  • 6.1 Standard Zone
  • 6.2 Dread Zone
  • 6.3 Nightmare Zone
  • 6.4 Lethal Zone

Description & Behaviour: [ ]

The Blood Plague disease might have started after the outbreak of the Black Fever, or it could be a mutation of the original pathogen. Plague Hearts consist of 4 plague zombies clustered together to form one large heart, which beats as if it's a living creature with crimson emanating light in its internal muscles.

Buildings infested with plague hearts have dark red clouds enveloping their vicinity along with a tall funnel of similar cloud stretching towards the sky. Any survivor who gets close enough will react with a conversation about its foul smell or the abundance Plague Zombies. These zeds act as guards of the Heart, roaming closely around the affected structure. On harder modes, Plague Hearts can summon freaks to protect themselves.

As it receives constant damage, a Plague Heart will emit deadly gas which can injure survivors who are in the radius of this effect. When taking fatal damage, the heart will explode upward, at times the explosion causes an additional cloud of dangerous blood plague gas. After death, an open carcass containing Plague Samples will remain. It can also contain other valuable items such as a knife, a melee weapon (bladed, blunt, or heavy), a heavily damaged firearm (mostly a JL94 Civilian), medicinal items, and even snacks.

Note that Plague Hearts are the easiest source of Plague Samples. However, when a Plague Heart dies, the remaining Hearts will become even tougher to kill, bringing an increase to the amount of zombies and freaks patrolling its vicinity.

Plague Wall: [ ]

On State of Decay 2: Heartland, Plague Hearts are not abundant, but in their place is a new mutation of the disease known as Plague Walls. These structures cannot be destroyed by melee or gunfire in their normal state, instead requiring special plague buster consumables to make them vulnerable to attack. A plague wall has three small bars of health which can be depleted when the wall is in a vulnerable state. When all three of these bars are depleted, the wall will be destroyed.

Plague Territory [ ]

As of Update 25, Plague Hearts now have a more profound effect on the environment. Wide areas around a plague heart will contain the red 'plague mist'. Locations of plague territory vary but as stated by patch notes, 'Plague hearts tend to congregate where humans do, so expect valuable bases and outposts, as well as denser neighborhoods, to be covered by plague territory'.

The mist will impair vision as the player moves towards the centre of the plague territory. However, the major effect of plague territory is that outposts and home bases inside the radius marked on the map cannot be occupied or claimed until the plague heart is destroyed. Sometimes the player may have to destroy multiple hearts before an area is free to claim.

The map icons of any structure or base classed as occupied will be indicated by a red, bloodied icon instead of the typical white icon. The radius of plague territory can also be seen on the map, giving players an easier way to calculate which buildings they can claim.

[ ]

In the early game, even one Plague Heart can pose a threat to every community, adding a risk to on foot exploration if the player lacks a fairly strong melee weapon or firearm. Plague Zombies roam in the vicinity of each heart, and can also form into multiple hordes, meaning survivors have to be more alert to their surroundings. Having a heart in one area with numerous structures will also affect the approach of a player towards their objective. Any forms of loud sound will attract the infected zombies, this can either be a thrown noisemaker or a mistake made by the player.

The player can choose to destroy Plague Hearts at their own pace, but as the game progresses, individual objectives of destroying a Plague Heart may eventually appear. Destroying one Heart will temporarily improve community morale whilst completely destroying every Plague Heart on the map will reward the community with a permanent morale bonus and also activates the Community Legacy objective. Legacies will have different storylines depending to the type of Leader the player assigned.

Locations: [ ]

The locations of Plague Hearts will vary but they can be found in a few ways. Survey Points tend to be the best and safest way to scout an infested site, allowing survivors to discover hearts without approaching them directly. When a heart is discovered, an indicator will appear at the location, signifying that it is infested. Once the Command Center is upgraded to level 2, players may access the radio to ask The Network for a Plague Heart location. Some survivors (like the neighbor from the tutorial) might have missions related to eliminating Plague Hearts. The amount of plague hearts varies depending on the difficulty. Unlike Infestations, the Plague Hearts do not respawn and can be permanently removed from the map.

Strategy: [ ]

Plague Hearts are most effectively destroyed at range. Thrown or placed explosives (such as C4, box mines and Grenades) and incendiaries (such as molotovs and fuel bombs) or high caliber guns (5.56, 7.62, 50.AP and 40MM grenades) work effectively at clearing plague hearts. Players should be wary of using high powered explosives as the area of effect can injure survivors if they are not far enough away. Melee weapons (with the exception of heavy weapons) are not very effective, taking a much longer time to weaken a heart. Players may eliminate a Heart in any way they please; however, the aforementioned methods are typically most effective.

Destroying the Plague Heart instantly kills all Plague Zombies in the area (Except on lethal difficulty). However, for each Plague Heart removed, remaining Hearts become stronger. Though killing a Plague Heart kills all Plague Zombies in the area, it has no effect on regular zombies and freaks around the location. These can still pose a threat even after the Plague Heart is killed.

Difficulty: [ ]

The amount of Plague Hearts depends on the selected difficulty at the beginning of the game. They are as follows:

Green: 6 to 8

Normal: 8 to 13

Dread: 10 to 16

Nightmare: 12 to 19

Lethal: 'We stopped counting how many plague hearts you will find. Trust us, it's a lot' (The previous statement is said in game. But it is presumed to be 20 to 34.)

Choose Your Own Apocalypse: [ ]

With the introduction of Choose Your Own Apocalypse, Plague Hearts have different effects when being attacked.

Standard Zone [ ]

Plague Hearts are often guarded by Plague Zombies and occasionally freaks such as bloaters, which can be patrolling or laid down inside the affected site. Noisemakers will effectively divert attention from a survivor. The heart will cause extra plague zombies to spawn when it reaches mid and low health stages, but these can easily be distracted by noisemakers or killed with firearms or explosives.

Dread Zone [ ]

All the effects of a standard zone Heart, plus the risk of more plague zombies and more freaks around the heart initially. These will always prioritise survivors attacking the heart over a noisemaker, so players should come prepared with ammo, explosives, or a strong melee weapon to fight off the attention they draw.

Nightmare Zone [ ]

All the effects of a dread zone Heart, plus even more patrolling plague zombies, and the added effect of a feral spawning when the heart is attacked. Players should bring their best equipment, plenty of ammo, and items to destroy the plague heart as quickly as possible.

Lethal Zone [ ]

All the effects of a nightmare zone, but with added blood plague freak presence. Destroying a plague heart will no longer destroy all plague zombies in the vicinity.

Black Amd Whiyr Bar Above Map State of Decay 2

Source: https://stateofdecay.fandom.com/wiki/Plague_Heart

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