How to survive more rounds: a beginner's guide to Dead Rounds

The short version: farm points in the early rounds, keep your windows boarded, get the power on, buy a perk and a better gun before round 8, and never let yourself get cornered. The rest of this guide explains each of those, with the actual numbers the game uses.

1. Earn more in the first rounds

You start with 500 points and a Service Pistol. Every hit on a zombie pays 10 points, and the kill pays 60 more (100 for a headshot kill, 130 with the knife). That means how you kill matters more than how fast you kill early on.

• Shoot a few body hits, then finish with the knife (F). In round 1 and 2 a zombie takes several pistol hits; each one pays, and a knife kill pays twice a regular kill.
• Aim for the head when you want the kill to pay well from a distance.
• Don't rush the last zombie. As long as one is alive, the next round does not start. Use that time to rebuild windows and walk to your next purchase.

2. Board up the windows

Every window starts with six planks. A zombie at the window pulls off one plank about every second and only climbs in once the window is bare. Standing inside at a window and holding E nails a plank back on, which pays 10 points each, up to 100 points per player per round.

Rebuilding is the safest way to earn points and it buys you time. If a window near you keeps getting torn open, standing at it and alternating between rebuilding and shooting is a strong early-round loop.

3. What to buy first

A good order for a first match:

1. Field Carbine (750) off the wall as soon as you can afford it. It is far stronger than the pistol.
2. Open the doors toward the power switch. Perks and the upgrade machine do nothing until someone throws it.
3. Your first perk. Iron Ration (2,500, max health 200) is the safest pick, because it is the difference between surviving two hits and three. Playing alone, Field Medic (1,500) lets you get back up once instead of losing the match.
4. The mystery crate (950) when you have spare points. It can give you guns that are not on any wall.
5. The Armorer (5,000) to upgrade your best gun once rounds get long.

Keep your second gun slot filled. Being able to swap instead of reloading when a crowd closes in saves lives.

4. Move, don't camp

Zombie health grows every round, and from round 3 on, runners start to join the walkers. Standing in a corner works for the first few rounds and then gets you killed.

• Kite in a loop. Find an open area with something in the middle (a truck, a table, a pillar) and walk around it so the horde follows you in a line. Turn and shoot into the line, then keep walking.
• Zombies are solid. You can slide around a single zombie, but you cannot squeeze between two, and a crowd is a wall. Always keep an exit open.
• Sprinting stops you shooting. Use Shift to reposition, not in the middle of a fight.

5. Use grenades well

You start with 2 grenades and get 2 more at the start of each round, up to 4. Press G to pull the pin and release to throw. The fuse is 3.5 seconds from the pin, so holding it for a second or two makes it go off as it lands. Hold it too long and it goes off in your hand.

Grenades are best thrown into the line of a kited horde, or into a window when several zombies are climbing in at once.

6. Power-ups

A kill sometimes drops a glowing power-up. Walk over it and the whole team gets it:

• Resupply fills everyone's ammo and grenades.
• Double Pay doubles the points for zombie hits and kills for 30 seconds.
• One Shot makes every hit lethal for 30 seconds.
• Purge kills every zombie on the map and pays a bonus.

Save Double Pay for when many zombies are alive: grab it at the start of a big round, not at the end.

7. In co-op, stay close enough to revive

A downed player has 30 seconds before they bleed out. A teammate holding E next to them revives them in 3 seconds (half that with Field Medic), and they get their guns back. Downed players lose their perks, so the team that keeps everyone up gets stronger faster. Read more in our guide to playing with friends.

Quick reference

Ready? Start a match and see how far you get.