dread zombie, funny story and tips appreciated

lovedeath · Post by **lovedeath** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 5:06 pm

So I ran into my first dread zombie while exploring Memorial Cave. I figured he'd be no worse than a headless or standard zombie. Me, I'm a weak thief/assasin build. So I attack...

I can't damage him fast enough to kill him by myself, so I run with the zombie on my tail. I run to the nearest road hoping a passing Legion watchman will be there. I'm in luck and there are 2 watchmen passing. So we all fight the zombie.....and they both die. Great. So I start running again. Pass some deer, and the zombie decides to kill them too! I'm shocked at the brutality, but quickly recover, collect the free venison, and run some more. My idea is to get to the nearest city, where there should be multiple guards at the gate and we all can kill this blasted zombie. En route, the zombie kills 2 bandits, a wolf, an imp, and another Legion watchman.

Finally I get to the city gate and there is only one guard and the stablehand woman. The three of us attack the zombie. Guard dies. Zombie wallops stablehand. She runs to the stable house with the zombie on her heels. She runs inside and locks the door behind her and the zombie hangs out on the porch. I give him a good swing from my sword then flee like a pansy into the city. Quickly I realize he won't follow me inside so I head back out. The stablehand took advantage of the zombies distraction and runs out of the house, and takes off at top speed. I run the same way and the zombie's on my tail again.

One nasty little zombie following me all over the land leaving everything dead in our wake. This can't continue! Either way, this seemed awfully funny to me. Any ideas of how to end this massacre?

Belthan · Post by **Belthan** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 5:55 pm

OMG that's hilarious :laugh:

First thought: grab a ton of arrows, jump on top of something where it can't reach you (assuming your thief has decent Acrobatics), and level up your Marksman and/or Destruction skills to your heart's content.

More constructive thought: Try leading it to the waterfront. You might find enough NPCs and guards there to take it down. Or will it follow you into an oblivion gate? That would be fun...

yrthwyndandfyre · Post by **yrthwyndandfyre** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 6:18 pm

Kind Spoilerish - sorta.

[QUOTE=lovedeath]One nasty little zombie following me all over the land leaving everything dead in our wake. This can't continue! Either way, this seemed awfully funny to me. Any ideas of how to end this massacre?[/QUOTE]

That's probably the funniest story I've ever heard about in this game:laugh: I've really got to try to set that up. I usually just kill the things.

Look at the bright side. Your endurance must be levelling up like crazy.

I don't suppose you have a heal spell handy? Even a weak one? If so, equip it and heal on the run, so to speak. At this point, it's probably a good idea to hot-key a few of your best things so you can switch between them quickly.

Since it won't follow you into a city, I'd suggest getting more and better weapons. Daggers are short, but fast. You can do a surprising amount of damage in a very short time. You need backup weaponry here. I assume you don't have any decent offensive magic? Now would be a good time to start. I also assume you don't have a bow and arrows. Get one - even a lousy one. No armor? Pick up some - even cheap leather is better than nothing.

Your idea of trying to attract assistance is a good one. When the zombie gets side-tracked killing something or somebody else, take the opportunity to do some collateral damage from a distance. Arrows are much more accurate if you shoot from a crouched position, but that slows you down quite a bit.

Other than that, maybe a high vandage point? Hop up on a rock or someplace where it can't follow you and just rain umbrage down on it for as long as your supplies last or until it's dead. If you run out of stuff, head for another city, restock, go back, rain umbrage, repeat.

It's a zombie. There's no dishonor in picking it apart a piece at a time.

Just how fast are those things? I assume they can't heal (they're dead after all), but I don't know that. I've never let one get far enough to be able to tell.

Kyle09 · Post by **Kyle09** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 8:48 pm

Everyone knows the only way to kill zombies is with silver bullets, oh wait thats werewolves, nevermind

. But anyway, I'd try hit and run tactics myself, hit the thing, run out of there and heal, rinse and repeat. Or use range to your advantage and bombard it with spells and arrows.
Either that or stockpile a bunch of food and hide it out, who knows you might emerge years later only to find your the last surviving human/elf/beast in a futuristic wasteland

Relush · Post by **Relush** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:09 am

Good one

Try to shoot him with a magical staff, or something. It has more damage than arrows.
If you want to get rid of him, you can always enter to a random city, and do quick travel to the other side of the map..

a_v_o_n · Post by **a_v_o_n** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 5:24 am

Very bad story

but funny

Also my first meeting with a dread zombie was a tragedy. I don't remember my level but you can find them early in the game and with their regeneration they're pretty nasty to fight.
My suggestion is to use FIRE. Zombie and other death stuff receive double damage from fire and it's a good thing. So try a spell if you use Destruction or an enchanted weapon with fire on strike (or a bow).
Maybe it will die but it depends a lot of your character building ( dread zombie do good damage and if you haven't a lot of health is difficult to manage the fight because you must flee from combat too early).

Happy fighting

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 5:25 pm

One tip that might come in useful sometime, though probably not the above hilarious scenario!:

Get something enchanted with waterwalk and go walk on water. They can't get at you (unless it's shallow water!) so you can shoot them until dead. Works with LOTS of things.

Mind you, if they go under water, you'll have a hard time hitting them with arrows or spells.

And zombies don't drown.

WARLORD HECTOR · Post by **WARLORD HECTOR** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 2:41 am

I'had never such problems but it must be funny.

The best way to kill a dread zombie (if you can kill him, and are to weak is to make him fallow to a lake or shore and kill him with spells while water walking. Since they are nearly immune to normal weapons, using bows at a low lvl is very hard because you probably haven't enough high quality arrows.

lovedeath · Post by **lovedeath** » Fri Jul 07, 2006 10:38 am

Thanks for all the advice! I finally got the thing killed. I had tried most of the aforementioned advice, but with no success. So I tried standing on a high rock and filled him with around 100 sliver and steel arrows using a Dwarven bow, but it wasn't enough to overcome his regen ability.

I was considering finding a staff, but encountered 2 more legion watchmen. This time instead of all three of us attacking the zombie, I kept the zombie focused on me while I stood atop a high rock. Then the watchmen wailed upon the zombie with impunity and they were able to kill him eventually. Hooray, the scourge has been lifted!

l RAND0M l · Post by **l RAND0M l** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:07 pm

dread zombie

yea... is it a coincidence that the EXACT SAME THING IS HAPPENING TO ME? :laugh: lol. the bow and arrows against them doesnt work too well because of his regeneration thing... i used 150 dwarven arrows on him!!! lol im gonna try my sinweaver against it... this is also my first time seeing it and i am a level 17. but yea im really close to the waterfront... ill try there

qizatch · Post by **qizatch** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 7:39 pm

hehe! Now that gave me a good laugh

There's one suggestion I havn't seen here so far that doesn't rely on certain skill levels. Use speed to your advantage. The zombie hits rather slowly which should give you enough time to back off, then run in just as he swings through and hit him 2-6 times (depends on how fast you hit with your weapon). You should be able to do this without being hit a single time

Another possibility might be to use a long weapon. Allthough slower you should be able to hit him while he's far enough away that he can't reach you. With enough strength and a good enough weapon you might even keep him staggering backwards allowing you to advance and keep hitting.

Also, they're not immune to paralyze...

l RAND0M l · Post by **l RAND0M l** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 8:08 pm

yea ok i finally killed mine and now i've seen 3 others, each right by eachother all attacking me in an enclosed area. i found and easy way to kill them. MACE OF FLAMES. i pWn3d them with that mace

yrthwyndandfyre · Post by **yrthwyndandfyre** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 12:05 am

[QUOTE=l RAND0M l]yea ok i finally killed mine and now i've seen 3 others, each right by eachother all attacking me in an enclosed area. i found and easy way to kill them. MACE OF FLAMES. i pWn3d them with that mace[/QUOTE]

Jeez, are we all dealing with the same Dread Zombies?? Or have you guys built one of those 'hack and slash' characters with no sneak or ranged skills? My first (only) time, first character, I never had that kind of trouble with them, but I went with a full-on assassin build right off the hop - whip out an arrow, and + dmg for ranged sneak attack.

Olorin · Post by **Olorin** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 9:35 am

In the words of the comic book-sales-guy from The Simpsons, "Best game story ever!"
I must admit that I did hack-n-slash my way through the dread zombies. I managed it, with some difficulty, with a strong batch of restore health and restore fatigue/shield potions. I also found that I had the best time of it when I took the high ground on a narrow staircase. By doing that I had the high ground and, when there were three of them together, kept them from all being able to attack at once. In fact, by doing that, the zombie in the back kept pounding on the one in front of him and thereby helped me out.
I know this last bit will be obvious, but I also timed the attack, block pattern. I got in three hits with my sword, then blocked with the shield. If you can get the timing of their attacks down, figuring out how many hits you can get in before they counter, you can truly hold your own. Of course, next time I go through the game, I'm going to try to get them to follow me and see how many scenes of destruction I can lead them to. I've always wanted my own zombie army, and if it can get that many kills in, it truly is an army of one.

yrthwyndandfyre · Post by **yrthwyndandfyre** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 3:09 pm

[QUOTE=Olorin]Of course, next time I go through the game, I'm going to try to get them to follow me and see how many scenes of destruction I can lead them to. I've always wanted my own zombie army, and if it can get that many kills in, it truly is an army of one.[/QUOTE]

Olorin, you are one sick puppy if you want to visit "Night of the Living Disco", starring "Villaged of the Damned People" (Robin Williams) on Cyrodyll. But yeah, I've got this very base and disgusting fascination thing happening, too. Mostly I want to be able to lead it to Legion Guards and watch them being slaughtered with complete impunity - something my character could never get away with.

I know - I tried. I got enraged at the guards once and tried to slaughter every guard in...I think it was Skingorad. The last one was a necessary character, though, and couldn't be killed. Blast. Guards make my teeth ache.

The zombie thing would be a lot funnier if you could get it into a city, though...

Olorin · Post by **Olorin** » Fri Jul 21, 2006 7:22 pm

The zombie thing is just too much fun to pass up to a boy raised on George Romero movies.
I've never denied being "not quite right." If I were in "Braveheart" I'd be that Irish guy who claimed to own Ireland. (I know, off topic.) I've read your posts too, yrthwyndandfyre, and I'm not the only strange one here. We seem to be cut from the same cloth...we should go bowling. :laugh:
For the record, zombies rule! They're motorized killing machines, sharks on land. This story about them rampaging behind a character is not only the funniest and strangest story I've heard in Oblivion. It may well be the coolest.

NoobSniperUK · Post by **NoobSniperUK** » Tue Jul 25, 2006 7:38 pm

wtf!!

just turn around and kill it... dont tell me its that hard just to kill a zombie... wen i first faced 1 i killed it in a matter of seconds.. but since u mite nt b as powerful.. just use a boww or summat

Mr. Arrow · Post by **Mr. Arrow** » Wed Jul 26, 2006 8:46 am

[QUOTE=NoobSniperUK]just turn around and kill it... dont tell me its that hard just to kill a zombie... wen i first faced 1 i killed it in a matter of seconds.. but since u mite nt b as powerful.. just use a boww or summat[/QUOTE]
it's a dread zombie though. fighting one is like taking 20 imperial watchmen at once on normal difficulty...

Gobatcha · Post by **Gobatcha** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 12:30 pm

My dread zombie story

I was getting pummeled by a dread zombie and I figured out a way to lead him back to a trap in the Ayelid ruin I was plundering. The trap was the kind where the entire floor rises quickly and mashes anything that's on the section against the ceiling. I thought I could simply dash across a corner of it and the slow zombie would follow and be mashed flat - wrong. The zombie rode the floor up, got mashed, and rode the floor down - undamaged! :speech: Needless to say I was surprised. That's when I buckled down and started some serious melee mixed with liberal potion quaffing. They are a tough dude to encounter when you're not prepared.

Darth Chef · Post by **Darth Chef** » Thu Jul 27, 2006 4:54 pm

[QUOTE=Olorin] I've always wanted my own zombie army, and if it can get that many kills in, it truly is an army of one.[/QUOTE]

What was Lord dagon thinking? Who needs dremora and scamps when you could have legions DREAD ZOOMBIES!