Enemies

The bread-and-butter infected. Slow, weak and predictable — it walks straight at you and swings. Dangerous only in numbers, when a wall of them corners you. Roughly three Fist punches or a couple of Sidearm rounds. Everything you learn about kiting, you learn on these.

The fastest melee enemy in the game — it sprints to close the gap and punishes anyone kiting lazily. Paper-thin HP, so a single solid hit drops it, but you have to actually land that hit while it weaves in. Deal with Runners first; they reach you long before the shamblers behind them.

Doesn't melee — it hangs back and spits acid projectiles from up to ~330 units away (11 damage each). It tries to maintain that range, so it'll back off as you approach. Left alone it chips you down while you deal with the melee horde. Prioritise it, or use a piercing/long-range gun to reach it.

A big, slow wall of muscle with 195 HP and a heavy 27-damage hit. It won't catch you if you keep moving, but it soaks a lot of fire and bodyblocks lanes. Don't waste a clip brawling it mid-wave — kite it into a Barrel, a Mine string, or chip it with a high-damage weapon between clearing the faster threats.

The first serious ranged threat — faster than a Spitter and it throws fireballs (15 damage) from ~380 units while staying mobile. A handful of Devils in a wave means you can't stand still anywhere. Keep dashing through the projectile lines and close on them, or pick them off with the Pulse Rifle.

The Devil's bigger, meaner cousin: 170 HP, a punishing 20-damage projectile fired in 3-shot bursts from long range, and enough speed to stay on you. A mini-boss in all but name, and the Devil Lord and Subject Zero summon them. Treat an Archdevil as a priority kill the instant it appears.

A fast rusher that detonates when it dies — a sizeable 55-damage blast in an 84-unit radius. Its whole threat is the trade: kill it and eat the boom, or let it reach you and eat the boom anyway. The fix is range. Pop Bombers from a distance so the explosion goes off in empty space, never point-blank.

Barely any health (14 HP) but blisteringly fast — nearly as quick as a Runner — and it comes in numbers, both spawned directly and split off from Brood. Individually trivial; as a swarm they're meant to be hard to outrun. Answer them with anything that hits an area: Shotgun, Flamethrower, a Barrel.

A mid-weight body that bursts into 2 Spawnlings the moment it dies — so killing one trades a slow target for two fast ones. Don't pop Brood when they're already next to you; deal with them at range, or be ready to immediately sweep the swarm they release. The Overseer and Progenitor summon them in bulk.

A support caster that keeps its distance, throws weak projectiles, and — crucially — heals every nearby enemy (+9 HP on a pulse, ~210-unit radius). Leave it alive and the rest of the wave becomes a sponge that won't die. It is almost always your top priority target; reach it with a piercing or long gun and delete it before you bother with the front line.

The game's first true dodge-timing enemy. It stalks at a modest pace, then telegraphs and bursts toward you in a fast ~300-unit lunge. The tell is your cue: dash perpendicular the instant it winds up and the lunge whiffs past. Mistime it and it's right in your face. Learning Stalkers is learning the dash.