Infected

For the zombie of the same name in Escape Dead Island, see Infected (Escape). For the similar zombie in Dead Island 2, see Runner.

Infected

Artwork

Enemy statistics

Danger Level

Speed

Fast

Aggression

High

First Encounter

Chaos Overture

Health

Level	Health
1	70
3	126
12	430
20	765
25	1000
50	2400

Game(s)

The Infected are common zombies found in Dead Island, Dead Island: Riptide, and Escape Dead Island. The Infected are found everywhere on the island of Banoi, and are first encountered inside the Royal Palms Resort during the Prologue. Likewise, they are encountered on the HMAS Avenger during the Prologue of Riptide.

Overview[]

Infected most often spawn immobile in the environment, but will produce a shrill scream and sprint directly toward the player when in range, quickly closing the distance and striking with surprising force and speed. Infected swing their arms wildly while sprinting toward the player. Before Patch 1.3, their attack could interrupt the player's actions.

Infected are significantly faster than Walkers and Thugs, but have far less health. They can often be dispatched with one or two melee weapon attacks, especially when struck in the head. Infected are relatively dangerous, especially when dealing with more than one at a time, and should be fought with caution, as they can quickly deplete the player's health due to the speed with which they attack. They are also the only type of zombie capable of climbing. Second being the Butcher.

Infected are the most common type of zombie in the Ryder White's Campaign DLC. This is possibly due to the Outbreak on the Island was beginning and most people turned into the early stage of a Walker.

Appearance[]

Infected have bloodshot eyes and small red lesions on their skin, but lack the gaping wounds and advanced decay that most Walkers exhibit. In fact, many of them still have intact clothing and what appear to be fresh bandages. In this way, Infected appear largely like a living human (indeed, many NPCs find themselves ambushed and mortally wounded because they cannot easily distinguish between the Infected and a survivor in need of rescue). They are distinguishable up close by their snarling demeanor and the skin worn off of their hands (most likely due to heavy clawing of doors, barricades, and survivors), exposing the muscle underneath. This suggests that Infected are humans undergoing the first stages of the zombification process and that, as the infection takes hold, they will eventually transform into Walkers — thus gaining the increased health (and drastically reduced speed, perhaps by means of rigor mortis). Therefore, as they have not been fully consumed by the infection, they have not suffered any decay to their body which would reduce their speed and mobility.

Behavior[]

If observed from a distance without being detected, Infected walk around at a faster pace than Walkers, and with a noticeably different posture. They will occasionally snarl, and this too can be heard in advance of them detecting the player. However, Infected have a longer range of vision than Walkers, and so will frequently detect the player before the player spots them. Occasionally, they may also detect the player non-visually, but this is always script-triggered, initiated either by a quest event or by setting foot in a specific location.

Upon detecting the player, Infected pause to scream and then sprint to attack. They are impossible to outrun on foot (as they will follow the player even after their stamina is depleted) and have some limited climbing ability. They are also much faster at getting back to their feet than Walkers if knocked down.

Due to their speed, Infected can be difficult to keep track of in close combat, and many quest-related events feature points where multiple Infected will attack at once, sometimes from different directions. Also note that although wading through shallow standing water will slow the player down, Infected seem to be immune to this and have unchanged movement speed.

In the city of Moresby, Infected wearing helmets are randomly encountered - they have slightly higher health and damage resistance than normal Infected. Rarely, an Infected holding a basic melee weapon (pipes, wooden planks, knives or cleavers) can be encountered — this variety is especially dangerous, particularly if it's a cutting weapon, and if the Infected lands their full combo of melee attacks with the weapon, they can easily kill a high-level player with full health. Unlike Walkers, Infected holding a weapon do not throw them at the player.

Subtypes[]

In Dead Island: Riptide, there are several sub-types of Infected. These are:

Drugged Infected
- Drugged Infected are Infected that only appear in Dead Zones, they are not too different from the regular counterparts.
Frenzied Infected
- Faster and stronger variants of Infected. They often spawned in Dead Zones, and Zombie Horde attacks. Frenzied Infected are high in danger, and should be handled with caution. They mainly appeared in the Evacuation mission, on the roof of the cinema after Frank Serpo gets shot down from his helicopter.
Burning Infected
- Takes constant fire damage, but deals fire damage when in close proximities.
Noxious Infected
- The noxious fumes emanating, can blind players and cause stamina loss when in direct contact. Even when a noxious zombie has fallen, the fumes will linger for a short period afterward. Luckily the fumes are extremely vulnerable to fire, and even a single hit from a fire-modded weapon will set them in a nonstop fiery ablaze.
Drowner
- A special type of Infected found only in Dead Island: Riptide, who get Alerted if the Heroes drive in a Motorboat. They have the Attack style and Better body Resistance like a Walker.

Notable Infected[]

Strategy[]

In game, NPCs will give advice related to dealing with Infected, usually mentioning Molotov Cocktails or other fire based attacks. Although very effective when implemented properly, switching to a thrown weapon can take too much time in many cases, as Infected can close significant distances in just a few seconds. Use Molotov cocktails with caution, as being caught with no effective close-range weapon in hand when they make contact can result in death. Also note that Infected will damage you with fire damage when set ablaze. If you were to use Molotovs against Infected, be sure to throw the Molotov from as far as possible. If you manage to land the throw and keep your distance, Infected will die to the Molotov.
- These NPCs are more likely referring to the zombies as a whole as 'infected', being short for 'infected humans'.
Jump or head kicking will always knockdown Infected, giving the player time to safely attack.
A correctly timed headshot from a high quality melee weapon will almost always instantly kill a helmetless Infected by smashing their head clean off.
There is a x2 damage multiplier applied to any attacks that connect with an Infected's head (Note: Walkers only have a x1.25 multiplier for attacks to the head). This makes them even easier to kill than any other enemies, since Infected are one of the weakest zombies in terms of health.
Hitting an Infected's legs mid-sprint with a decent blunt weapon will knock the Infected off its feet.
A thrown bladed weapon capable of severing limbs can sever a sprinting Infected's leg, which may result in an instant kill.
You can use corners, doorways and structures to line up decapitations on multiple undead. As they reach the corner or doorway they will pause for a moment. During this time a swing can decapitate multiple zombies or cut their limbs off if crouched. If you have a strong melee weapon like the Zed's Demise, a swing at its head will almost always decapitate the Infected.
If a single Infected is sprinting at you, wait until they get close, and then dodge to the left or right. This makes them stop behind you and allows you to kill them before they turn around.
If in open space and there are at least two Infected, you may let them get closer and at the right moment, jump back. If done correctly, they should stop and start flailing their arms around. During that time they are very vulnerable allowing for an easy kill.
Shooting an Infected will stumble it momentarily, allowing you to line up additional shots. This technique can be used to "stumble-lock" an Infected, effectively preventing them from retaliating.
Jumping up on barrels or certain structures can allow multiple enemies to surround you, but not kill you. By crouching and swinging downward at the surrounding zombies, the player can then decapitate them or crush their heads.
Try grouping the zombies together since this allows a single swing to hit multiple opponents, i.e. kicking them down on top of one another allows swings to cut off or crush limbs on each overlaying one and the one behind or below it.
Vehicles are great against these zombies as they will run in a direct line toward the vehicle and group up behind it to give chase, making driving over them quite easy. However, they can still strike players if they get close enough to a window.
Logan Carter is able to make quick work of them by simply throwing a bladed weapon like a machete, or even a knife or cleaver. One throw will usually take it down if it's a critical. Very rarely you'll need to throw a second one.
Infected will die if any limb is cut off or broken, so aiming at the head, legs or arms is advisable to get rid of Infected quickly.

Notes[]

The Infected encountered at the end of the Prologue are level 50, and have ten times health and damage.
Infected don't always give themselves away by sound. Sometimes they can attack in silence, doing a lot of damage in a short space of time.
Infected also tend to spawn randomly, sometimes in close proximity to the player. This can lead to surprise attacks doing a lot of damage.
In the quarantined area of Moresby (marked and partially sealed off by erected white walls topped with barbed wire), infinite Infected spawn, in ones and twos, from a second-story location overlooking the area with white medical tents, and will immediately zero in on the player. As a result, this area is perhaps the most dangerous location in the game, especially since the Infected are capable of climbing and reaching some of the roofs.
It is possible to sever an Infected's arm without killing it, in which case the Infected will immediately cease attacking and clutch its stump, contrary to Walkers. But this is very rare, as an Infected's low health threshold leaves a very small window for this to take place. Severing both arms is always an instant kill.
Due to the fact that Infected have a higher Head damage multiplier than Walkers, aiming for the head is good idea, especially if using a blunt weapon like a bat.
Infected, like Walkers, can occasionally be found carrying a knife or another weapon. In this case they can do extreme damage in very little time. However, Infected can't throw weapons they wield like Walkers can.
You can perform a perfect head-cutting-off attack using sharp and long melee weapons such as Katana.
A Mutated Scientists version of the Infected doesn’t exist, possibly due to how small Dr. Kessler's Biosphere is.
Infected can sometimes grab and attack like Walkers but this is a very rare thing that requires chance for it to happen.
Female versions of Infected don't make an appearance in the Mingende Jungle, and Prison.
The Infected who do carry weapons are mostly dangerous with blade related weapons.
Infected are the first Zombies Players encounter in different interpretations of the Dead Island franchise.

Trivia[]

Infected have a script in their AI, disabled by default, that allows them to regenerate health every time they "taunt" (i.e. pause and scream). Players looking for a greater challenge can enable this function by setting ParamFloat("regeneration_probability", 1.0) in the infected_data.scr file (open with Notepad, etc.).
The Infected seem to be the buggiest zombies in the game, so it's not rare for them to get glitched into something.
These types of zombies are most likely based on the Horde from Left 4 Dead, with their fast speed, screaming while running, and frequent appearance in scripted horde attacks.
- They can also be based off the infected from both 28 Days Later & 28 Weeks Later, not only due to their ability to run and are frequently screaming, but also due to their bloodshot/red eyes and very aggressive demeanors.
Xian Mei and some NPC's refer all types of zombies to there exact name, like the Infected.
Infected were the first zombie to be encountered in Dead Island, being the zombies that appear in the hotel. There is also a Walker inside the hotel, blocking the doorway to one of the hotel rooms when the player is running away from the Infected.
Infected still have their skin torn off their hands even if they have a weapon. Infected would use the weapon, so their skin shouldn't be torn off, and Infected also seem incapable of picking up weapons.
In Dead Island 2, Infected are replaced by Runners. They, however, share the same purpose and behavior as Infected.
The Infected in Escape Dead Island are a sort of hybrid of a Walker and Infected. It looks like a Walker and shambles around like one when it hasn't spotted you, however once it has detected you it will run over to you like an Infected.
Despite there being artwork for Toxic Infected in Riptide, they are never seen ingame.