Survival Mode is a co-op game mode in Dinogen Online where you and up to 11 other players face increasingly difficult waves of NPC enemies.
This is a subjective guide about how to help your team reach the highest wave possible, getting tons of XP in the process.
Game Modes[]
There are three standard survival game modes: Dinosaur, Militia and Chaos. There are also three more special survival modes.
Dinosaur Survival pits you against increasingly fast, tough dinosaurs. You will of course face all kinds of dinos, but the biggest threats are dinosaur eggs in wave 10+, which if not killed quickly, will spawn a large number of enhanced "savage" dinosaurs on your flanks.
Militia Survival pits you against NPC humans, who start out slow and pitifully armed, but quickly escalate. They'll become faster and more aggressive, and before long start spawning vehicles, helicopters, turrets, juggernauts (slow, heavily armed, very durable humans) and handheld heavy weaponry. Of these, the helicopters, turrets and juggernauts are the worst threats.
Chaos Survival is the hardest version, where you face both dinos and militia. You will have to deal with *all* enemy types at once, and this can be very overwhelming because militia will shoot you dead while you are busy fending off hordes of aggressive dinosaurs.
Chicken Survival is a mode when you have to fight against Chickens, and there is no Tactical Crate.
Zombie Survival is a mode where you have to fend off Zombies, Zombie Juggernauts, and Pterodactyls.
Pandemonium is a special, difficult mode where the enemy type is randomized every wave. The enemies chosen could be anything, from dinosaurs and militia to vehicles and tanks. The Tactical Crate only drops every 5 waves, so it is essential that you utilize the shop time to buy your supplies.
Enemies[]
Fast Dinosaurs[]
Velociraptors, Pachies and Compies. Not very dangerous, just keep shooting at them with a decent gun or explosive and they will die without difficulty. Of course, be careful and keep your distance - the Pachy and Raptor run and attack incredibly quickly.
IMPORTANT! Especially if playing in solo mode, do not, I repeat, do not, attempt to melee a raptor to death. It won't end well for you.
Ranged Dinosaurs[]
Dilophosaurus and Needler. They die just as quickly as fast dinosaurs but in later waves, they will deal enough damage to drop any player foolish enough to rush in front of your vehicles and turrets. The Savage variants attack incredibly fast, so kill them at range first.
Large Dinosaurs[]
Every other dinosaur that is bigger than a velociraptor. Your main threat.
The Savage variants are incredibly fast, even the Stegosaurus, and can soak up a lot of damage before dying. They are also immune to Stun and Flash grenades after Wave 10, this includes both launched and thrown grenades.
The main cannon on the M1 Abrams MBT is also good at dealing with them, and the LAV autocannon will also kill them quickly. Beware though - most vehicles will die very quickly to them, the Abrams tank is the only one that should be on your front lines. Even so, care should still be taken as Savages, especially a savage T-rex can still destroy it with several bites.
Dinosaur Egg[]
Spawns a lot of savage dinos. Their HP increases with each wave, as with regular units. At first, a TOW missile or Javelin should suffice, but quickly you'll need to escalate to napalm weapons and concentrated mass fire to deal with eggs before they hatch. If you definitely can't kill one in time, consider preparing something with a good AOE to kill at least the fast dinosaurs that will spawn.
Pterodactyls[]
A recent update introduced Pterodactyls, flying dinosaurs that can fly over walls and attack aircraft directly. In later waves, these can be dangerous enough to fly fast through walls and attack players and their defences. This new enemy (first appears in Wave 18) changes Dinosaur Survival entirely, necessitating the use of SAM Turrets.
Note that the Cobra and Apache won't target Pterodactyls; only the gunners on the Kiowa and Blackhawk can. Melee dinosaurs will also ignore Pterodactyls, even when attacked. Pterodactyls can be targeted by the SAM, Railgun, and Sniper turrets.
Militia[]
Basic human enemies with guns. At first, they are no threat because they start with pistols and SMGs, and move at a snail's pace. That changes quickly: they will become more aggressive, sprint constantly and start carrying much better gear, up to and including multiple-shot explosives. They die easily, but in later waves, even just one will kill you quickly if not dealt with.
Juggernauts[]
Slow human enemies with better, heavier weapons than the average militia fighter. They begin with basic Machine Guns, but later will use heavy weapons like the M82A3, Railgun, Minigun, and Flamethrower, among others.
They are also very tough to kill in a gunfight, as they only take 35% of regular bullet damage, and their HP starts at 1000, increasing as the waves go on. With their immense toughness for a small target, the best counter to Juggernauts are explosives, especially guided missiles. Getting into a melee brawl with a Juggernaut is not recommended either - their melee weapon is a Hatchet, and can kill in 2 strikes.
There are 2 types of Juggernauts - the basic Juggernaut deploys from Wave 5 onwards, and only has 85% of regular movement speed, in addition to any speed penalties from their weapons.
Commander Juggernauts, identified from their red berets, don't have any such speed penalty, and can be armed with semi-automatic assault rifles or DMRs. Do not underestimate them - they fire incredibly fast with high accuracy, and can easily drop a player, especially if they have Explosive rounds equipped.
Additionally, Juggernauts also gain immunity to Stun and Flash grenades after wave 10, much like Savage Dinosaurs. Killing them ASAP is thus vital.
Turret Helicopters & Turrets[]
The Little Bird and Sea Knight helicopters spawn after Wave 6 and Wave 11, respectively. Their unusual attack is by dropping a single, random turret on an unlucky player.
This can be very dangerous, because turrets usually instantly lock on to a player, and can do immense damage, especially with the Sniper and Grenade turrets.
The best counter to them is to prevent them from getting close to begin with. A SAM turret, Sniper turret, TOW or rocket launcher are good weapons to destroy the helicopters. If one does manage to get close to you, run away so the turret won't instakill you, and deal with the turret (the helicopter is harmless once its payload is dropped). If you can't run away and you still have frag grenades, instead throw a bunch of grenades around yourself so that the turret at least will be damaged or destroyed.
Starting with wave 15, all helicopters (including attack helicopters, described below) will be equipped with flares. When a homing missile is fired near them, a helicopter will be able to deflect all homing missiles for 3 seconds, then be vulnerable as usual afterwards. You can get around this by using other weapons (high-caliber sniper rifles, railguns and grenade launchers are all effective) or by hitting them with homing missiles after the flare wears off.
Attack Helicopters[]
Apache and Osprey helicopters. The Apache uses powerful guided missiles that travel through walls, while the Osprey VTOL uses an explosive autocannon that ignores both walls and Trophy systems. The Apache starts deploying on the Wave 10 boss wave, while the Osprey can start deploying from Wave 11 onwards.
They will attack you directly and can kill players in seconds, especially in numbers.
They can be dealt with similarly as Turret Helicopters, but if you are cornered and desperate (i.e. missile launcher is reloading), they stick around long enough for a lot of LMG fire to take them down. Provided they don't kill you first, of course.
During late game (wave 40+), these are the most dangerous enemies in Militia Survival. If your team is encamped in an enclosed space, you will very quickly be swarmed and killed. The ideal situation is to get to a suitable location where the tank has a firing line towards the enemy Osprey spawn points, or to spam airstrikes. Guided missiles may not work as by this point the enemy aircraft will be fully loaded with salvos of flares, but if you have enough teammates focusing fire on one it could work.
Light Vehicles[]
Growler and MRAP. They aren't much of a threat - the 2-3 militia fighters inside each vehicle can hit pretty hard, but the bots' driving is too awkward for these vehicles to press an advantage, and they can't take much damage. Guided missiles are best to deal with them, though foot soldiers should be targetted first.
Heavy Vehicles[]
LAV-25 and Abrams Tanks. They are much nastier than the light vehicles, taking and giving much more damage, but fortunately they have the same driving issues as lighter vehicles. Deal with more pressing threats first, then lob guided rockets at them until they die, because a direct shootout will get you killed very quickly.
TOW Gunner[]
Some random guy with a TOW emplacement in the enemy backline. Extremely long range, fast rate of fire, hits hard, ignores cover, unbelievably deadly. At later waves (30+), they can hit hard enough to down any player in one shot. The best method against these is to counter with your own TOW, or use a sniper scope + airstrike combo against them (which is more consistent.)
Highest priority to kill after attack helicopters, even one TOW will quickly wear down your defenses if allowed to fire continuously. If possible, counter with your own TOW, because Javelins don't have as much sight range.
It is also worth noting that other enemies can protect the TOW gunner by taking missiles for them. There is no effective way to counter this, so the Blast Vest is absolutely essential for these situations.
Trophy Systems[]
Most enemy placed equipment is easily ignored (mines will almost certainly be set off by gunfire, the others don't make a difference).
Not the Trophy System, it can seriously complicate efforts to kill a vehicle or TOW Gunner if it's placed behind cover.
There's not many good options to get rid of one behind cover. You can lob explosives at it until it expires or charge at it with a fast-firing gun and hope you shoot it.
The best counter is actually helicopters who can approach and shoot the trophies through the cover, but helis are expensive and don't last long against juggernauts and vehicles.
Maps[]
Not all maps are created equal. Generally, the smaller the map, the more difficult it is, as you will have less room to fall back before you are surrounded by enemies. Against dinosaurs, you want fewer obstacles and a more open map to keep your lines of fire and lines of escape open. Inversely, against militia, you want lots of cover to hide behind (and spam missiles from).
Each area will have a map on the right side that shows the best place to put vehicles and turrets:
TOW missiles (Blue): Place these first, centrally located for good map coverage, but protected from incoming fire.
SAM Turrets (Green): Place these second, in isolated corners (to maximize coverage and minimize exposure)
Other Turrets (Yellow): Place these third, in areas either behind sandbags (must be touching the sandbag or else it will also be blocked) or in areas with moderate exposure to the outside. Notably, do NOT place them in the way of the tank paths labeled in orange.
Tank (Orange): Best areas for the tank to hide and pop in/out to shoot, to reduce return fire. Not too far from the base. Also good places for a LAV if you don't have a tank for whatever reason.
LAV (red): If a tank is present, these are secondary areas for a LAV (or other fire support vehicles) to hide behind the tank. If it's crossed out, that means there is no space.
These are listed in rough order of easiest to hardest:
Campsite[]
Campsite with turret and vehicle placement markings
A very good map to play against Militia, and decent against Dinosaurs. Lots of cover, lots of space to fall back, enemies only spawn from one direction, and you can even close the doors if you want a break from incoming fire. However, against Dinosaurs, there's a few of semi-isolated pockets where a dinosaur egg can spawn and only be quickly reached by guided rockets.
General Strategy: The group should stay close to the tactical crate. With all enemies concentrated on one angle of approach, it will be nearly impossible to revive anyone who dies anywhere else on late waves. If you buy a tank, do not place it inside the buildings, it's very easy for it to get boxed in by poorly placed turrets around the front entrance, and it can't fit in the rear entrance. There's not much space for a LAV, unfortunately. The only good place for anti-ground turrets is right behind the sandbags.
See here for an interactive map adapted from the marked map.
Compound[]
Compound with turret and vehicle placement markings.
A good map in general. Enemies spawn from two sides. There's a lot of room to retreat if things go wrong, and the map forms several natural chokepoints, with doors you can close to stop bullets. However, there's even more weird spaces for dinosaur eggs to spawn. Due to the narrow dimensions of the map, this also means choppers don't have far to travel before they can start shooting you.
Strategy vs Militia: TOWs are very useful here because the very large maps allows you to use its range to its fullest extent. Conversely, that means militia TOWs are also extremely dangerous. Keep SAMs up against militia, helicopters will be on you in no time. Avoid the temptation to go out exploring at the edges of the map after Wave 15, the central base around the tactical crate is by far the safest place. Against militia, focus on SAM turrets and TOWs, as there are no good covered spots for anti-ground turrets. The tank should obviously be placed outside the base and will have to commit to that side, as there is no way to get to the other side. At best, it can fire through both gaps in the boxes to kill enemies just outside the base on the other side, but that's it. There is no good space for a LAV unfortunately. If you are brave enough, you could place it inside the base and pray.
Strategy vs Dinosaurs: The yellow turret placements are against Dinosaurs, those are good places for flamethrower turrets to exploit the chokepoint without being too close for comfort.
See here for an interactive map adapted from the marked map.
Oasis with turret and vehicle placement markings
Oasis[]
A decent map. Regular enemies spawn on two sides, and there are many of those hard to reach areas where Dino Eggs can hatch uninterrupted. The buildings don't offer much protection, but the south of the building area is a good place to launch guided missiles from.
General strategy: Most people will stick around the northern courtyard around the tactical crate, which is terrible for cover. The southmost area of the courtyard is actually the most defensible area, as it only has one chokepoint.
Stick turrets right behind the sandbags separating the north and south courtyard, and SAMs in the four corners of the southern courtyard. Leave the northern area with the tactical crate free of turrets except maybe for a SAM in the upper right corner if you really need the AA coverage. This way the tank can traverse left and right and take care of threats from either side.
Vs militia: If your team is very disciplined, and this is a big if, you can consider placing shotgun & flamethrower turrets on the end of the right side door and close it. That way enemies will have to step inside to fight you and they will be within easy range of the turrets to quickly kill. However if the team can't keep the turrets repaired and the door closed at all other times, don't bother because the turrets will be useless while enemies are busy shooting you to pieces through the doorway. Shoutout to Ingresis (?) for coming up with this strategy.
Riverside with turret and vehicle placement markings.
Riverside[]
A fairly small map with awkward firing lines and regular enemies spawning from four directions. You can easily funnel militia into chokepoints, but dinos will be hard to engage at distance, and both types of enemy will be able to rush at you from four (!) directions if you stay at the tactical crate.
General Strategy: It's actually ideal to move into the buildings in the north, as those only have two chokepoints and the corners of the room will leave turrets less exposed.
Facility[]
An indoor, symmetrical map. Tactical Crate is positioned near the south, a decent map if the team is disciplined enough to remain in the bottom half. Utilize the little room near the middle to place SAM turrets and TOW missiles (with turrets watching the entrance), the entire team must be prepared to fall back into one of the rooms if overrun. Keep the tank patrolling around the Tactical Crate area.
District, with turret and vehicle placement markings. Courtesy of Player851.
District[]
Enemies will come at you from four directions. It's a decent sized map, but the buildings don't provide any meaningful cover because there's so many routes enemies can take and they don't have to travel far at all before they're in the central courtyard.
General Strategy:
Strategy vs militia: You can consider keeping the doors shut with close-range turrets for an ambush, similarly to Oasis, but with four different directions to monitor, it may not prove tenable even executed well.
Atrium[]
A large map, with lots of cover and rocks. However, the tactical crate is placed inside a miniature shack in the center of the building, which is easily exposed to enemy fire. Use helicopters and TOWs as much as you can. Utilize long-range turrets such as the Sniper Turret to cover firing lines.
Sandstorm[]
Sandstorm, with turret and vehicle placement markings.
A cluttered and small map. There's notably very little room for a vehicle to maneuver, especially with turrets. Enemies will spawn at you from three directions and there is very little cover once they do. It will be hard to defend.
General Strategy: There's not much nuance to this map. All you can do is stick near the tactical crate and shoot anything that shows itself. The south of the tactical crate is a good spot to fall back if you are starting to get overrun.
Field[]
(No map, location is too simple to give detailed advice)
Large, but no cover at all and enemies spawn everywhere. It's wide open so you can do okay against dinosaurs, but militia will chew you up once they start spawning with longer-range guns.
Strategy vs militia: Pick a corner and stick with it. Getting attacked from four or even more directions is a recipe for disaster. Reduce it to two directions. It's a good idea to set up deployable cover to form a fort, but it will get expensive to replace them constantly in late waves.
Strategy vs dinosaurs: you may be able to stay in the center and have wide open space to run away when they get close, but keep in mind giving ground will mean sacrificing turrets.
Complex, with turret and vehicle placement markings.
Complex[]
A small map with very little meaningful cover. You'll be boxed in very quickly.
General Strategy: The southern corridor is disastrously exposed, you'll be exposed to fire from one direction no matter where you are in there. The northern corridor gives you better cover than the central corridor, but lacks access to the tactical crate, and is less able to destroy dinosaur eggs. The tactical crate is not very defensible because enemies will reach you quickly and it has no cover for turrets, so they will be destroyed quickly in later waves. You'll be overrun in not long either way.
Firing Range[]
(No map, location is too simple to give detailed advice)
Very difficult. Extremely claustrophobic with almost no meaningful cover. You will be swamped in enemies quickly. Avoid this map if you intend to survive past Wave 20.
General Strategy: Same as Field, pick a corner and pray you are annihilated slowly rather than quickly.
Hexagon[]
(No map, location is too simple to give detailed advice)
Even less cover than Firing Range, and even more directions that enemies will spawn from. Militia will chew you up quickly because they'll shoot at you from all corners, and Dinosaurs will swarm you immediately.
General Strategy: Pick a corner and pray.
Bots[]
If it can be helped: don't play survival with bots in multiplayer.
They're useful early on, but they won't buy good equipment or support items, only some cheap default stuff, which will hurt your turret and vehicle limits and clog up your screen. In fact, if they buy useless vehicles or M2 Brownings, you may want to destroy them with melee attacks to free up space.
They are also terrible fighters, as even Insane difficulty bots tend to charge forward and die uselessly on higher waves.
It is also worth noting that allied bots, even the starting Hard bot, can steal kills from players, denying them money to buy weapons and equipment.
UPDATE: With the introduction of the Hold Position command, the bots can be directed to camp one position, which can be beneficial to stop them from charging towards the enemy. However, do not rely on them to survive if you die, especially since if commanded, they will prioritize holding the position over revives.
What to Buy and Do:[]
The hard truth is that most guns and turrets don't deal nearly enough DPS to clear harder waves, especially when enemies must be killed very quickly or they'll drown you in bodies and bullets. Your best bets for endgame weapons are explosives, LMGs, railguns, and TOW missiles.
Wave 1-4[]
Use your melee attacks. Melee gives slightly more XP, and double the money per kill than guns do, and most early enemies are weak enough for knives to be sufficient. After wave 4, switch to your default MP5 or buy a weapons crate. If you need ammunition (unlikely at this point), it's much cheaper to get an ammo airdrop than to buy another ammo box item or buy ammunition directly. The ammo airdrop also restocks consumable equipment and all your grenades.
Wave 6-15[]
At least one player should buy a TOW missile or Stinger for dealing with helicopters, juggernauts and tough dinosaurs. Two missiles users is even better, but three is too much. Both missile systems are cheap, accurate, and can fire over cover, they're pretty much perfect for killing special enemies while normal gunners mop up the weaker enemies. Anyone not on a TOW or Stinger should invest in turrets and LMGs.
There are two informal roles for a player at this point:
1) Rocketeer (1 or 2 players)[]
Buy a TOW missile or Stinger and a repair tool to repair turrets and your TOW missile between waves, and maybe molotov grenades/semtexes for emergencies. Save up money for now, as both weapons are very good at gaining money. Focus fire on helicopters, dinosaur eggs, juggernauts and vehicles, in that order. Also, holding the right mouse button lets you see and shoot extremely far, very useful for responding to flanking attacks.
UPDATE: A TOW launcher now has 20 rockets in its ammo reserve before it disappears. If the team can make enough cash to keep on replacing it, you can continue, however if it's just not profitable enough a SMAW/Stinger will do (at least until later waves.)
2) Rifleman (everyone else):[]
Carry a good weapons-crate item, shoot at smaller enemies, revive anyone who dies. Between waves, pick up money and drop a few (not too many) SAMs vs militia. Turrets should be dropped behind some kind of cover or they will be picked off very quickly by militia or ranged dinos. Avoid rushing out into the open out of the line of sight of the turrets during enemy attack.
Wave 16-30:[]
Tank Driver (1 player)[]
TOWs are still useful, but begin drop in power as enemies become faster and harder to lock onto. Continue to shoot priority targets, then as soon as you can, save up money to buy a Tank. If the Tank is already present, you can buy a backup tank or a LAV-25 for fire support.
As soon as anyone has the required amount of cash, they should buy a tank and deploy it immediately. Do not hoard support items if they are needed, the tank will be the glue holding the entire run together in later waves.
The Tank Driver should regularly press T to alternate between the machine gun and the main gun, firing the machine gun while the main gun reloads. The main gun is devastating and will remove even the strongest enemies with 2/3 hits. Do not stray too far from your base though, that's a good way to get swarmed and killed. Also, try to present your front to incoming enemies- your passengers in the back are very damage resistant, but it is possible for them to be killed by a lot of attacks hitting them. Be sure to use the large splash radius of the cannon to hit enemies you don't quite have a direct line of sight to.
Also, if you are playing with bots or newbies, be prepared to stay in the tank at all times, so it won't get hijacked by someone who doesn't know what they're doing and refuses to get out. If you must leave, coordinate with another player so you can swap out instantly without the chance of someone stealing a tank. In addition, do not leave the tank especially if under attack. Miscommunication in the heat of battle can result in situations where the tank is being unused even where it is most needed.
Vs militia, depending on the map, you can instead extend your tank's life by parking the tank in cover and popping out to fire the main cannon, then ducking back into cover while you reload. If you are not doing the peek-a-boo cover tactic, be sure to drive where your passengers have a good line of sight to shoot enemies, but retreat if you start taking more fire than you can handle. If you are attacking juggernauts, you can fire the machinegun until the juggernaut icon appears next to your crosshair (indicating a hit), then fire the main gun to be more sure of a direct hit. Do not directly fight enemy tanks who can deal lot of damage to you. Instead, use indirect splash damage or let the people with Javelins handle it.
Vs dinosaurs, focus on keeping a line of retreat open. Merely driving behind cover is not enough. You need a lot of room to reverse and a lot of fire support from allies when dinosaurs get too close to shoot effectively.
LAV Gunner (1 player, optional)[]
The LAV-25 has a very deadly cannon, but will die quickly if it becomes the target of focus fire. It's best to park behind turrets or the Tank and just fire the cannon nonstop. If there is no space to do it, it's probably best to stay on foot.
Tank Passenger (1-3 players, preferably only 2):[]
Sit in the back of the tank with a Repair Tool, Javelin and a good crowd control weapon (flamethrower, LMG, dragon's breath shotgun, multishot launchers with HE or napalm ammo). Use the Javelin against faraway targets the tank either can't reach or kill immediately. Use the crowd control gun against dinosaurs or humans who get too close. repair the tank only when enemies are not in your LOS - killing incoming enemies takes priority over repairs because most likely they will damage the tank faster than you can repair.
The M2 Browning on top of the tank is quite weak compared to the weapons you should be fielding by this point- if you are assigned to it, it's probably better press Q to switch to a back seat. If the other two passenger seats are taken already, the M2 might still be better than going on foot which might be very unsafe, especially if you are attacked from two directions at once. Wherever you sit, DO NOT leave the vehicle to revive someone during an attack, that will get you killed and the tank will be without support.
Dino Delayer (1 player when vs dinosaurs)[]
This is a slightly unusual variant of the gunner but very useful against dinosaurs. Buy any LMG with a 100 round clip, a low rate of fire and hollow point ammo. Damage is irrelevant, the purpose is to slow down large dinosaurs so others have more time to shoot them. A lower rate of fire means less recoil and much less time spent reloading, so that you are accurately, consistently slowing the dinosaurs. The M60 is likely the best choice due to its high penetration and the lowest rate of fire. Your other choices should follow the Javelin/Gunner section below.
Javelin/Gunner (the rest of the players)[]
Purchase your end-game weapons. Your first weapon should be the highest-damaging LMG, sniper rifle/railgun or multi-shot launcher you can afford. The best choices are:
- the Minigun, with mag assist, muzzle brake, and piercing rounds (vs dinosaurs) or explosive rounds (vs everything else.)
- the XM25 with extended rounds and mag assist, or the X-RGL with the same attachments.
- vs dinosaurs, you can also consider railguns, TAC-50 or Intervention w/ magassist and piercing rounds. These are best used in long corridors where dinosaurs will bunch up in a line so you can hit multiple at once. I don't recommend these against militia though, as humans are too small and fast to reliably hit and these guns don't deal enough damage to vehicles.
All of these are low-mobility weapons. If you need to be somewhere fast, switch to your melee, sprint to your destination, then go back to the LMG.
The second thing you should buy is a Javelin + mag assist & HE/napalm and a lot of ammo airdrops (aim for 30+ javelin rounds at the start of every wave). The Javelin is unlocked by default (no shard cost), hits far harder than a TOW and will deal with both groups of enemies and slow, tough targets very quickly. Napalm for increased damage against slow/stationary targets (vehicles, large dinos), HE for crowd control or destroying trophies with splash.
Your grenade choice should be molotovs- regular explosives won't deal enough damage to be relevant. When weaker enemies will become too fast to lock onto, fire the Javelin only at priority targets, and your other gun at everything else. Your equipment can vary- it's hard to go wrong with a repair too, but you can also use health boxes, deployable cover or trophy systems.
Once you have your end weapons loaded and fully modded up, good things to spend money on, are listed in the Purchases section below.
Wave 31+[]
One person should bank up money, keeping at 85-90k$ at the end of intermission so they can purchase a replacement tank if it dies. Everyone else should start investing in expensive turrets- railgun, snipers, grenade, etc. Buying a LAV might be a good idea, but not more than one- they die much more easily than you'd think, and have a limited ability to take cover or retreat due to their size.
If you are on foot, stay behind your tank or ready to pop into cover when possible. Getting yourself killed needlessly by charging into extremely lethal enemies is pointless. If you really want to grind XP there are two much better ways to do that: 1) using the repair tool between waves on anything you can 2) using the Javelin (again, no shard cost) to kill vehicles/helicopters/tough dinos/eggs that no one else is shooting at.
Falling Back[]
If you are taking a lot of ranged damage or are clearly facing too many dinosaurs to deal with, there is no shame in retreating. Equip your melee and sprint into cover or past your teammates. If you die right in front of an enemy advance, most likely you'll be very difficult to revive during an attack and your teammates will not benefit from your assistance, and may even die failing to revive you.
Also, it is possible to kite slower dinosaurs by switching to your melee, sprinting away, switching to your main weapon, shooting and repeating. This can be a decent desperation strategy if you have enough room to run.
Purchases[]
Things to buy. Sorted by category.
Drops[]
Ammo drops are essential and frankly, must be spammed in later waves. If there's not one around and you can spare the money, have at least one plopped down at all times. You do not want to run out of ammo at a bad time. Keep in mind they expire after a few minutes, however.
Weapon crates are great for strengthening your team during waves 5-15. You can get some decent guns to hold you over until you purchase your endgame weapon. Pick a drop with the most DPS- LMGs, launchers and sniper rifles are best. Close range weapons like shotguns, machine pistols and flamethrowers have high DPS too, but are not a good idea, as your main early-game threats are enemies with powerful long-range attacks (dilos, needlers, juggernauts).
Heavy Weapons crates are similar but only drop LMGs, sniper rifles, railguns, flamethrowers and launchers, so they are much more useful in later waves when you can afford them.
Escort airdrops are expensive and tend to drop weaker turrets that you shouldn't be buying at later waves. However, the point of them is not the actual items, but that the Osprey, which is very powerful, will stick around for a few minutes and use its autocannon to savage enemies around the area it was summoned. It's a good way to burn spare money in later waves.
Mounted Weapons[]
M2 Browning: It uses up a turret slot, it's better to stay mobile if it can be helped, and its firepower is exceeded by a lot of LMGs. Can be used by bots during early waves to some extent, but once the turret cap is reached it should be passed. If playing solo with bots, put the bots on an M2 or a TOW.
TOW Missile: Very useful. Very effective against slow or large targets, has a good blast radius to take out weaker ones, has an enormous attack range. Keep one around in late waves in larger maps, as handheld launchers don't have the range to cover the whole map. If playing solo with bots, put the bots on an M2 or a TOW.
Turrets[]
Note: you can only have 4 existing turrets per person, including M2s and TOWs. Any you place after that will replace your oldest turret. There is also a limit of 16 turrets for the whole team, BUT although M2s and TOWs are listed in the UI as part of this limit, they don't actually count and you might see "17/16" "18/16" turrets as a result. The little gray ring around each turret is the ammo count. It's not something to worry about unless the game runs long and you've really been relying on your turrets.
Sentry Gun: Their firepower could help you in early waves, but if you have a TOW gunner and a competent team, you should not need the help. In late waves, doesn't hit nearly hard enough to justify a turret slot for its firepower. They can be useful placed in front of other turrets to take hits, if cover is not available.
Shotgun Turret: Same as Sentry Turret.
SAM Turret: Essential vs militia, starting with wave 10. Have at least one tucked in an isolated corner at all times, and spread them out for maximum coverage. It's good to keep spares in your inventory in case the SAMs are destroyed mid-battle. Update: with the new Pterodactyl dinosaur, SAMs become essential for dealing with them.
Flamethrower Turret: Useful vs dinosaurs in chokepoints, as it deals splash damage. Minimal use against militia, as it takes forever to kill juggernauts or vehicles and is easily outranged.
Grenade Turret: Probably your go-to anti-ground turret because of its splash, effectiveness against bullet-resistant enemies, and very high damage. It does not cause friendly fire in Survival Mode thankfully.
Sniper Turret: A versatile turret that can take on all target types capably. Place it down a chokepoint so it can take advantage of its penetration to hit multiple targets. It's also capable of killing air units, but it can get distracted by ground targets, so do not count on it for AA. Good support turret for solo play.
Railgun Turret: Sniper Turret on roids. It's a huge investment, do not place one if there are no sandboxes for cover, because it will die very fast.
Dinosaurs & Helicopters[]
Compy eggs: Compies can be surprisingly good for their cost at distracting militia and destroying eggs. Most other dinos will die too quickly to gunfire, and all friendly dinos pose minimal threat to enemy dinos. If your compies seem to be dying too fast though, buy something else.
Other large dinos: In late waves, when the team has a ton of spare cash, dinosaurs like the Allosaurus/Spinosaurus can be purchased. Best used in a support role, if they survive longer than one wave keep them around.
Helicopters: good vs dinosaurs and zombies, die very quickly vs militia. If you absolutely must dislodge an enemy Trophy System in a hurry, helicopters can do it, but don't expect them to survive afterwards on later waves. OH-58D Kiowa and UH-60 Blackhawks are now manned helicopters that stay near the owner even when firing on enemies. This makes them at least usable in Militia Survival and less susceptible to Pterodactyl attacks in Dinosaur Survival, and use these if you have helicopter slots.
Handheld Weapons[]
When actually purchasing weapons, there are only a few that matter. Most simply don't put out enough damage to make a difference when the going gets hard. Save up to buy your endgame gun, and to buy more important Support assets like Vehicles.
LMGs: Use the highest-DPS LMG that you can get ahold of. Weapons with 5+ penetration deal double damage against dinosaurs, vehicles and juggernauts. If it has 4+ penetration, buy the piercing ammo mod to hit 5. If you can't hit 5+ penetration or are fighting militia, instead, use an Exploding Ammo mod in survival mode (not normal gameplay), which sacrifice all penetration for a lot more damage. It's worth it. Your barrel mod should be Mag Assist to improve your DPS. If you can get the Minigun, get it. It's a great weapon against all, and piercing ammo increases penetration to 5 for devastating effect against dinosaurs.
M202/M32 MGL/XM25/PAW-20/X-RGL: Multi-shot explosives. These are fantastic against all targets. I strongly recommend the XM25, as the MGL takes way too long to reload and the M202 has too few shots. Napalm rounds, if available, are better against vehicles, juggernauts, and large dinos, HE is more effective against groups of lesser enemies, and Extended is a balance.
Railgun/M82/Intervention/TAC-50: Tiny ammo capacity and nearly impossible to use while you are taking damage, but shreds whatever it hits. Best on dinos and ground vehicles, but are also effective against helicopters if you can line up a hit. Use Mag Assist or Laser, depending on how confident you are in your aim.
Stinger: Should tide you over until you get to the more powerful Javelin. Use mag assist to reload faster. Don't buy weapon mods, instead save up for a javelin.
Javelin: Best guided launcher in the game, exclusive to survival, and does not need shards to unlock. Mag assist + HE for killing groups (if locking on is too hard, you can fire at a large enemy to kill the lesser enemies around it, or destroy a trophy system by hitting something just outside of the trophy's active radius), or mag assist + napalm for killing large, slow enemies.
Flamethrower/Dragon's Breath Shotguns: Good for tank passengers to do crowd control (and *only* crowd control), who can stay in close quarters for long periods of time. Of questionable use for players on foot, because they won't do anything to single durable enemies who are your biggest threat. Use Mag Assist, of course.
Melee: Try to avoid using melee to kill enemies after wave 4. If you need to run to another area or retreat, use melee for increased sprint speed. Melees can also be used to destroy eggs (until you get massive ones, use napalm launchers on those) and unwanted vehicles/turrets.
Equipment[]
Blast/Kevlar/Dino vest: Buy one of these if you don't plan to use any other utility item in the short term. They're cheap enough you can easily replace them with another utility tool if the need comes up. Blast vests against militia helicopters and TOWs, Dino Vests against ranged dinosaurs (late-wave melee dinosaurs will instantly kill you regardless). Kevlar doesn't seem to make too much of a difference, as explosives are the bigger threat from militia.
Repair Tool: Very important for repairing helicopters, vehicles and turrets. At least one, preferably two or three, team members MUST be repairing things between waves.
Deployable Cover (2 max per player): Very important against militia bullets and ranged dino shots. You can place them right in front of turrets as cover if there is no pre-existing cover. You can also set up a defensive position for yourself and shoot through it with less worry about return fire. Do not block walking paths or allies' firing lines with them though, otherwise other players may become frustrated and destroy them. They can be used to block off paths and passageways to prevent the enemy from walking through.
Health Box (1 max per player): Good to increase your staying power vs Militia, place one behind cover so that it isn't destroyed.
Trophy System (2 max per player): Buys you time against Militia explosives, but it's very temporary - it's far better to quickly kill explosive-weapon enemies than to keep replacing Trophies. They are easily destroyed by bullets and explosions, so they also should be behind cover.
Ammo Box: Use up your starting one when you're ready to change equipment, but never replace it. Ammo airdrops give two times the ammunition at four times the loading speed for the same cost.
Mines/C4: Don't deal enough damage to make a difference and are too easy to prematurely detonate.
Grenades[]
Molotov: Napalm grenades may last longer, but you need that damage NOW. Use these on big, slow enemies or for crowd control in emergencies.
Don't consider other grenades, most big threats are immune to stun/blinding and the average damage dealt even with a full set of 4 explosive grenades is not enough to be useful against these threats.
Vehicles[]
Quad Bike through Growler: Far too fragile. They'll die almost instantly when exposed to dinosaur bites or militia fire.
LAV25: Can't stand much more damage than a player on foot can, but its main gun hits hard. The lightest vehicle you should consider buying. Ideally you should have a tank to hide behind.
Tank: Essential. Main gun is hardest hitting weapon in the game at a whopping 2000 damage and most durable asset you'll have. Correct usage is detailed in a section above.
I have no weapons unlocked, what do I do?[]
If you haven't spent shards on any of the weapons mentioned above, don't worry. A lot of things are available by default, including some that would cost shards in normal multiplayer. Default available items in survival include:
- Javelin (and mods)
- All utility items, especially the very important and XP-giving Repair Tool
- All grenades
With these, you are already able to provide good support to your team with a javelin, molotov cocktails, and your choice of utility item(s). Lock onto a large enemy and hit them with the javelin, and throw molotovs if they get too close. With your spare money, create a lot of ammo airdrops (preferably away from the tactical crate) and maintain a pair of deployable covers (you only need to buy one, the ammo airdrop give you more) and a health box somewhere useful. Well-placed trophies are also useful against militia. The repair tool is an excellent way to earn XP between waves.
You can also try your luck at getting a decent LMG or sniper rifle with the Weapon Crate (either take it from someone else's crate, or spend a single shard to be able to buy your own) or someone else's Heavy Weapons Crate.
Also, all weapon mods do not require shards in survival. If you are holding the weapon, you can mod it.
Solo Survival[]
Playing survival by yourself is a whole other beast to multiplayer. It is much less forgiving and many options that aren't normally useful become downright necessary. Patience and backup plans will be much more important, as you will constantly be outnumbered, flanked and outgunned.
I recommend playing without bots. They steal kills from you, are easily killed after wave 5, and have a very limited ability to revive you if you die. Update: If you can use the Hold Position command to keep the bots inside a safe spot, you can use them as a last line of defense if things go very wrong. But! Don't rely on them to revive you if you use this method, they will hold position at all costs if commanded.
I also recommend playing on a map that has sandbags that you can take cover behind, as your main threat will be strong ranged attacks that kill you very quickly. I also recommend playing against Militia for an easier time. It's hard to kill dinosaur eggs or savage dinosaurs before they're all over you, whereas militia can be stalled for a while with good use of cover.
Wave 1-4:[]
Use melee as much as possible to maximize money. Buy a melee weapon with 1.6m+ reach as soon as possible. Be sure to retreat to heal constantly- it's easy to be overwhelmed if you attack too many enemies at once. You can find a chokepoint, hold down the attack button and let enemies run into your knife.
Wave 5-10:[]
The author's personal setup for solo Campsite survival, vs Militia
Note: During this time the most dangerous enemies will be Velociraptors (move fast and instakill), and turret airdrops (if it drops into a wall you're all dead). The best way to fend off Raptors is shotgun turrets and hollow point LMGs. The best way to fend off Turret Airdrops is SAM turrets and guided missiles, however you will need at least two SAMs in order to fend them off effectively.
Buy four turrets ASAP. SAMs against militia, shotgun turrets against dinosaurs, sniper turrets for chaos. Then buy 1) a stinger w/ mag assist for priority enemies then 2) a cheap LMG, crossbow or multishot launcher for lesser enemies. I recommend the XM25 for its effectiveness against all targets and exceptional DPS with extended + mag assist. Cover is your friend- use Deployable cover to protect yourself and your turrets if there are no sandbags to shoot from. Resist the temptation to run out into the open to gather money or take potshots at newly spawned enemies- you're living and dying by your turrets' support.
Your next priority is setting up a base- you'll want deployable cover to defend yourself (or a turret if you already have cover), a health box (behind your cover), and a nearby Trophy (against militia, in case a homing missile gets too close, you can move to the trophy to take care of it). See the picture for a good example.
After that's all set up, buy Stim Shots and use the ammo airdrop to acquire more of them. As you can't be revived if things go south, you'll want quick healing if you come under attack- immediately stim when you start taking heavy damage, then fall back to safety. Your grenade can be a molotov cocktail, but beware: fire is one of the few sources of self-damage in survival and it's easy to kill yourself by accidentally breaking a molotov on your cover. If you're concerned about that, the ET-MP or Semtex are the next best thing.
Vs militia: If you see a turret helicopter heading towards you and can't kill it before it gets close, RUN. The enemy turret has a limited attack range, but it will probably kill you before you can kill it in a straight fight. Attack helicopters are even worse- the apache can take off most of your health with a missile. This is why SAMs are so important. Keep your stinger loaded at all times.
VS dinosaurs: put napalm on your stinger to kill small eggs and big dinos. Don't neglect cover though, because dilos and needles are very nasty without an allied team to quickly kill them. Be ready to retreat at a moment's notice if enemies get too close. Also, not fall into the temptation to slug it out in close quarters, even if you are initially successful, it only takes a few spawns or an egg in the wrong spot for you to be flanked and killed.
Wave 11+:[]
You should have enough money to buy proper guns. Upgrade to your favorite LMG (or keep the XM25), with your favorite mods. Replace the Stinger with a Javelin (HE for militia, napalm for dinosaurs, mag assist either way). Hold out as long as you can. If you're on a large map, you can replace one turret with a TOW to take advantage of its range. Remember that every 5th wave is a boss wave, so be ready for surprises.
Keep at least one ammo airdrop nearby at all times so you can spam grenades in an emergency and immediately restock. They will expire in a few minutes though, so it may be best to stagger two ammo airdrops so at least one will exist at any given moment.
If you make it to $100k, you can buy a tank. It hits hard and can take a lot of damage, but it's not invincible. Conserve the tank's health by keeping it near your cover, and using it when enemies (or missiles) get too close for comfort. Try not to push your tank too far forward, as it may be difficult to both fully repair it and bring it back to base during a short intermission.
Vs dinosaurs- upgrade your turrets to grenade or flamethrower turrets if you are fighting against dinosaurs- placing new ones will automatically remove the old ones. Larger eggs can't reasonably be handled by one person, especially when you're being attacked by other dinosaurs. Your best bet is to throw all your molotovs if you're within sight, or else buckle up for a very difficult flanking attack.
Vs Militia- TOW gunners should ideally be handled by staying out (and keeping turrets away from) their range. Kill all other enemies and when you are done, you can either use your own TOW to return fire or charge at them with a melee weapon, running in circles to avoid the missiles. When you get in range, switch to your main gun and kill them, or if they are behind cover, throw a grenade.
If you have managed to survive past wave 20 as a solo player, congratulations! You are officially "skilled".
Q&A[]
Q: Why so much napalm on everything?[]
A: Smells like victory
A: Napalm weapons do a lot of damage to things that are too bulky or slow to move through the flames - eggs, vehicles, large dinos. A Javelin strike with napalm can almost double its damage if the flames all land on the target. Napalm also is good at weakening fast groups, as the flames will damage anything that moves through it regardless of how many there are.
Q: Why does penetration matter against dinosaurs?[]
A: First of all, dinosaurs tend to clump up much more than militia do. Second, and more importantly, weapons with 5 Penetration deal 2x damage to dinosaurs, with every extra level of Penetration adding 0.2x more bonus damage.
Some weapons that already have 5 Penetration include all Sniper Rifles, the Desert Eagle, and some machine guns like the M60E4, PKP Pecheneg, and M240B, just to name a few.
Weapons like the SCAR-H, MK11 MOD 0, Dragunov, and .44 Magnum have 4 Penetration, but can receive the damage boost if Piercing ammo is equipped.
Thanks to Peacekeeper for sharing the latter.
The Minigun also has 4 penetration, making it an extremely good option against dinosaurs when piercing ammo gives it the boost to 5. Get as soon as possible, it will serve you for a very long time.
Q: Why not use Stun weapons?[]
A: Vehicles and Helicopters are already immune to Stun. Juggernauts and Savage Dinosaurs also gain immunity to Stun and Flash grenades after Wave 10. Even the large non-savage dinos are only stunned briefly.
In short, anything that actually can be stunned could instead be easily killed with a good weapon. If you would like to play an important support role, you can instead can slow down dinosaurs with Hollow Points (detailed above).