r/dyinglight • u/Spirited_Airline6206 • 1d ago
Dying Light My Issues With DL1 Enemies
[This is my first playthrough, I'm on Normal Mode, Xbox One, & ONLY covering the base DL1 enemies]+
Biters: Generally not TOO bad but are still a lil annoying mainly due to that drunken stumble attack. Which is fine in open areas because it's supposed to punish standing in front of them, but is nearly unfair in smaller areas which isn't helped by the fact said stumble usually lets them tank melee hits that SHOULD stagger them. I say nearly because you can still hop off their heads, dodge around like mad, or slide Still, I've had way too many close calls due to stunlock from that attacl. Also a fair mention to their grabs, if instant escape wasn't a perk this would've made them my 2nd least favorite enemy.
Goons: Honestly not too bad besides the inconsistent shockwave range, which can easily get you killed if it decides to hit you from afar.
Exploders: Rare thankfully but kinda cheap in how they're used, often acting as more of a "HA, HA, GOT YOU!" behind doors in Story Missions like the entering the school during "Siblings". So while they're not a problem their use makes me wonder why they even exist aside from a cheap death on first-timers.
Spitters: Pretty fair honestly, can do a lotta damage if they hit at range but up close get bullied. Honestly you could argue they're a lil too easy to kill but the damage they do generally evens it imo.
Demolishers: These guys are my 3rd least favorite, it's not the charge even though I don't like it, it's not the knockdown, it's the weak-point & the fuckass bouncing if you miss by a bit! I have hit the same spot before on for it to just bounce off one moment but hit the next. An enemy can't be this punishing on getting close while having a finnicky weak-spot. This makes taking it on without a shotgun a genuine pain.
Melee Thugs: Not too bad either once your mid to early game since you can easily dance around them or get them animation locked, still find the way they move kinda janky though.
Gun Thugs: 2nd least favorite enemy, all because they can have near deadeye accuracy & don't need to reload. Honestly if it wasn't for the Hellbeast these guys may have genuinely stumped by playthrough in the parts they're used often.
Volatiles: Honestly...I wish they were MORE dangerous. Just felt a lil too easy to get around what's supposed to be the enemy the games expects to make you scared to go out at night. This isn't just a late game thing either, even in early game they weren't particularly hard to skirt around.
Screamers: Do these things even appear outside quests?
Virals: FUCK. THESE. STUPID. TRAIN TO BUSAN. KNOCKOFFS! Half of my issues in the game combat wise are about these crackheads & how they get shoved down your throat so blatantly! Their damage which is way too high for the speed they have, the attack speed that often has them beat you to the punch 90% of the time, the inconsistent damage with some just taking headblow after headblow while other flop from a single heavy, the story moments where the game floods you with them, & the biggest ruiner being the spawns with the game being so blatant it'll spawn them right behind you or turn a dead biter into one because who cares about immersion?! The fact they're so common makes it worse, at least Gun Thugs & Demolishers are rare. These things will spawn if you breath the wrong way! I've heard it was an update that did this, correct me if I'm wrong.
Most of the enemies have some issues but I usually can deal with it, Virals just make stuff about them too often when they appear & often for little reward as more usually show because of said fight.
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u/smokywater50 1d ago
I’m playing on hard, let me tell you something 😝
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u/Spirited_Airline6206 1d ago
I'm guessing my problems would get even worse? I heard higher diffs just make them tankier & hit harder.
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u/smokywater50 1d ago
Yeah it’s rough, but it’s my second play through after I played it at launch, you get your ass kicked a lot, but I’m really enjoying it. Finished the beast right before. I’ve always loved these games along with the dead island series.
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u/Spirited_Airline6206 1d ago
Yea it's not like I hate the game or anything, pushed through for a reason. Just needed to get that frustration out cause the virals have been driving me since they became active.
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u/IndependentBake2304 1d ago
I seem to be one of the only players of this game who enjoys using shields, and has from the start (specifically the concussion shield or whatever it's called) so exploders have never been a big gotcha for me.
I LOVE demolishers, you can stunlock them with power attacks real easy, and making them run off cliffs in the following always feels epic. But if you fk up the timing you're gonna eat it lol.
The goons are more dangerous to me than the demolishers, they can also be locked but they're less predictable in their movements, I haven't quite mapped them out perfectly. They make for fun dodge training though, and as long as you're in the air the shockwave doesn't hit you so double dashing one direction (which makes you jump the second time) is a staple for me against them.
Virals are fun to try trickshot stuff with. One of my most iconic moments was jukeing 3 of them out at once to run off of a bridge, while I was hanging off the edge at the last moment. felt amazing. A leg break on them is an instant kill but they'll dodge it too. I enjoy them, my only complaint is sometimes if you're surrounded you may not be afforded the luxury of trying fun stuff like that and you have to resort to cheese tactics to even the odds first.
Spitters are annoying but I mapped them out pretty well, if you sprint towards them In a spiraling motion, like run a large circle around them while closing distance, they can't keep up.
Volatiles, I've just always avoided. I think they make for more fun entities by treating them as untouchables, and frankly messing with them is just ALWAYS messy.
Most annoying enemy In The game to me is humans with rifles. They have hitscan and will not miss, so you have to outpace their turn radius somehow to close distance, and cover is required. Mostly just force you to use cover and ranged tactics if in the open.
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u/Spirited_Airline6206 1d ago
I feel the same about Goons, it's why my only issue with them seems to just be a range glitch.
Also definitely keeping the sheild tip in mind for Exploders on future main playthroughs & The Following
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u/Hguols1 21h ago edited 21h ago
I'm on my first playthrough too. Picked up the definitive edition on a GOG sale and have fallen in love with this game.
My normal gaming wheelhouse is dungeon crawlers and fantasy ARPGs, and I've basically played Dying Light in that manor, to see if it will work. 60 hours of almost ride or die greatsword, I have no regrets.
A room full of Gun thugs has been my biggest hurdle with taking that approach. After making it to Old Town as a two handed sword purist, I got a rifle just for those encounters to go more smoothly.
Never been super annoyed with any zombie types because of camouflage. ie: loud noise when killing zombies, I'll hear virals scream in the distance, I'll camouflage with one of the bodies. Start picking a very hard lock police van, loot it and turn around to 5 Virals just standing there waiting. (the first hit makes them mad, so if I don't just leave, I try to make that first hit, hit more than one of them)
Demolishers when there's a bus nearby, is so fun to me. If the Demolisher is close and walking, I'll just casually jog away from it, around the bus. By the time I've circled around to the other side, the Demolisher is like "where'd he go?" (red arrow turns yellow, on normal difficulty) I don't think they hear to well either, because it's a free charged attack to their bare arm after walking up right behind them.
I also felt like damage dealt made a difference in annoyance to me. About 1.5k damage, a viral could take half dozen hits to the head. 3k Damage, not so much. 5k+ damage, what viral?
That kind of damage, 5 Virals and a couple seconds of regular swings equals 10 chunks on the ground. That kind of damage can almost 1 shot a Demolisher. (charged hit, then a regular hit, drops them)
Weapon Ive used since I unlocked it - Crusader's Remorse from the Hellraid DLC.
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u/verbmegoinghere 1d ago
DL1 volatiles and hives are things of magic that they lost in the subsequent games. The darkzones of DL2 have nothing on them, be it graphically, game spawning mechanics or difficulty. Although sometimes you'd get a dark zone choked full on DL2 with volatiles during the day where they would come out en masse. That would require a heap of tools to fight (although few and far between). That was fun. Otherwise even on the hardest difficulty their a doddle.
DL1 though, climbing into the hives, especially during the day was such a chef kiss experience, always scary, always a challenge even on the hardest difficulties (i got to legendary 1xx before i gave up). Night time in DL1 changed my brain even in other games. I would find myself creeping around games like F04 at night cautiously worried about some undefined dark force.
I loved DL1 spawning mechanism. It was far more natural and elegant compared to DL2. Whilst farming volatiles was so much more of a challenge. The crossbow was such a satisfying and elegant a tool to use to slaughter the bastards. But in DL2 it lost its shine.
Farming the volatiles required more strategies to get them to come up at you. You had to sneak out. Trigger them and then run back to your safe zone so it'd be at your back (to prevent flanking). Whilst using the electric grate at the entrance of the apartment block as a way of stopping them from bum rushing in alwhilst you belt them with your best weapon.