Boiler

Overview[]

The Boiler is a large, bloated zombie with the ability to explode both manually and upon death. Boilers have faded blue skin, a white undersized tank-top, and grey shorts. At 50% health, they will be slowed down significantly.

Boilers can do up to around 55 damage maximum from their detonation, but the damage scales with distance-from-target.

Abilities[]

Detonate[]

The Boiler will start to choke and shake uncontrollably, signaling they are about to explode. After a short duration, the boiler will detonate. Humans not under the effect of an Energy Drink or other source of ragdoll-immunity will also be ragdolled for a brief period of time. Damage and ragdoll duration is based on the distance to the Boiler.

Puke[]

The Boiler will spew a sticky slime that leaves behind goo puddles that slow down any survivors that walk through them. The puke "balls" deal a small amount of damage if they pass through a survivor, so try to aim both at the survivor and the ground, to damage and slow them down.

Enhanced Form[]

The explosion now takes the form of a small mushroom cloud, with greatly increased range and damage.

Playing As[]

Try to sneak up on humans from a flank or where they don't expect you.
Your explosion is best used in a group of humans to maximize damage.
Only manually detonate if the humans are falling back, cornered, or they are slowed down by your puke. Humans can often panic and shoot you up-close if you surprise them!
Be aware that manual detonation takes about a second, which can give humans time to flee unless you're very close to them when starting the detonation.
You could use yourself as a breaching charge against buildings, and a second zombie can finish the job.
If the map allows it, you can set up an ambush behind a corner and wait until a survivor goes past you to use the puke attack. This way you can cover the ground around the survivor, slowing them down and letting you deal maximum damage with your detonation

Playing Against[]

If a Boiler gets too close, injure them to slow their movement speed to a crawl, then get to a safe distance.
Weapons/items with knockback, such as the Bat or the Disintegrator allow you to force a Boiler away from buildings and teammates/yourself.
Don't shoot Boilers near other teammates, you'll likely mess them up and end up dealing too much damage.
- Consider using knockback items that deal little-to-no damage, such as the Flamer's air-blast, or the Bat.
Watch out for their puke; if a Boiler gets close, try moving erratically to make it less likely that their puke will slow you down.
If you have the luxury, try to listen out for any nearby boilers sitting in ambush behind a corner.

Trivia[]

The Boiler was the first special infected programmed and added to the game.
This is one of the 2 zombie types that appear on the thumbnail (The other being the Strangler)
The Boiler's original pre-alpha model was covered in pulsating boils, which is where his name came from.
Originally, the Boiler was going to not deal damage when exploding, but instead released a "gel" that would buff any other zombies near it, intending to make humans be more careful with where they shoot and force them to prioritize targets. This was scrapped for a kamikaze-type attack because it would've made the Boiler useless when alone, and wouldn't be very fun to play as.
When The Boiler is killed by the Golden Crowbar, it's golden statue will explode, activating the "Coin Rain" effect 100% of the time. (This effect used to delay the Boiler's explosion by turning them into a gold statue temporarily, but this has since been removed due to being an unfair advantage to users of the Golden Crowbar.)

Media[]

Gallery