Most early downs come from opening the wrong doors, skipping Juggernog, or spraying the starting pistol on round 1. This route is for a standard map that has perks and Pack-a-Punch. It is not the route for Bus Depot.
Rounds 1 to 4
Knife. Repair boards only when the round is under control. A solo target used by survival guides is more than 3,000 points by the end of round 4. Do not buy doors yet unless a teammate is opening the path everyone will use.
Rounds 5 to 8
Open the door toward Juggernog and the Mystery Box, not every side room. Buy one wall SMG or take one or two box spins. Buy Juggernog as soon as you can stand at the machine. Then buy Quick Revive if you are alone, or Speed Cola if someone else can revive you.
Leave one crawler at the end of the round while you move.
Rounds 9 to 15
Take a better primary from the box if the wall gun is falling off. Unlock Pack-a-Punch and spend 5,000 points on that primary before you spend the same amount on a pistol. Add Speed Cola and Double Tap Root Beer after health and revive are covered. Learn one loop with an exit. Do not reload in a corner.
Mistakes that end the run
- Buying every door and then having no points for Juggernog.
- Killing the last zombie while you are still standing at a closed door.
- Standing still to reload.
- Treating Knightmare as the learning difficulty. Badge lists treat round 20 on Knightmare as a hard survival badge. Round 15 on Normal is the first useful milestone.
On the difficulty row that deals 50 damage, 100 health is two hits and 250 health is five hits. That is why Juggernog is the first purchase. Other difficulty rows change the damage, so the hit count is not universal. See difficulty and XP.