Zombie Slayer/Strategy

Mr. Store Items

Without familiars or permed skills, there are very few Mr. Store items that have a direct impact on Zombie Slayer runs, especially in Hardcore.

These are the Mr. Store items which can directly affect a Hardcore Zombie Slayer run:

Reagnimated Gnome: The only fairy-type familiar available (so far) in a Zombie Slayer run.
Clan VIP Lounge key: Allows access to several Mr. Accessories worth of clan furnishings.
A Pumpkin Patch or A Peppermint Patch: Mutually exclusive.
My Own Pen Pal kit: Not particularly useful, but a 200 meat boost from selling a giant clay ashtray and Pokëmann band-aids helps.

Normal runs can also pull Mr. Store items, though most familiars, skillbooks, and shirts are unusable.

Astral Sign

Since Little Canadia and the Gnomish Gnomads' Camp are deserted except for the ML machines, The Inside Degrassi Knoll seems to be the natural choice, because the General Store remains open. However, it may be worth taking The Opossum or The Blender for the extra adventures it generates.

Astral Consumables

Astral hot dogs do not contain brains, so that's out of the question. Astral energy drinks seems to be the most desirable option, since there are no unliving familiars that generate spleen items.

Astral Gear

Zombie Master skills

The following is an analysis of all of the skills available in Zombie Slayer. Some skills will be more desirable after you bank skill points.

Intrinsic

Infectious Bite: Infects monsters and deals passive damage every turn (damage can be improved with certain skills) and can turn them into zombies for your horde. In the first few levels when you can one-shot monsters with the bite alone, you will gain zombies easily. This method becomes less practical later, as tougher monsters require more bites, and trying to infect tougher monsters may result in a huge loss of HP.
Recruit Zombie: Spends adventures to add zombies to your horde. Adventures are scarce enough in Zombie Slayer, and there are much more efficient ways to recruit zombies. Do not use.

Hunger of the Zombie

Hunger of the Zombie focuses on adventure gains and defensive skills. Naturally, this skill tree is the most important since brains don't generate as much turns as normal food, so it's vital for reducing day count. This skill tree also contains some passive skills that will heal you and reduce damage taken overall, and with Doc Galactik gone, you will need them to keep your HP up.

Bite Minion: Restores 10% of your HP, or a minimum of 10 HP. A rather basic healing skill, but it's better than spending adventures to rest. Can be improved with Devour Minions to heal negative effects.
Lure Minions: Exchange brains for zombies. Great for disposing crappy brains from back-end farming, but Summon Minions is better as a primary zombie source.
Undying Greed: +25% Meat drops.
Hunter's Sprint: A massive boost to combat initiative. Saves a lot of HP in the long run. Also boosts modern zmobie appearance.
Insatiable Hunger: Boosts stomach capacity. You'll need all the adventures you can get. A very good skill.
Devour Minions: Restores 50% HP for 4 minions, and can be used in combat.
Indefatigable: Tons of HP regen. You'll never run out of HP with this.
Skullcracker: Boosts brain drops, and critical hits occasionally stuns opponents.
Neurogourmet: More adventures gained from brains. Undoubtedly a powerful skill, but the number of skill points required could mean rushing this may deprave you of other important skills.
Ravenous Pounce: Gives more stomach capacity and a combat skill.

Anger of the Zombie

Anger of the Zombies focuses on combat effectiveness. Unlike the Avatars of Boris who get all the combat prowess they need from their other skill trees, it may be worth investing some points into this skill tree to make combat easier.

Distracting Minion: Uses 1 zombie for an unblockable regular attack. A great, cheap combat skill that provides leverage against tougher monsters.
Plague Claws: Delevels opponents and increases the infection damage from Infectious bite.
Flesh Mob: Deals greater damage for 3 zombies.
Elemental Obliviousness: Gives passive elemental resistances.
Vigor Mortis: A passive 30% boost to Muscle. Makes many fights much easier, and helps against the Naughty Sorceress. A very powerful skill worth getting.
Virulence: Boosts critical hit chance and critical hits improve infections.
Bilious Burst: Uses 5 zombies to deal elemental damage.
Unyielding Flesh: Passively boosts DA and DR.
Corpse Pile: Uses 3 zombies to stun monsters and deal damage.
Howl of the Alpha: Banishes monsters, or deals heavy damage to unbanishable monsters. Once you have skill points to spare, learning this helps save turns. Basically the ZM version of Transcendent Olfaction.

Master of the Zombie

Master of the Zombie is a utility-oriented skill tree. It provides skills that provide useful buffs. While it doesn't give more adventures like Hunger, it's nevertheless helps speed up runs.

Summon Minion: Summons a zombie for 100 meat. Since meat is hardly spent in Zombie Slayer, this skill will provide you with all the zombies you need. Once Infectious Bite becomes less effective, this skill will be your primary source of zombies.
Zombie Chow: Sacrifices a zombie to boost familiar weight. Great for an early boost in stat gains from the Hovering Skull early on.
Smash & Graaagh: Deals minor damage and attempts to steal an item.
Scavenge: Boosts item drops for 2 zombies. Without a Reagnimated Gnome, item drop boosters are scarce. Very useful either way.
Meat Shields: For 1 turn, your zombies will block incoming attacks.
Summon Horde: For 1000 meat, summons at least 11 zombies. A bit more cost-efficient than Summon Minion. Also makes Summon Minion boost +Combat%, good for making the Lighthouse quest faster.
His Master's Voice: Passively boosts familiar weight by 5.
Ag-grave-ation: Boosts ML for 3 zombies.
Disquiet Riot: Provides -Combat% for 5 zombies. A very powerful skill.
Zombie Maestro: Gives a powerful combat skill and passively lowers all skill costs by 1 zombie (min. 1).

Familiars

Before ascending into a Zombie Slayer run, make sure the functions that your familiars normally provide are accounted for:

Item drops: Only provided by the Reagnimated Gnome (as of this writing), making it a critical familiar.
Stat gains: The Hovering Skull will provide early-game Volleyball stats, and the Hovering Sombrero can take over later.
HP restoration: After combat from the Ghuol Whelp (50% of the time) or during combat from the NPZR (rarely).
Combat: The NPZR is helpful, and the Hovering Skull and Reagnimated Gnome will help while performing their primary functions. The Gnome and NPZR are the only familiars that can block attacks, a very useful function when you're not killing things in one hit.

List of available familiars


Familiar	Type	Full Effect	Availability	Notes
Reagnimated Gnome	Items	Increases item drops Blocks, attacks, delevels, or gives +adv via equipment	Mr. Store	IotM for the first few weeks of the path. The only item-drop familiar available in Zombie Slayer.
Hovering Skull	Stats	Increases stat gains Attacks enemies	Common	Available in The Defiled Nook in-run.
Hovering Sombrero	Stats	Increases stat gains	Common	Created from items found South of the Border.
Gluttonous Green Ghost	Stats	Increases stat gains If given food, ~~restores MP and~~ attacks enemies	Mr. Store	There is no MP in this path.
Spirit Hobo	Stats	Increases stat gains If given booze, ~~restores MP and~~ attacks enemies	Mr. Store	There is no MP in this path.
Jill-O-Lantern	Stats	Increases stat gains Attacks enemies	Mr. Store	Prohibitively expensive for most players.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot	Combat	Restores HP/MP Delevels enemies Gives Meat in combat Attacks enemies	Requires rare item	There is no MP in this path.
Misshapen Animal Skeleton	Combat	Attacks enemies Delevels enemies	Common	While "common", still takes lots of effort to make.
Ghost Pickle on a Stick	Combat	Attacks enemies Delevels enemies	Requires rare item	Same as Misshapen Animal Skeleton, but does less damage.
Spooky Pirate Skeleton	Combat	Attacks enemies Delevels enemies	Common	Similar to Misshapen Animal Skeleton, but less effective.
Ghuol Whelp	Combat	Restores HP/MP after combat	Common	There is no MP in this path.
Scary Death Orb	Combat	Attacks enemies Attacks you	Common	Only useful for masochistic 100% familiar runs.
Disembodied Hand	Special	Provides buffs via equipped weapon Attacks enemies	Mr. Store
Reassembled Blackbird & Reconstituted Crow	Special	Nothing	Common	Required for the level 11 quest.