Dead Island 2 is filled with various zombie types, and variations of each type to continue to spice the game up in combat encounters. As the game progresses, you will find more Dead Island 2 Zombie Types, which typically unlock as part of the game’s main storyline, with others appearing somewhat randomly as you progress through various stages of maps and levels. So, to aid you with understanding what you can come up against, we’ve created a table detailing each zombie type, their variants, and what they do, and when you can roughly expect them to appear in game.

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(1 of 5) Butcho the Clown is a terrifying new zombie type, which is a type Butcher zombie type in Dead Island 2.

All Dead Island 2 Zombie Types¶

Dead Island 2 Zombie Type	Form	Description	First appearance?
Shambler	Infected	The weakest of all zombies, its slow, low health and low damage.	Appears at the start of the game.
Walker	Infected	The bog standard of all zombie types in Dead Island 2, its got an average speed, somewhat low health and low damage. It is also capable of getting you in a lock and attempts to bite you.	Appears at the start of the game.
Runner	Infected	Very similar to a walker, albeit, they do more damage, and have more HP.	They start appearing around Hotel Halperin and beyond.
Eat Courier	Infected	A type of runner zombie in Dead Island 2, which has a special backback, which you can destroy for items like Protein Bars, Energy Drinks, and occasional some crafting materials.	At the end of Brentwood Sewer when you reach Venice Beach.
Burning Walker	Variant	Some walkers have a chance to spawn as burning walkers, and are often found nearby preset oil spills.	These creatures typically appear around Venice Beach, especially when you encounter your first Burning Crusher.
Burning Runner	Variant	Some walkers have a chance to spawn as Burning Runners, and are often found nearby preset oil spills.	These creatures typically appear around Venice Beach, especially when you encounter your first Burning Crusher.
Grenadier Walker	Variant	A form of walker wearing military uniform. These are often found near military sites or areas of military presence, but can spawn randomly around vents and sewer exits like normal zombie spawns.	Typically appear after Beverly Hills, and are often found in Venice Beach.
Shocking Walker	Variant	a type of walker that will occasionally discharge static electricity, shocking nearby bodies of water, fellow zombies, and living humans.	Typically appears after Monarch Studios.
Shocking Runner	Variant	Similar to the Shocking Walker, albeit, runs at you instead.	Ibid.
Spiky Walker	Variant	Walkers with shards of metal and glass embedded in them. Direct contact with these creatures will cause bleed status effect to build up, regardless if you hit them or they hit you with direct body-to-body contact.	Often seen around Venice Beach and beyond.
Spiky Runner	Variant	Runners with shards of metal and glass embedded in them. Direct contact with these creatures will cause bleed status effect to build up, regardless if you hit them or they hit you with direct body-to-body contact.	Often seen around Venice Beach and beyond.
Riot Gear Walker	Variant	A well armored walker, with plates made for protecting body parts. Players need to break the protection off the armor before they can deal damage to that body part, which typically occurs after a limb is hit twice.	Begins to spawn around Beverly Hills and beyond.
Insect Swarm Walker	Variant	A type of Walker that has a swarm of pets. hey will unleash them at a player, and will deal minor damage over time if the player gets hit with the swarm of insects. Killing the walker will also end the pests.	Spawns when you head to Beverly Hills for the first time.
Caustic-X Walker	Variant	A type of walker that wears special hazmat suits, and carries a barrel of caustic-X acid on its back. Damaging the cannister can cause it to explode and leave patches of Caustic-X chemicals on the floor, burning both zombie and human alike.	This creature typically spawns in later levels like the Sewer and beyond. However, they also play a big part in the side quest, Ravages of Caustic X, so they may spawn much sooner.
Hydration Walker	Variant	A type of walker with a large barrel of water on its back. Pop it to leave patches of water on the ground, allowing you to electrify the area for creative traps against zombies.	Often seen around Venice Beach and beyond.
Incendiary Walker	Variant	a type of walker with an oil barrel on its back. Damaging the cannister will allow the user to destroy the zombie, and leave patches of oil on the ground ready for you to set alight.	Often appears around mid point of the story alongside hydration and caustic walkers.
Hazmat Walker	Variant	A type of zombie that is immune to chemical attacks from Caustic-X acid.	They often appears during the CDC missions around Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica Pier, Metro, and Hollywood, but can spawn randomly throughout other missions once they are seen.
Hazmat Runner	Variant	A type of zombie that is immune to chemical attacks from Caustic-X acid.	They often appears during the CDC missions around Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica Pier, Metro, and Hollywood, but can spawn randomly throughout other missions once they are seen.
Firefighter Walker	Variant	These creatures are strong walkers, that wear protective materials that make them immune to fire.	These are one of the earliest protective zombies, which you can find around Venice Beach onwards, but appear often enough through other early game areas where there’s lots of oils.
Firefighter Runner	Variant	These creatures are strong walkers, that wear protective materials that make them immune to fire.	These are one of the earliest protective zombies, which you can find around Venice Beach onwards, but appear often enough through other early game areas where there’s lots of oils.
Crusher	Apex	The very first Apex type of zombie you find. These are a large creatures with lots of health and damage, with a special ground and pound that can knock both human and zombie to the floor if they are caught in their steroid shockwaves.	These creatures begin to spawn after you defeat Becki the Bride in Hotel Halperin.
Inferno Crusher	Apex Variant	A variant of the Crusher, which ignites itself in flames at the start of combat.	These creatures begin to spawn after you face Dillon in the Venice Beach main storyline.
Burster	Apex	A zombie that is just as flimsy as the Shamblers, however, when they die, they explode. They can also explode earlier, leaving a very short lasting gas that can damage players.	Begin to appear after Sam B sends you into the sewers when you go looking for Venice Beach.
Screamer	Apex	The loudest of all the zombie types in Dead Island 2. These creatures will begin to charge up a very load screech, which will attract the presence of nearby zombies, and spawn more Walkers and Shamblers around her. Interrupting a screech before it goes off can prevent this Karen asking for the manager at very loud decibel range.	Appears during the Justifiable Zombiecide mission, after defeating the first screamer boss fight.
Voltaic Screamer	Apex Variant	The Voltaic Screamer is a form of screamer that sends out electric arcs of energy in its scream, electrifying water spaces, and enemies caught in its scream.	These variants of Screamers appear after the blood drive mission in the Santa Monica Pier level, when you get the blood sample for Dr. Reed.
Slobber	Apex	A very large type of zombie, with lots of HP. It’s very slow, and typically prefers to stand still and shoot Caustic-X at you from afar, or in a radius around its body when it pukes.	The creature spawns after the boss fight in Monarch Studios main story.
Putrified Slobber	Apex Variant	A form of Slobber that sends out explosive mines that detonate shortly after.	These spawn typically after the Brentwood sewer level, but can spawn earlier, such as in the Ravages of Caustic-X Side mission.
Firestorm Slobber	Apex Variant	One of the final forms of Slobbers, which pits fire and uses fire breath instead of caustic acid.	We only found typically after the Ocean Avenue missions.
Butcher	Apex	A very tough, sturdy, and defensive creature that uses fast attacks, dives, and combos to deal lots of damage to humans.	They start to appear after Bucho, the clown fight at the end of the Santa Monica Pier level.
Vicious Butcher	Apex Variant	A form of Butcher enemy, which specializes in bleeds, and also makes itself immune from bleed effects.	This creature appears during the Metro level, and can spawn in Butcher hotspots across the map, or in certain end game quests.
Mutator	Apex	The final type of zombie that you encounter in the base game. This creature looks like a Shambler, albeit with the stability of a Walker. If not killed quickly, they will mutate, and gain new abilities, like a long range attack, a ground slam, an immune, and a ranged attack that comes from its chest. This is by far the toughest type of zombie in Dead Island 2.	The creature only begins to spawn after defeating Noah at the end of The Search For Truth main story mission. It also has set few hotpsot spawns, and also drops a key from the Mutated Guest in hotel Halperin.