Swarmer

Swarmers are the most common type of all Freakers.

Overview[]

Swarmers are infected adults, who make up the majority of the Freakers. They generally travel in groups. They are relatively minor threats when alone or in small groups, but in Hordes, they can easily overwhelm their prey.

Types Of Swarmers[]

Swarmers come in two different variants:

Average Swarmers - Basic swarmers that roam freely and come with any clothing or skin color. They can also be male or female.
Horde-Based Swarmers - Swarmers that take part in Hordes, but can also be found randomly scattered in the map and can be spawned after the scream of a screamer.

Comparison Between Normal And Horde-Based Swarmers[]

Both variants of Swarmers have notable similarities and differences:

Horde-based swarmers are exclusively male, unlike average swarmers which are either male or female.
Horde-based swarmers are sometimes shirtless, like average swarmers.
Horde-based swarmers share some of the same sounds as male average swarmers.
Horde-based swarmers run towards and attack the player more promptly, unlike average swarmers which stop and notice the player for a short period of time before starting to attack.
Unlike average swarmers, horde-based swarmers cannot be lured towards rocks and are not affected by the bull rush skill. However, they can still be lured towards attractors or attractor bombs.
When killed by an explosion, horde-based swarmers bend down before falling to the ground instead of being launched into the air like the case with average swarmers.
Horde-based swarmers do not grapple the player, only having the ability to pounce with their hands.
Horde-based swarmers can be stunned by rocks with the Rock On skill, like average swarmers. However, trying to stealth attack them will occasionally make them immediately pounce the player before turning away.
Horde-based swarmers have different walking animations compared to average swarmers.
Horde-based swarmers are immune to the effects of the Residue Bolt, unlike average swarmers.

Attack Types[]

The swarmer has two different attack types:

One attack type involves the swarmer pouncing the player with its hands, sometimes using both hands repeatedly.
Another attack type involves the swarmer opening its arms and grappling the player with its hands. With the escape artist skill, the player can quickly defeat the swarmer after escaping from the grapple. Horde-based swarmers lack this attack type.

Strategy[]

Since swarmers have low health, they are easy to defeat. If there is only one, the player can repeatedly slash it with the Boot Knife a number of times until it falls to the ground. If there is more than one, ranged weapons are recommended, unless the player has the bull rush skill unlocked. With that skill unlocked, the player can quickly defeat small groups of swarmers by ramming and stunning them before stomping on them.

In the case of groups of horde-based swarmers, they are not affected by the bull rush skill, so the player has to use ranged weapons or throwable weapons such as molotovs, pipe bombs, frag grenades, and so on. Like average swarmers, the player can repeatedly slash with the Boot Knife if there are only a few horde-based swarmers.