The best Back 4 Blood builds

Smash the Ridden, whatever your playstyle.

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Looking for the best Back 4 Blood build? Thanks to thecard system, there are plenty of ways to customise yourcharacter’s playstyle, and a strong build can mean the difference between life and death, especially on the higher difficulties.

Turtle Rock Studios' new Ridden-infested FPS is a spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead. While there are a lot of similarities between the two games, ignoring the advantages of a good build will significantly lower your chances of survival. So, here are the best Back 4 Blood builds to get you started.

Best Back 4 Blood builds

While it’s possible to play solo with bots, the game shines when you play as part of a team. As you’ll want to diversify your roles—and weapons—as much as possible to help in different situations, these builds will work as a good starting point.

The cards I’ve picked for these builds complement each characters' strengths, but they’re not set in stone. With so many potential combinations to choose from, there’s certainly room for experimentation, and you might find substituting certain cards work better with your particular playstyle or team composition.

Also, bear in mind that cards are drawn in order, so shuffle these builds around, depending on the team’s needs overall.

Melee

Back 4 Blood melee build: Holly/Evangelo

Both Holly and Evangelo have buffs that lean more towards a melee build. First, Holly’s 10% damage resistance means she’s the best Cleaner if you want to get up close and personal with any Ridden you come across. She also receives 10 stamina with each kill and offers the team a sizable 25 stamina increase.

On the other hand, Evangelo offers a 25% increase to his stamina regeneration, his breakout speed is increased by 75%, and he brings a 5% boost to the team’s speed. Any melee weapon will work with this build, and having a shotgun on standby can help out early on.

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Assault rifle/sniper

Back 4 Blood assault rifle/sniper build: Walker

Walker gains 20% accuracy for 5 seconds after a precision kill, so you’ll want to focus on either sniper or assault rifles for this build. He also buffs the team with an extra 10 health, which could be the difference between life and death in tricky situations.

One of the first cards you’ll want to draw is ‘Two is One and One is None’. This gives you the option of equipping two primary weapons so you can switch between an assault rifle and sniper if you can’t choose between the two, and depending on the situation.

Support

Back 4 Blood support build: Mom/Doc

Both Mom and Doc’s bonuses make them decent support characters. Mom can instantly revive a teammate once per level, has a larger support inventory, and grants the team an extra life. Doc’s passives offer some defense, increasing the entire team’s trauma damage resistance by 25%, letting her heal each teammate for 25 health on every level, and increasing her overall healing efficiency by 30%.

As both of these Cleaners' perks don’t relate to a specific playstyle, you can use any weapon to help your team deal damage.

The cards in this deck focus on strengthening their role as support, but if you’re after a hybrid build, you can swap in some cards to buff your weapon of choice.

SMG/assault Rifle

Back 4 Blood SMG/assault rifle build: Hoffman

Choosing to play asHoffmanwill help bolster the team’s ammo. He has the chance to find ammo whenever he kills a Ridden, has an extra grenade, and increases teammates ammo capacity by 10%. This makes picking either an assault rifle or SMG a pretty solid choice, and using the ‘Two is One and One is None’ card will allow you to carry two primary weapons.

This build also takes into account Hoffman’s extra offensive slot, so I’ve given him cards that buff explosives, too.

Sarah started as a freelance writer in 2018, writing for PCGamesN, TechRadar, GamingBible, Red Bull Gaming and more. In 2021, she was offered a full-time position on the PC Gamer team where she takes every possible opportunity to talk about World of Warcraft and Elden Ring. When not writing guides, most of her spare time is spent in Azeroth—though she’s quite partial to JRPGs too. One of her fondest hopes is to one day play through the ending of Final Fantasy X without breaking down into a sobbing heap. She probably has more wolves in Valheim than you.

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