Having the optimal build can be the difference between life and death for you and your friends in Back 4 Blood as you face a relentless zombie onslaught, and utilizing cards can simplify your game. With a staggering variety of 191 cards, selecting the perfect deck for your build can feel overwhelming.
If you’re weary of testing out various cards and decks, you’ve arrived at the right spot. This guide to the best builds offers all the essential information needed to assemble the most effective build for your character in Back 4 Blood.
7. High Damage Melee Build
This build prioritizes high damage output and sustainability, focusing on a careful balance of stamina efficiency, damage, and self-healing. To improve stamina usage, we recommend cards like Brazen and Slugger, which facilitate quicker and longer weapon swings.
For ammunition management, we concentrate on mobility cards that enhance stamina, speed, health, and reload speed. Given that this build thrives in high-difficulty scenarios, maintaining abundant stamina is essential, and these cards will enhance and replenish your stamina effectively.
By utilizing this collection of cards, players can achieve sustained melee attack efficiency, inflict major damage upon both common and special infected foes, and ensure healing for themselves and their companions during intense combat. This build excels particularly well in higher difficulty levels, where aggressive play is crucial to conserving resources.
| Deck | |
| Brazen | +15% melee stamina efficiency, +20 melee attack speed, +15% bow stamina efficiency, +20% bow attack speed |
| Slugger | +5% health, +10% melee stamina efficiency, +20% melee attack speed, +10% bow stamina efficiency, +20% bow attack speed |
| Rhythmic Breathing | +40% Stamina |
| Cross Trainers | +20% stamina, +20% stamina regen, +3% move speed, +5% health |
| Adrenaline Fueled | +5% stamina for every kill, stacking indefinitely |
| Natural Sprinter | +100 stamina regeneration, -5% max stamina |
| Energy Bar | +30% stamina regen, +5% health |
| Berserker | +5% melee damage, +5% melee speed, and +5% move speed for 4 seconds |
| Mean Drunk | +40% melee damage |
| Spiky Bits | +15% melee damage, +20% damage resistance, -15% ammo capacity |
| Heavy Hitter | Stumble effect on enemies with each hit |
| Face your Fears | Heals 1 temporary health with each Ridden killed |
| Battle Lust | Gains 1 health and 0.125 trauma per melee kill |
| Vanguard | 1 health per melee kill |
| EMT Bag | +50% healing efficiency |
6. DPS Build
This build centers around maximizing damage output, utilizing primarily the Two is One and One is None and Admin Reload cards. These allow players to carry a primary weapon in the secondary slot, albeit with a 25% reduction in swap speed as a trade-off. Every time you switch weapons, it reloads.
The strategy behind this build is simple: wield two primary weapons, empty one, and swap it for the other rather than reloading. This necessitates improved swap, reload, and aiming speeds. Additionally, we want to mitigate the impact of weak spot damage by selecting cards that provide 20% enhancements to weak spot damage while also focusing on accuracy and recoil control.
This build is tailored for players seeking to maximize damage per second in challenging gameplay. With a wave of enemies approaching from all directions, reloading takes time, so the emphasis is placed on swapping between two loaded weapons.
| Deck | |
| Two is One and One is None | Can equip a primary weapon in the secondary slot with a -25% swap speed |
| Admin Reload | When stowing a weapon, it automatically reloads. |
| Reload Drills | +20% reload speed, +25% weapon swap speed |
| Shooting Gloves | +25% weapon swap speed, +15% recoil control, +15% accuracy |
| Cold Brew Coffee | +15% reload speed, +25% aim speed, +25% weapon swap speed, +25% usage speed |
| Hyper-focused | +50% weak spot damage, -40% movement speed while firing |
| Hellfire | +45% movement speed while firing, +3% movement speed while not firing |
| Reckless Strategy | +40% sprint efficiency |
| Front Sight Focus | +20% accuracy, +10% weak spot damage, +15% aim speed, +15% recoil control |
| Knowledge is Power | +10% weak spot damage |
| Shredder | 1% increased damage for 3 seconds |
| Glass Cannon | +25% damage, -30% health |
| Large Caliber Rounds | +7.5% bullet damage, +200% bullet penetration |
| Patient Hunter | +10% bullet damage for aiming down sights for 0.75 seconds |
| Ammo Belt | +50% ammo capacity, +15% reload speed |
5. Assault Rifle Build
If you’re looking to wield an assault rifle, you’ll want to ensure you have a fast reload speed combined with high damage. For this reason, this build emphasizes the Widemouth Magwell card. The first area of focus for this build is achieving exactly 100% weak spot damage in Back 4 Blood.
While base damage cards can enhance damage output, they often come at the cost of health. Thus, we need to counterbalance these cards with Large Caliber and Silver Bullet cards, which provide a staggering 200% bullet penetration. Additionally, cards that enhance reload speed should ideally bring this stat to around 60%. This deck is recommended for players who favor high damage along with effective reload speed.
| Deck | |
| Hyper-focused | +50% weak spot damage, -40% movement speed while shooting |
| Hellfire | +45% movement speed while firing, +3% movement speed while not firing |
| Reckless Strategy | +40% sprint efficiency |
| Front Sight Focus | +20% accuracy, +10% weak spot damage, +15% aim speed, +15% recoil control |
| Knowledge is Power | +10% weak spot damage |
| Glass Cannon | +25% damage, -30% health |
| Patient Hunter | +10% bullet damage for aiming down sights for 0.75 seconds |
| Shredder | 1% increased damage for 3 seconds |
| Large Caliber Rounds | +7.5% bullet damage, +200% bullet penetration |
| Silver Bullets | +10% bullet damage, +15% effective bullet range |
| Cold Brew Coffee | +15% reload speed, +25% aim speed, +25% weapon swap speed, +25% use speed |
| Widemouth Magwell | +30% reload speed, -5% damage resistance |
| Ammo Belt | +50% ammo capacity, +15% reload speed |
| Line ‘Em Up | +10% effective bullet range, +15% recoil control, +25% bullet penetration, +25% aim speed |
| Empowered Assault | Killing a second mutation causes them to stumble |
4. Explosive Build
Back 4 Blood provides ample explosive devices to obliterate groups of foes, and this build allows you to execute explosions with precision. If you’re gearing up for bosses, timed missions, or large enemy clusters, this build is tailored for you.
While the cards notably enhance character speed, the primary focus here is on the swapping speed of explosives and weapons. Thanks to the Ammo Stash card, you’ll enjoy unlimited ammo to clear rooms in case you run out of grenades. However, handling explosives calls for some serious stockpiling of health regeneration cards and stamina boosts to maintain your mobility; this is where Fire in the Hole, Canned Goods, Pyro, and Superior Cardio prove invaluable.
| Deck | |
| Belt Clip | +1% quick slot inventory, +10% usage speed |
| Copper Scavenger | Sensing nearby copper while causing more copper piles to appear |
| Money Grubbers | Team copper loots yield +3% extra copper |
| Highwayman | +5% ammo spawn for secondary firearms |
| Ammo Stash | Secondary weapons are granted unlimited ammo, but with -20% reload speed |
| Offensive Scavenger | Sensing nearby offensive items while causing them to spawn |
| Grenade Pouch | +1% offensive inventory, +25% swap speed, -5% offensive accessory price |
| Double Grenade Pouch | +2% offensive inventory |
| Demolition Expert | +50% accessory damage, -15% ammo capacity |
| Grenade Training | +25% accessory damage |
| Pyro | +100% fire damage, with a reward of 3 temporary health for each kill |
| Bomb Squad | 1 extra frag grenade spawned, +25% team explosive damage, +20% team explosive resistance |
| Canned Goods | +45 health, -25% stamina |
| Superior Cardio | +20% stamina, +20% sprint efficiency, +5% health |
| Fire in the Hole | Offensive accessories grant 20 temporary health and 25% sprint speed for 5 seconds |
3. Prophet Revive Build
This build stands out as one of the most powerful, allowing players to revive teammates instantly in Back 4 Blood. When picking up fallen comrades, they drop a buff upon reviving. This build excels in high-difficulty scenarios as players are prone to being downed more frequently, and having a dedicated reviver can enable squad success in difficult levels.
The deck for this build combines elements of reflex, offense, talent, and defense. It requires players to enhance their mobility and sprint speed, making it easier to reach downed teammates, while also boosting reviving speed and reducing trauma.
| Deck | |
| Run like Hell | +12% movement speed, +15% sprint speed |
| Rousing Speech | Teammates receive +10% health when revived, +50% team revive speed, -1% reduced incap trauma |
| Medical Expert | +50% revive speed and heals 1 trauma |
| Smelling Salts | +200% revive speed |
| Fill ‘Em Full of Leads | For every 0.25 seconds, gains 1% damage, 1% fire rate, and 5% swap speed |
| Mad Dash | +20% sprint speed, -40% sprint stamina efficiency |
| Cross Trainers | +20% stamina, +20% stamina regeneration, +3% movement speed, +5% health |
| Rhythmic Breathing | +40% Stamina |
| Down in Front | +10% health |
| Motorcycle Jacket | +15% damage resistance, +10 health |
| Inspiring Sacrifice | When a player or teammate dies, other team members regain 20 health over 10 seconds |
| EMT Bag | +50% healing efficiency |
| Scar Tissue | Reduces damage taken from all Ridden by 1, +50% acid resistance |
| Out with a Bang | When a teammate dies, they drop a pipe bomb |
| Fanny Pack | +1% support inventory, +15% trauma resistance |
2. Shotgun Bleed Build
Now, let’s delve into a powerful shotgun build designed to eliminate small enemies with a single shot and larger enemies with only two or three shots. The specific model of the shotgun isn’t crucial when it comes to taking down mutations.
This build strikes a balance between mobility and a strong offense, as it leverages cards that enhance shotgun ammunition capacity and damage output.
| Deck | |
| Run like Hell | +12% movement speed, +15% sprint speed |
| Cross Trainers | +20% stamina, +20% stamina regeneration, +3% movement speed, +5% health |
| Shredder | 1% damage increase for 3 seconds |
| Glass Cannon | +25% damage, -30% health |
| Rolling Thunder | +30% movement speed while firing shotguns, +10% shotgun damage |
| Hunker Down | +10% damage resistance and +40% accuracy while crouching |
| Down in Front | +10% health |
| Phosphorous Tipped | Allows for continuous firing |
| Large Caliber Rounds | +7.5% bullet damage, +200% bullet penetration |
| Silver Bullets | +10% bullet damage, +15% effective bullet range |
| Vitamins | +25% health |
| Scar Tissue | Reduces damage from all Ridden by 1, +50% acid resistance |
| Belligerent | Receives an additional +6% damage each time a horde is summoned |
| Shell Carrier | +30% shotgun ammunition capacity, +10% shotgun damage |
1. The Meatgrinder Melee Build
This melee build stands out for its emphasis on survivability and damage potential, making it particularly effective in Nightmare difficulty in Back 4 Blood. It suits all characters within the game, although it may limit player mobility. You can opt for weapons like the Fire Axe and Hatchet as your primary, along with shotguns, assault rifles, or SMGs for your secondary options.
Additionally, remember that the order in which you arrange the cards is significant. The sequence in which the cards are placed dictates the order in which you’ll receive them later, so be mindful when organizing the cards.
| Deck | |
| Meth Head | +40% melee attack speed, +40% stamina efficiency (disables Aim Down Sight) |
| Face Your Fears | Gaining 3 temporary health when you eliminate a Ridden within 2 meters |
| Mean Dunk | +75% melee damage; allows for area damage but disables sprint |
| Adrenaline Fueled | +5% stamina for each kill, stacking up continuously |
| Berserker | +10% melee damage, +10% melee speed, +5% movement speed |
| Numb | Gains +15% damage resistance while possessing temporary health |
| Spiky Bits | +25% melee damage, +10% damage resistance when using a melee weapon, -15% ammo capacity |
| Motorcycle Helmet | +15% damage resistance, +10 health (disables Aim Down Sight) |
| Breakout | +50% to breakout cooldown; escape from grabs by pressing F |
| Battle Lust | +2 health for every melee kill |
| Batter Up | +50% melee damage, +5 health |
| Sunder | +20% damage for 5 seconds |
| Padded Suit | +10% damage resistance, +5 health, -20% stamina efficiency |
| Hunker Down | +10% damage resistance, +40% accuracy while crouching |
| Down In Front | While crouched, neither deal nor take friendly fire damage. +10 health |
Maisah is a writer at Digital Phablet, covering the latest developments in the tech industry. With a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Indonesia, Maisah aims to keep readers informed and engaged through her writing.