Plague Zones are groups of infected along with 1 or more special Menaces and 1 Matriarch in the center. While a good source of Hero Gear Parts, Jane fragments, and even Maddie fragments, Plague Zones consume a significant amount of stamina, so it is best to clear them with a full alliance strike team to lower the total amount of stamina needed.
If you’re just starting out on Plague Zones for the first time, you’ll need to clear lower levels before being able to attempt higher levels. But, you can skip levels as you progress, and you don’t need to clear every level from 1 through 19 before attacking level 20 (like you need to do for Infected). So, if you’ve just cleared a level 13 Plague Zone, you may be able to go directly to a level 16 or 17 directly. Much like Infected, the higher level Plague Zone, the better the rewards (and the more difficult they are to complete.
Best way to clear a plague zone
To “clear” a Plague Zone, you’ll need to defeat the Zone Matriarch in the center. But you can’t attack it directly. You’ll need to defeat the accompanying Zone Menace(s) first. And before you can attack the Zone Menace(s), you need to defeat any borderingInfected. Let’s look at a level 15 Plague Zone example. For this Plague Zone, the approximate order that you’ll need to attack is numbered 1, 2, and 3. Tip: you can save stamina by ignoring the Infected that don’t border a Menace or Matriarch (marked with a red X). If you’re clearing this plague zone with a strike team (which you should be), alliance members can each attack a different bordering Infected at the same time.
Zone Menace: After defeating all the Infected bordering the Zone menace, you’ll need to send your heroes to drain the Menace’s HP bar to zero before you can attack it. This is similar to the Explorer Trail in the Hero Precinct except there is a time limit. For higher level Plague Zones, your strike team may need to send multiple hits before you completely drain the HP bar.
After draining the HP bar to zero, you have the option to attack the Zone Menace directly, or send a rally. Tip: you should always send a rally to the Zone Menace so more members of your alliance can join and earn the rewards. Rallies can be set for as short as 1 minute, so you don’t have to worry about the Plague Zone timing out before you finish it.
Zone Matriarch: After defeating all Zone Menaces and any Infected that border the Zone Matriarch, you’ll have to drain the Matriarch’s HP to zero like you did with the Menace. At this point you can rally the Matriarch and finish clearing the Plague Zone. Tip: it takes 30 stamina to rally or attack a Matriarch, but you can lower this to 24 stamina by using Travis to lead your march.
Since Plague Zones are stamina-intensive, it’s best to coordinate with your alliance to put together a strike team before attacking one. Try to complete 1 Plague Zone per day because you receive rewards at the end of each day based on the highest Plague Zone rating that you’ve defeated that day. These rewards include valuable Jane fragments and, even better, crates that can contain Maddie fragments.
Pro-tips
- If there are players in your alliance who haven’t cleared the lower level Plague Zones, players who are on higher level Plague Zones can help the players skip to their level by inviting them to their Plague Zone strike team.
- If you see a less active alliance attacking a Plague Zone solo, if you can get a strike team together quick enough, you might be able to take first place in that Plague Zone while spending less total stamina. While they’re spending stamina slowly clearing the Plague Zone tiles one-by-one, your strike team can clear multiple tiles at a time. In the end, you’ll save a few tile hits worth of stamina that the solo player hit but will still get maximum rewards.
