The South Eastern Zone, also known as the Death Row, is one of the three end-game areas in the game alongside the Wastelands and Raven Ridge. In contrast to the Wastelands' focus on grinding, the SEZ is the end game area for looting, reserved for only the most experienced of looters.
Overview[]
Unlike the Wastelands, there is no level restriction for entering the SEZ. The SEZ (colored purple on the Map) can be accessed by walking 20 minutes to the south of SB or east of P13.
SEZ blocks are fairly similar to normal city blocks, but with a few differences. Firstly, normal weathers are absent; instead a red mist perpetually covers the area, rendering visibility an issue even at the highest brightness. Secondly, corpse piles appear frequently in the streets and are capable of hindering movement.
Mechanics[]
The Red Fog[]
In addition to reducing your overall vision at the edges of the screen, the red fog has several adverse gameplay effects:
- Your survivor's standard GPS system is jammed, making the expanded minimap only able to reveal a small area around the player.
- Other players outside your survivor's vision are also hidden on the expanded minimap, and are only revealed for a short period every 5 seconds.
- The fog conceals zombies from afar, making resting actions more risky. Therefore, going into Menu first requires clearing the surrounding area of all zombies.
Aggro[]
- Chance of natural horde in SEZ is greatly increased compared to in other areas. SEZ hordes have a total of 150 zombies, similar to those in black/white zones.
- Horde counter does not deplete when moving between areas; the only way to reduce it is by killing zombies.
- SEZ hordes consist of almost exclusively Armored Evolved Long Arms, which are extremely hard to take down without AP weapons or Explosives.
Escalation[]
Dead Frontier - Cryo hound + Green Longarm in Death Row
As SEZ is focused towards looting, the game attempts to escalate the difficulty when the player excessively use loud weapons outdoors. The stages of escalation are:
- Replaces all existing zombie in the area with Armored Evolved Long Arms.
- Spawns an Irradiated Evolved Long Arm mini-boss, this does not drop loot upon death.
- Spawns a Cryo Hound (a weaker version of the Devil Hound), this also does not drop loot upon death.
Enemies[]
Bestiary[]
See Bestiary#Tier 5 - Evolved Zombies
SEZ features variants of the base long arms, rumblers and sirens, but made significantly more dangerous. They share the following characteristics:
- Extremely high HP of around 600-1200.
- Upon noticing the player, these zombies quickly transfer from the Disturbed (walking) to Enraged (sprinting) in 1 second.
- Higher EXP density than Secronom Bunker zombie (1.75 EXP/HP vs 1.5 EXP/HP)
Bosses[]
Bosses in the SEZ spawn in these variants:
- Irradiated Evolved Long Arms: Much deadlier than the Flaming Black Long Arm, and also spawns in packs of 4.
- Irradiated variants: Spawns in packs of 3. Irradiated bosses have greatly increased health compared to their Flaming counterpart, and the ability to explode upon death.
- Mega variants: Spawns in packs of 3. Mega bosses have greatly increased damage and movement speed, as well as a slightly smaller profile, making them harder to hit at range.
- Charred variants (excluding the Charred/Flaming Charred Titan): Spawns in packs of 2. The most powerful variant, with supreme health and movement speed, and a gigantic body profile.
All bosses in the SEZ drop Mastercrafted items upon death.
Bandits[]
Bandits in the SEZ spawn in groups of 6, and are accompanied by full aggro. SEZ bandits do not guarantee Mastercrafted items upon death.
Looting[]
The game offers great opportunities to looters who can survive the perils of the SEZ:
- Higher base chance of looting weapons/armors (3% total base chance)
- Exclusive loots ranging from Nerotonin 5A, to weapons and armors (ex. Vitalcore Reactive and Exile Mesh) and backpack blueprints
- Better loot quality compared to black/white zone and Wastelands
- Weapons: 100+ proficiency
- Medicine: Steroid is removed
- Ammunition: 14mm, 12.7mm, 9mm, 12 gauge, 10 gauge, heavy grenades, .55, gasoline.
These items are also exclusive to the SEZ:
- Nerotonin 5A: An extremely potent drug capable of restoring 50% HP without the need of doctor. It has a drop chance of 1/101 when the player is offered a Medicine item.
- Tier 3 120 Proficiency Weapons: Features increased firepower and AP capability, specifically designed to defeat Armored Evolved Long Arms. There is an extremely small chance of looting assembled copies of these items; however, blueprints for these weapons can also be looted and combined with Devil Hearts.