Back 4 Blood: The Best Card Builds for Campaign Play

Far from a typical zombie-shooter, curate a deck of cards that give them various abilities, perks, and more. These decks are composed of 15 or fewer cards the player chooses from a larger pool of hundred and more cards. This roguelike gameplay adds a variety of possibilities for players to take advantage of in every session.

Back 4 Blood has two different card types: Corruption Cards and Active Cards. Corruption Cards are drawn by The Director after every game, applying different effects to zombies, the weather, and more. They stack as players make their way through the campaign, and some Active Cards can counter them. Active Cards are chosen by players and are added to their Deck to provide buffs and active effects. By combining these cards strategically, players can form a class that compliments their playstyle perfectly.

Players should keep in mind that their decks are drawn in order, and they aren't shuffled. Players can also change their Deck Order before or after creation. They should spend time thinking about what cards to have first, as the perks at the bottom of the deck will only be drawn later in the campaign. Additionally, solo Back 4 Blood players have access to any card they want. Those playing with friends will need to unlock specific cards by purchasing them during missions or by earning them via supply runs. Thankfully, cards in Back 4 Blood are cheap, so players will be able to fill their decks in no time as they progress through the campaign.

The Best Cards For A Fast-Paced Melee Build in Back 4 Blood

The Fast-Paced Melee class in Back 4 Blood is perfect for players who want to run around and bash as many zombies as they can. Players will want to focus on cards that increase melee damage, movement speed, and melee speed. They'll also want buffs that boost health or defense. The recommended cards for this class are as follows:

Meth Head gives players 40% melee attack speed and +40% melee stamina efficiency. It also keeps melee attacks from sticking to tough enemies but at the cost of disabling the ability to aim down sights.
Batter Up gives players +50% melee damage and an extra 5 health.
Brazen gives players +30% stamina efficiency, +30% melee attack speed, and -5% damage resistance.
Evasive Action gives players a 20% movement speed boost for three seconds when they take a hit of 10 damage or more.
Superior Cardio gives players +50% sprint efficiency and an extra 5 health.
Combat Knife gives players a combat knife in place of their bash ability, which also acts as a melee weapon.
Wounded Animal allows players to recover one health for every kill made while in critical health. Back 4 Blood zombies love keeping melee players near low health, so this card is essential.
Knowledge is Power gives players +10% weakspot damage and allows them to see values for the damage they deal.
Vanguard gives players and their team one temporary health with every melee kill.
Battle Lust allows players to heal two health with every melee kill.
Berserker gives players 10% melee damage, 10% melee speed, and 5% move speed for each melee kill in the last four seconds.
Body Armor gives players +25% trauma resistance with -15% ammo capacity.
Heavy Hitter allows melee hits against weak spots to deal +20% additional atumble damage.
Ignore The Pain gives players +20% melee damage against Mutations and allows them to gain one temporary health and recover three stamina whenever they deal melee damage to a mutation.
Spiky Bits gives players +25% melee damage and +10% damage resistance while using a melee weapon, but at the cost of -15% ammo capacity.

How To Build A Medic Class in Back 4 Blood

For players who wish to heal teammates more efficiently, they'll need to focus on the Back 4 Blood cards that increase healing efficiency, use speed, and revive speed. Players will find the most efficiency with this class using these cards:

Combat Medic heals the player's team for 20 health when they're revived and gives a bonus +50 use speed.
Headband Magnifier increases use speed by another 150%, but when a player receives damage, they have a chance to become bound for one second.
Medical Expert gives +15 healing efficiency, plus 15% movement speed for 15 seconds when the player uses a medical item.
Miraculous Recovery gives a 25% chance of having a 100% increased effect on any medical item.
Multitool gives a further 75% use speed but reduces the player's damage resistance to drop by 5%.
Pep Talk gives 150% revive speed, at the cost of another 5% decrease to the player's damage resistance.
Rousing Speech gives +225% revive speed, disables offensive accessories, and reduces the player's team incapacitation trauma by 20%.
Smelling Salts grant players +100% to their revive speed.
Antibiotic Ointment grants an additional 20% healing speed.
Charitable Soul allows the player to be healed whenever they heal a teammate, up to 50% of how much the teammate was healed. It's almost a necessary Back 4 Blood card medic players need to have if they can fit it into their deck.
Experienced EMT allows medical items in Back 4 Blood to increase the maximum health of the player or their teammates by 20% until the end of the level.
Field Surgeon grants +60% healing efficiency, at the cost of -50% use speed. This is fine, considering players will already have a 275% use speed buff.
Group Therapy allows all teammates to heal for five health when a medical accessory is used.
Medical Professional allows for the player to heal a teammate for 15 trama damage and grant one extra life to them when a First Aid or Defibrillator is used on them.

How To Build A Fast-Reloading Shotgunner Class in Back 4 Blood

Shotguns in Back 4 Blood are useful in killing swarms of zombies quickly due to the wide spray of damage they can cause. This can be further improved by being able to reload and fire a second apart. For this class, players will need these cards:

Mag Coupler gives players +50% reload speed but disables the ability to aim down sights.
Reload Drills gives players +30% reload speed.
Scattergun Skills gives players +40% reload speed with shotguns. Players can head to Back 4 Blood's practice range to see which shotgun they prefer to use with this build.
Stimulants allows pain meds to grant the player +10% movement speed, +10% reload speed, and 10% weapon swap speed for 30 seconds.
Widemouth Magwell gives players +30% reload speed at the cost of -5% damage resistance.
Power Reload grants the player +30% mag capacity whenever they reload a gun within 0.75 seconds of hitting low ammo until the next reload.
Hellfire gives players +45% move speed while firing and +5% move speed while not firing.
True Grit gives players +8 health over five seconds when they're dealt 15 or more damage.
Numb gives players +15% damage resistance while they have temporary health.
Motorcycle Helmet gives players +15% damage resistance and +10 health but disables the ability to aim down sights.
Shell Carrier gives players +30% shotgun ammo capacity and allows shotguns to deal 10% more damage.
Buckshot Bruiser allows players to gain temporary health for every shotgun pellet that hits an enemy.

Next: Why Back 4 Blood Isn't Called Left 4 Dead 3

Back 4 Blood is now available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.