State of Decay 2, Undead Lab's open-world zombie survival game, first launched in 2018 to a mixed critical reception. Despite this, repeated patches and updates kept the title relevant and helped it to surpass 10 million total players by August 2019. Those counts have fallen off since then, but now achievement-hunting players are heading back to State of Decay 2 in order to complete the "Brute Force" challenge in the weekly Xbox Game Pass.
The achievement, which awards 100 Reward Points, is to kill 5 Juggernauts, one of State of Decay 2's most deadly enemies. This challenge is timed to celebrate the upcoming Juggernaut Edition, one of the game's largest updates so far.
The Biggest Freaks
At launch, the best idea when running into a Juggernaut in State of Decay 2 was to run the other way, which is probably still true in the upcoming Steam release. The toughest of the game's special Freak zombies, Juggernauts are massive HP sponges with the ability to smash both survivors and vehicles into little pieces. Even ramming one with a car is ineffective, as the vehicle will break before the Juggernaut does.
They are also immune to fire damage, meaning molotovs and petrol bombs are out, and are smart enough to ignore decoys once they've spotted a survivor. Although they're big, don't be fooled into thinking State of Decay 2's Juggernauts are slow. They're capable of a surprising turn of speed, meaning explosives like Soda Can Bombs or Grenades can be extremely tricky to land.
Beating the Unbeatable
That's enough about strengths, it's time to go over the Juggernaut's weaknesses, of which there aren't many. First, they aren't exactly acrobats, and are unable to climb walls or fences, though be warned that they can break through some. They are also too big to fit through most doors and windows, giving players a temporary shelter inside, to rest and repair their weapons.
As with most zombies, headshots are the order of the day, though a vast amount of bullets will be needed to take down a Juggernaut. After repeated shots, the skull will be exposed, then two chunks will blow out one after another, until finally a single eye remains. At this point, the Juggernaut is on the verge of collapse, and a few more shots will be enough to bring it to its knees. As soon as the Juggernaut goes down, sprint over and finish it off with a melee attack. This is the only way to finish off a Juggernaut for good, and continued shooting will do nothing.
State of Decay 2Â is out now for PC and Xbox One.