Nemesis Zombies - An interesting speculation.

id love it if littered survivor corpses would be consumed and spawn a zombie.

The last time I saw a zombie was in 2024 and it stood still standing on the rocky edge of a hill.

Some key points and otherwise Unknown/Hidden Stats about Nemesis's Zombies:

Base kit, The zombies have a 95 degree cone of vision that extends to 14 meters within their visual range wherever they're facing, but can be extended to a maximum of 20 meters with add-ons, and a 27% larger cone of vision (120 degrees). They will always try to chase survivors that they see, no matter how silent, and crouched or not, but when it comes to their detection, sound is surprisingly where they excel.

For Nemesis Players, Sounds that attract zombies:

Long Distance (Max of 40 meters): Failed Skillchecks/Explosion alerts to the killer (on repairing and healing), Fast/Medium Vaulting, Pallet Dropping, Fast jumping into lockers, Fireworks/Flashbangs, Screaming.

Short Distance (16 meters or less): Pained Grunting, Healing, Opening Chests, Entering lockers slowly, Flashlight Clicking, Repairing, Running, Totem cleansing/blessing, Sabotage.

Extremely short distance (2 - 4 meters): Breathing, Walking, Slow vaulting, and flashlight clicking. (zombies will not hear breathing at all if survivor is healthy and crouching, you can literally sneak right up behind them)

Survivor Perks that suppress/throw off zombies audio detection ability:

Technician, Iron Will, Calm Spirit, Quick & Quiet, Diversion, Red Herring, Deception, Self-Preservation, Bite the bullet, etc.

Killer Perks that enhance Zombies Audio Detection Ability:

Infectious Fright, Discordance, Iron Maiden, Spies from the Shadows, Hoarder, Tinkerer, Call Of Brine, Stridor, Overcharge & Huntress Lullaby (for failed skillchecks), Make Your Choice, Deathbound, Dragons Grip, No Way Out, Surge, Eruption, Scourge Hook: Pain Resonance... etc.(basically anything that causes an alert/explosion/scream/failed or even successful skillcheck audio notification to the killer, whether survivors hear them or not, affects the zombies detection behavior as long as it happens within 40m of them).

For this Reason, Any good Nemesis Player will prioritize the zombies Movement Speed add-ons over Detection Radius. While having Zombies react to survivors within a 120 degree visual radius is nice... their audio detection radius defeats it by a LARGE MARGINE, and giving them bonus movement speed over the base 1 meter per second, makes them cover more ground, and run into survivors more often. Basically, Movement Speed add-ons "HANDS DOWN" Fully trumps any detection radius add-ons!

Just think of it like this... at the base-kit speed of 1 m/s with both detection add-ons, which give them a max 20m of visual detection, the Zombies take 20 seconds to approach a gen while survivors are working on it. With the the best speed add-ons (Mikhail's Eye + Depleted Ink Ribbon) the zombies move at 1.85 m/s, and with the Sound Alert perks (Like discordance) the Zombies at the same distance of 20m approach a gen in 10.81 seconds! That's practically HALF the time. With a perk like Discordance, they can also start their approach from 40m Away (which takes them 21.62 seconds), and due to how Quiet the zombies are (Literally can't be heard by survivors until they are within 8m), That makes a HELL of a difference.

Technically the FASTEST speed a zombie can move is 3m/s, HOWEVER, that is with Depleted Ink Ribbon and the Shattered S.T.A.R.S. Badge Add-ons, the Latter of which is only active for 60 seconds every time a gen completes. Basically, You have your Choice: either have them moving all match at 1.85 m/s with Mikhail's Eye + Ink Ribbon, or go for broke with Ink Ribbon + Shattered S.T.A.R.S. Badge and give them Max speed for 1 min at a time every time a gen completes, but otherwise only give them 1.5 m/s for the majority of the match.

For Survivors against a Nemesis:

If you are having trouble with zombies constantly bugging you on gens or following you around seemingly out of nowhere, chances are the Nemesis Brought in 1 or more of the perks that alert zombies to you in order to give them more map pressure/presence. A lot of these perks you can't do much about, but survivors are not hopeless.

Pipe down with Iron Will, maybe throw on Diversion, Calm Spirit or Q&Q, and they'll have a harder time locating you over the core noises that get their attention (Screaming, Vaulting, Pained Grunting), Although I find that While Technician won't stop them from becoming attracted due to Discordance/Tinkerer/SH: Pain Resonance etc, it makes them have to be a lot closer to a gen without seeing you before they realize you're there due to your much quieter repair noises.

Otherwise, If the Killer doesn't have any of these perks equipped, and you're very silent/stealthy, Then the zombies roam the map aimlessly and randomly, but lets face it, If someone's playing Nemesis without at least 1 of those perks/ms add-ons, they're not getting the most out of the passive part of their power... That's good news for Survivors!

I hope this Helps everyone who reads it fully, to better understand Nemesis.

As for the Female Zombie being more aware than the Male… That's not a coincidence! However, it's also not true… Let me explain:

The Female zombie has the same standard as the Female Survivor Model and Hitbox, Whereas the Male has a Male Survivor Model and Hitbox. Funny enough, apparently even a very "DEI" company like BHVR realizes that Males have… Different builds than Females. As such, the slightly larger hitboxes of the Male models, tend to get stuck on or interact with the hitboxes in the environments, whereas the Female zombie has a smaller frame/hitbox and navigates the environment with greater ease as well as less chances of getting stuck on tile geometry. I wish I were kidding, but to be fair, if both survivor types had the Males hitbox, then we'd see a torrential flood of videos asking "HOW DID THIS SHOT HIT ME?" whenever a smaller Female model got attacked, or vice versa, wherein the Killers are posting videos of "HOW DID THIS SHOT NOT HIT HIM?" if all the Male survivors were given the Female hitboxes.

Yeah, this means that the Females have smaller frames and hitboxes, which makes them the best choice when playing survivor, but it also makes the female zombies traverse maps smoother, and get stuck much less often. Take this fact as you will, but it's not that the Female zombie is "more aware", she just doesn't get hung up on map geometry as much, and therefore encounters survivors more often.