John Carpenter's Toxic Commando: All Enemy Types And How To Kill Them
The apocalypse is loud, messy, and currently sprinting directly at your face.
John Carpenter's Toxic Commando throws an absurd amount of undead meat into your crosshairs. The game runs on pure B movie adrenaline, forcing you to shoot your way through thousands of infected freaks who want nothing more than to use your ribcage as a chew toy. If you treat every enemy like a generic brain dead zombie, you are going to die very quickly. The horde is packed with special mutations designed to flush you out of cover, pin you to the ground, or blow you into low orbit.
Figuring out what is charging at you and knowing exactly where to shoot it is the only thing keeping you breathing. The game communicates a lot of information through audio cues and glowing weak points. If you are struggling to survive the chaos, I am here to break down the entire roster of abominations. I will cover every enemy type, their specific threats, and the most efficient ways to turn them into red mist. (Without becoming zombie kibble yourself).
The Swarm and Support Units
These are the guys who make up the bulk of the horde. They exist to waste your ammo and distract you from the bigger problems stomping around the map.
Roamers
Roamers are your standard cannon fodder. They have practically no health and drop quickly with a single headshot. The problem is they never show up alone. They spawn in massive waves designed to physically block your movement and overwhelm your reload speed. Do not waste explosives on a sparse group of Roamers. Line up your shots, manage your magazine size, and keep moving backward to avoid getting surrounded.
Skunks
Skunks are the hazmat suit wearing jerks of the wasteland. They are significantly faster and tougher than standard Roamers. More importantly, they act as support units. If you see a group of regular zombies glowing with lightning, a Skunk is nearby buffing them. To take a Skunk down quickly, aim directly for the large tank on its back. Popping the tank causes them to stumble and often explode, which instantly strips the lightning buff from every surrounding zombie. Prioritize them the second you spot a hazmat suit in the crowd.
The Explosive Hazards
If you see a glowing red target approaching you, assume it will violently explode and take your health bar with it.
Nukers and Fire Nukers
The Nuker is basically a suicide bomber covered in glowing red pustules. You will hear them screaming as they charge you. Your only goal is to shoot the glowing red torso from as far away as possible. If you are smart about your positioning, you can use Nukers as free grenades. Shoot their legs out to drop them in the middle of a horde, then pop the torso to wipe out dozens of Roamers at once.
The Fire Nuker operates on the exact same logic but produces a significantly larger and more lethal blast radius. You absolutely must create distance before engaging a Fire Nuker. If they catch you reloading in a tight corridor, your run is over. If you are struggling with crowd control, I highly recommend checking out the Toxic Commando weapons tier list to ensure your loadout has enough stopping power to detonate these threats early.
The Heavy Hitters
When the audio queue drops and one of these massive targets spawns, your entire team needs to focus fire.
Goons
Goons are the bruisers of the undead army. They behave a lot like the Charger from Left 4 Dead. They have a massive health pool, they move deceptively fast, and they will absolutely grab you and pin you to the floor until you die. If you are playing with AI bots, getting pinned is basically a death sentence because the bots are completely unreliable. For those of you braving the apocalypse without real teammates, please read my Toxic Commando solo beginner guide to avoid miserable wipes.
To kill a Goon, aim strictly for the head. Focused fire will pop its armor off, revealing a glowing weak point. If you are playing solo, you can exploit their pathing. Find a physical object like a car or a large tree and continuously kite them around it in a circle. They cannot grab you through solid objects. Keep circling, keep putting sniper rounds into their skull, and they will eventually drop.
Slobs
The Slob is a towering wall of meat and anger. They have incredibly lanky arms and an absurd amount of health. They also throw massive area of effect bombs that will force you out of cover. The Slob is essentially an armory check. You need heavy weapons to bring it down. The good news is that their melee attack hitbox is surprisingly narrow. If the Slob is focused on a teammate, you can safely walk up to its flank and dump your entire magazine into it. If you are coordinating with friends, you can review my Toxic Commando co-op beginner guide for tips on managing aggro.
The Annoyances
These enemies sit on the outskirts of the fight and slowly chip away at your sanity while you deal with the horde.
Stalkers
Stalkers are incredibly cowardly. They hang back at the edges of the map and fire annoying laser beams and rockets at you. You can completely counter their projectiles if you run a shield ability, but the best defense is a good sniper rifle. Look for the massive, glowing red eye on their body. A few clean shots to the eye will delete them from the map. Do not let them linger, because their splash damage will eventually wear you down.
Snares
Snares look like Goons made entirely out of twisting vines. They function as trappers. They will slowly close the distance and snatch a player, rendering them completely immobile. They are bullet sponges with no obvious armor to break. If a teammate gets grabbed, you have to dump bullets into the glowing sections of the vines until the creature explodes into licorice.
Laser Plants and Tendrils
You will occasionally encounter mutated flora that wants to kill you. Laser Plants have a visible mane or ring around their beak. Shoot the mane, or aim directly into the mouth. Tendrils are even simpler. If your crosshair gives you a hit marker, you are dealing damage. Keep shooting the fleshy bits until the plant stops moving.
Surviving Toxic Commando is all about threat assessment. Pop the Skunks to debuff the horde, detonate the Nukers to clear space, and always keep a car nearby to kite the Goons. For the completionists out there aiming to 100% the game, you can track your progress with my Toxic Commando trophy and achievement guide.
