Skeletons are a fairly common enemy found in Zombie Army Trilogy. They are reanimated corpses so decomposed, nothing is left but the skeleton and a glowing heart. Armored Skeletons also appear in the game. They also reappeared only in the DLC Deeper than Hell missions in Zombie Army 4 Dead War only wearing some ancient clothing.
Zombie Army Trilogy[]
A horde of Skeletons attacking, note the glowing cores.
Skeletons in Zombie Army 1 appear dark grey in colour and have visible organs. in Zombie Army 2 they gain a new appearance with a rotted body and old clothing still on their torso, these variants are known as "Rotted Skeletons"
When Skeletons spawn they usually warn the player with a loud piercing howl and attack in groups by walking out of fog, fire or in Purgatory where they climb out of the walls of the trenches.
While the player can still outrun them, skeletons move faster than regular zombies, but are much more frail. However, the only way to kill them is to shoot them directly at their heart or kick them when they are in melee range. Since skeletons only take one hit to kill, it is often wiser to wait till they get close enough and simply kick them to conserve ammo. For large groups of skeletons near close quarters, machine guns and shotguns can prove effective. They often move in a weaving manner, making it more difficult to hit than regular zombies.
In ZAT regular Skeletons get a new design with a much more bloody appearance, Skeleton doctor which have a doctors head mirror and use Syringes. these Skeletons can be seen operating on a Zombie in The Keep and one appears operating on a Summoner in City of Ashes.
Armored Skeletons[]
work the same way, except that their bodies are covered in heavy medieval armor. Explosives are a good way to get rid of them, either destroying them completely or leaving you a hole in their armor to shoot them through their hearts. Kicking won't do any damage to armored zombies; They will simply fall down for a moment and rise back up. in The Keep some appear camouflaging themselves with statues mounted around the castle.
Zombie Army 4: Dead War[]
Skeletons return in ZA4, instead of being Nazi Zombies, they are members of an ancient cult and wear old clothing and masks which have the face of Guardians.
Skeletons can run very quickly but are now also incredibly weak usually being killed by one shot from any weapon or by a single punch. The best ways to take them down without nothing in specific are takedowns, since doing a takedown on a skeleton will kill nearby skeletons on a decent range, this works even better when playing as Hector and/or with the Takedown Frequency perk.
Strange Brigade[]
Skeletons appear in Rebellion's other game Strange Brigade where they make the same sounds and use the same animations. some can wear armor and use swords like the armored skeletons from ZAT.
Trivia[]
- Killing 100 skeletons will unlock "Keep your damn filth bones out of my mouth!" -achievement.
- Similarly to regular zombies, skeletons can also be killed prematurely with one hit while they are still spawning.
- Skeletons can't wield any weapons.
- Bullets will go straight through the skeleton's hearts, making it possible to kill multiple with one hit.
- Killing a skeleton by kicking it won't add to a combo already in progress (i.e. Combo x5 won't become Combo x6 after kicking a skeleton)
- When the kill cam is active after sniping a skeleton, the kill cam speed is much faster, compared to a common grunt zombie kill cam.