Back 4 Blood: How Trauma Damage Works (& How to Avoid It)

In Back 4 Blood, there is no shortage of ways to take damage. From regular zombies, wall-crawling Hockers, to massive Ogres, players of Back 4 Blood already know that their health bar is constantly threatened. Unfortunately, regular damage wasn’t enough for developer Turtle Rock, who thought up a way to make taking damage even more costly. Back 4 Blood’s Ridden have many ways to harm Cleaners.

Trauma in Back 4 Blood is a way to make health a little less straightforward, so players can’t just take a bunch of hits, bandage up, then go right back in again because they have a real tank-like Back 4 Blood deck build. It works by reducing the max health of players who take hits, not just reducing their current HP. As a result, players are permanently weakened if they choose to absorb too much damage throughout a level. This is meant to emulate the way trauma works in the real world, by making every subsequent hit to an injured person hurt just a bit more than the last.

Luckily, there are a couple of ways to avoid, and reduce, trauma damage in Back 4 Blood. This can be done during a level, and after completing one in some cases. The only issue is that many of the ways of healing regular health damage do not work for trauma damage.

How to Avoid & Heal Trauma Damage in Back 4 Blood

Avoiding trauma damage in Back 4 Blood is as simple as avoiding the hits themselves. There are a few ways to do this, but primarily, it lies in the deck build used going into the level. For the most part, deck builds that focus on remaining data distance, or increasing speed and stamina can help keep players out of harm’s way. The goal here is to take as few hits as possible, just like it is when trying to avoid typical health damage.

Healing trauma damage is a bit trickier in Back 4 Blood. Normal healing like bandages and active cards will not heal trauma damage. Painkillers and Medkits can be used to temporarily restore the missing max HP, but they won’t actually heal the Trauma damage permanently either. The only ways to heal trauma damage are First Aid Stations that are typically hidden behind locked doors, which a tool kit is needed to open, and by completing a level in a safehouse on some difficulties. Tool kits can be purchased at the store in each safehouse.

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

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