Back 4 Blood: How To Beat Tallboy, Crusher and Bruiser Enemies


The Ridden have taken over most of the world in Back 4 Blood and it's now your job to clear them out. There are a lot of different types of Ridden species including Special Ridden which are different from your average walking zombie-like creatures that still somewhat resemble the humans they once were. We're here to show you how to beat a Tallboy, a Crusher and a Bruiser - three types of Special Ridden.

Read More: Back 4 Blood: Easter Eggs and Secrets

How To Beat a Tallboy

Back 4 Blood The Ridden Tallboy
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To beat a Tallboy you need to aim for the weak spot at the top of its right shoulder. Its right arm is usually the one that it uses to bash you and your team, so the weak spot will be at the top of this arm. If you look at a Tallboy, you will see that there seems to be a squishy pink growth on its shoulder and that's what you need to aim for.

As you shoot or hit this with melee weapons, it will damage the health of the Tallboy rapidly, and eventually it will explode which will literally disarm it. Once the arm falls off, a Tallboy is dead. Be warned, attacking the weak spot will make a Tallboy very angry and it will specifically go after the person that shot it.

Tallboys don't seem to take a lot of damage from melee weapons, so if you want to avoid losing health whilst causing as much damage as possible to the Tallboy then you should use a weapon that can cause damage at a good range such as an M4 Carbine, or a sniper rifle.

What Is a Tallboy?

A Tallboy is one of the Ridden classed as "Special Ridden" because they are definitely different from the usual zombie-like entities that are wandering around. Tallboys are very tall, as the name suggests, and they can do a lot of damage to your team in one blow. They are surprisingly fast and efficient at climbing, so running and hiding isn't the best option for beating them.

If you're enjoying the game you should take a look at the rest of our guides in our walkthrough hub.

How To Beat a Crusher

Back 4 Blood The Ridden Crusher
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To beat a Crusher you need to shoot at its weak spot which is on its face. Look for the pink squishy bit, that is the weak spot. Destroy the weak spot to kill it and you'll have a few good chances to do this because it can take a Crusher a bit of time to recover from its previous attack if it misses its target.

Crushers have a much longer reach than Tallboys so ideally, you shouldn't use melee weapons on it or any weapons that have a low range. Powerful Sniper Rifles and LMGs work best against a Crusher as they can inflict a lot of damage from a good distance.

What Is a Crusher?

A Crusher is a variant of a Tallboy but this one can grab you with tentacles and crush the life out of you. If you're in the grasp of a Crusher then your teammates need to shoot it to get it to let go of you but if you have the break free card, use the prompted button to help break yourself free.

How To Beat a Bruiser

Back 4 Blood The Ridden Bruiser
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To beat a Bruiser, aim for the weak spot at the top of its arm where its hand would be, again it's another pink squishy bit. To beat it you're going to need excellent aim and a powerful weapon that can inflict damage from a distance. Bruisers can move very fast and they're extremely ferocious, so if you run they will easily catch up to you.

Once you have damaged this weak spot enough, it will explode and kill the Bruiser. Try to keep your distance from the Bruiser as you fight it because it can inflict maximum damage with minimum effort.

What Is a Bruiser?

A Bruiser is another variation of a Tallboy but one with a very bad temper and a powerful punch. It will smash its club-like hand down on top of you or your teammates and can easily drain your health down to zero. It can do one large smash of its arm and it can do a few in succession, either attack will cause a lot of damage.

Once you know the weak spots of each type of special Ridden in Back 4 Blood it becomes easier to fight them. We have a guide on orange crates, which is where you can find some excellent weapons in the field to help you fight and we have a guide on how to use cards so you can learn how to tilt the game in your favour.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Back 4 Blood and Guides page.