Back 4 Blood: What Are Orange Crates, How To Use Them and How To Tell Them Apart


As you play through Back 4 Blood you will come to find that everything you begin the level with will not last you for your entire run. If it does, then that's fantastic but most of the time you will run out of ammunition or medical supplies and this is where orange crates come in useful. These crates hold a variety of useful items so we're going to show you what they are, how to use them, and how to tell them apart!

Read More: Back 4 Blood Best Characters Tier List: All 8 Cleaners, Ranked

What Are Orange Crates?

Orange crates are boxes that can be found at the very beginning of and throughout a level. There are a few different types of orange crates that you can find but each of them (apart from a Vendor crate) all have the same trade-off, it takes time to open them and in that time you are extremely vulnerable.

Each crate type will offer you useful items from medical supplies to weaponry that will assist you in your game. They are especially useful to find if you are playing on the hardest difficulty level of the game as they can help give you the edge you need to continue.

How To Use the Orange Crates

To use any of the orange crates you need to open them. When you're opening a crate you cannot use any weaponry so you're very exposed to The Ridden and if you break away from opening the crate before you're finished, it will lock again.

Once a crate is open, you can simply pick up anything you want from it.

Supply Crate

The supply crate, as the name suggests, is filled with supplies for yourself and your team. The items in it can be anything from Bandages to Grenades or even Tool Kits. Finding a suppy crate can benefit your entire team as usually there are 3-4 items within it but sometimes you may be unlucky and only have a few items.

Back 4 Blood supply crate
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Supply crates usually do the hard work for you and have "supply" written across them. However, this is not always the case and sometimes they are simply a large, unmarked square crate.



Weapons Crate

A weapons crate is slightly rarer to find in the middle of a level but if you do, it can provide you with high-class weaponry that can be equally as or more powerful than the one that you are carrying. Sometimes the crates can hold a mixture of main and secondary weapons or they can hold weapons of either type. Finding a weapons crate can completely turn the tide of the game to be in your favor

Back 4 Blood Weapon crate being opened by Holly
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Weapon crates are quite large and rectangular. They are quite long compared to other crates.

Ammunition Crate

An ammunition crate is one of the more common ones to find throughout the levels and it's one of the most useful orange crates because it will be stacked with ammunition for almost every weapon type. If you're running low on ammunition then you can fill your inventory up easily with one of these crates.

Back 4 Blood ammunition crate
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Ammunition crates can be quite big and rectangular in shape. They are slightly more square than weapons crates.

Attachment Crate

An attachment crate will typically hold 2 weapon attachments for either your main or secondary weapon (if your secondary isn't a melee weapon) and they can be anything from low to extremely high-class attachments.

Back 4 Blood attachment crate
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Attachment crates are normally quite small compared to the other crates.

M134 Minigun Crate

Minigun crates are extremely well hidden in the levels but if you look carefully and find one, they are a good indicator that the next section you'll be entering will have a ton of Ridden in it. Minigun crates can only be accessed if you have a Tool Kit.

Back 4 Blood Minigun crate
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Credit: A Minigun is the most essential weapon in the fight against angry monsters!

A minigun crate is really easy to spot as it has "Minigun" painted on the top of it.

If you're enjoying fighting against hordes of angry zombie-like creatures, but you find yourself getting stuck at certain points you should take a look at our other guides in our walkthrough hub.

Vendor Crate

Vendor crates are a little different as you actually find them at the very start of a level before you exit the safe area. They are the item shop for the game and they are where you can spend your Copper to stock up on supplies such as medicine or ammunition before heading out. You can even purchase items/upgrades that apply to the whole team for that level if you're feeling generous.

Back 4 Blood Vendor crate inside a safe room
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A vendor crate will be a large crate with white targets painted all over it. It will be easy to spot within the safe area because there are rarely any other crates there.

How To Tell the Orange Crates Apart

After playing the game for a while you can begin to figure out which crate is which on sight but there is a simple trick to be sure of what you're risking your life to obtain. If you stand back from the crate and ping it, your character should say which crate type it is whilst telling other members it's there.

Crates are one of many things for you to learn about in Back 4 Blood but taking the time to understand them will help you clear out The Ridden. If you find yourself getting stuck on anything we have a few guides including guides on how to destroy Nests to how to use cards.

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