If you've played video games for more than a few minutes, you've probably encountered some kind of zombie. A reliable staple of the medium, they show up just about everywhere from fantasy to horror, and in a hundred different flavors. Fast, slow, smart, dumb — no matter what you're looking for, video games have a type of zombie just waiting to chomp down on you — or shoot you, sometimes.

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But what is the most dangerous type of zombie? Which variants of the undead are the hardest to kill, toughest to survive, and best at spreading their infection of choice?

Updated on September 16, 2023, by Vanessa Esguerra: Zombies have gotten scarier in recent years. They're no longer slow, brain-eating sluggers, and some closely resembling aliens. Many now fly, swim, and explode. They now come in all shapes and sizes, and even their method of infecting others have become diverse.

The release of remasters and newer games means the addition of more fearsome zombies that you'll never want to encounter in the case of an apocalypse. You probably can't outrun these zombies, and you'll die trying to fight them unless you're secretly a Resident Evil character.

16 Zekes - World War Z

Zekes from World War Z are a clear example of something being more than the sum of its parts. Alone, a Zeke is a pretty easy enemy to take down. But when they group together, they're very menacing. And it just so happens that the quick and highly aggressive zombies rarely travel alone. In fact, they usually attack in great numbers.

Throughout the game, you see many of them in giant packs trying to reach their prey. If you fail to deplete their numbers before they get to you, then you're in trouble.

15 Freaks - State Of Decay Series

In State Of Decay, anytime someone is killed, they're gone permanently. So every adventure outside of your base is risky. That risk is heightened when Freaks are roaming around. This is the name given to the game's special zombie types.

There are SWAT Zombies, Army Zombies, Screamers, Juggernauts, Bloaters, and Ferals. All of them are more dangerous than a regular member of the undead horde. Plus, some even have their own abilities just to make them a little extra threatening.

14 Blighters - ZombiU (AKA, Zombi)

ZombiU's common Blighters fall into the more traditional zombie category. They shuffle around looking for meat, and they aren't very intelligent. Yet, they're more deadly than they sound because these creatures can kill you instantly.

All it takes is one bite for you to permanently join the undead horde. So, every encounter with them is a bit scary. And that's only the common ones - there are also special blighters in the game that are even more of a pain.

13 Wasp Zombies - Dead Rising

The main enemy in Capcom's Dead Rising series, the Wasp Zombies are classic horde monsters. Infected by modified insects, the Wasp Zombies are slow, unintelligent, and less durable than a living human for the most part.

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However, by night, these zombies get a boost: they become superhumanly strong and much more aggressive. Even by day, wounds inflicted by them won't clot or heal unless you're immune. It's death by a thousand cuts, which is bad news given there are tens of thousands of them. The infection took down Willamette, a town of over 50,000, in under 72 hours.

They're definitely dangerous, but they often go up against some of the best zombie game survivors ever. As a result, their success rate for killing their targets isn't as great as it should be.

12 Ganados - Resident Evil 4

Whilst the newer Resident Evil games have pivoted more toward monsters and mutants, the Ganados show that you can still have your undead parasite cake and get eaten by it too. Victims of the Plaga parasite, the Ganados have far less infectivity than many other zombie types as they don't spread via particles or bites. But compared to their T-Virus cousins, these undead are regular Einsteins.

Ganados can use tools, crossbows, and even heavy guns, and regularly show the ability to speak. They're also highly mutative — shoot them in the head and you might get a nasty, tentacle-shaped surprise whipping at you for your trouble. Therefore, despite their limited virality and generally squishiness, the Ganados will still make you think twice about that Spanish vacation.

11 T-Virus Zombies - Resident Evil

The classic videogame zombie, T-Virus zombies hit the scene in 1996's Resident Evil and have been scaring players ever since. For the most part, they're slow and dumb, but the real danger lies in their toughness and infectiousness. A single bite or scratch from a T-Zombie is enough to seal your fate, spreading the virus like wildfire. Just look at Raccoon City.

And although they're slow targets, T-Zombies can take a beating. They can shrug off blasts from the best guns in the series, and some even plow through multiple headshots. If you don't set them on fire when you're done, they'll come back a second time as fast-moving nightmares called Crimson Heads. They might not be the most dangerous undead ever, but T-Virus zombies are still some of the most deadly zombies out there after shambling around for 25 years.

10 Volatiles - Dying Light

The hellspawn of a zombie and a parkour expert, there's absolutely no escaping Dying Light's Volatiles. These guys are fast and agile, so they're able to scale walls and leap over obstacles like nothing. They can also soak up damage like nobody's business, and they're almost totally immune to falling from heights. Think you're safe at range? Think again. Volatiles can spit deadly acid if they can't reach you.

Yet, Volatiles have one huge weakness: they're incredibly sensitive to UV radiation. The moment the sun comes out, they'll ignore their prey until they've gotten into the shade, and a special flashlight is enough to momentarily drive them off. The Volatiles are a nightmare made real, but only for about 12 hours a day.

9 The Infected - Left 4 Dead Series

The bane of co-op gamers everywhere, Left 4 Dead's Infected are victims of a virulent rabies-like disease called Green Flu. The highly contagious virus is an apocalypse-level event, meaning that there are even more of these guys than their Dead Rising or Resident Evil counterparts — and they are fast.

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The Infected run in packs at full sprint, although most of them can't stand up to sustained gunfire even if it's not a headshot. However, all the special variants ratchet up their danger level: from nigh-unkillable Tanks to exploding Boomers, The Infected have a variety of ways to ruin your day. Most of them might not be tough or particularly smart, but unless you have a lot of ammunition, you might as well just get down and pray for a helicopter.

8 The Undead - Plants Vs Zombies

Zombies usually appear in dystopian hellscapes, nightmare scenarios, and gory horror. That's not the case with The Undead from Plants vs. Zombies. Yet, they're still as dangerous as they come, despite being technicolor cartoons. These reanimated rascals are smart.

They can plan, defend themselves, and even use complicated tools. In their quest to eat human brains, they'll go pole-vaulting, dig mines, and even tame dolphins to get what they want. Some of them are gigantic brutes, and others can even pilot giant mech suits.

Additionally, because they're reanimated corpses rather than infected living people, there are billions of them waiting in graveyards to swell their ranks. They might be even better if not for a specific weakness to weaponized seeds and corn cobs.

7 Suicider - Dead Island

Dead Island is mostly silly if you have a high tolerance for gore, but the suicider is definitely a freak of nature you hope anybody never encounters when the world ends. There are worse fates than death, and one such fate is becoming a Suicider zombie from the Dead Island series. These zombies are affected by the Kuru virus strain, and the bloating experienced by the infected is caused by the rapid production of internal decomposition gasses.

If you're grossed out by these Suiciders, you can only imagine the pain they're in when their own gasses bloat them to the point of bursting. But the sympathy's thrown out of the window when these zombies lure heroes into "saving" them, only to leap onto them and explode. It's less of a Suicider, and more of a double-suicider.