Plague Inc Black Death Guide

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Updated:

12 Jun 2020

The original Black Death wiped out a third of Europe, but can you do better?

Black Death is one of the many plague scenarios offered by Plague Inc. to spice up your Plague Inc. experience. What separates Black Death from the herd is that it comes with a few preset conditions that cannot be devolved, and that it is quite, quite lethal. This guide will give you all the suggestions you need to play Black Death like a pro.

Strategy #1: DNA is Meant to be Spent

DNA exists to upgrade your disease to the deadliest version of itself that it can possibly be, and there really isn’t any point in hoarding it. Black Death is a scenario that moves fast because of how deadly it is, so in order to make the most of your DNA you need to spend it when you get it. If you hold onto your DNA for too long, your plague will be affected by genetic drift and costs will go up, which is not something you want when every last bit of DNA counts.

Strategy #2: Plan Ahead

You’re more likely to be successful if you have a general idea of which transmissions, symptoms, and abilities you’re gunning for than if you’re just hoping for the best. This way, as soon as you get DNA you can spend it on what you need and also hopefully get to more countries before they close their borders or ports. For instance, it would be a good idea to plan to get extreme zoonosis so even if a country’s borders and ports were closed, you could still infect them.

Strategy #3: Move Fast

The above strategies have been stressing the need for speed, and for good reason. Black Death gets noticed very early on in the game, which means cure production also starts very early on in the game. This is thanks to the preset conditions, and because you cannot devolve the preset conditions, the only thing to do is to act fast and with purpose. In order to spread your disease quickly, evolve more transmissions than symptoms early on in the game.

Strategy #4: Beware of the Islands

As every Plague Inc. player knows, if you think victory is yours, you’re probably wrong because of that one island you just can’t get. Keep close watch on the pesky islands by clicking on them periodically to see if they have been infected, or if they have closed off any entries into their country that you were hoping to take advantage of. For instance if Madagascar has closed its ports then you’d probably want to turn to an animal based transmission.

Strategy #5: Improvise, Adapt, Overcome

Every run-through is unique, whether you get different mutations or different events. That’s why no strategy ever has a 100% guarantee. Especially with Black Death, you should pay attention to the news and which countries you have infected to see what needs to be evolved in what order. For example, if you start your plague somewhere with neutral temperatures, then you’d have to evolve more environmental resistances than if you’d started your plague somewhere either very hot or very cold. It would also be good to pay attention to your events, for instance if there is an Awareness Day (which would be quite unfortunate).

Strategy #6: Special Abilities Spell Success

The key to winning Black Death is to take advantage of its special abilities: bubonic plague, pneumonic plague, and septicemic plague. Bubonic plague allows your plague to become lzoonic, meaning you can infect through creatures, and it allows you to infect the lymphatic system of a host. Pneumonic plague unlocks air transmissions and allows you to infect a host’s respiratory system. Septicemic plague is the deadliest of the three, and it allows for the evolving of killer symptoms like total organ failure.