Shangri-La Shangri-La .

Shangri-La is a challenging map. I think it works well as a challenge to all players because it adapts the map to best fit the zombie's simple AI routines.

What I mean is this:  each zombie will switch targets to the closest player, regardless of vertical direction, and the map makes it easy for a bunch of zombies, after felling a player, to quickly jump up/down a level in order to swarm, surprise and corner the next player.

This makes it advantageous for players to try to hold a single location and travel as a group, but there are a few things that slow the players from travelling as a group, like the mud temple with shifting walls, and the spike traps.

Alternatively, by splitting up it is possible to throw the zombies sort-of off-balance: i.e. divide and conquer, but - as just mentioned - when one player falls the tide can more quickly turn against the remaining players. This is the opposite of KDT where all a player had to do was do a circuit, lead the zombies away from the fallen for a while, then rush over to quick-revive them.

Overall, there are some solid challenges to working a circuit, but a few things that seem to help, like the water slide, the mining cart ride and the waterfall 'trap'.

Not to mention, this map puts a bigger emphasis on teamwork to get to the Pack-a-Punch machine, and for unlocking the Eclipse achievement cannot be done without four players working cooperatively (which seems definitely worthwhile, then redoing it for all players).

A few notes first:

• Pack-a-Punch machine: is located at the top of the stairs in front of you when you start. In order to reach it you need to have, for just one moment, the power on and one player standing on each of the 4 floor plates located (a) in front of the Quick Revive machine behind your starting spot, (b) one level below, which is exactly between the two water wheels of the power switches room, (c) near the base of the bridge, and (d) at the middle of the mineshaft bend, on the opposite side of the map from the mud temple & bridge /past the door after the MPL. While standing on a floor plate, from some angle, you can observe a monkey statue spinning in 4 parts; a part stops spinning when a player is on the floor plate (or if they choof off). When the whole statue has stopped spinning, that is it - done - each player can run to the Pack a Punch machine and probably upgrade both weapons (points permitting) before the next player arrives. Eventually some rolling wheels reach the top and it is time to leave the machine, so you just cannot camp at the Pack-a-Punch machine; the stairs become a slide and the floor catapults you to the bottom.
• Perks-a-Cola: apart from Quick Revive, these are not always located in the same place each time you play. Basically the Speed Cola and Juggernog are located past each of the first doors that are available to open, and the other drinks machines are all downstairs. Their location seems random each time you play, but they are not on the move during play.
• Zombie Monkeys - like the space monkeys, they like to steal things. On Shangri-La, they steal unclaimed powerups and run towards the Pack-a-Punch machine ziggurat. While a powerup is stolen, other monkeys are screaming hysterically and the powerup on the monkey thief is cycling through all the other powerups, and making some monkey-hooch-hooch noise (which helps you locate it if you have the right headphones on). This gives you an opportunity to kill the monkey thief when the powerup changes to what you want it to be, but to do that, you need to crouch and slash, or try shooting with a quick explosive weapon like Ray Gun, China Lake or upgraded M16's grenade launcher, or a maybe even a shot gun. You can use this to get a Max Ammo regardless of what is dropped, so long as you are far from the starting area and you follow the monkey and hit it when it flashes to Max Ammo. I recommend aiming for a Fire Sale as early as possible, then later aiming for instakill, nukes or Max Ammo.
• Another point on the zombie monkeys - one of them will try to attack a player that picks up a dropper powerup. They just run, hit the player, then run back to the ziggurat. I think that they are worth 500 points if you kill them before they hit, and that they don't seem to make an attack if (a) the powerup was a Nuke, or (b) the player slashed-to-kill the zombie that dropped the powerup, since in this case the powerup never hit the floor. One zombie monkey hit is not a strong slap, but it might make the difference versus surviving a close encounter with a horde of zombies and falling down.
• Mystery Box: where is it? look to the sky for a blue beam of light, just like in Call of the Dead. Note also that you can get the Fire Sale by carefully timing an attack on a Monkey thief.
• Zombie Screamers: these come out of the ground, run at you very quickly (like in Call of the Dead) and upon reaching you, they stop momentarily and let out a big scream. If caught in the scream, it is a bit like being hit by a concussion grenade or coming out of frozen water. They are basically a little tougher than regular zombies but die the same way as any other.
• Napalm Zombie: these come out of the ground and approach you slowly, like George in Call of the Dead. When they are close and within eye-sight, your HUD goes a bit 'fire-y'; and when they are very close to you, or you run past them, they scream for a moment then self-combust as a napalm bomb, causing zombies running past the napalm to burn/die much like the fire trap in KDT. You can shoot them until they get enrage and run a bit, and/or until they die, but it is possible to run up & retreat, or run past them, in order to cause them to combust. You need one of these guys to be alive at some stage in the Eclipse easter egg.

This map includes the weapons Semtex grenades, and Spikemore - basically a claymore replacement, and it does not have the MP40, but all the other guns from KDT are there somewhere.

The Mystery Box weapons now include different wonder weapons in addition to the usual guns:

• Ray Gun as usual
• Monkey Bomb - my favourite and very helpful here.
• 'the Shrink Ray gun' which actually has some other title I can't remember, but it does shrink zombies momentarily. You automatically kick any shrunken zombie that get too close to you. It is also part of the Eclipse secret to hold onto and use this gun at some point. I read somewhere that the Mystery Box contains 2 of these guns, but I've never seen it myself.

Strategy tips, based on my previous strategies; this now depends on your goals.

1. Survival and spare points: The Bowie Knife + Ballistic Knife/Krauss Refibrillator is a very good strategy (as per my KDT notes) because it is a very quick kill and ready-to-kill-next-zombie for the first 9 to 13 rounds of play; you might also be able to double-slash to kill in rounds 10 to 18, and it could be faster than shooting. If so, it will cost 750+1000+1000+1250 points to open doors and clear debris, plus 3000 for the Bowie Knife, just like KDT, and the path you choose to get to it won't much matter per se.
2. Survival and spare points: Bullets-for-Points strategy is also very good. i.e. Get ANY kind of automatic gun with lots of spare ammo, or any wall-gun SMG (note that the MP40 is not on this map), and use that to rack up the non-fatal bullet hits for points. Be sure to get the Double Tap and Speed Cola drinks. *I suspect that, team permitting, getting the M16 and upgrading it is also a good part of this strategy, because upgraded ammo costs 4500 points and it saves you from scrounging around, plus adds a grenade launcher for killing any thieving monkeys.
3. Eclipse Easter Egg strategy, you may want to do this either of two ways: (1) Bowie-Knife method until Round 13 or so, then get a Ray Gun and go for the Eclipse steps. Basically, by Round 14 or so, the Ray-Gun is a sure-fire and easy way to make a few crawlers (just shoot the Ray Gun at the ground in front of a zombie), or (2) Don't buy the Bowie Knife, instead use a Bullets-for-Points strategy and the 3000 points you spared from not buying the Bowie Knife in order to try the Mystery Box for the Shrink Ray gun as soon as possible, then use a grenade or semtex to make a few crawlers, and get on with the Eclipse easter egg.

Which Easter Egg strategy is better? hard to say really.  One of the Eclipse steps requires a calm Napalm zombie, which may be easier to encounter and keep alive with fewer, weaker zombies to manage in the earlier rounds; but you also need a Shrink Ray gun that may not come out of the box early on, nor cheaply, so you may need to wait until a later round.
If possible, I think I like to stick with the Bowie Knife strategy and aim for a Fire Sale powerup by killing a zombie monkey thief at the right moment, as early on as possible to ensure survival.

Lastly, is there a circuit or ideal path to use? I have a few points on this.

(a) if you do not remove the debris between the starting area and the area 'to the right' / with the MPL / with the Mine Cart ride, then this will force zombies to move underground in order to reach players near the bridge and/or mud temple.

(b) similarly, if you do not remove the debris underground on one side of the Power switches room, the debris nearer to the Spikemore I think, then you force the zombies to travel above ground.

Either (a) or (b) can help reduce the intensity of a horde of zombies assuming that the players split up, or it could keep a travelling group of players a more focused horde of zombies.

A possible circuit involves the following:

1. Start at the entrance to the Water Slide; hold this position until you feel that the zombies start to crowd.
2. Take the water slide; reload guns and/or shoot any zombies or lay Spikemores as you slide down.
3. At the bottom of the slide, go straight to the nearest Geyser that will jump you to the base of the Mine Cart ride.
4. Everyone pile into the Mine Cart and go when the zombies start to crowd; alternatively, one MVP should run down the hill a little bit, to draw zombies away when the Mine Cart goes with the rest of the crew; either way, do not kill any zombies until completing the next step.
5. The mine cart ride ends at the waterfall space; immediately run up the and over the bridge, through the temple and regroup at the entrance to the Water Slide.

Remember always that:

• Spare points is your best way to recover from a fall; Bowie Knife or Bullets - your choice
• The Mystery Box serves as a lure to trap nooby players in one spot; best to use it during the 'zombie end game' of a round.
• If one player sort-of camps or guards the base of the stairs to the Pack-a-Punch machine, they can probably get the Monkey Thief and any powerups that come with it. Personally, I try leaving spikemores pointed to the stairs from the base, but I'm not sure that this gets the monkey thief all that often.