To clear Chapters 37, 38, and 39 in The Walking Dead: Aftermath, run a balanced squad anchored by a frontline tank, funnel walker hordes through narrow terrain bottlenecks, and switch to manual skill casting. Late-campaign stages introduce high enemy density and fast-moving variants that quickly wipe unprotected backline units. Surviving these stages requires controlling engagement space and staggering crowd control rather than relying solely on raw offensive stats.
Recommended Squad Formation and Positioning
A reliable squad structure for this stretch pairs one durable guardian, one melee cleave fighter, and two ranged damage dealers or supports:
- Frontline Guardian: Place a heavy defender such as Rick Grimes in front to absorb initial horde aggro and halt charging enemies.
- Secondary Melee Cleaver: Position an area-of-effect melee survivor like Michonne directly behind the tank rather than side by side. This offset positioning prevents both frontline units from absorbing simultaneous splash damage while allowing cleaving strikes to hit clusters trapped against the primary defender.
- Backline Ranged DPS and Support: Place ranged marksmen, snipers, and healers strictly in the rear rank. Set them to defensive hold behaviors so they do not wander into open lanes or aggro flanking spawns.
Chapter 37: Funneling Waves Through Choke Points
Chapter 37 features tight street corridors, abandoned cars, and debris piles. Engaging swarms in open courtyards lets walkers encircle your squad.
Before a wave triggers, pull your squad several paces behind a narrow opening:
- Anchor the Corridor Apex: Station your frontline tank at the narrowest bottleneck to catch incoming walkers in a single-file line.
- Align Linear Damage: Direct linear ranged attacks and sniper fire down the center of the lane behind the tank.
- Deploy Sweeping Skills: Once the bottleneck congests with walkers, trigger sweeping cleaves and area-of-effect abilities to wipe the pack before secondary spawns emerge from side alleys.
Chapter 38: Target Priority and Elite Counters
Chapter 38 escalates difficulty by pairing standard swarms with rapid sprinters and armored infected. Fast runners must be eliminated immediately before they reach squishy backline heroes.
| Enemy Type | Primary Threat | Tactical Response | Optimal Counter Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fast Runners | High backline rush speed | Burst down with direct fire; apply hard stuns before contact | Ranged Marksman / Burst DPS |
| Toxic / Spitter Mutants | Ranged area decay damage | Eliminate immediately with long-range priority targeting | High-Range Snipers |
| Armored Walkers | High durability and defense | Apply armor shredding; delay with crowd control | Melee Cleaver / Rick Grimes |
| Swarm Walkers | Overwhelming numbers | Funnel into choke points; wipe with wide sweeps | Michonne / Area Melee |
When armored walkers lead an assault, do not waste high-cost burst abilities on their armor while runners are active. Stun or slow the armored target, finish off surrounding sprinters with basic attacks, and then focus sustained damage onto the armored walker.
Skill Energy Management Across Multi-Wave Battles
Relying on automated combat in Chapters 37 through 39 often leads to failure because automated targeting burns ultimate abilities on low-health stragglers. Control skills manually and apply these execution rules:
- Save Crowd Control for Wave Spikes: Hold knockbacks, stuns, and roots until a fresh wave reaches your tank.
- Conserve High-Cost Ultimates: When only two or three damaged walkers remain, finish them with basic attacks to recharge energy meters for the next wave.
- Stagger Defensive Buffs: Alternate damage-mitigation shields and defense boosts rather than activating them simultaneously, maintaining continuous protection on your frontline.
- Heal Proactively: Trigger healing abilities when your frontline drops to half health rather than waiting for critical thresholds, preventing sudden spike damage from wiping key units.
Chapter 39: Split-Lane Extraction Defense
Chapter 39 ends with a timed holdout at an extraction zone where walker waves converge from multiple approach corridors. Splitting your squad's damage evenly across all lanes will cause both sides to collapse.
To secure the extraction point:
- Lock Down the Primary Lane: Position your tank at the widest entry point, where the largest volume of walkers spawns.
- Patrol the Secondary Lane: Assign your high-mobility melee fighter to intercept and clear lighter secondary flanks, returning to support the main bottleneck between waves.
- Center Ranged Attackers: Position backline ranged units midway between both approaches so their firing arcs cover either lane without requiring repositioning.
- Unload Cooldowns on the Final Surge: Once the extraction timer enters its final seconds, spend all stored ultimate abilities in succession to burn down the remaining horde and clear the stage.
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This guide answered the exact question I had.
This helped me understand strategy much better.
Can you add more details about strategy in a future update?
This saved me time in the early game.