A player’s guide for Holly Forrester
Back 4 Blood, the gory first-person shooter from Turtle Rock Studios, is a game full of guns, zombies, and guts. It’s a chaotic experience from start to finish through post-apocalyptic Pennsylvania. Its depth, story, and lore are driven entirely by the characters players take control of.
From punk rock misanthropes to traumatized veterans, the survivors of this new wasteland are called Cleaners. They’re immune to the predations of the devil worm, the purveyor of this zombie infection, and they’re proficient with weapons, even if those weapons are nothing more than baseball bats and machetes.
She’s called ‘the glue’ that holds the Cleaners of Back 4 Blood together. She’s the little sister of the family. She’s the eternally optimistic bringer of sunshine, Holly Forrester.
Holly’s backstory
Holly Forrester was in her final semester of college when the outbreak hit. She lost her family overnight and was left to fend for herself in a college town she didn’t know well.
However, Holly isn’t one to dwell on the negatives. She was a star player on her softball team and used her slugger skills to ensure her survival. Fashioning herself a nailed-up baseball bat named Dottie, Holly set to work finding a purpose in the new world.
In her journal entry, Holly says she never really knew her meaning in life. She was almost through college and didn’t know what she was going to do. But now she knows. It’s to help keep the team of badass Ridden-slayers together by any means necessary.
Holly breaks down at one point in Act 2, the same area that usually triggers Evangelo’s reminiscing. She mentions that she feels guilty and left her family to die and did nothing to help them or stop what was happening. Jim, Elijah Walker, and sometimes Doc will try to console her, but it doesn’t stick. If Mom is on the team, she has a way of helping Holly calm down. If Mom ever heals Holly, she’ll reply, “Thanks, Mom… Heh, I feel better just saying that out loud.”
Holly gets along with most people on the team. Except for Karlee, but that’s not Holly’s fault. She especially picks on Hoffman with his conspiracy theories. But she’s quick to back up Evangelo when he’s trying to uplift the team, and she’s close with Mom and Doc. She and Walker look at each other as equals, and Jim has a soft spot for the tomboy. You’re bound to get plenty of fun dialogue if she’s on your team.
“I suppose I found my calling after everything went to !@#$…”
Strategy & cards
Holly’s perks are as follows:
- Holly recovers 1 Health when she kills a Ridden
- + 25 Stamina
- + 5% Team Damage Resistance
- She starts with a stun gun and a shotgun.
Her perks were once very different and tailored for an apparent melee build. But the developers wanted players to use Holly Forrester for more than just batting practice, so they changed her abilities.
Holly is a genuinely good character to play for beginners. She’s perfect for helping you figure out this crazy world and understand the mechanics. Sometimes she’s a little too easy to play as. But there aren’t many beginner players who will complain about that, only veterans.
Her perks are so open-ended that you could go in many different directions when building decks for her. You could build a full support deck that buffs the team and makes your runs noticeably easier. You could build the ultimate leecher deck, one that would put Sharice’s build to shame. Or you could design a tank build that takes wave after wave of Ridden like they’re nothing but bugs.
Or you could do anything in between!
Since Holly’s update, we have mainly built two decks for her. We didn’t usually go for much of a support role with her since other Cleaners do a better job of it.
Cal Ripkin Jr Deck
Lean into Holly Forrester’s softball roots and play every single melee card in the deck.
- Vanguard
- Spikey Bits
- Mean Drunk
- Slugger
- Brazen
- Heavy Hitter
- Ignore The Pain
- Scar Tissue
- Well Rested
- Sunder
- Face Your Fears
- Durable
- Vitamins
- Berserker
- Battle Lust
Would you just look at that deck? Your attacks are the fastest in the game; they’re cleaving through multiple Ridden, staggering Ridden, and healing you every time you kill something. Sunder lets you break armor off of mutations and use them yourself, which is a perk Sharice already has, but adding it to Holly only completes her build. Scar Tissue reduces the damage from Ridden attacks, and Durable and Vitamins cards give you a cushion for health just in case things get too dicey.
Doomslayer Deck
Holly Forrester’s perk grants her 1 health whenever she kills a Ridden. So, and this might be hard logic to follow, the more Ridden she kills, the more health she gets. Thus, if you design a Holly build that tears through lesser Ridden like the Doomslayer tears through unholy abominations, you’re entering godly status. Pick up an LMG, keep your back to a wall, and play this deck.
- Ammo Pouch
- Ammo Belt
- Tactical Vest
- Large Calibur Rounds
- Silver Bullets
- Combat Training
- Cold Brew Coffee
- Ammo For All
- Line ‘Em Up
- Overwatch
- Dash
- Shooting Gloves
- Confident Killer
- Meat Grinder
- Hunker Down
If you’re known for friendly fire, swap out one of the cards for Down In Front and stay crouched at all times. But similar to Hoffman’s strategy, Holly should focus on the riff-raff Ridden with this deck. The small fries. This will stack her with so much health that she could fight an ogre herself. But don’t do that. Instead, try to utilize Overwatch as much as possible so your whole team benefits.
Holly is a powerhouse of a character. She heals herself and comes with extra stamina and extra trauma resistance.
If you wanted to build a sniper deck for Holly, you could do so easily.
Bot behavior
Holly is noticeably more helpful than other bots. We thought it was her talking more than other bots, but she is certainly more active. Healing, calling out mutations, dropping ammo—you name it, she’s on it. Her bot on your team makes a difference, unlike some other Cleaners whose bots aren’t worth mentioning.
Final thoughts on Holly Forrester
Holly was one of the first Cleaners envisioned for Back 4 Blood. Designed to be a pivotal part of the team, Holly remains an essential part of Fort Hope. She’s the upbeat, encouraging spirit that Evangelo wants to be. She’s the kind of character that is strong on the outside but hurting on the inside. We relate with her almost too well.
