A player’s guide for Karlee Fincher
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 may be the Cleaner we played as the least, even less than Sharice or Heng. Heck, we thought her name was Kaylee; that’s how little we picked her. And she might be one of the most annoying Cleaners around, in our opinion. But she’s also one of the most pivotal to the story of Back 4 Blood.
Today we examine the punk rock rocker Karlee Fincher.
Karlee’s backstory
Karlee seems to have invented herself during the collapse of society. She gives no hints about who she was before the outbreak and barely talks about herself in the present. The only bit of info players can find about her is in Act 2, in the police station. In the entrance lobby, players can find a crime sheet with Karlee’s face on it, and a list of previous crimes. Of which there are many. But at least she seems to have previous experience with firearms, so that’s something.
During the campaign, it’s revealed that Philips knew the Ridden were stirring but chose to keep Fort Hope and the Cleaners in the dark. How did he know the Ridden were acting up? Because he had Karlee out in the field, doing some scouting, spying on the area. Karlee was the first to tell Philips about the mutations, the nests, and the Ridden Hives.
But she was paid to keep that information quiet.
It turns out Karlee Fincher knows tons of info about what’s happening outside of Fort Hope, but since she’s such a misanthropic loner, she keeps everything to herself unless explicitly asked. In Act 3, Karlee reveals she knows Dr. Rogers and has completed supply runs for him in the past. She’s even worked for the KSC!
She knows everything, apparently, but she’s more concerned with getting paid than letting people know they’re in danger. It’s all about the copper to her.
And her perk, aside from Heng’s, is the only perk in the game that could be considered supernatural, perhaps even brought on by the devil worms in some way. It has more significant implications for the lore and story of Back 4 Blood, and we’re waiting for the next DLC release to find out more.
Karlee is a loner, through and through. Her dialogue is never “we.” It’s always “I.” “I’m heading out,” “I’m going this way,” “I’m going to check this out.” Sharice, Evangelo, and Elijah Walker can get her to come out of her shell a bit. Walker, because he gets angry with her; Evangleo, because he’s genuine and honest; Sharice, because they’re kindred spirits.
“So here I am at Fort Hope… More or less…”
– Karlee Fincher
Strategy & cards
Karlee gets the following perks:
- Karlee can sense nearby hazards.
- + 50% Team Use Speed
- + 1 Quick Inventory
- She starts with a tool kit and an AK.
Karlee is a scout. She will always be a scout. We tried building other decks for her and experimenting with cards. We made her more of a supporting character, but that didn’t work out much because she needed the extra support herself.
Karlee Fincher is a great loner character, just like her lore would suggest. Even though her perk is meant to highlight hazards, mutations, alarms, sleepers, etc., we found it rarely triggered unless we were right on top of the threat. Helpful, but not as much as one might hope. Her extra use speed and quick item are nice but not a game changer.
Overall, we built a deck that made Karlee the money-grubber she’s always wanted to be. We buffed up her damage, defense, and ability to handle hazards, but we also stacked at least 3 copper cards in her deck. Sometimes we stack 5. Observe:
- Copper Scavenger
- Money Grubbers
- Compound Interest
- Bounty Hunter
- Durable
- Line ‘Em Up
- Breakout
- Ammo For All
- Patient Hunter
- Confident Killer
- Silver Bullets
- Ammo Pouch
- Reload Drills
- Large Calibur Rounds
- Combat Knife
Karlee will do decent damage and take decent damage with this deck. But the real strength is in her ability to generate copper. This build will allow her to buy every upgrade available at every saferoom. So there’s no need to bring cards that increase offensive inventory or enhance healing capabilities. Just purchase those perks when you reach the saferoom since you’ll have thousands of copper to get rid of.
In this way, Karlee can be a supporting character of sorts since she can make it rain for her teammates.
The Combat Knife is good to have while striking out on your own; instead of pushing Ridden back with punches, you can still take them out with your knife. And Breakout is a must if you’re scouting ahead; every second you’re pinned by a mutation ticks off precious health, and sometimes teammates are slow to respond. Having the ability to breakout on your own is necessary for a scout.
We always stuck with assault rifles for Karlee, and her Tech 9 is solid. But if you’re a good scout, your weapon preference matters little.
Bot behavior
Karlee isn’t a dumb bot, but she definitely acts like the loner she’s supposed to be. She isn’t even a good scout; too often, she doesn’t warn the team about a sleeper nearby until it’s pounced on us and we’ve alerted the horde. Thumbs down, Karlee bot.
Final thoughts on Karlee Fincher
Karlee Fincher is by far the most self-centered Cleaner of the bunch. If it were up to her, she’d just be living by herself, tending her own garden, reading books till the sun burns out. But, she is smart enough to know there’s safety in numbers. She’s wise enough to know the Ridden are doing something new. And she’s desperate enough that she’ll side with Fort Hope just to get access to their liquor bar.
But when push comes to shove, Karlee fights for humanity. She’s a survivor, and she’s proved with her actions that she wants others to survive too.
