Forts and zombie jobs: what each strain beats
Updated November 10, 2026. Figures come from the live game.
The short answer
Every zombie has a job and every fort has a counter for each one. Brutes break walls and fall to kill zones, Runners outrun towers and fall to traps, and Shamblers (half a slot) use up traps and fall to mazes. One shared limit, 18 to 60 defense pieces by ring size, covers walls, towers, traps and garrisons.
The three jobs and their counters
| Zombie | Job | Weakness | What beats it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brute | Tough and slow, and the only zombie that breaks walls | Garrisons hold it in tower fire | Kill zones: a garrison choke under overlapping towers |
| Runner | Fast and fragile, passes garrisons untouched | A trap kills it outright | Traps |
| Shambler | Half a slot, arrives two at a time, uses up traps | Slow and can't break walls: it runs out of the 75 seconds a fight lasts | Mazes: a long walled lane under towers |
Garrisons fight only the zombies they hold, which are Brutes and Shamblers. Runners walk past a garrison untouched.
A trap bursts on the first zombie that steps on it, for 180 damage, and is spent for that fight. That is why a swarm of Shamblers is the cheap way to clear a trap lane: one body spends one trap.
Sealed sides
You can seal a side of your fort with walls. Only Brutes can break in there, so an army with no Brutes can't enter a sealed side at all. When you attack a sealed side without Brutes, its way in is greyed out and marked Needs Brutes.
Slots
Armies and caps count in slots, not bodies. A Runner or a Brute is one slot and a Shambler is half a slot (12 of them make a squad). Your horde cap, an army's size, the raid size cap and a Residence's room (12 slots per level) are all in slots. Strength counts them too: 5 for every six slots of horde.
The defense limit
| Ring | Defense pieces | Most army slots against it |
|---|---|---|
| 7×7 | 18 | 18 |
| 9×9 | 30 | 30 |
| 11×11 | 44 | 45 |
| 13×13 | 60 | 60 |
After a failed attack
A hint tells you what beat your army and which zombie would do better, such as traps taking your Runners. It names the job, not a single exact answer, so read the fort and decide.
Daily forts
The forts the game makes each have a theme with a weakness you can read off the board: a thin side, a maze, a trap lane, a kill zone, a wall of rings or too few towers. Match the zombie to the weakness and the fort opens.
Questions players ask
Which zombie breaks walls in Voxhorde?
Only Brutes. A side sealed with walls can only be entered by Brutes, so bring some when a fort is sealed.
What beats Runners?
Traps. A trap bursts on the first zombie to step on it, and a Runner dies to it outright. Garrisons don't stop Runners, because garrisons only fight Brutes and Shamblers.
How many defense pieces can I build?
One shared limit for walls, towers, traps and garrisons: 18 on a 7×7 ring, 30 on a 9×9 ring, 44 on a 11×11 ring, 60 on a 13×13 ring. Each copy of a piece makes the next 25 % dearer, walls too.
How much is a Shambler in an army?
Half a slot. Armies, the horde cap, the raid size cap and Residence room all count in slots, so the same cap holds twice as many Shamblers.