Infected
The Infected are people taken over by a mutant Cordyceps fungus, and they are the main threat between every human fight in The Last of Us Part I. In Part I and Left Behind you meet four stages: runners, stalkers, clickers and bloaters, each harder to kill than the last.
- Threat
- High
- Type
- Infected
Good to know
- The fungus spreads through bites or by breathing spores that pour out of infected corpses in dark, damp spaces.
- A bite turns a person into a runner in about two days.
- Ellie is the only known person immune to the infection, which is why the Fireflies want her.
- Every stage is weak to fire, so Molotov cocktails and the flamethrower are your best tools against groups.
- Infected hear very well: they can pick up sounds a normal survivor would miss, such as you vaulting an obstacle nearby.
- Spore-filled rooms force you to wear a gas mask. Sunlight kills the spores and the fungal growth quickly.
The four stages
Runners are freshly turned and still see, so they spot you and rush in packs. Stalkers have been infected for weeks to a year; they hide, flank and ambush. Clickers, a year or more in, are blind and hunt by clicking echolocation but grab with lethal strength. Bloaters have carried the fungus for years, wear fungal armor and throw mycotoxin sacs.
How they behave
Some infected sit dormant against walls until something wakes them, and runners can lie hidden under snow. The early stages still flinch at gunshots and moan in pain, which suggests some of the person is still in there. Bill sums up the survivor view: the infected are at least predictable, unlike other people.
General tactics
Stay crouched and quiet, use Listen Mode to track them through walls, and throw bricks or bottles to pull them away from your path. Clear runners first in mixed groups, because they can see you and their screams wake the clickers and bloaters around them.
- AustinAustin, Texas is where The Last of Us Part I begins: the Prologue of Hometown plays out on outbreak night in September 2013 as Joel, his daughter Sarah and his brother Tommy try to escape the city. It is the only region you visit before the 20-year time skip.
- BostonBoston, Massachusetts is the first region after the time skip and the city where Ellie grew up. You play The Quarantine Zone and The Outskirts here, and Left Behind's flashbacks with Riley take place in the same city. FEDRA holds the North End as one of the last working quarantine zones in the country.
- BoulderBoulder, Colorado is where Joel and Ellie search the University of Eastern Colorado for the Fireflies in The University chapter. Left Behind's present-day story picks up nearby at the Colorado Mountain Plaza mall, so this region covers both the campus and the mall.
- JacksonJackson, Wyoming is the home of Tommy's community and covers both the town and the wider Jackson County, including the hydroelectric dam and the Hidden Pines Corral ranch. You visit it twice: in Tommy's Dam and in the short closing chapter, Jackson. It is the one safe, working settlement in Part I.
- LincolnLincoln is a small Massachusetts town a few miles from Boston and the setting of Bill's Town, the fourth chapter. Joel and Ellie come here to call in a favor from Bill, a paranoid survivor who has rigged the whole town with traps, because they need a working vehicle.
- PittsburghPittsburgh, Pennsylvania is a former quarantine zone now run by hunters who ambush anyone passing through. Joel and Ellie spend two chapters here, Pittsburgh and The Suburbs, and meet the brothers Henry and Sam. Expect heavy human combat and the largest pile of collectibles in the game.
- Salt Lake CitySalt Lake City, Utah is the last stop on Joel and Ellie's search for the Fireflies. It is an abandoned quarantine zone where the Fireflies hold Saint Mary's Hospital, and you play the Bus Depot and The Firefly Lab chapters here in spring 2034.
Related enemies
- Human
FEDRA
FEDRA, the Federal Disaster Response Agency, is the military government that runs the Boston quarantine zone. Its soldiers are the best-equipped enemies in the first chapters, and you fight them while smuggling Ellie out of Boston.
- Infected
Runner
Runners are stage one infected, people turned within the last couple of days. They still see, move fast and swarm in packs, so the danger is numbers rather than any single runner.
Image: Naughty Dog / PlayStationInfectedBloater
Bloaters are stage four infected covered in armor-like fungus. They are slow and blind but kill you instantly if they grab you, and they throw bursting sacks of mycotoxin from range. Fire is the way to beat them.
- Infected
Clicker
Clickers are blind stage three infected that find you by the clicking sound they make. Their grab kills instantly unless you carry a shiv and have the Shiv Master upgrade, so most players deal with them quietly or with fire.