The Dead Rising Survivor Tier List [1000 Subscriber Special]

[@Burronetta]

You have no idea how happy I am Susan made A Tier! Saving her is like the breath of fresh air that you need at that point in the game, especially considering how exhausting the night before is.

[@JakeJakers]

Burt and Aaron do not appear on the list. I forgot to add their section to the script, which means no commentary was recorded for them. They would have appeared at the very top of B Rank, just above Jeff and Natalie. I didn't have too much to say about them, though. It would have just been describing Aaron being annoying while Burt introduces hostile characters. Let it be known that working on a video for 3 weeks straight without breaks makes it easy to overlook things.

[@schmuckmcgee7294]

Fair enough, I personally didn’t notice their exclusion until I saw the comment. Fun fact, btw: When you attack Burt to make him calm down, don’t use a sledgehammer. Trust me.

[@JakeJakers]

@@schmuckmcgee7294 Don't use a weapon period. All you have to do is hit him 5 times. the amount of damage he takes doesn't matter.

[@schmuckmcgee7294]

@@JakeJakersTrue. I mentioned the sledgehammer specifically because I learned the hard way that it turns his head into a fine jelly with a single hit.

[@Mentelgen-1337]

do a zombie outfit tierlist. or zombies tierlist in general.

[@dantegilgamesh2784]

23:28 I’ve always taken Frank saying maybe to David as less of a dick thing and more that Frank genuinely doesn’t know if he’s working for the good guys. At this point all he knows is Brad and Jessie are feds and are very intent on stonewalling him. I’m sure a hard hitting reporter knows better than most to never just trust that a government agency is working solely in everybody’s best interest

[@TheGameShelf]

Greg so damn powerful he prevented every single survivor from being a tier lower, love to see it

[@JakeJakers]

Facts

[@SpAC3GH0sT100]

I have a personal beef with Ronald. When I was doing my Saint run back in the day I forgot to bring a food item to him and he took the survivors and since I was on 360 and it didn’t have multiple saves back then I had to restart the game 😭 I kill him every time I see him now

[@concludedhail40]

Did you ever get the Saint achievement?

[@HazardousCanine0620]

Ronald is universally hated, isn't he?

[@substance.abuser]

​@HazardousCanine0620 I hate Otis more that mf don't call you if you wait outside the security room so I missed most of his calls

[@SpAC3GH0sT100]

@@concludedhail40oh yeah I got it twice lol. Once on Xbox 360 then I did it again on Xbox one for the remaster and I’m going to do it again for the remake

[@Coolitsme12]

​@@SpAC3GH0sT100 Any luck on that?

[@sagieboi1204]

When I was 9 or 10 when I played DR1 for the first time me and Leah went to hell together when I tried to save her. Firstly we barely survived avoiding the Convicts, as a result I went back to the food court and took her to The Entrance Plaza, to the Hallway that Otis welds shut. I barely managed to fight our way through that hallway and was shocked to see the door was welded (I was a dumb kid) so I had to brave wonderland Plaza, around his time Adams mission began and I stupidly started it, unsure it would be a boss fight. I had to carry her to a different store so Adam wouldn't murder her and had to utilise Cash registers, bins and spreadic handguns from the cop zombies. After killing Leah i was stressed to discover Greg, another character to escort. But then he showed me and Leah that shortcut... whee! It was a really memorable moment of the game for me as a Kid. Even if David perished as I forgot him. LOL

[@Winterhand897]

Oh damn dude I remember watching way back during your psychopath fights with your witty commentary back when KZbin had those speech bubble comments pop up in video! Refreshing as hell to see ya on my feed again and Dead Rising content. Never get tired of this game dude!

[@JakeJakers]

I thought my viewers from that era died off from old age by now.

[@Winterhand897]

@@JakeJakers Nope, still alive and kicking. Could say the same though to ya

[@pokisal]

The prologue survivors are almost certainly talking about Carlito who left to go to the roof. Above The Law survivors don’t die with time that’s just a myth. What actually is happening is they are the only survivors to start taking offscreen damage even if you never see them so if you enter Wonderland for even one second and leave in 2 minutes they are dead (Besides Kay because she’s spawned by the cutscene) Besides that good video.

[@plainjanemugi]

I had no idea that's how Above the Law worked!! Omg, you learn something new everyday. Whenever that scoop spawns I just beeline for Wonderland in the hopes the girls don't die lol

[@cole009productions7]

OHHHHH, SO THAT'S WHY THE REST OF THE GROUP DIED.. goddammit.

[@outcastalec1171]

Recently revisiting this childhood video game so absolutely loving the content 💕

[@TheWilku22]

10:06 wait, you can do that? Hold hands with both survivors?

[@ifistedabear]

I thought the same thing; I found out you can hold hands with two survivors in DR: DR, but didn't know that was originally something from DR1.

[@TheWilku22]

@@ifistedabear wait, really? Holy shit, didnt know that!!

[@RainingMetal]

Having completed the "Saint" achievement on my first playthrough of the remake, on my second run, I didn't hesitate to shoot Ronald in the face with a shotgun. He died in one hit!

[@JakeJakers]

Heavy blows to the head instantly kill zombies and survivors. The bowling ball, rock, fire ax, dumbbell, shotgun, sniper rifle, heavy machine gun, and Real mega Buster can all do this.

[@RainingMetal]

@@JakeJakers I must have been so used to Dead Rising 2's attributes that this shocked me. I never save the poker survivors, for example, so I used a Sniper rifle to execute them. Took a while to kill the three of them, too!

[@megamarvel3812]

Thank god this video exists, another KZbinr made a vid doing this but every tier was based on the locations so he was only ranking survivors on where they are so I’m glad this one takes way more into account

[@greatvoyager4049]

I think Burt And Arron Got Stuck Behind The Wooden Panel At Al Fresca. Sucks For Them haha. They are good as early Game Survivors, especially With Guns.

[@JakeJakers]

Yeah, I forgot to actually script down their section, and I didn't have the strongest thoughts on them so I didn't notice when recording the script. (Burt's good, Aaron is tolerable, top of B tier, no getting to A tier)

[@b-den5019]

First time viewer, awesome video. Put away clothes while listening. Quick question, what is the song around 14:30? It’s a vivid memory from my childhood but I don’t know what it is. Katamari maybe?

[@JakeJakers]

Tomorrow Hill from WarioWare: Smooth Moves (might be in other WarioWare games as well).

[@b-den5019]

@@JakeJakers yes!!!! Thank you!!! The driving one!

[@Ninjagojosh]

Very good, Jeff is always S no matter what tho, but lovely video, very well made

[@eggdoodle3003]

I loved the part where you were breaking down optimal routes for saving groups of survivors when discussing Kindall! I was wondering if you would consider making a video discussing optimal routes or other survivor manipulations?

[@JakeJakers]

I wouldn't mind making that, although it'd just be a glorified guide.

[@eggdoodle3003]

@@JakeJakers Honestly man the way you make/structure your content is pretty enthralling. While I'm sure guides exist for exactly that, presentation is everything and I'd definitely watch it if you made one. Plus you have so much experience your take on optimal routes would have so much expertise in it!

[@F0reman371]

11:24 "Quiet a few of them, too." Nice one~

[@ifistedabear]

Really glad I found your channel; especially these tier lists. OG Dead Rising will forever be a favorite.

[@rong2962]

I just completed the saint acheivement for the second time on xbox, and it actually wasnt as bad as i remember. I just used nectar, queens, and adams chainsaw to clear a path for survivors, stopping periodically to wait for them to catch up. Their AI is only annoying when you are running low on case time, but you can cheese the timer by reaching destinations with quickstep, skateboards, and using the wonderland shortcut. I had lost 2 survivors, leah who got killed without me knowing, and tad who i failed Kents quest. But i discovered if you let the time run out on the case before bomb run, you can make it out of the mall with an alive Jesse, brad, and Isabella, which counted as replacements for the two survivors i lost!

[@Xertaron.]

The slower, the better is a nice tip. Also, nice double take 16:33 :D

[@JakeJakers]

I was waiting for someone to comment on it. This video was one of my most troubled "productions" yet. I fixed most of the problems, but a few I noticed too late to do it without having to align entire bits of video. I take the approach of "A released video with flaws is better than a perfect video that never can be uploaded."

[@Xertaron.]

@@JakeJakersTrue, if anything it further highlights how much effort was put into it. Otis would be proud :)

[@Skuttie]

Kindell blew Isabellas head off once when I was playing giving him quadruple F tier.

[@Hi_Just_Fred]

One time, because Jolie was just a bit too far away when I entered the shop with Rachel, it messed with Rachel's AI and despite Jolie running up to hug her for the photo op like normal Rachel totally broke, shoved Jolie out of the way, and kept running nonstop towards the entrance doors so I had to reload and redo that whole area (Sniper fight and other scoops) over again. Simply put, I fuckin hate Rachel lol

[@JakeJakers]

I never had it break THAT badly. I have had her AI fail to do the Photo Op (sucks), but it's never been that bad.

[@Hi_Just_Fred]

​@@JakeJakers yeah it was a particularly frustrating moment lol And it was a sudden freak thing that only happened to me the one time, so one of the rare moments I was like "okay yeah this AI can be pretty bad" but only when it breaks like that or has a jarring hiccup like everyone getting stuck on one potted plant near the warehouse door because of bad pathing.

[@slimmmbabyj7716]

I had the same thing happen but Jolie & Rachel both started running around the store wildly until finally after a couple minutes the AI fixed itself & the photo op appeared

[@kneeofjustice9619]

Getting Leigh, Burt and Aaron to the security room was a nightmare. Either they kept getting suck or I’d get Gone Guru’d.

[@bravebiird]

man i love your channel so much, this game is just so delightful to talk about and explore in every little way. i hope you'll keep up coverage both of this and DRDR in the future! i'll be watching pretty much everything you put out

[@JakeJakers]

I also plan to talk about the sequels.

[@Stegosaurus4000]

Loved your input on this. Great video!

[@zackmcnitt]

Few things that irks me about Jolie and Rachel is that there mission would be suited much better while Entrance Plaza is locked off from Paradise , It would be a long trek sure but its just too easy as mentioned in this video to save them with how close the warehouse is. Consider a few suggestions to make this mission one of the most interesting. If you know about the photo op its worth PP points early on while you could have the Paradise photo book in hand for level ups . If this mission spawned around sometime say after David where you have all that time to just chill before Carlito 2 , this mission could teach you about hidden survivors around the mall because Bill doesn't despawn until Carlito 2 begins , during the mission your looking around stores on the second floor for Rachel you could possibly encounter Bill by accident being a surprise. Other things would be the player witnessing a huge load of zombies (that be nighttime zombies) on the second floor of the Entrance Plaza , meaning it would be urgent that the player get to looking around the second floor for Rachel. The player and the game seem to rarely see zombies spawn on floor 2 cause most of the time Case 1-3 and 2 Psychopaths are causing them to not show up. Because of this I always like to assume Jolie is the one who is left behind in the default game mission whereas she is in the most danger from zombies.

[@lealius588]

Hey, long time no see Yeah, Greg is the king of survivors here, and love some of the ost you used for the video Are you going to make videos for dr2? Take care

[@plainjanemugi]

Excellent video!! I've been playing this game for over a decade and am learning new things about survivor AI! I agree with most of this list. I hope the remake/remaster/whatever brings further characterization to these survivors. For example, Pamela and Heather seem to be arguing in the safe room when you rescue them, but there's no audible dialogue from either of them. I'd love to hear what they were actually saying to each other; if my twin left me for dead I'd knock her teeth out lmaoooo

[@plainjanemugi]

I had NO idea the reason for unarmed female survivors attacking the cult members was because they have "regular" survivor AI; almost as if they think they have a weapon on them. I always figured the developers were trying to go for the dumb female stereotype in the horror genre. Some noticeable examples from this are Janet and Jolie. I'm always able to rescue the Girl Squad before the cult spawns, so having Janet around is no issue. But Jolie LOVES running up to cultists to say hello LMAO. But not because my home girl is dumb, it's because she's aggressive and wants the beef

[@DoomieGruntVentures]

Plan on doing any dr 2 tier lists? Combo weapons would be a good place to start

[@JakeJakers]

DR2 and 3, actually. Just doing DR1 stuff first.

[@rabidslimes]

god i just finished up my transmissionary run and wanted to watch this before my saint run,, the transceiver between tier sent me into fight or flight lmaoo

[@Hi_Just_Fred]

For the gunstore group I took the vent photo, on the same playthrough, and was trying to show it but suddenly the group just started unloading on me, nearly killing me until I finally managed to escape. Only THEN did they function like normal again. Much like Rachel, I dread dealing with them in case something snaps their AI like a twig like that.

[@bossross8270]

That's by design. They stupidly think you're a zombie when you first enter the gun store. If you go too far into the gun store again, they'll still shoot you. Basically, it's impossible to get a gun from in there un

[@commentanalyst6165]

That's normal

[@skybluenerd219]

omg you actually did this

[@vycanismajoris6871]

As a challenge run, round up 8 "weak" survivors and escort them clockwise round the whole Willamette only using punch and Spitfire. Aaron rules!

[@TheWilku22]

2:16 you can use Watchdog to skip dialogues

[@lemonflavouredtnt6969]

Excellent content as always

[@DrewskiGames24]

7:19 Yep. Learned that the hard way 🙄

[@samuelantoniocastillomeza5034]

For me, Day 1 and 3 survivors are between B and S tier. Everyone on Day 2 are C or below for how stressful day 2 gets between the tight timing with the scorts distances.

[@enriquemariscal3293]

The Scooby doo music 👌

[@Colty]

Dude great video! Plus I love the inclusion of the Scooby Doo Night of 100 Frights music! :D

[@Grey8270]

Great video I was excited for this video for a long time and you did not disappoint! The time and effort you put into this video is amazing I especially enjoyed the Otis calls. I was glad to see the Tape it or die blogs mentioned when you discussed Simone there such a good piece of promotional material that both gives hints for items in the game while doing some world building along with with being an intriguing character study it’s a shame there not well known. Lastly was it intentional that Burt and Aaron where left out of the video?

[@JakeJakers]

No, it wasn't. That was an oversight. But I also didn't have much to say on them.

[@Grey8270]

@@JakeJakers oh I Assume they would be in B tier?

[@JakeJakers]

@@Grey8270 Yep. I left a comment on this video if you're interested.

[@ThatSquirtleGuylol]

Love the video but I’d say Jennifer should be higher due to Frank the pimp Btw what was the music for Sean’s hostages?

[@JakeJakers]

Train Rush from a Hat In Time

[@ThatSquirtleGuylol]

@@JakeJakers thx

[@universe7soap]

Tonya and Ross are my least favorite from a gameplay perspective, strictly because of how long their dialogue is, but they're definitely some of the best in terms of indirect storytelling.

[@Hi_Just_Fred]

Their dialogue seems intentionally long that way to eat up time before the medicine run for brad.

[@ThatguycalledJoe]

"Ya didn't forget the B Tier survivors for the video, didja?" > "Burt and Aaron do not appear on the list... They would have appeared at the very top of B Rank..." Uhhh...

[@JakeJakers]

Mistakes were made.

[@Robabank2034]

I’ve been waiting for this tier list

[@MR.ICE.]

The top 3 for me is Jeff, Natalie and Greg. Jeff and Natalie because they are so easy and give a great photo op. Greg because of that shortcut. That shortcut is a necessity in any playthrough.

[@GAMEPRODELTA]

Not to mention you get the small chainsaw right before saving him, which is the most durable regular melee weapon with all the relevant books. (Engineering, entertainment and criminal biography respectively)

[@brandongreen4439]

I'm curious id there's anything like this you could do for DR2/OTR. I'm aware that functionality wise they're basically the same, but the difference in survivor AIs and things like Frank's quickstep being able to affect them when Chuck's can't makes things at least interesting enough to me to want to hear if they're different enough experiences to affect rankings.

[@peppinoandweskerfriendsfor3450]

4:00 im sorry am I stupid or is this from that scooby doo game from the ps2??? 100 frights of the night or whatever they called it. Weird inclusion holy shit, kinda cool tho. Use to play it as a kid

[@JakeJakers]

Yep

[@pyromanic8]

I wish I could like DR1, but the mechanics just turn me off of it. Watching these videos is a nice way to exprience it without suffering. Videos are interesting and worth watching on their own, which definitely helps

[@JakeJakers]

Thanks. Dead Rising 1 isn't my favorite in the series, but making videos on it gave me a new-found appreciation (and understanding) of it.

[@DoomieGruntVentures]

Way back when, I knew a guy who beat Dead Rising and Ending S, but he gamed the exp system by restarting newgame+ after rescuing Natalie and Jeff till Level 50. I do need to work on a Saint run at some point. Any advice to get them all? Even if it means only getting Ending B for any margin of error?

[@Aksanadia]

I have to disagree somewhat on Jolie and Rachel, I'm not sure I would place them high but at least a bit higher. going slow enough you have Jolie defend Rachel with the shove and Wayne takes care of the rest, it's not a tricky or hard duo to save even on a new playthrough from Level 1, I even do the stupid challenge at times where you have to finish the game with Rachel by your side until Hideout and I never had a problem with it

[@sethgaston8347]

Aaron is easily the worst survivor to deal with. His incessant screaming when grabbed, and his weak little run

[@giganiqqa3381]

Wait, there's an exploit that allows survivors that can't use weapons to use em?

[@JakeJakers]

Yeah. If you offer a survivor food and change the weapon you hold at the EXACT frame you hand it to a weapon, they'll be able to use it.

[@giganiqqa3381]

​@JakeJakers dude thank you, Didn't even know this was a thing. Guess my playthoughs got a little easier.

[@JakeJakers]

@@giganiqqa3381 It's helpful for some characters, but remember that characters who get tired like Susan or Gil still will.

[@giganiqqa3381]

​@JakeJakers fair enough I got to work with cheryl once, And timing is strict. The only people who got it down consistently are the guys who do.The speed runs to give isabella random items instead of actual queens. Guessing no one would make a tutorial on it but I'd love to do it consistently.

[@salvadorcardenas9317]

Sad at no burt and Aaron mention. Aaron sucks, but Burt is the man. Idk why but hes one of the few survivors where id hand a shotgun too and hed be extremely capable. I had a fun run where i challenged myself in trying to keep a group of more capable survivors together throught the game ala the Walking Dead. And i dont remember much about that run but i do remember that, while most died early, 3 survivors from early game stuck out in Burt, Shinji, and Yuu, who were leagues above other survivors. Kindell was another real good one.

[@JakeJakers]

Yeah, I feel really bad forgetting Burt and Aaron. Probably why the other survivor tier list is nearing 100K views. Ah well, mistakes happen.

[@tylerrumfelt3353]

And now you have 3000! Haha

[@bossross8270]

I dome Kindell every playthrough unless I'm going for a survivor achievement. 😆

[@sifayun6336]

Hello. In the video, you mention you can make the survivors attack using some sort of attack command? I have never heard of this before, how do you do that?

[@JakeJakers]

It's the Y button. Pressing it when the survivor is already next to them will have them prioritize defending themselves. Aggressive survivors (Bill, Burt, Kendall, etc) can fire at zombies from a long distance, while cowards (Aaron, Gordon, Barbara) will only fight if a zombie is right next to them.

[@sifayun6336]

@@JakeJakers I will have to try that some time! Thanks for answering.

[@Subject_Keter]

They should make Otis a secert boss in the Remaster? We had enough of Otis letting get grappled by zombies and we KNOW he is the true masternind and 90% of the reasons we die! I remember giving my survivors a shotgun and they saw one singular zombie.. i had to literally hide from my survivors to answer the phone. 😂

[@awsomkid3735]

Imagine if someone mods Otis in infinity mode to have the real mega buster instead of a shovel. Bro would roast u in seconds

[@awsomkid3735]

Fuck it, what if Otis turned into MegaMan and had a shitload of health and is basically a boss fight

[@dawnofthewalkers4915]

Lmfao not Eliza it’s uh-liss-uh (Alyssa)

[@JakeJakers]

Yeah, just a flub on my part. Not sure why I did that.

[@Hi_Just_Fred]

Nice

[@moonlordgaming4537]

Dead rising 2 survivors when?

[@JakeJakers]

*Puts on French Accent* Eventually

[@moonlordgaming4537]

@@JakeJakers neat

[@Bain_from_Payday2]

Yeah shinji does follow you 💀 sorry I saw my opportunity

[@Kam-eu7sd]

ELISA???

[@d4ngerd4n]

Cheryl is S+ tier

[@SirIsaacFortesque]

Uhhh... can I comment KZbin? are you gonna delete this one too?

[@JakeJakers]

Yeah, I noticed some earlier comments gotten deleted. I've turned off any comment moderation, so it shouldn't be a problem now.

[@SirIsaacFortesque]

@@JakeJakers Got it, (Heck I think they even got rid of my comment on your food tier list) I'll try again now.

[@SirIsaacFortesque]

@@JakeJakers Okay I've tried three times, and it isn't working, any ideas?

[@JakeJakers]

@@SirIsaacFortesque Let me do it for more videos.

[@SHDW-nf2ki]

"Exploits to make their movement better are fair game" Everyone who tries to defend the survivors always ends up admiting they're some of the worst AI ever made in a video game by admiting glitches are mandatory to make them any good. Plus you use a lot more exploits like manipulating spawns, advanced stuff no player knows about and anyone who bothers to learn that kind of tech has long ago hit level 50 and has no real "need" of it to beat the game. Also like you mentioned in the very first entry, picture spamming is a better way to earn PP than most survivors and probably more fun. Also Kendall is F------------- tier, you can just rush Isabella back to the safehouse super fast without him, standing around to recruit him is a massive risk and yeah Frank can;t be grabbed. But if I had 100 PP for every time he shot me and made me drop Isabella I'd be well over level 50

[@FinnDanger-e3v]

No you wouldn't