Zombie Modifier

Zombie Modifiers are buffs that can be randomly applied to zombies in ''SAS: Zombie Assault 4. ''They will often drastically alter approaches to killing a zombie, either by forcing a weapon switch due to resistances or by causing absolute havoc within its reach with upgraded damage capabilities.

Modified Zombies can be identified by the visual effects around the zombie if the Gore/VFX option is turned on, or by hovering the cursor over the modified zombie, revealing the word "Elite" after the zombie name, exactly which buffs the zombie has, and distinctive orange text.

Only Zombie Elites can have buffs, and Zombie Elites occasionally spawn within unmodified zombies. The amount of buffs a zombie has increases as the zombie evolves. The "Fetid" variant can have exactly one buff, the "Evolved" variant exactly two, and the "Apex" variant three.

The full list of modifiers is as follows:
 * Fiery Skin: 75% thermal resistance, +100% fire damage. An orange aura appears around the zombie.
 * Poisoned limbs: 75% poison/acid resistance, 100% acid damage over 3 sec. A green aura appears around the zombie.
 * Chitinous Hide: 75% physical resistance. Black rings appear around the zombie.
 * Extra Fast: +50% movement speed. Wind trails appear around the zombie.
 * Berserk: Tripled attack speed. A red aura surrounds the zombie.
 * Extra Strong: Double damage on all attacks, including melee attacks, Spitter acid, damage over time from Fiery Skin or Poisoned Limbs, and Acid Blood. Red rings appear around the zombie.
 * Regenerating: The zombie regenerates 5% of its health per second. Small cross effects appear around the zombie.
 * Energy Resilient: 75% energy resistance. Electricity arcs around the zombie.
 * Dark Minion: The infected functions similar to the Shadow of SAS3. They ignore all obstacles and ignore damage reduction from armor, though Heavies with the Tough Body skill can still reduce their damage. The zombie is jet black in coloration, and is still visible on the radar.
 * Acid Blood: On death, the zombie creates a puddle of acid that lasts 10 seconds. On contact with the acid, 150% damage over 3 sec. The acid lasts 3 sec. after getting out of the puddle. Acidic bubbles appear around the zombie.

Modifier Combinations
After the June 19, 2014 update, each zombie type in a mission has 2 types of "Elite" variants, with set combinations of up to three separate modifiers. Bosses can receive modifiers as well, but they are limited to only one of: Berserk, Extra Strong, Extra Fast, or Dark Minion. Before the update, it was just random modifiers on any zombie, and the bosses did not have any modifiers.

Some specific combinations can be absolutely nightmarish to face, a few are as follows: Although NK limited the modifiers up to 3 on the update, there is still a sign of an update to remove some combinations such as Bloaters with multiple resistance and Regenerating as well as Acid Blood Bloaters.
 * Bloaters can receive the same modifiers any regular infected can. This means that:
 * An Extra Strong Bloater Elite has massively increased damage, given that the Bloater Elite's increased damage is doubled.
 * A Bloater Elite with Berserk not only makes it deadly to encounter when cornered, but can destroy barricades much quicker than any other zombies.
 * A Regenerating Bloater Elite makes it much harder to kill, due to the increased Elite's health and the Bloater's already high health.
 * Bloater Elites with resistances (e.g.: Chitinous Hide) become almost impossible to kill by the resisted damage type, whereas weaker zombies with resistances would take a few more shots than usual to kill.
 * Fiery Skin or Poisoned Limbs Bloater Elites not only give them a resistance, but makes their attacks hit harder and deals damage over time. Since damage is based on a percentage of the zombie's damage, a hit from a Bloater Elite with these buffs will hurt much more than any other zombie with the same buffs.
 * Acid Blood from a Bloater Elite becomes extremely deadly as again, Acid Blood damage is based on zombie damage.
 * A combination of any of the above (ex: Extra Strong + Acid Blood, Chitinous Hide + Regenerating)
 * Zombies with multiple resistance types and the Regenerating modifier can be extremely difficult, if not impossible to kill with the resisted damage type.
 * Almost any zombie will turn into a killing machine with applied with both Extra Strong and Berserk, providing them with six times the effective damage of a regular zombie. Extra Fast on top of that will turn them from dangerous to lethal, or the Dark Minion Buff, making players take the full amount of damage the zombie would inflict.
 * Extra Fast bosses can be lethal even if it's in multiplayer. Because it's the best tactic to kite (drag), shoot, and repeat on bosses, extra fast bosses can quickly catch up to you while shooting at it if the player doesn't have concussion rounds or cyro turrets.