As the yet unfinished Guts & Blackpowder continues to be updated, chunks of new content are added to the game over time. In the most recent patch, players get to enjoy a brand-new map called Berezina. To help you and your regiment prepare for this new area, let’s quickly go over everything you can expect to encounter here!
New Map Berezina Holdout Guide
This map is a very clear reference to the Battle of the Berezina, which is a real conflict that took place during the Napoleonicera that this game is heavily inspired by.
Just like the battle it is referencing, the Berezina map in Guts & Blackpowder highlights the harsh weather conditions that Napoleon’s forces faced as they attempted their disastrous retreat.
In an even more brutal twist, frozen zombies will relentlessly pursue the players who are trapped in a wasteland full of decaying corpses that hint towards a special mechanic you will deal with here.
The Main Mechanics of Berezina
While playing this map, players have to deal with the Cold debuff that will slowly but surely whittle down your health over time as you remain exposed to the blizzard outside.
In addition to slowly killing you, this debuff will eventually slow you down. A white vignette surrounding the screen will show you how far gone you are as you stay in the cold. This will get progressively worse and will start to kill you after around four few minutes.
As you would probably expect, standing in the freezing cold water will amplify this deadly effect and kill you in less than two minutes instead. Floating chunks of ice will also deal damage to you if they hit you.
Combating the Cold
In order to reverse the effects of the debuff and reset your hypothermia timer, you must run to the nearest heat source. These will typically be fires that can be found indoors in various places around the map.
The developers have coded in a specific formula to calculate how this mechanic works, but the main gist of it is that you will eventually die to the cold if you don’t regain heat every now and then.
Apart from that, all characters will also have a noticeably different outfit that is appropriate for the weather. This is purely cosmetic, but it is a neat touch that makes the map feel more immersive.
Constructing the Bridge
Just like Napoleon’s forces during the Battle of the Berezina, you and your teammates have the unfortunate task of building a bridge across the freezing river.
At the start of the match, a carriage will come and drop off some logs that you will use to create the first portion of the bridge.
The arrival of new supplies is announced in red text, making it hard to miss.To use these logs, they must be carried to the transparent outlines and repeatedly hit with a hammer.
This carriage will return with more logs every now and then, and players who died will supposedly only respawn whenever it arrives, so try your best to survive!
You will have to step into the deadly freezing water throughout the process, just like the sappers did in the historical conflict. Luckily, ladders will appear on the side of the bridge for every few portions built.
Also, in between the supply drops, hordes of zombies that get progressively tougher will try and stop your team. This is where having separate groups defending and building can come in handy.
Nearing the End Point
Once the bridge has been fully constructed, the supply caravan will attempt to cross it. Just before everyone can escape, however, a part of the bridge will collapse, and you must repair this as soon as possible.
Upon fixing this part, the final carriage will make its way to the end and stay right at the edge of the bridge. Players must run over as quickly as possible in order to successfully escape and finish the map.
Getting the Badge / How Contribution Works
In order to get the Beresinalied achievement, you will have to ensure that you have contributed enough to the team’s efforts throughout the entire match. There are several ways to do this, including the following:
- Placing down logs to help build the bridge.
- Delivering logs to the builders – This only gives you points once per log, and it must be placed near the edge of the bridge.
- Using a hammer to secure pieces of the bridge.
- Healing other players throughout the match.
- Killing any type of zombie.
It should be noted that this also affects how much money you earn at the end of the match. This will help ensure that everybody is contributing towards the team’s success.
A Few Closing Tips
Although that is everything you need to know in order to succeed in this new map and game mode, we can give you a few tips that will help improve your chances of survival.
#1. Pay Attention to Zombie Spawns
While your main focus should be fixing the bridge, you have to pay close attention to whenever the next horde arrives. Zombies can chase you across the water as you are building the bridge.
In addition to that, they can use the ladders on the various parts of the bridge. Because of this, your building crew will need to be escorted by other players who aren’t carrying logs.
This will become especially important near the end point, as people will have to haul the logs across a long path where zombies can both chase you and cut you off along the way.
#2. Don’t Forget to Build Barricades
Sappers should always build barricades all around the map in order to slow down the zombies. You can also try to place some on the bridge itself.
This will give people holding logs some additional breathing room, especially as the bridge gets longer. These will also be useful near the heat sources so that you can safely combat the cold throughout the match.
#3. Keep an Eye on the Cold Debuff
Apart from the white vignette, the cold debuff is also signified by an icon of a freezing hand to the left of your health bar. If you are unsure of whether or not your timer has reset, just pay attention to it while you are near a heat source.
As you warm yourself up indoors, the icon will eventually disappear. This is a clear indication that you are now warm and can safely spend a few more minutes back out in the harsh weather.
This is a much better way of checking whether you are still freezing, as the white vignette going away may not be easy to notice in the heat of the moment.
And that is everything we know about the new Berezina map in the game, as well as some tips that will hopefully help you out as you dive right in. While you’re here, check out our best weapons tier list for Guts & Blackpowder to figure out what loadout you should go with!
