ENEMIES! Goons everywhere, and the shanks are a-hungering for some combo money score bonus awesomeness! Seriously though, Survival is a tough gig. You’ve got 30 waves to live through and my do things get tough near the end. There’s lots of different characters with different bonuses to take advantage of, different weapons to find uses for, and different maps to dominate. To help sort all that out, we’ll provided some level-based tips for survival in a bit, but for now here are some general tips:

  • Efficiency is important, but it doesn’t net you much cash. We advise against the sledgehammer due to its sluggishness and general inefficiency unless you’ve got a character for it.
  • Make money, you’ll need it survival. Hitting ‘down’ on the left stick before hitting X or Y launches enemies. Hit enemies in the air for enemies juggle points.
  • Make fervent use of the traps, no reason not to!
  • Decoys are the absolute best use of money (beyond Tequila) as if anything will spontaneously save your life it’s a decoy. Try to have two going at a time.
  • Corina is great at crowd control where-as Shank is best at dispatching bigger guys on average, but of course character stats change things.
  • Zombie stages are the pits, save your money for them if you’re doing well. Or even if you’re not.
  • Grenadiers can be thrown with left or right + X resulting in them dying instantly and exploding as well.
  • Pickups, especially axes, poles, spears and shovels are incredibly powerful.
  • Use your grenades, plenty show up as the game goes on. If you see land mines, pick them up, place them, then go pick up whatever you had again.

Down on the Farm

The farm is the widest level in Shank 2 and as such has some key problems and benefits. The trap trap on this level is a massive grinder which opens up in the center, dropping enemies into it resulting in insta-death.

Survival

  • Ranged enemies are incredibly powerful in this map because it’s so long. Don’t let them start to pile up.
  • Remember to grab enemies and face them towards ranged enemies so they’ll absorb the damage, giving you points and killing them in the process.
  • If you’re playing coop, be very vocal about using the grinder trap as killing your partner at inopportune moments is, well, inopportune.
  • War Boars are very useful on this map due to the large planes of play.
  • Use directional throws to force enemies into the trap, or shoot them as they jump over it.
  • Defend the bottom supply box at all costs, without it going from the bottom level to the top level will be time consuming and difficult.

Bombed Church

The church is rather small, making it ideal for, y’know, winning. Take advantage of the machetes or scythe here for maximum crowd control. The top level is very easy to defend since enemies will only ascend via the ladders, so if you have to, make that your last stand. The firetraps here are perfect for such defense as enemies shot off the ladder will fall into them once activated.

Survival

  • Pickups are aplenty here and easy to keep track of since the whole map is on-screen, so use them plentifully. If you want, bring a character that takes advantage of them.
  • Don’t get caught in your own fire trap. You wouldn’t think this tip is necessary but it is.
  • The shotgun and revolver are very useful here thanks to their knockback. Without it, getting to who you actually want to hit may be difficult.
  • If you’d rather use a spray-and-pray, watch the enemies on the ladders for free kills off the fire trap.
  • Turrets on the top floor are awesome, keeps the floor clean and they don’t get hit too often.

I’m on a Boat

You are indeed on a boat, and should be behaving as such! That means man the massively powerful harpoon cannons and… oh wait. Maybe that’s not a good idea. The harpoon cannon is incredibly powerful and should be used to clear entire floors so your supply crates don’t explode, but not outside that or you’ll have no money. Also, don’t jump off the boat. You can swim unlike in most games, it’s just… what with the piranhas and all.

Survival

  • No pouncing off the boat. Seriously, don’t pounce when you’re on either gankplank or near the edge of the lower boat area. You’ll just die.
  • One person can be on the harpoon, but both people shouldn’t be on it unless there’s a boss or if both people are ridiculously good with it.
  • Don’t forget about the boat smash button, it helps. Not much, but you might as well use it.
  • Turrets are difficult here, and may not be the best choice of money expenditure. I recommend War Boars, decoys and explosive weapons.
  • The bottom floor gets really crowded, save your grenades for a poop deck party.
  • You may want a Defender on this level as the trip to the supply crates is short for the bombers.