Volatile Nest

For the enemy/primary objective within Volatile Nest locations, see Hives.

Volatile Nests are locations within Dying Light that act as the breeding/spawning grounds for the Volatiles.

Overview

Volatile Nests and their Hives/independent Hives appear in two different locations. The hives themselves being in the game mode Be The Zombie, with these hives found scattered along the terrain (varying from a space in the opening such as a courtyard or even a rooftop). They only appear during the Night during an invasion, and players must fight against the player-controlled Night Hunter to destroy these hives, while the Night Hunter must protect them. They do not appear as actual nests in the Slums or the Old Town i.e. unlike how they appear as locations in the Countryside. However they do appear as significant locations in the Countryside and as part of some side-quest objectives. Whilst the developing Volatiles are technically Hives (as a targetable enemy) and are not to be confused/seen as a Volatile Nest of its own, the Hives still appear in Slums and Old Town (and the Countryside in the open areas) as part of an active Night-Invasion/during Be The Zombie.

As a Location/Area

The location that the actual Volatile Nests appear are in The Following DLC, the Countryside.

These nests are the breeding grounds for Volatiles and are a focus for several side quests to destroy the Hives/developing Volatiles within. The number of volatiles and virals changes between day and night within the nests; during the day more infected are inside taking refuge from the sun whereas during the night more volatiles have left to 'hunt'. As a result, attacking let alone entering a Volatile Nest during the day is far more dangerous than at night due to heavier numbers of infected in the Nests during the day whilst the activity is very minimal at night.

The Night Hunter does not need to be present to find and destroy these nests as the Hunter's objective in Be the Zombie is to protect the hives which are in the open, as opposed to hives which are within the Volatile Nests in the Countryside.

Strategy (Day)

• Use a high-damage weapon to reduce the number of hits needed to kill the infected (something such as a modified Dark Machete or a Fabulous Handsaw with at least 1300 damage can cause serious damage to a developing Volatile).
• Whilst high-damage weapons are an obvious choice for this, make use of other skills or at least ensure that you are significantly leveled up in the power category — You will want to dispatch of the infected defending the area as well as need a weapon that can quickly and efficiently kill the developing Volatiles.
• Flares and UV Flashlight are a good option to combat the Volatiles plus gives you a safe zone to work within whilst you destroy the incubating Volatiles.
• Luring the infected into water (providing the water is deep enough) will cause them to instantly die — This is also a good way to complete the Bounty "Swimmer's Ear".
• Stealth is an option to reduce the number of infected that must be fought. Try using a Bow / Crossbow
• If possible, bring friends to help even the odds. Should one of you go down, you have a chance to revive them without losing any progress into the nest.
• Use the camouflage attack to not be attacked while in their presence — Virals will be heavy in presence and scattered around most of the nests during the day — Having the Takedown skill allows for you to quickly kill them and then use them for camouflage.

Strategy (Night)

• Employ the same tactics regarding high-damage weapons — Developing Volatiles don't die easily unless using heavier/more damaging weapons.
• During the night the number of the infected present is very reduced, with Volatiles being almost non-existent. This can make it easier to complete, but more virals appear to be within the Nest during the nighttime.
  • As aforementioned, make use of unlocked skills such as the Takedown and Camouflage Attack skills — This will help greatly and reduces the hassle that inexperienced or overly offensive players may come across even at night.
• Bring more than just one powerful weapon to dispatch the nests as quickly as possible. Firearms are best-suited for this as far as rapid damage output goes, with shotguns being the most effective in the close quarters of a nest. However, this renders your camouflage skills useless as the sound of gunfire will take away your ability to be camouflaged/unseen to the infected.
• Clear the nest as quickly as possible, as night only lasts for roughly 7—8 minutes. If you are still inside the nest when daytime comes around, many Volatiles will come rushing into the nest from outside to escape the sunlight and will attempt to save the remaining developing Volatiles by attacking and trying to kill any players caught inside.

Trivia

• In the caves the Hives/Nests are found in, there can usually be found large slit-shaped holes in the rocks. No matter even if you destroy a Volatile spawn around that area, every now and again Volatiles will randomly crawl and leap out of these holes. This is a spawning method for the caves that nests are found in and is a logical (albeit it troublesome method) of how these caves can never be completely safe.
• The onscreen message of "Entering Dark Area" will come up when approaching the opening to the Nests, followed by "Entering Hive".
• Likewise when leaving the location, the screen will show "Leaving Hive" followed by "Leaving Dark Area".

Easter Eggs

In one of the caves you can find a skeleton with a hat, a whip, and stolen goods, possibly Indiana Jones.

When near a Volatile breeding spot, if listen closely can be heard speaking. They will sometimes say "It burns... Mercy...", "Let me die, just let me die!" Hinting that they are still alive and partially retain a portion of speech.

Bugs

• The Volatile Nest on the train tracks below the freeway can be blown up using explosives in one of the train wagons, however, if this method is used there is a chance that a sound bug will occur some time after having used the explosives. While there is no guarantee that this will happen, the chance does exist. Approximately every ten seconds the sound of the explosion can be heard.
  • An improvised fix for this issue is restarting the game.
  • As using the explosives is not necessary to clear the nest, one can also choose not to use them to begin with, keeping the railway open and preventing the bug from taking place.