KNOWLEDGE IS YOUR WONDER WEAPON
Field Guides.
Browse curated map tutorials and original Atlas articles on preparation, crew play, and record keeping.
Compare Zombies Records Without Mixing The Rules
A practical checklist for comparing rounds, main-quest times, modes, party sizes, and incomplete timing information.
A smaller completion time is meaningful only when the attempts describe the same challenge. Before you chase a number on a leaderboard, decide what belongs in that comparison. Atlas records are self-reported, and evidence is optional.
Define The Comparison Before Starting
Write down the game edition, map, mode, party size, and quest category. Changing any of these may change the task. A solo attempt and a four-player attempt should have separate targets even when both finish the same quest. Likewise, a guided practice session can teach a route without establishing a comparable result for a standard-mode attempt.
For group rankings, Atlas requires a specific map, mode, and exact party size before ranking highest rounds or fastest quests. Super Easter Egg times also require their timing category. Broad progress totals remain useful across maps, but a universal “best time” across unrelated quests is not a useful competition.
Choose A Clock Everyone Understands
Agree on a start event and a finish event before recording. If you intend to submit to an external leaderboard, use its current category rules rather than assuming that a game timer, a video timer, and wall-clock elapsed time are interchangeable. Atlas does not certify those external requirements.
If your crew uses its own practice convention, describe it clearly in your notes. Record whether a disconnect, pause, restart, or resumed session changed the attempt. Do not quietly subtract a difficult section and present the remainder as a complete clear.
Separate Clear Time From Survival
A quest completion time answers how quickly the quest was finished. A highest round answers how far a session progressed. Continuing to survive after finishing the quest does not extend the quest time. Conversely, a long survival session does not imply that the main quest was completed.
Repeated clears are valuable practice, but they do not create new distinct quest completions. If a group clears one map ten times, its activity can increase while its number of distinct completed quest entries remains one. This keeps breadth of progress separate from repetition.
Handle Missing And Conflicting Information
If a recording cuts out before the finish, keep the completion time unknown unless another reliable record establishes it. If two teammates report different times, review the original evidence and agree on the boundary events before editing the shared result. An estimate can be useful in private planning; it should not masquerade as a precise competitive time.
For example, a 42-minute solo clear and a 35-minute four-player clear are two achievements. Neither result, by itself, demonstrates which player or crew would be faster under matching conditions. Compare each with its own category.
Use Evidence To Explain, Not Decorate
A useful recording shows enough of the attempt to understand its conditions and outcome. Give a reviewer a stable link and, where possible, describe the relevant timestamps. A screenshot of a final screen may document an outcome while leaving the route and timing convention unresolved.
Before drawing conclusions, check the filters, read the category, and remember that public Atlas results are community submissions. Treat rankings as a way to find goals and celebrate progress, not as proof that every listed result has been independently adjudicated.
Worked Example: Three Times, Two Comparisons
Imagine three Liberty Falls entries: Alex logs a 32:10 Standard solo main-quest clear, Bailey logs a 28:45 Directed solo clear, and Casey logs a 35:20 Standard solo clear. These are invented examples to illustrate comparison, not site records. Alex and Casey can begin a like-for-like comparison if their timing conventions and other restrictions match. Bailey belongs in a different mode comparison.
Even the first comparison needs the same start and finish definition. If Alex timed only a final encounter and Casey timed the full quest, neither number establishes who completed the full route faster. Keep the result and clarify the scope instead of guessing a correction.
| Record | Mode And Party | Comparison Decision |
|---|---|---|
| Alex · 32:10 | Standard · Solo | Compare with Casey only after checking timer scope. |
| Bailey · 28:45 | Directed · Solo | Keep in its own mode comparison. |
| Casey · 35:20 | Standard · Solo | Same mode and party do not establish the same timing rules. |