You’re riding through the snow-dusted pines of southern Oregon. The sky is a bruised purple, and the only sound is the low thrum of Deacon St. John's bike. Suddenly, the music shifts. It’s that high-pitched, frantic violin—the sonic signal that you’ve just stumbled into something very big and very hungry. Honestly, dealing with the days gone crater lake hordes is an entirely different beast compared to the smaller packs in the Cascades.
By the time you reach the Crater Lake and Highway 97 regions, the game stops holding your hand. It basically kicks you into a pit of several hundred Freakers and tells you to figure it out. Most people remember the Chemult Station mission because it's mandatory, but the "organic" hordes roaming the map are where the real terror lies. These aren't just clusters of enemies; they're a technical marvel of 2019 programming that still holds up in 2026. The way they flow over obstacles like a lethal liquid is mesmerizing and terrifying.
The Mt. Bailey Horde and the Reality of Crater Lake
The Mt. Bailey Horde is usually the first major wake-up call for players exploring the western side of the Crater Lake map. It’s situated near the Diamond Lake camp. If you aren’t prepared, they will swarm you before you can even turn your bike around.
In the early game, a horde might be 50 or 75 Freakers. At Crater Lake? You're looking at 125 to 300 Swarmers per pack. That is a massive jump in difficulty. The Mt. Bailey group lives in a cave, but during the night, they wander down toward the road. It’s a classic Days Gone trap. You stop to loot a car, thinking you’re safe because you cleared the nearby Nest, and then you hear the roar.
The environment here is your biggest enemy and your best friend. The elevation changes in the Crater Lake region make kiting difficult. You can't just run in a straight line; you’ll hit a rock wall or a steep drop-off. But if you’re smart, you use those drops. Dropping a remote bomb at the top of a ledge and detonating it as the "waterfall" of Freakers tumbles down is peak gameplay satisfaction.
Why the Chemult Station Horde is Different
Look, everyone talks about Chemult. It’s the story mission where Kouri gives you the Napalm Molotovs. It’s designed to be a spectacle. But the truly scary days gone crater lake hordes are the ones you find while you're just trying to gather herbs or find scrap.
The Chemult Community College horde is a nightmare. Truly. It’s huge—one of the largest in the game outside of the Old Sawmill. Because it’s located in a Crier-infested area with NERO checkpoints nearby, the sheer amount of noise you make just getting there usually draws them out prematurely.
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You’ve got to manage the Crier nests first. If you don't, you'll be fighting 300 Swarmers while birds are diving at your head. It’s overwhelming. Most players fail here because they try to "stealth" it. You can't really stealth a horde of that magnitude once the first explosion goes off. You need a plan. You need a route.
Tactical Reality: Gear Over Guts
If you’re trying to take on these southern hordes with the AK-47 equivalent (the SAF), you’re going to die. Period. Crater Lake is where the "Mil-Spec" weaponry becomes mandatory.
The Chicago Chopper is the gold standard. It has a drum mag that feels like it never ends, which is exactly what you need when a wall of pale flesh is ten feet away. But guns are actually secondary. In Days Gone, the environment kills hordes; bullets just finish the survivors.
- Attractors are the MVP. Throwing a smoke bomb or a flashbang is okay, but an Attractor coupled with a Frag Grenade is the most efficient way to delete 40% of a horde's health in three seconds.
- The Napalm Molotov. You get this specifically for the Crater Lake region. It lingers. It creates a literal wall of fire. Use it to funnel the horde into narrow gaps between buildings or rocks.
- Stamina Cocktails. Forget health. If you run out of breath in Crater Lake, you’re dead. You need to be perpetually "juiced" so you can maintain distance.
Most players make the mistake of staying in "Focus" mode too long. Focus is great for headshots, but it kills your situational awareness. When fighting the days gone crater lake hordes, you need to be looking at your mini-map more than your crosshairs. The mini-map tells you if the "flanks" are closing in. In this game, the AI is programmed to have some Freakers split off from the main pack to circle around you. It’s a pincer movement.
The McLeod Ridge and Lobert Draw Ridges
These are the "forgotten" hordes of the region. Everyone remembers the college, but McLeod Ridge is tucked away in the snowy heights. It’s a smaller horde, but the terrain is treacherous. Fighting in the snow affects your bike's handling. If you need to make a quick getaway because your primary weapon jammed or you ran out of ammo, the snow will make your tires spin.
Lobert Draw is located near a bridge and a rail line. It’s a great spot for practicing "environmental kills." There are explosive barrels and trucks scattered around. One of the best feelings in the game is kiting a horde past a fuel truck, timing your shot perfectly, and watching the explosion ripple through the crowd.
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But there’s a nuance here: the "horde tier" system.
The developers at Bend Studio didn't just make every horde the same. The Crater Lake packs have a higher concentration of "Bleachers"—those pale, tougher Freakers that take more hits to go down. This means your ammo count matters more than ever. You can't just spray and pray; you need to hit the mass of the crowd to maximize the penetration of your rounds.
Managing the Day/Night Cycle
The behavior of these groups changes based on the clock. During the day, they hibernate in dark caves or buildings. This is when they are most vulnerable to "gasoline bombing." You can sneak to the mouth of a cave and chuck a few explosives inside before they even realize you’re there.
At night, they roam. They go to "watering holes" (usually lakes or mass graves). Fighting a days gone crater lake horde at night is significantly harder because their perception is buffed, and they move faster. However, if you're hunting them for the Horde Killer storyline, nighttime is better for finding them if you don't know exactly which cave they call home.
Technical Performance and the "Swarm" Tech
It’s worth noting why these specific hordes feel so much more intense than those in other open-world games. Bend Studio used a custom system where each Freaker has a level of individual agency while still being tethered to the "hive mind" of the pack.
In the Crater Lake region, the pathfinding is tested to its limit. You’ll see Freakers climbing over each other to get through a window. They don’t just wait their turn. This "jampile" effect is what makes the Chemult and Crater Lake areas so claustrophobic. You think you’re safe on a roof, but they will literally build a ramp of bodies to reach you.
I remember the first time I saw this at the Rimview Ranch horde. I was standing on top of a barn thinking I could just cheese the AI. Within thirty seconds, the "pile" had reached the eaves of the roof. I had to jump off and sprint for my life. That’s the magic of the days gone crater lake hordes—they invalidate the "safe zones" you’ve spent the rest of the game relying on.
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Preparation Checklist for the Southern Regions
Before you even think about engaging these groups, you need to have your "kit" sorted. Going in half-cocked is just a waste of a save file.
- Saddlebags are non-negotiable. You need the Level 3 saddlebags on your bike. This allows you to carry multiple ammo refills. A Crater Lake horde will eat your entire inventory of 5.56 or .45 ACP in minutes.
- The RPD or MG45. You need a light machine gun in your special slot. Do not bring a sniper rifle to a horde fight. You need volume of fire.
- Proximity Mines. Set these up before you engage. Create a "retreat path" lined with mines. If the horde gets too close, you run back through your trapped path, and the mines will thin the herd while you're sprinting.
- Check the weather. Rain and snow dampen the sound of your footsteps, but they also make your bike harder to control. Wind doesn't affect much, but the visual fog in Crater Lake can make it easy to accidentally run straight into the middle of a feeding ground.
The Rimview Ranch Survival Strategy
The Rimview Ranch horde is often cited as one of the most fun but challenging encounters. It’s located near a large body of water and features a mix of open fields and tight interiors.
The best way to handle this one is to use the natural choke points of the ranch buildings. Lead them through a doorway, toss a Molotov, and then climb through a back window. By the time they funnel through the house and back out the window, you’ve already reset your position. This "looping" technique is the only way to survive the larger Crater Lake encounters without using 500 rounds of ammo.
It's also a great spot to utilize the "attractor/gas can" combo. Find a red gas can, drop it in an open area, throw an attractor on top of it, wait for the crowd to bunch up, and then shoot the can. It's more resource-efficient than crafting high-end explosives.
Final Insights for the Road
Dealing with the days gone crater lake hordes is the true "endgame" experience of Days Gone. It’s where your mastery of the bike, the crafting menu, and the environment all come together.
The biggest takeaway is that you should never fight fair. The game doesn't want you to be a hero; it wants you to be a survivor. If that means sitting on a distant ridge and picking off fifty Swarmers with an attractor and a grenade before they even see you, do it. If it means leading a horde into a nearby Marauder camp and letting the two groups kill each other while you hide in the bushes, even better.
Actionable Next Steps
- Upgrade your bike’s engine and fuel tank first. In Crater Lake, being able to outrun a horde is more important than being able to kill one.
- Clear the NERO checkpoints in the south. You need those stat boosters for Stamina. Health is a secondary concern because if a horde catches you, you're dead regardless of your HP.
- Farm Growlers. These are the bottleneck for making Napalm Molotovs. Check every Nero site and every abandoned truck for them.
- Unlock the "Two Birds, One Bullet" skill. This increases bullet penetration, which is vital when you're shooting into a dense pack of 200+ enemies.
The Crater Lake region is unforgiving, but it’s also the most rewarding part of the map once you learn the rhythm of the swarm. Stop viewing the hordes as enemies and start viewing them as a puzzle that needs to be solved with fire and lead.