In the world of The Walking Dead, Walkers are an ever-present force in the world. They helped tear down civilization as the world knew it and killed a lot of the characters in the series. Usually, they are shown as mere roamers, Walkers that can be taken out with a quick hit from any sort of blunt or sharp tool.
While they are the most prevalent, they are far from the only type of Walker in the series. The video game franchise helped add in a little more variety, as did some of the spinoffs. Now there's no shortage of Walkers looking to chomp down into human flesh.
10 Deadies
Perhaps it's that the series focuses more on how the youth of the world dealt with the apocalypse or just fatigue from another spin-off from the main series that has been quite lengthy in its own right, but Deadies never feel like a major threat in the show.
The term is one the show gives the standard roaming Walker, and target practice may have been a better name. They feel more like set pieces in a teen drama than a truly terrifying force.
9 Roamers
Roamers are the most typical form of zombie in the series and the name most frequently given to the Walkers as many of the characters found it hard to use the term zombie. Roamers are just as the name says, Walkers who roam the land in search of food and are the most frequently encountered type.
On their own, they aren't that dangerous, moving incredibly slowly and easily picked off with any form of projectile weapons a survivor could find.
8 Ghouls
Ghouls are often a term thrown around in video games, be it the subpar Survival Instinct or the far superior Telltale Games series. It helps give the games a little more flavor, and given the nature of them, being more point-and-click adventure than full-on action fest, the Walkers are presented as a bit more dangerous than they are in other mediums.
They end up racking up many of the kills in the Telltale Games, more than a few well-liked characters being torn apart.
7 Jiāngshī
The Jiāngshī are the primary foes of the novel, The Walking Dead: Typhoon, which takes place in China, giving a first look at how the Asian nation dealt with the outbreak. The term comes from Chinese folklore for undead creatures that consume life force.
It's a fitting name for this brand of Walker who is presented as a force of nature, tying in with the name of the whole book. They are shown as a constant threat, one that takes out more than their fair share of survivors by the finale of the book.
6 Floaters
Floaters aren't much of an upgrade over roamers but bring with them the threat of pollutants and disease beyond their bite. They are Walkers who have sat in water for too long, becoming extremely bloated and weathered from the exposure.
Their skin looks even more decrepit, peeling from its face in clumps. They look and feel like a walking pathogen that always needs to be handled with care. Even at the end of the world, other viruses exist.
5 Lurkers
Lurkers are like the spiders of the Walkers. They lie in wait, allowing their prey to come up to them rather than giving chase. The reason usually isn't due to tactics but due to some injury that keeps them from roaming.
Even still, they can be highly dangerous and have taken a few lives, including Allen. They also bit Hershel's leg, which needed to be amputated. They are proof that you should always make sure something is dead before you carelessly walk past it.
4 Swarmer
Swarmers are a smaller scale of the massive hive mind that was the herd that assaulted Alexandria in the comics. While not as dangerous, they can easily overwhelm a group as they nearly did to Magna's group.
They aren't beyond defeating, however, as they can be easily herded where the survivor wishes for them to go or be outright mowed down by those with superior firepower as the Commonwealth showed, taking down a swarm as if it were nothing.
3 Blockers
Blockers aren't much different than your standard Walker, other than the fact they are wearing armor, of course. Blockers were a creature of Overkill's The Walking Dead to spice up the variety of the game, giving a few more challenging foes.
The Blockers' armor takes more precise aiming to deal with, taking far more than just a single headshot to take down. Their increased defenses can buy them just enough time to close the ground on you.
2 Bloaters
Bloaters are everything Floaters represent, only even more dangerous. Rather than simply having the exposed and disease-ridden skin, they have the bonus of exploding upon death.
A zombie that acts like a mobile virus grenade is dangerous and makes them one of the most annoying characters to deal with in Overkill's The Walking Dead. Made specifically for the game, you could only imagine how difficult they would have been able to deal with in the comic universe.
1 Herds
A mob mentality can be dangerous, especially when it's used by a group of Walkers. On their own, they've always lacked any sort of threat, but once they've formed a herd, it's an entirely different story.
They start to learn from one another and work as a hive mind, all swarming a location as one rather than funneling in one by one. With enough of them, they can make the use of melee weapons moot as for every kill you make, two more will converge in on you.