Project Zomboid is a highly complex game that you can influence with your own playstyle. Therefore, there are also a multitude of suitable skills with which you can customise your character. While you can set many of your character’s traits and abilities during character creation, you can train almost every skill to its maximum in the game itself. However, that is not an easy task! Even if you can boost your XP through books, some skills still take an extremely long time to reach the highest level. Today, we’ll take a closer look at all the aspects and show you how to level them up, especially at the beginning. This will also increase your chances of survival in the zombie apocalypse!
Effective Strategies for Passive Skills
This category includes Fitness and Strength. It’s best to invest in these two skills right from character creation, as they are extremely hard to level up. Yet, they are vital for survival! They make you faster, more agile, and better equipped to fight against zombies. Additionally, you can carry more items.
You earn experience points through movements like running, sprinting, climbing, or melee combat. However, you can also do exercises in the character menu if you have some space and free time. Always give your character enough time to rest and heal any possible injuries.
Improving Agility Skills
Similar to the previous tab, these skills can primarily be levelled up through movements. However, they are more combat-focused, allowing you to run or attack faster backwards, for example.
Sprinting: You can run with Shift and sprint with Alt, both of which improve your stamina. But be careful not to trip and injure yourself!
Lightfooted: This skill determines how well or poorly zombies can perceive you. You can improve it by walking backwards in combat mode. Sneaking also earns you experience points here.
Nimble: This skill can also be improved through combat mode. As long as you hold the right mouse button while running, your character will get better.
Sneaking: Enter sneak mode with C, and you’ll level up automatically. The more zombies are nearby and don’t discover you, the faster this skill increases.
Tactics for Combat
Improve your skill with various weapons by fighting zombies. There isn’t much else you can do; you have to be brave and give those zombies a good beating! If you want to learn more about melee weapons, check out our article on the top ten weapons. (The Best Melee Weapons in Project Zomboid)
All possible weapon types:
- Axe
- Short and blunt
- Long and blunt
- Short blade
- Long blade
- Spear
Lastly, there’s Maintenance, where you take care of your weapons’ condition. Regularly repair them, especially the melee weapons you often and gladly use. Unfortunately, some weapons, like the popular Katana, cannot be repaired.
Mastering Crafting Skills
These skills are probably the ones you want to focus on the most. They determine your playstyle and depend on the job you chose during character creation. They can all be levelled up through many different methods, and you should always read the corresponding skill books beforehand! Additionally, you can also improve all skills with VHS tapes if you find them.
Carpentry: If you have an axe, you should chop down trees and saw the logs with a saw. If you have a hammer or screwdriver, dismantle furniture in houses and apartments for experience points. Later, you can level up by building wooden barricades.
Cooking: Initially, you should heat canned food, later combine as many ingredients as possible to create a delicious dish. The more food, the more experience points cooking will bring. From level 7, you can even use rotten food!
Farming: Very difficult to level up, as you only gain experience from harvesting. Maximise XP by harvesting healthy plants in summer.
First Aid: A very unconventional method used by players to level this skill is to walk barefoot over broken glass, remove the shards with tweezers, and then heal with a sterilised bandage. It sounds macabre, but it works!
Electronics: Disassemble digital watches, radios, and other electronic items with a screwdriver to gain XP. Later, you can repair your generators.
Metalworking: For this, you need a welding mask and torch, after which you can dismantle metal objects like bathtubs and large dumpsters for experience points. Broken vehicles also help raise your level.
Mechanics: This skill is primarily intended for cars. Initially, you can level it by removing and reinstalling a car’s headlights and radio with a screwdriver. You can also repair all other components, as even failures earn you XP.
Tailoring: Tear up clothing for initial experience points and patch up damaged garments with needle and thread to improve this skill.
With the Build 42 update, this tab has been expanded once again. It now includes the skills: Animal Husbandry, Carving, Stoneworking, Masonry, Pottery, and Welding. All of this is directly linked to the new crafting system and will offer many new ways to play PZ!
Mastering Firearms
You can improve both Aiming and Reloading simply by fighting zombies with a firearm. You need to hit a zombie to strengthen your aiming skills. Reloading can only be done when your weapon is empty, which likely happens only in combat.
Survivalist: The New Skills
Similar to crafting skills, you can also rapidly expand these skills through books or enhance them with VHS videos. Otherwise, simple gameplay will suffice, depending on your playstyle. With Build 42, Tracking has been added to enable tracking of wild animals.
Fishing: You gain the most experience points by fishing with a rod and bait in the morning and evening. Alternatively, you can use worms as bait. Spear fishing is less effective.
Trapping: Set up a crate trap for animals in the deep forest and move at least 75 tiles away for the trap to work. It’s best to set them up in the evening for nocturnal animals.
Foraging: Activate search mode as often as possible, especially during the day and in sunshine. You will find items everywhere, and you gain experience points for both finding and collecting items, allowing you to level up foraging relatively quickly.
Conclusion: Survival Tips for Your Playstyle
The development of your skills is one of the most crucial aspects of Project Zomboid. Without them, you probably won’t survive long. Depending on your playstyle, you should focus on different factors and pay attention to which skills are improved during character creation. Rent a server for Project Zomboid with us and support other players with your skills, learn together, and combine your best skills!
