In DayZ, not only other players and zombies can be dangerous to you, but your environment can also quickly become a threat. Your character is susceptible to many different diseases that you can contract during your time playing DayZ. While some of these are less problematic, others can mean certain death. It is therefore especially important to be aware of all possible medical emergencies from the start and act at the right moment. By doing so, you can save your life or that of your teammates and be well-prepared for an excursion to Chernarus!
Understanding common diseases and injuries in DayZ
You can contract a variety of interesting diseases in DayZ. All of these exist in real life, which may give you some hints about their effects and subsequent treatment. We will examine all diseases and possible injuries in detail, as your in-game display does not indicate precisely what you are afflicted with. Therefore, you should pay attention to your symptoms.
Temperature-induced diseases:
- Cold: You sneeze and cough. Occurs when you stay outside in cold and wet weather for too long.
- Hypothermia: Wearing too little or thin clothing. You lose health and require significantly more energy than before.
- Overheating: Wearing too warm clothing, being too close to a campfire or another heat source. You dehydrate and lose health.
- Burns: Being too close to an open flame causes damage.
- Influenza / Flu: A more severe version of the common cold, with heavy symptoms. You have chills, cough, and sneeze often.
Wounds and physical injuries:
- Bleeding: You bleed from an attack or glass shards. Depending on the location, you bleed more or less, affecting your health.
- Unconsciousness: Extreme overload from too many injuries at once. The shock value is below 25% and must recover.
- Wound infection: Occurs when you don’t promptly care for an open wound or it becomes infected by dirty bandages. It brings severe symptoms like blurred vision, fever, pain, or even dehydration. Can be fatal if not addressed in time.
- Foot pain: Walking barefoot or with poor shoes causes your feet to bleed. Your character will signal discomfort with unpleasant sounds.
- Bone fracture: Can occur from falls, attacks, or traps. You suffer shock damage if not treated and will limp, possibly leading to unconsciousness.
Viruses and other diseases:
- Prion disease / Kuru: Results from eating human flesh. Causes uncontrollable laughter and trembling and is incurable.
- Food poisoning: Can occur from consuming bad food. Your character vomits and may lose more stamina.
- Gas poisoning: You can poison yourself with gas by entering the poisoned zone. Much worse than a normal poisoning and can be fatal.
- Cholera: Cholera comes from bad water, which you may drink from open water sources or containers. It leads to stomach issues, dehydration, and poor vision.
- Salmonella: Results from eating raw meat or with bloody hands. Causes vomiting, pain, and dehydration.
- Hemolytic reaction: This physical reaction happens if you receive the wrong blood type during a transfusion. Leads to immediate unconsciousness, but you recover afterward.
Effective healing methods in DayZ
Some diseases naturally sound anything but pleasant and can lead to your character’s death if untreated. Therefore, it is always important to be prepared for all emergencies. Nothing is more annoying than constantly being plagued by a cold or dying from a bone fracture.
Thankfully, some diseases heal on their own if you give your character enough rest. This includes food poisoning, unconsciousness, and a wrong blood transfusion. However, you must tend to most other diseases and injuries to prevent them from worsening.
Temperature: Health issues arising from incorrect body temperature can be easily avoided and managed. Always wear appropriate clothing, avoid getting your character wet, and dry wet clothing quickly. You can wring them out or run around to dry them. On the other hand, keep away from open fires.
Physical injuries: If injured from a fight or a careless move, address it promptly. Especially open wounds can be extremely dangerous if they become infected—a nearly certain death. Always have sterilized bandages ready, which you can make using alcohol, iodine tincture, or disinfectant spray. Otherwise, stitch open wounds with a sewing kit. Bone fractures heal faster with a splint, but they can heal without assistance.
Medications: Most other diseases can be cured with various medications. You should have tetracycline tablets (for nearly all diseases), multivitamin tablets (for nearly all diseases), and charcoal tablets (for salmonella) to combat potential health issues. Treat bad water with chlorine tablets beforehand. Pain can be relieved with codeine pills or morphine injections.
Preventive measures for healthy survival in DayZ
If you play long enough and are aware of many dangers, you can avoid most of these diseases and injuries. Many occur purely due to thoughtless actions and simple stupidity, especially in emergencies. Always keep a cool head and avoid rash actions.
In general, you can improve your immune system through good nutrition and prevent some diseases. Multivitamin tablets also enhance effectiveness and can even make you immune! Additionally, all your other stats improve, including your energy, water balance, blood quality, and overall health.
Diseases caused by food can also be easily avoided. Only eat food you’ve found yourself that has been well-cooked. Always mix water with chlorine tablets to prevent issues. And definitely avoid eating human flesh!
Physical injuries are harder to avoid, but you can try to move more consciously to minimize injury risk. And, of course, you can avoid fights.
Conclusion: Survive smart and healthy in DayZ
Anyone starting with DayZ should be aware of the many dangers in the game. Diseases and injuries are often even worse than attacks from zombies or players. Therefore, always be vigilant, carry enough medications, and take good care of your character. Rent your own DayZ server with us and learn together to care for each other and revive your friends in emergencies. This is by far one of the greatest advantages of multiplayer, as you always have people around who can save you.
