Very informative, thanks. I have recently been trying a few combos myself, some of my favorites are: Marathon + Discipline = unlimited sprint while carrying full gear Backpacking + Resourcefulness = great for looting, with 4 pockets plus high stacks of consumables (I think you mentioned that) Also worth noting that your base Light Capacity limit is 15, and your base Normal Capacity limit is 45. Upgrading Wits to Discipline moves your Light Capacity limit from 15 to 35 (Normal stays at 45), while upgrading Cardio to Backpacking moves your Normal Capacity Limit from 45 to 75 (Light stays at 15). However, if you have both Discipline and Backpacking on a character, you end up with a Light limit of 45 and a Normal limit of 75. While there seems to be a good synergy between Cardio/Wits or Cardio/Fighting, did you notice any combos with Shooting that gave you a really good advantage? Edited to say: Acrobatics and Gunslinging pair pretty well together since you roll farther away and then can snap to their head for a quick kill.
Nice observation! And yeah, Acrobatics is good for a shooting build. I'm on PC so I don't need gunslinging. I haven't found a particularly good combo. I mean killing with guns is easy in this game so getting more stamina to dodge and more inventory space is what I'd do. And weapon handling also because none of the others benefit me on PC. If you're on console though, you might want sway reduction -- not sure how strong your aim assist is. Gunslinging takes too much stamina imo.
Yes I'm on console so every time I see the option for Gunslinging, I take it. It's worth it's weight in gold, especially against ferals. Once you max it out the stamina usage isn't that bad, you can snap kill around 10-12 before you are depleted.
Came hoping it'd be the 5th skill video just so I didn't have to spec into them all to see the max bonus (missing a few still), but I'll comment regarding this one anyway. The amount of stamina you actually gain from Acrobatics makes it largely useless, the 'improved dodge' is actually a little slower but covers more space and you're not immune to damage while doing it so it can be a negative the best feature of Acrobatics is that the improved dodge has the ability to stagger multiple enemies whilst the normal dodge only staggers one which is decent for fighting groups, but can be a pain when you're just wanting to dodge through 1 zed to execute from the back. The 'improved dodge' can be a liability when fighting ferals or juggernauts in some scenarios where it reduces the amount of time you have after successful dodges. The best weapons can break revolvers are too loud to be useful unless you just want to kill a horde everytime you shoot once and Bolt Action weapons fire too slow to deal with a horde if you want to shoot them instead of melee-ing them so the best weapons are the ones that have ridiculously large magazines since one headshot kills normal zeds regardless of power and they tend to have automatic fire modes included if you really need them so Weapon Handling and it's free repairs is by default the best skill to take. Aim assist sucks, just turn it off console or not when it's too strong it's easy mode and when it's bad it pulls you off target and you end up fighting it. PC is easy mode aiming yes, but consoles tend to have advantages movement which arguably lets you avoid feral attacks more easily. Marathon is pretty useless in the grand scheme of things, cars exist which are faster than running and the added stamina from Backpacking can be used for running, fighting and dodging which pretty much makes it the best overall option anyway from a Stamina standpoint in the Cardio field especially since even with Discipline you're liable to be normal encumbrance than you are light especially if you're using better weapons which tend to eat up about 8lbs right there then your backpack is 8 or 12 lbs for an 8 slot pack, your melee weapon adds additional weight to that as well then if you want any health consumeables you add a little extra weight so you're basically looking at a well-kitted out character weighing about 25 lbs carrying nothing so unless you're planning on making concessions somewhere if you loot anything Marthan loses that questionably infinite run anyway even with Discipline pretty quickly and the stamina reduction for sprint isn't much better than the added Stamina you get from Backpacking anyway (unless you have +Stamina traits) and even if you have base stamina it's just for running which it's usually easier to just kill things then grab your car, running as a defense tends to be pretty meh compared to dodging or in a pinch shooting while backing away. Acrobatics as mentioned is meh which leaves Powerhouse if you have the option for it. Powerhouse lets you grab enemies from the front which is useful for a shooter if you want to focus on that since you can lower your weapon quick enough then use Powerhouse to throw enemies into each other staggering them for easier shots, but for general gameplay it helps save stamina, the Drop Kick is arguably one of the best special attacks with it's high knockback component it's useful for saving people from Juggernauts should they be dumb enough to get grabbed in the first place and staggers feral in one shot. For wits Discipline is the Mary Sue of abilities it gives a little bit of everything. High end melee weapons that are the best stats-wise have lower durability Discipline helps deal with that 'problem' while giving a decent amount of stamina in the long run with it's regen effect and higher base. Scouting is just a convenience skill, easily ignorable by those who don't care to search buildings and the enemy marking ability can be ignored if you pay attention. Stealth saves time with improved fast searches and saves hassle with silent unlocks, but the quick stealth kill + the detection bonus lets you chain kill wandering hordes without being detected something you can't do without it. Resourcefulness is meh, consumables are largely useless a 50 cal deals with a plague heart in 3 shots before any zeds can react to the noise and the bombs make noise regardless so if that were really a concern you'd not be using either. If you are a player worth your salt you won't need stacks on stacks of health items to which something like Discipline or Stealth can save you Health anyway and infestations are simple enough to shoot your way through which can be done with a silencer to reduce the amount of surrounding zeds coming so you can pretty well ignore the consumable 'benefit' of resourcefulness as for the 1 extra item slot that's not too much either with a car's extra storage and the fact at some point you start only looting what you actually want and leaving that 50th hiking pack that you can't possibly find a character to use it anyway that looting isn't much of an issue. If you know you're going to a good loot slot just bring a van with 8 slots of space it's arguable if you really want to make a case for it that Resourcefulness is the best for pairing with Marathon. 45 as mentioned doesn't really let you loot much and achieve light encumbrance with a decent kit so Resourcefulness at least helps you keep normal encumbrance which Discipline doesn't help keeping your stamina consumption from increasing when you hit the heavy threshold stretching your sprint of course then you have the Backpacking pretty much being better argument all over again anyway and if you take both you can take an Ultralight Pack with 8 slots. It's worth noting that a single rucksack of whatever weighs about 20lbs so if you're actually looting going back to Marathon you won't be Light Encumbrance. Rucksacks = Consumeables, Consumeables would otherwise be loot, but you get to pick what you craft with the Rucksack materials so Rucksacks > random junk loot even if your base has enconomy. Need influence convert food to liquor to sell, need ammo craft it with ammo sacks instead of hoping to find the type you want, need to kill infestations and like molotovs why not craft thermite bombs instead. Get injured a lot, craft some painkillers when you need them instead of hoping you find them. For fighting the best self-contained ability is easily Swordplay. Swords are quieter than blunt weapons and tend to have higher lethality for actually killing combined with front kills in one skill you don't need to combo it with anything. Durability isn't much of an issue with proper maintenance and even the hardy swords can cripple or kill outright thanks to the Swordplay skill. Striking at max pretty much turns any halfway decent weapon into a 1 hit knockdown of normal zeds so something near impossible to break like the Transmission Mace that otherwise has meh stats suddenly becomes useful making it a good economical choice and doubly so for those focused more on guns than melee since a single swing will per zed will give you breathing room in mob situations if not you have Grand Slam to fall back on for AoE breathing room. Close Combat lets you front kill, but it's slow and can result in getting damaged because of it when you have a weapon and Powerhouse it's the fastest standing kill you can manage and it uses your unbreakable weapon unlike Swordplay which causes degradation to your Sword on executions or how Powerhouse by itself can result in using your melee weapon on executions since you still tend to use your weapon on downed executions, Close Combat ensures that you always use your non-breakable weapon. The benefit of not using a weapon with CC saves weight if you're desperately trying to hit the Light Encumbrance and it's decent enough to use for normal zeds even in a group it just lacks on specials like Juggernauts which you can use your gun for, but you can also think of it like an extra pocket, if you set out without a weapon and find one in the field you recover your fighting ability by equipping it and it doesn't take a pack slot and when you get back it's basically an extra loot item you otherwise wouldn't have had if you set out with one equipped. Endurance is just bad, better fighting ability = less wasted Health rendering it moot in the long run plus you have healing items if you get hurt anyway, only people who are REALLY bad don't have time to heal with Painkillers even if they aren't good enough to avoid getting into a bad situation to begin with which isn't really hard. For shooting the best weapons can break makes Weapon Handling king. Gunslinger is decent for Revolvers and Bolt Action weapons, but they're pretty meh in the long run since even the Timberwolf isn't actually the best 50 cal since the BFG fires faster to help ensure you aren't pestered by plague zeds when shooting a heart or if you're hunting juggernauts for the influence you can kill them quicker and move on leaving whatever heard your shots to be ran over by your car whereas with a Timberwolf being slower like it is you will probably have to deal with some normal zeds while shooting the juggernaut, that is if you even bother to use the fairly lackluster 50 cals to begin with since they're expensive to maintain ammo and loud, better to just use an AK that's silenced or even with a muzzle break for the added power if you really want that burst power and don't mind the noise. Prepper's AKs are pretty common in the weapon crates so even if you don't get the 'best' loot they have to offer you're liable to get a good gun out of the deal even the Sleeper Cell PPK is good and pretty common comes with an Advanced Suppressor too and a Burst Mode if you really need added stopping power in exchange for bullet waste. Sharpshooting is largely pointless the better guns are higher caliber and have decent piercing base.
Sharpshooter is best on the pea-shooters anyway since even something like a .22 will pop 2 heads if they're lined up so only people aiming for center mass with a weak gun will appreciate Sharpshooting. Keep in mind an AK will pierce center mass by default. Dismemberment is kind of neat if you're using something with a moderate fire rate and just crippling their legs, but it's novelty when you could outright kill them. Assault is garbage too, just drop your weapon if you need to chances are if you're relying on the kick from assault you're going to take damage or get grabbed anyway since you're waiting too long to do something about it and trying to get that shot while they're still coming and only using the kick after you get hurt instead of deciding to stop going for the shot in time to use the kick safely from when you were aiming since to use it you're refusing to put your gun down..
Thank you for getting to the point and not pandering on for 8 min and thank you so so so much for the time stamps. This is now my go to video for information.
Wish I could like it twice ;) Very well done, very organized! Thanks so much for making this! We need more videos like this getting circulated within our little community here.
Good low-profile build: Marathon + Stealth + Close Combat + Weapon Handling Use backup melee weapon and sleeper cell ppk Sneak allows you to sprint while sneaking, and marathon lets you sprint forever, so speedy and undetectable.
| Old but still usefull. Before finding this video I have watched other videos about the skills and specializations but they basically show printscreens from ingame stats windows and read what we can clearly see at the screen. The action in the background it´s just random footage from gameplays that don´t even show footage related to the topic they are talking about. Those videos answer to lirrle questions and leave even more. In this video you do the same but also show the skills in action and what each one does in real time and that fully answer my questions. Great video! Would be great to see a video showcasing the results in action featuring the best possible Specializations combinations and they work together.
I play with three different builds. My stealth build is for bringing cars back to base on newly flipped maps or bringing vehicles to my outposts to serve as overflow ruck storage when I’m blacking our a neighborhood. Marathon, Stealth, close combat, and sharpshooting. She doesn’t engage freaks or hordes and all her gear weighs less than 2 lbs. she uses the ultralight pack, light crossbow and no melee. My demolition isn’t used backpacking, resourcefulness, striking, and gunslinging. They are designed for clearing infestations and plague hearts. They carry stacks of noise makers and incendiaries as well as a 12 round grenade launcher. If they must melee thy do aoe blunt attacks with something like an oversized mallet and breaching hammer. Finally I have an assault class. Powerhouse, discipline, close combat, and gunslinging. They are meant to kill quickly in melee without getting tired and conserve ammo. Most of them are this assault type. I usually keep 1 stealth, 2 demo, the rest assault.
Acrobatics also has a shiv dive while zombies are on the ground. Press the sprint and push buttons while it is down to shiv dive. Can also be done while running towards them when they are down
Backpacking + resourcefulness. Gunslinging best for guns, save ammo, reload fast as hell. Swordplay maxed out is OP asf. +60% lethality, plus u can grab kill feom the front basically. Kill zombies in 2 hits. Go w backpack, resourcefullness, swordplay or striking, and gunslinging. I beat it 6 times, got the 4 boobs w the same 3 ppl in 2 days. Just keep bringing my electronics, agriculture, and surgury person, doing the +50 health for 1hr 30 mins helps a lot. Best base is barricaded strip mall, 3 large slots, 9 small slots. I had 2 slots I didn't know wtf to do with. I made a fighting gym n shooting range, with mods u can get +30healrh from fighting gym and +20 stamina from shooting range. Don't make a forge its useless, u can make 4 weapons if u have a ironworker or whatever, crows beak, rebar sword, the razor machete, and somethin else gay. I found better weapons. Bastard if Bella wood, thors hammer, trench shovel. So, armory, staging area, Spartan beds. Beast. Hydroponics for food n 1 for meds, 10 each a day. 2 outpost for beds, 10 survivors. Ammo outposts. 2 of my heroes gimme 1 fuel a day. One delivers cars, meal plan is good, ur ppl eat 25% less if shes the leader, so 8 ppl only eat 6 food ect.
My favorite combos so far are marathon+stealth+close combat Sprint while crouched endlessly and quick kill animations. Powerhouse+discipline+swordplay A true terror on the battlefield Eviscerates normal Z's and makes quick work of ferals too. Backpacking+resourcefulness+sewing Well just carry a lot of shit nothing really to it beyond that. Backpacking+discipline Backpacking gives the largest base stamina boost of all cardio skills giving you more swings per altercation.
Best is backpacking, with resourcefulness, u get 2 extra slots and can carry 6 instead of 3, and u can carry way more stuff, and ur stuff weighs 70% less
I gave my guy "Orem" Acrobatics, Swordplay, Stealth, Assault and his extra skill is fishing already came with his skills and I wish you can reset your skills once for every skill including the extra skill but only once
Can someone tell me with specialization are useless for fighting and shooting ? I have my ideas but maybe I am missing something. I always go for powerhouse if possible or marathon and for fighting I live swordplay the best. Blades are AWESOME. combined with powerhouse and marathon you become a unbeatable beast
I unlocked marathon skill today but it still cost stamina to sprint even when i am carrying light, do i need to max out marathon skill stars to get no stamina cost for sprinting perk???
Both are great for saving time when looting. The other perks are your preference. With scouting you no longer need to look for the loot crates With stealth you can Fast Search with less risk of attracting zombies I like scouting better because finding the last crate is a pain in the ass.
I admit I was fucking terrified of Juggernauts. I thought meeting one on an open field meant certain death, Ned. Especially after a certain NPC quest, basic protect me while I loot. When it's done, she asks to join my community, telling she don't think she can survive long on her own. I had to refuse because I was already struggling with too many survivors in my Bridge Fort base. So she gets out of the Tartan Mart, I jump in my car and go back to base, when I realize there's a Juggernaut and a couple of Zeds at the crossroad. AI is down so she goes for them with her Machete and her rifle with 5 bullets ! I try to honk to distract them, but they're aggroed to her. I try to aim from a distance for headshots with my 10/22 Aunt's Rifle, but the Jugg doesn't flinch with the .22 caliber. And then it happens, the first time I saw that animation : The Juggernaut seizes Emily by the throat, tear some flesh off it with its teeth and frickin rips her in half. Some time later, I discovered the Acrobatics specialization and that simple barrel roll completly shifted how I saw those walking nightmare fuel. It reminded me of those +350 hours poured into Dark Souls 3 with that similar evade animation. Their attack patterns are so simple and obvious ! For example, the rush attack : they only swing their arm when they're on you so dodge only at the last second. I still recommand to weaken them with a suppressed weapon from a distance until their head is bald and a one eyed mess, because they still attract a lot Zeds with their roar which can turn everything chaotic. So yeah, you're right Gunslinging makes Ferals trivial, and Acrobatics makes Melee with Juggs possible, because otherwise you're always left with barely any ammo after an encounter with one, which can be dangerous in the aftermath.
Backpakcking, Stealth, Sword Play, Gunslinger. Stealth is not so much of an ability to kill zeds silently as it is looting silently. Seriously, it reduces your chances of creating a noise when looting by 50%. Sword play let's you execute then real quick, even the armored ones, or just sweep them so they won'r stand in your way. Way to go spec. Gunslinger is a god tier spec, saves both time and bullets... Also your life. And backpacking gives you a lot of stamina to do it all, plus an extra item slot.
Just got to this game and everyone has the same information .. while what i need is how to get these skills, how to chose them .. NO ONE is talking about it and for a new guy, thats kinda lame that no one covers that.
Marathon and discipline sound like they go together. Too bad I've never had discipline pop up on my characters. Backpacking plus resourceful sounds powerful as well. Worst abilities: Acrobatics. Lame all around, unless you regularly fall off cliffs. You can sort of combine the roll with gunslinging, but it drains stamina fast and you'll get hit at close range more often. Close Combat, due to all the glitching with its xp progression. Assault, for being generally underwhelming. As for Wits . . . well, all the wits skills are pretty good. If I had to say the LEAST useful, I'd have to say that scouting doesn't combo well with any of the other skills, though I really like its utility.
I think all the melee skills are pretty close (striking is also good, I don't use it much which is why the gameplay isn't as good as it could be). If you mean overpowered overall, I mean they are maxed out after all.
Something tells me the reviewers never knew about all the little hidden cool things in this game.. they only went into multiplayer and just wrote a review of 5 out of 10.
But there are still so any bugs 3 months into the game. Nothing serious and game destroying but still annoying. Like me putting 20 bullets in a jugs head and then for him to suddenly disappear. Or cars getting stuck on hills. Or getting stuck in a wall. Other then those minor things and weak story it has been a great game
you may get a choice of 1 or 2 for one character but for another character the 1 or 2 choices might be different. What I mean is one character might be able to choose between Acrobatics or Marathon while another character can choose either Powerhouse or Marathon.
Very informative, thanks. I have recently been trying a few combos myself, some of my favorites are:
Marathon + Discipline = unlimited sprint while carrying full gear
Backpacking + Resourcefulness = great for looting, with 4 pockets plus high stacks of consumables (I think you mentioned that)
Also worth noting that your base Light Capacity limit is 15, and your base Normal Capacity limit is 45. Upgrading Wits to Discipline moves your Light Capacity limit from 15 to 35 (Normal stays at 45), while upgrading Cardio to Backpacking moves your Normal Capacity Limit from 45 to 75 (Light stays at 15). However, if you have both Discipline and Backpacking on a character, you end up with a Light limit of 45 and a Normal limit of 75.
While there seems to be a good synergy between Cardio/Wits or Cardio/Fighting, did you notice any combos with Shooting that gave you a really good advantage?
Edited to say: Acrobatics and Gunslinging pair pretty well together since you roll farther away and then can snap to their head for a quick kill.
Nice observation! And yeah, Acrobatics is good for a shooting build. I'm on PC so I don't need gunslinging. I haven't found a particularly good combo. I mean killing with guns is easy in this game so getting more stamina to dodge and more inventory space is what I'd do. And weapon handling also because none of the others benefit me on PC. If you're on console though, you might want sway reduction -- not sure how strong your aim assist is. Gunslinging takes too much stamina imo.
Yes I'm on console so every time I see the option for Gunslinging, I take it. It's worth it's weight in gold, especially against ferals. Once you max it out the stamina usage isn't that bad, you can snap kill around 10-12 before you are depleted.
Came hoping it'd be the 5th skill video just so I didn't have to spec into them all to see the max bonus (missing a few still), but I'll comment regarding this one anyway. The amount of stamina you actually gain from Acrobatics makes it largely useless, the 'improved dodge' is actually a little slower but covers more space and you're not immune to damage while doing it so it can be a negative the best feature of Acrobatics is that the improved dodge has the ability to stagger multiple enemies whilst the normal dodge only staggers one which is decent for fighting groups, but can be a pain when you're just wanting to dodge through 1 zed to execute from the back. The 'improved dodge' can be a liability when fighting ferals or juggernauts in some scenarios where it reduces the amount of time you have after successful dodges.
The best weapons can break revolvers are too loud to be useful unless you just want to kill a horde everytime you shoot once and Bolt Action weapons fire too slow to deal with a horde if you want to shoot them instead of melee-ing them so the best weapons are the ones that have ridiculously large magazines since one headshot kills normal zeds regardless of power and they tend to have automatic fire modes included if you really need them so Weapon Handling and it's free repairs is by default the best skill to take.
Aim assist sucks, just turn it off console or not when it's too strong it's easy mode and when it's bad it pulls you off target and you end up fighting it. PC is easy mode aiming yes, but consoles tend to have advantages movement which arguably lets you avoid feral attacks more easily.
Marathon is pretty useless in the grand scheme of things, cars exist which are faster than running and the added stamina from Backpacking can be used for running, fighting and dodging which pretty much makes it the best overall option anyway from a Stamina standpoint in the Cardio field especially since even with Discipline you're liable to be normal encumbrance than you are light especially if you're using better weapons which tend to eat up about 8lbs right there then your backpack is 8 or 12 lbs for an 8 slot pack, your melee weapon adds additional weight to that as well then if you want any health consumeables you add a little extra weight so you're basically looking at a well-kitted out character weighing about 25 lbs carrying nothing so unless you're planning on making concessions somewhere if you loot anything Marthan loses that questionably infinite run anyway even with Discipline pretty quickly and the stamina reduction for sprint isn't much better than the added Stamina you get from Backpacking anyway (unless you have +Stamina traits) and even if you have base stamina it's just for running which it's usually easier to just kill things then grab your car, running as a defense tends to be pretty meh compared to dodging or in a pinch shooting while backing away. Acrobatics as mentioned is meh which leaves Powerhouse if you have the option for it. Powerhouse lets you grab enemies from the front which is useful for a shooter if you want to focus on that since you can lower your weapon quick enough then use Powerhouse to throw enemies into each other staggering them for easier shots, but for general gameplay it helps save stamina, the Drop Kick is arguably one of the best special attacks with it's high knockback component it's useful for saving people from Juggernauts should they be dumb enough to get grabbed in the first place and staggers feral in one shot.
For wits Discipline is the Mary Sue of abilities it gives a little bit of everything. High end melee weapons that are the best stats-wise have lower durability Discipline helps deal with that 'problem' while giving a decent amount of stamina in the long run with it's regen effect and higher base. Scouting is just a convenience skill, easily ignorable by those who don't care to search buildings and the enemy marking ability can be ignored if you pay attention. Stealth saves time with improved fast searches and saves hassle with silent unlocks, but the quick stealth kill + the detection bonus lets you chain kill wandering hordes without being detected something you can't do without it. Resourcefulness is meh, consumables are largely useless a 50 cal deals with a plague heart in 3 shots before any zeds can react to the noise and the bombs make noise regardless so if that were really a concern you'd not be using either. If you are a player worth your salt you won't need stacks on stacks of health items to which something like Discipline or Stealth can save you Health anyway and infestations are simple enough to shoot your way through which can be done with a silencer to reduce the amount of surrounding zeds coming so you can pretty well ignore the consumable 'benefit' of resourcefulness as for the 1 extra item slot that's not too much either with a car's extra storage and the fact at some point you start only looting what you actually want and leaving that 50th hiking pack that you can't possibly find a character to use it anyway that looting isn't much of an issue. If you know you're going to a good loot slot just bring a van with 8 slots of space it's arguable if you really want to make a case for it that Resourcefulness is the best for pairing with Marathon. 45 as mentioned doesn't really let you loot much and achieve light encumbrance with a decent kit so Resourcefulness at least helps you keep normal encumbrance which Discipline doesn't help keeping your stamina consumption from increasing when you hit the heavy threshold stretching your sprint of course then you have the Backpacking pretty much being better argument all over again anyway and if you take both you can take an Ultralight Pack with 8 slots. It's worth noting that a single rucksack of whatever weighs about 20lbs so if you're actually looting going back to Marathon you won't be Light Encumbrance. Rucksacks = Consumeables, Consumeables would otherwise be loot, but you get to pick what you craft with the Rucksack materials so Rucksacks > random junk loot even if your base has enconomy. Need influence convert food to liquor to sell, need ammo craft it with ammo sacks instead of hoping to find the type you want, need to kill infestations and like molotovs why not craft thermite bombs instead. Get injured a lot, craft some painkillers when you need them instead of hoping you find them.
For fighting the best self-contained ability is easily Swordplay. Swords are quieter than blunt weapons and tend to have higher lethality for actually killing combined with front kills in one skill you don't need to combo it with anything. Durability isn't much of an issue with proper maintenance and even the hardy swords can cripple or kill outright thanks to the Swordplay skill. Striking at max pretty much turns any halfway decent weapon into a 1 hit knockdown of normal zeds so something near impossible to break like the Transmission Mace that otherwise has meh stats suddenly becomes useful making it a good economical choice and doubly so for those focused more on guns than melee since a single swing will per zed will give you breathing room in mob situations if not you have Grand Slam to fall back on for AoE breathing room. Close Combat lets you front kill, but it's slow and can result in getting damaged because of it when you have a weapon and Powerhouse it's the fastest standing kill you can manage and it uses your unbreakable weapon unlike Swordplay which causes degradation to your Sword on executions or how Powerhouse by itself can result in using your melee weapon on executions since you still tend to use your weapon on downed executions, Close Combat ensures that you always use your non-breakable weapon. The benefit of not using a weapon with CC saves weight if you're desperately trying to hit the Light Encumbrance and it's decent enough to use for normal zeds even in a group it just lacks on specials like Juggernauts which you can use your gun for, but you can also think of it like an extra pocket, if you set out without a weapon and find one in the field you recover your fighting ability by equipping it and it doesn't take a pack slot and when you get back it's basically an extra loot item you otherwise wouldn't have had if you set out with one equipped. Endurance is just bad, better fighting ability = less wasted Health rendering it moot in the long run plus you have healing items if you get hurt anyway, only people who are REALLY bad don't have time to heal with Painkillers even if they aren't good enough to avoid getting into a bad situation to begin with which isn't really hard.
For shooting the best weapons can break makes Weapon Handling king. Gunslinger is decent for Revolvers and Bolt Action weapons, but they're pretty meh in the long run since even the Timberwolf isn't actually the best 50 cal since the BFG fires faster to help ensure you aren't pestered by plague zeds when shooting a heart or if you're hunting juggernauts for the influence you can kill them quicker and move on leaving whatever heard your shots to be ran over by your car whereas with a Timberwolf being slower like it is you will probably have to deal with some normal zeds while shooting the juggernaut, that is if you even bother to use the fairly lackluster 50 cals to begin with since they're expensive to maintain ammo and loud, better to just use an AK that's silenced or even with a muzzle break for the added power if you really want that burst power and don't mind the noise. Prepper's AKs are pretty common in the weapon crates so even if you don't get the 'best' loot they have to offer you're liable to get a good gun out of the deal even the Sleeper Cell PPK is good and pretty common comes with an Advanced Suppressor too and a Burst Mode if you really need added stopping power in exchange for bullet waste. Sharpshooting is largely pointless the better guns are higher caliber and have decent piercing base.
Sharpshooter is best on the pea-shooters anyway since even something like a .22 will pop 2 heads if they're lined up so only people aiming for center mass with a weak gun will appreciate Sharpshooting. Keep in mind an AK will pierce center mass by default. Dismemberment is kind of neat if you're using something with a moderate fire rate and just crippling their legs, but it's novelty when you could outright kill them. Assault is garbage too, just drop your weapon if you need to chances are if you're relying on the kick from assault you're going to take damage or get grabbed anyway since you're waiting too long to do something about it and trying to get that shot while they're still coming and only using the kick after you get hurt instead of deciding to stop going for the shot in time to use the kick safely from when you were aiming since to use it you're refusing to put your gun down..
dwlr007 😱😱 Thanks for that. For the 5th skill you can just look at: ca.ign.com/wikis/state-of-decay-2/Skills
I never leave comments but, this video was very well done.
Thanks :D
Finally, a clear guide to all the special abilities and traits. Incredibly helpful, thanks.
Thank you for getting to the point and not pandering on for 8 min and thank you so so so much for the time stamps. This is now my go to video for information.
By far the most clean and precise guide I have seen for all of the skills. I really appreciate this vid bro.
Wish I could like it twice ;)
Very well done, very organized! Thanks so much for making this!
We need more videos like this getting circulated within our little community here.
Just spent so long trying to find a video this clear and ontopic, you've just a got a sub my boi, hope you've got more to watch
Good low-profile build:
Marathon + Stealth + Close Combat + Weapon Handling
Use backup melee weapon and sleeper cell ppk
Sneak allows you to sprint while sneaking, and marathon lets you sprint forever, so speedy and undetectable.
All cardio 6:50
All wits 6:58
All fighting 7:05
All shooting 7:14
This is just for my future use lol gotta have them timestamps y'know
I been playing this game for a few months now and this video was still helpful to me... great video👍🏿👍🏿
| Old but still usefull. Before finding this video I have watched other videos about the skills and specializations but they basically show printscreens from ingame stats windows and read what we can clearly see at the screen. The action in the background it´s just random footage from gameplays that don´t even show footage related to the topic they are talking about. Those videos answer to lirrle questions and leave even more.
In this video you do the same but also show the skills in action and what each one does in real time and that fully answer my questions.
Great video!
Would be great to see a video showcasing the results in action featuring the best possible Specializations combinations and they work together.
I play with three different builds. My stealth build is for bringing cars back to base on newly flipped maps or bringing vehicles to my outposts to serve as overflow ruck storage when I’m blacking our a neighborhood. Marathon, Stealth, close combat, and sharpshooting. She doesn’t engage freaks or hordes and all her gear weighs less than 2 lbs. she uses the ultralight pack, light crossbow and no melee. My demolition isn’t used backpacking, resourcefulness, striking, and gunslinging. They are designed for clearing infestations and plague hearts. They carry stacks of noise makers and incendiaries as well as a 12 round grenade launcher. If they must melee thy do aoe blunt attacks with something like an oversized mallet and breaching hammer. Finally I have an assault class. Powerhouse, discipline, close combat, and gunslinging. They are meant to kill quickly in melee without getting tired and conserve ammo. Most of them are this assault type. I usually keep 1 stealth, 2 demo, the rest assault.
i looove me some stealth. specially with the hooded characters. straight up ninja
Gunslinging for life! Gotta love being on target every time with the sighted and suppressed GSG AR.
This was such a helpful guide as I'm starting out. Thank you for your efforts
Awesome video! Super helpful and straight to the point. Great job dude!
Power house and swordplay are great being able execute enemy's with out using more stamina to knock them down is awesome
Acrobatics also has a shiv dive while zombies are on the ground. Press the sprint and push buttons while it is down to shiv dive. Can also be done while running towards them when they are down
Absolute great vid straight to the point, well done mate. Excellent.
Backpacking + resourcefulness. Gunslinging best for guns, save ammo, reload fast as hell. Swordplay maxed out is OP asf. +60% lethality, plus u can grab kill feom the front basically. Kill zombies in 2 hits. Go w backpack, resourcefullness, swordplay or striking, and gunslinging. I beat it 6 times, got the 4 boobs w the same 3 ppl in 2 days. Just keep bringing my electronics, agriculture, and surgury person, doing the +50 health for 1hr 30 mins helps a lot. Best base is barricaded strip mall, 3 large slots, 9 small slots. I had 2 slots I didn't know wtf to do with. I made a fighting gym n shooting range, with mods u can get +30healrh from fighting gym and +20 stamina from shooting range. Don't make a forge its useless, u can make 4 weapons if u have a ironworker or whatever, crows beak, rebar sword, the razor machete, and somethin else gay. I found better weapons. Bastard if Bella wood, thors hammer, trench shovel. So, armory, staging area, Spartan beds. Beast. Hydroponics for food n 1 for meds, 10 each a day. 2 outpost for beds, 10 survivors. Ammo outposts. 2 of my heroes gimme 1 fuel a day. One delivers cars, meal plan is good, ur ppl eat 25% less if shes the leader, so 8 ppl only eat 6 food ect.
Great vídeo straight the point i like it
😄
Jefferson Armando I like it too!
I lost my leader taking out a plague heart yesterday.... still gutted as f#ck! Haven't played it since!
Have you played it yet?
I’m a fan of carrying a bunch of stuff so I run the Backpack and resourcefulness combo along with a 8 slot backpack.
Very helpful. Awesome video on the maxed out skills available
ty
such a great vid. i keep coming back
I just started playing this because it comes with xbox utimate,
this is very helpful. Thanks!
Worth the subscription, very informative and to the point... :D
Thank u :)
Great write up! Appreciated.
It's a lot helpful now i know which skill i should improve
Damn your videos are good. Very informative. Thanks a lot
Powerhouse + Close Combat = God Mode
敬蔡 swordplay*
@@AcridDread no ones cares about swordplay
no offense lol
@@yaago Swordplay is faster than Close Combat
@@SivaR1020 at executing people??
@@whothou Yes. The chances of zombies interrupting the execution is less with swordplay.
Great video, keep them coming!
Thanks :)
Great video!
thx :)
Amazing video! I did not know about powerhouse and killing ferals that way.
ty
CrispyByte I didn't either so thank you
Dang homie. This vid answered a lot of questions. Thx!!!!
:D
My favorite combos so far are marathon+stealth+close combat
Sprint while crouched endlessly and quick kill animations.
Powerhouse+discipline+swordplay
A true terror on the battlefield
Eviscerates normal Z's and makes quick work of ferals too.
Backpacking+resourcefulness+sewing
Well just carry a lot of shit nothing really to it beyond that.
Backpacking+discipline
Backpacking gives the largest base stamina boost of all cardio skills giving you more swings per altercation.
Thanks for sharing :)
returning here after the new update, such good old times
Best is backpacking, with resourcefulness, u get 2 extra slots and can carry 6 instead of 3, and u can carry way more stuff, and ur stuff weighs 70% less
Good video man!
ty
Well done
Great vid
Very enlightening
ty 😂
really good video dude, thx
Nice vid, thx for sharing.
Sharp shooter with a .22 Prep-er All shots pierce enemy's, (hack), +50 dismemberment from a .22 Dam I'll try that out. Overpowered .22
I did learn alot from this vid.. thx alot!!
very informative. thanks a lot
if knock down a zombie you can stomp him (kick button) and it will kill him in one or three hits ( save durability)
Huh, scouting is more useful than I thought. Seeing the container icons will definetly help when you can't find that last container.
mhm ^
Amazing video good job I learned a lot
Thanks :)
Awesome video bro awesome
Very good helped alot
I gave my guy "Orem" Acrobatics, Swordplay, Stealth, Assault and his extra skill is fishing already came with his skills and I wish you can reset your skills once for every skill including the extra skill but only once
Marathon + close combat = is my vehicle retrieval setup.
Great vid
I imagine Stealth and Close Combat would make a damn good melee assassin.
Marathon and Discipline would make a very good aggressive fighter too.
I tried Marathon and Close Combat -- running around empty handed killing like a madman, and you recover stamina while running.
That... is AMAZING!
Patrick Flores marathon does nothing for fighting
It does tons for running
Thanks for this!!
glad it helped :D
great detail video
Excellent video
ty :)
Can someone tell me with specialization are useless for fighting and shooting ? I have my ideas but maybe I am missing something. I always go for powerhouse if possible or marathon and for fighting I live swordplay the best. Blades are AWESOME. combined with powerhouse and marathon you become a unbeatable beast
Good job man
ty :)
Tnx for the video!!! There's something tath i don't understand......gunslinging is not available for every caracter, rigth?
My Guy, being a boss. 💐
Is there any way to influence with specialization you get or is it random?
I unlocked marathon skill today but it still cost stamina to sprint even when i am carrying light, do i need to max out marathon skill stars to get no stamina cost for sprinting perk???
Yes max it out
Great vid thanks
That weird outro earned you a sub
lmao XD thanks.
CrispyByte btw should I choose scouting or stealth?
Both are great for saving time when looting. The other perks are your preference.
With scouting you no longer need to look for the loot crates
With stealth you can Fast Search with less risk of attracting zombies
I like scouting better because finding the last crate is a pain in the ass.
CrispyByte thx
sword play is amazing in nightmare mode with gunsling my god you have a zombie killer o.p person
Great job video is 5 star
My question is what traits are needed for those specilization I've rolled many characters and have yet to get stealth :(
That's a tough one ;)
Kicking a zombie from behind with any level of Close Combat knocks them down for an easy execution.
Close Combat has a special kick?
With Close Combat if you press the push button while behind a zombie it becomes a leg sweep and trip them to the ground
CrispyByte if you press the kick button (‘A’ on Xbox) while behind a zombie it knocks them down.
Swordplay is so epic!
Yes, lol. I made a separate video just for that.
thanks for guide
It sounds like your reading an essay when your showing the skills
except I wasn't reading anything at all this time XD
I admit I was fucking terrified of Juggernauts. I thought meeting one on an open field meant certain death, Ned.
Especially after a certain NPC quest, basic protect me while I loot. When it's done, she asks to join my community, telling she don't think she can survive long on her own. I had to refuse because I was already struggling with too many survivors in my Bridge Fort base. So she gets out of the Tartan Mart, I jump in my car and go back to base, when I realize there's a Juggernaut and a couple of Zeds at the crossroad. AI is down so she goes for them with her Machete and her rifle with 5 bullets ! I try to honk to distract them, but they're aggroed to her. I try to aim from a distance for headshots with my 10/22 Aunt's Rifle, but the Jugg doesn't flinch with the .22 caliber.
And then it happens, the first time I saw that animation : The Juggernaut seizes Emily by the throat, tear some flesh off it with its teeth and frickin rips her in half.
Some time later, I discovered the Acrobatics specialization and that simple barrel roll completly shifted how I saw those walking nightmare fuel. It reminded me of those +350 hours poured into Dark Souls 3 with that similar evade animation. Their attack patterns are so simple and obvious ! For example, the rush attack : they only swing their arm when they're on you so dodge only at the last second. I still recommand to weaken them with a suppressed weapon from a distance until their head is bald and a one eyed mess, because they still attract a lot Zeds with their roar which can turn everything chaotic.
So yeah, you're right Gunslinging makes Ferals trivial, and Acrobatics makes Melee with Juggs possible, because otherwise you're always left with barely any ammo after an encounter with one, which can be dangerous in the aftermath.
Sounds like you had fun 😂
Backpakcking, Stealth, Sword Play, Gunslinger.
Stealth is not so much of an ability to kill zeds silently as it is looting silently. Seriously, it reduces your chances of creating a noise when looting by 50%.
Sword play let's you execute then real quick, even the armored ones, or just sweep them so they won'r stand in your way. Way to go spec.
Gunslinger is a god tier spec, saves both time and bullets... Also your life.
And backpacking gives you a lot of stamina to do it all, plus an extra item slot.
Just got to this game and everyone has the same information .. while what i need is how to get these skills, how to chose them .. NO ONE is talking about it and for a new guy, thats kinda lame that no one covers that.
How do you roll?
Powerhouse
Close combat
Gunslinger
Nice video
ty
Marathon and discipline sound like they go together. Too bad I've never had discipline pop up on my characters. Backpacking plus resourceful sounds powerful as well.
Worst abilities: Acrobatics. Lame all around, unless you regularly fall off cliffs. You can sort of combine the roll with gunslinging, but it drains stamina fast and you'll get hit at close range more often. Close Combat, due to all the glitching with its xp progression. Assault, for being generally underwhelming. As for Wits . . . well, all the wits skills are pretty good. If I had to say the LEAST useful, I'd have to say that scouting doesn't combo well with any of the other skills, though I really like its utility.
Fantastic
Bro max prowess and max heroism is bomb, I love the standing execution.
Riserv getting those skills means playing fucking daybreak
Gunslinging is the best! Fuck long reloads and you get free aimbot
Why did u delete the other run
?
Why would anyone choose endurance over any other fighting trait, if you kill zombies faster, you take less damage,right?
Is it me or is Close Combat and Swordplay overpowered?
I think all the melee skills are pretty close (striking is also good, I don't use it much which is why the gameplay isn't as good as it could be). If you mean overpowered overall, I mean they are maxed out after all.
Yeah close combat has to be max to be OP but once u have it, wow is it good.
That and a M4 and ur pretty much set for everything .
Hi king/ cardio
Wits/ observation
Fighting skills
Marksmanship
Archeology
First aid
nice
thx
IMO power house is the most rare to get
yeah, you gotta look for characters who have the "does heavy lifting" trait
I've noticed that Exterminators seem to get powerhouse specialization pretty consistently.
Is close combat a wits or fighting skill.
Fighting skill
I wish that this game had mechanics videos like this video in the game like God of War
Edit: thanks BTW for the quality vid ;)
How i can get the close combat every time ¿
Powerhouse, Discipline and Close Combat :)
Edit: Backpacking, Resourcefulness & Swordplay
Backpacking, Discipline, Swordplay, Weapon Handling/Gunslinging
best skills: backpacking, discipline/stealth, swordplay and gunsling
I get 2 choices
Yes, that's normal. On other characters you might get a different 2 choices. I go through all the choices.
Residentsleeper
Something tells me the reviewers never knew about all the little hidden cool things in this game.. they only went into multiplayer and just wrote a review of 5 out of 10.
ikr xD there's so much in this game
But there are still so any bugs 3 months into the game.
Nothing serious and game destroying but still annoying. Like me putting 20 bullets in a jugs head and then for him to suddenly disappear.
Or cars getting stuck on hills. Or getting stuck in a wall.
Other then those minor things and weak story it has been a great game
hehe, hopefully that means they're using the time they have on more content.
I hate they took away the slowmo skill from the first game.
This system is shit. Like everything else it was better in the first game.
You're actually dumb if you think the 1st one did specs bettet
*better
The RongDong Shush. Grown ups are talking.
But don't you only get a choice of like 2 of them? I think once I was given only a single spec to choose.
you may get a choice of 1 or 2 for one character but for another character the 1 or 2 choices might be different. What I mean is one character might be able to choose between Acrobatics or Marathon while another character can choose either Powerhouse or Marathon.
I had a character that i had a choice of all 4. I believe when you see affects skills in a characters bio. These skills are what they mean
Damnn most I got was 3 choices. And yes, the character bio affects what specializations you'll get.
Very informative, good video!