Skills

Skills are enhancements that boost a player's effectiveness in doing certain tasks, such as shooting, sneaking, or resource gathering. Skills may be bought using experience points, which can be performed through various performing various feats. Without a skillset, it costs 3,350 experience to fully level every skill. Upon death, players lose a percentage of their skill levels and experience points. Players can specialize into select skills by choosing a non-civilian skillset.

Experience

Experience points (often abbreviated as exp or XP) are used to level up skills. They can be obtained from harvesting crops or resources; killing zombies, animals, or other players; destroying firing range targets; completing quests; or selling items to NPC vendors that barter with experience points. Players will lose a percentage of their experience points upon death, with the specific percentage depending on the difficulty settings. Unwanted experience can be stored in a Library for later use.

Some friendly NPC vendors will accept experience as currency.

Skills

Offense

Offense skills, symbolized by a sword, enhance the player's combat abilities. Many of the skills improve stamina or oxygen usage, granting greater movement capabilities.

Skill	Description	Per level experience (XP) cost and effect
Overkill	Punch and melee with greater force.	I II III IV V VI VII	10 XP 20 XP 30 XP 40 XP 50 XP 60 XP 70 XP	+7% punch/melee damage +14% punch/melee damage +21% punch/melee damage +29% punch/melee damage +36% punch/melee damage +43% punch/melee damage +50% punch/melee damage
Sharpshooter	Stabilizes recoil and increases accuracy.	I II III IV V VI VII	10 XP 20 XP 30 XP 40 XP 50 XP 60 XP 70 XP	+7% stability/accuracy +14% stability/accuracy +21% stability/accuracy +29% stability/accuracy +36% stability/accuracy +43% stability/accuracy +50% stability/accuracy
Dexterity	Quicker reloading and hammering.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+10% reload/hammer speed +20% reload/hammer speed +30% reload/hammer speed +40% reload/hammer speed +50% reload/hammer speed
Cardio	Quicker stamina and oxygen regeneration.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+10% regeneration speed +20% regeneration speed +30% regeneration speed +40% regeneration speed +50% regeneration speed
Exercise	Use less stamina and move faster.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+5% move speed, +50% stamina endurance +10% move speed, +100% stamina endurance +15% move speed, +150% stamina endurance +20% move speed, +200% stamina endurance +25% move speed, +250% stamina endurance
Diving	Use less oxygen, swim faster and reduce scope sway.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+5% swim speed, +50% oxygen endurance, +10% scope stability +10% swim speed, +100% oxygen endurance, +20% scope stability +15% swim speed, +150% oxygen endurance, +30% scope stability +20% swim speed, +200% oxygen endurance, +40% scope stability +25% swim speed, +250% oxygen endurance, +50% scope stability
Parkour	Jump higher with less stamina.	I II III IV V	20 XP 30 XP 40 XP 50 XP 60 XP	+5% jump height, +10% jump endurance +10% jump height, +20% jump endurance +15% jump height, +30% jump endurance +20% jump height, +40% jump endurance +25% jump height, +50% jump endurance

Defense

Defense skills, symbolized by a castle gate, primarily enhance attributes related to the player's status bars. An exception to this is the sneakybeaky skill, which improves a player's ability to move stealthily. None of the defense skills improve stamina or oxygen efficiency, which are instead offense skills.

Skill	Description	Per level experience (XP) cost and effect
Sneakybeaky	Move quietly and alert less zombies when crouched or prone.	I II III IV V VI VII	10 XP 20 XP 30 XP 40 XP 50 XP 60 XP 70 XP	+11% stealth +21% stealth +32% stealth +43% stealth +54% stealth +64% stealth +75% stealth
Vitality	Quicker health regeneration with full food and water.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+10% regeneration speed +20% regeneration speed +30% regeneration speed +40% regeneration speed +50% regeneration speed
Immunity	Immune to bacteria, zombies and hallucinations.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+10% virus endurance +20% virus endurance +30% virus endurance +40% virus endurance +50% virus endurance
Toughness	Less flinching and pain effects.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+15% flinch/grayscale endurance +30% flinch/grayscale endurance +45% flinch/grayscale endurance +60% flinch/grayscale endurance +75% flinch/grayscale endurance
Strength	Quicker bleeding and bone healing, less fall damage.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+10% bleeding/bone speed, +15% fall damage endurance +20% bleeding/bone speed, +30% fall damage endurance +30% bleeding/bone speed, +45% fall damage endurance +40% bleeding/bone speed, +60% fall damage endurance +50% bleeding/bone speed, +75% fall damage endurance
Warmblooded	Protected from the cold, use less calories warming up.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+20% freezing endurance +40% freezing endurance +60% freezing endurance +80% freezing endurance +100% freezing endurance
Survival	Use less food and water.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+5% food/water endurance +10% food/water endurance +15% food/water endurance +20% food/water endurance +25% food/water endurance

Support

Support skills, symbolized by a heart, offer a wide range of enhancements to the player's ability perform specific tasks that allow them to survive and adapt in the apocalypse. Support skills primarily focus on crafting and base building.

Skill	Description	Per level experience (XP) cost and effect
Healing	Use healing items more efficiently.	I II III IV V VI VII	10 XP 20 XP 30 XP 40 XP 50 XP 60 XP 70 XP	+7% healing +14% healing 21% healing +29% healing +36% healing +43% healing +50% healing
Crafting	Think up more advanced blueprints.	I II III	20 XP 50 XP 80 XP	Makeshift items Makeshift items, basic buildables Makeshift items, basic buildables, complex barricades
Outdoors	Chop down trees faster and recover more resources.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+10% resource damage, +10% resource drops +20% resource damage, +20% resource drops +30% resource damage, +30% resource drops +40% resource damage, +40% resource drops +50% resource damage, +50% resource drops
Cooking	Prepare high quality food.	I II III	20 XP 50 XP 80 XP	Ingredients Ingredients, snack meals Ingredients, snack meals, formal meals
Fishing	Catch fish more efishiently.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+20% reaction time +40% reaction time +60% reaction time +80% reaction time +100% reaction time
Agriculture	Harvest crops and plants more efficiently.	I II III IV V VI VII	10 XP 20 XP 30 XP 40 XP 50 XP 60 XP 70 XP	+14% harvest chance, +3% harvest speed +29% harvest chance, +7% harvest speed +43% harvest chance, +10% harvest speed +57% harvest chance, +14% harvest speed +71% harvest chance, +18% harvest speed +86% harvest chance, +21% harvest speed +100% harvest chance, +25% harvest speed
Mechanic	Repair bases and vehicles more efficiently.	I II III IV V	10 XP 15 XP 20 XP 25 XP 30 XP	+20% repair speed +40% repair speed +60% repair speed +80% repair speed +100% repair speed
Engineer	Maintain more advanced blueprints.	I II III	20 XP 50 XP 80 XP	Makeshift items Makeshift items, basic items Makeshift items, basic items, complex items

Random boost

Players can spend experience (25 XP) to acquire a random boost. Only a single random boost can be used at a time, and spending experience on a new random boost will replace the previous one. The boost acquired is random, with each boost having an equal chance of being acquired. If the player already has a random boost, the player cannot get that same boost multiple times consecutively. Attempting to acquire a new boost will always give different boost than the one currently held.

Skill	Description	Effect
Hardened	Reduced damage from zombies.	+25% zombie damage endurance
Splatterific	Extra blood splatter decals.	+700% blood
Flight	Ragdolls and carjacks gain extra velocity.	+700% ragdoll/carjack velocity
Olympic	Throw objects further.	+100% thrown velocity

Random boosts are always lost on death.

Skillsets

Skillsets grant the player the ability to retain select skills on death, and reduced experience costs to level up these skills. In a single-player world, they also provide themed clothing upon spawning. In addition to themed clothing items, skillsets may have symbolic items as well. These symbolic items are not granted upon spawning in a single-player world, and are only seen on the player while in the main menu.

In a multiplayer world, servers can assign their own unique loadouts to each skillset. Servers can assign a loadout to every player, regardless of their skillset, by referencing the ID for "All Skillsets" instead.

Icon	Skillset	Clothing	Skills	Symbolic items	ID
n/a	Civilian	Trouser Pants White T-Shirt	n/a	n/a	0
fire	Firefighter	Firefighter Bottom Firefighter Helmet Firefighter Top	Cardio Strength	Fire Axe	1
star	Police Officer	Police Bottom Police Cap Police Top	Exercise Toughness	Bluntforce Cobra Police Vest	2
reticle	Spec Ops	Spec Ops Bottom Spec Ops Top	Dexterity Sharpshooter	Grizzly Military Nightvision Spec Ops Vest Viper	3
plant	Farmer	Farmer Bottom Farmer Hat Farmer Top	Agriculture Survival	Pitchfork Schofield	4
hook	Fisher	Fishing Bottom Fishing Hat Fishing Top	Diving Fishing	n/a	5
tree	Lumberjack	Corduroy Pants Plaid Shirt	Outdoors Warmblooded	Camp Axe	6
hammer	Worker	Construction Helmet Construction Top Work Jeans	Crafting Engineer Mechanic	Hammer	7
meat	Chef	Chef Bottom Chef Hat Chef Top	Cooking Vitality	Butcher Knife	8
mask	Thief	Thief Bottom Thief Top	Parkour Sneakybeaky	Black Balaclava Katana Zubeknakov	9
heart	Doctor	Medic Bottom Medic Top	Healing Immunity	n/a	10
n/a	All Skillsets	n/a	n/a	n/a	255

Before the introduction of skillsets, players could choose a skill tree to specialize in. Players could specialize in the offense, defense, or support skill trees. The player's specialty would prevent them from losing any of their skill tree's associated skills on death.

Related achievements

Defense Fully learn your defense skill tree. Experienced Gain yourself 1000 experience.

Mastermind Fully learn all your skills. Offense Fully learn your offense skill tree.

Support Fully learn your support skill tree.

Trivia

• Overkill is the only skill that is not tied to any skillset.
• The Overkill, Sharpshooter, and Healing skills increment by ~7.14% rounded to the nearest whole number, leading to the 8% jump between levels III and IV.
• The Sneakybeaky skill increments by ~10.71% rounded to the nearest whole number, leading to the 10% jump between levels I and II, and V and VI.
• The Agriculture skill increments its harvest chance effect by ~14.29% rounded to the nearest whole number, leading to the 15% jump between levels I and II, and V and VI. Meanwhile, harvest speed increments by ~3.6% truncated, which causes the 3% jump between levels II and III, and V and VI, and is the reason by the level I bonus is 3% rather than 4%.
• The description for the Fishing skill includes an intentional wordplay and typo on the word "efficiently", spelt instead as "efishiently".