In a world wracked with zombies, you have to know the way of the land, how to get around, and how you’re going to bust some zombie heads. There are a variety of weapons available and all kinds of skills to learn, but each skill is specific to each weapon and aspect of survival. To survive, you have to know what kind of survivor you want to be.
Now, to preface, 7 Days to Die doesn’t necessarily have a class system like most role-playing games. Rather than a class for guns, one for melee, and various niche weapon choices, classes are grouped by Attributes. Each Attribute has a bundle of different weapons that best suit each strength, such as one class that benefits weapons with precision and aim, while another class boasts unrelenting firepower.
Knowing the right Attribute to invest in also means changing up how you play. While each Attribute bolsters weapon choice, it also affects survival tactics. As such, you should weigh up whether you want to focus on whether you want certain stats increased or if you want to use a particular weapon.
That being said, Attributes are not a linear skill tree. You could take some skill points out of one perk to help increase health and stamina, but also invest in skill points for fast-acting weapons. Your only limitation is that, in order to level up perks, the overall Attribute also has to be levelled up. Skill points can be scarce, so make sure they are spent well.
Perception - The Watchful
The Perception Attribute has a focus on weapons and perks that require precision and accuracy. For weapon choices, you are looking at weapons that, when used effectively, can wipe out zombies in very little time.
The Perception Attribute is best for precision combat.
Weapons best specialised in Perception are Spears, Rifles, and explosives. Obviously, the Rifle is one of the main weapons for Perception as it offers easy headshots, and increasing this Attribute can also improve damage dealt by a headshot.
Outside of combat, Perception offers means of stealth, tracking, and looting. Having skill points invested in general Perception allows for tracking animals, making the hunt for meat and other animal products easier. Perception also offers a means of better surviving out in the open by trap avoidance. The better the perk, the less likely a trap will hurt or kill you.
Another perk of Perception is scavenging. Investing here allows for better chances of finding treasure while looting, and salvaging better parts from vehicles and machinery. Such rare items you can find while scavenging include armour, weapons, and other higher quality materials.
Strength - The Muscle
For more powerful tools, there is the Strength Attribute. This aids in heavylifting, mining, and hard-hitting weapons to best your opponents
The Strength Attribute is best for dealing the most damage in a single hit.
The best choice of weapons for Strength are Shotguns, Sledgehammers, and Clubs. These weapons best specialise in dealing as much damage as possible, or clobbering targets so they stay down for longer. Those best invested in this class can attack faster and strike down enemies, especially as the Sledgehammer can strike nearby targets.
Strength also provides perks in construction and lifting. You may find yourself carrying around too many items, which can encumber you. With Strength, you won’t need to worry too much about that, as you can carry more around naturally.
Many of the perks that come to construction help with harvesting materials from mining, allowing for more resources and treasure when digging up materials. Tools that are best used for gathering resources deal more damage not just to resources, but in combat against other enemies.
Fortitude - The Resilient
If you are looking for the class best suited for general survival than weaponry, take a look at the Fortitude Attribute. Where most other Attributes are focused on a class of weapon and perks best suited for a certain task, Fortitude focuses on your ability to live.
The Fortitude Attribute is best for making it out with what you have.
Now, Fortitude isn't completely unarmed - there are still a few weapons of choice. The first one is, well, your first weapon: your own fists. Yes, you can go toe-to-toe with your enemies, bludgeoning them with your very own hands. If you prefer something with a little more punch, Knuckles can help deal more damage with fists. Still need more firepower? There is always the Machine Gun, a way to pepper zombies in bullets.
Some handy perks offered by Fortitude provide general survival out in the open. Starting with resource gathering, Fortitude allows for harvesting more materials from hunted animals, providing more materials for crafting and cooking. Within combat, you also look to take hits better, reducing incoming damage and decreasing the chances of being stunned.
Taking a look at the other perks provided for Fortitude, you are going to find the perks that increase your health, reduce stamina use, and even ignore the dysentery debuff with an iron gut. Because of this, investing in Fortitude as a new player is extremely helpful as you won’t have to worry too much about taking damage, whether that’s taking hits, getting away from being hit, or recovering some health by hitting. Whatever the case, regardless of your main Attribute, never sleep on Fortitude.
Agility - The Nimble
Not everyone is about dealing as much damage as possible in a single hit, and not everyone is all about going in guns blazing. This is where the Agility Attribute comes in, a class of individual best excelling at fast, rapid movement and action.
The Agility Attribute is best for quick and effective kills.
Being the faster of the classes, the kinds of weapons available are short-range or fast-acting. Bladed weapons like Knives and Machetes are the melee weapon of choice, providing quick, sharp damage. For ranged options, there are Bows and Crossbows, which while primitive to guns, offer quick and stealthy kills without exposing yourself with loud noises. Of course, if you do need something with a little more fire power, the best weapon of choice are Handguns.
As the class favours movement and speed, there are perks to benefit the ability to get around. Take gunfire as an example, you don’t have time to aim and shoot, so a perk that improves shooting without aiming is useful, with the added bonus of no slowdown while reloading. For getting away, there are perks for taking less damage while you are on the move, allowing for a quick getaway without worrying about damage. Lastly, there are skills for better navigating vertical platforming, reducing stamina usage from jumping and reducing fall damage.
Agility can still deal a good deal of damage despite the main weapons of choice. Though this Attribute best focuses on athletic ability, it also specialises in stealth, allowing for bonus damage for striking an unaware enemy. This also allows those with Agility to evade detection with better means of hiding, as well as making it harder for zombies to track you down.
Intellect - The Brains
Now, if you’re not feeling the whole “gun down or batter your enemies” shtick, there is always the Intellect Attribute. This class leans more towards a technical support role, but there is far more to this Attribute than it seems.
The Intellect Attribute is best for using advanced weaponry.
The weapons afforded to the Intellect Attribute are Batons and Robotics. It’s not nearly as varied as the other classes, but stick around, they are quite useful. Batons act like a Club, but with the added benefit of electricity, hence why they are actually Stun Batons. As for ranged combat, this is handled remotely with Robotics. These automated weapons don’t need your involvement, and can be handy for setting up defensive measures.
As the brains of the operation, you’re a little smarter than the typical apocalypse dweller. With your smarts, you can barter with Traders better, allowing for cheaper purchases and valuable selling. You can also increase the chances of Traders offering rare items, and even having them offer more than one quest at a time. Of course, you know how to handle yourself out there, right?
Don’t be fooled by the Intellect’s lack of weapon variety. If anything, the lack of weapon choices provided by Intellect are made up in the variety of perks that greatly benefit what is available, as well as a miscellaneous variety of benefits. These involve being able to treat and heal better, like certain injuries healing as soon as the right tools, or instantly killing your enemies with the right hit.
Picking your specialty
It can be hard to decide which of the Attributes to focus your skill points on. With so many different perks provided to each Attribute, it’s easy to fall into the trap of improving every perk. Do you prefer efficiency, speed, power, or something else? All you need to know is that skill points can be hard to come by, and thus getting the points necessary to improve your perks.
What could make this easier? One way to help would be to organise a group of friends. Now, instead of juggling around for the best Attribute and trying to add skill points to every perk, you can focus on just the one, and hand off anything you don’t need to your allies. The best way to get together in a group is to create a server. Simply purchase our affordable Hero Tier plan, then create a new server following this handy setup guide.