When the hordes are beating down the door, food is running low, and you’re trying to figure out the best Project Zomboid traits, you’ll need every bit of help you can get. Making a character is deceptively simple, but the correct starting choices will set you up for the long run, while the wrong ones will add you to the shambling masses.
In my time fiddling with different types of characters across my playthroughs I’ve scribbled down my thoughts with my very last red pen. Before I had to stick it into a zombie, that is. Here are my findings.
What’s the best way to create a character in Project Zomboid?
If you’re new to Project Zomboid it can be pretty intimidating to look at the list of traits, skills, and occupations and figure out what to put together. I like to start by figuring out what I’m going to try to do with my playthrough—am I setting a higher difficulty than normal and just trying to live as long as I can or am I planning for the long term? Do I plan to try to establish a base or will I just hole up in whatever building I find each night? Am I messing around with a few friends in multiplayer, or do we want to try to have an ongoing game? If I'm playing with friends, I’ll try to coordinate what we’re each doing to cover for each other, for example.
Most occupations just provide a collection of skills at a discount and maybe skill multipliers for certain skills. However, a few of them also offer unique traits you can only get from that specific occupation, like Burglar, which lets you hotwire vehicles and lowers the chance you break window locks. They also influence what your spawn point is on some maps, or let you start with different clothes like the Firefighter’s pants. If you don’t like any of the choices, you can always start as Unemployed and make your own collection of traits with the extra available points.
Once I have a handle on what I want to do with my character, I figure out what skills and situations in which I’ll need to excel. Am I going to be doing supply runs to try to scout out and return with valuables all the time? If so, Nimble, Lightfooted, and Sneaking are all going to be important to avoid detection, and Inconspicuous and Graceful can also make it easier to get around without becoming the pied piper of the undead.
No matter what you decide to start with, it’s important to note that Fitness is critical, as it determines how quickly you’ll become fatigued. As you learn to manage your exhaustion level, being in decent shape is a huge help. More experienced builds can treat Fitness as a dump stat—it can be trained up later by doing exercise—or even take a more serious negative trait like Out of Shape for point bonuses.
How traits work
How do Project Zomboid traits work, exactly?
Traits are divided up into positive traits that cost points to have, and negative traits that give you points to spend.
Most positive traits give you some combination of bonuses to your skills. A few have unique bonuses outside of skills—such as Inconspicuous reducing the chance of zombies spotting you or Lucky raising the chance of getting rare loot—but the majority give you a leg up against the hordes in your starting skills.
Some traits can be removed, but most can't. Some put you in a disadvantaged state, but can be overcome with time and the right circumstances. For example, Low Weight, Very Low Weight, High Weight, and Very High Weight can all be changed simply by managing your weight via what you eat and when. Other skills like Out of Shape and Unfit simply reduce a skill, which you can train back up.
Claustrophobic and Agoraphobic—which cause you to panic when inside or outside, respectively—won’t truly go away, but can be nullified if you survive long enough, since your ability to dissipate panic goes up every day. Humans can get used to everything, apparently.
Best traits
Project Zomboid best traits: Which should you choose?
While everyone has their favorite way to play, some traits have a bit of an edge for digital Kentuckians:
Nutritionist
While it might sound like the least relevant job for an apocalypse, Nutritionist is really useful for figuring out what foods you can use to quiet your hunger down without going overweight—or which ones will give you the most calories when you’re starving. It’s also got a small boost to your foraging radius, which is handy too.
Dextrous
Because I am an absolute loot goblin in Project Zomboid—never able to resist yet another ill-conceived break-in to vacuum up everything in sight—this has always been my trait of choice, but with the updates for build 42, it’s even better. Making items transfer 50% faster makes so many daring escapes possible, ones that otherwise would result in my hubris killing me. Now, it also makes me less likely to fall when climbing fences and helps out with firearms. Just don’t ask what I plan to do with all the extra crap I shove into my bags, though.
Outdoorsy
It’s bad enough to deal with all the zombies, but nothing is more embarrassing than dying because you got cut up running through shrubberies. The Outdoorsy trait helps protect you from scratches during unplanned arboreal encounters, and also greatly reduces the chance you’ll catch a cold in bad weather. It even improves your foraging results, all for a measly two points.
Slow Metabolism
Since food can take some time to secure, stockpile, or grow, you're more at risk of losing weight early in a playthrough than gaining it. Plus in the long term, it can be tough to keep finding and looting food—so the tendency to gain weight can actually be a benefit to stave off low weight. Taking the negative trait Slow Metabolism gives you a small two point boost to work with that are well worth the downside.
Prone to Illness
Being more likely to get sick in a zombie plague seems like a dumb idea, but since Project Zomboid’s "Knox infection" is always lethal anyways, the real risk is that you're more likely to get a cold. Take this negative trait on its own for a four point bonus and just try to avoid the weather, or you can pair it with the Outdoorsy trait to negate a lot of the downside and wander in the rain to your heart's content.
Builds
A couple of top Project Zomboid builds
- Occupation: Lumberjack
- Positive traits: Ax-Pert, Outdoorsy, Fit, Strong
- Negative traits: Claustrophobic, Prone to Illness, Sleepyhead, Weak Stomach, Smoker, Sunday Driver
- Major skills: Axe 2, Maintenance 1, Fitness 7, Strength 10
Brady, the punk lumberjack
Updating an old favorite, I’ve brought Brady, the punk lumberjack into the new era. The Lumberjack occupation gives me access to the unique Ax-pert trait, which makes my axe swing faster and hit a lot harder—whether I’m after zombies or just firewood. It also starts me off with a point in Maintenance and Strength, plus two ranks in Axe to really give me a leg up.
I’ve also gone for a package of negative traits, including Prone to Illness, Smoker, Sleepyhead, Sunday Driver, Prone to Illness, and Claustrophobic for the bonus points I need. Brady is at home in the trees of his lumberpeople, and has no need for, or understanding of, closed spaces. Plus, if I can build or find a large enough room his Claustrophobia won’t be a huge deal. We’ll have to be careful we don’t eat burned food and keep our eyes open for cigarettes, and above all get frequent rest. The Outdoorsy trait also helps tremendously with avoiding colds, and makes us even better at moving through the woods.
Even better, the pile of points this provides lets us secure both Fit and Strong. Being a powerhouse is still central to Brady’s personality, religion, and skills—so he’ll be able to offset his Sleepyhead trait and maximize just how hard his axes will hit.
Brady can down zombies like a champion with his axe (once he finds one) and has the setup to learn carpentry with the massive piles of wood he’ll accumulate, especially if he makes sure to rest and catch the right shows on Project Zomboid TV. He’ll have to be careful with his food, and he’ll struggle to sleep early on when he won’t be able to get his panic down in small bedrooms, but with time the hordes of zombies will fall at his axes.
- Occupation: Burglar
- Positive traits: Burglar, Dextrous, Outdoorsy, Inconspicuous
- Negative traits: Prone to Illness, Weak Stomach, Slow Metabolism, Slow Reader, Smoker, High Thirst, High Weight
- Major skills: Fitness 4, Strength 5, Lightfooted 2, Sneaking 2, Nimble 2
Maya, the sneaky burglar
With Maya, the many cars of Kentucky are a bottomless well of resources ripe for the picking, especially now that the pesky law isn’t looking over her shoulder all the time. Courtesy of the Burglar occupation I can hot wire any car I can get my mitts on, and it’s even easier to get my hands on them since I’m 50% less likely to break car locks when I force them open. Beyond that big benefit, I’ve also got two ranks in Sneaking and Lightfooted, which will help me get around without being noticed when I don’t want to, and two ranks of Nimble to make it easier to take out zombies who do see me.
A lifestyle like Maya’s has come at a cost though, and she’s gotten a bit overweight with her Slow Metabolism trait making her predisposed to gain weight (and starting with the High Weight trait). She’s also got to contend with being Prone to Illness, a Smoker, and having a Weak Stomach—probably from a lifetime of junk food and eating whatever she finds in the center console. The good news is, she’s likely to find a lot of cigarettes and lighters in the cars she plans to liberate, and she’ll be able to overcome her Slow Reader trait by spending her extended resting time from lower Fitness reading whatever books we scavenge.
To help keep Maya safe, I’ve also opted for the Dextrous and Inconspicuous traits, letting her transfer items quickly so she can make a getaway before she’s noticed, and making her 50% less likely to be noticed in the first place. I’ve also chosen Outdoorsy, to help ensure that even in the rain (or if she has to duck into the trees to lose some pesky undead) she can stay safe and avoid colds and scratches. There’s not much to be done for her constant need for orange soda, though, so be prepared to loot every vending machine you find to keep her unending thirst slaked.
