7 Days To Die Skills & Perks Guide

Overview

As your game progresses and your character level increases, you will also need to improve your natural abilities. This can be done by increasing your attribute levels using the skill points you get every time you level up. The skill points can also be used to unlock different Perks, which help to enhance your abilities further.

To put it simply, attributes are associated with your base abilities, such as strength, agility, perception etc., while each perk is associated with its corresponding attribute type. So if you access your skills menu by pressing on ‘N’, then you will see the different Attribute sections at the top. In each Attribute section, you will see the list of perks associated with that attribute.

For example, when you gain a skill point, you can either increase your Strength Attribute level or unlock the next level of one of its perks, such as the Mother Lode. The Mother Lode perk will increase your harvest yield. Note that each level of your perk also requires its corresponding attribute to be at a certain level to be unlocked.

Attributes & Perks In 7D2D

As we’ve already mentioned, Attributes & Perks are closely related. You can unlock the different levels by using skill points that you gain as your character level increases. The first time you start your game, you begin at level 1 on all the attributes. After that, perks you need to purchase. You also get 4 skill points to spend.

Choosing which attributes or perks to spend on your skill points is integral to the game strategy. You should level up in a way that best suits your gameplay style. Since perks depend upon their attribute level, you first level up the attributes that most support your gameplay and then upgrade the different perks under those attributes.

Unlocking Perks In 7 Days To Die

To unlock Levels 2-5 of an attribute, you need to spend 1 skill point each time. Levels 6-8 require 2 skill points, and Levels 9-10 require 3 skill points. Additionally, certain drugs and clothing can have the effect of increasing a particular attribute level.

This can be useful to unlock certain perks before you have the required attribute level. In this case, though, if the drug’s effect wears off or you remove that particular piece of clothing, the attribute level drops and the perk you had bought also levels down.

Let’s consider a scenario where your Fortitude Attribute is at Level 3, and you have a Heavy Armor of Level 2. To get a Heavy Armor Perk of Level 3, you need the Fortitude to be Level 5.  A quick way to achieve this is by consuming Frost Bites. This drug temporarily increases your Fortitude Level, and you can use this to get the Level 5 Heavy Armor.

However, when the drug’s effect goes away, your fortitude level and the Heavy Armor level will both go down. If you check your skills menu, it will show the Heavy Armor Level 3 as unlocked but disabled (in red). This means that when your character’s Fortitude Level reaches 5, the heavy armour level 3 will automatically become enabled again.

The table below shows the Attribute level required to unlock different skill levels. Most Perks have the exact requirements. There are a few exceptions, though, as shown below.

7 Days To Die Skill #1: Perception

The Perception Attribute is primarily related to sensory awareness.  It helps improve accuracy, especially headshots with ranged weapons. With perspective level 1, RIfles, Spears, etc., their headshot damage rate was boosted by 200%. After that, from level 2 to 8, the headshot damage rate rises by 10% each time, with an additional 5% dismembering chance. With levels 9 & 10, the damage rate increases by another 15% each time, along with a 5% chance of dismembering. This attribute is divided into 3 categories – Combat, General & Scavenging, as shown below.

7 Days To Die Skill #2: Strength

The strength attribute represents raw strength, i.e. the muscle power that you can pack behind a punch. This attribute is beneficial, especially if you go all-out attacking head-on with melee weapons. For example, the strength attribute of level 1 increases headshot damage with a Sledgehammer, Club & Shotgun by 200%.

At levels 2 to 8, this damage rate increases another 10%, with a 5% chance of dismembering the opponent. Finally, with Levels 9 & 10, the headshot damage rate goes up by 15%, with the dismembering chance also increasing by 5%. This attribute is divided into 3 categories – Combat or Weapons, General & Construction, as shown in the table below.

7 Days To Die Skill #3: Fortitude

The Fortitude attribute is related to your character’s physical resiliency. At Fortitude Level 1, you gain a 200% extra headshot damage rate when using Machine Guns or even your fists. At fortitude levels 2 to 8, this damage rate is further boosted by 10%, with a 5% chance of dismemberment. Finally, at fortitude levels, 9 to 10, the headshot damage further increases by 15%, with a 5% more probability of dismemberment. This attribute is divided into 3 categories – Combat or Weapons, Survival & Recovery, as given in the table below.

7 Days To Die Skill #4: Agility

Agility is essential, especially when trying to get away from multiple enemies. As your character levels up, so does its agility. You will notice how you can move faster and more efficiently through different terrains. Your mobility, in general, improves. This attribute is divided into 3 categories – Combat or Weapons, Athletic & Stealth, as shown in the table below.

7 Days To Die Skill #5: Intellect

The Intellect attribute relates to your character’s intelligence level and mental capabilities. As your character levels up and you increase your Intellect level, you will be able to craft more advanced weapons, tools and traps. This is especially useful during the game’s later stages when the enemies are much stronger and many more in number. This attribute also helps you get better deals and rewards for quests from traders.

This attribute is divided into 3 categories – Combat or Weapons, Influence & Craftsmanship, as shown in the table below.

Perk Books:

Apart from perks associated with attributes, there is one other way to gain different perks in the game, and that is through the Perk Books. Each Perk Book belongs to a particular series, and reading the book enhances your skills related to the series to which it belongs. So, if you read any book of the Lucky Looter series, your loot quality improves.

You can get perk books by either purchasing them from a Trader or finding them while looting. There are a total of 19 different series, each containing 7 volumes. The perk book title will let you know the series it belongs to. Furthermore, completing a series by reading all its volumes gets you an additional bonus perk related to your completed series.

The perk books can be found all over the 7 days to die world. However, there are certain places where your chances of finding one are higher such as in bookcases. Of course, looting a POI with lots of bookcases, such as a book store, will undoubtedly increase your chances of finding multiple perk books. So if you are on the hunt for perk books, then a place like crack-a-book is the place to rummage through!