On this page: Dead Island 2: Tips and Tricks
1. Loot Everything 2. Use Defensive Abilities 3. Use Your Weapons Wisely 4. Experiment with Modifications 5. Pay Attention to Zombie Elements 6. Chop Away 7. Use Your Environment 8. Fuse Cells 9. Unclaimed Property 10. Match Your Cards to Your Playstyle Dead Island 2: Tips and Tricks
On this page, we've included ten Dead Island 2 tips and tricks that will help you to become a zombie slaughtering expert in no time.
Loot Everything
While it was one of the things that we weren’t so keen on in our Dead Island 2 review
If you’re already struggling to find specific parts, then head into the menu by slapping that touchpad on your DualSense, select collectibles, and then Zompedia. Here you will see all the various zombies that the game has to offer, but if you push square (ahem) when you are hovering over a specific zombie, it will tell you what parts it’ll drop. This’ll save you the hassle of mindlessly killing zombies and hoping the parts you need drop in the process.
Use Defensive Abilities
Dead Island 2 comes with a defensive ability slot that can, through the use of the card system, be equipped as either a dodge or block. We personally found that the dodge made combat a little snappier, and proved useful against explosive Bursters. However, both bring about a really useful counter to zombies. Time your dodge or block just right, and you’ll leave a zombie open to a brutal finisher animation. These animations looks incredibly nasty (in the best kind of way) but they also seem to save your weapons a couple of degrading hits, so you can actually get more out of them!
Use Your Weapons Wisely
The FLESH system in Dead Island 2 means that the weapons you use are more important than ever. You may often be tempted to just swing away with your favourite katana and hope for the best, but when exploring Hell-A, you’ll come across different zombie types, which are suited to different weapons.
Split into headhunters, frenzy, maiming, or bulldozer categories, different weapons work better against certain types of undead. For example, sledgehammers are great for crowd control when facing Walkers and Shamblers, but are practically useless against the far more nimble Runner. For those you’ll want a faster paced weapon like a knife, sword, or hatchet. Paying attention to the types of weapons you are using will mean you are constantly having to repair weapons that are ill-equipped for the job — if that job is piercing the pecks of a Crusher with a kitchen knife. Use your weapons wisely, and they will last longer!
Experiment with Modifications
Once you know the base uses of your weapons, it’s time to start modifying. Modifications can turn the tide in zombie warfare, so you’ll want to head to a workbench, found at any of your level bases. You’ll be applying damage type modes, and a range of perks, with more perks available to use, the higher the tier of weapon. We aren’t here to tell you what builds you need to craft up, because it’s all about finding the right kind of weapon for you. But what we will recommend is that you have each of the damage types — those being caustic, fire, shock, bleed, and physical damage — as it not only means you are ready to start dealing some serious damage, but you are also ready for our next tip.
Pay Attention to Zombie Elements
The further you delve into Dead Island 2, the more common elemental zombies will become. These are your fire, caustic, and electric zombies, but there are also zombie “professions”, like the Firefighter or Hazmat Walkers. Across the elemental and profession zombies, certain damage types will be useless against them. So you don’t want to be using acid damage against a Hazmat Walker or Slobber, and fire damage will of course do nothing against a Fireman or Inferno Crusher. In conjunction with the last couple of tips that means you want to pick the right weapon, modify it to amp its power, but make sure that you always have a counter damage type for elemental and profession zombies. Make sense? Let’s move on.
Chop Away
Thanks to the FLESH system, amputation is a serious strategy when engaging in some zombie carnage. Those speedy Runners can be a pain at times, but a precise swipe at the leg and they are no more dangerous than your regular Walker or Shambler. Then you have the Crushers with their ground-pound attack, that’ll leave you flat on your back. But they can’t ground-pound when they don’t have arms to do so. Amputation in Dead Island 2 reactively changes the way in which a zombie can attack you, making it a great option when you are being overwhelmed. And if nothing else, it is crazy entertaining thanks to all of it’s grizzly detail.
Use Your Environment
All around the world of Hell-A, you’ll find oil drums, exposed electrical wires, car batteries, and even some explosive acidic barrels. It’s a health and safety nightmare! However, in this scenario it's exactly what you need, as it’ll allow you to increase the level of chaos, and more importantly, save your ammunition for another day, and your melee weapons from unneeded degradation. Not to mention it's a superb method of crowd control. Even if you light up some spilled oil and it doesn’t kill a zombie, it'll still chip away at those health bars. And if you're electrifying some Walkers, it’ll stop them in their tracks. Really the environmental carnage you can ensue is the video game version of working smarter, not harder.
Fuse Cells
If you are on the hunt for some prime weapons to take the fight back to the undead hordes, then you’ll want to buy yourself some fuse cells. As you explore Dead Island 2’s world, you’ll come across fuel boxes in need of a cell to open up some inaccessible areas. Head into any of your home bases and you’ll find a trader. Each of these traders are selling typically two or three fuel cells. You can carry three at any time, and it will set you back around $1,500. Then head to any of your discovered spots, which will be marked on the map, and you’ll find a collection of loot, and typically one powerful weapon. Some of these spots are loaded with traps so be careful, but the rewards are always worth the risk.
Unclaimed Property
Dead Island 2 will be throwing weapons at you left, right, and centre, so it’s easy for some of those zombie-killing goods to slip through the cracks. You need not worry, though, because if you head to any base, check out your personal storage — which you’ll find next to workbenches — and tap R1 to go to the “Unclaimed Property" tab, you’ll find all sorts of goodies in there. Come the end of the campaign we were stacked up on unclaimed property, and while most of the weapons were levelled out by this point, they are still useful to sell if you are short on cash.
Match Your Cards to Your Playstyle
The Card system in Dead Island 2 allows you to diversify your playstyle, and really spice up the art of zombie killing. But it’s also easy to pick a set and forget about your cards even as you discover more and more. Throughout your time with Dead Island 2, you should be keeping tabs on those card skills, to ensure that you're mixing and matching the abilities in the right kind of way to maximise your efficiency. We quite liked the perk that would send out concussive blasts when you stamped on a zombie's head, as it would give us a second to catch our breath and ready our weapons. But you may find a deck that leans towards speed, aggression. Find the card build that works for you to really amplify your gameplay experience.
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