The character creation menu can look quite daunting at first, but dont worry.
What is an occupation in Project Zomboid?
The first section in the character creation menu is occupation.
This lets you select what job your survivor had before the apocalypse began.
When selecting your occupation, you should think about your preferred playstyle.
If you want tobuild a baseand do lots of crafting, Carpenter might be for you.
If you prefer foraging or farming, wed recommend selecting Park Ranger or Farmer respectively.
you could not proceed until this number is 0 or higher.
If it’s crucial that you gain or lose points, head over to the trait menu.
What are traits in Project Zomboid?
Negative traits give you points back, which youll need if your occupation puts you in the negative.
Positive traits are available if you have some extra points spare to use before jumping into the game.
If you grab the unemployed occupation, you will get 8 points to spend on positive traits.
Traits can have an immense impact on your character in Project Zomboid.
The Thick Skinned trait makes it much harder for zombies to scratch and bite your character, for example.
Since this is a very useful trait, it costs 8 points.
Less useful traits, like Speed Demon (which lets you drive faster) cost fewer points.
Likewise, more severe negative traits give you more points back.
For example, Carpenter gets a +3 bonus to carpentry and a +1 bonus to Short Blunt.
All of these skills can be leveled as you play Project Zomboid.
They each have their own XP that generates as you perform related activities.
For example, sneaking around and avoiding zombies will level up your sneak skill.
If your cupboards are full, youre probably doing a good enough job.
Slow HealerandHigh Thirstare the most severe negative traits in this build, but they are fairly easy to manage.
If youre already near a water source, High Thirst should be manageable.
Slow Healer is slightly more troublesome, but the best way to heal is staying well-fed and well-rested.
Sleepyhead,Slow ReaderandSunday Driverare easy to forget and essentially amount to free points.
Sleepyhead makes you better sleep more often, but Project Zomboid characters rarely need to sleep anyway.
If anything, this should make the sleep cycle a little more natural.
Books take a while to read, so a few more minutes of waiting wont be a big problem.
This is essentially the circle around your character in which it’s possible for you to see nearby zombies.
All ThumbsandShort-Sightedare the new negative traits for this firefighter build.
Short-Sighted is the worst of the two, as it reduces your perception radius.
All Thumbs makes you move items a little slower, which makes looting take longer.
That wraps up our best character builds in Project Zomboid.
If you want more help surviving the apocalypse, check out our list ofProject Zomboid tips and tricks.
