20 TIPS & TRICKS to take you from NOOB to PRO in Project Zomboid 2023

The house you used as an example in the sound chapter is my favorite beginner base. Trees nearby, very very low zombies unlike the fire station, and can spawn with a car in the driveway

Don't fear guns. Just don't lure the zeds tk your safe house. Lure them away to a killing zone. Go ham. Go home. Go sleep.

Really solid list for beginners. The only "correction" I'd suggest is that currently stealth mechanics are effectively non-existent. Noise is still an important factor, but the way PZ handles spot checks for zeds means no amount of stealth is going to make a meaningful difference to your chance to be seen.
Retanaru has a deep dive vid that explains it more fully, but as of the end of 2023 you might as well forget about being inconspicuous and in fact the negative trait conspicuous is effectively free points at the moment.
One tip I'd add is "know your hotkeys" - a lot of actions are possible with a simple keystroke or key-combo and it streamlines gameplay so much not having to use the cumbersome right-click menu interface. Z+1/2/3/4/5/6 when next to or inside a car makes your character get into that seat spot for example.

Pro tip that was needed. With guns. Never go indoors after shooting. Don't back peddle while trying to shoot aiming takes a steady hand at the beginning. Third gun tip not mentioned. Shoot kills more zombies per shot, more durable, more reliable. You need four tiles between and then stop aim shoot. Just have the shells to kill them all. I never use it unless. Do not go far and shoot again stay in a tight area. Last but not least about shotguns. They take the least amount of skill to use and raises aiming the fastest.

200 shells can be about 600 or 500 kills. At least 3 kills per shot if you stop and aim.

There is shift run and alt sprint. The most draining is alt sprint. You can shift run longer yet that's only needed to zagging between zombies that are too close.

My other pro tip... keep your head on a swivel.

No1 driving tip. Drive in reverse off road if your car is struggling

Game takes place in 93, not the 70's

forgot to add you can find car keys as ground loot around some cars aswell, great video!

South African Zomboid player = easy sub. This video was awesome bru!

My tip would be. Dont make the game easy. Learn the controls, dive into the ocean head first, and die.

Die, learn, and repeat.

And dont watch Life and Living. Instead focus on getting prepped for the long haul. You will get more free exp with skill books and vhs tapes.

From your friendly neighborhood sprinter player

Also Westpoint and Muldraugh are great spots to spawn at while the zombie count is low. Its much harder to strike it at peak population. Meanwhile riverside and rosewood just gets from easy to easy-medium difficulty

Id call these pretty good starting tips, for sure!

Only couple things id add:

1. There is an event called "The Helicopter Event" that occurs fairly early on. Itll drive zeds around looking for you so be careful when you hear it and stay indoors with the curtains shut/boarded until you feel good enough to be out and about. Still, a good excuse to catch up on books and tv.

2. If youre just starting out, id generally recommend at least turning off zombie spawns regardless of your difficulty. Youll be able to get the main experience of the game in, but also be able to have a more permanent safe space. Its not ever perfectly safe, due to zombie migration, but youll have more of a breather.

I played over a thousand hours before discovering there is sprinting AND jogging. I had only ever jogged and never had all the endurance problems I heard people talk about with running.

Riverside is better.
River for water and fishing.
And has a tool store.

How do you get that car ui of the dash to pop up? it doesn't pop up when I get into a car

It's set in the 90s not the 70s


Great video though.

True when u right u right

158 subs with this quality of videos? I'm astonished bro. Keep up the good work!!! 🤯 Remember us when ur in ur 100k's! 📈

I thought game was set in the 90s???

the shift button is your friend. hold it when you stand up from resting to get up significantly faster. holding shift when pressing E at windows will close curtains without right clicking. helping you from being spotted. when switching seats hold the shift button to move between seats faster. (and also expands the option to get directly out of the car, which is useful when your car is nearly surrounded. you can immediately exit out the door with the least zombies, and be primed to sprint out of the oncoming hoard, from the door with LEAST resistance)

level cooking faster, by cooking your meats, before using them in recipes such as stews and stir fry. second if oyu find bacon, make bacon strips, with a knife, then bacon bits. THEN cook them. counts as cooking 16 things at once. a good option especially after you finish that cooking skill book. bacon bits add a 1/16th the calories of bacon to a recipe, but now count as a seasoning instead of an ingredient, if oyu are struggling to gain weight. (bacon can turn quick, so make sure you throw the cooked stuff in the freezer to make it last longer, only pulling out a little at a time)

Maintenance is more important than just making your weapons last longer, it is also a defensive stat, that gives a 3% chance to cancel a front facing zombie attack per level. Making hte "Handy" trait more valuable than most think. the +1 too maintenance gives 4x the xp. as well as 100hp to constructions (thats +400 too a fully barricaded window with planks, but only +100 for metal bars/sheet metal) taking traits that grant +1 to a skill gives 4x xp. +2 has quick diminishing returns at 5.2x & +3 is 6x xp (if i remember correctly) its far more efficient to have several skills have +1, over a couple skills being +2 or +3 between occupation and traits chosen. DO NOT TAKE BEYOND +3 as the stacking xp bonus stops, teh only advantage is less levels to grind through after +3.

umbrella's as an improvised weapon kinda sucks, but they do count as spears. spears have a charge attack, by using ALT to RUN instead of shift-sprint. after a few steps the spear/umbrella will drop down too waist level and remain there. run strait into a zombie with an umbrella to 1 shot a zombie every time, just make sure the "spear" is at waist level first or you will just bump off them if not grabbed. do not do this with lots of zombies around though, as you will have a kill-lock animation (basically like fighting to get the spear dug out from the skull) its a way to make umbrella's more effective for an early weapon to kill zeds with minimal durability losses.

wood glue is better for repairs of blunt items and axes, duct tape is better for repairs of stabbing weapons. same thing for regular glue and adhesive tape (the crappier versions)

if there are no keys in a bunch of cars in a parking lot. just look on the ground, for a set of keys. or "forage" for keys if you cant spot them yourself, and need a guide aid. sometimes foraging is necessary as the keys are sometimes UNDER THE CAR.

dont use metal bars as melee weapons. (metal pipes dont really matter feel free to use them) use them as window barricades, for mid/late game, if you find a propane torch and welder mask, because you can use spears/short & long blade and firearms through a 3 bar window barrier, safely. (you hit them, they dont hit you) same goes for metal fences. lure them too the high metal fence wall, hop over. them give them a quick poke with out risk too you.

when fighting at a low fence/window turn your back too the zed from teh other side. they will simply fall over and if they lunge "at you" they will just lunge forward without hitting you at all. perfect if you still have difficulty timing hits with a melee weapon or stomp attack.

if fighting a few zombies, and you have a crawler as 1 of them. hit the closest standing zombie normally. they will be stunned for a half second. giving you just enough time to FORCE A GROUND Attack, by holding ALT to take out the crawler, instead of just wacking the stunned zombie again.

want to level first aid? without stepping on broken glass? dig a furlow with your bare hands until you get a scratch. the scratch will be very minor and heal very quickly. (especially if oyu have the well fed moodle and/or take several short naps using a watch alarm like 30 min naps) just make sure your fatigue is over 30 (if you have a mod to track that) so you can go to sleep. or save a beer/wine and drink a quarter to help you fall back too sleep for faster healing.

train mechanics skill on crashed cars. you can uninstall and install a single part on a car every 24 hours. BUT if oyu fail to install/uninstall you still get 25% xp, and can repeat the process over and over until successful. failing causing durability loss of the part, hence why crashed cars are perfect for this. things such as windows, and brakes have a high chance to fail on install/uninstall, in the early game, meaning you can grind alot of xp very quick from the same car to get that hotwiring ability alot faster. hoard digital watches too, until you get that electrical skill book. then disassemble them like mad. (make sure to turn off the alarms though. dont need them going off when stealthing around or trying to sleep for a few hours at your base)

grind reloading while watching tv. R to reload, X to unload. instead of spamming the reload wheel by holding the right mouse button down, when holding a firearm. just because aim is at zero, doesnt mean your reload cant be at 3, or 4.

if oyu are going to crash, try to crash on the side or the back, protect your engine. and use metal sheets and screws to repair your hood(bonnet for you UK stranger dangers) if you are stuck between crashing into a tree/pole or a vehicle, choose the vehicle. your car will only take half the damage compared with crashing into a tree. (think crashing into an unmovable object vs a moveable car)


thats my beginner's ted talk. this is already TL;DR...😅 but im always happy to answer questions for the new guys, if you have any. or just to tear my approach apart. always room for improvement.

For the window trick you should've mentioned that theres a decent chance they can do a special crawling attack.

insane video really helped me understand the game more -

Can you do a playthrough with the bonking sound mod

Ty

I have like 200 hours

Bonk

70s I thought it was set in the mid 90s

1.) Totally agree, overconfidence and complacancy are the main causes of death in Project Zomboid.
2.) Shotgun attracts zombies from 200 FREAKIN TILES ( 250 for sawed off). Still, they are the best ones to start leveling aiming.
3.) Short blade weapons are kinda the worst mellee weapons you can have, they really aren't worth keeping around for the stealth kills.
4.) So many players, and I do mean SO MANY PLAYERS, got killed because of sprinting. If you don't have self-discipline, disable sprinting or remove ALT from your keyboard.
5.) Unless you're in it for a specific challenge, customize, customize, CUSTOMIZE ALWAYS.
6.) Rosewood is THE BEST starting spawn for beginners due to how close everything is. That being said, Muldraugh is the best long-term starting spawn.
7.) If you haven't picked Burglar, grinding 1 electical and 2 mechanics is your main leveling priority to get hotwiring.
8.) AIM OUTLINE TO ALL WEAPONS should be default, no discussion :)
9.) Cooking is the only skill that benefits greatly from the TV shows, since both Carpentry and survival skills can be quite easily leveled simply by playing.
10.) Without certain traits in play, zombies can hear you FROM FURTHER AWAY than they can see you, which is freakin' horrifying.
11.) Driving fast gets you killed. Plowing zombies isn't worth it. Speed Demon isn't worth it and SUNDAY DRIVER is definitely tailor-made for masochists.
12.) As it currently stands, infections and dirty bandages are irrelevant, so just bandaging a wound once will do. All good as long as you're not bleeding.
13.) OH GOD DON'T TAKE THE SHORT SIGHTED PERK !!! Whenever you stumble or push away a zombie or get scraped by them, your glasses WILL drop.
14.) Yes, have the map open at all times on a different tab.
15.) Read ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING you come across regarding skills.
16.) The game is quite finicky when it comes down to stealth, which is why you need quite high levels in stealth-related skills to make a major difference.
17.) Only carry a bag on your back, because if you climb high walls or if you stumble while running away from a horde, YOU WILL DROP the ones in your hands.
18.) Fully approach the window or fence and turn your back, that way the zombies can't lunge at you when they stumble over. It's counter-intuitive, but it works.
19.) Cars are essential if you want to keep mobile. Keep in mind that you should ALWAYS mow hordes by running in reverse, that way you have more power and you save your engine.
20.) Siphoning gas with a bottle isn't recommended because, by default, the cars in the game are quite the gasguzzlers. You won't get far on a single bottle of gas.

I like to run around my base and sprint a lot. this levels up my sprinting if you do it often. having lvl 6 sprinting can really save you... you should really know when you can sprint and run but dont do it near zombies. also take breaks by sitting on the ground or rest on a chair after you sprint.

Great tips and nice vid, thanks!

It's not the 70s it's 1993

Here before you blow up

Great video but quick little note, the game takes place in 1993, not the 70s.

Thanks,now i survive 4 days instead of 1 😂 (good first video)

I put this game off for awhile but finally started playing last week and I'm hooked. Nice first video!

General Kenobi 💀

What do u use for editing love your vids btw

Whoa first video! Great editing i am subscribing right now, keep it going man!

This is an amazing job for a first video, very good editing and very clear

Looks good

No way this is your first video!! Your editing is pretty neat and thanks for the help started playing it for the first time this week

Nice editing for a firts vid.. well done bud.. liked and subbed

👏👏👏

First video????

Soo insightful and funny! 😂 well done this is pretty good for a first video 👏👏👏

I liked this - Was actually not bad at all. Sweet dude!

Wow for a first video its really good! Keep going!