Top 15 State of Decay 2 Best Traits in Lethal Zone
CHAOS! Is one word to describe the lethal zone in State of Decay 2. Thus, the intro that goes “Seriously. You've been warned. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” says it all. Blood, darkness, and the whole package of terror and anxiety is what lethal zone brings to the table.
Players tend to spend so much time selecting their three starting characters looking for the best traits a community member must have but some are just confused or undecided. There are traits that you can just take for granted and won’t even notice their impact on the game but the lethal zone is a different animal. You have to be meticulous and whether it’s in the character selection phase or recruitment in-game, your survivor must be useful enough to be a part of your community.
Here are the top 15 traits that most experienced SOD2 players look into for their lethal zone adventure.
NOTE:
- Your desired Hero Bonus of a certain trait is not always the one that comes together with your character’s hero status. Computer randomly assigns only one bonus from 2-4 traits that character has.
- No Red Talon traits are included here. They are far superior and there should be a separate list for them.
15. Karen’s Brother/Joaquin’s Sister (The Siblings)
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"My brother worked as a cop in this town but I haven't seen him since the outbreak."
This trait is one of the rarest traits in the game. It can only be obtained if you get lucky by getting the mission “Brother in Blue”. The name will vary according to the character’s name who happened to have a police brother (who has a random name too) who is alone somewhere on the map and needs to be rescued.
Why is this useful?
Additional competitive manpower
Trigger’s a mission that adds yet another competitive ex-cop survivor
Usually comes with a blank skill for customization
This trait that depends on pure luck is not the most priority in this list but if one of your survivors initiated the said personal mission, make sure that you complete it no matter what. The rescued character often has a blank skill which is great for customization plus they come with a nice set of cop-related traits that affect their skills and hero bonus. The alive brother happened to have a female police partner who happened to be his girlfriend and might have kick-ass skills as well. These ex-cops usually come with discipline, scouting, and gunslinging skills which are handy in combat. Additionally, they put a pinch of cuteness in the game.
14. Army Motor Pool (Chuck Norris)
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"I maintained NTVs at a base in Europe. Never saw combat until the outbreak."
We all know Chuck Norris who is not just a meme but indeed a skilled martial artist. Imagine having him onboard to your post-apocalyptic community and every day starting day one, challenge him to prove the memes wrong.
Why is this useful?
Discipline (weapon endurance and stamina bonus)
Leveled up Mechanic skill to Automechanics
Hero Bonus: +25% Fuel Efficiency for the community
This trait is commonly found among the ex-army guys you will encounter on the map. With diligence and luck, you’ll come across one that you can recruit. Automechanics is one of the most essential skills and must-have. If the hero bonus gives you fuel efficiency, you don’t need to worry so much about running out of gas.
Other combat skill-relevant traits with an awesome hero bonus you can look for are Baggage Handler, Military Police, Police Negotiator, and The Muscle.
13. Lichenologist (The Professional)
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"Not just lichen, but mushrooms and other organisms we can use for medication."
This trait is directly connected to its fifth skill which is Lichenology that can be obtained for your starting survivors.
Why is this useful?
Knows gardening
Herbalist
+2 meds per day
Hero Bonus: +50% experience rate for the community
Ah, Lichenology. The dream trait/skill every player is looking for. It pairs well with Utilities for hydroponics so it’s worth having. The meds income is a huge boost and if you get lucky, the hero bonus will let your community master their crafts quickly even in lethal.
If you wanna fill up your base with traits that come with the best starting fifth skill plus great hero bonus, look for Explosives Engineer (Munition), Attending Physician (Medicine), General Practitioner (Pathology), Meter Reader (Utilities), and Trucker for your professional, disciplined driver who doesn’t get much of sleep deprivation penalty.
12. Quick Study (Davinci)
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"Once I put my mind to learning something, it comes pretty easily."
“One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself" – Leonardo Davinci
Why is this useful?
+200% experience skill
Hero Bonus: +33% Facility Action Speed
This trait is very ideal for a starting character as lethal zone skill progression is super slow. If you feel like recruiting a new guy instead of using your legacy survivors, look for this trait. If this guy is recruited in-game and comes with awful other traits, you can dump him anytime in the game once he serves his purpose. His quickness in gaining skill is only for himself, won’t affect the community so he’s pretty useless at the near end game except if he has other awesome worth-keeping traits/skills.
Juggler trait has the closest resemblance to this trait.
11. Hopeful (Dufresne)
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"I don't know, I just have this feeling that things are going to be all right."
“Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” - Andy Dufresne (Shawshank Redemption, 1994)
Why is this useful?
●+6 Individual morale
●Hero Bonus: 25% experience rate for the community
How would you wish you have a Dufresne-like persona in your lethal, post-apocalyptic life? This guy just won’t budge from the hopelessness that lethal zone brings and with higher community morale, he will also gain experience pretty fast than the rest.
Played Zombie Games trait is the duplicate of this one that you might not want to skip on.
10. Volunteer Coordinator (Leonidas)
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“And I would die for any one of mine.” - King Leonidas
It is the lethal zone. You start the game with your community’s morale pathetically low. There’s gotta be someone from the group who has King Leonida's caliber to rally your people’s morale.
Why is this useful?
+4 morale for everyone
Hero Bonus: +1 labor
Survivors in the lethal zone are unbelievably sensitive and they often threaten to leave when their morale drops big time. Having a mediator in the group, a counselor, would certainly make a difference in your community’s morale.
Alternatively, you can look for Furniture Adjuster which not only has Mechanic skill but also gives +3 morale for all as well. Neat, Fastidious, and Tells Tall Tales also give +3 morale for the community and their hero bonuses are also pretty good.
9. Can Sleep Anywhere (The Cowboy)
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"I don't need a bed. I can catch a bit of shuteye anywhere I need to."
At the beginning of the game, you’ll find your survivors clumped on small bases and that shortage of beds is often the issue. But if you have survivors who can sleep anywhere, you can subtract them from the total bed counts.
Why is this useful?
-1 bed used
Hero Bonus: +2 beds
That’s a total of 3 beds free for anyone should your survivor with the said trait also hit his hero bonus. That means you can save one small slot that you can use for other useful facilities.
Other traits you can take as alternatives are: Takes Power Naps and Sleeps on the Ground
8. Eats Like a Bird (The Unhungry)
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"I don’t know how other people eat so much. I’m full pretty much the moment I sit down."
Imagine having Lindsay Lohan in your community who eats less but is not anorexic and is pretty useful overall. Ok, that might be a bad analogy but you get the point.
Why is this useful?
-50% individual food consumption per day
Hero Bonus: -25% community food consumption per day
The game doubled the food consumption in the lethal zone hence food shortage is inevitable in this difficulty. If you have someone who eats half of the normal individual consumption, that’s a nice reduction to your food resource. But this trait is more prominent on its bonus that if a computer picks its hero bonus value among other traits, it's like a successful moon landing of Apollo 11.
If you wanna raise your chance to get a -25% community food consumption per day hero bonus, you may look for these traits: Lives on Pasta and Picky Eater.
7. Keeps Hidden Pouches (The Maze Runner)
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"Since I’ve been on the run, I’ve learned to modify my clothes to store things close to my body."
You are ready to head home carrying a rucksack on your back and a few useful junks. A few meters away is an ugly, terrifying blood feral staring at you ready to tear your flesh. Good thing you are not that encumbered, you managed to fight and beat the crap out of the ugly thing.
Why is this useful?
●+10 Light Carrying Capacity
●+10 Max Carrying Capacity
●+1 Max Item Stack
Not only carrying weight bonus but you can also carry 1 extra consumable e.g. 1 extra painkiller giving you a total of 4 while usual is only 3. If your survivor has skills such as backpacking, resourcefulness, and sewing along with Keeps Hidden Pouches, you have one hell of a human logistics freak who can run around on foot with less weight penalty against its stamina.
Smuggler is another same trait less the bonus stack.
6. Determined (The Unbent)
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"Once I commit to something, it's really hard to shake me loose."
Imagine if you’re that guy in the movie “Unbroken (2014)” who held the plank up in the air for hours while being mocked and humiliated by that Japanese officer. This is how exactly you describe this trait…determination, resilience.
Why is this useful?
+20 Max Health
Can handle -60 morale without frustration
+20 Max Stamina
Hero Bonus: +10 max health to community
Extra health and stamina say it all plus the peace of mind that he/she is not going to turn his back to the community even at the worst is what this trait is all about. It’s so good that if the computer picks its hero bonus, the rest will also benefit. Then if you pump your community’s HP and stamina via clinic 3 or hospital, you can smile at the incoming zeds during a siege.
Resilient (also has +20 max health) with -40% injury severity and the same ability to withstand frustration is the closest you can get in case you missed the “Determined” one.
5. Just Keeps Going (The Marine)
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"I was on the run with a large group for weeks, and I'm the only one who never slowed down."
It is not a secret that armed forces’ fatigue tolerance is higher than average people and if you can stay awake extensively like them without being perished in the post-apocalyptic world, you have a higher chance of survival.
Why is this useful?
-40% Fatigue Severity
+45 Max Stamina
In the huge and long maps like Providence Ridge, there are instances that your character is pinned to an important personal mission that you cannot abandon amidst other non-personal missions hence you’ll have him do everything until he’s sleep-deprived. When fatigue gets worse due to sleep deprivation, your stamina bar will dry out until you can barely run. While there is coffee to cure it, the reduction in fatigue is truly a game-changer if you have this trait and match it with very high stamina, you’ll be like a World War 2 marine who’ll never give up…will just keep going until Normandy is liberated.
Indefatigable and Exuberant have slightly less stamina but they are great alternatives.
4. Never Been Sick (The Immune)
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"I can't remember ever missing a day for being sick. Or if I did, it wasn't true."
In the lethal zone, the most critical part of the game where you don’t wanna catch a blood plague is at the beginning especially if it’s a fresh community. A lot of new players of the lethal zone think that it's just slightly harder than nightmare but it's not. If you get caught by a sneaky blood plague bloater, you’re done for. With the absence of plague samples and lack of meds and other items, plague cure is scarce and you may want to wait for a while before taking a risk in the open. But wait, someone in your community can handle infection better than the rest.
Why is this useful?
+100 infection resistance (individual)
Hero Bonus: +100 infection resistance (community)
While you’re not absolutely immune, you’ll only catch a little amount of infection and can stand a chance with sudden blood bloater exposure, unlike others. You can also try to fight blood ferals and get a bit of infection but still live. If the computer is generous enough to give you its hero bonus, not just one but everyone will benefit from infection resistance. With the help of clinic 3 or hospital and resident pathologists, you are practically immune.
Incredible Immune System is the alternative less the hero bonus.
3. Hard to Kill (The Revenant)
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"I've picked myself up after fights that left dozens of people dead."
Have you ever seen that movie where Leonardo di Caprio was slain by a huge bear but still managed to stay alive? Hard to Kill is undoubtedly a badass trait.
Why is this useful?
-40% Injury Severity
+45 Max Health
If you obtain a character with Just Keeps Going and Hard to Kill at the same time, you’ll be the envy of all State of Decay 2 players. Apparently, the resistance from grave injury can save your survivor’s life especially if you have him carry tons of painkillers as his health won't go down that much with the addition of 45 health.
Immortal is the exact duplicate of this trait while Hard as Nails, Took a Lot of Dares, Daredevil, Hardy, Never Cries, Fights Defensively and Hardy are great alternatives.
2. Unbreakable (The Man of Steel)
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"Doctors actually studied my family to understand our unusually dense bones."
“Only the weak succumb to brutality.” - Superman
You might be vulnerable to plague infection but you don’t get injured. Not at all!
Why is this useful?
+45 Max Health
-100% Injury Chance
You kept scrolling for your new survivors and you stumbled to one with an Unbreakable trait. How’s the feeling? With your character not getting injured on top of a huge amount of health, the only thing that matters is, how many painkillers did you take with you? This character doesn’t need to be cured for physical damage hence will save you meds. This is a late-game guy whom you can unleash alone in the middle of hordes of zeds and will survive.
The trait Dense Bone Condition on the other hand is not completely immune to injury but could rarely catch injury with its -100% Injury Chance.
1. Blood Plague Survivor (The Walking Vaccine)
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In the worst-case scenario, what if (just what if) COVID19 became so horrible that it resulted in having undead folks walking the streets? The catch is, you don’t get infected. You might be lacking combat skills to fight off the undead but don’t worry about being bitten by them because you won’t turn anyway.
Why is this useful?
-100% Plague Infection
Hero Bonus: +15 max health for the community
This trait is the rarest in the game. The chance of having one in the game is super slim and to find one during the character selection phase can cost you an hour or even a few hours. Is it worth it? HELL YES! Its hero bonus is the largest health bonus in the game that, if assigned by computer, will make him/her the most important part of your community. You will find yourself using this character more often especially in wiping plague hearts as he/she simply doesn't get infected. It is the perfect companion too and just gives him/her a .50 cal gun and lets him/her take care of the brainless.
So there you have it. The 15 best traits your survivors can have, their duplicates, and possible alternatives. A character with two or more best traits doesn’t come by easily and requires luck and diligence to find so just keep searching. A lot of enclaves with awesome traits are just waiting to be discovered and recruited.
One aspect that you will enjoy the most in the game is the recruitment process. You’re like the Simon Cowell of your State of Decay 2 world and the audition shall keep going until you find your perfect crew.
Just a bit of a warning, no matter how good your traits are, if you are careless, lack planning and strategies, you’ll still lose in the lethal zone so always be vigilant, always study your next move first. The last thing you want to see is the line of tombstones in your community tab.
