Dead Island is the new sequel to the 2011 Dead Island, this time set in LA, complete with cringy Hollywoodites, and zombies to match. As you play through the game, you will find that there are a few sneaky things on the map to learn, along with some more nuance to combat and exploring the game doesn’t necessarily teach you about. So, we’ve compiled a list of 10 pretty basic and advanced Dead Island 2 tips and tricks to help you get started.

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Here are ten tips and tricks for Dead Island 2 to help you on your way. Image via PLAION.

Dead Island 2 Tips and Tricks¶

Below is a list of tips and tricks for Dead Island 2 that we recommend picking up. We’ll explain most of them in more detail further down the page if there’s some nuance or quirks to the tip.

1. Weapons for different playstyles
2. Practice timing your dodges and blocks for special moves
3. Look for hazards to deal with zombies effectively
4. The game is linear, and you can use more of each map as you progress through the main story.
5. Buy fuses from vendors if you want to loot some higher-yield crafting areas and get better weapons.
6. Side quests and getting keys to buildings typically award better blueprints
7. Check the unclaimed Property in the Storage Lockers if you drop or throw your weapons (Amy players will love this one)
8. Learn to dodge attacks on the opposite side of where a zombie swings, it makes avoiding attacks easier thanks to animations and hitbox registry.
9. Move your cursor when swinging weapons to make your attacks land faster.
10. Remember to sell excess parts when you can and your bad weapons when you arrive back to a trader. It helps manage your inventory better and grants more money. We have more tips on how to make money in Dead Island 2, by the way.

Some of the More Advanced Dead Island 2 Tips Explained¶

Regarding the first tip, there are many weapons, but each typically fits into one of four playstyles.

• Headhunter - Critical Hits to the head - These are your spear or precision-themed weapons
• Frenzy - Weapons that do critical hits after landing several hits quickly. These are your fast-swinging weapons like Short Swords, Golf Clubs, etc.
• Maiming - Have a higher chance to maim zombies - These are your Axes and other decapitating weapons.
• Bulldozer - Great weapons used for taking on larger groups of Zombies - Think mace weapons, clubs, bats, and so on.

Ranged weapons also have their own weapon type, such as

• Demolition -grants critical hits to vulnerable zombies. This goes on your weapons like Shotguns.

Read more: How to unlock ranged weapons and guns in Dead Island 2.

Number 2 is a tip you get during the game’s prologue in Bel-Air. However, we cannot stress this enough. If you learn to time your dodges perfectly, you can get special moves to hit enemies with. This will deal large burst damage to zombies, and even have a chance to kill some zombies by doing so., This saves a lot of durability on your weapon and makes the gameplay more rewarding.

The third tip is quite handy for interacting with your environment better. You’ll find oil spills that you can ignite to burn zombies and apply the burn status effect to enemies for even more damage. You can also use water to electrify zombies, stunning them, and making them take shock damage. Perhaps you find acid spills, which you can force enemies to walk through to deal some incredibly strong damage. You can also create your own hazard by destroying wires, or throwing jerrycans about the place. You may also use your weapon elemental mods to trigger these traps too.

Number 4 is a good tip, as it helps to teach you that the game is linear, and the open world is fairly limited at times. For the most part, you’re better staying on track to the main story, and doing side quests the game naturally leads you to. Venturing off and doing your own thing on a map typically leads you to skull level zombies, which will likely one-shot you, until you catch up to where the devs want you to be. This will help you save time and focus on tasks, and not waste minutes of your life only to get one shot by something. Eventually, you’ll be able to fast travel to other maps in DI2, so, you can start exploring much better in the second half of the game.

For tip 5, you will find that certain “?“ icons on the map are Fuse Boxes. These require a fuse to open them. You’ll often find that you can get a decent weapon inside, scaled with your level, and some other crafting materials, and more often than not, higher-tier crafting materials.

For tip 7, this goes to Amy players. One of her innate skills grants her stamina back if you land a thrown weapon attack. Throwing weapons can sometimes lead you to lose them. Storage Lockers has a tab where you can retrieve your weapons from it, so you can get them back if you messed the up your throw.

Number 9 is a tip we learned while playing medieval games like Mordhau and Chivalry. You want to nudge your weapon’s attack animation into the zombies. So, if your weapon’s swing starts on the right, and go left, you want to move your aiming reticle slightly to the left to help that hitbox connect with enemies quicker. It’s helpful for characters with innate skills with zombie cleaves like Jacob, Dani, and Carla, as you can get your attacks off faster.

Read More: Dead Island 2 best characters

Lastly, tip 10 is handy for generating money for funding your crafting and weapon upgrades. In the early game, you’ll very much cap out on Metal Parts very early on, esp if you scrap broken white weapons. This will allow you to sell those parts on, knowing you find more and make more in the following maps and missions. It’s nice amount of income to really steam role your exploration and combat antics.

This concludes our Dead Island 2 Tips and Tricks guide. Hopefully, these tips and tricks help you stay focused, and pick up on a few gameplay quirks along the way.