Perk
Tier
Total Points
Stealth
V
5
Melee Expert
V
10
Sprint
V
15
Jog*
V
20
Mule*
V
25
Exterminator*
V
30
Explanation:
- Stealth V — Well, duh, get this for the Sneak Visibility Range and Surprise Damage.
- Melee Expert V — Used in this build for a couple of reasons: (1) Sometimes zombies will resurrect and now you will need to kill them off with body damage, (2) Faster attack speed means you can clear the room faster.
- Sprint V — Gotta go fast.
- Jog V* — Optional for faster mobility. I grab both Sprint and Jog because I don't do anything but missions, looting, and OAs on this character. Plus, unless you're rich or lucky, you'll probably have a hard time finding gear with all the stats that you want/need. Putting points in these perks will give you more flexibility to focus on finding gear with other important stats.
- Mule V* — More inventory space = more looting. You can use the "storing items in your trade" trick to free up inventory space, but that takes time to do when you could be looting.
- Exterminator V* — If your melee weapon doesn't have enough damage to reliably one-shot the toughest infected with Surprise Damage, you'll need this.
- No Looter V? — Looter perk is a trap. The bonus find chance % is nonsignificant. The best part of this perk is the Search Speed, which you can cheaply find on hand and head gear.
Notes:
- You can use either Visibility Range or Sneak Visibility Range reduction bonuses—or both!
- For this build, you need to have the maximum (–75%) reduction (the cap is –75% for all reduction bonuses). Your Sneak Visibility Radius will be 1.25m.
- Since reduction bonuses have been capped, you can no longer be 100% undetectable. You can remain hidden using a longer range melee weapon (e.g., longsword) and starting your attack at a distance early. You can also approach from behind the zombie and then attack since your footstep noise is always 0 while sneaking.
- Visibility Range is better than just Sneak Visibility Range because having lower overall visibility means you can run up closer to the zombies before starting to sneak. But remember, your Footstep Noise Radius when you're upright and moving can also alert nearby zombies so it's not just about visibility.
- Visibility stats can be rolled on weapon, body, and legs gear.
- You will be sneaking a lot so you might want to invest in Sneak Speed gear (found on weapons, legs, feet gear)
- An alternate method for moving faster when sneaking is to increase your melee attack speed. Swinging your weapon while sneaking is still sneaking and does not make noise.
- Surprise Damage is incredibly strong. If you have a lower tier weapon (e.g., pick axe) that you want to use because of its stat bonuses, you can still one-shot even level 25-30 Irradiated fat male zombies with enough Surprise Damage.
- Body damage does not affect Surprise Damage, but Damage vs Infected does (multiplicatively!) If you don't have enough damage, consider picking up the Exterminator perk and/or finding items with Damage vs Infected and Surprise Damage bonuses.
- Machetes are great for its attack speed, but it has low range and low knock-back. As a sneak build, you will get hurt by auras (flies/fire), especially if your melee weapon lacks range/knock-back.
