Dead Island 2 tips: 10 ways to survive HELL-A

You may want to check out our comprehensive list of Dead Island 2 tips, as it covers ten ways of ensuring you survive the zombie apocalypse that has taken over Los Angeles. Dead Island 2 is an action role-playing game that has revived the DI franchise, with the previous mainline title releasing ten years ago. 

The game is full of content to engage with, but you may want some help to make combat and exploration more efficient, and ensure you can always find the best weapons. So, take a look at our ten Dead Island 2 tips to help you master dealing with the undead. 

• If you're wondering, how long it takes to beat Dead Island 2, check out our explainer of the main quest and completionist length. 

Dead Island 2 tips: Learn your weapon's strengths

There are a wide variety of weapons in Dead Island 2, allowing you to pick up melee weapons, guns, and even throwables like Molotovs, shurikens, and pipe bombs. 

Many weapons also have unique profiles that provide them with different bonuses and effects, so it's worth learning how these work to make the most of them. A weapon's profile can be seen in the top right corner of their inventory, next to the weapon's level.

Here are some weapon types you can find:

• Headhunter - does critical hits to the head
• Frenzy - does critical hits after landing quick hits in succession
• Maiming - does critical hits to limbs and has a higher chance of maiming zombies
• Bulldozer - are effective at taking out close groups of enemies

Dead Island 2 tips: Scrap common weapons for more resources

Due to the number of weapons you'll find across LA, you won't be able to make use of them all, and many of them will also be inferior to the more powerful weapons you'll pick up along the way.

This means it's always worth scrapping any common rarity weapons you find at the workbench, as it gives you useful crafting resources to improve other weapons or craft consumables.

• We also cover how to fast travel in Dead Island 2, so check out how to unlock the quickest method of travel. 

Dead Island 2 tips: Sell your higher rarity weapons

Following on from the previous Dead Island 2 tip, you should also sell your higher rarity weapons that you don't plan on using. Money is one of the more scarce resources, and you'll spend a lot of it at vendors and the workbench, so it's important to make sure you are stocked up. 

While common weapons don't sell for very much (hence why we recommend you scrap them), higher rarity weapons can go for thousands of dollars a pop. Following this tip will help you build your cash reserves early, ensuring you have enough money when weapon repairs and upgrades start costing more.

Dead Island 2 tips: Buy all the fuses you can

During your travels in the game, you'll encounter lots of fuseboxes that require fuses to unlock nearby doors. Inside these places, you can often find lots of resources and a special container with a brand-new weapon to use, making them worthwhile to investigate whenever you can. 

The only way to get fuses is by purchasing them from vendors in safehouses, where they go for 1500 dollars each. Make sure you always stock up on fuses when you are at a vendor, as you can carry three at a time. 

• Make sure you check our breakdown of how to get and use fuses in Dead Island 2, which covers everything you need to know about them. 

Dead Island 2 tips: Focus on zombie's limbs

Thanks to the FLESH system used to facilitate visual feedback during combat, you can target specific parts of zombies' bodies and affect their capabilities when it comes to harming you.

For example, if you break or slice off the legs of a runner zombie, they won't be able to dodge your attacks, and Crushers won't be able to slam the ground around them if you make one of their arms useless.

Dead Island 2 tips: Make use of the environment in combat

For our fifth entry in our list of Dead Island 2 tips, we recommend playing along with the game's new features relating to the environment. The game has a ton of hazards, such as puddles of water near live wires, or jerry cans pouring fuel out that can be ignited.

You can make use of these hazards yourself to help cull the zombie population, and with so many jerry cans around that contain water, fuel, and caustic-x, there are plenty of opportunities for you to experiment and trivialise killing the undead.  

• Our all Dead Island 2 key locations so far guide will allow you to collect every key in the game, so you grab all the most powerful weapons. 

Dead Island 2 tips: Check the weapon locker if you lose one

Every safehouse has a weapon locker, and they are even marked on the map with an icon when you come across one. While their main purpose is to store weapons that can be accessed from any other locker, there is also an unclaimed property section you can use to grab weapons you've lost during your travels. So, if you throw your favourite weapon and can't find it, just check the unclaimed property. 

Dead Island 2 tips: Purchase the ammo blueprints

Several hours into the game, you will unlock guns, allowing you to begin spraying the undead with lead rather than getting up close and personal. While you can still find ammo when exploring, it's much rarer than other resources, so you will need to use other methods to stay stocked up.

Once guns are unlocked, vendors will also begin selling blueprints for the different ammo types, allowing you to craft them at workbenches. They are fairly easy to make and don't require many resources, making them the best way to keep your ammo reserves high.

• If you still don't have the game, you may want to know the differences between the Dead Island 2 Pulp, Deluxe, and Standard editions.

Dead Island 2 tips: Use your guns once you unlock them

Following on from the last tip, the guns you can collect in Dead Island 2 essentially trivialise combat once you unlock them. A good rifle that's at your level can kill most normal zombies with one headshot, while a few will take down special infected like Crushers or Screamers.

This makes the game's combat far easier, and with the above tip helping out on the ammo front, you'll be able to spray and pray your way through the rest of the game with ease.

Dead Island 2 tips: Explore areas during both day and night

While the game has a day/night cycle that changes depending on what section of the story you are in, once you've unlocked fast travel, you can choose the time of day when you fast-travel to a previously visited region. This is important, as some named zombies who have keys will only spawn at certain times of the day. 

We suggest carefully exploring different regions at both day and night if you want to have a better chance of encountering all the named zombies and collecting their keys. 

Those are our Dead Island 2 tips, and now you know a full list of tricks to use to help you survive the undead.

For more Dead Island 2 guides, keep reading GGRecon.