Tips, tricks and general advice

[Protectron]

Guide: tricks, tips and general advice
This is a thread for coming with neat tricks that you do to get stuff for "free" or to solve a mission or problem in a perhaps unintended way. Mainly for new players, but watching some YT gameplay and streams, I realized that people play the game very differently than I do. Perhaps things that I thought were common knowledge or something everyone is doing, is not as widespread after all!?

This is in no particular order; just as I come across these opportunities and use them. I will therefore update and expand this as I continue playing Juggernaut Edition.

[19.10.2023 Be VERY aware that this thread is old, now. I will update it at a later date]

[29.09.2022 For new players, #94 on page 2 is a guide to get a good start.]

#1 -Free Ultralight Backpack || the "signal that was not meant for us" mysterious broadcast (labeled "strange signal" in the mission menu) always nets you an Ultralight Backpack and some other rare items, like an Echo-2 blade. The (Network?) agent who sent the signal is always dead, having been taken out by an infestation that you have to clear out. So this is a mission that I always say "yaay" for when it pops up, and rush there to get my backpack.

#2 - 3 sets of free gear || the hostile enclave that suddenly calls for help is always dead on arrival, also killed by an infestation and/or freaks. If you're lucky their gear was of the good type. Always a worthwhile mission to do.

#3 - 10th Survivor || one of the two best ways to get to the maximum of 10 survivors without Warlord/Builder questline options is the Remaining Soldiers enclave. They ask you to check out their previous home to look for a gun they left behind, and one of them insists to come with you. Once there, the infestation must be cleared and upon seeing their former friends zombified and now headless, he or she freaks out and needs some alone-time. Return the gun and wait for a "missing" quest to pop up from the two remaining soldiers. Go to the location of the mourning NPC and invite him/her to join your crew instead. These survivors are usually very good, too. [note: the maximum is 12 as you can get the Remaining Soldiers, Boozehounds and Car Mechanics enclaves to join as a trio by "canceling their enclave project" at the right moment. The Pathetic Survivors enclave can be recruited as a trio if you give them enough food.]

#4 - 10th Survivor 2 || another way to get to 10 survivors is to respond to the Ambient mission to help out a survivor who is calling out from inside a Plague Heart-infested building. Take out the Plague Heart and you will usually get some kind of rucksack or item as a reward - but sometimes this survivor wants to join you. It's been a while since last time this occured for me, though.

#5 - Switch to big guns for base defense || Before switching to a different character, give your AI-controlled crew the most powerful guns you have in your locker. The louder the better, as this doesn't matter for NPC's. The best options are the guns who are locked to full auto and the .50 calibre anti-materiel rifles. The full list of full-auto-only weapons in order of quality is the following: Raider's AK47; Raider's AR15; FBI Fighting Rifle; Non-Compliant SKS; Barrow-style BAR1918; BAR1918; AA-12; G18 Custom Auto; M3 Grease Gun; MP40 Submachine Gun; Dillinger Pattern 1911; RTX Rampart; RTX Cyclone. The full list of .50 rifles in order of quality is the following: B50FG; Timberwolf; Spyglass Rifle; Otoe Howlitzer and the Model 99-50. These lists do not include weapons from Daybreak.

#6 - Ram them with the trunk! || The back of the car is a 100 times more durable than the front, especially on higher difficulties.

#7 - Free car spawns || The Action Hero personal/community goal keeps spawning cars next to your base every time it starts (at least once per day), as long as you don't get in one of those cars with that character while the mission is active. They're not good cars on their own, but you can fuel them up and go get another car with them, or upgrade them if you want. It is therefore a mission that I never complete. One of the most useful personal goals in the game.

#8 - Water & Power Outposts ftw || Using a whole facility slot to produce water or power is a waste of base space. Instead, manage without water and power until you have saved up 2000+ Influence and go to one of the Power Substations on the map and claim it. Similarly with water; save up a 1000 Influence and go set up an outpost at a Water Tower or Pump Station. This is of course only necessary until you have finished the Builder main questline. Many bases throughout the game has got built-in either Water or Power, so you can save yourself some Influence by using those until your economy is sorted.

#9 - You get Influence and stuff back when you move to a different map || When you pack your bags and move to a new map, you get back half the influence you spent on Outposts and on claiming the base you were on, as well as all the Materials you spent on the facilities there. This means that in order to move straight into the biggest base on that map, and claiming Water and Power Outposts without delay (if you have those), you need 6500 Influence. So, if you had one of those bases when you moved, with a Water and a Power outpost as well as 4 regular 300-influence ones, you'll get 1750 + 2100 = 3850 influence. So you'll need to have saved up ~3000 influence to do this without going broke. I recommend maxing out at 9999 (having ~6000 influence when you move), so that you can capitalize on a rare trader if you get visited by one. Note that you can't exceed 9999, so any excess of 6150 influence is lost when you move to another map. [29.09.2022 this became obsolete after Update 30]

#10 - Don't exceed 25 resources when moving maps || Another thing that is wise to do before moving to another map is to withdraw rucksacks from your Storage and put them in your cars. Anything you take with you above 25 in each resource will quickly trigger "spoilage" events that makes you lose -2 to -4 of that resource. Materials are exempted for while. I usually take with me two of each rucksack in a van. Also, note that you can only take with you four cars to the new map, including the one you're driving to the exit. If your base has got 4 parking spaces, choose three cars and remove the fourth, as which three gets "chosen" is either random or hard to tell. [edited october 24,2020]

#11 - Jump maps until everything's maxed out before finishing a Legacy || I guess that many SoD2-players stay on a map until they have completed a Legacy Questline, and then start a new community with a new crew in a different map to do the same there. However, each character who survives such a storyline completion is "retired" to a pool of survivors you can use later, and it is in my opinion a waste to do so with non-maxed out characters. It is unnecessary to "grind" a map that is emptied of most resources and have few new Enclaves to deal with. By taking a crew with you across all 5 maps, at least, your entire crew should be maxed out and ready to be retired, with excellent gear and everything.

#12 - Rare Weapons Cases are primary targets || There are special/unique weapon cases spread out across each map - 8-12 of them on each - that holds valuable items or rare weapons. They are gun cases with a gold/orange band in the middle. A Google search will give you the locations of these, as they are often found in remote locations... most of which are unmarked on the map. I always empty these before moving to a new map - but if you have just started out, searching for these is certainly a good way to get some awesome weapons early on.

#13 - How to use the Survey Car efficiently || The way to use the Survey Car is to regularly let go of the gas so that it slows down. It will then put sites on your map. Just driving it at full speed isn't going to do much. A regular car will do the same if you slow down enough for long enough, but the Survey Car does it much faster and in a much larger area around the car. This obsoletes the Cell Tower way of surveying. Most sites are visible on the map but greyed out. This is a good sign because then the site contain things (or is a Plague Heart location). Thus, you can navigate the Survey Car by the map and mini map by looking for areas to put on the map. Just make sure you look down the road from time to time so you don't smash zombies with the front of that little hatchback...

#14 - Lure the Juggernauts away || If you lure a Juggernaut (even perhaps a Feral) away with your car long enough from the place it spawned, it usually de-spawns... even mid-charge. [29.09.2022 they can also teleport back to where they were to begin with]

#15 - Be a shepherd's dog || If you run or drive past a Horde or other large gathering of zombies, they gather in a neat line behind you that makes it easier to smash them with the car's rear end or shoot them. Shepherding them like this is a crucial survival skill the way I see it.

#16 - How to take out a hostile enclave safely || The safest way to take out a hostile enclave in Nightmare Zone is to use the horn (or siren!) on the car to draw in zombies to kill them for you. Just keep moving the car around the house, and make sure that you don't get all the zombies to go after you. Eventually, they will leave you alone for the most part. Screamers will call in more, Ferals are helpful and Juggernauts are of course the most effective way to get rid of the pesky rival humans. However, the latter is more difficult to deal with afterwards because if you leave the area, there is a chance that the corpses of the three enemies will disappear. Also, if a Jug tears an enemy in two, you'll often lose his loot. Note that if the enclave is within the safe zone of an Outpost, this doesn't work. Sometimes you just can't draw in enough zombies and hordes to take them out, though - and then the second safest way to deal with them is to bump them with the back of the car until they die. Both of these methods take time, which is the cost of staying safe while doing business. Usually, not all the enemies carries guns, so I take out those who do first and then go out of the car to deal with the melee guys last. I prefer doing this in daylight, as avoiding obstacles and zombies at nighttime is much harder. If your car gets stuck or blows up - you're in deep ♥♥♥♥!

#17 - Teleporting Bloater Gas || If you stay in an area with a sleeper Bloater for too long, it will blow up on its own. If you are in your car at that time, the gas will teleport into your car. This is a bug, but the more you know... When doing #16, make sure there are no Bloaters sleeping nearby. [29.09.2022 Haven't seen this happening in a while, but bugs like this re-emerge after every new update, so stay alert around Bloaters]

#18 - A quick, safe and economical way to take out Plague Hearts || I prefer taking out Plague Hearts with 1 C4, 1 Thermite Grenade and 4 rounds of 7.62 [Note: in Nightmare zone]. This while dodging any zeds attacking me. Run in while dodging, Place the C4, run away until you are out of blast range, fire the shots, blow the charge and throw the grenade. Now just dodge while waiting for the thermite to do the job. The whole process takes less than 20 seconds and if you watch out for the Feral, is completely safe and quite economical. 40-ish rounds of [suppressed] 7.62 does the same job and is even quicker on full-auto, but costs more. Using the 12-round grenade launcher, 4(?) 40mm grenades is also quick and effective, but costs more. I think it is now 6 or 7 rounds of .50 that takes out a Plague Heart, but this is slower as a reload is needed - and also costs more than the first method. If you use Scentblock, you can use whatever method you want in almost complete safety, while taking the time you need. [29.09.2022 I regret not doing these experiments with Advanced Brakes and not Suppressors]

#19 - Spikes on cars actually work || The Impaler and Zedbuster both have spikes. These actually do kill zombies. The Impaler has them on the trunk, which allows you to kill Ferals extremely easily by simply driving forward slowly so that they catch up to the rear and try to leap - they'll impale themselves. The Zedbuster have these on the front of the car, so you need to reverse on them. If they get caught on the back they die, and if you let them catch up to you and try to leap on the front, they'll die.

#20 - How to kill Ferals with cars || Most cars can kill Ferals by driving over them (not recommended with Brogans and vans). Since they are capable of dodging your car, what you need to do is to drive slowly forward so that they catch up and leap (beware of their ability to "teleport" onto your doors - you'll quickly learn how to make them aim for the back of your car and not for the doors; you need to speed away from them far enough that they change direction). Once they are underneath the trunk, suddenly reverse and they'll be squished and damage the car just a little bit. Sedan types and Road Racers will have them leap on top of the trunk sometimes, and in that case, just reverse into something so that they die.

#21 - How to get +2 Outposts || The Network Trader is a very important opportunity when you have started a new game, and a rather rare one at that. They have the Network Signal Booster antenna that increases the number of Ouposts by two. It costs 500 Influence, so having the option to pay that when they pop up is a good idea.

#22 - The happy, blissful life with "Enthusiastic" Morale || Morale is a very important mechanic in SoD2. Once you have reached Enthusiastic morale, your postapocalyptic life becomes much easier. Your crewmembers that are quarrelsome suddenly keep quiet, and the radio silence is just a fantastic feeling. The ability to have such high morale obsoletes the drawbacks the characters have so that you can just focus on their usefulness to the community. Not only do the "kicking a hole in the wall" random events that makes you lose resources disappear, they are being replaced with positive random events; on Enthusiastic you have a chance of getting rare weapons and facility mods put directly into your locker on a daily baseis. In addition, productivity is increased and skill training is much quicker.

#23 - How to get a bunch of Meds || A mission that I always do is the "drug dealer" personal/community goal. They net you several packs of Meds that I think spawns for the mission (so in addition to the Meds already present on that map).

#24 - Have Portable Generators in stock || There are at least two different types of mission that require you to get a Generator for an enclave, and one of them don't even spawn one for you. Having a couple in store allows you to just deliver it to them and finish the mission to make them Allies.

#25 - What the Threat Meter means and how to keep quiet || When the Threat Meter is maxed out, you (rather frequently) get 3-minute sieges with at least one Juggernaut attacking. When it is in the red but not maxed out, you get 2-minute sieges that may or may not come with a Jug. When it says "Serious Attack risk" or "Attack risk", you get 1-minute sieges with just a dozen zombies or something. When it is at Minimal Risk, there are hardly any sieges at all. The only way to get there in Nightmare Zone is to have three Soundproofing experts among your crew, and at least one Watchtower. Even then, there are some facilities that are producing +1 noise and if you have too many of them, it's difficult to keep quiet. Since the Juggernaut Edition came, the AI shooting has become much better and those 3-minute sieges aren't as dangerous now as they used to be. [29.09.2022 This has been obsolete for a while. I will change this entry once the Infestation update is live and tested.]

[zot29]

Messaggio originale di Protectron:

Messaggio originale di zot29:

You can use vehicles to block off doors and exposed walls to control where zeds will enter your base. Adjusting how close you park will prevent the vehicle from getting teleported away when you restart your game.

Yeah I tried this in the Barricaded Strip Mall, but whenever I came back to base, the cars would be teleported somewhere else so that the zeds could get in.

How, exactly, do you park your cars to block off exits. Is it just trial-and-error?

I forgot to mention to upgrade the cars first. That seems to do the trick in most cases. I did get it to work on the BSM. At the lumber mill, the only spot that kept teleporting was the door facing the river. I fixed that by getting the car just close enough to keep it blocked. Also DLC cars won't stay either.

[Protectron]

#95 - The AI NPCs are much better at zombie killing with Bladed weapons than with Blunt or Heavy. They are also quite decent with maxed out Close Combat specialization.

Before you have the Striking specialization, only the heaviest Blunt weapons will down zombies at a good enough pace, and the AI will in almost all instances use regular strikes on a downed zombie rather than a finishing move, and therefore spending several seconds finishing it. Often, they will also leave downed zombies to do something else, rather than finishing it off, despite yelling about it all the time.

Letting them just whack away until the head comes off is quicker.

In addition, leveling up Fighting is a matter of the number of strikes, not the number of kills. So I always give my rookies commonly found Bladed weapons and rather swap them out when they become worn (Parts-saving strategy). These aren't very good weapons, but being a bit more careful in the beginning when your survivors are the most vulnerable and ill-equipped is generally a good idea. Another bonus is that most machetes, kukris, parangs, hatchets and the like are usually lighter, making it easier to stay lightly encumbered.

Edit: of course, once a survivor has gotten a specialization, he or she gets a high-end weapon which I repair whenever needed - but by then I should have plenty of Parts.

[Protectron]

Anticipating Lethal difficulty

I have high hopes that Lethal difficulty will force me to change the way I play, thus giving the game new life - as it has now gotten a bit stale.

By the looks of it (in the reveal stream), damage has been boosted greatly, perhaps doubled from Nightmare. In addition, Blood Plague appears to become an actual threat. Resources are now so scarce that a single map is probably insufficient to let you fully build up your community without a Trader leader.

The guy showcasing the Beta was very good at fighting melee, but as he was playing with a console (or at least a controller), the shooting wasn't in any way comparable to what I can do. This makes getting a proper gun, a proper suppressor and the X3 crossbow pretty important early goals for me.

Having tried a community without 3x Soundproofing recently, I am now not going to start one without ever again. Can't be bothered to return home twice a day for 2 or 3-minute sieges. And I also think that this will be a bad idea in Lethal.

So, I will start with 3 random soundproofers, and I suspect that by the time I have fully constructed the starting base (to stage 2 - before getting specializations), the first map has been emptied or largely emptied of Materials and Ammo. Possibly also the other resources. I will then hopefully have recruited a new community member or two and probably have a few thousand Influence. At that point, after having looted the Rare Weapons Cases, it is time to leave. I will go the the next map in line (starting random, then going from left to right in order).

Depending a bit on just how many Ferals there are, I do not think I will lose survivors. However, going full rambo might not be worthwhile in Lethal. I might have to sneak around and be more careful, and be more alert than normal to roaring/hissing regular zombies.

I worry about the consequences of the increased zombie density, damage and aggression. Not for the character I control, but for anyone else. I go solo exclusively anyway, but for those who like to bring along an NPC, I seriously doubt that is a good idea overall. I also don't like to lose survivors to Juggernauts and if they, too, have double damage now, that's going to be the real threat as there is no evasive action programmed in the human AI - and not to mention going outside the base to go melee against Jugs.

It is already annoying how the zombies ignore any NPC and go straight for you in Nightmare Zone. Is that going to be even worse now? Will you be guaranteed to have Sleeper Bloaters spawn under your car as you drive... and this time you have to get out and get chewed on because the Blood Plague damage is going to kill you even if you do have Painkillers? Will the Safe Zones work, or are you going to have to look out for Hordes after having cleared a house within an Outpost Safe Zone?

One thing I think I might have to do pretty early on is to go to the Bounty Broker and spend some cash on a FBI Fighting Rifle or two. I also think that I will have to get a Pharmacist asap, to help against Blood Plague.

TL;DR: I am excited about Lethal Difficulty because I expect I will need to change up the way I play - but not because I think it is going to be so hard that I will be guaranteed to lose the survivor I control myself. It's more about what to do first and new things to min-max that I didn't need to before.

[Protectron]

#96 - LETHAL mode Plague Heart destruction post

> I used 15 rounds to take out one Heart with a Timberwolf. This is three reloads and I stood on the roof of my car. This worked well. The cost is nearly 24 ammo, though. [corrected]

> I just used 1 C4, 3 Pipe Bombs and 52 rounds with a Eternal Guard's Infinite Rage equipped with an Improvised Suppressor. That's around 10 ammo and lots of Parts. I wasn't attacked by that many zombies, really. This will probably get worse as I progress, though.

> A very cheap method is to use a Drone Strike. A good hit will damage the Heart until it is on its death bed, but the smoke marker itself draws in lots of zombies and the Drone Strike calls in even more, including Freaks. I therefore drive away and return. The developers have made it so that this "doesn't work" - a new wave will spawn in... but it is usually a much less severe one than the one already there before you leave. Now all it takes to kill the Heart is 2 Pipe Bombs/2 Fuel Bombs or similar. The Drone Hacking requires 50 Parts to activate and it takes 15 minutes to do so, I think. Then the Drone Strike requires 150 influence to activate with a 25 minute cooldown. This means that you'll do maybe 3 Drone Strikes per 2 hours gameplay.

> Another very cheap method - you'll actually get paid - is to respond to the Red Talon or the Mysterious Broadcast missions to attack a Plague Heart. The RT one is with one follower while the MB one is with two. In both cases, bringing a hired follower from an Ally or Friendly enclave in addition could be a good idea. So the 2-4 of you will go in there and fight off the waves as they come, and if they have good guns they'll even take out the Heart for you for free.

> 3 C4 charges will take out a Plague Heart. It is "badly damaged" after the second one so it could well be that the remaining health can have cheaper methods than another charge. I'll test this later and come back to this. I brought along a hired follower who ran interference for me (and died... but he only had a kitchen knife and there was a Plague Juggernaut)

[Darksurgeon]

Couldn't disagree more on #16. Best way to kill enclaves is to run up the backdoor with a gunslinger character and just wait until they come out and aimbot kill them. If you don't have a gunslinger character bloater grenades are the next best thing.

[Tactix]

As a new player, thank you for your time, a great write up :D

[Protectron]

#97 - LETHAL Zone strategy: Finishing a Legacy

+/- 40 Plague Hearts on a map means that all the methods in #96 will be very costly and/or time-consuming and/or dangerous. Therefore, a different approach is required.

In Nightmare you can use 1 C4, 1 Thermite Grenade and 4 7.62 rounds to take one out in less than 30 seconds from the moment you exit the car to the moment you enter the car and drive away. You run in while dodging, place the charge, fire 4 shots at it, set off the charge, throw the grenade and run back out again, and by the time you start the engine, the blast wave kills off any spawns but the Feral and some random regular zeds.

But that's not how it works in Lethal. The Hearts are 3x tougher and spawns much more and much more dangerous foes, and there is no blastwave of death. So you need more explosives, and an escape plan ready for when each wave of reinforcements are called to the scene. Or you need help; two of them is preferable as you then only need to help with the Plague Ferals.

Resources are much more scarce in Lethal as well, so I will actually advice people to destroy Hearts in a "I'll take what I have and chuck it at it till it explodes" manner. It is simply not feasible to save up 60-100 ammo rucksacks in order to snipe them with a Timberwolf. Or make 120 C4 charges... where would you get the Scraps of Electronics? 40 Drone Strikes takes minimum 20 hours to complete - but most likely 30-40 even if you're super effective.

So the solution is quite simple: you use all of the above. You use Drone Strike when that is available, and maybe Artillery Strike is also useful. The open-air ones could perhaps be taken out with Sniper Assist - that is something I'd need to test to be sure (but probably not). Then you answer the missions that is about taking out a Plague Heart when those show up (there are three different ones that I know of) - the free help is very useful... if nothing else than bait. And you buy, produce and find some C4, and some Pipe Bombs, and you can produce 12 Fuel Bombs per batch that you can use together with some bullets and Heavy Melee whacks.

In between missions and Base building and recruiting and looting - you destroy a Heart here and a Heart there. And as you go along minding the business of keeping your community healthy, happy, rich and well-equipped, your crew gets maxed out and your Base is fully built, and then you're suddenly done with the Hearts and the game is being wrapped up.

On a final note: what I did now was to jump between maps until I had 9(10) survivors and all the skills I needed, and everyone had good base defense guns. I had the best guns in the game with an Advanded Suppressor on each. This took me a while (since launch), as progress was slower than normal and I didn't have the time to play all day either. Probably took me 20 hours or so. Anyways - this isn't necessary! I could have done it one or even two map-moves earlier. The reason I didn't wasn't for lack of opportunity, but that I wanted to max out all skills first like I always do... but that's an approach more suitable for "endless mode" than actually finishing a Legacy.

TL:DR: Jump maps 2-3 times until you have a well-supplied and well-defended community, and then start destroying Plague Hearts with whatever explosives or other tools you have at your disposal. Take it easy, play it safely and destroy a Plague Heart when you have the opportunity (not as a singular war campaign effort with "the best method").

[Boboscus]

Messaggio originale di Protectron:

#97 - LETHAL Zone strategy: Finishing a Legacy

+/- 40 Plague Hearts on a map means that all the methods in #96 will be very costly and/or time-consuming and/or dangerous. In Nightmare you can use 1 C4, 1 Thermite Grenade and 4 7.62 rounds to take one out in less than 30 seconds from the moment you exit the car to the moment you enter the car and drive away. You run in while dodging, place the charge, fire 4 shots at it, set off the charge, throw the grenade and run back out again, and by the time you start the engine, the blast wave kills off any spawns but the Feral and some random regular zeds.

Sorry pal, but no, there is no shockwave on lethal.

[Protectron]

Messaggio originale di Boboscus:

Sorry pal, but no, there is no shockwave on lethal.

I was talking about Nightmare in that paragraph. Read again.

[Boboscus]

Messaggio originale di Protectron:

Messaggio originale di Boboscus:

Sorry pal, but no, there is no shockwave on lethal.

I was talking about Nightmare in that paragraph. Read again.

You have a header about one then talk about the other, that's confusing. Especially in your walls of text.

[Protectron]

Well, I'll make it clearer in that paragraph. And I use paragraphs so it's not actually a wall of text - though a bit long I can agree to.

[OMG My Profile Name Does Not Fi]

Protectron


This is amazing - thank you and all other contributors!

Would it be possible to make this into a guide though as threads are much harder to find and this is such a great resources it seems a shame to not have it as available as possible.

[Protectron]

Yeah, some of this could be good as a guide - but then someone would have to organize it into sections or something (and that won't be me at this time at least). I think having the whole thing stored somewhere where everyone can see it would be nice. But it is a personal collection of things I do presented as advice/tips/fyi, so there is a distinct lack of universality to it, which fits a guide pretty badly. As a live document where people respond with what -they- do in an unauthorative way, the thread works more as intended.

Although it begins to get so large that few would have the patience to read through all of it, I guess.

[BudlikyCZ]

I just briefly run through the list and probably missed it because I am looking only for one thing I wanna learn the other tips by myself. Since there was so many thing about taking a plague heart I usually do it with the Close Up weapon because its undestructible :) But to a question -> I am getting really ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ frustrated with the fighting skills. I am always getting a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ swordplay.... and I dont have the book for 2500 influence for reset. Is there any hidden mechanix how to steer it toward Close Up skill? Because I had a character who used only the close up weapon (screwdriver, kitchen knife etc...) and I get a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ striking or a swordplay (mostly swordplay) It really pissing me so much I am in a point of turning the game off.... Right now i have 3 bastards with a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ swordplay and 1 with striking and its infuriating....

[Protectron]

It's determined by specific personality traits that you can see in their description ("bio")

http://www.gamersheroes.com/game-guides/state-of-decay-2-skills-specialization-guide/

I am sure this one is not complete, though. I'll find another.

Edit: couldn't find one that was extensive and definitely not exhaustive....