BEST Specilization/Skills combo ?

[SIDEKICK]

in SOD YOSE we used to like set a path for each hero to take in terms of skills and their roles.
we had Heroes with skills and specs built for looting ( LOOTERS )
we had those who are Heavy Melee with high endurance ( TANK )
we had those who are Blade users
we also had shooters

in SOD2 what are the combos we can make ?
im asking this because i dont want to make a mistake and not be able to revert them.

[Stardustfire]

Hero skills are mainly contributing to the whole community, so i dont seen any specialising need there.
for normal skills i only seen one enhanced skill each for melee heavy and bladeweapons, and only the blade one got an enhancement for the weapon class using, the heavy one only delievers one weapon class bound special attack.

with a little luck you can pull off a char with a few sneak enhancements or a char that can carry very much in combination with a shoting skill that helps with heavy guns.

problem is you will first see it after you get most of you basic skills specialised, because the nature of the 1-3 choises you get than in each skill.

[Kit Fulvas]

So skills work like this: For Cardio, Wits, Fighting, and Shooting, these are skills all survivors start with, and based on their traits, when are maxed out can choose from a pool of specializations.

THE PROBLEM however, is that the specials description, doesnt tell you what the skills do specifically until after you pick them up. For example, Wits "Resourcefulness" (Increased carrying capacity, especially for consumable items.) translates into: +35% Search Speed, +1 Inventory Slot, +3 Max Consumable Stack, -70% Consumable Weight. also, you wont know available specializations until after you can choose, so you might want Survivor A to be a Pack Mule, but it turns out he rather run laps or jump fences.

Then theres the Community Skills, these are either single level skills "Acting" for example, or general skills like "medicine" that can be developed into two different sets "Pathology/Surgery" for example.

[SIDEKICK]

Originally posted by Stardustfire:

problem is you will first see it after you get most of you basic skills specialised, because the nature of the 1-3 choises you get than in each skill.

Originally posted by Fox:

THE PROBLEM however, is that the specials description, doesnt tell you what the skills do specifically until after you pick them up. For example, Wits "Resourcefulness" (Increased carrying capacity, especially for consumable items.) translates into: +35% Search Speed, +1 Inventory Slot, +3 Max Consumable Stack, -70% Consumable Weight. also, you wont know available specializations until after you can choose, so you might want Survivor A to be a Pack Mule, but it turns out he rather run laps or jump fences.

ah thanks guys. i will research these hidden specialization descriptions.

[Protectron]

The real reason people choose different combinations of specializations is that there are certain benefits from maxed-out skills.

Maxed out Marathon will let you sprint without using Stamina if your character is light encumbered.

Backpacking has the highest raw Stamina boost, and gives you an extra inventory slot. It also increases the Max carrying capacity.

Powerhouse combos with Heavy Melee, giving you a front execute and a powered strike. Stamina usage in melee is reduced.

Acrobatics reduces the Stamina cost of jumping and climbing, and unlocks a special evasion roll.


Discipline is the flat-out best option for Mental skills as it increases the light encumbrance carrying capacity, increases Stamina and gives you a small Stamina boost when performing a kill in melee.

Stealth improves sneaking, lets you silently open locked doors, and unlocks a super-fast stealth kill move. You can also "sprint" while sneaking.

Resourcefulness improves crossbow bolt and Plague Sample recovery, gives you an extra inventory slot and up to +3 stackable consumables in the inventory.

Scouting used to be useless, but with the new Plague Territory they help in looting there so I guess it's not a crisis to have one of these anymore.


Striking is for use with Blunt weapons. It increases the Knockdown weapon stat (behind the scenes) greatly, and unlocks a spinning knockdown move.

Swordplay is for use with Bladed weapons. It increases the Lethality weapon stat (behind the scenes) greatly, and unlocks a front execute and a leg swipe move,

Endurance can be used with any weapon, but Swordplay becomes ineffective because there is no boost to Lethality. A large Blunt or Heavy Melee weapon with high Knockdown, like RTX Crusher or Sledge Hammer, are good choices. You get a body slam special attack that grounds a single zombie, and a large boost to Health.

Close Combat is for use with no weapon (leaving only the screwdriver etc.). It increases the effectiveness of that weapon and unlocks a much quicker execute from behind as well as a front execute when maxed out. The close combat weapon can't be damaged and you save weight towards light encumbrance.


The shooting specializations aren't that important. Gunslinger is the prefered choice for most since it makes reloading much quicker and unlocks an aim snap move. Sharpshooting is also good, especially with Shotguns (!), since it improves bullet penetration. Assault isn't bad either since it greatly improves knockdown upon hit, so it's great for crowd control. Basically, Gunslinger is excellent in your hands, but Sharpshooting and Assault are great for the AI especially during big sieges. This is why I, at least, want a mix of these three among my survivors.

So, to the combinations. I typically want all survivors to be light encumbered because this halves Stamina usage while fighting and running, which isn't very noticable until certain things hit the fan and things go bad. That's when you lose your survivors if you run out of stamina.

The Discipline builds:

Backpacking, Discipline, Endurance (Heavy Blunt)
Powerhouse, Discipline, Endurance (Heavy Melee)
Backpacking, Discipline, Striking (Medium or Heavy Blunt)
Backpacking, Discipline, Swordplay (Medium or Heavy Blade)
Backpacking, Discipline, Close Combat (if I have a Eternal Guard's Infinite Rage)
Marathon, Discipline, Close Combat/Swordplay/Striking (Light or medium Blunt or Blade)

Other builds:

Marathon, Stealth, Close Combat/Swordplay/striking (behind enemy lines specialist)
Backpacking, Resourcefulness, Close Combat/Swordplay/Striking (trading specialist)

Edit: note that Acrobatics has been changed since the new updates, and I haven't been able to test it. Since you get this flying attack that knocks down a zombie, an Acrobatics, Discipline, Close Combat build could easily become very good.

[SIDEKICK]

Originally posted by Protectron:

The real reason people choose different combinations of specializations is that there are certain benefits from maxed-out skills.

Maxed out Marathon will let you sprint without using Stamina if your character is light encumbered.

Backpacking has the highest raw Stamina boost, and gives you an extra inventory slot. It also increases the Max carrying capacity.

Powerhouse combos with Heavy Melee, giving you a front execute and a powered strike. Stamina usage in melee is reduced.

Acrobatics reduces the Stamina cost of jumping and climbing, and unlocks a special evasion roll.


Discipline is the flat-out best option for Mental skills as it increases the light encumbrance carrying capacity, increases Stamina and gives you a small Stamina boost when performing a kill in melee.

Stealth improves sneaking, lets you silently open locked doors, and unlocks a super-fast stealth kill move. You can also "sprint" while sneaking.

Resourcefulness improves crossbow bolt and Plague Sample recovery, gives you an extra inventory slot and up to +3 stackable consumables in the inventory.

Scouting used to be useless, but with the new Plague Territory they help in looting there so I guess it's not a crisis to have one of these anymore.


Striking is for use with Blunt weapons. It increases the Knockdown weapon stat (behind the scenes) greatly, and unlocks a spinning knockdown move.

Swordplay is for use with Bladed weapons. It increases the Lethality weapon stat (behind the scenes) greatly, and unlocks a front execute and a leg swipe move,

Endurance can be used with any weapon, but Swordplay becomes ineffective because there is no boost to Lethality. A large Blunt or Heavy Melee weapon with high Knockdown, like RTX Crusher or Sledge Hammer, are good choices. You get a body slam special attack that grounds a single zombie, and a large boost to Health.

Close Combat is for use with no weapon (leaving only the screwdriver etc.). It increases the effectiveness of that weapon and unlocks a much quicker execute from behind as well as a front execute when maxed out. The close combat weapon can't be damaged and you save weight towards light encumbrance.


The shooting specializations aren't that important. Gunslinger is the prefered choice for most since it makes reloading much quicker and unlocks an aim snap move. Sharpshooting is also good, especially with Shotguns (!), since it improves bullet penetration. Assault isn't bad either since it greatly improves knockdown upon hit, so it's great for crowd control. Basically, Gunslinger is excellent in your hands, but Sharpshooting and Assault are great for the AI especially during big sieges. This is why I, at least, want a mix of these three among my survivors.

So, to the combinations. I typically want all survivors to be light encumbered because this halves Stamina usage while fighting and running, which isn't very noticable until certain things hit the fan and things go bad. That's when you lose your survivors if you run out of stamina.

The Discipline builds:

Backpacking, Discipline, Endurance (Heavy Blunt)
Powerhouse, Discipline, Endurance (Heavy Melee)
Backpacking, Discipline, Striking (Medium or Heavy Blunt)
Backpacking, Discipline, Swordplay (Medium or Heavy Blade)
Backpacking, Discipline, Close Combat (if I have a Eternal Guard's Infinite Rage)
Marathon, Discipline, Close Combat/Swordplay/Striking (Light or medium Blunt or Blade)

Other builds:

Marathon, Stealth, Close Combat/Swordplay/striking (behind enemy lines specialist)
Backpacking, Resourcefulness, Close Combat/Swordplay/Striking (trading specialist)

Edit: note that Acrobatics has been changed since the new updates, and I haven't been able to test it. Since you get this flying attack that knocks down a zombie, an Acrobatics, Discipline, Close Combat build could easily become very good.

thanks man these builds are what i needed

[[Vilu]]

I like to go Resourcefulness + Backpacking on any character that is able to get them. Just for those +2 inventory slots and bigger consumables stacks. Rest of the traits I choose to fit the available gear I have at that time.

[Migromul]

How do you control which specializations are available to you? As far as I have seen, the options are quite random...

Also: there seem to exist special skills, which have only one rank? I didn't try those charakcters, yet. though, Are they able to also get a normal community-skill? I suppose the one-rank-skills aren't learnable?

[Team Triss]

Originally posted by Migromul:

How do you control which specializations are available to you? As far as I have seen, the options are quite random...

Also: there seem to exist special skills, which have only one rank? I didn't try those charakcters, yet. though, Are they able to also get a normal community-skill? I suppose the one-rank-skills aren't learnable?

One-rank skills are learnable! I've recently had a Rare Skills trader appear selling books on Sewing, Lichenology, Recycling, etc.

But no, a person can only have one skill in that 5th community skill slot. However, sometimes they're worth their weight in gold; I wouldn't go anywhere without the recycling girl I've had since the start, even if that means I have to hunt down computers again every single playthrough.

[[Vilu]]

Originally posted by Migromul:

How do you control which specializations are available to you? As far as I have seen, the options are quite random...

As far as I know it's based on the traits he/she has. So pretty random yeah.

[Protectron]

I recommend starting with a Recycling, a Lichenology and a Scrum Certification. This isn't a good start per se, but if you plan on going to 10-12 survivors anyways, these will be nice additions to the "standard sixtet" (Agriculture, Nutrition, Programming, Automechanics, Pathology, Pharmacology) and the "nice enough trio" (Munitions, Electronics, Plumbing).

On tuesday, wednesday and thursday there is a small chance of a special wandering trader coming to town; as mentioned above the Rare Skills Traders sells all the quirk community skills for 1500 a book, and any survivor who don't have a 5th skill can learn it.

In general, any survivor with no 5th skill is very valuable because if you have 1-2 open skills it doesn't matter which ones of the "standard sixtet" you get to recruit. You can just pick the characters you like the best instead as you can always just use a skillbook to get anything you are missing to produce what you want. For instance, at a certain point you would want to move on from Snacks to Energy Drinks, and to do that you'd need both Chemistry and Cooking. If you have only one of them, and if you can't find the other, you could decide when to unlock that option (or at all) as long as you have a skillbook and an unused 5th skill slot,

[ChanceGateau]

I always liked the sewing special ability... all packs and pockets have increased capacity. Useful whatever sort of build you have for your survivors. Fishing isn't bad either, +2 food/day is nothing to sneer at, especially early in the game.

One that I really like is the sleep therapist. +2 beds for any base. That way, even with just the starter base, you can have 8 survivors.

[Protectron]

Yes Sleep Pscyhology is also a quirk skill that I often use.

[SIDEKICK]

Originally posted by Migromul:

How do you control which specializations are available to you? As far as I have seen, the options are quite random...

Also: there seem to exist special skills, which have only one rank? I didn't try those charakcters, yet. though, Are they able to also get a normal community-skill? I suppose the one-rank-skills aren't learnable?

no i just kick out survivors that doesn't have the combo i want haha

[ChanceGateau]

Originally posted by Capt.SkuLL:

i just kick out survivors that doesn't have the combo i want haha

I take control of the survivors I don't like, remove all of their equipment and fight/kill as many zeds as I can with just the knife before they die. You take a hit on morale either way, so why no go out with style?

[SIDEKICK]

Originally posted by ChanceGateau:

Originally posted by Capt.SkuLL:

i just kick out survivors that doesn't have the combo i want haha

I take control of the survivors I don't like, remove all of their equipment and fight/kill as many zeds as I can with just the knife before they die. You take a hit on morale either way, so why no go out with style?

i thought they dont take a morale hit if exiled only. if they dont die from exile.