7 Days to Die: Ranged Weapons Guide

This guide is to hopefully help players decide which weapons they should use, which should be avoided, which ammunition to use and which gun they would use in a situation.

Preface

This guide is quite technical and is simply a wall of text about each ammunition type and weapon. I decided not to add any pictures as any person willing to read this guide fully would hopefully not need a screenshot of a crossbow bolt or launcher. Otherwise I hope you enjoy and maybe learn a thing or two from this. This is my first guide I have ever written so I am quite unfamiliar to the process and as such this may not be to the same degree of quality and also please excuse my English, it's not my first language so it mightn't be very good. Anyway, please enjoy this brief guide on ranged weapons!

Ammunition (Arrows and Bolts)

Ammunition comes in many forms. The most basic (Stone headed arrows) to the lucrative and destructive Rockets. These sections will describe the material cost, methods of obtaining and values associated with each ammunition type with this one focusing on the Bow and Crossbow.

Arrows and Bolts:
Stone Arrows: Stone arrows are the simpliest and most efficient ammunition to use in early game survival. Generally you cannot find these arrows but they're extremely easy to create with a single small stone, feather and piece of wood. One of your starting quests is to create 2 stone arrows so this should be known to you fairly early. These arrows are usable with your regular wooden bow and compound bow. These can be readily made in nearly any biome aside from the Desert and are quite useful into mid game if your entity damage with your bow has increased. For our example of damage with a bow we will use a lvl 25 bow with stone arrows and a lvl 47 compound. With our wooden bow we do 12.21 entity damage and a negligible amount of block damage while our compound does 15.28. Though unwise you can sell your stone arrows in stacks of 5 for 2 coins (1 barter) up to 10 (100 barter). While easy to obtain there are far easier methods of obtaining coins than selling any ammo, especially arrows. They stack to 250.

Iron Arrows: Iron arrows are obtained though three methods: Bought from traders, crafted or rarely found on the bodies of Zombies. Crafting can be started once iron arrow heads are obtained (From buying at a trader, finding in loot containers (Generally trash bags), found on Zombies or crafted with a forge.) Looting generally yields 3-10 heads while buying will be in stacks of 5. Crafting requires two smelted iron and 1 smelted clay (Essentially equating to 2.5 arrow heads per iron ore and 5 per clay chunk.) These are combined with one wood and one feather with your hands or at a workbench They do 13.77 entity damage and again negligible damage with your basic level 25 wooden bow. With your compound at level 47 they do 17.01. The higher your weapon quality and Archery level the bigger the difference between iron and stone arrow damage. As such you should generally graduate to iron arrows when your skill is around 10 and your bow around 100. Still unwise to sell, they give 5 coins for 5 arrows netting you a coin each. Stacks up to 250.

Steel Arrows: Steel arrows are obtained in the same methods as above though buying them is rarer and more expensive than iron arrows. Crafting is difficult and expensive but to a compound bow, high level Archery player they're quite worth it. To craft a single arrow you will need one steel arrow head (The cost of one arrow head being 5 iron and one smelted clay, essentially meaning you will need one ore for one head, a crucible (Which we will not count the cost of obtaining as it's a key item for progression) and a workbench (Again not counted as it's needed for timely progression) to craft the full arrow. As usual it follows the recipe of head, wood and feather. With that same lvl 25 wooden bow you will do 14.10 damage and with our compound you will do 17.54. I recommend these arrows if you haven't unlocked a crossbow yet or want to continue your use of a compound bow. Selling gives 11 per five so you will get 2.20 coins per arrow (Thogh still not recommended) Similar to the rest they stack to 250.

Flaming Arrows: These arrows are rare to see due to their rather high cost and slightly useless existence. To craft one you will need a steel arrow, two gunpowder, one cloth, one tallow and a workbench. You also need to have read the "Flaming Arrow Schematic". They do identical damage with the steel arrow used to craft it but will also set enemies ablaze, decreasing their HP and giving a decent amount of light. The issue with these arrows is that as of the time I am writing this guide, any zombie who dies due to fire damage will not grant a player any experience for killing that zombie. These arrows cannot be used with a wooden bow for obvious reasons and as such are usable only with a compound bow (Which isn't very common either.) A unique note is that a flaming arrow is sold individually and not as a stack of five, netting you 8 coins per arrow. An issue with these arrows is that the flame effect actually disrupts your vision and thus makes it harder for you to hit zombies with them. This can be somewhat remedied through a method I will discuss in the Bow section. Stacks to 250 again.

Bolts:

Iron Bolts: Iron bolts can be bought from Traders or I created with the same ingrediants as the iron arrow. With a level 37 Crossbow they do 17.79 entity damage. As we can clearly see they out perform the Compound and Bow by a decent amount. The negative here is that you generally do not gain the ability to craft a crossbow until later in your game and as such isn't used much early on and the Crossbow is not cheap to make while also requiring a schematic to create. Iron bolts are worth the same as Iron arrows despite the higher damage and will net you five coins per stack of 5 arrows (Again 1 coin for each and not recommended to do) Like arrows they stack to 250

Steel Bolts: Can be bought or crafted. Crafting is the same as the Steel arrow though it doesn't require a workbench meaning you can resupply them directly into your inventory. Similar to the steel arrows they're generally a late game ammunition and as such pack quite a punch. With our 37 crossbow we do 18.06 damage to an enemy (though of course this will increase to a much higher level by the time you obtain these bolts). These bolts are the best ammunition to use with an Archery based weapon and are a direct upgrade to steel arrows. Selling is the same as steel arrows with your 11 for 5 or 2.2 per arrow. Still not recommended. Still 250 stack size.

Explosive Crossbow Bolts: Similar to its brother, the arrows, the bolts have their own unique ammunition aptly named Explosive Crossbow Bolts. These bolts are also sadly underused and rare to see for numerous reasons. The first is the crafting cost: A schematic that's quite rare, 8 gunpowder, 1 steel arrow head, one wood, one feather and 1 duct tape. The important distinction is that unlike flaming arrows you do not use a steel bolt to craft one, instead you use the ingredients of one. These bolts are expensive to make but do have uses. They bring the per bolt damage of our level 37 Crossbow up to 21.22 and do not conflict with experience gain from zombie deaths to the best of my knowledge. Selling is again per bolt and will give you 20 per bolt. In case you didn't know, it's a 250 stack size, shocker I know.

Ammunition (Guns)

These are considerably more difficult to craft and obtain but are much more powerful and valuable.

9mm bullet: The 9mm bullet is the joint cheapest ammunition in the game to craft, requiring the 9mm bullet crafting skill, level 1 gunsmithing, 1 bullet tip, 1 gunpowder and 1 bullet casing at a workbench. The pistol and MP5 SMG use this ammunition. Other than crafting these can also be looted, found inside pistols looted and bought from traders. This ammunition is quite useful throughout the game and is quite abundant. While the pistol becomes underpowered in late game it is still used for the SMG and as such doesn't fall entirely out of use. Unlike the bolts and arrows damage is entirely based on the weapon and not a combination of ammunition and weapon though it's more efficient to use an SMG than a pistol as the SMG does more damage on average than a pistol. You get 3 coins per bullet so avoid selling them if possible. It has double the stacksize of arrows and bolts at 500

7.62mm Bullet: This bullet is used by the highest amount of weapons in the game. This is a considerably rarer ammunition to find while looting and is the joint most expensive conventional ammunition to craft requiring 1 bullet tip, three gun powder and one casing at a workbench with the 7.62mm Bullet crafting skill obtained and Gunsmithing 3. This ammunition is used by the AK-47, Sniper Rifle and Hunting Rifle. All three of these weapons are useful at all times of the game. The most efficient use of this ammunition is with the Hunting Rifle. Selling gives 4 coins per bullet so it's unwise to sell. Stack size is 500

.44 Magnum Bullet: This is used solely by the Magnum revolver and costs 1 bullet tip, three gunpowder and one casing at a workbench with .44 Magnum bullet crafting unlocked and 2 gunsmithing. This is by far the rarest conventional ammunition to find, very rarely found looting but generally crafted. These can be compared favourably to the 7.62, posessing much higher damage in exchange of versitility and rarity. Depending on preferance they can be more useful or less useful than crafting 7.62 though generally less useful. They can be sold for 4 coins per bullet though this is an extremely unwise choice. It stacks up to 500

Shotgun Shell: One of two ammunitions that doesn't require bullet tips or casings, it's a decently common (As far as ammunition is concerned) and useful addition to any loadout, being found in looting, sold and craftable with the shotgun shell perk, level 2 gunsmithing, 1 buckshot (3 smelted lead, 1 smelted clay) 2 gunpowder and one paper. Usable with both the Sawed off and regular shotguns it fills the role of a close combat and powerful weapon. By default the two shotguns do identical damage though the sawed off fires an extra pellet and as such can do more damage when all pellets hit (9 for Sawed off, 8 for regular). As such it's most efficiant to use the sawed off. Selling gives 4 coins per shell and it can stack to 250.

Shotgun Slug: Usable only with the regular shotgun this ammunition has quite a few disadvantages. This ammunition is rather useless as it's exclusive to the regular shotgun it also requires a specific schematic, 5 bullet tips, four gunpowder and three casings at a workbench. This expensive ammunition is rare to obtain and generally out classed by 7.62mm. The advantage of this though is that it's a much more reliable way for shotguns to deal damage at midrange. It's entirely a player choice on their preferance regarding this ammunition but personally I'd stay clear. Selling as usual is a bad option and doing so will give you 14 coins per slug. Its max stack is 128.

Ammunition (Misc)

The two misc ammunition in 7 days are as follows:

Rockets: Rockets are an extremely rare and valueble ammunition used with the equally rare Rocket Launcher. The pros and cons will be discussed when I discuss the launcher. 9/10 times you will loot these from Military zombies, Munitions Boxes or Airdrops. Crafting these is quite expensive, needing a tool and die kit which is obtained from working stiffs crates or traders to craft the parts for a rocket and many resources: 1 rocket tip (50 smelted lead and 30 smelted clay), 1 rocket casing (50 smelted iron and 30 smelted clay), 16 gunpowder, 100 gasoline and 3 duct tape. You learn the schematic for crafting these when the Rocket Launcher Schematic is read. If looted then they could be sold for 150 per rocket and they stack up to 20.

Blunderbuss Ammo: This primitive shotgun ammunition is quite useful for players who want to use shotguns early in the game. It can be crafted anywhere with one stone, 1 gunpowder and 1 paper. Selling is a terrible idea as you only gain 1 coin per ammo. It stacks to 128 like the slugs. You cannot loot or buy it anywhere.

Weapons (Bow and Crossbow)

Wooden Bow: This is the most basic bow available to the player and must be crafted to continue the quest "Basic Survival." Crafting one requires 3 plant fibres and 12 wood and can be crafted anywhere. This bow is the weakest of the two bows and crossbow but is also the cheapest and easiest to make. The main issue with this weapon is its lack of any form of aiming recticle or post. The solution I use is to crouch and use the centre of the sneaking eye as the dot for my aim. This greatly minimizes the chance of a missed shot. Comparing it to a basic firearm such as a pistol, we can see a few differences. Bows are far easier to maintain, craft ammunition for, obtain and can be obtained from day 1. Pistols however are a far more effective method of dispatching multiple zombies as your 15 round clip and fast reloads greatly increases your crowd control verses the single shot, slow to use and reload bow. It should be noted that the Bow isn't very suited for distance combat as the slight arc on your arrows can cause you to miss your targets often. If you want to use Archery in later game stages I would recommend the Compound or Crossbow.

Compound Bow: A new addition with Alpha 16, this bow helps to bridge the gap between the Crossbow and Wooden Bow. You can buy, loot or craft it with four individual parts and the Compound Bow Schematic. There are a few advantages and disadvantages with this bow when we compare it to the Crossbow and Pistol. The main advantage is that it's a more powerful and accurate version of the basic bow with iron sights and a very low arc with the arrows. It can also be obtained early if you're lucky and as such means you don't have to make bolts and use pistols if you so choose and instead can simply use your stone arrows. It's quite uncommon normally though and as such you generally do not get much usage from it until later in the game. Selling these is not a good idea and your coinage will vary depending on durability and then level (e.g. a level 600 bow with 1 durability will give very little while a full durability, level 400 will give much more.) The other advantage over the regular bow is its ability to use flaming arrows, though as previously stated they're not very good. Disadvantages however are quite apparent. You can find pistols in toilets and as such gives you access to a decent but useful ranged weapon that will out dps the Compound with superior accuracy. The compound also suffers from the long use and reload time that the regular bow also suffers from.

Crossbow: Truely an iconic weapon that has been shown to deal a significant amount of damage across many video games, when it comes to archery this weapon is top dog. To craft or obtain we can buy from a trader (Generally around 1-2k) or craft ourselves when we read the Crossbow Schematic. Crafting one requires 10 forged iron, 2 leather, 2 glue, 2 duct tape and 8 wood and can be crafted without a workbench. This weapon as previously stated uses bolts and not arrows requiring the player to craft bolts and not simply use their arrows from their wooden bow. Using the crossbow is quite simple and aiming isn't very difficult as the crossbow has a single pitch in the middle to act as a sight for you. Comparing it again to our pistol and bow, we find that the crossbow does a significant amount of damage to a single target, far more than the pistol and while again needing to be reloaded after every shot, you do not need to pull back the crossbow before being able to attack thus reducing the TTK (Time to kill) greatly. The only weaknesses are the difficulty in finding the crossbow schematic (Due to it being entirely RNG based) and the bolts (Due to the then uselesness of the arrows you would have previously crafted.) For any archer the crossbow is the perfect alternative to the firearms also available, being useful in nearly every situation until the later bloodmoons in which a more faster killing weapon is needed. Selling these is quite a poor choice as they have very little value even when high leveled and with full durability.

Weapons (Pistols)

There are currently two pistols in 7 days to die and both can be viable choices. These fill the roll of a medium to close range weapon that can output some seriously good dps. As such we will compare these two to each other.

Pistol: This basic pistol is the most common gun available and cheap to supply, storing up to 15 rounds in the clip. Pistols can be commonly found in traders, shotgun messiah crates, gun safes and cannot be crafted by the player, instead being assembled from four different parts after reading the Pistol schematic. Repairing is the same as all guns, using repair kits. The pistol is quite weak and indeed it's weaker than any other gun and the crossbow but is available early and is easy to craft ammunition for. It has decent sights that will allow you to cleanly kill a zombie from close to midrange. The durability is decent on higher level pistols but brown-grey quality pistols will only shoot around 100 bullets until they break. Like all weapons they gradually do less damage after the halfway durability point. Compared to the magnum the pistol is far more common with cheap ammunition and parts available often with an extra 9 bullets in its magazine. Pistols can be sold for a decent amount of money and I personally recommend selling pistols that are low quality to finance more expensive purchases. As the game progresses the pistol becomes underpowered and thus a stronger weapon will be needed. The biggest plus is that your 9mm bullets can still be used with the SMG and as such saves quite a bit of resources.

Magnum: As the game states this gun is indeed the king of all handguns (Or in our case, the king of two handguns.) This very rare weapon can be looted from shotgun crates and gun safes, bought from traders and assembled with four different parts after the enforcer magazine is read. The Magnum deals an incredible amount of damage per shot exceeding all conventional weapons. The tradeoff is the ammunition it uses, Magnum rounds, which are used only by the magnum and are very rare to find. Easy spots to find magnums, ammunition or parts are at traders though they're quite pricy. The magnum uses the typical revolver sight being a post in the middle of the gun's barrel. Similar to the pistol the magnum is an effective weapon at close to medium range. Comparing it to the pistol it does far more damage per shot and it can be used to dispatch tougher zombies more safely. Due to its rarity it's an incredibly bad idea to sell these and you don't gain enough coins to justify the loss. The big disadvantage with a magnum is the ammunition it uses which is not currently used by any other gun other than itself.

Weapons (The 7.62mm family)

These three weapons are powerful and versatile to any loadout or player who each has their own distinct advantages and disadvantages.

Hunting Rifle: The hunting rifle is generally the first weapon a player will obtain that uses 7.62mm bullets. It can be found in safes, gun safes, police zombies and bought from traders. It can be assembled when you read the Hunting Rifle Schematic. This weapon is similar to the crossbow but easier to use with the tradeoff being more expensive ammunition. Both weapons are slow, single target weapons that deal a good deal of damage to any zombie unfortunate to cross you. With good accuracy the hunting rifle is a worthy upgrade to the crossbow for any players who want to experience firearms but like the crossbow. The disadvantages are similar to the crossbow, low crowd control but the ammunition is shared with two other weapons so if you do not like the hunting rifle you still have two more options. The hunting rifle also deals the most damage per shot out of the three rifles but the lowest DPS due to it having to be reloaded after every shot.

Sniper Rifle: Essentially a further upgrade to the hunting rifle, this rare and powerful weapon is by far the best weapon for long to extreme distance fighting and my personal favourite. Obtaining this is difficult with Airdrops and Munitions Boxes being the best options to find it and its parts and buying from traders. As with most guns you need the Sniper Rifle Schematic to assemble this gun or repair it. This weapon deals slightly less damage than the hunting rifle but is far quicker at firing multiple times as you reload after every fifth bullet instead of every bullet and also can be used with moderate sucess at close range without aiming. The sniper is unique in that it has a scope instead of an iron sight. When aiming you can use the scrollwheel to zoom in and out, helping you pick off futher away zombies and the sight itself is quite good with the cross still offering a good amount of visability. The biggest issue aside from the rarity of the weapon is the poor visibilty you gain when zoomed in. Aiming this is just like any sniper rifle and causes the edges of the screen to become black and as such makes it much easier for zombies to attack you when you're concentrating on a far away zombie. I recommend this along with a good medium to short ranged weapon,

AK-47: This isn't used very often by myself but does have a few advantages to take note of. The parts are extremely rare with myself having found them only in airdrops and from traders though they can rarely be found on military zombies. The schematic is not as rare thankfully and neither is the ammunition. This rifle is one of two fully automatic weapons in the game and trades a slight amount of damage and precision for the highest DPS in the game along with a very high amount of durability. The iron sights are slightly cluttered but still servicable. This weapon shines as a medium to close range tough zombie killer, taking down police and feral zombies with ease. The ammunition expenditure can be high if you do not disipline yourself but can easily be used with single shots to take care of most zombies easily. Use this as a backup weapon and not your main one.

Weapons (Shotguns and SMG)

There are two shotguns in 7 days: Sawed off and regular Shotguns. There is also another close ranged weapon: the SMG. Below are my thoughts and details on each.

Sawed off Shotgun: Fires a close range burst of shot at a zombie at very close range, extremely powerful but can only be used at this close range. Can be found on police officers, munitions boxes, gun safes, shotgun messiah crates bought from traders and assembled from parts after reading the shotgun schematic. Fairly common and effective weapons for close quarters combat in narrow buildings and small spaces or in the open with easy ways of furthering yourself from zombies. Does more damage than the normal shotgun as it fires an extra pellet. An advantage to the shotguns is that they share the receiver and parts, only the barrels and stocks are different.

Shotgun: Near identical to the sawed off, does very slightly less damage in exchange for a slight range increase. Can also use slugs though they're entirely preferencial to the player. Used in making the shotgun sentry and found and assembled in the same ways the sawed off is. I recommend the sawed off shotgun as the extra range and ability to use slugs is worth less than the slight increase in damage the sawed off gives.

SMG: Second highest DPS weapon in the game but with far more common and easy to craft ammo. Found in the same places as the Sniper and uses 9mm ammo. A great close to medium range weapon and essentially an upgrade to the pistol. Can be assembled after the SMG schematic is read and uses the rifle skills to boost damage. A great backup for slower firing weapons or snipers. Downsides are the low durability and scarcity of the weapon itself. The SMG has a short noise range being the same as the crossbow resulting in an effective role as a close ranged stealth weapon (Both ranges being 7m)

Weapons (Misc)

This part covers the Rocket Launcher and Blunderbuss and handheld explosives.
Rocket Launcher: A terrible weapon that is expensive to maintain, very rare and breaks rather quickly. The launcher will take out groups of zombies with ease though at anything less than medium range it loses its usefulness. The high amount of materials and costs used to simply fire this weapon far outweigh the costs of other weapons such as the SMG, Magnum, Shotgun or Sniper. The big advantage to the Rocket Launcher is that it will take out any zombie in one shot if well aimed, meaning you will very rarely miss out on police zombie loot. Can be used with moderate sucess on blood moons if you give yourself enough space but be warned that it leaves many craters and can destroy the bodies of already slain zombies. If you need a quick way to take out police zombies and don't mind filling in the craters and losing out on some loot than by all means use the launcher. It's by far the most fun weapon to use and does the most damage per hit. Selling gives a ton of coins (Generally 3k-7k).

Blunderbuss: This is one of the first guns a player can obtain needing no schematics and just a forge, costing 16 forged iron, 2 short iron pipes, 1 glue, 1 duct tape and 4 wood. Ammunition is by far the easiest firearm ammunition to craft and can stack to 128. A nice note is that a lvl 600 Blunderbuss does more damage per shot than anyother weapon aside from the launcher at a much lower cost. Using this later in the game is still easy and effective though skills will help you greatly when using this. The range is abysmally low however so caution is advised when using it and you must always aim down the sight to hit any zombie. Selling generally gives around 100+ coins and is not recommended.

Pipebomb: A simple explosive made with 1 plant fibre, 10 gunpowder and a short iron pipe, this 'weapon' is highly effective against clusters of zombies (e.g a dayhorde) and does 90 damage in a small radius without doing much damage to blocks. A worthwhile item especially in early game it can be difficult to use later on due to more feral zombies appearing. The pipebomb must be lit before throwing and has a decent range to throw with.

Dynamite: Somewhat of a counterpart to the Pipe , the Dynamite stick does 320 mob damage at the cost of 900 block damage leading to very frige usage combat wise. The stick of Dynamite can be used much more effectively for mining or triggering explosions and easily demolishes stone while mining. If used for combat it again must be lit before throwing and extreme care must be taken to avoid your own death as the radius is larger than you think and will generally kill you in one explosion. It's made with 16 gunpowder, 1 plant fibre and 8 paper.

Molotov Cocktail: Doing 5 entity damage this weapon seems poor until you take the fire effect into account. The Molotov is a weaker but longer lasting source of damage. Just like the other two it must be lit and thrown. These weapons are suited to weaker zombies that move slowly so they can stay within the fire radius. As a zombie steps into the fire, it takes direct damage from the fire (5 entity damage a tick) and an additional "On Fire!" debuff, further decreasing their health by 3 every second. The biggest advantage is the very weak block damage meaning they can be used liberally without much downsides. Crafting is pricey with 1 oil, 1 cloth, 1 glass jar and 30 gas being needed.

Final Notes

I hope you enjoyed this guide and hopefully you learned a thing or two. My weapon recommendation is a Sniper rifle and a Magnum or SMG, giving you the range needed to kill any zombie. Generally you need two shots to kill a zombie, one to the head knocking him down and another when he's down but with those two you can often kill them in one hit. All constructive comments are appreciated and have a good day!

[Infinium_23]

To clarify on the question of slugs. In general, I don't do much ranged shooting. Most of my kills are done with shotguns, pistols, or maybe the hunting rifle. The distance I play at reders a scope all but a hinderence. In addition, the situations where I use slugs are in quick raids on houses where the loot has respawned, or just to be quick. Using a scope indoors is hilariously ineffective. As far as ammo costs, they are expensive, but since the balance of different ores into the smaller rocks, by the time I had the stone to build my concrete base, I had the resourses for close to 500 rounds off all the regualr ammo and 250 slugs. For the non horder, they arent viable, for the basebuilder, they're invaluable.

[Reykan]

Okay, i have no idea how you have a hard time finding those logs and boulders as i trip over the damn things all the time. As i said, though- 1 you dont want to spend all day hitting a tree for your wood if you can smack a bush while looking for loot or a decent house to get you started and 2- without a fireaxe and levels in mining your harvest rate isnt really that spectacular(not to mention standing around hitting a tree makes you an easy target for a quiet zombie. Not all of them growl when they see you). You dont need 200 wood before you do anything else. hell, i've gone a full day and been unable to gather more than 50 feathers. I'm not arguing that those other biomes are worse, aside from the new wolves forests are the best biomes to work in. What im saying is that the desert has more than enough resources. It wont bleed you dry if you keep your eyes open, in fact i recommend going there as soon as you get a base set up to pick up some aloe.

[Ayaya]

It's far more difficult to find those dried logs and bushes and get a decent amount of wood than it is to just cut down trees. It saves you far more time to mine say, 3 - 4 trees instead of 15 little logs that are hard to find

[Reykan]

Trees aren't the only source of wood though. There are the wooden logs and dried bushes out there as well. That and i havent noticed boulders being more dificult to find. Maybe they're not as plentiful, but you can see quite a bit farther with no trees around, so i have never had an issue finding boulders. Since you should be crafting arrows almost constantly for the first few days anyway in order to stock up, it doesnt take much to swing once at a bush for 2-3 wood. Sure you can wave away the fact that those sources arent as good as trees nor are they replenishable(I plant trees near my base and my horde-night tower for the wood spikes) but at the start you dont get that much wood from a tree anyway. At the very least you should be spending a few days wandering, and you can smack a bush as you walk by. Personally i like deserts. Food and water are rediculously plentiful in the form of yucca.

[Ayaya]

While nests are easier to kind, boulders and trees ar rarer. You can have 5 stacks of feathers but no wood or stone to make them. That's why I said it's harder to make them.

[Reykan]

I noticed at the start that you said that arrows are easy to make in every biome except the desert. This is actually false. While it's harder to find wood than in the forest, there are plenty of sources. Even nests are present, in fact i find it easier to find nests in deserts than savannahs because there's a bit less grass.

[jdm311]

I enjoyed your guide. One thing I'd like to comment on is weapon noise. You mentioned that the smg is as quiet as the crossbow, which is insane if true. I like to scavenge with either a bow or crossbow as my primary ranged weapon (due to less noise), but bring along a sniper rifle/sawed-off shotgun/AK-47. I absolutely agree with taking advantage of multiple weapon with same ammo. Did they get rid of 10 mm ammo in A16? I'm still playing on 15.2 with war of the walkers mod. The weapon combination I use is crucial to survival when encountering a well-equipped, ranged bandit.

[Ayaya]

Yes but the slugs eat up all your lead extremely quickly. Why not then use a sniper with 5 bullets vs those zombies? As opposed to finding the schematic (slugs), which isn't very common instead of 7.62 which can be bought at any time? Snipers also seem far more common in A16 than 15. The one shotting loses potancy when you can snipe them from extreme distance instead of having to get up close to them.

[Infinium_23]

I Never used Slugs pre-a16, but now they seem well worth it. on a mid level 412 quality shotgun, I was dealing 142 entity damage, far more than my 530 level hunting rifle at 89. Stealth was out of the question, but it killed radiated cops and regular wights with one stealth shot to the head. One of my go-to's now.

[JammySpammy gmn.gg]

Except for the blunderbuss, of course.