Outfit/Protection guide [B42]

This guide is for people who want to see the various outfit loadouts that are optimal in the game.

Universal Gear

A vehicle and a backpack is an important item for any player and should be part of your regular loadout. Once you have a vehicle, it can become more storage space and even a mobile base.

VEHICLES

• Chevalier Nyala - Police
  - Common enough, has a siren, strongest engine amongst standard vehicles, great carry capacity and seats 4. You can't access the frontseats from the backseats and viceversa due to being a police car but this is a great all-rounder vehicle early on and still viable late in the game throuugh sheer utility. Avoid going off-road though.
  
• Masterson Horizon
  - Terrible car, but has a very niche use as a scouting vehicle due to its ridiculous quietness. As with standard vehicles, avoid going off-road.
  
• Frankling All-Terrain
  - The Chevalier Nyala's big brother. Does everything it does except better. As a heavy-duty car it lacks a siren but seats 4 and is good off-road. A jack of all trades, though very rare.
  
• Chevalier Step Van - Mail
  - The loot goblin mobile. Has the highest carry capacity out of all vehicles and engine power out of all the other step vans. Despite being a heavy-duty vehicle, best kept off-road, driving on grass will make you stall if you aren't careful. Hook up a trailer to this and it becomes a mobile base.
  
• Franklin Valuline - Ambulance
  - The strongest two-seater vehicle in the game. Has high capacity, Horsepower only seen on sports cars, and has a siren. Relatively uncommon but you can't go wrong. Its only weakness is its not good off-road.
  
• Dash Bulldriver - Police/Firefighter
  - Equivalent to the Ambulance mentioned above, but the engine is the loudest out of any vehicle. But some players consider that a pro for luring out zombies. Is the only other vehicle mentioned on this list that can do well off-road.
  
  Going off-road can damage your tank, muffler and tires. It can also cause your vehicle to stall, which is a death sentence when trying to avoid hordes. Its for that reason I personally go with the Bulldriver, it can do everything and a performance muffler can make it as loud as a regular heavy-vehicle.

BAGS

• Duffel Bag
  - The duffel bag is the most "balanced" backpack in the game, sporting enough carry capacity without overencumbering you. Organized Trait might push you over to overencumbered territory without the proper strength level to accompany it.
  
• Hiking Backpack
  - The Hiking Backpack is a step up from Duffel Bags for players who might have higher strength stats or the Organized trait, and either don't mind going a little overencumbered.
  
• Military Backpack
  - The highest carry capacity backpack in the game. If you just want maximum loot capacity and don't care about anything else, take this.
  
• ALICE Belt
  - Everyone should get one of these at some point, if nothing else but for the hands-free L-Flashlight attachment slot. Once you find the ALICE belt, you don't need to wear your normal belt anymore.

Outfits

Heat management is a huge component of wearing protection. The more protection, the more insulation you're wearing when you're using clothes. These outfits are what I believe to be the best compromises between insulation and protection.

The Newbie setup:

• Leather Jacket - Short
  
• Shirt - Denim
  
• Leather gloves
  
• Jeans
  
• any helmet/any footwear

- These clothes give you protection while you learn how to tailor and make armor. Has high insulation and can be rather hot after awhile.

Universal Armor:

• Jockey Helmet
  
• Fingerless gloves - Metal
  
• Bone Choker OR Elbow pads

- Tailoring, crafting and metalworking will be needed for the gloves and bone choker
- These armor pieces will cause you the least amount of discomfort without any negative penalties, allowing you to wear them all the time. They also protect your hands and neck, the most vulnerable places you're to receive a bite. The Elbow pads despite being 1 slot, protect your entire arm, which is great value! If you think you're good enough, you can ditch the bone choker for elbow pads as the upper and lower limbs are the next most vulnerable body parts. I personally would go with bone choker though, you never see a neck bite from behind until it happens.

Footwear:

• blue/red Sneakers
  - for the speed bonus, best worn with leather strip socks. The blue and red sneakers provide the least insulation.
  
• Desert Boots/Hiking Boots
  - For the damage, protection and least insulation out of all the boots.

Minimal Heat 1:

• Medical Scrubs OR Jockey Silks
  
• Medical Pants
  
• Medical Mask
  
• Varsity Jacket
  
• Scarf - Blue Stripes OR Bone Choker
  
• Leather Gloves OR Fingerless Gloves - Metal
  
• Socks
  
• Blue/Red Sneakers
  
• Jockey Helmet

- This clothing layout is for people who are experienced with kiting zombies and wear armor/clothes more as insurance. Its not unheard of for expert players to fight zombies completely naked!

- Max tailoring and leather strips on each clothing slot is required for best protection.

- From my experience, wearing any less than this and you might as well be fighting naked. The most likely places youre going to be damaged is the upper body and this is what I believe to be the bare minimum protection you can get away with.

Minimal Heat 2:

• Jockey Helmet
  
• Bone Choker
  
• Fingerless Gloves - Metal
  
• Military Jacket - Desert Camo
  
• Shirt - denim
  
• Military Pants - Desert Camo
  
• Desert Military Boots

- These clothes provide the least insulation for the most base protection. Layering it with max tailoring and leather strips should give you the most protection without resorting to wearing a suit of armor.

- You can swap the boots for blue/red sneakers and socks with leather strips, and remove the denim shirt if you want to run cooler. You could also wear Medical scrubs/jockey silks if you want a second layer for your torso.

What about Armor?!

This guide is more for everyday wear, and can be layered with armor pieces.

Because of the discomfort system, its not viable to wear armor pieces all the time. In B42, its probably most likely that you will wear armor only when youre about to specifically go into a high danger zone before taking it off after.

But by all means, go wear armor on top of these clothes when you need to!