How to Survive the Death Trip to Canada

Hello everyone. I wanted to make a guide to help people on surviving their road trip to Canada.

Starting Characters

Sure it's nice and all to pick 2 random characters and start a game but eventually after several losses, you just want to win, don't ya? Losing sucks, we've all been there now we just want to win. In my experience i found that two of the best custom starting characters to pair with for me are a car nut/ paranoid person and the gun collector with calm under fire. I usually would go with a medic person instead of the shooter but if you know how to make your way around zombies, a medic is not really needed. The paranoid perk is overpowered as it not only allows you to get out of fire sitiuations and bandit raids with little to no trouble but it also shows if new allies are being truthful about their stats and whether or not they'll betray you. Levelling up shooting is great since it allows for bullets to blast through multiple zombies per shot which saves ammo as well as some very nice events where you hunt animals for 12 food which can save your run. The starting car is nice as it'll never be a big van which will drain your gas supply. Another good perk in case you don't want to use those is the civilized perk. It maxes out wit, composure, attitude, and loyalty. The only drawback is the -3 to your maximum morale so don't pair that perk with somone who is a bandit. Another tip is to create several custom characters with the HEALTH CARE perk (but don't have them start with the team, stick with your two main characters) as it gives 7 medkits to my team. I usually have them join, give me my 7 med kits, and kill them off as the medkits can be a game changer if you are fine with weapons and food but not meds. Have some custom characters with the GUN COLLECTOR perk as well in case you need some guns/ ammo and then kill them off. Think of them as a free delivery. Here is the link to a character guide I helped co-author on the perk combinations if you want further details on how to build a certain character. I was given permission to use it.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=745927202


NOTE: If the "car nut" perk ever gets tweaked, the starting car can be different than the normal 8 gasoline car.

Overall Strategy

Starting off with my two characters, I've found it easier to not get another teammate until about 3-5 days left of driving to stockpile food. Stocking up on food is great since you can bribe bandits with a small bit of food if you can't afford the health loss or you don't have the PARANOID perk. If you manage to save 65 food for the minigun and have rifle ammo saved up the final siege is incredibly easy. Heck, even the AK47 is good enough to do that. If you don't have 65 food in stock, the Bad DAWG which is a shotgun can be bought for 40 food. This shotgun mows down groups of zombies per shot same with the auto shotgun which is 30 food. So stick with two people to stockpile food to buy an OP gun and ammo for it, or you can buy every stat upgrade at every trading post to make your characters into killing machines. Also, buy a stack of 5 pipe bombs if you can as a priority in case you are about to get cornered in a siege. I recommend pipe bonbs over grenades since they are cheaper and more plentiful than grenades even though they have a smaller blast radius. Since the chainsaw has been buffed recently, it's now viable to plow through zombies if you are in a crowded room making loot runs much easier if you can spare the gas on the extreme difficulties. Take note that you need a character with very high strength to start the chainsaw on the first couple tries. A low strength character will take upwards to 30 tries. I lost a run figuring that out the hard way.

STATS

CAR

Hybrid: 6 gas use, high repair, low health, high speed

Average car: 8 gas use, high repair, low health, high speed

Muscle car: 10 gas use, medium repair, medium health, high speed

Vue: 14 gas use, low repair, high health, medium speed

Big Van: 16 gas use, low repair, very high health, low speed

Chassis: Overall health, bigger vehicle = more health for events and running over zombies.

Engine: Amounts of stops until it has to be repared. Smaller cars need to be repared more often

Armor: Obtained from events only, can be added to any car, Increases health

HUMAN

STRENGTH: Increases ability to throw furniture as well as utilize heavy weapons more

FITNESS: Increases stamina regen for prolonged weapon use

SHOOTING: Increases chance of bullets piercing multiple zombies (higher crit chance)

WITS: Reduces impact of bandit attacks and lone zombie encounters. Mostly for events.

ATTITUDE: Ability to socialize with other characters. Mostly for events.

COMPOSURE: Be calm under pressure. Can get you out of fire/ scary situations. Mostly for events.

LOYALTY: Prevents followers from selling you out to bandits or falling asleep on night watch. Mostly for events.

MORALE: Prevents followers from leaving/stealing food or asking others to leave

MEDICAL: Reduces the amount of medkits needed to heal as well as increase amount of healing

MECHANICAL: Increases ability to repair car, higher mechanical = more car repairs (limit 3-4)

Dexterity (Hidden stat): Increases movement speed

Vitality (Hidden stat): Amount of health you have. A max red heart is 3 health. Any health above 3 looks like a blue-green heart that eventually covers your red heart.

Irritating: Low Wits and Low Attitude

Bandit: Low Composure and Low Loyalty

Paranoid: Hight Wits and Low Attitude

Charming: High Wits and Hight Attitude

DOG

Has higher Dexterity than humans, allowing them to kite zombies with their bark skill and stay away from the zombies. The dog who is barking has to be the leader, AKA the one you are controlling.

NOTE: I've never been able to survive a run using only melee weapons since stamina is such a huge issue. Even with maximum levels in strength and fitness as well as having the Mighty Claymore (40) and the Knight's Sword (25). Also, stats for anything can change.

Scavenging

For scavenging, I never take more than one survivor as they usually either get in the way or slow down and die. When I start looting, I usually only take a pistol if the mission is during the daytime on my character just to knock back some zombies if they are getting in my way. If I don't have a pistol, I just take any melee weapon that knocks back the zombies to get around and loot. Just be careful on bringing a gun when it's nighttime as the zombies are more aggressive and will come to your position if you fire the gun as they can hear it. It's better early on to not hit the zombies and just loot as fast as posible so they don't pile up. Only kill them if you are going to get cornered/ surrounded. I loot everything that I can, never leave an area unless you've found everything. Even loot the toilets for that extra 1 gasoline since it's very rare to find gas. Always save your ammo and explosives. NEVER MAKE MOLOTOVS WITH GASOLINE if the event comes up unless you have way more than enough to make it to canada. Ive had my idiot AI teammates run into the fire killing themselves more than enough times for me to rage. During the sewer/ factory/tunnel "run to the end" events, there is a secret area on the map (not in the tunnel). Usually in the middle or the map, there is a closed room that can have a some ammo and/or food/ weapons. FIND IT. It's easy supplies. A good way to find it is that the secret area is always closed by a jail-like door that's different than the fully covered doors and it never spawns directly on the end of a room, always somewhere near the middle/ end.

If you are low on a certain item, let's say food. It's ok to use the extra gas for the chance to be able to loot a Yallmart or a rest stop. Same goes with finding medkits from a hospital or pharmacy if you really need them.

If you ever see a glittering light on a broken down car, there is either gas to syphon or some other supply to pick up. If you ever get an event at a gas station, you can syphon the gas from the pumps which usually have a lot of gas.

You can repair your car 4 times before it wont be reparable again. You'll will have to find a new car. Keep this in mind since I had a maxed mechanic and this came up several times. If you ever come across an event where there is a choice between several types of cars, pick the smallest car for the gas efficiency. You really dont need the big vans if you have maxed shooting for a few certain events that come up and the gasoline is rare to come by.

NOTE: You do not have to kill every zombie you see! Just run around them or you will spend way too much time idling around.

Surviving Sieges

SIEGE TIME!!!!

Now is everyone's (least/most)favorite run event. The main tip is to defend your position while running around the outskirts in a huge circle.

If you've managed to have bought your op weapon and have a lot of ammo, never hold down the fire button. You can waste ammo with the recoil and some bullets will miss. Stay in the main room since its much easier to defend and escape than retreating into a smaller room as you get cornered much quicker. If you don't have a good gun, keep running around the walls in a giant circle and use your ammo for when they pile up in your path and keep running. Use your pipe bombs in the middle of them when they pile up and to escape. Throw one into the entrance/exit so you dont get screwed if you get bit trying to leave. With the buff to chainsaw, you can start it (NEEDS HIGH STRENGTH CHARACTER) and plow through zombies only when they are in your way. This saves times and the little bit of gas you can take with the chainsaw. Make sure you don't leave the chainsaw revving after you start it. This still uses gas so if you want to still be able to use the chainsaw, swap to another weapon and then back to the chainsaw to preserve gas for when you start it again. If you have two high strength/ fitness characters and only one awesome melee weapon, attack with it until one person gets tired and then switch the weapon to the other character, sure it is tedious but being able to attack with the strong melee weapon can greatly reduce the amount of zombies that pile up. A good example is swapping the fireman's axe between characters or the extreme hockey stick. Usually early in the run, the game will give you the option to obtain a character right before a siege, you can recruit them for the siege and then kill them off during the siege if you want to keep a decent stock of food.

NOTE: If you equip an ai teammate with three guns they will use every bit of ammo they have. If they have a melee weapon and two guns, they will use their melee weapon until they run low on stamina when they will switch to their guns and fire. Don't give them bombs or molotovs as they will most likely waste them and blow themselves up or set themselves on fire.

NOTE 2: The weapon system for the AI has been slightly changed but I'm too lazy to completely talk about it, maybe later.

SPOILER ALERT! Running to Canada

So you've survived your several hour siege and have no ammo and only melee weapons or you've managed to keep some ammo. Now, you have to run across the bridge and have a final stand at Canada's border. This is way easy if you simply run through all the zombies only hitting the ones directly in your way. This way you can save ammo if you have any as well as keeping your teammates alive if any are left alive at all.

When you get to the border, you might think of defending that little fence and camping there; however, if you have no ammo and only melee weapons, you could actually die at the border and your run will end. This part is made easy if you take wide, sweeping arcs on the edge of the fence to kite the zombies to bide your time until the border is open and aid arrives.

NOTE: Do not kill the Prime Minister! Take this one from my experience. You don't want to find out what happens if you set fire to the Prime Minister with a molotov, or do you?

Weapons

This section will be about most of the weapons in the game since I can't remember all of them off the top of my head but I will add them over time. NOTE: I know that very few of these values can be wrong so please don't give me hate for it. I'm not a dev. I just enjoy reporting the bugs I see. Also, SPOILER ALERT!!!

STATS, (FOOD), DPS, DURABILITY, KNOCKDOWN, STAMINA

Piece of Wood, Medium, Brittle, Medium, Low

Femur, Medium, Brittle, Medium, Low

Rebar, Low, Never Breaks, Low, Low

Crowbar: Medium, Never Breaks, Medium, Very High

Wrench, High, Never Breaks, High, High

B.B. Bat, Medium, Brittle, High, Low

Cr. Bat, Medium, Semi, High, Low

Al Bat, Medium, Never Breaks, High, Low

Nightstick, Medium, Never Breaks, Medium, Low

Cane, High, Semi, High, High

Mop, Medium, Semi, High, Medium

Umbrella: Medium, Semi, Medium, Medium

Beach Umbrella: High, Brittle, High, Medium

G. Club, High, Brittle, High, High

Hockey stick, High, Semi, High, Medium

Extreme Stick, High, Never Breaks, High, Medium

Cane, High, Medium, High, High

S. Hammer, High, Never Breaks, High, High

Spatula, Low, Semi, Low, Low

Ki. Knife, Low, Brittle, Low, Low

Cleaver, Medium, Brittle, Low, Low

Frying Pan, High, Never Breaks, High, High

Rusty Machete, High, brittle, Low, Low

Sturdy Machete, High, Semi, Low, Low

Hatchet, High, Never Breaks, Medium, Medium

Fireman's Axe(25), Very High, Never Breaks, High, High

Parking Meter(10), High, Never Breaks, High, High

Pitchfork, Very High, Never Breaks, High, Very High

Katana, High, Brittle, High, Low

K. Sword(25), Very High, Never Breaks, High, High

Claymore(40), Extreme, Never Breaks, High, High

Shuriken, High, One Hit Wonder, High, Very low

W. Shuriken(15), 2HitKO, Never breaks, Always, Very low

Molotovs, Low, One Hit Wonder, None, Very low

Pipe Bombs, Very High, One Hit Wonder, Always, Very low

Grenades, Extreme, One Hit Wonder, Always, Very low

Pistol, Medium, Ammo/90, Medium, None

Dolt 45, High, Ammo/60, High, None

Snubnose, High, Ammo/60, High, None

Uzi, Very High, Ammo/160, High, None

Rifle, Medium, Ammo/50, High, None

Hnting Rifle, High, Ammo/50, High, None

AK47(25), Very High, Ammo/50, High, None

Minigun(65), Extreme, Ammo/500, Very High, None

Shotgun, Medium, Ammo/40, High, None

Auto Shotgun(25), Very High, Ammo/80, High, None

Slug Shotgun(20), Extreme, Ammo/40, High, None

Bad DAWG(40), Extreme, Ammo/40, High, None

Blow Torch, Low DAM over Time, Gas/50, None, None

Flamethrower(40), Low DAM over Time, Gas/200, None, None

Chainsaw(20), High, Gas/50, None, None

Rare Character Events, SPOILERS!!!!!

Alien: Random encounter. Not recruitable. You receive his gun if he dies during the event which uses gas to shoot a piercing projectile. If he survives, you can obtain his UFO as a vehicle which uses no gas; however, the car is very squishy and needs to be repaied often.

Alvis: Random encounter. High fitness. Can be a decoy by singing to attract zombies, similar to the dog bark. Melee attacks can cleave and deal high damage. It's best to not give him a melee weapon.

Crazy Cat Lady: Cut character.

Clown: Random encounter. There is a secret event about him that is better off experienced. It happens near the end of the road trip.

Demon: Random encounter. If fed 1 food, he will take over a random teammate giving a boost in stength and fitness stats. The character will turn red and be given a red trident that deals high damage and drains a high amount of stamina. His weapon is a red pitch fork that is indestructible, pierces enemies, very high damage, and costs a lot of stamina.

Deloris (Mary Poppins): Random encounter. Wields an umbrella.

Duelist: Random encounter, wields a rapier and has max fitness, average strength, max wit, and attitude.

DSYP (Don't ♥♥♥♥ Your Pants): Random encounter. Of all the characters in this game, I'm not sure why he's in here lol He's the most overpowered character in the game. His only attack is a massive fart explosion that knocks over or kill all zombies nearby to him. His attack will lower his health down to 1 so be careful on using him near your teammate as they can be damaged as well.The cooldown is short enough that he can solo the 3 hour siege and the Yallmart siege without even trying.

El Satan: Random encounter. A luchador with high fitness and strength who attacks by punching and throwing zombies.

G*** (Garfield or Gazorpazorpfield): Random siege rescue encounter. A 2-3 hour siege takes place in a wide open field with trees. Lowers everyone's morale when recruited and REALLY hates Mondays. Acts as a normal human character but with low stats.

Gnomey: Random encounter, rides a rat around which makes him move faster. Main attack is Pokey in which he pokes zombies with a high amount of knock back that deals moderate damage.

He(r)man: Found in a building randomly for the mission only. Will help for ramainder of mission. Wields the mighty Sword of Power and bestows the power of Greyskull onto the person who talks to him.

Horse (Meme): Random encounter, man wears a horse mask, can either increase morale or join the team. Has high strength/ stamina and no special weapon.

Johnie-chan: Kawaii encounter. High fitness and strength. Has a wand that deals high damage and can fire a ranged projectile if not used for a while. Becomes more anime every day until she explodes like a glitter firework. Senpai will never forget her.

Knight: Random encounter for one mission only. Has the highest health in the game (6). Has Max Strength and Fitness. Her special weapons are the Knight sword and the gauntlet (high knockdown, low damage punch).

Lonk: Random encounter. Has a sword and a branch that can be upgraded into a boomerang after finding a chest. Has high strength and fitness. Be careful with his boomerag as it can be lost if it doesn't return to him after he has thrown it. Now has refillable bombs.

Magic Genie: Spawns from toilet. 1% chance (I think). Can give either 20 food or permanently raise the health of a teammate by 1. Choosing the evil genie option spawns around 20 zombies in the room with you. You are going to have a bad time.

Maid: Random encounter: Wields the ultra mop which deals more damage than the regular mop and cannot break.

Ninja: Random encounter. Bribe for 10 food. Has 7 shurikens and 5 smoke bombs. Smoke bombs teleport her a short distance. High fitness.

Queen of the Fairies: Found in a building randomly. Grants either health, wealth (20 food), or true friendship as in she summons a baseball bat (not unique) and joins your party.

Power Rangers: Rescue mission. Bugged. Don't know anything else.

Rambeau: Random encounter. Has a mini gun and an unbreakable knife. High strength, fitness, and shooting stats.

Recruit (Octodad): Totally has a mighty claymore and a bunch of food! ;) I forgot if he has any special attacks or not. Has high overall fighting stats.. Needs a Markiplier pink mustache.

Roller derby girl: high strength and fitness. Has the bandit option at trading posts.

Santa Claus: Set date to Christmas, start of game, Nice option gives you 5 food and being naughty gives you 50 gas in the form of coal and joins the team in both options. Has max morale and attitude.
Evil Santa Claus: Same setup as regular santa but you tell him to Piss Off instead and he loses faith in humanity and changes into evil Santa. Has zero attitude, max morale, strength and fitness. Can also have the Night Before Christmas event and join the team because REASONS.

Skeleton: Cut character.

Sumo wrestler: Random encounter, Max strength and high fitness who attacks by punching zombies.

The Old Man and the sea (Billy): Has a special pistal and shotgun that both shoot fire dealing more blast damage per shot than their noral counterparts. Newly acquired a fishing pole to use as a melee weapon.

TLB(The Last Bodybuilder): Random encounter, preuded by a tip from a traveler. Max strength, stamina, and fitness, Cannot use weapons and can only attack by throwing furniture. The best throwable items are the refridgerator and the car.

Turkey: Event at the start of your road trip. You can either eat him for a morale increase and 8 food or you can have him join your party. Has normal stats, nothing special.

Woof: Random encounter. Is a dog wearing a trenchoat (possibly two dogs or maybe one with really long legs). Has average stats and can carry/use weapons which regular dogs can't.

UFO Sighting: Siege for 2 hours, if you keep the alien alive you obtain the UFO which is a low health, Zero gas use vehicle. If he dies, you can obtain his blaster which uses gas and always pierces zombies every shot.

Valkyrie: Random encounter. Arrives riding a pegusus, wieldes Mjollnir, high overall stats. Came down to earth because of crap going on with zombies.

??? (Jason): Random encounter. Has the "Mason" machete and a chainsaw. Also has high strength, fitness, shooting, and raises own morale by killing teammates. For some reason, has very high loyalty. Can only raise morale to level 3 unless he kills someone then it raises above level 3.

The Extreme Modes, SPOILERS

So now you are finally good enough to make it to Canada and have beaten the other easy modes. Now you are in for a challenge. You can generally use the same strategy for every mode; however, by editing a little bit of your starting characters can make some of these modes a whole lot easier.
NOTE: If you want to maximize your starting food, set the date to Thanksgiving and choose to eat the turkey during the event for some extra food.

FAMILIAR CHARACTER EXTREME

There isn't too much of a challenge here. Making this easier comes down to simply creating custom characters for each specific type of character. Make a medic, car mechanic, fighting person, or whatever. I helped with and already posted a guide earlier that should help you with this mode.

RARE CHARACTER EXTREME

In my experience, I found this mode easier to start with a car nut/ paranoid character with no buddy. One of the main reasons for this is that you will be encountering special characters and your second partner will be easily outclassed by them in the short 15 day road trip. Also, having the car nut is good because since you need someone with a good repair skill and there isn't a single rare character in the game that comes with a high level mechanic skill. It's all about killing zombies for the rare characters. You can start with someone in case you want them to spawn with 7 medkits or the two extra food and kill them off at the first sign of looting in case you want some supplies that way.

MARATHON MODE

You are going to need gas, a whole LOT of gas. Food is important as well but not as much as gas and a working car. Every trading post that has a gas salesman, buy all of the gas he has. You will need it. You WILL need someone with a high starting level in mechanic unless you want to be constantly attacked by bandits when your car breaks down. Even with the paranoind perk, you can still be attacked by bandits a lot more frequently since you weren't able to repair your car or ran out of gas. I've found that having two people for most of the trip is easier than trying to keep four people in the group with food. Simply stocking up on food and levelling up your two characters to maximum stats all around is way more efficient than trying to keep four low stat people happy. Also, if you have extra food you can buy some high tier weapons from the trading post and/ or use molotovs to kill the traders carrying the best weapons. Don't throw bombs/ grenades since people are able to pick them up and deactivate them. Only one molotov is needed to kill a trader. Always have a molotov equipped on a character just in case you arrive at a trading post so you don't miss out on an opportunity.
NOTE: The best places too loot are hardware stores for not only weapons like the chainsaw but also the gas and any Y'allmarts for the food. Weapons will come so don't worry too much about them.

KEPA MODE

For KEPA MODE, you need a good mechanic with the paranoid perk. The bandits can be relentless almost always demanding half to all of your supplies on this game mode and you cannot afford to lose any of your supplies to them. I usually start off with only one character since KEPA joins you at the start and he is a BERSERK character so you can't heal him for more than one health unless an event comes and raises his max health. If you ever see any rare characters, let them join since you will need all the help you can get. If you need some practice on how to loot with one character while running through the buildings, this is the mode to practice on as you will need to be very good at kiting zombies even if you have a very good gun and a lot of ammo during the sieges. It's better to control KEPA since he is a BERSERK character, he deals a ton of damage, and he could easily die to a zombie if the ai controls him.

I'll update these some more eventually if I'm not feeling too lazy.

Special Thanks

A special thanks to Dragon Dai (Uey), espiovvv, jjr28, Lootz, ♥♥♥.ger, Soloagino, Taylork2, and Youngstown for telling me about some rare characters, tips, and weapons I didn't have yet in my guide.

[rogantheoldman]

真实牛逼，谢谢大佬啊。妄想狂是真的OP，有了以后每次碰到土匪和有害事件都无伤通过，是真的舒服！感谢你提供这个套路我现在的玩法是偏执狂+USNC（满力量属性的那个perk）搭配车迷+实用主义，一个人负责消除有害事件的危险，另一个人负责修车，爽的一批，无敌。

[Cthulhu_enjoyer7]

I know how to win easy.

Wemod

[Valky]

Decent guide, all i see on the Guides here is how to cheat and make yourself a god so you don't have to deal with death.
At the very least you're giving everyone a positive outlook on this community.

[Zombietasticslaya The Knight]

ok, thanks for letting me know

[DarkVoid64]

@ Zombietasticslaya The Knight

You forgot to check when this guide was last updated.........
Nothing was forgotten, this guide is just dead.

[Zombietasticslaya The Knight]

you forgot the whammer (its a bat with barbwire)

[Zombietasticslaya The Knight]

and a bow

[Zombietasticslaya The Knight]

also there is a green turret that you can find (I found one in the dark mansion)

[Zombietasticslaya The Knight]

the chainsaw hand is an event in which you can give someone a chainsaw for a hand (a marshal artist won't be able to use it trust me i tried)

[Zombietasticslaya The Knight]

you also forgot the 2-4 and the chainsaw hand