Guides:The right build for you
The Right Build For You by Trunksoul
Intro
I've played this game for a very long time. I started in 2005 and I've kept coming back ever since. The one thing I realized though is that certain builds aren't for everyone. Different people look for different things in all aspects of life, and Urban Dead is no different. Some players want to make the biggest, baddest, strongest character possible as fast as possible. Other players may want a good role playing experience and want to see how it would be like if they were caught in a zombie apocalypse. There's even a few who just want to try out a specific class. Whatever it is you're looking for in a character, it's good to sit down for a few minutes and plan out how you are going to get from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be). That's why I made this guide, to help you get there.
The Role Player
Some people don't care about reaching level 42, having every conceivable skill known to man, and showing up on the stat page among the elite few. There are plenty of people who are happy with a low level character so long as that character does everything he/she needs for a good role player experience. This means of course, trade-offs, such as getting the skills you want now instead of skills that will result in more efficient leveling in the long run. A good example of this is when you make a character based on a character from a different game.
If you've already done the level 42 mega-veteran route and are looking for something new, I'd definitely recommend this path. If you don't have any ideas on what to base your characters on, here are a few:
Faust (Guilty Gear) - In Guilty Gear he is a doctor that went mad after accidentally killing a patient. He then started wearing a brown paper bag over his head and attacked people with a giant scalpel (easily substited by a Fire Axe). A hardcore RPer would probably start this character as a doctor, although a fire fighter is far more efficient in the long run.
The Punisher/Cable/Bullseye - easy enough to duplicate. It works well with just about any street level super hero.
Any Resident Evil Character Ever - Self explanatory. (hint: Military class or Cop)
Unfortunately, because of how non-linear this method is I cannot give you any concrete build orders. However, there are countless of possibilities so just have fun with it!
The Serious Player
There is little doubt in my mind that the best character class in the game, as far as hard and fast leveling goes, is the Private. By level 6 a Private is a highly efficient XP machine that can level up approximately every 1-2 days.
When you first start as the private you should find a Police Department, preferably in a green or light yellow suburb. This does carry an inherent risk because it is a high profile building, but I feel it is well worth it. If you die you can get a revive or even start from scratch, after all it is just a level 1 character. When you do find a suitable Police Dept. you should search until you have an adequate supply of ammo. Then go out and try to kill a Zombie, I put emphasis on the word kill since a kill yields a 10 XP bonus. When you don't feel you can score a kill with the ammo you have anymore go back and get more. Rinse and repeat until you have the following skills:
After that you should relocate to a safe mall. Use the shopping skill to search the gun store and basically do the same thing you were doing before. A basic survival tactic you should practice after you obtain free running is to never sleep in a resource building. Always sleep in an adjacent building that is heavily barricaded or above instead. If you do that then your character dying will be become a nearly non-existent occurrence. Even PKers will rarely target you since most of them live for infamy and there is nothing that spreads word of mouth faster than killing someone in a crowded mall (a.k.a. exactly where you shouldn't be).
Overall your skill progression for this build should be as follows:
Pistol Training, Shotgun Training, Free Running, Shopping, Bargain Hunting, Advanced Pistol Training, Advanced Shotgun Training, Body Building, Construction. After that whatever you choose shouldn't really matter much. Just keep 200 XP ready so you can purchase Ankle Grab and Lurching Gait in the event of your character's death. That will make getting a revive far less costly AP-wise then it would otherwise be.
Class Specific Paths
Some people role-play by choosing the consumer because it is the category most people would fall under in a zombie apocalypse. Whatever path you choose there are always two paths, the role playing path and serious player path. The role player will attempt to gain experience in the manner most typical to the character class they selected while a serious player will attempt to master firearm and mall skills as fast as possible. Whatever you choose just make sure it's best suited to your play style.
Military
Probably the strongest of the 3 job categories. It has to pay slightly more than civilians to master every skill, but it's a small setback at best when you consider how fast they gain XP.
Private - Already covered this class thoroughly.
Scout - Underrated class. Free running means you shouldn't die due to a zombie break-in EVER so long as you sleep in non-conspicuous buildings. Just heal people until you can buy Basic Firearm Training, which is only 75 XP due to the Scout being a military class, and then you just continue as if you were a private. Although it's initially slower than the private, it has the advantage of additional safety.
Medic - Just heal randomly until you can buy basic firearm training, then continue as if you were a private. You pay slightly less then the other two in the long run, but the XP deficit you suffer at the beginning nullifies that completely in my opinion.
Civilian
The "balanced" class. In the long run you pay the least for skills then any other character-type. Overall, I'd definitely recommend them.
Consumer - The consumer's RP path and SP (Serious Player) path seem to be mostly the same since they have no real inclination to any part of the skill tree. I recommend going to a hospital and healing people for XP until you can buy either Basic Firearm Training or Diagnosis.
Firefighter - The first skill a Firefighter should get is Hand-to-Hand combat. This fulfills his RP role and is also a great way to gain XP in the early stages of the game. If you are a serious player you should then begin work on the Military tree, either mastering firearms or purchasing free running.
Cop - You basically play a cop in the exact same way you would play the Private in the "Serious Player" subsection I noted above.
Scientist
By far the hardest of the classes to play because of it's slow XP gain and the extra 50 XP it has to pay for Military Skills. It has it's advantages, but I wouldn't play it unless I wanted to RP or convert to a Zombie after level 5 or so.
Necrotech - I'd recommend you tag zombies with the extractor until you save 150 XP and buy free running. After that you can either continue on the scientist path with lab experience or start the long, grinding journey up the military skill tree. It's probably best if you don't start by purchasing firearm skills, and instead work on your axe attack. Axes are better for scientists than firearms in the early stages because it requires less skills to master and it gives you more damage per AP, at least until you completely master your fire arm and shopping tree.
Doctor - All you have to do is heal people. Then you should buy Free Running and be faced with the same dilemma the Necrotech lab has to deal with. Namely, slowly grinding up the military tree. I recommend you work on your hand to hand combat and axe proficiency before any firearm skills.
Zombie
Corpse - If you insist on starting as a zombie I recommend the following build order:
Lurching Gait, Ankle Grab, Neck Lurch, Rend Flesh, Death Grip, Tangling Grasp, Memories of Life. After that it's your choice.
Your main food source in this build is survivors that get stuck outside. For that reason you should always travel diagonally as you get more new squares per move. I prefer getting Neck Lurch over Rend Flesh first in this build because you can resort to ZKing if you can't find any humans stuck outside.
Starting As A Human - In my opinion, the Cop or the Firefighter are the two best classes for human to zombie conversion. They each have their pros and cons, but as civilian classes they can both be competent combatants and purchase Necrotech Employment without penalty. With a cop you start with a Flak Jacket. With a firefighter you start with the fireaxe, an extremely efficient way to earn XP in the early stages in the game.
Here are some good build orders:
Quick Start:
Cop:
Pistol Training, Shotgun Training, Free Running, Body Building, Necrotech Employment. After that you might consider trying to save around 500 XP so you can buy the following when you die: Lurching Gait, Ankle Grab, Vigor Mortis, Rend Flesh, Death Grip.
Firefighter:
Hand to Hand Combat, Free Running, Body Building, Necrotech Employment. Then just save XP until you feel you have enough to be an efficient zombie.
Long-Term Plan:
This for making a zombie that's an effective death cultist should he be revived:
Cop:
Pistol Training, Shotgun Training, Free Running, Shopping, Bargain Hunting, Advanced Pistol Training, Advanced Shotgun Training, Body Building, Necrotech Employment. Then save XP to buy what you need upon conversion.
Firefighter:
Hand to Hand Combat, Free Running, Pistol Training, Shotgun Training, Shopping, Bargain Hunting, Advanced Pistol Training, Advanced Shotgun Training, Body Building, Necrotech Employment. Then save XP to buy what you need upon conversion.
Generally speaking survivors gain XP faster than zombies, so I'd definitely recommend doing the human to zombie conversion path if you want to be a career zombie. If you start as a corpse, you're still going to have to get a revive in order to buy Body Building and find a flak jacket anyway. At least this way you will also be an efficient death cultist should you be combat revived.
Outro
Whatever path you choose just make sure you're having fun. Otherwise, no matter how fast you're gaining XP you're still doing it wrong. Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this Guide.
Take Care!
