Encumbrance

A typical survivor's encumbrance level.

Encumbrance is basically "how much stuff you're carrying". This is indicated below the player's inventory in the form:

You are 71% encumbered.

Where the percentage ranges from 0% when carrying nothing, up to 100% or more, at which point no more items can be carried. When above 99% you will need to remove enough items form your inventory by dropping, or where appropriate using or reloading, to take you below 100% before you can pick up anything with an encumbrance percentage. Note that at 0% encumbrance, Stale Candy can be picked up or received by being given at any encumbrance level.

This was implemented on 6th March 2007:

• These and other heavy or unwieldy items now take up more space in players' inventories, and the total level of encumbrance is now shown. Being at an encumbrance level of 100% or greater means, as before, that you cannot pick up further items.

Inventory Slots

As well as the encumbrance percentage, each inventory is also limited by inventory slots. Just as you can't pick up items while being 100% encumbered or more, if the items that you are carrying fill 81 slots or more then you cannot pick up any more items either, giving the following message when searching:

Despite your encumbrance, you simply cannot carry any more.

Most items take only a single inventory slot, and so it's very rare to unintentionally exceed the slot limit, however, if you carry too many radios (which fill 5 slots - 4 of which store the radio's frequency) then you may receive this message.

For a full list of the number of slots that each item fills, see the Item codes article.

Individual Item Encumbrances

This list is assumed to be complete, but feel free to add any missing data.

Item	Encumbrance	Category	Notes
Baseball Bat	2%	Melee
Beer	2%	Assorted/Misc
Binoculars	4%	Useful
Book	2%	Assorted/Misc
Christmas Lights	2%	Decotative
Christmas Tree	20%	Decorative	Plastic or fir
Cricket Bat	4%	Melee
Crowbar	4%	Melee
Crucifix	2%	Assorted/Misc
Decorative Items	20%	Decorative	Most but not all - see individual listings for skulls, etc.
DNA Extractor	4%	Useful
Fencing Foil	4%	Melee
Fire Axe	6%	Melee
First Aid Kit	2%	Useful
Flak Jacket	2%	Useful
Flare Gun	2%	Firearms
Fuel Can	10%	Useful
Golf Club	4%	Melee
GPS Unit	2%	Useful
Hockey Stick	4%	Melee
Knife	2%	Melee
Length of Pipe	4%	Melee
Mobile Phone	2%	Useful
Newspaper	2%	Assorted/Misc
Pistol (empty or loaded)	4%	Firearms
Pistol Clip	2%	Firearms
Poetry Book	2%	Assorted/Misc
Pool Cue	4%	Melee
Portable Generator	20%	Useful
Pumpkin	20%	Decorative
Radio	4%	Useful
Radio Transmitter	20%	Useful
Revivification Syringe	2%	Useful
Shotgun (empty or loaded)	6%	Firearms
Shotgun Shell	2%	Firearms
Ski Pole	4%	Melee
Skull	6%	Decorative
Spray Can	2%	Useful
Stale Candy	0%	Assorted/Misc
Tinsel	20%	Decorative
Tennis Racket	4%	Melee
Toolbox	16%	Useful
Wine	4%	Assorted/Misc
Wirecutters	4%	Assorted/Misc

See Also

• Inventory - Including Inventory Slots
• Item Codes - Lists the number of slots each item takes
• Encumbrance Calculator - For figuring out an optimal inventory
• Guides:Managing Encumbrance - A guide to maximizing encumbrance potential.