Best 7 Days to Die Builds (V3.3): Perks and Weapons

How we ranked them

1. Cost. Skill points from the file: attribute ranks 2 to 5 cost 1 each, 6 to 8 cost 2, 9 and 10 cost 3 (4 points to attribute 5, 16 to 10), plus 1 point per perk rank, at 1 point per level up to level 300.
2. Damage rate of the perk's best weapon. Damage × rate ÷ 60 at quality 6, from the ranked weapon guides. For guns, the best weapon with a magazine of 10 or more where the perk has one.
3. The perk's bonus at rank 5. Parsed from the rank text: "50% more damage", and for guns "25% faster fire rate" where it says so. Boosted = rate × (1 + damage) × (1 + fire rate).

The best build for each job

1. 

   Fortitude: best all-round (our pick). Machine Gunner (21 points alone) with the M60: 1,375 boosted, 733.3 before the perk, 60 rounds a magazine. The Brawler with Steel Knuckles is the best melee number (71.3). Mastery adds +50 then +50 max health. 31 points for all three. wiki.7d2d.net's Tank is the same attribute with fists then machine guns (wiki).

2. 

   Strength: shotgun and sledgehammer. Boomstick with the Auto Shotgun (660 boosted, 16 rounds; "50% more damage, 50% faster fire rate" at rank 5) and Skull Crusher with the Steel Sledgehammer (70.1). Mastery rank 4 is "Headshots with clubs or sledgehammers have an additional 50% chance to dismember enemies". 31 points. The wiki's Bruiser is the club and sledgehammer version.

3. 

   Perception: rifle (our pick for range). Dead Eye with the Sniper Rifle: 481 boosted, 12 rounds. Perception Mastery rank 5 adds "Rifle shots deal 50% more damage". 31 points with Salvage Operations (up to 20% more salvage per rank, see the mechanical parts guide).

4. 

   Agility: handgun, bow and stealth. Gunslinger with the SMG-5 (1,050), Archery with the Compound Crossbow (231; one shot per load, so it hits hard, not fast), Hidden Strike for +250% sneak damage at rank 5. Agility Mastery rank 5: "Fully drawn bow shots bypass enemy armor, dealing full damage plus an extra 25% damage". 36 points. The wiki calls this the Assassin.

5. 

   Intellect: base defender (our pick). Advanced Engineering rank 5 gives 75% XP from electrical trap kills and 20% cheaper forge recipes; Robotics Inventor for turrets; Stun Baton for melee. 26 points. It is the build for the horde base guide, and the wiki's Engineer.

6. 

   Cheapest start: any weapon perk to rank 3. 7 points (attribute 5, three ranks) for 30% more damage with that weapon family. It is opinion that this is where the first points should go; the wiki's leveling advice says the same (wiki).

7. 

   Scavenger (our pick, low priority). Perception 1 and Salvage Operations rank 1 for up to 20% more resources from a wrench, ratchet or impact driver. 1 skill point, the cheapest build here.

The 10 combat perks by boosted damage rate

#	Perk	Attribute	Points (rank 3 / 5)	Best weapon	Rate	Boosted
1	Machine Gunner	Fortitude	7 / 21	M60 Machine Gun	733.3	1,375
2	Gunslinger	Agility	7 / 21	SMG-5	560	1,050
3	Boomstick	Strength	7 / 21	Auto Shotgun	293.1	660
4	Dead Eye	Perception	7 / 21	Sniper Rifle	320.8	481
5	Archery	Agility	7 / 21	Compound Crossbow	154	231
6	The Brawler	Fortitude	7 / 21	Steel Knuckles	47.5	71
7	Skull Crusher	Strength	7 / 21	Steel Sledgehammer	46.8	70
8	Spear Master	Perception	7 / 21	Steel Spear	45.4	68
9	Pummel Pete	Strength	7 / 21	Steel Club	42.3	63
10	Deep Cuts	Agility	7 / 21	Machete	40.6	61

Is the Machine Gunner really the best?

What the points cost

Common mistakes

• Spreading points. Each weapon perk to rank 5 is 21 points; the wiki's advice is to push your main attribute past 5 to reach Mastery and add a second tree only for a specific perk (wiki).
• Choosing by raw rate. The Pipe Shotgun out-fires the Auto Shotgun and reloads every shot (magazine 1).
• Counting a Charismatic Nature perk in single player. IzPrebuilt calls it useless there (video); its text is about allies.
• Forgetting quality 6 needs a Legendary Part. See where to find them.

All 50 perks

FAQ