New and veteran players try to use the many new features in 7 Days to Die 1.0, including the new Perk system. Developer The Fun Pimps overhauled how players get and use passive skills to help balance the benefits earned from early- to late-game. So, choosing the right Perks in 7 Days to Die is essential, and we’re here to help you out as you keep reading!

What are Perks in 7 Days to Die?

Perks are arguably the passive skills in 7 Days to Die. Skill Points can then be acquired by gaining XP and leveling up to a maximum of 300. Skill Points can be allocated to five Attributes: Perception, Strength, Fortitude, Agility, and Intellect, each providing unique benefits. Spending Skill Points also unlocks Attribute-specific Perks, which can be upgraded and require certain Attribute levels. Each Attribute includes perks for combat, gameplay, and scavenging or construction, depending on the category.

Top 10 Best Perks in 7 Days to Die, Ranked

Different Perks exist in 7 Days to Die, albeit some stand out from the rest. Below are some of the best Perks players can choose while surviving the wasteland now called Navezgane. Note that the following tier list doesn't have a strict rule. 7 Days to Die survivors are still free to choose which Perk to get. Instead, let the following list be a guide to help increase survivability in this zombie-riddled world.

10. Healing Factor

• In-Game Description: Specialize in boosting your natural healing rates as long as you're not starving. Self-healing will not work when you are out of food or water.
• Effects: Increases natural healing from 1 HP every 100 seconds to 1 HP every 48/31/17/9/6 seconds.

Death seems inevitable in 7 Days to Die, but it doesn’t have to be. Remember, dying in the game means losing all carried items, forcing players to dangerously backtrack to the death location to retrieve items. Investing in the Healing Factor Perk enhances passive healing, reducing accidental deaths, especially when players are faced with difficult confrontations.

9. Charismatic Nature

• In-Game Description: You are an inspiration to your allies, increasing their combat prowess.
• Effects: Skill Level 1: Allies and Party Members regenerate lost health 50% faster. Skill Level 2: Allies and Party Members gain 20% more Block and Melee Damage. Skill Level 3: Allies and Party Members take 10% less damage from all sources, take half damage from bleeding and stop bleeding twice as fast. Skill Level 4: Allies and Party Members find 10% better loot. Skill Level 5: Allies and Party Members find 20% better loot and gain +1 to all attributes.

Teamwork is essential while playing in a 7 Days to Die multiplayer server. So, why not increase your usefulness to the party with the Charismatic Nature Perk. The player with this Perk provides an aura that boosts nearby allies’ health, damage, defenses, attributes, and loot pickup chance. The radius of the aura is also reasonably large, allowing other team members to loot houses while the one with this Perk stays outside.

8. Living off the Land

• In-Game Description: Specialize in harvesting more crops using your hands or a tool.
• Effects: Skill Level 1: Double the harvest of wild or planted crops. Farm plots cost 30% less to craft. Skill Level 2: 50% chance to harvest 1 additional crop. Farm plots cost 50% less to craft. Skill Level 3: Triple the harvest of wild or planted crops.

Remember, fending off zombie hordes isn’t the only way to survive in Navezgane. After all, resource management is equally important, if not sometimes more essential, than combat in 7 Days to Die. So, enhance harvesting yields for wild and cultivated plants to make survival easier with the Living off the Land Perk. Additionally, each level gained for this Perk reduces the costs of creating farm plots, making them cheaper to make.

7. Lucky Looter

• In-Game Description: Specialize in tracking down the motherlode and maybe getting a little extra for your trouble. You find better loot with every perk level.
• Effects: Loot you find is 5/10/15/20/25% better. Containers take 10/20/40/60/80% less time to open. The Lucky Looter Perk Book is 3/5/7/9/11x more likely to appear in item containers, trader inventories, and as quest rewards.

Various items are all over the post-apocalyptic world of Navezgane, and it’s your job to find them, especially if you want to survive the weekly undead hordes. Improve the quality of items found in containers with the Lucky Looter Perk, significantly benefitting exploration. This Perk also speeds up looting, which is vital during intense moments when you need to loot fast and escape faster.

6. Master Chef

• In-Game Description: Learn how to become a Master Chief! Decrease cooking time and ingredients needed for your favorite recipes.
• Effects: Skill Level 1: Use 20% less of a recipe's main ingredients. Cook 40% faster. Find more cooking magazines in loot. Skill Level 2: Adds a chance to find salvageable food in dumpsters. Cook 60% faster. Skill Level 3: Use 40% less of a recipe's main ingredients. Cook 80% faster.

Zombie bites aren’t the only threats that linger in Navezgane, as you can also “bite the dust” from starvation and thirst. Become the Master Chef in 7 Days to Die with this Perk, and unlock various recipes by increasing the chances of finding cooking magazines in the wilderness. This Perk also reduces ingredient usage, enhancing cooking efficiency by reducing material costs, especially when cooking dishes like the Gumbo Stew.

5. Physician

• In-Game Description: Use medicine and health items more effectively.
• Effects: Skill Level 1: Treated Critical injuries heal 15% faster. Medical healing items heal 25% more health over time. Gain 100% more XP using bandages, first aid bandages, first aid kits and splints. Splints and Casts cure sprains instantly. Skill Level 2: Treated Critical injuries heal 25% faster. Medical healing items heal 50% more health over time. Gain 200% more XP using bandages, first aid bandages, first aid kits and splints. Craft items in the Chemistry Station 20% faster. Skill Level 3: Treated Critical injuries heal 50% faster. Medical healing items heal 100% more health over time. Gain 500% more XP using bandages, first aid bandages, first aid kits and splints. Skill Level 4: Gain additional 20% chance to dismember enemies with batons. Craft items in the Chemistry Station 40% faster. Skill Level 5: Each blow landed with a stun baton has a 10% chance for instant death.

The Physician Perk is one of the meatier passive skills in 7 Days to Die. Each Skill Point adds a plethora of positive effects, including faster treatments, additional health restored from healing items, and increased XP gained when using items like bandages and first aid kits. At Skill Level 5, this Perk also adds a chance of instantly killing enemies with a stun baton, letting you save and end lives as you please.

4. Rule 1: Cardio

• In-Game Description: Train your body in the number one tactic against the zombie menace: Running away from them.
• Effects: Increase stamina regen by 10/20/30% when sprinting.

A slow survivor is a dead one in 7 Days to Die. Players with low fitness levels often struggle to run without taking breaks. Allotting a Skill Point in the Rule 1: Cardio Perk increases stamina refresh speed by 20% while sprinting, significantly improving the player’s athletic performance and survivability. Now, you can outrun zombies and live to tell the tale.

3. Run and Gun

• In-Game Description: Improve your hip fire accuracy and run faster while reloading any ranged weapon.
• Effects: Hip fire accuracy is improved by 10/17/25% and movement penalty when reloading is reduced 30/60/100%.

Combine the Rule 1: Cardio Perk with the Run and Gun skill, and you have a recipe for running to safety while defeating as many zombies as possible. These two Perks make it particularly beneficial for anxious players and make it especially ideal when going through late-game content.

2. Dead Eye

• In-Game Description: Specialize in taking keen aim with rifles and wasting your target with an expertly-placed bullet. One shot, one kill."
• Effects: Rifles deal 10/20/30/40/50% more damage. Rifles aim 10/20/32/45/60% faster. Rifles reload 10/15/20/25/30% faster. Aiming a rifle costs -/-/10/20/30% less stamina. At Tier 3, Rack em up! Each kill with a rifle grants a Deadeye Stack. The following items are 3/5/7/9/11x more likely to appear in item containers, trader inventories and as quest rewards:
  • Pipe Rifle
  • Hunting Rifle
  • Lever-Action Rifle
  • Sniper Rifle
  • Rifle Parts
  • "Rifle World" Crafting Skill Magazine
  • "Sniper" Perk Book

Like the Physician Perk, Dead Eye provides many benefits to the player, albeit it focuses more on combat than overall survivability. In particular, the Dead Eye Perk improves various aspects of wielding rifles, especially aim, reload, stamina usage, and overall damage. After all, rifles invoke versatility and power to players who prefer ranged combat against the undead horde.

1. Parkour

• In-Game Description: Specialize in acrobatically getting anywhere you want to go, no matter how far up or far down that may be.
• Effects: Skill Level 1: Increase safe fall distance by one meter and reduce stamina cost of jumping by 10%. Skill Level 2: Reduce stamina cost of jumping by 20%. Increase safe fall distance by 2 meters and jump 1 meter higher. Skill Level 3: Reduce stamina cost of jumping by 30%. Increase safe fall distance by 4 meters and never get a broken leg when falling. Skill Level 4: Reduce stamina cost of jumping by 40%. Increase safe fall distance by 5, can jump 2 meters higher, and never get a sprained or broken leg when falling.

Arguably, Parkour is one of the best Perks in 7 Days to Die, if not the best Perk in the game. Adding Skill Points to it offers players various abilities, such as higher jumps, reduced jumping stamina usage, and the ability to fall greater distances without injury. Investing at least Skill Points in Parkour significantly improves survivability for any character build. Tip: Use the rare item Grandpa’s Fergit’n Elixir to reset Skill Points, allowing players to respec Perks. Also, check out our 7 Days to Die Perks Guide for more information about its mechanics, including those not included in the aforementioned list.