How to survive first seven days in 7 Days to Die – Complete survival guide

7 Days to Die will challenge every bit of zombie-apocalypse survival knowledge you have, and getting though the first seven nights can be a struggle. While its crafting system is similar to Minecraft and its mechanics are almost related to the Fallout franchise, fighting these hordes is going to require unique strategies.

If you’re just getting started in 7 Days to Die and you want to get through at least one week, here’s everything you need to know.

How to survive the first night in 7 Days to Die

One of the hardest tasks in 7 Days to Die is understanding what will keep you alive during your first night. In a world overrun by zombies, you don’t have much time to test which strategy will work out best, and you’ll have to make do with what you have at hand.

During your first night, you must figure out how to maintain four stats: Health, Stamina, Water, and Food. Here are the steps you’ll need to follow:

• Complete the Tutorial Challenges as fast as you can.
• Get Food and Water.
• Collect Rocks, Wood, and Fiber to craft your first Weapons and Armor.
• Find a Shelter before 4 PM.

Collecting Food and Water is going to be vital in keeping you healthy after all the effort of figuring out your shelter situation. Keep in mind that if you don’t drink or eat anything for a long time, it will slow your movement and action speed, and eventually kill you if it gets to zero.

You can check out more survival tips in our first-night survival guide, where there’s everything you should be aware of during the first day.

Best locations for a Starter Base in 7 Days to Die

The best locations for your Starter Base in 7 Days to Die are usually POIs that are near resources and other buildings. Building your own base could be ideal if you are willing to make that effort in the endgame, but using prebuilt locations is the way to go while you’re busy gathering resources.

Here’s the list of the best locations for your Starter Base:

• Grain Silos
• Farm
• Bart’s Salvage
• Trailer Park

Keep in mind that zombies will destroy anything in their path to get to you, even if you’re inside a building or shelter. Collecting resources will allow you to repair your base after you were targeted, and even make your defenses a bit more sturdy for them to last even the toughest Blood Moon.

If you’re planning on picking a POI for your base, try to locate one that’s near the resources you need to survive for the first few days. Zombies are extremely reactive during nighttime, so remember to collect everything before the sun goes down.

You can check out our Best Starter Base locations guide for more tips on how to pick your location during the 7 Days to Die early game.

Best Crafting Recipes for beginners

You can craft in your Inventory window and when interacting with workstations such as a Campfire, a Forge, a Workbench, a Cement Mixer, and a Chemistry Station. Crafting is one of the core mechanics of 7 Days to Die, and it’s what ultimately defines whether you have what it takes to survive.

Every utility has its own unique Recipes, but you can get all ingredients via looting, farming, or mining. During the early game, you’ll need to quickly get a Campfire and a Cooking Pot for some basic recipes. Here are what essential Crafting Recipes you should get:

• Food: Baked Potato, Corn Bread, Grilled Corn, Grilled Meat, Boiled Egg, Boiled Meat, Bacon and Eggs, Honey.
• Drinks: Water, Goldenrod Tea, Coffee, Red Tea, Murky Water, Yucca Juice.
• Medicine: Aloe Cream, Antibiotics, Bandage, First Aid Bandage, Fort Bites, Herbal Antibiotics, Plaster Cast, Splint.
• Furniture: Bicycle, Candle, Flashlight.
• Building materials: Building Block, Cobblestone Block, Concrete Block, Bedroll, Dew Collector, Torch.

You can unlock more Crafting Recipes from Magazines and Recipe Books, which are lootable items that you can find inside bookcases and other containers.

Tips for scavenging & finding loot early

Looting and scavenging for materials, resources, and ingredients is what your days are going to be all about in 7 Days to Die. After finding your base for your first night, you’ll need to start collecting items to boost your survival chances.

These items will spawn depending on how long you manage to survive, which is measured in four different tiers. Tiers are determined by which Loot Stage you are at, and it’s calculated depending on your endgame level and the number of days you’ve survived.

• In Tier 0, you’ll get primitive items, Stone Tools, Scrap armor, and other basic Mod schematics.
• In Tier 1, you’ll find more items made from iron, weapons, and normal schematics.
• In Tier 2 is where you’ll get rare schematics, the best food recipes, and the best available melee weapons and armor.
• In Tier 3, you’ll get to loot the best firearms available, tools, and even vehicles.

Here’s everything you can find in 7 Days to Die:

• Ores
• Clothing & Warm Clothing
• Hazmat Gear
• Sport Goods
• Armor
• Weapons & Ammo
• Weapon Parts
• Mods
• Dyes
• Perk Books
• Tools, Mod, Armor, Weapon, Vehicle and Electrical Schematics
• Food, Rare Food, Canned Food, Candy, Cool Foods
• Drinks & Beverages
• Seeds & Crops
• Workbench, Forge, Cement Mixer, and Workstation Loot.
• Tools
• Electrical Devices
• Automotive
• Working Stiffs
• Medicine
• Lab Equipment
• Vehicle Parts
• Treasure Maps

You can increase your Loot quality at any stage by getting the Lucky Looter perk, Eye Kandy, and Lucky Goggles.

How to fight and kill zombies in 7DtD

The fastest way to kill a zombie is by destroying its head, which you can do with a well-placed headshot or hitting it repeatedly with melee weapons.

Remember that these creatures tend not to be alone, so there are some factors you need to think about before going on a zombie rampage:

• Check your surroundings. It’s always better to be in an open space where your vision isn’t blocked, and you can freely move around without accidentally encountering another zombie.
• Try to “train” the Normal zombies you are killing. If you find them during the daytime, you can easily make them follow a straight line and hit them before taking a few steps back. Repeat the process until you kill all of them.
• If you’re using Melee weapons, make sure to save your Stamina to deal as many Strong Attacks as you can instead of a few Weak Attacks.
• Always carry a few Building Blocks. They can help you if you need to improvise a barricade, and if you stack a few of them, they’ll give you enough height to momentarily escape creatures like Zombie Dogs.
• Try to dismember a zombie’s legs to slow them down.
• You can cut off zombie’s arms to reduce the damage and stun chances.

Zombie’s behavior changes depending on the time of the day. After 8 AM, these creatures become sluggish and won’t chase you if you stay far away. However, if they spot you, they’ll move in a straight line and destroy anything that crosses their path. After 8 PM, zombies start running around and won’t only wander the map more actively, but they’ll hunt you down if they discover where you’re staying.

Remember that zombies can detect you by your proximity, by sight, or by following light and heat sources.

Here’s a list of every zombie you can encounter in 7 Days to Die:

• Normal zombies
  • Departed women
  • Festering Corpse
  • Infected Mother
  • Infected Survivor
  • Plagued Nurse
  • Putrid Girl
  • Rotting Carcass
  • Reanimated Corpse
  • Skater Punk Zombie
  • Zombie Janitor
  • Party Girl
  • Lab Zombie
  • Utility Worker Zombie
• Tough zombies
  • Bloated Walker
  • Fat Hawaiian
  • Fallen Soldier
  • Frozen Lumberjack
  • Hazmat Male zombie
  • Hungry female zombie
  • Zombie biker
• Special Infected
  • Burn Victim
  • Crawler zombie
  • Demolisher
  • Feral Wight
  • Mutated zombie
  • Infected Police Officer
  • Screamer
  • Spider zombies
• Animal zombies
  • Zombie Bears
  • Zombie Dogs
  • Zombie Vultures

Managing hunger and thirst in 7 Days to Die

There are two major stats in 7 Days to Die that can affect your overall Health and Stamina, called Food and Water. These meters can apply various buffs when they are full, but they will also give you some serious debuffs and finally get you killed if you ignore them completely.

These two stats will decrease as you’re playing naturally. Water will decrease by 40 points per hour, and Food will decrease steadily by 30 points per hour.

Here’s what happens as your Water and Food levels are depleted:

Status	Water Status Effect	Food Status Effect
Above 75 points	Stamina recovers 15% faster	—
Below 50%	Thirsty	Hungry
Below 25%	Dehydrated – Reduces Max Stamina	Very Hungry – Reduces Max Stamina
Below 2%	Severely Dehydrated – Makes damage over time and reduces Stamina.	Starving – Makes damage over time and reduces Stamina.
When recovering Stamina	—	More Food is consumed per hour.
When recovering Health	More Water is consumed per hour.	—

These two meters can also be affected by Temperature, other of your main stats. If you are Cold or Freezing, your Food meter will drain faster over time. If you’re Hot or Sweltering, your Water level will drop faster.

To replenish these meters or to remove your debuffs, you can either consume a Drink or eat Food that you’ve prepared with items you farmed, foraged, or looted.

Here’s every type of food and beverage that you can find or craft in 7 Days to Die:

• Cooked Recipes
  • Charred Meat
  • Boiled Egg
  • Grilled Corn
  • Baked Potato
  • Corn Bread
  • Grilled Meat
  • Boiled Meat
  • Bacon and Eggs
  • Blueberry Pie
  • Pumpkin Bread
  • Pumpkin Pie
  • Pumpkin Cheesecake
  • Meat Stew
  • Vegetable Stew
  • Steak and Potato Meal
  • Hobo Stew
  • Fish Tacos
  • Chili Dog
  • Sham Chowder
  • Tuna Fish Gravy Toast
  • Shepard’s Pie
  • Spaghetti
  • Gumbo Stew
• Raw Food
  • Blueberries
  • Corn Meal
  • Ear of Corn
  • Ear of Super Corn
  • Egg
  • Jar of Honey
  • Mushrooms
  • Old Sham Sandwich
  • Potato
  • Pumpkin
  • Raw Meat
  • Rotting Flesh
  • Yucca Fruit
• Canned Food
  • Cat Food
  • Chili
  • Dog Food
  • Miso
  • Pasta
  • Pears
  • Peas
  • Salmon
  • Sham
  • Stock
  • Chicken Ration
  • Tuna
  • Soup
  • Lamb Rations
  • Large Beef Rations
• Drinks
  • Murky Water
  • Water
  • Goldenrod Tea
  • Red Tea
  • Yucca Juice
  • Coffee
  • Beer
  • Yucca Juice Smoothie
  • Blackstrap Coffee
  • Pure Mineral Water

7 Days to Die best weapons to craft early

Weapon	Ingredients	Description
Stone Axe	Small Stone x2, Plant Fibers x2, Wood x2.	— Damage: 6 — Block Damage: 21.5 — Range: 2.4 — Stamina Usage: 8 — Attacks per Minute: 105
Wooden Club	Wood x5	— Damage: 12 — Block Damage: 11.6 — Range: 2.4 — Stamina Usage: 17.4 — Attacks per Minute: 55
Bone Knife	Bone x5	— Damage: 5.1 — Block Damage: 2.5 — Range: 2 — Stamina Usage: 7.3 — Attacks per Minute: 120
Steel Arrow	Steel Arrowhead x2, Scrap Polymers x2	— Damage: 42 — Block Damage: 5 — Velocity: 55
Stone Arrow	Small Stone x1, Wood x1, Feather x1	— Damage: 35 — Block Damage: 1 — Velocity: 45
Primitive Bow	Wood x8, Plant Fibers x3	— Damage: Up to 175 depending on the arrow used. — Block Damage: — Range: 100

You won’t have many weapon options during the early game, and your best bet is to craft something that you can use right away. While one of the first options you can craft is Pointed Sticks, the six weapons we mentioned above will work better after you’ve survived your first night.

How to use skill points in 7DtD

In 7 Days to Die, Skill Points are used to get Perks and to level up your five main attributes Intellect, Perception, Strength, Fortitude, Agility. While how you allocate your points will depend on your playstyle, we recommend you focus on leveling up your Strength, Intellect, and Fortitude during the early game.

This combo won’t only let you be more effective during fights, but will also increase your physical resilience while you figure out how to survive in the first few days. Here’s what your attributes are all about:

• Fortitude: Measures your physical resilience. Best Perks: Living Off the Land, Iron Gut, Rule 1: Cardio.
• Agility: Boosts your athletic skills. Best Perks: From the Shadows, Flurry of Blows, Archery, Parkour, and Run and Gun.
• Strength: Measures the effectiveness of your blows, and how much damage you can tolerate. Best Perks: Pummel Pete, Miner 69’er, Mother Lode.
• Perception: Improves your sensory awareness. Best Perks: Animal Tracker, Lucky Looter.
• Intellect: Boosts your crafting, and your charisma abilities. Best Perks: Better Barter, Grease Monkey, The Daring Adventurer, Physician.

Preparing for the Blood Moon horde in 7 Days to Die

The Blood Moon is an event that happens every week in 7 Days to Die, where a horde of zombies will spawn near your location and try to hunt you down. While you can hide and run away from them, they won’t give up until the morning comes.

What time does the Blood Moon start?

The Blood Moon night officially starts at 6 PM. where you’ll hear the storm coming towards you and lightning lights up the sky as the evening approaches. At 8 PM, the sky will turn red and once the clock reaches 10 PM, you’ll have to survive the zombie horde until 4 AM.

This event happens every seven days by default, and you know that you’re about to live through one since the game will mark the date number in red.

Best tricks for bases during Blood Moon

You surely have a base you love after surviving a week in 7 Days to Die, but facing a Blood Moon is completely different. We recommend you build or find a new location not only to save yourself but to avoid zombies damaging everything you worked hard to craft.

When looking for a new base for your first Blood Moon, try following these tips

• Build or find a base specifically for the Blood Moon.
• Find or build a layered base with plenty of room for you to move around. This will be particularly helpful when facing Radiated ferals and Demolishers.
• Remember that Blood Moon hordes will focus on the weakest point of your base, so always remember to fortify your wall.
• If you want to use vehicles to escape the horde, only do so when playing in groups. Zombies like Vultures can still catch you and can easily swarm you if you’re alone and don’t have a strategy.
• Make use of a high ground. While zombies can climb, they aren’t able to attack you while doing so. You’ll get a great view if your base has more than two stories, and you get to eliminate any threats while they trying to get you.
• Building a tall building will take more time and resources than finding a large one in the city. You can try building a tower on your own, but make sure that hordes can’t tear its base down causing it to collapse.

Surviving the first days in 7 Days to Die can be more than a challenge if you just stick to completing quests. You’ll need to use all your zombie apocalypse knowledge to stay alive during the early game, but keep in mind that things are only going to get harder after you get through your first Blood Moon.