As a seasoned Dead Island 2 veteran with countless hours of zombie-slaying under my belt, I‘ve painstakingly unlocked and tested every Skill Card the game offers. What I‘ve discovered is a deep, synergistic Skill Card system that allows truly god-like powers of destruction!
This comprehensive guide distills all my hard-won knowledge down into easily-digestible tips for constructing the ultimate zombie killing machines. Read on to master Skill Cards and achieve your characters‘ maximum potential!
What Are Skill Cards and How Do They Work?
For those new to the system, Skill Cards are powerful modifiers you can equip to enhance damage, improve defense, unlock new abilities, provide attribute bonuses, and more.
You can equip up to 15 total Skill Cards in 5 slots:
- Abilities (5 slots) – Special attacks like drop kicks, war cries, slams
- Survivor (4 slots) – Defensive improvements, lifesteal effects
- Slayer (4 slots) – Offensive damage increases, critical hit chance
- Numen (2 slots) – Fury mode enhancements
Characters also get 2 innate skill slots with unlocked upgrades.
In my experience, Skill Cards are the true key to achieving god-mode powers of destruction in Dead Island 2. Even more so than picking the best weapons – a perfectly optimized Skill Card build allows you to eliminate even the game‘s most fearsome zombie types with ease.
How to Unlock New Skill Cards
The majority of Skill Cards are unlocked automatically by playing through the main storyline quests. Every major plot point milestone will reward you with 2-3 new cards.
However, some special Skill Cards require unlocking through additional side activities:
- Leveling Up: Every 2-3 character levels, you‘ll earn 1-2 new Skill Card options
- Exploring: Looting locked chests or hidden areas may reveal rare cards
- Completing Challenges: Special bounties award new Skill Cards
I obtained nearly 80% of all available Skill Cards simply by playing through the main story campaign. Only a handful required targeted farming through additional exploration or intentionally leveling up.
However, even duplicate cards still provided permanent bonuses. So don‘t worry about wasting time hunting Skill Cards earlier than necessary!
Abilities – Unlock New Combat Maneuvers and Tactics
Ability cards introduce powerful combat maneuvers that expand your tactical options dramatically.
By endgame, you‘ll have access to different attacks like flying kicks, drop kicks, various slams, screams, war cries, charges, and more. These new attack forms open up all-new devastating combo chains.
I prefer a balanced mix of offensive melee attacks like Ground Pound combined with tactical mobility like Dodge. This provides both raw damage and positional control over large zombie crowds.
Here‘s a comparison of some of my favorite high-DPS ability combos:
| Ability 1 | Ability 2 | Damage/Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Drop Kick | Dash Strike | Knocks back groups while closing on priority targets |
| Ground Pound | War Cry | AoE crowd control plus damage mitigation |
| Overhead Slam | Dodge | Reliable high damage and escape |
| Scream | Drop Kick | Weakens crowds then disrupts with kicks |
Ground Pound and Dash Strike also generate massive damage when combined with Hammer Fists from the Slayer tree. Their force and impact allow relentless crowd control.
Don‘t underestimate support skills like Block or Dodge either. Proper timing while surrounded provides invaluable breathing room and keeps your multiplier running. This feeds into higher DPS overall.
Survivor – Improve Defensiveness and Sustainability
While offensively-focused ability and slayer skills are indispensable for dishing out high damage, Survivor cards are what prevent untimely deaths.
Their defensive and sustainability bonuses bolster weak areas to prevent mistakes or overextensions from spelling doom. They‘re often the difference between flawless victory and humiliating defeat.
I lean heavily on sustain cards like Safety First which restores lots of health whenever you perform a perfect block. I‘ve found prioritizing defense over pure offense better enables surviving extended battles.
My preferred Survivor loadout focuses on bolstering weak areas instead of enhancing strengths:
- Rally Cry – removing negative status effects is invaluable
- Safety First – reliable regeneration between waves
- Thick Skin – reduces reliance on perfect blocks/dodges
- Lightning Rod – mitigates formerly dangerous electric zombies
This loadout provides well-rounded sustainability perfect for outpacing the zombie horde‘s attritional damage.
The following table shows how various survivor cards allow different playstyle options:
| Card | Playstyle | Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Thick Skin | Heavyweight Tank | Withstand punishment |
| Rally Cry | Reactive Support | Group buffing |
| Safety First | Counterattacker | Punish mistakes |
| Personal Space | Aggressive Melee | Rewards risky positioning |
Slayer – Specialize in Offensive Power
Slayer cards provide the most direct offensive damage bonuses possible. Properly stacked, they enable eliminating even dense crowds or minibosses with ease.
As a high-risk, high-reward damage specialist, I optimize fully into offense with my Slayer build:
- Skull Skewer – demolishes grouped zombies
- Unrelenting – rewards focus fire
- Heavy Hitter – stronger attacks over faster attacks
- Hunting Season – alternating weapon styles
Combined with hard-hitting weapons and ground pounds for crowd control, Slayers can unleash absolute devastation. The highest single-target DPS characters I‘ve built relied on Slayers over any other card type.
Some especially deadly combinations include:
- Janus Rage + Juggernaut – massive damage buffs during Fury mode
- Pay It Forward + No Mercy – exploiting elemental weaknesses
- Breakdancer + Pummel – quickly stacks force for harder hits
Proper timing remains essential however. Getting surrounded or making a mistake still invites disaster. This is where Survivor cards shine – protecting glass cannon builds from their own fragility.
Numen – Unlock Game-Changing Fury Abilities
Numen cards offer powerful enhancements specifically during your Fury mode state. Their unique effects open up epic gameplay-changing possibilities.
Activating Fury mode already boosts damage and crit rate substantially on its own. But clever Numens transform you into an entirely different beast!
As a hardcore min-maxer, I love warpig Numen builds that exploit Fury mode‘s already OP bonuses to a game-breaking degree:
- Anger Mismanagement – extends Fury duration by draining your health
- Corpse Explosion – slain enemies explode during Fury
- Born Survivor – emergency low health activation
Rather than mildly improve an existing state, clever Numens abuse Fury mechanics to enable completely unique playstyles unavailable otherwise.
For example, Seismic Stomp‘s explosions from maimed enemies stun whole groups. Combine with ground pounds for endless crowd control potential.
And Glass Cannon‘s massive crit damage buff melts even minibosses before the weakened defenses become exploitable downsides.
Carefully stacking multiply Numen effects creates deadly positive feedback loops. This highlights the vast synergistic potential between card types when stacked creatively.
Optimizing Skill Selection by Character
Beyond choosing complementary cards within types, optimizing your overall build around signature character strengths is crucial.
Each zombie slayer plays uniquely, with innate combat bonuses and specialized backstories lending towards different specialties.
When planning your build, doubling down on your character‘s innate tools results in exponentially superior performance compared to one-size-fits all selections.
As an obsessive min-maxing enthusiast, here are my recommended focused builds for each character:
Ryan
- Innate: Retaliation (boosts counter damage) + Seesaw (regains health after knockdowns)
- Abilities: Ground Pound, Dash Strike
- Survivor: Thick Skin, Lightning Rod
- Slayer: No Mercy, Heavy Hitter
- Numen: Anger Mismanagement, Glass Cannon
Ryan suits bullying playstyles perfectly with innates rewarding blocks and knockdowns. Boosting his already formidable toughness and retaliation damage enables department as an unstoppable brawler.
Bruno
- Innate: Backstab (bonus back damage) + Rapid Reprisal (faster combos)
- Abilities: Drop Kick, Dodge
- Survivor: Safety First, Personal Space
- Slayer: Hunting Season, Hack and Dash
- Numen: Born Survivor, Corpse Explosion
Bruno favors fluid mid-range skirmishing, dancing between ranged and melee attacks. Enable this by boosting the speed, spacing control, and combo potential of his flexible fighting style.
Dani
- Innate: Bloodlust (kill streak lifesteal) + Thunderstruck (bonus slams)
- Abilities: Dash Strike, Scream
- Survivor: Rallying Cry, Invigorating
- Slayer: Breakdancer, Heavy Hitter
- Numen: Anger Mismanagement, Seismic Stomp
Dani specializes as an ultra aggressive berserker who overwhelms enemies with speed. Boost this with mobility attacks to engage/disengage at will while enhancing damage to fuel Bloodlust healing.
Jacob
- Innate: Feral (cons. damage ramp) + Critical Gains (low stam = big crits)
- Abilities: Ground Pound, Dodge
- Survivor: Safety First, Lightning Rod
- Slayer: Unrelenting, No Mercy
- Numen: Glass Cannon, Corpse Explosion
Jacob‘s innates reward aggressive attacking and high risk play. Boost multiplying damage bonuses and juicy critical hit effects to enable explosive skirmishing and execution playstyles.
Carla
- Innate: Mosh Pit (crowds buff damage) + Dig Deep (toughness at low health)
- Abilities: War Cry, Overhead Slam
- Survivor: Rally Cry, Thick Skinned
- Slayer: Carnage, Heavy Hitter
- Numen: Anger Mismanagement, Corpse Explosion
Carla suits wading into the thick of crowds with heavy attacks while weathering retribution attacks. Granting additional durability and damage against grouped enemies enables her to obliterate entire hordes.
Amy
- Innate: Divide & Conquer (isolation damage) + Relief Pitcher (regen stamina)
- Abilities: Scream, Flying Kick
- Survivor: Lightning Rod, Personal Space
- Slayer: Deadeye, Hack & Dash
- Numen: Seismic Stomp, Born Survivor
Amy favors skirmishing play, avoiding direct confrontation in favor of opportunistic attacks. Grant mobility and sustain so she can wittle down groups at leisure before withdrawal.
As demonstrated by the specialized builds above, doubling down on signature strengths yields substantially greater results than one-size-fits all selections. This holds true for Skill Card builds just as [weapon](https://deadisland.fandom.com/wiki/Weapon_ blueprint) and [attribute](https://deadisland.fandom.com/wiki/Attributes_(Dead_Island_2) choices.
Closing Thoughts – Prepare for Complete Zombie Annihilation!
And there you have it – everything you need to know about mastering Skill Cards to enable the ultimate zombie-slaying machines in Dead Island 2!
By combining complementary cards that enhance your strengths, shore up weaknesses, unlock new abilities, and enable you to exploit multiplying damage combos, it‘s possible to achieve god-like powers of destruction.
Clever slotting can transform you from easily overwhelmed novice to unstoppable harbinger of the zombie apocalypse bringing abyssal suffering to your foes!
I hope these insights from countless hours of hands-on decimation serve you well. Now get out there and start snapping limbs like twigs underfoot – the shambling hordes won‘t exterminate themselves after all!
Let none survive your onslaught lest they inexorably overwhelm all vestiges of struggling civilization left standing!
