Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. Guides

The best Skill Cards in Dead Island 2

Jesse Lennox
By

You may not think a first-person game about bashing zombies with all sorts of melee weapons would be an RPG, but Dead Island 2 is a little deceptive like that. Each of the six playable Slayers has its own base stats, but once you’ve selected them, there’s not much else to worry about in that regard. What will really define your build is the Skill Cards. These act as a mixture of abilities and buffs you can slot into your character, but unlike a traditional skill tree where you simply unlock new skills as you go, cards can be swapped in and out whenever you like. While that’s great for versatility, the sheer number of cards can make creating an effective build more intimidating than a swarm of flesh-eaters. Before you take on the horrors of Hell-A, take a look at the best Skill Cards in Dead Island 2.

How to get Skill Cards

A man overlooking a railing on a balcony.

Before getting into the deeper aspects of Skill Cards in Dead Island 2, you need to know how to actually get more of these bad boys. You’ll start with two Innate Skills for your chosen Slayer, and get your first one when you hit level 2, but the system won’t open up to you until you hit level 3.

Recommended Videos

The majority of Skill Cards you’re going to get simply come from leveling up. Every level you gain has a good chance of unlocking a new Skill Card, but which card you get will slightly vary depending on which character you chose since some are exclusive to certain characters, and not every level guarantees a new card.

Related

A smaller number of Skill Cards are held as rewards for completing side quests, held by dangerous Apex Infected, or simply hidden on the map.

In total Dead Island 2 has more than 50 Skill Cards to collect and equip.

How to unlock more slots

You’ll find very quickly that you will be getting far more cards than you can slot in at once. Each of the four categories of cards has a set limit of how many cards you can equip, but at the start, most of them are locked. Unlocking a new slot is also tied to leveling up, meaning that any level will either give you a new card, a new slot, or sometimes both! By the time you reach level 30, all your slots will be unlocked for a total of 15 card slots. That will break down as five Abilities cards, four Survivor, four Slayer, and two Numen.

If you don’t see the Numen category of cards, don’t worry — this category is locked until you hit a certain point in the main campaign.

Best Skill Cards for each category

Examining the ground pound skill card.

Best Abilities cards

Dodge: Your only two defensive options are Dodge and Block, and we find Dodge better in just about every way. While Block can allow for parries, Dodge synergizes better with other skills and keeps you mobile while fighting.

Dash Strike: The most exciting Skill Card you get early is Dash Strike, and you can comfortably keep it equipped the entire game if you want. This move costs a lot of stamina but is a crazy strong palm strike that will weaken a zombie (assuming it doesn’t outright kill it).

Flying Kick: You start out with a normal jump kick, but upgrading to the Flying Kick will make it your go-to opening move in most situations. You can pick between this and Drop Kick, which deals less damage but knocks zombies over, but we prefer the higher damage.

Ground Pound: If you’re ever feeling overwhelmed and need to make some space to heal. By striking the ground you will send out a small shockwave that drains any zombie’s stability in range, so you can also use it offensively too.

Best Survivor cards

Safety First: This card needs to be equipped alongside Dodge since its whole purpose is to improve that skill. With both equipped, every successful dodge restores some health, allowing you to conserve health packs and stay aggressive longer.

Wrecking Ball: Want Flying Kick to be even better? Thrown on Wrecking Ball to make your deadly kicks also inflict the Weakened status on zombies.

Vivisuction: While we’re pairing skills together, you can’t pass up Vivisuction if you love Dash Strike as much as we do. Slap it on to regain health with every successful strike.

Short Fuse: Once you unlock Fury mode, you will get a new meter that shows how much it has built up. If you find it takes too long to activate, Short Fuse lets you unleash your rage with only half a bar.

Best Slayer cards

Janus Rage: This is a great passive boost that either increases your Stamina when your Fury bar is full or gives a damage boost when it isn’t.

No Mercy: Odds are you have a weapon with some type of status on it, and this card makes any damage you deal to a zombie inflicted with one take even more damage.

The Limb Reaper: For even more health regen, because you will never not need it, Limb Reaper works by restoring some health for every limb you sever. At the rate limbs fly in Dead Island 2, you’ll stay quite healthy with this card.

Best Numen cards

Corpse Blossom: Also working with status effects, Corpse Blossom turns any zombie killed with a status into a bomb of that type, such as an electrical explosion, that hits anything else near it.

Born Survivor: You start with this Numen card, but you should honestly keep it on. As long as you have Fury, a hit that would otherwise kill you instead causes an explosion, drains your Fury, and gives you a chance to regenerate health by attacking for a short time.

Editors' Recommendations

Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox
Jesse Lennox loves writing, games, and complaining about not having time to write and play games. He knows the names of more…
All Curveball locations in Dead Island 2
A pipebomb with kaboom written on it.

Your bread-and-butter method for dispatching the undead in Dead Island 2 will always be the strongest blunt or bladed melee weapon you have on hand. There's certainly no shortage of shovels, knives, gardening equipment, and even swords to choose from, but you can also mix things up with some throwable items as well -- and we don't just mean throwing your weapon. Curveballs, as the game calls them, are more like skills that can be equipped than weapons since they work on a cooldown timer rather than ammo. Your character can only hold two at once, but there are 13 in total to experiment with. You'll be given one by default, but the rest are up to you to collect. Here's a full list of all the Curveballs in Dead Island 2 and where to find them.
How to get all the Curveballs in Dead Island 2

We'll list off the Curvballs, their locations, and their effects in the order you should naturally come across them while playing Dead Island 2. If you miss one, you can always fast travel back to the area to collect it later. While you can only have two Curveballs equipped at any time, you can swap them out no matter where you are, so feel free to try them all out and change up your loadout depending on your current situation.
Meat Bait
Given as part of the story by Carlos in Emma's house, this lets you throw out a chunk of meat that explodes on impact into a pool of meat(?) that attracts all nearby zombies to it.
Shuriken
On your way to the Halperin Hotel, the Shuriken are lodged into a car door directly in front of you. Using these throws out three Shuriken in a horizontal spread that travels a short distance before falling. They don't do a lot of damage, but can stagger and even remove limbs if you aim them well.
Chem Bomb
This is the second unmissable Curveball and is given to you inside the Halperin Hotel to put out a fire. It is good for more than just fire control, though, since you can use it to make zombies wet and susceptible to electricity.
Caustic-X Bomb
Keep your eye out for "The Rav-Ages of Caustic-X" sidequest if you want to add this to your arsenal. Completing this quest will reward you with a bouncing bomb that deals some damage, but is mainly used for applying the Melting status on zombies and leaving behind damaging acid.
Electric Star
You'll be taken to the Brentwood Water Reclamation Project plant during the "Justifiable Zombicide" mission. While there, make sure to snag the Electric Star sticking out of the safety sign on the fence. If you missed it, you can also purchase it from Rodriguez later on. This Curvball is a straight upgrade over the Shuriken since it functions exactly the same, but is electrified.
Pipe Bomb
While going through the checkpoints between Beverly Hills and Monarch Studios, keep an eye out for an open crate with the Pipe Bomb in it on one of the tables. This is a basic timed explosive, so toss it into a group for maximum damage.
Molotov Cocktail
When you're brought into the Brentwood Sewer during "The Heart of Darkness" mission, the Molotov will be in the office next to the Filtration Access and Servicing room. If it wasn't obvious, this flaming bottle will light any zombie hit with it on fire, plus leave a lingering patch of fire on the ground.
Electric Bomb
This is another Curveball tied to finishing a sidequest, this time the "Jo's Rainy Day Stash" quest. Think of it as a Pipe Bomb, only replace the explosion with a dome of electricity that is great for stunning groups.
Flashbang
You'll need to pony up $2,500 and buy this Curveball from Rodriquez once you've completed the "Cremains of the Day" sidequest. What you get is a weapon that inflicts Traumatized on zombies, meaning they're stunned and available to be counterattacked.
Sticky Bomb
Bring Dougie at the Serling Hotel $1,500 and he'll part ways with the Sticky Bomb. This is just your old Pipe Bomb, but now it will stick to any surface -- or zombie -- it hits.
Bait Bomb
This is another item Dougie will sell you, this time only after you beat "The Search for Truth" main mission. For just $3,500, you can get what is essentially your Meat Bait and Pipe Bomb stuck together. Zombies will all close in on the bomb before it detonates
Nail Bomb
For the final Curveball you need to invest your cash in, you can buy the Nail Bomb from Ezekiel for $1,500. This is a simple explosive, but with the added benefit of inflicting Bleeding on anything it hits.
Military Grenade
Once you complete the "Boz Makes a Bang" sidequest for Hana, which you can only get after beating "The Rav-Ages of Caustic-X" and "Dez and the Mother of Satan" quests, you will be given the final Curveball in Dead Island 2. This high-explosive detonates on impact no matter what, which could be a good or bad thing depending on the situation. It isn't all that much more powerful than any other explosive, but the utility of it not having a timer makes it useful.

Read more
How to get fuses in Dead Island 2
A group of survivors looking stressed and annoyed.

eThere are going to be tons of things blocking your progress when trying to escape LA in Dead Island 2. Aside from the, you know, hordes of zombies, you will find plenty of gates and doors that need power to open. Most can be worked around by installing a battery or circuit breaker, but some require something else. Fuses aren't required at any point in the main story, but instead are limited keys that hide away some of the game's best loot. If you've been spotting all these gates and garage doors taunting you to open them, but lack the fuses to do so, we'll tell you how you can get your hands on some in Dead Island 2.
Where to get fuses in Dead Island 2

Unlike batteries or circuit breakers, fuses won't be found anywhere on the map while exploring. Instead, the only way to get these electrical devices is to purchase them. Obviously, your local hardware store isn't open for business anymore, so your options are limited to the vendors you come across such as Carlos in Emma's house or Ezekiel on The Pier. No matter who you get them from, you're going to be paying a premium. Each fuse costs $1,500, and the sellers usually only hold a few at a time. Even if they had the stock and you had the cash, your character can only hold three fuses at a time before needing to spend them to get more.

Read more
FJX Imperium: best loadouts for Warzone 2.0 and Modern Warfare 2
The FJX Imperium in action in Warzone 2.0.

The Intervention sniper has returned to Call of Duty in the form of the FJX Imperium. This new sniper is available in Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0 and Modern Warfare 2, as part of the Season 3 battle pass, offering a healthy dose of nostalgia and power. It works a lot like you remember from the original 2009 Modern Warfare 2, but does offer a lot more customization this time around. With that in mind, let's dive into the best FJX Imperium loadouts across Warzone 2.0 and Modern Warfare 2.
The best FJX Imperium Warzone 2.0 loadout

Recommended loadout:

Read more