Dead Island: Riptide Characters – Sam B (Overview)

Dead Island: Riptide Characters – Sam B (Overview)

Stats:
Health – 110
Speed – 100
Stamina – 90

Perks:
Ability to Ram and Tackle enemies, Powerful blows during Fury that send enemies flying, High damage resilience, faster and long enemy knock downs

Expertise: Blunt Weapons Expert
While John is a general master of all things melee, Sam B knows how to use blunt instruments of destruction. Some examples of the Blunt variety of weaponry are: bats, hammers, batons,sticks, crowbars, wrenches, maces, axes, hanbos, pipes and morning stars. They are generally heavily and slower than other weapons but with Sam's size that means very little. Still, even with his size and strength it can take a lot for him to swing his weaponry around so keep that in mind. Keep this in mind, especially when you are swinging around the two-handed variety in the thick of battle. You need to watch your stamina carefully when attacking even though Sam is best with these kinds of weapons. He may use less stamina to get great damage but that is the very cause of concern.

Skill Trees
Combat:
Right at the top of this tree you will find Sam's signature skill: “Heavy Hitter”. This cuts the cost of attacking with Blunt weapons and gives increase to damage, critical chance and head trauma. After that you drop into Tier 2. All of these skills are very useful. Keep them in mind and try to advance them evenly. It helps a lot to have something in everything here: “Devastation” increases the force and damage of blunt weapons, “Maintenance” boosts weapon durability to a max of 30% and “Effortless” cuts the stamina cost by a max of 30%.

Moving on down to Tier 3 you will find “Lights Out”, “Tackle”, “Exploit Weakness” and “Charge”. Grab “Tackle to level 2 and something of “Charge”. “Tackle” lets you punch through a wall of enemies as well as getting through locked doors a lot easier. This adds to the tactics you have and gets you into the next tier. In that tier you will simply find “Blunt Expert”. This ramps up everything “Heavy Hitter” does plus it adds the Stomp ability for Sam. Given how easily he can knock something down, this is a great boon to just get a quick kill on them.

Things move on from there into the next tier with “Hammer Blows”, “Big Stick” and “Powerful Impact”. These just add a little damage or in “Hammer Blows” case, give a chance for an instant KO. Invest into “Hammer Blows” for some easier kills or just spread a quick 3 points into “Big Stick” and “Powerful Blows” to keep Sam's power going strong.

This leads onto the final tiers of the Combat tree. First you have “Critical Impact”, which boosts your critical chance. Then you have “Aimed Shot”, a boost to firearms damage, something that should be saved for a good while yet. Then you have “Telling Blows” in Tier 6, which increases critical chance with Blunt Weapons. It is much better just to focus on “Critical Impact” then move into the final tier to get “Earth Shaker”. “Earth Shaker” is the final skill in the Blunt Expert progression. It will, once again, ramp up damage, critical chance and force while giving you a new special attack to instantly KO a foe. These boost stack together with all the others and can make Sam B an unstoppable force.


Fury: Haymaker
The starting skill “Haymaker”, gives Sam B a devastating Melee attack to use in his Fury. It will knock down almost any foe you encounter with a single hit. A very useful skill with his Combat tree. From there you get into the second tier with “Feel No Pain”, “Grim Inspiration”, “Sticks and Stones” and “Like A Rock”. Start with “Grim Inspiration” as it can yield the most of any source in terms of Rage as it increases the gain from his favored weapon type. “Feel No Pain” is nice if you are having some survivability issues in Fury as it cuts the damage taken in that state. “Sticks and Stone” is a great tank skill as Sam gains Rage from being hit. Not the best way to do things, but still useful.

Getting into the bottom half of the Skill Tree you will find “Greater Haymaker” which will knock your foes into the air. It also works to increase your Fury time which is always a great boon. From there you can put the rest of the tier's skill points into “You've Been Served” to help the group with a notably higher critical chance. From there you will find “Volatile”, Smash Hit” and “Pain Killer” in Tier 4. For quicker leveling, focus on “Volatile” and “Smash Hit”. They pair very well together. After that go back for “Pain Killer”, save if you continue to have trouble staying alive.

All this leads to the final skill, “Incredible Haymaker”. Not only does it further extend your Fury it will send everyone you hit flying through the air.

Survival
This starts with the skill “Recuperation”, giving Sam a slow regeneration: 10% per minute. This cuts the need for med kits slightly. It definitely makes it easier to handle just surviving, given enough time. Grab that skill and head into then ext tier. In Tier 2 you will find “Money Magnet”, Motivation”, “Decoy” and “Spring”. Go for “Money Magnet” to start as this gives you a better source of money. If you are playing in a group you might want to go for a level in “Decoy” as this will draw fire onto Sam.

After all this you will find “Hardened”, “Deeper Pockets” and “Lockpicking”. The extra slots from “Deeper Pockets” are nice but it best to grab one of each. You can also just go for “Lockpicking” and “Hardened” and ignore “Deeper Pockets” for now to get to the next tier. The reason for jumping into Tier 4 is “Regeneration”. This increases Sam B's regeneration to 15% per minute. There is nothing wrong with a boost to something like that. It makes it so you recover faster. Head onto Tier 5. There you will find the skills “Bulletproof”, “Bone Breaker” and “Backfire”. Start with “Bone Breaker” as it offers a good source of Experience for Sam who will be breaking bones frequently. As you get toward the end of the Tunnel you will want to pick up a level or two of “Bulletproof”. Ignore “Backfire” until you get some skill points to burn.

Time to get to the bottom of the Skill Tree. In Tier 6 you will find “Last Stand”, “Fence” and “Custom Maintenance”. Start with “Custom Maintenance” as it cuts the cost of upkeep on your weapons by raising their durability. Worry about “Last Stand” last as since it only works when Sam is in critical health. “Fence” works to get you more money but it is not too likely to be needed. Just max “Custom Maintenance” and move onto the final tier. In Tier 7 you will gain access to “Rebirth”. You health recovery climbs to 20% per minute. If you are tanking, this is your skill tree.