State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition Skills and Special Techniques Guide

With the State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition now available for the Xbox One, gamers who enjoyed the original are busy getting reacquainted with the apocalypse, only this time out they have the Lifeline and Breakdown DLC to play with as well. Those are both gaming changing expansions, but today we're going to talk about a concept that applies no matter what version of State of Decay you decide to dig into, Skills and Special Techniques.

Each character will have four basic Skills that can be developed to a maximum level of seven. Once you hit that level, a Special Technique (or two) will be available to help make your journey a little bit easier. Some of these Special Techniques are applied automatically, and others will require a button, or button combination to equip. You can still slaughter zombies and protect your base without these perks, but they sure don't hurt to have as an option.

The Cardio Skill

Cardio is a fairly easy to understand concept. If you run out of stamina, you die. In State of Decay, you can level your Cardio up to a maximum rank of seven by spending some time sprinting, which shouldn't be an issue given the number of zombies you'll bump into on your travels. In other words, just let this level up naturally as you play the game.

When you finally do hit level seven with your Cardio you'll unlock two Special Techniques, Marathon and Combat Endurance. The former will cause your stamina to drain 50 percent slower when you're running, and the latter will cause your stamina to drain 50 percent slower while you're fighting. These are automatically activated and do not require you to press any buttons to enjoy their benefits.

The Wits Skill

If you're like us, you'd rather sneak in quietly, do your business, then sneak back out without any zeds ever getting wise to your presence. That's where Wit comes into play, decreasing the amount of noise you make, and the amount of time it takes you to search for loot. You can level this up while searching for supplies, and also during the Home Away From Home mission.

Once your Wit is maxed out at level seven, you'll gain a Special Technique called Ninja. Unlike the perks that come with maximum Cardio, players will have to hold down the Left Bumper while sneaking, which allows them to sneak even faster. You'll also be able to search for supplies in only four seconds, where as this action would take you 10 seconds at level one.

The Fighting Skill

You'll be leveling up your Fighting in the first moments of the game, and you can speed this process along by engaging in combat with Zombies, rather than avoiding them. If you're really brave and want to jump straight to level seven, try fighting a few hordes of the undead with a couple of your fellow survivors. Whatever path you choose, level seven comes with a Special Technique called Rage, which gives you a bit of stamina back after each zombie kill. When you combine this with Combat Endurance from maxed out Cardio, you start to see the beginnings of a zombie killing machine.

The Shooting Skill

As you might expect, you'll level up your Shooting ability by killing zombies with firearms. The problem here, is that your goal should be to avoid shooting if at all possible. Still, reaching level seven will reduce your recoil by 60 percent, and it will unlock the Focused Aim Special Technique. For this, hold the Left Bumper while aiming down sight with the Left Trigger. This will slow time, sort of like Michael can in Grand Theft Auto V. If you really want to hit max Shooting levels and keep a low profile, try to use firearms that support suppressors.