What Should I Upgrade First in Dying Light 2? A Comprehensive Guide
Navigating the zombie-infested world of Dying Light 2 can be overwhelming, especially when faced with a plethora of upgrade options. From blueprints to character stats, knowing where to focus your efforts early on is crucial for survival. So, what should you upgrade first? The answer is multifaceted, but boils down to these core priorities: stamina, core crafting blueprints, and weapon modifications.
Prioritizing these areas in the early game will significantly improve your survivability, efficiency, and overall gameplay experience. Let’s delve into why each of these is important and how to effectively approach their upgrades.
Prioritizing Stamina: The Key to Parkour and Combat
In Dying Light 2, stamina is your lifeblood. It governs everything from your ability to climb and vault to your effectiveness in combat. Running out of stamina at the wrong time can leave you vulnerable to both infected hordes and aggressive human enemies.
Why Stamina is Paramount
- Parkour Prowess: The game’s core movement relies heavily on parkour. Higher stamina allows you to traverse the rooftops with greater speed and safety, escaping danger and reaching objectives more easily.
- Combat Effectiveness: Stamina is essential for dodging, attacking, and using powerful special moves. A higher pool ensures you can stay in the fight longer without becoming exhausted.
- Exploration: Many valuable items and resources are located in hard-to-reach places. More stamina makes exploration more feasible and less risky.
How to Upgrade Stamina
Inhibitors are the key to upgrading your stamina and health. You’ll find them scattered throughout the game world, often in GRE containers and at GRE anomalies. Focus on collecting as many Inhibitors as possible early on and prioritize upgrading stamina at a ratio of at least 2:1 with health, and ideally 3:1. The increased mobility and combat effectiveness from a higher stamina pool will provide more immediate benefit than extra health in the early game. The max level for both is 26 each, but you will need to choose which to prioritize since there are only 126 inhibitors in a playthrough.
Essential Crafting Blueprints to Prioritize
Crafting is an integral part of Dying Light 2, allowing you to create vital items, weapons, and modifications. Certain blueprints are more beneficial in the early game, saving resources and time while also providing essential tools.
Top Crafting Blueprints to Target Early
- Lockpicks: Lockpicks are crucial for accessing locked containers and areas, which often contain valuable resources and gear. Investing in lockpick blueprints early on will allow you to access these riches, which leads to faster progression.
- Molotov: This is an effective crowd control tool in the early game, allowing you to deal with groups of infected with fire damage. It can buy you valuable breathing room during tense encounters.
- Medicine: As you progress, you’ll find yourself in need of healing items, and having the ability to craft your own medicine is more efficient than scavenging for it.
- Immunity Boosters: The night is a very dangerous place in Dying Light 2. Crafting Immunity Boosters early will allow you to stay out at night longer, which can be rewarding.
- Regeneration Booster: A powerful item that will regenarate health over time. This is invaluable, and is better than normal medicine in most circumstances.
Why Focus on Blueprints Early?
Having access to key crafting recipes saves precious time and resources, allowing you to focus on exploring and fighting. Blueprints also allow you to adapt your strategy, choosing between healing items, crowd control, and stealth, depending on your need.
Weapon Upgrades and Modifications: Enhance Your Arsenal
While finding new weapons is important, you should also focus on upgrading and modifying your existing weapons. These modifications enhance your weapons’ damage, durability, and overall effectiveness.
Prioritizing Weapon Mods
- Empowerment: This is an extremely helpful weapon mod, that increases the damage of the weapon. When you don’t have access to better base weapons, being able to upgrade the damage output of what you have will be key.
- Flame: This mod adds fire damage to your weapons, which will help against groups of zombies.
- Infected Arrows and Explosive Arrows: These arrow mods can significantly improve your combat capability, allowing you to inflict various elemental effects or higher damage from range.
Why Modify Your Weapons?
Upgraded weapons deal more damage, allowing you to take down enemies faster and more efficiently. Mods also allow you to tailor your weapons to your preferred playstyle and adapt them to different combat scenarios. Remember to always keep an eye out for new gear as it can offer better stats, buffs, and of course, a new look for Aiden.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is the best weapon in Dying Light 2?
While opinions may vary, the PK Crossbow is considered one of the best weapons for its high damage and range. It can only be obtained by aligning with the Peacekeepers and assigning them four facilities. The Volkan Combat Assault Rifle is also a top contender for its sheer power.
2. Should I choose Survivors or Peacekeepers?
There is no “right” choice, as it impacts the story very little. Survivors are best if you enjoy parkour and exploration, while Peacekeepers are ideal for players who favor combat. The choice will influence the layout of the city and the types of challenges available.
3. Is there a way to get an unbreakable weapon?
Yes! The Korek Charm, found in a secret developer room, makes your weapons virtually unbreakable. Unlocking this requires a bit of patience, but makes most weapons last a much longer time.
4. How do I find the Korek Charm?
The Korek Charm is found in a secret developer room that’s accessible once you reach a certain point in the game. This requires activating several generators with specific wire connections in a specific order. Search for specific guides online for a more visual aid.
5. What are the best early-game weapons?
Early on, weapons like the Chopper, Gangrene Machete, Reinforced Stick, Bolted Bludgeon, and Kukri are all very effective and readily available.
6. Should I sell valuables in Dying Light 2?
Yes, always sell valuables! They serve no purpose other than to be sold for cash. They are a great way to earn money fast.
7. What is the best money-making method?
Selling loot after clearing areas is the most efficient method for making money. The most effective method is to loot high-density areas, and then go back to the vendors with all the valuables you have found.
8. Can I change the difficulty at any time?
Yes, you can change the difficulty setting at any time without losing progress. This can be useful if you are struggling or if you just want to breeze through the story.
9. What should I do with Inhibitors?
Inhibitors should be used to upgrade your health and stamina. Focus on stamina first, upgrading it at a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio with health.
10. Can I max out both health and stamina in a single playthrough?
No. There are only 126 inhibitors in the game, and with each level up requiring 3 inhibitors, it’s impossible to get both to max level, which is 26. You must choose.
11. How important is armor in Dying Light 2?
Armor is very important as it offers damage resistance and other buffs. Ensure you’re always looking out for new gear and are equipping the best pieces.
12. What is the best class in Dying Light 2?
While there are no “classes” in the traditional sense, medic-styled gear is the most beneficial. Medic gear enhances health and parkour abilities, which are both essential for navigating Villedor.
13. Are side quests worth completing?
Many side quests offer valuable rewards beyond money, combat XP, and parkour XP. Look out for side quests that offer better blueprints, gear, or story elements.
14. Should I assign the water tower to the Survivors or the Peacekeepers?
Assigning the Water Tower to the Survivors gives you more rooftop access and mobility, while assigning it to the Peacekeepers provides combat-oriented benefits. Your choice depends on your preferred playstyle.
15. Does EXPcalibur break?
Yes, it does. EXPcalibur has a low durability of 7 and cannot be repaired. This makes it a good weapon to use on weaker enemies or to hold on to and use sparingly for tougher encounters.
By focusing on stamina, key blueprints, and weapon upgrades early on, you’ll significantly enhance your experience in Dying Light 2 and improve your chances of survival in the harsh world of Villedor. Remember to explore, experiment, and adapt your strategy as you progress!