State Of Decay 2: Best Traits [Top 10]

Survive like a pro by knowing the Best Traits in State of Decay 2!

In State of Decay 2, players can recruit many different individuals as playable characters and have them become a part of their community. Each of these characters has their own set of traits that determine their personality and skills. There are both positive and negative traits, and each of them affects the gameplay in different ways.

State of Decay 2 features well over a thousand different traits, but this article will guide you on the absolute best ones to look out for.

Key Takeaways
  • State of Decay 2 allows users to enlist playable characters with diverse traits affecting their personalities and skills.
  • Notable attributes like Unbreakable, Just Keeps Going, Officer Material, Ascetic, Keeps Hidden Pouches, Quartermaster, and Sleeps On The Ground greatly impact gameplay.
  • Unbreakable and Just Keeps Going enhance stamina and combat effectiveness, respectively.
  • Officer Material boosts morale, stealth, and scavenging skills.
  • Asceticism reduces food consumption and prevents morale decline.
  • Quartermaster and Keeps Hidden Pouches aid in inventory and storage management.
  • Sleeps On The Ground provides morale and bed-use benefits.
  • Red Talon Contractors, available for 2750 prestige points each, possess unique qualities not found in other survivors.

Best Traits In State Of Decay 2

The following traits are some of the best ones in the entire game, and finding characters that possess them will help you immensely. 

NameProvided Hero BonusEffectProvided Skills
UnbreakableHard Determination (+10
Max Health)
45% Max Health
-100% Injury Chance
None
Just Keeps GoingMoral Support (Unlock
Encourahement)
45% Max Stamina
-50% Fatigue Severity
None
Officer MaterialNone50% Wits Experience Rate
6% Morale
Tactics
AsceticResponsibility (+1 Labor)-50% Food Consumed Per DayNone
Keeps Hidden PouchesPre- Packed Gear (+5
Light carrying capacity)
10 Light Carrying Capacity
10 Max Carrying Capacity
1 Max Consumable Stack
None
QuartermasterPack Maintenance (+10
Max carrying capacity)
5% Max Materials Storage
5% Max Fuel Storage
5% Max Ammo Storage
Discipline
Engineering
Sleeps On The GroundOutdoor living (+2 Beds)-1 Beds Used
Morale Bonus From Outdoor Bed Facilities
None
Highly ResponsibleResponsibility (+1 Labor)1% Labor
25% Standing Rewards
None
Infectious EnergyCrowdsourcing (+1
Outpost limit)
15% Influence Gained
50% Facility Action Speed
None
Red Talon OperativeNone–95% Durability Loss Per Hit
60% Max Carrying Capacity
-100% Fatigue Severity
Prowess
Tactics
Heroism
Warfighting

Unbreakable

State of Decay 2 Traits
A Zombie Charging The Player [Image by eXputer]
Effects: +45 Max Health and -100% Injury Chance.

Most characters in this game are not built to take a lot of damage, especially those you’ll encounter during the starting hours. The zombies hit hard and fast, and being outnumbered is a death sentence.

But a survivor with the ‘Unbreakable’ trait is much more resilient than your average playable character due to their high health points and immunity to injuries. They can survive in situations where others cannot, so they should always be your first choice whenever you’re picking a character for combat purposes.

If you’re lucky enough to find someone with this trait at the beginning of the game, recruit them as soon as possible.

Just Keeps Going

State of Decay 2 Traits
Encountering A Zombie [Image by eXputer]
Effects: +45 Max Stamina and -50% Fatigue Severity.

Regardless of how careful you are when playing State of Decay 2, you will inevitably find yourself in situations where your only course of action is to run away from the zombies as fast as you can. And in these situations, a character with the ‘Just Keeps Going’ trait is going to be invaluable.

Not only does this trait give a character significantly more stamina, but it also reduces the time they stay fatigued by half. So when you find yourself in a situation where you’ve completely used up your survivors’ stamina, and they’ve stopped moving, you can rest easy knowing that this will only be half as long as usual.

Officer Material

State of Decay 2 morale
Morale Is Important [Image by eXputer]
Effects: +50% Wits Experience Rate and +6 Morale.

Survivors with the ‘Officer Material’ trait are fantastic recruits because they level up their Wits skill twice as fast as everyone else. This means that they excel at all of the game’s abilities that have to do with scavenging and stealth.

On top of this, these characters also provide a boost to the overall morale of your home base. This means that your community stays happy, and there are fewer chances of anyone starting fights or leaving on their own. You can also use this boost in morale to offset the loss provided by some other base members.

Unfortunately, this trait is only possessed by special survivors known as Red Talon Contractors, who you have to call in using 2750 Prestige points each.

Ascetic

State of Decay 2 Traits
The Kitchen [Image by eXputer]
Effects: -50% Food Consumed Per Day.

Just like in real life, food is an essential resource in State of Decay 2. You’ll spend a significant amount of time in the game making sure that your base is stocked up with enough food to feed all of the characters inside of it.

So this might seem like a simple thing, but having a survivor that consumes half as much food as everyone else is an advantageous trait to have. This reduces the amount of food you need while also ensuring that you don’t suffer from the loss of morale resulting from an insufficient amount.

Keeps Hidden Pouches

State of Decay 2 inventory
Inventory [Screenshot by eXputer]
Effects: +10 Light Carrying Capacity, +10 Max Carrying Capacity, and +1 Max Consumable Stack.

Players continuously have to take trips outside the safety and comfort of their home base to scavenge resources necessary for the entire community’s survival. And since the world is infested with murderous humans and flesh-eating zombies, you always want each of your risky expeditions to end with a good haul.

With the ‘Keeps Hidden Pouches’ trait, not only can a character keep a lot more items in their inventory, but they can also carry a lot more weight than average. And on top of all of this, they can also carry an additional stack of consumables.

Quartermaster

State of Decay 2 Traits
Storage Space [Screenshot by eXputer]
Effects: +5 Max Materials Storage, +5 Max Fuel Storage, and +5 Max Ammo Storage.

As you bring more survivors into your base and build new facilities, you will eventually gain a steady stream of fuel and ammunition resources. And while this is a good thing, storage for these is also an important issue to keep in mind.

Each base has a limited amount of storage space, and if you exceed this limit, then your resources begin to break down and deteriorate over time. This is why a survivor with the ‘Quartermaster’ trait is so useful since they instantly give you +5 storage space for building Materials, Fuel, and Ammo.

This State of Decay 2 trait is also exclusive to Red Talon Contractors, who you have to call in using 2750 Prestige points.

Sleeps On The Ground

State of Decay 2 sleep on the ground
Beds [Screenshot by eXputer]
Effects: -1 Beds Used and Morale Bonus From Outdoor Bed Facilities.

Whenever you establish a new base, one of the most pressing matters you have to address is a lack of sleeping space for your survivors. Failure to address this quickly results in a significant loss of morale within the entire community.

But if you have someone with the ‘Sleep on the Ground’ trait, there is one less person to worry about since they do not require a bed. This is great because beds are often constructed in sets of 2 or 4, and you only have a limited number of slots available to build on. So if you encounter a survivor with this trait, you can recruit them without worrying about the penalty.

And if this wasn’t enough, characters with this trait also gain a morale boost from Outdoor Beds in your base without even using them.

Highly Responsible

State of Decay 2 Traits
Facilities [Screenshot by eXputer]
Effects: +1 Labor and +25% Standing Rewards.

Building facilities in your base requires labor, and each survivor within your community counts as one point of labor. But unlike most other characters, someone with the ‘Highly Responsible’ trait counts as two points of labor so that they can do twice the amount of work.

Additionally, they also gain a 25% bonus for all of the standing rewards they earn, allowing them to climb up the community standing ranks much faster.

Infectious Energy

State of Decay 2 Traits
Construction Menu [Screenshot by eXputer]
Effects: +15% Influence Gained and +50% Facility Action Speed.

Influence is the main currency that you use in State of Decay 2, and it is used for a wide variety of things like purchasing items and establishing outposts. It’s also extremely time-consuming to earn a significant amount of this in the game.

That’s where survivors with the ‘Infectious Energy’ trait come into play since they earn an additional 15% influence on each task they complete. This might not seem like a lot at first, but it builds up over time to give you a fair amount of purchasing power.

These survivors also increase the speed at which your facilities perform tasks by 50%, which is a massive boost to your base’s production rate. This allows you to create essential resources like food and ammunition much quicker than usual.

Red Talon Operative

State of Decay 2 red talon
Survivors [Screenshot by eXputer]
Effects: –95% Durability Loss Per Hit, +60 Max Carrying Capacity, and -100% Fatigue Severity.

Both melee and ranged weapons break quite often in State of Decay 2 and they have to be repaired or replaced.. But a character with the ‘Red Talon Operative’ trait rarely has to worry about this since they negate 95% of the durability loss.

They also possess an astounding 60 extra carrying capacity, allowing them to hold more items on them than any typical survivor. And finally, they do not suffer from any fatigue. They can continue running almost indefinitely without feeling the effects of emptying their stamina meter.

Once again, this trait is exclusive to Red Talon Contractors, who you have to call in using 2750 Prestige points.

This has been my guide on the best State of Decay 2 Traits in the game. I hope it helps you find the best survivors to add to your community.

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Huzaifa is eXputer's Review Editor, who’s all about RPG games. He’s got several years of experience critically judging games and writing his unbiased thoughts on them. You can also find his content published on sites like Twinfinite & GearNuke. Huzaifa has been gaming for 23+ years, during which he managed to amass 400+ hours on Elden Ring! You can follow his gaming activity on his Xbox and Steam Profiles.

Experience: 5+ years || Previously Worked At GearNuke & Twinfinite || Mainly Covers RPG Guides & Latest Games Reviews || Education: Bachelors in Hospitality.

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