Thousands of new players are now struggling to survive the first blood moon in 7 Days to Die so this tutorial aims to help them.
7 Days to Die Is a Difficult, Yet Rewarding Game
With the full launch of 7 Days to Die, the game finally exited its decade-long early-access stage and brought a lot of new content to the table. With this came a lot of new players who might now be struggling to learn the mechanics and quirks of this rather hard survival sandbox shooter.
One of the main difficulties in the early game is to survive the first week, specifically, the first blood moon which occurs every seven in-game days. This is a night where a horde of zombies comes to you, wherever you are on the map, and tries to eat you. Considering 7 Days to Die is rather brutal in the first few in-game days, many players, both new and veteran, might struggle to survive when the first horde comes at the end of the week.
With this being the case, we have tried to compile a list of the best strategies to use to prepare for the endeavor.
How to Survive First Blood Moon
When you first spawn in the world of 7 Days to Die, you have the bare essentials, such as a torch, some food, some water, and a bandage. Firstly, you might want to do the few tasks that the game gives you, such as getting some basic stone tools and locating a trader. From there on, you can do the following things:
Do Some Quests to get Decent Equipment
The trader will give you some relatively simple quests which may include clearing buildings of zombies or finding some treasure. Do a few of them to get rewards, such as food, medicine, and some better starter weapons and tools. You will also get some Duke’s Casino Tokens, which are the in-game currency. You can use that at the trader to get some more resources that you might need.
Level Up the Right Things
Doing quests will also help you level up as well. While there are many different builds you can do in 7 Days to Die, we recommend focusing your early points on looting and/or combat in the early game. These will help you get better loot and resources from scavenging. You’ll also be able to kill zombies more effectively, which will grant you more XP and help you do quests more easily.
The “Lucky Looter” and the “Treasure Hunter” perks from the Perception Attribute skill tree are quite good for gathering resources. Meanwhile, you may want to level up various combat perks. These will depend on what weapons you have. For example, you may want to level up “Spear Master” from the previously mentioned Perception Attribute skill tree, if you’re using spears. However, for example, if you like using clubs, you may want to level up “Pummel Pete” from the Strength Attribute skill tree.
Of course, 7 Days to Die also has firearms and chances are that by the time the first blood moon arrives, you would have gotten your hands on some basic guns. These will be as simple as a pipe shotgun or a kludged-together revolver, but hey, it’s better than having to smash zombie skulls with melee weapons all the time. If that’s the case, then check out the relevant skills for the different types of firearms. A more detailed look at the skills can be found on this wiki page, but the in-game descriptions also provide all the information you need. Just click on the skill you want to view and read what perks it will give you.
Find Good Shelter
7 Days to Die’s building system is actually somewhat similar to that of Minecraft as both games divide the world into 1×1 meter cube voxels. Of course, the former game’s graphics, style, and variety in blocks make for a much more different experience, but the fact remains that you can build huge castles in 7 Days to Die as well.
However, you won’t have the resources or time in the early game to do so. Instead, try to look for a building you can use for a base, at least temporarily. Fortunately, you will be spoiled for choice as there are many towns dotted around the world. Based on your map settings, these can be big and small, with the former obviously having a greater number and variety of buildings.
Try to look for a small-ish building with solid walls. The small footprint will mean you will have a smaller parameter to defend. Of course, if you play with friends, a bigger building may also work, but then again, there will be more zombies spawned because there are more players.
Also, try to look for a more solid building as zombies can break blocks, doors, windows, etc. Wooden walls obviously aren’t very strong, so find something built from brick or concrete. Of course, you can reinforce wooden walls to make them into cobblestone, but in the early game, you may not have the materials and time to reinforce a small wooden hut, for example. If you’re unsure what material a building is made of, just hit it with any instrument or even your hand. The block’s HP will show up and if it’s 500, it’s wood, if it’s 1200, it’s brick, and anything above that is even better.
Reinforce your Shelter
As we mentioned, zombies can break blocks in 7 Days to Die, meaning just turtling up with some cobblestone in Minecraft is not a very viable strategy. While you may have found a good shelter for surviving the first blood moon, you may still need to reinforce it. Try to block off any gaps and windows on the ground floor of the building you’re using.
You can also build some traps. Wooden spike traps are pretty easy to make, so you can surround your base with them. Here, once again a smaller building might be a better choice because there will be a smaller perimeter to defend. If you have two or three layers of spiked traps, then that’s great. Barbed wire is also relatively easy to make in the early game, so you may place it to the approaches of your base.
Build several layers of doors. Zombies will try to find the weakest spot in your base. This is often the door but you can make more of them the zombies have to go through. You can also break the floors above these doors so that you can shoot down on the enemies from above.
Here Are Some More General 7 Days to Die Tips
Stock up on ammo – you can never have enough of it. Try to conserve the ammo you find in the first days by either avoiding unnecessary encounters with zombies or using melee weapons like clubs and stone spears.
Stock up on healing items – same as before, you can never have enough bandages or med kits. Try to conserve them as you may end up having to fight off zombies in melee range during your first blood moon in 7 Days to Die.
Dig a trench – As we mentioned, zombies will try to find the easiest way to get to you. You can dig a trench around your base to funnel them towards one spot, or at least cover some approaches, However, do note that this is a difficult process with early game tools. Also, if your base is surrounded by a concrete parking lot, whose blocks have a lot of HP, then don’t bother digging. You can always do this sometime later in the game once you get power tools, like an auger, which will make your life much easier.
Play with friends – while the game will spawn more zombies because there are more players, at least you and your friends can watch each other’s backs. Furthermore, some can go and gather resources and ammo, while others prepare your shelter. And last, but not least, it’s just more fun when playing with friends, even if you all end up getting eaten by zombies during your first blood moon.
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