So you’re fighting your way through zombies this week, battling through beautiful LA but it’s all a bit of a struggle.

You keep getting pinned down, caught out by traps from other survivors, and just can’t seem to stop yourself getting electrocuted. We know, we’ve been there too.

Here’s a couple of tips we picked up along the way. Maybe they’ll help you too?

Match your weapons to your level

There’s lots of little info nuggets we could kick off with but this one might be the most beneficial. We’ve all got our favourite weapons in the game, whether it’s a nightstick or a butchers knife, and the best part is you don’t have to discard them.

Whenever you hit a workbench, you can actually scale weapons up to match your level, providing you’ve got the right resources, and give those weapons a massive damage boost so they stay effective against zombies wanting to hunt you down.

Just make sure you also repair them, and pop some mods on there to really maximise efficiency.

Choose your Slayer wisely

It might be that the Slayer you chose at the start isn’t one that matches your skillset or you really gel with. It could be worth re-rolling if things aren’t going your way time after time.

Each one offers something very different, so paying close attention to Innate Skills initially is key. Likewise, some of the attributes may be better suited for advanced players, so it could just be you started out on hard mode.

Jacob’s a good all-rounder and is probably going to be the popular choice. Especially with his focus on crit hits, his balanced attributes and damage boosts.

Amy’s fantastic for agility, stamina and pretty much everything else, though her lack of toughness can definitely be detrimental in very number intensive battles. Ryan’s kind of the opposite in that sense and even has a neat feature when he regains health each time he knocks down a zombie. The amount of times you’ll do this in game definitely constitutes this as a benefit.

Bruno’s good at crit hits and packs a mean punch, but he also has the least peak health perk and health is massive in Dead Island 2 with the enemies you can go up against.

Carla’s a bad ass and thrives when she’s up against multiple zombies, getting a damage boost in those clutch moments. Dani might be the hardest to get to grips with as her damage recovery is low and honestly, zombies are unrelenting, you need time to breathe. But her crowd control is also second to none, with heavy attacks creating an explosion on impact.

It’s a big choice. Probably the toughest choice to make and one you have to do out of the gate. So fit your strengths and experiment if one Slayer isn’t working out for you.

Experiment with your cards

This is also a crucial one and something you’ll keep tweaking and adjusting over the course of the game. While abilities will stay mostly intact throughout, evolving as you level, the Survivor Cards have plenty of room for experimentation.

As you level up, your slayer will learn new survival techniques – some of which are exclusive to your Slayer, so that’s definitely worth considering. You’ll only have four slots and not all of these are available to you from the start, so selection is key.

Initially, it’s probably worth looking into cards that give boosts to damage or decrease the amount of health you lose from a hit. But later you might want to adjust ground pound attacks for more damage and force, or even do something wild like cause explosions/reactions whenever you use an item. This can be really effective for crowd control.

Slayer and Numen cards are also massive gamechangers and probably require a guide all on their own, but making effective use of them is going to make you borderline unstoppable at latter stages of the game.

You can even find special cards as drops from Apex Variants, so these are worth going hunting for.

Keep an eye out for snacks

We’ve all been there. Fighting some of the toughest enemies in the game and then all of a sudden we’re out of medkits. It’s a scary time.

So, make sure to keep an eye out for the Protein Bars and Energy Drinks, whether they’re strewn about on someone’s desk or lazing about next to the water. These can be vital in life or death situations.

In fact, drinking energy drinks can also boost your FURY skill which can make you even more dangerous in combat situations.

Avoid Zombies with a skull if you can help it

Especially in the early stages of the game, trying to go head on with a skull focused zombie won’t go well for you as these are extra strong and powerful, though defeating them also comes with increased reward.

Aim for the head

This one seems obvious and it should be. Aiming for the head increases your damage output, increases crit chance and ultimately puts a zombie down much quicker.

Equally, aiming for other body parts can be a difference maker as you remove arms, even legs to slow down and hinder your approaching enemies, especially runners who come at you with fire in their belly but any advantage you can gain when you’re fighting against the numbers game is key.

Time your kicks and dodges wisely

Speaking of Runners, if one is charging right at you and you’re worried you’re going to mistime a swing, use your boot. That can completely destabilise the zombie, pushing them back just slightly and temporarily faze them so you get your attack in.

The boot can also be super useful if you want to send your enemy in an environmental hazard, like an electric pool or a fire.

And don’t sleep on dodge, particularly with bigger enemies. A well timed dodge can not only get you out of harm’s way with a nifty backstep, it can even feed into some of your perks.

Look at weapon deterioration

In the bottom right, you’ll see the status of a weapon and how close it is to breaking. You don’t want to find yourself in a spot where the weapon breaks and you’re about to get mauled. So in between fights, if it’s about to break, switch it up and make sure to fix it later.

Particularly if it’s a favourite.

And when it doubt, get some help

Sure, you can play Dead Island 2 solo but this is a game that comes alive with others, so hop online, join a game or even play with your friends if the section you’re on is particularly difficult.

Or grind some enemies together, get that level up and increase your abilities. There’s always a way to make progress in Dead Island 2.