7 Days to Die Beginners Guide – Top Tips to Help You Survive the Early Days

7 Days to Die is one of the most elaborate games on the market. It mashes together some of the best qualities found in building games, FPSs, horror and survival titles, creating an experience that has you juggling a lot of elements at once. On top of that, you’re constantly pressed for time as you’re always on the clock with an impending horde of zombies on the way. Suffice to say, it’s an engaging game but can be daunting, especially when you’re new to it.

For this reason, we’ve assembled some handy tips to help you survive the early days and be prepared to face your first blood moon.

Calm Before the Storm

After spawning for the first in a fresh game or server, 7 Days to Die gives you have a limited time during which no zombies will appear near you. This short grace period should not be wasted. Use it to survey the land around you and get a feel for where resources are located.

You should also use this as an opportunity to craft your first Stone Axe immediately. You merely need to punch a few trees and bushes to get Plant Fibers, then pick up a few Small Stones. Once you have these, craft the Stone Axe. It will enable you to harvest Wood from trees and break boulders for Small Stones more efficiently.

Heat Awareness

7 Days to Die has a hidden mechanic called heat, which affects the spawning numbers and frequency of zombies in your area. Any action you take can cause the heat levels of your immediate vicinity to rise. It includes any activity or action you may perform, from harvesting resources to using amenities and creating stuff. The only action that doesn’t generate heat is moving objects from one place to another. In a nutshell, the more active you are in a particular area, the more likely you’ll attract zombies to your position.

It works in a grid consisting of 50-meter square chunks. Each of these will have its own heat level. Once you reach roughly level 100 heat within a given square, the undead will start heading your way. The only way to see the “heatmap” is through some debug mode trickery that we won’t cover here because it would spoil the fun.

Brass Tacks

You’ll be surprised to know that an essential resource to gather as much as possible is brass/ As we mentioned earlier, the event you need to be prepared for in 7 Days to Die is the blood moon. This in-game phenomenon that occurs every seven days sees a horde of zombies flocking to your location with a hunger for your flesh. It’s extremely easy to get overwhelmed by their numbers, so you need the right tools to deal with it, and those are guns.

But they’re useless without bullets, and this is where brass comes into play. By smelting any object made of brass, including money, you can craft casings for your ammo. When you’re first starting out, it’s not immediately apparent how useful doorknobs, sinks, trophies and other brass items are. Don’t skip them, though. Pick any and every brass-made object you can find. You can always toss a large chunk of your tokens into the Forge to make casings in a pinch.

Hay Isn’t Only for Horses

Here’s a…soft tip that can increase your survival rate. Hay blocks have a hidden property that significantly mitigates falling damage. If you jump, run, or otherwise drop from a high point and onto a block of hay, you’ll take from zero to negligible damage. The amount can vary depending on the height.

How can this be useful? Picture yourself attempting to escape from the horde that’s overrunning your base. You make your way to your roof with very little health, and your only option to gain more space is to leap to the ground. With nothing to cushion your fall, you’ll likely die or get that much closer to death. To be best prepared, you’ll want to set up some hay blocks in strategic positions around your base and near high points. When push comes to shove, you’ll be glad you took the time to prepare this way.

Baby Steps

You’ve likely seen some tremendously elaborate bases made by other members of the 7 Days to Die community. They make it seem like bigger is always better when it comes to your building affairs. However, in the game’s early days, you need to forget that and start small. Your first shelter should be small enough to at least house a Secure Storage Chest and a Campfire.

It’s not the sexiest survivor’s base, but it gives you something achievable to shoot for early on that gets the job done. The more preferable alternative is to find an existing building and call it home, but you’re not always going to get that lucky.

The Midnight Oil

Nighttime, which comes at around 22:00 in-game, is the best time to do some mass crafting. Especially during the early nights, you’ll want to stay hidden and use that time to prepare for the next day’s scavenging and harvesting. Be wary, though, that crafting can still generate noise which will potentially attract zombies to your hiding place.

Work on making Bandages, Stone Arrows, and ammunition, all of which you will need to get around during the daytime. If a zombie or two catch wind of your location, don’t panic. Fight them off with melee, arrows and other quiet methods, which reduces the likelihood of others becoming alert to your position. As an added tip, do your fighting while crouching to reduce your movement noise.

Mindless Zombies

As a final, short tip, in 7 Days to Die, zombies are pretty predictable when it comes to their pathing. They generally will take the path of least resistance when they encounter objects, obstructions and walls in their way. Essentially, they’ll go through the first immediate path or opening they meet to get to you. This fact makes them highly predictable. However, if you lay traps and other dangerous hazards, they will try to break down walls if no path is immediately available to them.