How Perks and Attributes Work in 7 Days to Die

 

    7 Days to Die ties almost every combat and survival bonus to one of five core Attributes — Perception, Strength, Fortitude, Agility and Intellect — each unlocking its own tree of Attribute-Associated Perks as you spend skill points. Per the wiki's Perks page, there are "5 main Attributes: Perception, Strength, Fortitude, Agility, and Intellect, each having 10 levels and giving a bonus in that category with every level." This guide breaks down what those 10 levels cost, how many perks sit behind each Attribute, and what changed once Update 2.0 added a perk tab that needs no Attribute at all. One caveat up front: the wiki itself flags this page as containing "outdated information that is inaccurate for the current version ( Version 3.2 )," last confirmed for Version 2.0 — treat the numbers below as accurate for that 2.0 baseline.

 

The 5 Attributes and What Leveling One Costs

 

 

    Every character starts at level 1 in all five Attributes, and the wiki states players "can continue leveling them up at their discretion by spending skill points." Leveling gets progressively pricier: "Levels 2-5 cost 1 skill point each, levels 6-8 cost 2 skill points each, and the last 2 levels cost 3 points each." Doing that arithmetic out: taking one Attribute from level 1 to 10 costs 4 levels × 1 SP (levels 2-5) + 3 levels × 2 SP (levels 6-8) + 2 levels × 3 SP (levels 9-10) = 4 + 6 + 6 = 16 skill points. Across all five Attributes that's 16 × 5 = 80 skill points just to max every Attribute, before a single Attribute-Associated Perk is bought.

 

    Attributes aren't purely point sinks, either: "certain Drugs and other items can be used to increase attributes temporarily, which may allow a prerequisite to be met for a Perk." That's conditional, though — "if the Drug or item effect wears off, and the character no longer meets the prerequisites for a given Perk level, they lose the benefit of that Perk level until they again meet the prerequisite." Each Attribute also carries its own Mastery Perk, which "starts at level 6 of the associated Attribute," with "each level provid[ing] a (often stand-alone) unique bonus, similar to Perk Books."

 

50 Attribute-Associated Perks, Ten Per Attribute

 

 

    Counting every named perk the wiki lists under each Attribute's subsections turns up exactly 10 per Attribute, 50 total: Perception splits 4 Combat (Dead Eye, Demolitions Expert, Spear Master, Quick and Perceptive) + 4 General Perception (The Infiltrator, Animal Tracker, The Penetrator, Perception Mastery) + 2 Scavenging (Treasure Hunter, Salvage Operations) = 10. Strength splits 5 Combat + 2 General Strength (Pack Mule, Strength Mastery) + 3 Construction = 10. Fortitude splits 3 Combat + 3 Survival + 4 Recovery = 10. Agility splits 4 Combat + 4 Athletic + 2 Stealth (Hidden Strike, From The Shadows) = 10. Intellect splits 3 Combat + 3 Influence + 4 General Intellect (Physician, Advanced Engineering, Grease Monkey, Intellect Mastery) = 10. Summed: 10+10+10+10+10 = 50 Attribute-Associated Perks.

 

    Each Attribute also grants a passive headshot bonus scaling with its own level, worded near-identically except for the weapons it governs. For Perception: "Level 1 of this perk gives 200% headshot damage to spears, rifles and explosive weapons. Levels 2-8 increase headshot damage by 10% and chance to dismember by 5%. Levels 9 and 10 increase headshot damage by 15% and dismember chance by 5%." The same three-tier structure repeats for Strength (shotguns, clubs and sledgehammers), Fortitude (fists and machine guns), Agility (bows, handguns and knives) and Intellect (stun batons and Robotic turrets) — only the governed weapon list changes.

 

    Individual perks carry their own level gates, stated cleanly in the wiki's per-perk list: Dead Eye needs Perception 1/3/5/7/10 to "specialize in taking keen aim with rifles," and Pack Mule needs only Strength 1/2/3/4/5 so "you're a pack mule and can carry more items in your inventory without suffering movement penalties."

 

General Perks: Seven Skills With No Attribute Requirement

 

 

    Update 2.0 added a perk category sitting outside the Attribute system entirely. Per the wiki, "the General Perks tab is a new skills tab added in Update 2.0 and takes some skills that were previously locked behind Attributes and makes them available to all players that have skill points to spend irrespective of Attribute levels." The page lists exactly seven: Light Armor, Medium Armor, Heavy Armor, Master Chef, Living Off The Land, Lock Picking and Lucky Looter — the last described as helping you "find better loot with every perk level." The source doesn't state per-level skill-point costs or level caps for this tab — that detail is undocumented here.

 

Book Perks Exist Outside the Skill-Point Economy

 

    A separate perk category runs entirely outside the skill-point system above. The wiki states: "There are many other Perks that are not directly associated with character Attributes. These Book Perks cannot be purchased using skill points and are only able to be obtained by reading the various Perk Books found throughout the game world. Each volume of the various Perk Books unlocks a permanent Perk that provides a specific benefit to various aspects of gameplay. These Perk Books do not need to be read in any particular order. Read all the volumes in a series and receive a special collector's perk." The page doesn't name individual Perk Book series, their volume counts, or what a series' collector's perk grants — all of that is undocumented on this source page, so treat any specific book title or bonus seen elsewhere as unverified against it.

 

Spend Attribute points where your build is already headed — the 16-SP cost to max one Attribute (4+6+6, per the wiki's own tier breakdown) adds up fast across all five. Watch for temporary Drug-based Attribute boosts if you're one level short of a Perk prerequisite, but remember the benefit disappears the moment the buff wears off. And don't overlook the seven General Perks tab skills — they cost skill points like any other perk but need no Attribute level at all.

 

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Conclusion

 

    Per the wiki's own Perks page, 7 Days to Die's build system comes down to five 10-level Attributes (16 skill points each to max, 80 total), 50 Attribute-Associated Perks split evenly at 10 per Attribute, seven General Perks tab skills added in Update 2.0 that need no Attribute at all, and a separate Book Perks track that skips skill points entirely in favor of found Perk Books. What this source doesn't hand you is specificity on that last track — which books exist, how many volumes each has, or what a series' collector's perk does — and this guide has flagged that gap rather than guessed at it. Treat every number above as accurate for the wiki's confirmed Version 2.0 baseline, since the page itself warns it may be out of date against the current Version 3.2.