Posted on 29th Mar 2026
| 7 Minute Read
Surviving in 7 Days to Die (7DTD) involves mastering a mix of crafting, scavenging, base-building, and combat. Here's our LogicServers survival guide that covers the essentials for beginners and intermediate players alike:
Early Survival
That first day surviving can be hard. Follow this guide, and you will have much more of a chance.
Complete the Starter Quests
The starter quests are essential in 7DTD, and they not only teach you the basics of the game, like how to craft and do missions as well as how to get started. They also show you the location of the traders, which is a safe place and a key resource hub. To begin with I would highly recommend following the quests as much as you can.
You also get a lot of skill points so you can progress early on!
Gather Resources
Resource gathering is a vital part of the game. Early on we recommend gathering Plant Fibres, Wood, Small stones, and also nests are a great way of getting feathers for arrows, and also you can get eggs which are a great early food source. You can also find rubbish piles in the wild that are worth looting early on for some easy items.
You will also want to craft yourself some starter items to get you going. I would advise crafting a Stone Axe, Wooden Club or Spear and a Bow and Arrows early on. This will give you a good feel for what type of melee weapons you prefer to begin with and give you a chance of survival.
Find Shelter Before Nightfall
Try and find a basic structure before your first nightfall in the game. Zombies run at night and are a lot more dangerous and harder to deal with. So find yourself a basic structure like a House or perhaps a Trailer that you can temporarily fortify to get yourself going. You can block entrances with frames for now and upgrade them with your stone axe.
Base Building Tips
After your first night is over, it's time to find a place to settle and build your first proper base. We would advise picking a spot near to a trader if possible. You will be running backwards and forwards to the trader a lot to accept and complete quests as well as to trade items.
Avoid towns as much as you can early on, especially buildings near POI's which are the areas/buildings that you enter to fight zombies and progress towards getting special loot at the end. They are kind of 7DTD's version of dungeons.
Build a Defensible Base
There are many trains of thought on how to build the perfect base. Some build high up as Zombies can struggle with elevation. Personally, I would advise building a small base with a defensible wall and spikes around it. Then, when you have everything set up in the base, start digging down inside the base directly downwards.
You can place ladders here so you can get down and keep all your important gear underground out of harm's way. You can then work on getting the defences how you want them above ground and set up traps and can walk around the tops of your walls to fend off any approaching zombies before they get too close.
Combat and Horde Nights (Every 7 Days)
Horde nights (Blood Moons) are a big part of 7DTD and can be challenging. Follow this guide and you will be better prepared, making them more of a fun experience. A Blood moon horde comes every seventh night at 22:00. You can change the frequency of this in your server settings. You will know a blood moon is approaching when the sky turns a red colour.
During a Blood moon Zombies will sprint and seek you out aggressively. So make sure your base is heavily defended. If your base is not ready and a Blood moon is approaching, you can head to a building near a town and get to the roof and try and fight them off from there. It's tricky doing this, but better than losing your base if it's not ready.
Prepare for the Blood Moon
It's important to make sure you have the right equipment when the blood moon approaches. Spikes around your base are a great way to slow down an incoming horde and give you a chance to shoot them before they get to you. If you find any guns, I would save up any ammo you get for the Horde nights as ammo is scarce.
Molotov cocktails are great to craft and throw down to do AOE damage. It's also a good idea to have materials on you ready to make repairs on the fly if you need to. Make sure you have an escape route as a fallback in case things get too much.
Combat Tips
Ammo is scarce in the game so I would advise having a look at melee weapons and a bow to begin with. Sledgehammers are great as they have a long reach and can destroy a zombie with the right skills when put into melee.
Aim for the head with Zombies for maximum damage. A swift hit to the head with a Sledgehammer or a bow can instantly kill a zombie with a head explosion. It is also worth mentioning that sneak attacks can also do a great amount more damage. So killing the zombies before they see you is also a great tactic.
Crafting and Skills
Spend your Skill Points Wisely
Early on in the game there are many different skills you can take which can depend a lot on your playstyle. We recommend placing a few points into your main weapon to increase the attack damage, this will also reduce stamina costs. Using the 'Pummel Pete' perk alongside that will help you get easy one-shot melee attacks on Zombies.
If you aren't a big fan of melee, you'll want to increase your archery skills instead, bows and cross-bows are not only straightforward to get ammo for, but they're silent. Ideal weapons for getting stealth one-shots before Zombies even see you.
Food is critical in 7 Days to Die, so having an extra point in bows to hunt can make the difference between surviving and dying of hunger. Another good option is to put a point into living off the land to increase yield from harvesting plants.
Make sure to add a point into advanced engineering to help find forge ahead books, these are essential for unlocking new workstations and tools.
I would also look into 'Pack Mule' so you can carry more stuff when you head out looting, there's nothing worse than having to leave a load of nice gear behind. 'Lucky Looter' is also good to get, so you can make the most out of looting POI's and come back with the best stuff.
Learn to Cook and Farm
Cooking in the game is not only essential to survive, but making decent meals in the game can give you some serious advantages in the form of buffs. To begin with, make sure you grill or boil meat to avoid food poisoning, that's a debuff you really do not want.
You can also have a look into planting and growing things like coffee, herbs, and other essentials that will really help you to survive and thrive in 7DTD.
Looting & Progression
To progress in the game, you will need to learn how to loot the best gear and craft the higher tier weapons and armour. Loot everything you come across, you never know what you will find. Prioritising Working Stiffs stores for tools, Shotgun Messiahs for Weapons and Crack a Books is crucial to get schematics to craft the best gear in the game.
Use the Trader
The traders are important for selling junk you get like brass, trophies, and old cash. You can in turn use the money to buy food, parts for Dew Collectors as well as ammo and schematics. You can also get nice rewards from running missions and use this to buy goods from the traders.
Inventory & Storage
It's important to organise any loot you find. Set up a decent amount of storage and label and organise them so you know what goes where. You will be heading out to do a lot of looting in the game and being able to bring the goods back and place them in decent storage quickly is essential to survival.
Mid-Game Goals
You have got past the early stages of the game and are now at mid-game level, so it's time to start crafting forges, workbenches, and chem stations. You can then use the schematics you looted to make the best gear and armour. Upgrade your iron tools and firearms using schematics and skills put into the crafting trees.
Make sure to keep your horde base away from your storage base in case you get overwhelmed. As mentioned early on in this guide, building a second base underground for storage is a great idea. This keeps the hordes away from your precious gear you have looted.
Hopefully, after reading this Logic Servers survival guide, you will be better equipped to deal with the Zombie Apocalypse. Check out our 7 Days to Die Server Hosting page if you need a server.
Have fun!
