Overview
This unofficial Dying Light game guide is a complete solution about how to survive while going through the city of Harran.
Parkour
The presence of parkour elements is one of the most important aspects of Dying Light. The character that we control is very athletic and his agility is very helpful. Moreover, depending on parkour moves may turn out to be necessary, when you cannot defeat an enemy in battle. Below, you can find a list of the most important uses of parkour. Some of the moves described here is available from the beginning of the game, others have to be unlocked by making progress in the main campaign or selecting particular skills.
Always face the edge or the platform that you want to jump on.
During the prologue, all the most important parkour actions will be introduced to you (running and avoiding obstacles, jumping onto far away platforms and climbing). It is necessary to always directly face the edge or platform that you want to jump on, or the wall that you want to climb. Only then will you have the chance to successfully perform the action.
Always check potential landing spots.
Running around the city also looks different when your are chased by the faster types of zombies. During the day, you can be attacked by running Infected and at night, by fast mutants. If you don’t plan to fight a given enemy, the only way to escape is using parkour moves. When running away, try to make it harder for the monsters to reach you by performing long jumps and staying on the rooftops. The ability to look back when running is a useful thing in the game. Connected with the markers on your minimap, it will allow you to always know how far away your enemies are and whether you are close to losing them.
Grappling hook helps you travel faster.
After you have developed your character enough, you get the opportunity to obtain the Grappling Hook from the Survivor skill tree. This gadget needs to be activated manually each time and it requires several seconds of “cooldown”. In spite of these limitations, you should take interest in the hook, because it allows you to reach ledges quickly (also the ones that are more difficult to access), or escape elite variations of the infected. The hook does not wear off, unlike standard weapons. If, for any reason, you lose it (e.g. throw it away from the inventory), you can receive a new one from any quartermaster.
Melee weapons | Combat
In Dying Light, melee weapons are the most common weapons to use, especially when you’re fighting slow, weaker enemies. There are a few dozens types of melee weapons in the game and they can be divided into two main categories – blunt and sharp.
An example of a blunt weapon
Blunt weapons are all kinds of pipes, hammers and clubs. Items from this group are usually bigger than sharp weapons and can deal more damage. They are also very good when you plan to crush the bones of your enemies.
An example of a sharp weapon
Sharp weapons are various types of knives and axes. A lot of weapons from this category are small and allow you to perform your attacks quickly, but you can also find bigger, two-handed sharp weapons. This type works well when you want to chop of your enemies’ limbs. This makes them a bit better than blunt weapons, as you can considerably weaken an enemy with just one strike (for example by cutting of his arm or leg), or even kill him instantly by decapitation.
Weapons marked with orange color are very valuable
Every weapon in the game is described with a few basic statistics, but you don’t need to read all of them. A more important thing are the colors of the weapons’ names, which represent the quality and value of a given item. At the beginning of the game, you will mostly find white weapons, but you will start to obtain more powerful ones with time. Try to look for items with purple and orange names. When you find such a weapon, save it for more difficult fights to not use them up too soon.
The highlighted red rectangle shows the Stamina bar
No matter of whether you use a blunt or a sharp weapon, you have to bear in mind that every attack costs you a given amount of stamina. The heavier the weapon, the more points are needed for performing an attack. For example, if you use one of the biggest two-handed weapons in the game, one attack may cost you even 2/3 of your stamina bar.
The stamina bar always appears in the screen in the moment when you perform an attack (it is marked in the screen above). Don’t allow the bar to fall to zero, as your hero will then feel exhausted. Or a moment, he will not be able to perform any attacks and also will become and easy target for the enemies. After performing a strong attack or a few weaker ones, jump back and allow the stamina bar to regenerate (stay on the move all the time).
Note – Kicking doesn’t require stamina. You can depend on it, when you see that an enemy is approaching your weakened hero.
Note 2 – There is a skill that can make your Stamina bar disappear and never feel exhausted.
Firearms
Unfortunately, a lot of enemy mercenaries use guns.
Firearms in Dying Light are luxury items, at least during the beginning of the game (you will start to find or receive guns later). No matter whether you’ve found a gun or bought one (it is not a good idea, as it is better to spend your money on other things), you should use it for fighting unusual zombies. You will only waste your ammo, of which there is never a lot in the game.
Try to use firearms when you face elite versions of Infected or armed and hostile human enemies. Remember also that you can often find good firearms near killed human mercenaries and those are weapons that are difficult to acquire when only exploring the city or completing quests.
Guns have one major flaw, which is the noise that they make. It spreads around the area, alarming the Infected. Remember that when you try to eliminate enemies using firearms, you may need to kill some extra enemies later. If you don’t want to waste additional ammo for such battles, prepare yourself before using a gun, for example by standing near a safe zone or on top of a building that is difficult to reach.
Throwing weapons
Using Molotov Cocktails, you can burn whole groups of Infected.
Throwable items in Dying Light is a supplement for melee weapons and firearms. You cannot depend solely on them, but they are perfect additional weapons. You should take special interest in Molotov Cocktails, which are quite common in the game world and also can be easily produced (more on that in the Crafting chapter). Cocktails are useful when a group of Infected or human enemies stands on your way. In both cases, you can be sure that the targets affected by fire will take some serious damage or die right away. Moreover, the flames can spread from one enemy onto another, which makes this weapon even more effective.
Besides Molotov Cocktails, it is also good to always have some other throwing weapons with you, like for example Throwing Stars or Throwing Hatchets. They are useful when you want to weaken or kill an enemy from distance and you don’t have a gun or don’t want to waste ammo. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t allow you to reacquire the items that you’ve thrown from the bodies of your enemies. Aim carefully before every attack. Also, don’t use a lot of resources for using new throwing weapons.
Note – Later in the game, you will start to find grenades. They are very powerful, so save them for difficult fights, i.e. use them only for eliminating groups of stronger enemies and only when it’s necessary for completing a mission or saving your hero from getting killed.
Note – Throwing weapons are selected in a separate menu. You don’t have to worry that for example a grenade will use up a slot reserved for melee weapons or firearms.
The use of parkour and environment elements
Use your agility to slow down or kill the Infected.
Parkour, described in one of the previous chapters of the guide, not only allows you to quickly move from one place to another, but also for performing attacks and eliminating enemies in a spectacular way. To learn more, read about skills from the Agility category, described in the Character Development chapter (they provide a lot of new, interesting attacks). You can for example learn how to bounce from enemies, land on them and perform immediate execution or break their legs with slide attack. An extra advantage of this type of attacks is that they do not require stamina, as opposed to attacks with melee weapons.
A kick is a good way for throwing a zombie off the roof.
You don’t need to rely only on complex actions, because there are simpler ways of interrupting your enemies. The kick is one of them (works the same as in Dead Island) and it can be used from the beginning of the game. It is very helpful, especially that it doesn’t require any stamina. You can use kicking for pushing away your enemies, but also for throwing them off the roofs. There is a lot of chance that such an enemy will die from the fall, or break some of his limbs.
Note – If you notice a zombie standing on some high shelf, you can simply draw his attention and wait until he starts heading your way. This way, the monster will fall down and you won’t have to climb the shelf to push him.
Sticking a monster on spikes makes him die immediately.
When eliminating enemies, you can use various objects from the environment. The most important are:
- Spikes – usually found attached to barrels, vehicles prepared by the survivors, barricades and walls. Try to push your enemies (it is best to use kicking for that) onto spikes and it will kill them right away.
- Gas bottles – When you find a bottle, you can pick it up, place it wherever you want and then detonate (using for example firearms or throwing weapons). The explosion is capable of killing a group of enemies, but you have to remember that the noise will draw the attention of the fast type of Infected and elite zombies.
- Spilled gasoline – When you notice a puddle of spilled gasoline, you can set it on fire (for example with a gun). It is good to stand in such a place so that the Infected that want to reach you have to go through the puddle.
- Puddles and pools – Near some puddles and small pools, you can find switches that turn on the power. It is good to use them and wait until the monsters get struck by electricity.
A car trap while on the mission ‘Cease And Desist’
Special traps that you can activate remotely, after you get near them, deserve a separate mention. They are not available by default and to unlock them, you need to get appropriates skills from the Survivor tree. These are:
- Trap cars (requires the Exploding Cars skill) – you can trigger the car alarm, thanks to which zombies lose interest in chasing you and approach the car. The charge goes off after several seconds. The best effects can be obtained if there is a big group of zombies around the car. Also, the more elite zombies react to car alarm.
- Electric fences (requires the Electric Fences skill) – their functioning is similar to that of car traps, where here the zombies need to be encouraged to cross the fence, after it activates. Therefore, make sure that you stay within their sight.
Death and its consequences
After dying, the game will inform you about the penalty you receive and you will be teleported to the closest safe zone.
Dying Light doesn’t allow you to save the game whenever you want (only auto-save) and this mechanism is connected to the consequences of getting killed. When the main hero dies, you don’t have to start from the latest auto-save points. Instead, you will be teleported to a safe zone (safe zones are described in the Game world chapter) and you can continue the game with the same equipment and game progress. Unfortunately, a price for this respawn is losing some (from a few hundreds to a few thousands) Survivor Points. These points are used for buying new skills (more on that in the Character Development chapter), so dying often will considerably slow the development of your hero. Therefore, it is good to keep your hp bar on high level and try to avoid getting killed.
You can craft, buy or find med kits in the game world.
The hp bar in Dying light doesn’t regenerate automatically. The only exception is when your hero is close to dying, i.e. he has less than 25 hp. You can regenerate health in three way:
- Med kits – it is definitely the best method. Look for them when exploring the game world (they can be found mainly in warehouses and bathrooms) and visit the quartermasters, as you can often receive them for free. You can also buy med kits from merchants and craft them on your own (check the Crafting chapter).
- Food – search all the containers, especially cupboards in houses and all kinds of vending machines. Food is found more often than med kits, but you cannot store it in your inventory and eating regenerates only up to a dozen-or-so hp.
- Rest – this is a good method if you have a difficult mission before you or if you want to prepare for surviving the upcoming night. Beds can be found in the headquarters of the main factions and in every safe zone that you unlock (more info in the Game world chapter).