Skill

Skills are special enhancements a player can use. Players have have 6 normal skills equipped at a time; 4 active, and 2 passive.

Active - skills must be manually activated by clicking on their buttons (which form the lower row of the panel in the bottom center of the screen) or hitting their shortcut key from among 1-4. These skills do not shuffle their activating keys around and always keep to your custom settings. The skill activated with 1 is displayed as the leftmost in the skills panel, whereas the one activated with 4 occupies the rightmost space, with the skills in between keeping the order.
Passive - Many passive skills provide a buff (sometimes only when certain conditions are met).

Unlike clothing, skills can be changed at any time by going to your profile, clicking a skill icon (or empty slot) and choosing one from the list. The active skills become available after a regular cooldown period. Passive skills are switched instantly.

There is another category of skills. The upper row of icons of the skills panel in the bottom center of the screen normally activates the skills provided by the survivor gear, and can be alternatively activated by the keys 5-8. This range may be insufficient, however, because there can be more of these keys available from survivor gear alone - and there are also weapons whose skills will populate the upper row of the panel - and wielding these weapons may jumble the order of these skills up, meaning that the keys with which they get activated also change - they have to be inferred from the order of the skill icons on the screen: the skill with the leftmost icon has 5 assigned, the next one is 6, the subsequent one 7, and the one after that is 8. In that case only the skills with the four leftmost icons get assigned keys, whereas all those farther to the right have to be activated by clicking. The order of these skills depends on the configuration of your survivor gear (in situations when a given weapon is wielded it changes if and only if you pick up a different type of a piece of the survivor gear).

Obtaining skills[]

There are many ways to obtain skills in the game:

Level up reward
From doing the main quest line
Research workshop
Buying from Mei Lee in Lakeview (the skills from this pool cannot be obtained in another way)

Skills list[]

Active[]

Name	Effect	Duration	Cooldown
Defensive formation	[Passive] Resistance : +30%, on an 4m area (while it is limited to the area, it only works on self but not others)	10s	30s
Heavy hand	[Passive] Physical Damage +50% [Attack 20%] Stun, for 2s	10s	30s
Chain attack	[Passive] Attack Speed +30% [Passive] Combo Damage +40%	10s	20s
Encouragements	[Activation] Physical damage : +20%, for 5s, on an 4m area [Activation] Attack speed : +10%, for 5s, on an 4m area	5s	10s
Focus	[Passive] Dodge : +60% [Passive] Move speed : -50%	8s	20s
Projection	[Attack] Projection : +300m	6s	20s
Wall	[Passive] Resilience : +20%	5s	20s
Smash	[Activation] Physical damage : +30, 1 charge [Activation] Stamina : +20, 1 charge	2s	6s
Self heal	[Activation] Heal : +30 [Activation] Heal +8, every 1s, for 5s	∅	10s
First aid	[Activation] Heal : +30, on a 2m area	∅	6s
Feint	[Hit taken] Counter-attack	5s	12s
Purity	[Activation] Crowd controls resist +100%, for 1s - Cancels every temporary effect from the character on top of 1s immunity to crowd control effects.	1s	15s
Projection	Your next attack pushes back your foe. If it's thrown into a wall, the cooldown is reduced by 8s.	∅	12s
Mass Provoke	Provoke surrounding foes to attack the character.	∅	30s
Stance: defense	Root yourself in the ground to reduce incoming damage by 50%. Note: activate again to undo early. (Stance actually last forever until you deactivate it, get stunned/knocked back or log out of the game.)	15s	3s
Execution	Does damage proportional to your foe's missing life, if it kills it, there is no cooldown.	∅	15s
Rallying call	[Activation] Shield +60, for 10s, on an 3m area, 5 charge	10s	20s
Intimidating presence	Aura: slows foes around the character by 33. Consumes 10 stamina per second.	∅	3s
The Punisher	Deals damage ̶p̶̶r̶̶o̶̶p̶̶o̶̶r̶̶t̶̶i̶̶o̶̶n̶̶a̶̶l̶ ̶t̶̶o̶ ̶t̶̶h̶̶e̶ ̶n̶̶u̶̶m̶̶b̶̶e̶̶r̶ of foes with control effects around the caster. 20% per slowed or rooted foe. 50% per stunned or frozen foe. ( Currently not at described, it's not "proportional to the number" )	∅	12s
Provoke	Provoke a foe so that it attacks you.	∅	5s
Battle heal	[Attack] Heal +9	10s	25s

Passive[]

Icon	Name	Effect
	Rescuer	[Passive] Healing skill +30%
	Protector	[Passive] Aggro bonus +100% [Passive] Physical resistance +20%
	Sturdy	[Passive] Resistance : +30%
	Sneaky	[Passive] Critical Chance : +20%
	Fast Metabolism	[Passive] Bonus recieved heal : +40%
	Surgeon	[Passive] Healing skill +20% [Passive] Bonus received heal : +20%
	Escape Artist	[Passive] Dodge +20%
	Opportunist	[Passive] damage on slowed targets +30% [Passive] damage on stunned targets +50%
	Fighter	[Passive] Damage +25%
	Tough	[Passive] Max health +100 [Passive] Aggro bonus +100%
	Specialist	[Passive] Stamina gain +20%
	Master of elements	Gain 15% stacking damage bonuses each time you inflict an elemental effect for 5s. Capped at 5 stacks.

Survivor gear only[]

Only appears on survivor equipment.

Name	Gear	Effect	Duration	Cooldown
Help	Medic's gloves	Heal on +24 an 5m area Note: can't heal yourself		10s
Incendiary mine	Handyman's bag			30s
Martial art	Tactical gloves	Counter-Attack Physical Resistance -10%	10s	60s
Toxic mine	Gas mask			20s
Speed	Travel bag	Move speed +30%, for 4s	4s	15s
Heal	Medic's bag	Heal on +12 an 4m area		10s
Melee	Adventurer's bag	Projection -5m, on an 5m area	5s	10s
Throw	Jerrycan	Flammable, in a 2m radius		60s
Berserk	War paintings	Physical damage +25% Resistance -50%	10s	60s
Escape	Scarf	Projection +3m on 4m area Electric damage +12, on 4m area		40s
Spotting	Map	Display your current coordinates	∅	5s

Item only[]

All item only skills are "active".

Name	Item	Effect	Duration	Cooldown
Shoot	Bow	[Activation] Inflicts 50 damage to the first enemy within a cone. Headshot chance: 15%	∅	0s
Lancer	Gas tank / BBQ fuel	[Activation] Flammable, on an 2m area	∅	5s
Formula X	Formula X	[Activation] Toxic damage +36, every 1s, for 6s, on an 4m area [Activation] Move speed -50%, every 1s, for 6s, on an 4m area	∅	10s
Throw	Boomerang	[Activation] Physical damage +28, every 1s, for 2s, on an 9m area [Activation] Durability -20	∅	10s
Throw	Laundry detergent	[Activation] Toxic damage +48, on an 2m area [Activation] Durability -25	∅	5s
Throw	Bleach	[Activation] Toxic damage +72, on an 3m area [Activation] Durability -50	∅	10s
Throw	Gas canister / Gas bottle	[Activation] Fire damage +168, on an 4m area [Activation] Projection +5m, on an 4m area	∅	10s
Light on	Blowtorch	[Activation] Fire damage +24, every 1s, for 4s, on an 4m area [Activation] Durability -33	∅	5s
Blessing	Bible	[Activation] Shield +150, for 4s, on an 3m area	∅	15s
Erudite	Dictionary	[Activation] Stun, for 4s, on an 2m area	∅	10s
Use	Role Play Book	[Activation 25%] Heal +36 [Activation 25%] Move speed +100%, for 4s [Activation 25%] Max health +100 [Activation 25%] Shield +150, for 4s	∅	10s
Use	Math book	[Activation] Counter-attack, for 4s	∅	10s
Use	Survivalism Handbook	[Activation] Physical resistance +20%, for 10s, on an 5m area	∅	10s
Heal	Novel	[Activation] Heal +24, every 1s, for 4s, on an 5m area Heal with words	∅	10s
Use	Fire extinguisher	[Activation] Cold damage +24, on an 3m area [Activation] Durability -33	∅	10s
Gossip power	People magazine	[Activation] Critical damage +50%, for 10s [Activation] Critical chance +25%, for 10s	∅	15s
Throw	Liquid nitrogen	[Activation] Cold damage +72, on an 3m area	∅	10s
Throw	Base ball / Golf ball	[Activation] Stun, for 4s, on an 1m area	5s	10s
Decoy	Firecrackers	Throw firecrackers near you to serve as a decoy for 5s.	5s	30s
Shoot	Tiny Revolver	Inflicts 80 damage to your target. Headshot chance: 35%	∅	2s
Shoot	Semi-automatic pistol	Inflicts 60 damage to the first enemy within a cone. Headshot chance: 25%	5s	0s
Shoot	Magnum	Inflicts 110 damage to your target. Headshot chance: 55%	∅	2s
Shoot	Taser gun	Inflicts 100 electrical damage to your target and stuns it for 2 seconds.	∅	0s
Shoot	Liquid Nitrogen handgun	Inflicts 70 cold damage to enemies within a cone, also reduces their attack speed by 33%.	∅	3s
Shoot	Dirty Harry's gun	Inflicts 160 damage to your target, and stuns it for 2 seconds. Headshot chance: 75%	∅	0s
Shoot	Dart gun	Inflicts 100 poison damage to your target, and roots it for 10 seconds.	∅	5s
Shoot	Silencer gun	Inflicts 60 damage to your target. Headshot chance: 45%	∅	1s
Shoot	Water gun	Gives the status "wet" to the target.	∅	0s
Shoot	Flare gun	Inflicts 100 fire damage.	∅	0s
First aid kit	First aid kit	Drops a kit at the target area. Can be used to restore 20% max health. Lasts 10 seconds.	10s	15s
Distress signal	Flare gun	Shoots a flare into the air. Rescue will surely come! - Teleports you back to your camp, safe and sound. Consumes the item. Note: You will keep all your items, and the teleport happens after a few seconds of channeling.	10s	10s
Build spiked barrel	Barricade kit	Can be built to hinder and impale nearby infecteds	∅	5s
Throw	Molotov cocktail	[Activation] Fire damage +96, on an 2m area	∅	5s