Dying Light 2 tips to outrun the zombie apocalypse

dying light 2 church zipline
(Image credit: Techland)
Run the rooftops with these Dying Light 2 guides

Dying Light 2

(Image credit: Techland)

Dying Light 2 co-op: How to play with friends
Dying Light 2 skills: Which to choose
Dying Light 2 Inhibitors: Boost your stamina and health
Dying Light 2 safe codes: Don't miss any loot
Dying Light 2 repair weapons: How to do it

Looking for some Dying Light 2 tips? The zombie-infested city of Villedor is a daunting place to drop straight into, filled with hostile dead and living alike who'd be more than happy to knock you on the head. That's why you'll want some starter tips, to ease your path through the city's mean, infested streets.

The game itself has a pretty handy tips tab that offers tutorials and advice, but it only scratches the surface in what it a huge playable experience with many complex elements and considerations to make. To help you get a strong start, I’ve put together a Dying Light 2 tips guide for beginners.

In the following sections I'll talk about increasing skills, getting the best weapons, and just generally offer some handy advice for staying alive during Villedor's long and perilous nights.

Adjust the difficulty in-game

I’ll start with a simple, but important tip: you can change your difficulty level (easy, normal, or hard) after starting a game. So, if you don’t know what difficulty level is best for you, don’t fret. Just pick one and try it out. You can even change it during a difficult fight.

Use your binoculars to reveal map locations

Want to know where to find the windmills? Or perhaps you’re looking for a safe zone? If you stand on a high place and look around with your binoculars (press B), you can mark any special place in sight. If you see the white lines in the middle of your screen (forming a square) getting smaller, you know you’re close to discovering a new location. If you don’t see any lines at all, there’s nothing left to be found.

Adapt your adventures to the time of day

The basics are simple: don’t roam the streets at night, and don’t go inside buildings during the day. At night, the streets are not only full of common Infected, but also Howlers. If a Howler sees you, it'll alarm the other Infected and start to chase you. Then zombies will come running from all sides, so it’s pretty hard to survive. If you do have to go out at night, stick to the rooftops.

During the day you can easily take a stroll through the city streets. There are some Infected, but no Howlers. If you want to go inside a dark building though, wait until it’s night—at which point most of the Infected will have gone outside. The Infected who stay behind are mostly "sleepers", who won’t attack you unless disturbed. 

(Image credit: Techland)

Watch your immunity level

Once you step out of the sunlight, your immunity starts to decline. This also happens inside dark buildings during the day, but you can imagine how problematic it gets at night. There’s no way you’re going to survive a night-time outing without precautions. 

The UV light in safe zones will always protect you from turning into an Infected. As you can’t take a UV light with you on your loot hunts and night quests (not in the beginning of the game, at least), the next best thing is using UV Shroomz and Immunity Boosters. The Shroomz are found in rooftop groves (the gardens in the safe zones) and the boosters can be crafted or looted. 

(Image credit: Techland)

Always take more than one weapon with you

Even better: take four. As you will notice quickly, Dying Light 2 weapons don’t last very long. They all have a durability meter, and if it runs out, you can no longer it. Although you can get modifications to increase durability later on, you need to replace your weapons often in the early game. Don’t push your luck by carrying only one or two. 

Choose the best Dying Light 2 weapon for your playstyle


But be mindful of which weapons you keep. Hit damage is obviously important, but there are a few more things to consider:

  • Weapons have different rarity levels. Naturally the rarest ones (blue, purple, and gold) are usually better than the most common ones (white and green). 
  • If you like defensive combat and landing heavy blows, choose a two-handed weapon. If you’re fond of fast-paced combat and you’d rather dodge than block, use a one-handed one instead.
  • You can modify your weapon, so keep the ones with the most modification slots. This will cost you some resources, but it makes looting a lot easier. You can buy modification blueprints from Craftmasters. Find them in safe zones.
  • While you’re at it, buy some throwable blueprints from the Craftmasters as well. Throwing Knives and Molotov Cocktails are very handy when facing a large group of Infected. 
  • Note: there are ranged weapons in Dying Light 2. Just not at the start of the game.

(Image credit: Techland)

Grab extra skill points

Your combat and parkour levels increase as you use them. If the moves are quite complex, such as wall runs or vault kicks, you’ll be awarded more combat and parkour experience. However, since every combat and parkour action increases your skill levels at least a little bit, try to use even the simplest actions while on your way.

For example, instead of running to a location marker at the end of the street, jump over the cars. This won’t cost you extra time, but it will upgrade your parkour level. Combine this with active landings, wall runs, and occasionally kicking or dashing through some Infected, and you’re always upgrading your skills. 

(Image credit: Techland)

Farm Infected trophies for blueprint upgrades

Blueprint upgrades cost trophies. The first trophies you’ll need are dropped by uncommon and rare Infected. Unfortunately, finding uncommon Infected takes a lot of time, especially during the day. Here’s how to get them fast (and stay alive): 

  • Go out at night and find an easily accessible UV-lit area—the entrance to a metro station will do nicely. 
  • Say hi to a nearby Howler. 
  • Run back to the UV light as soon as the chase starts. The UV-light protects you, but the Viral Infected will chase you for a while. 
  • Stay near the UV and keep killing zombies until the chase ends. The ground will be littered with uncommon and rare Infected trophies.
Read more
Henry and Radzig stand side-by-side, Henry looks shocked and Radzig looks proud.
8 Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 tips that will help you become Bohemia's next top knight
Avowed tips - Kai turning his head slightly to look straight ahead, standing inside a building with shelves in the background.
5 Avowed tips that will help you survive the Living Lands
Monster Hunter Wilds tips - Kunafa villagers
10 Monster Hunter Wilds tips to get started in the Forbidden Lands
kingdom come: deliverance 2
12 things to grab first in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2
Zombies attacking
The OG Dying Light is giving away its first DLC in more than 4 years for free, and it's very shiny
Monster Hunter Wilds - Nata and Alma
7 things to do first in Monster Hunter Wilds
Latest in RPG
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 image - Henry riding a pink and blue striped horse while holding a fish
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 now has Steam Workshop support, and of course one of the first mods lets you adjust the 'jiggle physics'
Erenshor - A player and two simulated MMO party members stand on a plateau in front of a yellow landscape
This RuneScape-looking 'simulated MMORPG' has all the nostalgia without the drama because all the other 'players' are NPCs
New art of Harry and Kim from Disco Elysium, with Harry holding a lit molotov cocktail.
Despite Disco Elysium Mobile aiming to 'captivate the TikTok user,' it looks surprisingly decent—but it's still insulting to Disco's ousted creators
A cold-looking gameplay shot of Fate: Reawakened
Fate: Reawakened gives the nostalgic 20-year-old action RPG series a new lease on life
Henry from KCD2 wearing nice outfits
'Diversify your fashion endgame' with this Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 mod that gives Henry fly new gambesons, pourpoints, and caftans
Latest in Features
Rainbow Six Siege year 9 season 2 key art - two Rainbow Six Siege operators facing each other
'Siege 2 was never on the table': Rainbow Six Siege X director explains why the 10-year-old FPS doesn't need a sequel
Hands pushing poker chips on a table
Winning $2.6 billion in this poker videogame has completely ruined fake poker for me
Fragpunk characters with weapon drawn
The latest big game on Steam is Fragpunk, or as I like to call it, 'kitchen-sink Counter-Strike'
Screenshots from Half-Life 2 RTX, showing the various new effects delivered by full ray tracing and enhanced assets.
I just played Half-Life 2 RTX, a fully ray-traced overhaul of the original, and its meaty headcrabs have me hankering for more
A hunter poses with a large hammer as their palico cheers nearby in Monster Hunter Wilds.
Monster Hunter Wilds weapon tier list
character creation in Monster Hunter Wilds
The best Monster Hunter Wilds mods