7 Days to Die New Player Guide - Essential Tools and Basic Weapons

This is a basic guide for weapons and tools most important to the new survivor. It will not cover forged weapons or firearms, as those are either found, or require advanced crafting and the use of a forge. As the game is currently (March 2014) in early access alpha, it is likely that more weapons and tools will be added in the future, and other changes to existing objects may occurr. The guide will be updated as required, in due time. Thank you for your consideration.

The stone axe is probably the easiest melee weapon to craft, most useful early game, and most often the tool I craft first. It requires a sharp rock, a stick, and plant fiber.

Search for rocks. They are scattered in every landscape of the game. Then, take your raw rocks and convert them into stone.

Next, take your stone and break it into small rocks.

Then, take your small stones and turn one into a sharp stone.

Next, you will need to process grass into plant fiber. Most grass can be turned into plant fiber, no matter the color. Simply harvest it by breaking grass with your fists or any weapon or melee object.

Place the grass on your crafting grid and convert it into plant fiber.

Finally, you will need sticks. They can be found from various shrubs in the beginning of the game. Later on, you can craft sticks, but it's always easier when you start to simply break down a bush and gather the sticks.

Finally, combine your stick, plant fiber, and sharp rock like so to create your stone axe. You can now use your axe to chop trees for wood which will give you a near infinite supply of sticks.

A basic club is a simple melee weapon to craft, requiring only sticks.

There are other, deadlier club variants made with other scavenged materials. This version uses scrap metal and makes a spiked club, which does significantly more damage. For its ease of craft and low cost, it is a deadly weapon.

Killing zombies almost always gives you large bones. Instead of being used as food, they are turned into a fairly effective weapon, the bone shiv. Because of the abundance of large bones, bone shivs are a good source of constant melee damage.

Finally, the game's most useful weapon whether beginner or veteran, early survivor or seasoned adventurer -- the crossbow. Silent, deadly, and plentiful in ammunition. The crossbow is the de facto zombie dispatching machine. You will need sticks and plant fiber.

Bolts are crafted from small rocks, sticks, and feathers. To find feathers, first look for and loot birds nests.

Arrange sticks, feathers, and plant fiber on the crafting grid as such to form bolts. Be sure to equip your bolts on your hotbar when using your crossbow, otherwise you won't be able to reload. Also remember, a head-shot with a crossbow will kill with certainty any type of zombie spawn provided it is a clean hit.