Health and damage aren’t exactly novel concepts in gaming, much less in zombie games, but how a character goes about healing can vary from game to game, even within a single franchise! This page will provide information about how health and healing work in Dead Island 2.

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Getting attacked will reduce your Health. If your Health is depleted, you’ll die.

Which Character Has the Most Health in Dead Island 2?¶

Enemy attacks hit and they deal damage, reducing your current Health value. You run out of health, you die. Simple stuff. Dead Island 2 has six Slayers (protagonists) you can choose from, and their stats vary slightly, including both their Peak Health and Health Recovery, as follows:

Attribute	Jacob	Bruno	Carla	Dani	Ryan	Amy
Peak Health	120	80	100	110	100	90
Health Recovery	90	100	100	80	100	100

Peak Health is just a character’s maximum health value, and a rough guide as to how much Health they’ll gain each time they level up. Jacob has the largest Health pool and Bruno has the lowest, and in the absence of factors like Toughness (physical damage reduction) and Resilience (elemental damage resistance), roughly correlates to a character’s overall durability. Health Recovery is how much Health a character will recover passively.

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(1 of 2) You’ll naturally recover health if you go without taking damage for a while - if you’re seriously injured you’ll heal exceptionally quickly.

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You’ll naturally recover health if you go without taking damage for a while - if you’re seriously injured you’ll heal exceptionally quickly. (left), This period of rapid recovery will only last until you’re at 30% of your Health. (right)

How Do You Heal in Dead Island 2?¶

After some undead munches on you, there are several ways to recover Health: passive healing, Med Kits, snacks and skills:

Passive Healing in Dead Island 2¶

“Time heals all wounds”, as the saying goes, and that’s true in Dead Island 2. Every character regenerates Health, the alacrity of which is determined by their Health Recovery stat. Most characters have a Health Recovery stat of 100, with Jacob and Dani falling behind with 90 and 80, respectively. This amount also seems tied into a character’s Peak Health, and not surprisingly, the Slayers with the highest Health have the slowest Health Recovery, perhaps evening things out a bit. Passive health regeneration will begin a moment after you last take damage - continuously take damage and this counter will reset. Your passive healing is incredibly fast when your Health is low, but this expedited healing only persists until you’re back at 30% of your maximum Health, after which the standard rate of regeneration kicks in.

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(1 of 2) Med Kits are your primary workhorse of rapid Health recovery,

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Med Kits are your primary workhorse of rapid Health recovery, (left), but the odd Protein Bar and Energy Drink will also give you a respectable pick-me-up. (right)

Med Kits¶

Perhaps the most utilitarian form of healing in Dead Island 2, any time you’re in a pinch you can press to use a Med Kit (assuming you have one) to recover a significant percentage of your Health. There are some limitations, however: Using a Med Kit consumes it, and you can only carry five at a time, Med Kits heal you quickly, but not instantaneously, and there is an associated animation with using a Med Kit during which you’re vulnerable.

Med Kits can be found while exploring, obtained as loot from defeated Zombies, purchased from shops, or fabricated at Workbenches.

Snacks¶

As you explore HELL-A, you’ll come across the discarded snacks of the formerly living. Being in California, this naturally consists of Protein Bars and Energy Drinks. Consuming one of these snacks will patch you up by about 25% of your maximum Health, and like Med Kits, they can be found lying around or dropped from enemies. They also have a short usage animation.

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Various Skills Cards will also provide supplemental healing - sometimes substantial amounts, depending on how adept you are.

Healing From Skill Cards¶

You can equip an expanding arsenal of Skill Cards as you level up - the higher your level, the more Skill Cards you can equip. You’ll also earn more Skill Card as you level up, complete story quests, or in some cases, you can just find them lying around. Quite a few Skill Cards modify how general gameplay functions work, and when it comes to healing, there are a few which are particularly interesting:

Skill Card	Effect
Invigorating	COUNTER attack zombies to regain extra HEALTH – even more than usual!
Safety First	A well-timed BLOCK or DODGE regains HEALTH.
The Limb Reaper	MAIM a zombie to regain HEALTH.

Equipping the Skill Cards listed above will turn every enemy attack into a potential source of healing, provided you can successfully block, dodge and counter. It’s a great supplemental source of healing that may actually prevent you from having to rely on the other methods listed above.