Death Road to Canada – Traits and Perks for Beginners

Guide for starters on what the traits exactly do in the game.

Traits and Perks Guide

Note: Credit goes to Lawful Midfinger

Traits

Let’s start with the traits here. There’s a total of 28, sorted alphabetically here.

Anime Fan

Starts with an “overpowered” Strong Katana. The weapon is B tier on the official weapon tier list, can’t be broken, can sometimes hit a few extra zombies and has 0.8 sec cooldown. They will always have this weapon, even on death (Similar to Trademark Weapon, a perk). The drawback is getting full morale; They’ll turn into the Anime Girl, a rare character that is a literal ticking time bomb of sorts that will damage the party when they will inevitably die 3 in-game days later (unless a situational thing prevents her from blowing up.).

Bandit

Starts with 0 composure and loyalty, making them awful choices for any trust-related events. When visiting trader camps, they can rob most of the traders, but be careful of who you rob, since some traders will fight back. There’s also a few road events that make a bandit be able to rob the people involved. The group will lose morale on any robbing event, unless they have low loyalty too (0 or 1) Also be careful of letting anyone with low loyalty too low on morale. Their leaving the party will make them steal the car and supplies, though this can be also prevented a few ways.

BERSERK!

Starts with every personality stat on 0, but in exchange have 4 on every combat stat. This makes them able to rob people and be irritating, and even get the secret “Angry Strong” stat check at start. Can go one above the maximum (7) on combat stats. Did I mention they have a single vitality point yet? Likely won’t make it alone and definitely needs a support. Getting them to Canada will also give you a cheevo.

Calm Under Fire

Has a guaranteed high composure (6). If they have high wits too, they’ll be the perfect option for “Fire!” road event. If they also have a good shooting stat (4 or above) they’ll get a secret “Calm Shot” stat check that might help in a few road events. Overall it ain’t much.

Charming

Has 6 points on both wits and attitude, granting them the charms to negotiate with traders, bandits and even some extra characters and/or road events. In the trader case, on the trainers they’ll get free training on a 50/50 chance of working. If it doesn’t work, you’ll “come off as creepy” and not be able to talk to them in that camp anymore. Against bandits, they can compromise to leave less loot than what asked to, which always works.

City Seeker

Doesn’t give anything stat related, but greatly increases the chance to find rare buildings in looting events, and doubles chances to find rare trader camps. It’s a nice trait to have but as mentioned, no stat boosts so it might be a bad choice, depending on the RNG of the game.

Civilized

Almost the opposite of BERSERK!, this one gives 6 on all personality stats, 1 point on both medical and mechanical, and has the same charms as Charming characters do, along with Calm Under Fire and Hero Type. High loyalty means they will never betray you, and high attitude means they’ll gain 2 morale from eating a decent meal, but all of this comes at the cost of them being locked to 3 (neutral) being their highest available morale.

Dingus Savant

This is a new trait, so I can’t really tell much about it. They get a bonus to the maximum of shooting, medical and mechanical, not strength or fitness (7), have 2 vitality, and a maximum of 4 morale, which is one above Civilized. Sounds generally just not really useful, considering they don’t get any starter stats so building up to 7 will take a longer while unless helped with perks.

Fast Learner

Doesn’t once again start with anything specific, but they do have double the amount of shooting, mechanical and medical learning. That is until getting to 4, which it only rises by one. This might be a good thing for new recruits so they’ll catch up faster.

Fierce Tempered

Gains 1 point in strength and 0 in composure. It ain’t much for a moment but if you grow their strength to more than 3, they’ll get the Angry Strong combo, which will also help with some road events. Might turn out to be a bandit too, if loyalty is low.

Frantic Whiner

Fragile but fast, they have 2 vitality but run faster than the average character and have a bad attitude. Having an awful attitude makes them be a jerk to others in the car but might with some luck get to be irritating or paranoid.

Gourmand

Eating a decent meal restores 1 point of morale each time, even when not low on morale at the moment. Is also sturdier than most, having 4 vitality. Eats also 3 food instead of 2. Running low on food also decreases morale even worse, with one extra decrease (example: from 6 to 2 instead of 3) also has a funny response to a certain road event. Could be useful, if you can spare the food.

Grappler

Starts with a “boring personality” meaning their personality stats will all be 2-4, making no significant personality stats. The namesake comes from being able to throw, carry and slam zombies as if they were furniture or a corpse. Situational and doesn’t do much.

Hero Type

Starts with maximum loyalty, and will prevent someone from dying in a text/road event, but only once. Once the save has been done, the trait shows up as “Loyal Pal” for the rest of the game.

Inventive

Gains 2 points in mechanical and 6 on wits, can also go to 7 on mechanical. Kind of simple, but 2 points of mechanical won’t fix all types of cars, mind you.

Irritating

Ah, yes. The guy who can tell people to “Cool it” or alternatively “Sya it, don’t spray it” and of course 0 wits and attitude. They can use these one-liners against traders, certain road events and bandits alike with pretty much always negative results. That is, until you do it thrice which gives the dialogue option some oomph by having three flashing exclamation marks as in “Cool it!” which always gives a good thing like extra loot or stat gain instead.

Mysterious Past

Alright, this trait gives the character an extreme personality, making every personality stat 0, 1, 5 or 6, guaranteeing you a charmer, irritating, oblivious or paranoid character. Also, 3 points to fight skills at random which I’m not so sure on, i think it gives them a headstart for one combat stat by having 3 on one of them.

Nurturing

Have 2 points in medical, with an ability to go to 7 with the skill. Has a great attitude, meaning if they have low or high wits, it can either give oblivious or charming dialogue options. “May be an act” means they might still have a low loyalty, as it’s not pre-determined.

Oblivious

A positive little goofball that makes them have 0 wits and 6 attitude, and some dumb-but-good-spirited dialogue options in some events, including even a bandit encounter. May ignore a despair event (Having 0-1 morale and in a car, instead of leaving the party they’ll just shrug it off and gain morale)

Paranoid

Can “expect” and prevent a lot of negative events, with 6 wits and 0 attitude. Very useful in identifying random recruits.

Phoenix

Inflammable and will resurrect self with a boom if dead in a siege/looting event (and likely hurts teammates). Will be able to do it only once.

Practical

3 points to a single fight and support skill at start, but at cost of boring personality.

Resilient Type

Has 4 vitality like the gourmand, but 0 wits.

Sound Sleeper

Will never be tired, meaning you can put them to doing any sleepless activities without problems… except beware for low loyalty.

Specialist

2 points to all combat stats, can go to 7 on each, is locked to exactly one weapon slot.

Tiny Eater

Eats only 1 food on meals, but max strength is 4 and max fitness is 5.

Travel Light

Runs faster like frantic whiner, starts with 1 point in fitness but can only carry two weapons.

Warrior

2 points in strength and fitness, but a boring personality.

Perks

There are a total of 24 perks. These can be upgraded at Zombo Town/”Unlocks” from the main menu.

Athlete

Pretty much the name tells most of it, but they start with 1 point in fitness and strength. They have a randomized starter weapon that’s some sports equipment (6 possibilities, see Extra for the section of which) Pretty much all of these weapons can break, but are reliable.

Big Bruiser

Gives the character a strong unarmed attack called “Boxing”, 1 point in strength and 4 vitality, but at the cost of lowered dexterity.

Bow and Arrows

Starter weapon is a bow that can’t be dropped or sold, and will keep it at death. Will have 2 strength. See Extra for info on how to make it better. The bow can hold up to 30 arrows that restocks 4 between missions (looting/sieges) It’s also silent as in it doesn’t attract zombies.

Car Nut

Start with one point in mechanical, also brings a nicer set of wheels when joining the party (you can decline the car if not the starter character). See Extra for list of possible cars you can get.

Ex-Wrestler

Pick up downed zombies, and throw or slam them, much like a grappler except you can do it to downed ones. Starts with 1 point in fitness, and an unspecified penalty to shooting.

Explorer

Allows for one extra location choice during Always Be Looting road events. With upgrades, it also costs less to reroll ABL locations. That’s pretty much it.

Fighter

1 point in strength and shooting, and starts you off with a hatchet, a common but reliable weapon and doesn’t require much out of you to swing.

Friend of Dog

In some looting missions involving dogs (pet shop or junkyard) they can tame angry dogs. They can also use “Dog Psychology” on trader dogs, and funnily enough recruits a Panda, a rare character. Upgrades make high chances of random recruits to be dogs.

Gun Collector

1 point in shooting, and starter weapon is a pistol and an assortment of ammo. Upgrades give you rifle and shotgun (with the ammo).

Gungineer

A nice mix of support and combat, starting weaponized with a crowbar (a tiring but strong weapon) with a point in shooting and mechanical.

Health Care

Gives the group 4 medical supplies and starts with one point in medical stat. Upgrades can make them give 7 meds at start.

Hidden Potential

Starts the character with a point in either strength or fitness. Either one will also have a max of 7. Oddly, characters with this perk don’t have any starter weapon, unless a trait provides one.

Martial Artist

Start with a traditional “Kung Fu”, a powerful two-hit unarmed attack, much like Big Bruiser. Gives one strength and fitness point each, with fitness being able to reach 7. On the bad side, they can’t have firearms or motorized weapons.

Mechanic

Starter weapon is a wrench, a heavy-ish weapon much like the crowbar. Stats include a point in mechanical and fitness.

Megabuff

Starter weapon is a metal pipe. Starter stat is 2 strength.

Natural Shot

1 point in shooting, with the ability to reach 7 on shooting. Yep, that’s another of these boring ones.

Pathfinder

Professionals at walking, will often skip one penalty event in walking-road events. Upgrades give higher chances to avoid penalty events.

Pyromaniac

Makes the character fireproof, have a starter weapon in form of a blowtorch, with 4 charges of short-range incendiary bursts. Like the bow mentioned before, this weapon will regenerate charges. It’s also a precious one that won’t drop on death.

Shield of Hope

Allows you to evade death from fatal hits in both text/road and lootings, but only if morale is 3 or more. When dead in either event and morale is sufficient, you’ll lose 4 morale and revive immediately. Upgrades lower the amount of morale lost.

Surgeon

Starter weapon is a scalpel. The steady hands make medical and shooting each have a point.

TST*C

Starts at full strength! Can go 6 times over the maximum strength! … swoleness comes at the cost of not being able to raise fitness at all.

Top Seller

Gets 1-8 extra food when selling to a weapons barterer at trading camps. Will also make bandits want less of your food.

Trademark Weapon

Have an exclusive signature weapon, depending on trait. The weapon is undroppable. See TM-Weapons below the list of all possibilities.

Ultrafit

Gives 2 points to fitness, and a starter loot of 2 food. That’s it.

TM-Weapons

For someone this significant, these weapons are all very good and unbreakable. The trait you choose will impact what weapon you start off with.

Traits not listed here will receive an Aluminum Bat or Sturdy Machete, depending on how many upgrades the perk has. (Lvl1 makes it always be an aluminum bat, Lvl2 makes it a 50% chance to be either the bat or machete, while Lvl3 makes it always be sturdy machete)

• Anime Fan – Ninja Katana
• Calm Under Fire – Hunting Rifle
• Civilized – Electric Guitar
• Frantic Whiner & Grappler – Nightstick
• Gourmand, Travel Light & Tiny Eater – Sturdy Cleaver
• Inventive – E-Blower
• Irritating – Sports Horn
• Nurturing – Bonesaw
• Phoenix – Hot Poker
• Specialist – Knight Sword

Extra

Here’s a list of some extra information that couldn’t fit into the previous sections, basically a large “Editor’s Note”.

Feel free to use any morale-lowering option on Anime Fan to help prevent their fusion to Anime Girl. If they’re already one, they can be stopped by meeting an Anime Salesman in a trader camp or visiting a rare location of anime store in a looting event and talking to the npcs. Characters you shouldn’t lower the morale of too much are bandit,

BERSERK! and civilized.

Paranoid characters can even predict a bandit/low loyalty member’s betrayal and save the car and supplies and only having the guy leave.

“Boring personality” stands for them starting with 2-4 on any personality stat, meaning they won’t have a stat combo.

Anyone, sometimes even characters with “boring personality” trait, can be a bandit, charming, irritating, oblivious or paranoid. This obviously includes random recruits.

Frantic Whiner and Travel Light both have an increased dexterity, but they’ll still run at pace of your speed if not controlled by a player.

Big Bruiser has a decreased dexterity instead, which makes them run slower. They’ll mostly match your speed though if you play anyone else.

Combining Grappler and Ex-Wrestler will give the character El Satan’s body (a rare character). It disables you from using ranged weapons though.

Athletes can start off with either a baseball bat, cricket bat, golf club, hockey stick, oar or tennis racket.

Car Nut brings either a Bug, Classic Car, Hotrod, Muscle Car or Station Wagon. The game doesn’t tell which you get when prompted to switch, though.

Even if you don’t recruit an ultrafit, health care or gun collector, their supplies (guns n ammo, 4 med supplies or 2 food) will still be added to your inventory.

Previously mentioned “Angry Strong” and “Calm Shot” secret stat checks mean Low Composure x Above 3 Strength and High Composure x Above 3 Shooting respectively. They’ll be able to solve some situations exceptionally. Generally there’s a few other high-stat-only things but I mainly made this guide to help on traits/perks so I’ll only help on those in the comment section.

Yes, the personality combos can appear when you have 1 or 5 in any point, but they can also disappear from your options if for example you gain personality stats in certain events like reading a magazine. Also, oblivious’ ignorance of despair only works once.