Dead Island 2-Quick Background

The game is an action zombie style game with a hint of survivalism. This game can be played in single player or co-op just like its predecessor. The game lets you choose and take control of one of an eclectic group of characters (more info below) as your evac bird crashes and you are sent back into Hell-A to find another way out. 

Dead Island 2 Characters

There are six playable characters in this game. Backstories for each below along with some details about their stats and innate skills they start with. 

Amy-The Agile One

Amy is a Paralympic athlete with a stars and stripes blade for running who grew up in LA. A natural competitive leader. She gets a boost to agility and critical damage whilst having low toughness levels. 

Innate Skills

Amy starts with Relief Pitcher where Amy regains stamina when hitting a zombie with a weapon throw and Divide and conquer where Amy gets a minor damage boost when she attacks isolated zombie. 

The combat style best suited to her stats is high speed and quick attacks with a focus on modding weapons to get more critical hits. Being able to keep moving and take out enemies one at a time. Keeping on your toes and being quick is essential due to her lack of toughness. 

What Makes Amy Great?

• Fast
• Highest agility
• Good innate skills
• High critical damage skill

Jacob-The Healthy One

The London born stuntman who runs around Hell-A quoting Shakespeare. Has high health, stamina and critical hit skills at detriment to his agility and toughness. 

Innate Skills

Jacob starts with Frenzy which lets Jacob get a stackable minor damage boost when attacking in quick succession and Critical Gains which makes Jacob’s critical hits when his stamina is low get a moderate critical damage boost and regain stamina.

A great pure combat character, with high health and stamina and innate skills that really boost critical hits makes him a threat to the high levelled or special enemies. 

What Makes Jacob Great?

• Highest health stat
• High stamina stat 
• Powerful innate skills

Ryan-The Tough Guy 

An exotic dancer whose main gimmick was ‘fireman’, his goal is to make sure his little brother gets to safety through the blood and guts filled streets. The least agile of the characters but makes up for it with stamina and toughness.

Innate Skills

Ryan starts with Retaliation where Ryan gets a moderate force boost when using block or dodge to avoid an attack and Seesaw where Ryan regains health each time, he knocks down a zombie.

In old school RPG terms Ryan is the tank character. Low agility with high toughness and resilience to absorb blows as they fly in. His retaliation skill is best used with the block skill equipped, due to his lack of agility the dodge skill is not going to be helpful.

What Makes Ryan Great?

• Highest toughness stat
• A great tank character
• Regaining health whenever you knock down a zombie is so good it could be considered OP

Carla-The Resilient One

The motorcycle racer with a degree from the school of hard knocks in street smarts, she lives off adrenaline and acts as a tank character. High bonuses to resilience and toughness.

Innate Skills

Carla Starts with Mosh Pit where Carla gets a minor damage boost when close to multiple zombies and Dig Deep where Carla gets a moderate toughness boost while her health is critical.

Ryan is also a tanky character but that is due to his lack of agility. Carla has similar stats to toughness and resilience but with a lower critical damage skill. This means she can take a beating while slowly wearing down the undead. The best advice would be to choose weapons with high base stats and ignore the critical chance damage stat. 

What Makes Carla Great?

• High resilience 
• Innate skills lead towards combat with large groups 
• Overall the best stats for new comers to the game type

Bruno-The Critical Hit Machine

A smooth-talking thief and conman, actually gets onto the evac plane with a swindle. Looking like a Soundcloud rapper but wanting to be free and fight against corruption. His stats lean towards overall damage with a high critical damage and agility stat. A real good all-rounder character.

Innate Skills

Bruno starts with Backstab where Bruno gets a moderate damage boost when attacking zombies from behind and Rapid Reprisal which boosts Bruno’s agility and heavy attack charges when he avoids attacks with a block or dodge.

What Makes Bruno Great?

• The highest starting critical chance stat
• High stamina and agility 
• Innate skills pair perfectly with starting stats

Dani-The One With High Stamina

A quick-thinking punk/alt Irish lass. A quick firing machine, able to stay on the move and keep getting up from being hit, as she says herself “all that time in mosh pits has paid off”. The highest stamina levels mixed high health makes her a great choice. Her health recovery is at the lowest of the characters but after playing through can say that’s not a problem, even taking risks and blowing yourself up there are enough healing items around to get you through.

Innate Skills

Dani starts with Thunderous where Dani’s heavy attacks trigger a forceful explosion on impact and Bloodlust where Dani regains health when slaying multiple zombies in quick succession.

What Makes Dani Great?

• By far the best character
• High stamina is the most useful skill in the game
• Only low skill is health recovery but health items are everywhere in this game
• High base health
• Funniest voice lines

Let me know down below what characters you would choose or have already chosen to battle the undead in Hell-A. 

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