From guns, axes, and items usually associated with tools, there are countless ways to protect yourself from zombies in the game, since the whole point of the game is to survive for as long as you can, there is no such thing as a bad weapon, but of course, some items and weapons are just straight up better than others, making your chances of survival range from barely alive to outright unkillable.

While mods can make your choices much better, the base, the unmodded game still has options for you to survive even if the odds to find the best may be more limited, but as you adapt and move to various places to scavenge, you’re bound to get there eventually, so it’s best to know your stuff as early as the beginning, which we’ll tackle in this list.

For this list, the list is made at the time of the games’ latest version (ver. 41.78 Steam) and is based on my experience in a friend-hosted multiplayer server, and the items listed are from the vanilla version of the game, meaning no mod items are included. This list is subjective list and the order is in no particular order

10. Baseball Bat

Should you want a starter item for the apocalypse, the baseball bat should do the trick.

Why is the Baseball Bat Great?

It’s a simple but effective blunt weapon that can go a fairly good while in terms of what you can achieve, which is to protect yourself, with a fair enough durability span. It’s not going to out-damage other long blunt weapons, but it is still a nice thing to keep when going out and about the world in the early stages. Should you want to wield the bat for the early game, you should expect these benefits.

• Optional start weapon – Can be immediately present at a start of a server spawn
• Upgradeable – Adding Nails can turn it into a Spiked Baseball Bat

With a strong emphasis on being accessible, this is a choice for any server owner to enable a session for everyone to get. This is a weapon that is bundled in your supposed “starter pack” and the best one to take for zombies as it can be used for multi-hitting zombies (assuming that too is enabled) and even better still is combining it with Nails to make the aforementioned Spiked Baseball Bat, which may or may not be a priority depending on if you need carpentry skill to make furniture for any base you make. Given the randomness of Project Zomboid, you can do with or without the bat, but if you spawn where zombies will immediately greet you, you’d at least have a welcome gift for them too.

Baseball Bat Details:

• Damage: 1-2.5
• Weight: 2.0
• Weapon Type: Two-handed

How to Get the Baseball Bat:

• Spawn item in your backpack (server enabled)
• House cabinets
• Schools

9. Hammer

Common tools can be used for uncommon uses as well.

Why is the Hammer Great?

A tool that is also part of a supposed starter pack when you join a server, alongside the baseball bat. This is another makeshift tool turned weapon in that it has ok damage and durability for the early parts of your run. Finding it is also likely as is the likelihood of you benefiting from these things that the Hammer gives.

• Optional start weapon – Can be immediately present at a start of a server spawn
• Easily found – In case it isn’t in your starter bag, it’s a very common item to find around the world
• Handy breaching tool – Can knock down locked doors and some gates

While this may not be available on a standard run for most servers, it’s a very common tool to find around the world. It has good chances of popping up just about where a real-life hammer can be, hardware stores, cabinets, auto shops, and the back pocket of a dead body (well, ok not the last part). When you do equip it on your belt you can use it as a weapon as often is the case, but the best part about the Hammer is that its multi-use. A requirement to do carpentry, an item to breach doors and hit gates to open, it’s just too useful not to have in your pocket, or rather belt.

Hammer Details:

• Damage: 1-2.5
• Weight: 2.0
• Weapon Type: One-handed

How to Get the Hammer:

• Spawn item in your backpack (server enabled)
• Warehouses
• Hardware store
• Houses

8. Shotguns

Varied shotguns can be found in the game, but all have the same purpose, to shoot and kill as many mobs in your way.

Why is the Shotgun Great?

While there are 4 shotguns in the vanilla game, all will prove equal in terms of usage and general purpose in your survival, heavy clearing. That’s its initial importance, but for such a straightforward weapon, the benefits, for this game at least, expand to the following.

• Spread shots – Allows for multiple zombies to be hit at a certain range
• Easy aiming levels – Leveling your aiming is easier when hitting as many zombies as possible

In a perfect scenario, a few blasts of a shotgun are enough to take over a zombie-run house, establishment, or point of interest given its spread shot capabilities. Partner it up with the fact that leveling your aim is easier with it, then you should have guaranteed success. So why is it that the shotgun isn’t the perfect weapon here? Simple, it’s loud. Too loud.

The moment you decide that it’s time to whip out the shells, you’ll be inviting every undead in a large radius, making you overrun if you are in a busy area such as the city. It shouldn’t be stressed enough that this is more of a last resort type of deal, and in the likelihood of being the main course, it’s better you should keep the shotgun infrequently used.

Shotgun Details:

• Damage: 1-2.5
• Weight: 2.0
• Weapon Type: Two-handed

How to Get the Shotgun:

• Army Surpluses
• Hardware store
• Zombie’s inventory

7. Crafted Spear

Who says long-range attacks have to be from a gun? The crafted spear proves that it isn’t the case.

Why is the Crafted Spear Great?

A candidate for long-range safety weapons, this can be a good item for those wanting to ensure their safety in combat. Since we're talking the biggest thing going for it, we might as well talk about the following too.

• Customizable – Extra damage can be achieved by attaching things at the tip of the spear
• Easy to make – Items to craft it are easy to get

The crafted spear is versatile given, well, it's name. You can attach a few things on the spear, such as scissors, screwdrivers, and the like. Surely this would be a good weapon, apart from one important issue, it's fragile. Given it's a stick with a thing attached to it, it's not the best thing to have assurance on durabity for, but if you have the opportunity to use one when you have no good weapons around, then you can stick it to them, literally.

Crafted Spear Details:

• Attack Speed: 2
• Damage: 1-1.7
• Weapon Type: 2-handed

How to Get a Crafted Spear:

• Search around hardware stores and storage crates around the map, usually in the city areas
• Search impaled zombies and kill

6. Beretta M9

One of the better pistols in the game, you can do some serious long-range damage when used effectively.

Why is the Beretta M9 Great?

A very good gun with some serious firepower when used right, this pistol is definitely your best friend for your spread-out combats with the undead. While sound will attract zombies to your area, should you gamble with it, or at least, have no choice but to use it, you have something that has far more capacity for clearing more zombies, or at the very least enabling a better chance of killing them. While we talk benefits, let’s go over the other things this pistol does well below.

• Easily acquirable ammo – 9x19mm bullets are more common bullets to drop in the game, depending on server settings
• Lower sound radius – Firing it has a relatively low sound radius for its damage
• Larger capacity – Capacity is higher on a standard magazine at 15+1 rounds

Having a chance to fire more ammo per magazine is one of the better reasons to pick this, and in my case, it’s a nice gun to have a beginner step up to once they get a level or two in aiming, graduating from the more silent, but weaker, .22 bullets. Speaking of bullets, the 9x19mm bullets this gun takes can be gotten in plentiful supply should you be willing to search for it in police stations and military surpluses

Beretta M9 Details:

• Damage: 1-2.5
• Weight: 2.0
• Weapon Type: One-handed

How to Get the Beretta M9:

• Army Surpluses
• Hardware store
• Houses

5. Crowbar

One of the most durable weapons in the game, it’s going to last you a long time for a long day of zombie dodging.

Why is the Crowbar Great?

A very good gun with some serious firepower when used right, this pistol is definitely your best friend for your spread out combats with the undead. While sound will attract zombies to your area, should you gamble with it, or at least, have no choice but to use it, you have something that has far more capacity for clearing more zombies, or at the very least enabling a better chance of killing them. While we talk benefits, let’s go over the other things this pistol does well below.

• Highly durable – Takes a long time before it breaks
• Decent range – For a melee weapon, it can give some distance for kiting attacks

Having a chance to fire more ammo per magazine is one of the better reasons to pick this, and for my case, it’s a nice gun to have a beginner step up to once they get a level or two in aiming, graduating from the more silent, but weaker, .22 bullets. Speaking of bullets, the 9x19mm bullets this gun takes can be gotten in plentiful supply should you be willing to search for it in police stations and military surpluses

Crowbar Details:

• Damage: 1-2.5
• Weight: 2.0
• Weapon Type: One-handed

How to Get the Crowbar:

• Hardware store
• Houses

4. Axe

One of the most durable weapons in the game, it’s going to last you a long time for a long day of zombie dodging.

Why is the Axe Great?

The Axe, which is modeled as a fireman’s axe, does the most damage in terms of actual hits to take on a zombie. For the most part, when you level it up to a max player level cap of 10, it can one-shot most zombies with a well-placed swing. Should you not be busy killing zombies, here are other things you can use this axe for.

• Strong door breaking damage – Does 35 damage which makes it destroy wooden doors faster
• Slicing watermelons – Being the best axe allows you to slice your grown watermelons easier

With that power to break through wooden doors, any locked area is no problem, for as long as the place you’re breaking into has doors that are wood and not reinforced such as gun locker rooms. It can still do the same stuff an axe could do, such as tree cutting, but it isn’t as effective at the job as the Wood Axe, but then again, that is irrelevant when you meet a wild zombie out of whatever greenery it is hiding in. Either way, should you have this axe, in particular, you should be able to clear your patch of grass and trees fast, and zombies even faster after honing the skills of the axeman.

Axe Details:

• Attack Speed: 3
• Damage: 1-2.5
• Weapon Type: Two-handed

How to Get an Axe:

• Search around hardware stores and storage crates around the map, usually in the city areas
• Search abandoned fire stations to get a better chance of getting it

3. Hand Axe

The most mobile and portable of the bunch, this axe is all about in-your-face smashing.

Why is the Hand Axe Great?

It’s an axe meant for combat as it’s a good kiting weapon against zombies. It’s one of the best weapons to bring along as it can be placed on your belt, allowing for quick action presses on the keypad for fast equipment in combat. Before we get ahead of ourselves with the benefits, we should list them for an easier callback.

• Single-handed nature – Small enough to wield one-handed and put on a belt
• Fast attack speed – Has one of the fastest attack speeds of any axe in-game
• One-shot potential – Has good chances that one swing can immediately kill a zombie

Again, a combat-oriented axe that has the stats and ease of use against the zombies with somewhat reasonable ease. Its portable nature is both a blessing and a curse as this is a short axe, which is good for carrying around but not for safety when hitting zombies. If you’re not used to taking zombies on near melee range, this is a risky axe to fight with, and while you may have the stamina to get away from them after every hit and go, the moment you miss or overstep, it’s very easy to get bitten and get a debuff to your character which can spell certain doom. The more you practice kiting around and the more you get levels on your axe trait, you should be able to trim decently-sized hoards by yourself, for as long as you can measure your safety in range, damage, and your weapon’s condition.

Hand Axe Details:

• Attack Speed: 4
• Damage: 1-2.5
• Axe Type: 1-handed

How to Get the Hand Axe:

• House drawers and shelves
• Search other zombies inventory

2. Machete

While this is the second-best long blade in the game, it subjectively beats out the weapon above it on one scale, repairability.

Why is the Crowbar Great?

If hacking and slashing zombies seems to be a good thing for you, the machete is the best fit for your character as that can go through scattered mobs with somewhat ease and partner that with a strong enough level with your long blade, and a one-shot can be possible. While this isn’t the best long blade in the game, the reason why it’s here is because of the following.

• Strong damage – Even with no levels on long blade, you can kill zombies with a few hits
• Repairability – Unlike the Katana, the Machete can be repaired

While the Katana is much better on the damage front, once it breaks, you’re screwed should you rely on it solely due to it having no avenue to repair it without mods. The Machete on the other hand is a much better deal in that you can find stuff like adhesive tape to fix it up, making it much more important if a long-term weapon is concerned.

Machete Details:

• Attack Speed: 4
• Damage: 1-2.5
• Weapon Type: One-handed

How to Get the Machete:

• House drawers and shelves
• Search in other zombie’s inventory

1. M14/M16

A joint spot in this list is the assault rifles, namely the M14 and the M16.

Why is the M14/M16 Great?

If hacking and slashing zombies seems to be a good thing for you, the machete is the best fit for your character as that can go through scattered mobs with somewhat ease and partner that with a strong enough level with your long blade, and a one-shot can be possible. While this isn’t the best long blade in the game, the reason why it’s here is because of the following.

• Multi-shot – As an automatic gun, it can cut a zombie hoard to size in a few seconds
• Long-range – Can fire farther when aiming is leveled up
• Damage – High caliber rounds make for better damage overall

A big thing to note about these guns is that you’re trading capacity or damage from one another, making it a relatively subjective choice. If you choose to have more reliable damage, you take the M14. If you prioritize bullet amount more to save you, then the M16 will be a better choice. Either gun you choose, make sure you don’t jam the gun when firing at 20/30 bullets a clip, so make sure you have the X key ready to quickly unjam and fire at will again.

M14/M16 Details:

• Attack Speed: 4
• Damage: 1-2.5
• Weapon Type: Two-handed

How to Get the M14/M16:

• Army Surpluses
• Hardware store
• Houses

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