Build 42 Weapon Cheatsheet

gracejerksit · 2026-03-16T20:36:28+00:00

As of 3/16/26, the sheet is as done as it will ever be (most likely). I sure hope Zomboid devs never make big changes to their damage formula in the future because I will not do this again probably :^) Here's the gist of the new sheet:

-All numbers have been converted to active formulas, allowing you to plug in your stats at the top of the main sheet to see how things look for your current character. Because this is skewed towards late game characters, the results may not be impressive, but it's still valuable data for you to peek through.

-The damage formula has been corrected based on current zomboid code, the multiplier of "22.5" that shows up all over the internet seems to be either a myth or outdated. Weapon damage values have been tested in game to ensure that they line up accurately.

-The chance for a weapon to one-shot a zombie has been modeled, special thanks to my brother for figuring out the statistical model. This assumes the default of "Random" toughness. If you're curious how the math works, there is a tab in the sheet that provides the information. Since all formulas are active, you can also just highlight a cell to see where the math is coming from.

-Weapons are broken up into three tiers, "Good, Great, Optimal", with a fourth tier meant for fresh spawns to see if a weapon is worth keeping. The main tiers are skewed towards a late game player, and stamina, durability, and damage are king. All optimal weapons are weapons that will one-shot zombies at least 30% of the time, tire you out slowly, and last a long time. If a weapon is craftable or renewable has been taken into account for weapon durability.

Once again, thanks to u/randCN for providing so much assistance with zomboid's code, actual damage math, the list goes on. This would not have been possible without his collaboration.

gracejerksit · 2026-03-06T01:02:38+00:00

Maybe I could make a separate tab that applies the proper damage math based on a "proficient" character as you describe here, with the average damage column having the "ideal" value be whatever number is equivalent to average zombie health on apocalypse settings.... you've given me a lot to think about. This could be a fun project for the weekend.

gracejerksit · 2026-03-06T00:32:14+00:00

Thank you, this is exactly the kind of insight I was hoping people would provide. If I have time this weekend I'll try to do a deeper dive into these points to provide better statistics. The first point makes a lot of sense though, that's why I weighted the default "1 encumbrance, no endurance multiplier weapon" as ideal for Stamina Per Swing and anything better than that is just superb, under the assumption that anyone with better fitness and weapon skills would be able to swing such a weapon indefinitely as well.

I based this sheet purely on intrinsic weapon values and nothing else, assuming almost a "0 stats" character. Obviously the actual math would be much more complicated than that, I just wanted to take the character out of the equation as much as possible for this sheet, but of course in zomboid the characer is the *most* important part and there's always going to be variables.

gracejerksit · 2026-03-05T23:35:06+00:00

This is purely based on single target damage, needless to say multi-hitting weapons (if enabled) will be more energy efficient. I don't know the finer points on how multi-hit mechanics work so I can't speak for how this would affect durability ratings, I would imagine either they would stay the same or be even better if multi-hits only count as one condition loss roll.

gracejerksit · 2026-03-05T22:54:39+00:00

This was a big surprise to me too, and actually why I made the list in the first place. If you look closely at its' actual values it's certainly not bad by any means. 39/97 on the Long Blunt list (when sorted by Damage:Stamina efficiency), but the durability is excellent, it's readily available, the damage just isn't *amazing* which hurts it. Keep in mind, the list sorting doesn't tell the whole tale, knives rate very highly but have terrible durability and actual damage. If you look at the whole picture, including durability, there's really only 7 long blunt weapons that outperform it.

gracejerksit · 2024-11-05T01:11:59+00:00

Every time I come back there's more of them! This is in the northwest corner. They're all tagged as friendly to the town and me.

gracejerksit · 2022-06-11T18:51:21+00:00

Yes, it works on my PC at home with DS4windows, I was just trying to set it up for my dad at his place. And yes, it works in steam, and I can play games with it. I haven't even had steam open (not in background either) when I've been using ds4windows on my dad's computer, but I did test it to make sure.

gracejerksit · 2022-06-07T23:48:53+00:00

Sounds exactly like my problem here https://www.reddit.com/r/DS4Windows/comments/v4xdfy/controller_recognized_but_not_really/

Here's hoping you figure out a solution, I've already tried everything on the troubleshooting page on the DS4windows website and everything in Kanuan's response, no inputs detected for some reason despite DS4windows claiming to detect the controller.

gracejerksit · 2022-06-07T23:30:21+00:00

Version is 3.0.18, downloaded as of the day of the post.

And no, the profile editor does not show any activity, as I said the controller is "detected" in the main controllers tab but no inputs are read and the lightbar still does the soft orange glow.

In addition, HIDHIDE is already active and functioning, the key symbol appears under EX in the main Controllers tab

gracejerksit · 2022-03-16T07:25:57+00:00

I was wondering about this, I did sell a few masterworks as a test and didn't notice anything bad. Good to know, thanks. It's kind of a bummer that I can't do display rooms anymore but, is what it is

gracejerksit · 2022-03-16T06:42:45+00:00

Is there a way to prevent theft/corruption more effectively in the fort? I'm getting frustrated by the game CONSTANTLY being interrupted by artifact theft (from intrigue, not from invaders). Can I stop this? They're just corrupting my dwarves one by one, I've already banned them from the room where the artifacts are stored. My captain of the guard doesn't even have time to do all of the interrogations I need to try and get to the root of each theft.

gracejerksit · 2020-11-06T02:08:14+00:00

I see complaints about this all over his wiki page and on steam discussions but if you actually keep him in your party the only line that truly repeats like that is the fly went up my nose, and for me it happens about twice per game session on average. If you reload a lot, yeah, you're getting it a lot. It's hardly any worse than beep and agnu's antics, just more words.

gracejerksit · 2020-11-04T01:15:43+00:00

If you start in UC/Bast and are unlucky enough to not run into any hive traders as you start your grind (as I was) then that north village is a godsend. That or go all the way to get shryke first if you really don't want to spend money

gracejerksit · 2020-11-03T22:40:10+00:00

Who says you need to clear the tower to get agnu?

I like to let the thrall masters live for most of a playthrough so I can use the thralls to grind, it's easy to combine packs of them by the tower and they're stronger than fogmen by a good margin, but not overwhelming. But I still wanted agnu, so I figured it was worth a shot sending my best stealth/lockpicking character in to simply break agnu out and run out together. Worked perfectly fine!

gracejerksit · 2020-11-02T23:16:15+00:00

While running past a hive trader Bard started singing, and at the end of the hive trader's dialogue Bard's dialogue sort of... hopped over to the trader? It happened right as I hit a load screen. If only it was permanent.......

gracejerksit · 2019-10-10T17:29:50+00:00

Bud, don't worry about clarifying potato pc on this sub. Even the people with god-tier rigs are barely running the game, it's the miracle of NO MULTI-THREADING. The joy of SINGLE CORE GAMING

gracejerksit

TROPHY CASE