Written for V3.2.0, the current stable build since 26 August 2026. Every perk name, attribute grouping and skill-point cost on this page was read out of the game's own progression.xml and localisation files from a V3.2 install, not copied from an older guide.
If you have read an older build guide, unlearn three things. Lucky Looter, Master Chef and Living Off The Land are no longer attribute perks, they are General perks available to everyone. Bows are Agility, not Perception. And every attribute now has a Mastery line at ranks 6 to 10 that is usually the real reason to go deep in a tree. Guides that still recommend Sexual Tyrannosaurus are describing a perk that was removed years ago.
Most build advice goes wrong because it treats everything as "spend points". It is not. Three unrelated systems feed your character, and only the first one uses skill points.
| System | What it spends | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Attributes and perks | Skill points, one per character level | Combat effectiveness, utility, and the Mastery lines |
| Crafting skills | Magazines you find and read | Recipes and the quality tier you can craft |
| Perk books | Book volumes you find and read | Permanent special bonuses, plus a set completion bonus |
You cannot buy your way to a recipe with skill points, and you cannot read your way to a Mastery. Deciding where your points go is only the first of those three.
There is a link between them, though, and it is the most underrated thing in the current game. Most weapon and utility perks also bias your loot toward the matching magazines. The game's own perk descriptions say so: Archery boosts the odds of Bow magazines, Boomstick boosts Shotgun magazines, Advanced Engineering boosts engineering magazines, Physician boosts medical ones. So a point spent on your main weapon perk pays twice, once in damage and once in how fast you can craft a better version of that weapon.
Each attribute runs 1 to 10 and holds ten perks, including its Mastery. This is the current mapping, and the weapon column is the part older guides most often get wrong.
| Attribute | Weapons | Its other perks |
|---|---|---|
| Perception | Rifles (Dead Eye), spears (Spear Master), explosives (Demolitions Expert) | The Penetrator, The Infiltrator, Animal Tracker, Salvage Operations, Treasure Hunter, Quick and Perceptive |
| Strength | Clubs (Pummel Pete), sledgehammers (Skull Crusher), shotguns (Boomstick) | Grand Slam, Miner 69'er, Mother Lode, Junk Miner, Pack Mule, Big and Fast |
| Fortitude | Fists (The Brawler), assault rifles and machine guns (Machine Gunner) | The Huntsman, Pain Tolerance, Healing Factor, Rule 1: Cardio, Siphoning Strikes, Iron Gut, Lightning Hands |
| Agility | Bows and crossbows (Archery), handguns (Gunslinger), knives and machetes (Deep Cuts) | Parkour, Run and Gun, Hard Target, Hidden Strike, From The Shadows, Whirlwind |
| Intellect | Stun batons (Electrocutioner), robotic weapons (Robotics Inventor) | Advanced Engineering, Grease Monkey, Better Barter, The Daring Adventurer, Charismatic Nature, Physician, Calculated Attack |
There are seven perks that sit outside the attributes entirely and are available to every character regardless of where the points went:
This is why the old logic of "go Strength because you need Master Chef" or "go Perception because you need Lucky Looter" no longer holds. Those are now cheap dips anybody can take, which frees your attribute points for the thing that actually differentiates a build.
Every attribute has a Mastery perk covering ranks 6 to 10. These are not small percentage bumps, and they are the strongest argument against spreading points evenly across five trees. Straight from the V3.2 game files:
| Rank | Perception Mastery | Strength Mastery | Fortitude Mastery | Agility Mastery | Intellect Mastery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cushion Crawler: dukes and cash from furniture, beds, carts, suitcases | Miner's Mending: critical injuries heal 100% faster holding a mining tool | Bleed Stopper: a kill instantly stops bleeding, no bandage | Snare Shot: leg hits have a 40% chance to instantly cripple | Master Pilot: vehicles take 20% less damage and use 20% less fuel |
| 2 | Salvage Specialist: steel from cars, gun safes and carts | Brass Miner: 5% chance of scrap brass from ore | Antibodies: infection immunity window after curing or recovering | Rapid Reload: handguns reload 20% faster | Bookworm: 25% more chance of a book, magazine or schematic in loot |
| 3 | Vital Wound: spear and rifle attacks cause bleeding | Battle Miner: mining tools hit zombies much harder | The Dentist: fist weapons have a chance to yield dental work | Bleeding Hearts: bows, crossbows and handguns cause bleeding | Photographic Memory: 50% chance to gain 2 skill points when reading magazines |
| 4 | Blood Rush: sprinting spear power attacks deal 25% more | Headhunter: club and sledge headshots get +50% dismember chance | Resilience: permanently adds 50 max health | Specter's Grace: deflects the first attack, recharges every 60s | Genius Fury: stun batons charge in 2 hits |
| 5 | Long shot: rifle shots deal 50% more damage | Adrenaline Berserker: kills grant 25% damage resistance for 5s | Unbreakable: a further 50 max health | Piercing Precision: drawn bow shots bypass armour, +25% damage | Baton Master: +300% shock damage |
Two of those deserve calling out. Fortitude Mastery 4 and 5 together add a permanent 100 maximum health, which no other tree offers. And Intellect Mastery 3 is a compounding progression perk: a 50% chance of two skill points per magazine read means the tree partly pays for itself, which is the real modern argument for Intellect rather than the outdated claim that you need it to unlock a forge.
You get one skill point per character level, and the level cap is 300. Attribute levels are not a flat cost, which is the other place old guides mislead:
| Attribute level | Skill points |
|---|---|
| 2 to 5 | 1 each |
| 6 to 8 | 2 each |
| 9 to 10 | 3 each |
Taking one attribute from 1 to 10 costs 16 points before you buy a single perk in it. Taking three attributes to 5 costs 12. That escalation, plus the Mastery ranks living at 6 and above, is why deep specialisation beats the old spread-everything advice.
Each of these names a primary tree, the weapon perks that carry it, and the Mastery ranks worth reaching. General perks are assumed on top, because everyone can take them.
| Build | Primary | Weapons | Why it works now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruiser | Strength to 10 | Club or sledgehammer, shotgun | Headhunter at Mastery 4 turns every headshot into a likely dismember, and Adrenaline Berserker gives a damage-resistance loop while you fight. Miner 69'er and Mother Lode make it the best resource build too. |
| Assassin | Agility to 10 | Bow or crossbow, knife, handgun | Hidden Strike and From The Shadows for the opening, then Piercing Precision at Mastery 5 for armour-ignoring bow damage. Parkour is the mobility everyone wants regardless of build. |
| Tank | Fortitude to 10 | Fists, then machine guns | The only tree with a permanent +100 health, plus Siphoning Strikes, Pain Tolerance and Healing Factor. Bleed Stopper quietly saves a lot of bandages. |
| Engineer | Intellect to 10 | Stun baton, robotic weapons | Photographic Memory at Mastery 3 makes every magazine worth more, so the build accelerates its own progression. Advanced Engineering and Grease Monkey cut what your base and vehicles cost you. |
| Hunter | Perception to 10 | Rifle, spear | Long shot at Mastery 5 is a flat 50% more rifle damage. Cushion Crawler and Salvage Specialist turn ordinary furniture and wrecks into income, which is the quiet strength of the tree. |
How to sequence any of them. Put early points into your primary weapon perk, because it raises both your damage and your odds of finding that weapon's magazines. Take the General perks you want whenever you can spare a point, since they never get more expensive. Then push the primary attribute past 5 to start collecting Mastery ranks. Dip a second tree only for something specific you have decided you want, not for general coverage.
You can refund spent skill points with Grandpa's Fergit'n Elixir, bought from traders. It returns your points; it does not un-read your books or schematics, and it does not touch crafting skills. Note the spelling, since the item is easy to search for incorrectly. Console commands that used to grant skill experience directly are deprecated in the current command reference.
What is the best build in 7 Days to Die? There is no single best one. The current perk economics reward committing to one attribute deeply enough to reach its Mastery ranks, so the better question is which of the five combat identities you enjoy. All five above are viable to the end of a normal playthrough.
Should I spread points across several attributes? Usually not. Attribute levels cost 1, then 2, then 3 points as you climb, and the Mastery ranks that define a build sit at 6 and above. Spreading points keeps you permanently below the interesting part of every tree.
Which attribute has bows? Agility, through the Archery perk, alongside handguns and knives. Older guides place bows under Perception, which has not been true for a long time.
Do I need Intellect to craft workstations? No. Recipes and crafting tiers come from magazines, not from perks. Advanced Engineering makes engineering cheaper and biases the relevant magazines toward you, and Intellect Mastery 3 makes every magazine you read worth more, but nothing in that tree is a hard gate on basic crafting.
Is Sexual Tyrannosaurus still worth taking? It no longer exists. Its stamina effects were folded into the individual melee weapon perks. Any guide still recommending it has not been checked against the game in several years.
What is the max character level? 300, with one skill point per level.
The perk lists, attribute groupings, skill-point costs and Mastery effects on this page were read directly from a V3.2.0 install: Data/Config/progression.xml for the tree and costs, and Data/Config/Localization.csv for the perk names and effect text. When the game changes, this page gets re-derived from the new build rather than edited by hand.