Summary
Before players are able to jump into the fun and chaotic action gameplay ofDead Island: Riptide, they’ll first need to pick a character, something that’s easier said than done because of how drastically different they all are from one another. While each survivor has their own unique skills that lean into their particular playstyle, what really makes them so different is their preferred weapons, and while they’re all capable ofhacking and slashing zombies to pieces, there are definitely some characters that feel a lot more viable than others.
Although the zombies can initially seem pretty slow and easy to handle in the first few moments ofDead Island: Riptide, they eventually become a much bigger threat when they begin ganging up on the player, and this is why skills, weapon abilities, and Rage Modes become so important for surviving until the very end. With that being said, anyone who’s unsure which survivor to go with when booting upDead Island: Riptidefor the first time should keep reading, as this list will go over what makes them all unique and who stands as the most effective and reliable of them all.
Fury Ability: Pulls Out A Staff And Deals Substantial Damage To All Nearby Enemies
Best Skills:
When it comes to one-on-one encounters, John is more than capable of holding his own, thanks to his expertise in melee combat. He can dish out a staggering amount of damage in one go thanks to his hard-hitting punches, and he can be especially useful for taking down tougher enemies like the large zombies that appear near the end of the Dead Zone dungeons.
While he’s without a doubt one of the best survivors in terms of dealing damage to single targets, John is a little bit of a one-trick pony since he really struggles to take down multiple enemies at once, which means he can get overwhelmed very quickly. Thankfully, his Fury ability can help with this, but relying on it too heavily can be a pretty risky idea. With that being said, he can acquire some absolutely devastating skills, such as being able to heal himself with critical hits or bolstering his attack speeds, butit does take a lot of grinding to actually get these powerful buffs, so players should be prepared to invest a lot of time into John before he becomes truly effective.
Fury Ability: Throw An Infinite Amount Of Knives At Enemies For A Few Seconds
Logan is able to pick enemies off from a distance thanks to his deadly precision with throwing weapons, allowing him to keep flesh-hungry zombies at bay without needing to get too stuck into the action himself. One huge advantage of this is the simple fact that throwing weapons don’t have durability, meaning that if Logan finds a throwing knife, he’ll be able to keep it handy for the entire game, which can save a tremendous amount of time and effort.
Admittedly, though, Logan does start off as a pretty tricky character to use since dealing with large swarms at one time can be very difficult, especially because his lack of stamina also means thathe can have trouble escaping from a group of zombies. Still, he has plenty of unique skills that can make him extremely powerful later in the game, especially being able to retrieve thrown weapons automatically without needing to pick them up and he’s even able to upgrade his proficiency with blunt and edged weapons, which grants him a bit of extra flexibility.
Fury Ability: Pull Out An Auto-Aim Revolver With Infinite Ammunition For A Few Seconds
Although she’s often referred to asa “Support” character,Purna is still more than capable of protecting herself thanks to her experience with firearms and her immensely powerful Fury ability, where she is able to fire off a revolver with unlimited ammunition to gun down a handful of zombies at once. While she has plenty of skills that can improve her firearms, such as increasing their damage and reducing overall recoil, she also doubles as the team’s healer who can emanate an aura around her that doesn’t only patch up her allies but can even improve their weapon durability too, something that comes in extremely handy later in the game.
Purna is a ton of fun to play, and she’s very well-equipped to take on any monsters that come her way, but players who decide to choose her should definitely make a habit of picking up as many resources and materials as possible to make ammunition out of. If she’s forced to switch to a melee weapon, Purna can become somewhat of a sitting duck just waiting to be attacked, so keeping her loaded up should always be a top priority to make sure she doesn’t lag behind her teammates.
Fury Ability: Pummel Nearby Enemies With A Barrage Of Heavy-Hitting Punches
The endlessly charismatic Sam Bis an absolute powerhouse, capable of withstanding tons of damage while also being able to pop zombie heads off with ease thanks to fearsome punches. While his attacks already deal a staggering amount of damage, Sam’s Fury ability, which is best reserved as a last resort, makes his punches even stronger while also pushing zombies back with each attack, making it perfect for crowd control and even for taking down bosses.
He primarily specializes in blunt weapons, which usually would be next to useless for most characters, but because Sam is able to greatly improve their damage and durability through skills, they immediately become far more useful when he’s the one wielding them. That’s not all, though, as Sam B also has a handful of support skills that can increase resistance to enemy damage, making him more or less impossible to take down once players have leveled him up enough. He’s by far the easiest character to play, and so long as players don’t get too carried away with his hit-and-run playstyle, Sam B will prove to bean extremely useful member of any team.
Fury Ability: Takes Out A Sword And Quickly Swings It Around To Slash Any Nearby Enemies
What really makes Xian Mei such an amazing character inDead Island: Riptideis the sheer amount of damage she’s able to throw out with her attacks. While sharp weapons are already extremely deadly,Xian Mei’s incredible speed and staminamean that she can become absurdly powerful when wielding them, and that’s just with her regular attacks. If Xian activates her Rage Mode ability, she will unleash a barrage of slashes to completely annihilate any zombies that dare stand in her way.
Since this attack is so utterly devastating, it can become incredibly useful when venturing through the Dead Zones and coming up against large hordes of enemies at once, especially because her Fury Ability also lasts the longest and recharges the quickest out of everyone. She also has a few very powerful skills that she can acquire fairly early on, some of the best examples being her ability to afflict bleed onto her enemies, and increasing her critical hit rate when using sharp weapons. Xian Mei players will need to regularly visit the workshop after every few encounters since sharp weapons can break down fairly quickly, but this is a very small price to pay considering how deadly she is in combat.
Dead Island: Riptide
WHERE TO PLAY
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