State Of Decay 2 5th Skills Explained 2020

[@IZZYZIGG]

In my opinion, the Animal Facts skill should give your community zombie threat reduction. It would have made sense for someone with that skill to understand horde patterns and zed behavior.

[@BrianMenard]

Izzy Zigg I love that idea that’s so good !!!! I’m going to add that to my darkside mod

[@IZZYZIGG]

@@BrianMenard awesome! Is that mod still in the works? Sounds like it’ll be a pleasant experience. 🧟‍♂️

[@BrianMenard]

Izzy Zigg no the mod has been out for everyone for a little while now I have my ongoing series on the channel cover it currently but we are constantly adding to the mod making it better 😁👍🏼

[@gurugamingkiwi]

While you're at it, shouldn't Excuses and Farting Around come with -1 Labour? They don't sound like particularly productive people :)

[@gurugamingkiwi]

Mind you none of the other skills have penalties...

[@DrZaius3141]

Essentially: Better than RT skills: Lichenology On par with RT skills: Recycling, Sewing Better than regular 5th skills: Fishing, Hairdressing Worse than regular 5th skills (except utilities and cooking): everything else Even worse than utilities and cooking: Sexting In the current version of the game, every 5th skill can be learned rather easily, so there's never any reason to get survivors with any quirk skills except for the top 3. You can get everything your base needs on 8 survivors with the top 3 (Lichen, Recycle, Sew) plus Chemist, Computers, Craft, Mech, Med (while Gardening is already covered by Lichenology). Out of those 5, RTs can cover some (ideally Computers!).

[@bravocharliedelta4]

Dont forget plumbing gets you a morale bonus w latrine and +20 stamina for the whole community. Nutrition gets you +30 stamina w feasts and +10 health and stamina for community. These will help get your characters to 250+ health and stamina.

[@ladiesgentswegothim]

00:53 Acting 01:40 Animal Facts 02:02 Bartending 03:32 Business 05:05 Comedy 05:36 Design 08:25 Driving 09:34 Excuses 10:01 Farting Around 10:24 Fishing 11:12 Geek Trivia 12:01 Haridressing 14:14 Hygiene 15:00 Ikebana 15:50 Law 16:17 Lichenology 17:23 Literature 17:55 Making Coffee 19:27 Movie Trivia 19:49 Music 20:27 Painting 21:10 People Skills 21:24 Pinball 22:24 Poker Face 22:41 Political Science 23:00 Recycling 23:35 Scrum Certification 24:11 Self-Promotion 24:24 Sewing 25:28 Sexting 26:01 Sports Trivia 26:48 Soundproofing 27:13 Tattoos 27:45 TV Trivia

[@brewsnale6315]

I was hoping sleep psychology was on the list. If used with the roughing it trait you get a +4 to beds when you reach hero.

[@ಠನಠಢವಢಥಪಥ]

Didn't see shopping either

[@ryuk5673]

Thank you random person with no life

[@donniedemarco]

@@ಠನಠಢವಢಥಪಥ Dude…SHOPPING…where’s THAT one?? 😂

[@Thatmanheffe]

Something thats also good to know is that knowledge of alcoholic drinks also buffs the still in the brewery base. It adds growlers of barleywine to the drinks you make and are extremely good for selling and a great way to generate influence

[@noahmerrill4576]

Yes I have came to an enclave and I was like what in the hell is painting used for.Thanks for explaining this to me it makes more sense now.

[@lildonut5319]

I found one for sexting the other day so this shit is random!

[@nassik81]

Really good job, my favorite is Lichenology, Sleep Psychology and Recycling

[@prestongarvey1811]

The Dwellers need your help I'll mark it on your map

[@truesnakegod]

It would be cool if there was a skill that gave a small chance each in game day for a survivor to create a skill book based on one of your current survivors 5th skills or even just a random knowledge book that can be traded for influence. Maybe it would be a writer skill or something. Even if it's not super helpful I think it'd be cool to have a character sorta acting like a chronicler of his group. Maybe that character wants to keep education going, and make sure people still have stories of the past being pasted on.

[@bravocharliedelta4]

You are the friggin man for this video! I have always been a fan of fishing and lichenology. With the harder difficulties killing supplies you find, recycling and hygiene are definitely more valuable since you can't find materials and blood plague is the biggest killer.

[@nassik81]

You forgot about ^Sleep Psychology^ - 2 extra beds like in "living outdoor" and 6 morale for all of your comunity

[@BrianMenard]

yeah i have that recorded hahaha just cut it out for some reason thank you for pointing that out

[@jeremycorbin2178]

@@BrianMenard Bruh that's like the best one

[@jeremycorbin2178]

The acting skill actually puts a big ol target on your back on higher difficulties, because standing earned across the community equates to game-stage ramp up, meaning even more packs of plague ferals and such

[@DelusionalMinds808]

I love the random 5th skills because I usually would go for the ones that Increase, Influence, Labor, Morale, (Settlement Needs), etc. Some are usually odd, some are usually skill based 5th skills, Chemistry, Utility, Medicine, Gardening. It goes on, but I love using the random skills.

[@AlexS-zr2nb]

Yeah. Honestly I prefer some of the weird ones when it's lichenology and fishing when it's truly useful

[@bdavidgreenwell8298]

Maybe the popculture skill gives them a witty, informative, dialog.

[@ace8165]

Amazing video man, this is the kind of video that should blow up!!

[@goldimari]

The Painting skill would be cool if it produced a luxury item daily or allowed you to craft paintings to sell

[@BrianMenard]

That’s a really great idea

[@Feigned0Sanity]

Really liked this kind of informative video. Also liked the new, shorter intro (although it, and the outro, are still so much louder than the rest of the video). I don't know if that's just a me thing though.

[@bobbymills1940]

I love to see one for the red talon agents. I didn’t know about the passive skills/ uses for just the knowledge of certain skills

[@truesnakegod]

Hearing you say boxmines caused my brain to instant flashback to all of my SOD 1 games. I always had hundreds of them in every playthrough due to having too many supplies.

[@guren9193]

For so long I’ve been trying to find someone with the gardening skill and Ive always seen the lichenology skill and just disregarded it but now I know the effects of it

[@loudzillagaming7843]

This is fantastic video thanks. Hairdressing is underrated. I have a survivor with fishing and plus one food hero bonus. So she get 3 foods per day.

[@loudzillagaming7843]

I also thought driving gives u knowledge of mechanics. It’s not on card.

[@BrianMenard]

no it doesnt i wish it did

[@aumi2416]

One thing wrong the pop culture knowledge does give boosts it's just not listed in game it adds 31 minutes to your boosts from movie night in the lounge 3 and drive in theater leaving you with a 1 hour 31 minute moral boost plus it gives an extra 5 moral from the watch TV action they didn't really think about how the skills were laid out in game for a more detailed look wikis online have all the released info skills are just confusing and most people say most 5th skills are useless apart from the basics like cooking mechanics etc, hopefully they change the layout eventually so it's not so misleading

[@hackjuniordf]

The skills in Sod 3 should not be limited to 5. We should be able to learn more stuff (like having 6, 8 or 10 skill slots or characters with innate special skills, but that doesn't prevent us from learning new skills)! Including having characters that don't have fighting, shooting, wits, stealth, etc... and have other skills more useful for the community (like fishing, sewing, hunting, etc...), but be able to learn the ones they don't have! This would be soo cool! If skills continue to be limited to 5, like in previous games, they should allow more survivors or have more than 1 base per map for that! Also, Zombies should drop loot!

[@BigLou521]

Excellent video. Heard your name mentioned on stream and decided to check you out. You definitely earned my sub.

[@BrianMenard]

Thank you so much man I have heard of you a lot also thank you for the support man it really means a lot to me

[@fortheloveofking]

This woulda made a good one of these tier list videos.

[@Awesome_Force]

I've only ever found one survivor with the driving skill. It was from my very first community. My current community has someone with recycling and the hero bonus provides + 2 beds. The only bad thing is they annoy irritable community members. Luckily I don't have any irritable community members this time.

[@BrianMenard]

you can buy those skill books from the rare skills trader and train anyone without a 5th skill driving or recycling

[@Deciduoustrees]

great video, man! I've personally been trying to test things like Knowlege of the Arts and Knowledge of Influence for their usefulness but now I don't have to!

[@bokvarv1926]

POP CULTURE: It seems this is listed as a "bonus" under the moral boosts from the upgraded Lounge (sheriff)

[@LazyCloud9]

Design is pretty good. Does it stack with the bolt mod for the workshop? I'm already drooling at the thought of crafting 60 light bolts with the design skill!

[@Equilibriumen]

I agree on most skills but I really don't see FISHING as a decent skill. I guess it would be Ok in Green/Standard zone but in nightmare every survivor eats 1.5 units of food per day, so having this dude gains your community +0.5 food per day since he'll be eating 1.5 units of the 2 he's supposedly producing, so unless he has a really good hero bonus to compensate, then he is just a wasted space. Also food outposts give you 1.5 food per day in nightmare so again it's really more of a skill for green/standard zone. Also I wouldn't really recommend to players to look for skills that can't go beyond the basic level like cooking, craftsmanship, chemistry etc since they will be missing out on the specialized upgrades like Pathology/Munitions for chemistry and therefore not being able to utilize their best capabilities. Of course I am mostly talking from Nightmare point of view so most of the stuff you said probably works fine in Standard Zone.

[@BrianMenard]

No you are 100% correct I would never really run any of these skills for the most part like you said I like my specialized 5th skills for higher zones but it was more explaining if your in pinch and need chemistry a hairdresser will get you by until you find one type of thing

[@J.J.Jameson_of_Daily_Bugle]

It's still a descent skill, because food is basically upkeep cost for survivors, and they are basically "upkeep free" and give you bit of extra food, because you're not using your own food stash to pay for their upkeep. But food is not really a huge issue even on Lethal, I never really had issue finding food and you can make gardens, so outside some very early game, food has never been an issue for me. I would rather have mechanic because finding repair kits on Lethal can be really annoying and rng based, but food rucksacks are fairly common.

[@ProtoClip711]

Was there a video made for the red talon 5th skill after all?

[@KabutoRyu]

some 5th skill made me cringe, some too good, too OP, some too eh, meh, wat?

[@sandroalmeida8818]

Does anyone know if the bartending skill has been removed from the game? I've never seen it and can't find it.

[@JusttListenn]

So do you have to manually read like the books while the survivor is active to acquire these skills? Or just find survivors and recruit them when the skill is already active for them?

[@Cindy-ls3dj]

Does the driving skill work all the time on all vehicles with any member of the community driving or does it only work on the vehicle the member with the driving skill is driving at the time?

[@BrianMenard]

it only works with the person with the skill its not like a community skill i hope this helps

[@robinvegas4367]

It's a QoL skill and only applies to the survivor who has the skill. When you get on higher difficulties this is a waste of a fifth skill. I wouldn't waste a survivor slot just so one dude can drive further on a tank of gas.

[@J.J.Jameson_of_Daily_Bugle]

@@robinvegas4367 It also gives reduction to noise cars make, less chance for zombies to spot you while driving and damage reduction to car, so it's not just "drive longer". However I would rather have second automechanic, because they do the same thing only at 50% cap, and "driver' doesn't actually give you "knowledge of mechanics" which kinda sucks. Yeah, he's good at stealth driving, but if your mechanic dies, good luck because you're relying on rng and traders to get those repair kits.

[@JHD6045]

Great video. It's always puzzled me why people don't just look at description of the 5th skill to see what it says and does. It's all usually right there and tells you exactly what it does. That said still enjoying the game since day one

[@twilightzay]

I haven't seen over half of these, wonder if they took some out

[@BrianMenard]

Some of them are just rare

[@BadRadYes]

@@BrianMenard I love this guy "if u get a trash skill" just take them "outside and feed them to a feral" LOL

[@itsminimick666]

good video but i think you forgot one. as i own day break i can recruit a hacker from daybreak and he also gives you one extra outpost, for example i have 7 outpost now instead of max 6, have look into it hope this helps

[@BrianMenard]

yeah i was only talking about the quirk skills in this video the RT skills are a whole different beast lol along with the core skills this video was just showing people what those weird 5th skills you see sometimes are

[@johnligon2368]

What 3 starting skills do recommend when starting a new community

[@BrianMenard]

Med, mech, hygiene

[@johnligon2368]

@@BrianMenard thx buddy

[@johnligon2368]

Hey Brian, I started a new map: standard across the board. Drunker County. Got lucky on 3 traits: recycling, Scrum, and ikebana.... within a little over a hour the entire map was infested with plague hearts. What happened. I saw influence can do that? Or did I click on something

[@chrisgraphs1015]

Very helpful video, Brian. Thanks

[@lordmace1734]

I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the skills like movie trivia which gives knowledge of pop culture grant bonuses with the Movie Theater in the base on Drucker County for 1.5k Influence(Knights Family Drive Inn). Also it should give bonuses in the Lounge level 3 with the training videos etc. But maybe its granted by the Traits that these skills give. Nice video for the newer players, since the wiki is pretty incomplete and silent about what the "Knowledge of..." things really give you.

[@rogerstalder7184]

How do i see what is for the whole comunity or just for himself?

[@swordre5805]

I thought pop culture increase moral of movie theater by +5morale if i am not mistaken.

[@lemmysbassdial9821]

And I thought there was an actual baby spider on my screen 😂

[@beakie58]

You may want to update after patch 25.3

[@dis8rac8ion8]

Best KZbinr ever

[@mp1021]

All my things are over 170 180 197 and 211 foods and others

[@agaliz3]

Thx a lot very helpful content. Keep up the work ❤🙏

[@BrianMenard]

Thank you so much I’m so glad it helped 😁😁

[@lolmarkyp]

I'm very mad State of Decay 2 had to load for this update

[@DARKMADNESS666]

Good video man very informative. I hate so many of those 5th skills tho fucking unless as heck man.

[@antoinecharlie6591]

hello good work! just a question for example for driving and hygiene, the benefits it's just for the survivor or for all the community? sometimes it's no clear in the game to know if the skill is only for the owner or for all the base.

[@BrianMenard]

it use to only be for that survivor but in the recent updates they changed it to affect the whole group now

[@antoinecharlie6591]

@@BrianMenard hoo great news! Thanks

[@Noel0436]

Can u replace your 5th skill or no

[@BrianMenard]

no you cant

[@mnasonj1]

Are the bonuses just for the characters or for the while community

[@DARKMADNESS666]

Some are for the survivor themselves and some are for the community

[@steveponce2918]

Can someone tell be how he got that outfit for his character around 1:57

[@xephir5767]

If you got the new update for halloween you can get that suit from the bounty hunter.

[@CHADAB34]

At one time I thought there was a fifth skill or a trait that allowed you to see a potential recruit's traits before you recruited them. Have you ever ran across that? Maybe I imagined it. Great video .

[@BridgeBoii]

You can see potential recruits right now by clicking learn about survivor

[@alfredodominguez2997]

Wow this was super helpful. I'm playing the game 2nd time around in normal mode, maybe it's time to bump it up to the 2nd difficulty 😂

[@elusivegaming3968]

The 5th skills do not always apply to the entire community unless it specifically says (community) on it like nutrition. So excuses and farting around are pretty much useless cuz that morale is only for them

[@luisarmando5081]

I've started playing Sod2 today, Resyarted my community 5 times already, have not seem bartender, animal knowledge or others that you mentón

[@drkniteforce7073]

Great video Brian. I have defiantly overlook some of these 5th skill, I thought most of them were garbage lol. Ty for explaining, Cheers 😃

[@mp1021]

Dam just dropped the driving guy

[@vinbozinbo5579]

Nice video Brian 👍 I wonder if SoD3 will add another 5th slot skill called SENSEI.. +30 max health, + 30 max stamina & Knowledge of State of Decay YOSE ,which gives every community member the Dropkick ability by default 😂😂 (Wishful thinking) Take care man. Ciao4now😁

[@jupiterrising887]

Most of this is honestly garbage compared to a 'real' skill that enables crafting and upgraded buildings.

[@BrianMenard]

I agree 100% I usually dump anyone with any of these skills honestly

[@edbeals1793]

Lichenology, Fishing, Sleep Psycology, and Sewing are the skills I look out for. Better still, you can combo the books from a skill trader with traits and leadership perks to make top tier survivors.

[@edbeals1793]

Oh and recycling too

[@josephjohnson6626]

Could you put these in a excel spreadsheet?

[@shoresy6943]

I just got state of decay 2 last November. I didn't know hairdressing is good. I killed one enclave with a guy with that skill, I boom box the living fuck out of their place.

[@datboyvon9688]

I didn't see the mechanics skill on there

[@BrianMenard]

This wasn’t covering any of the core skills this was just covering those weird ones no one knows

[@CerbreusSleeps]

Seems like Acting and business were mixed up

[@augustorodrigues4982]

I have 11 red talon ops

[@tusk3260]

whats the traits that allows you to be a trader leader?

[@BrianMenard]

there isnt any traits i know of that point to leader type but with update 30 you will be able to see a survivors leader type before starting the game.

[@tusk3260]

@@BrianMenard sold some cruircutry gives you trader leader. But so far that the only one a found for trader. Built braricades or anything releted to contruction gives a builder leader. And there are an absolute ton of trats that gives warlord or sherif. But trader traits apear to be much more rare. I have the juggernaut edition of the game so i should have everything.

[@mp1021]

Trying to get 12 ppl again

[@thinkcrypto8643]

Good content

[@c444leb]

Nice video bro. Do u know what do i win by upgrading the “star” of, as an example, fishing? And another thing: when we gonna get the last zone upgrade, any clue? Ty and good work as always 🤜🏻🤛🏻

[@BrianMenard]

there is no upgrade to these skills mine had empty stars because i modded the skills on to the survivors to showcase them but they all only have 1 star and the new zone should come out soon i dont know when but i hope it will be soon

[@matthewwoods8598]

Do they get better if you increase the star level?

[@DARKMADNESS666]

You can't increase the star level for those special 5th skills

[@truegamer2819]

15:34 judging the way ya character is reacting your answer about his ikebana skill, he doesn't like your responds towards it Brian 😂

[@christinevanhook5345]

Thank you for you service.

[@BrianMenard]

Thank you too! seriously

[@jowxo]

Wtf what’s that outfit in 2:30

[@BrianMenard]

that is the Halloween outfit from last year you will have a chance to get it again next month

[@mp1021]

Completed this this game 4 or 5 time

[@jo96ka]

How to level up the 5th skill ????? Pls someone help

[@adambarker9524]

22:42 POLI SCI MAJORS STAY WINNING!!!! 💪💪💪

[@nyhman78]

Watch Animal facts be one of the best skills in SOD3 😆😆love watching people opinions on fifth skills,I always liked Soundproof cause it helps in higher difficulty not get the harder siege's

[@carlospallete3030]

this game seems woke in a lot of ways, far too many benefits of the arts and sexting is bad, making excuses gives morale what a joke, what about being an upstanding good citizen?

[@zojo9094]

Who really cares?

[@alessandrofirmani700]

Does anybody else finds it kinda stiupid that in a post apocaliptic survival game the special skills are like farting around excuses and making coffe?? Wtf

[@stopkillnkenny]

25:30 Nice