In Project Zomboid, injuries or wounds are inevitable, and you must find solutions to them rather than trying to avoid them. Therefore, knowing how to heal yourself effectively is essential when faced with injuries and ailments.
This guide will show you how to heal in Project Zomboid.
Recommended Read: How to Use the First Aid Kit in Project Zomboid
In Project Zomboid, there are a lot of tools and ingredients to heal, but you need mostly bandages, adhesive bandages, ripped sheets, needles, and thread as the primary ones. To heal, either select the heart icon on the left side of the screen or press “H” to open the Health tab. Next, right-click on the injuries and select the available treatment.
Table of Contents
How to Heal in Project Zomboid
Healing in Project Zomboid is a skill you must get used to, as you’ll do it frequently.
In the early game, you can either choose Doctor or Nurse occupation to treat your wound better. Besides, consider adding the Fast Healer trait if you want faster recovery.
To heal in Project Zomboid, you must first find the necessary tools and ingredients, as you can’t heal with your bare hands.
Prepare the Necessary Tools and Ingredients
Healing requires plenty of tools and materials. Some are a must, some are alternatives, and some are optional.
Check out the following section for more details.
1. Bandage, Adhesive Bandage, Ripped Sheet, and Bottle of Disinfectant
In Project Zomboid, bandages, adhesive bandages, ripped sheets, and bottles of disinfectant are considered the most critical items to heal.
Bandages, adhesive bandages, and ripped sheets are used to treat open wounds or bleeding injuries. You can find all these in first-aid kits, medical cabinets, or by tearing your clothes (only for ripped sheets).
On the other hand, you can apply the bottle of disinfectant directly to your wound or use it to disinfect bandages and ripped sheets. You can find the bottles of disinfectant in medical cabinets or inside the pharmacy.
2. Splint, Needle, and Thread
Splints, needles, and thread are also useful healing items.
Needle and thread are used to stitch a deep wound, thus increasing the recovery time and preventing bleeding. You can find the needle in sewing kits or medicine cabinets, while the best way to obtain thread is to rip clothes.
Besides, the splint is used to treat fractures, and although the features can heal spontaneously, the splint makes recovery faster.
You can combine either a plank, tree branch or sturdy stick and a ripped sheet to make a splint.
3. Other Optional Items
There are still several items you can use to treat yourself, such as suture needles, tweezers, suture needle holders, plantain poultices, wild garlic, and poultice comfrey poultice.
However, most items here are unnecessary in the current version, so it’s better to find the above than them.
Let’s Heal!
Once you’ve got the essential items and materials, make sure you’re in a safe place, then either select the heart icon on the left side of the screen or press “H” to open the Health tab.
In the Health tab, you’ll see a preview of your body and your current overall body status. If there are any injuries, you’ll see them displayed in red explicitly below each body part.
Next, right-click on the injured part to show all possible treatments. It’s advisable to choose the proper treatment for each type of injury. For example, applying the bandage to the fracture has no effect at all!
Choose the items you want to apply to the injuries. Then you can confirm the successful treatment of a wound when the affected body part appears green and is accompanied by bandages in the preview panel.
Key Tips For Healing in Project Zomboid
It is possible to encounter multiple injuries on your body simultaneously. In those cases, you should prioritize more severe injuries like bleeding and damage from the undead over fractures.
Bandages
Generally, the bandages and sterilized bandages have the highest duration (5 in-game hours), while the ripped sheets have the least time (3 in-game hours).
You can retrieve the bandage by right-clicking on the injury and selecting “Remove Bandage”. This will apply to both adhesive bandages and ripped sheets.
You can’t prevent bleeding from deep wounds using any bandage. Instead, you must use the needle and thread to stitch them first.
Injury and Bleeding Time
Each injury has different bleeding and injury times, varying for each body part and even each time you get damaged.
Bleeding time refers to the duration of bleeding from a wound. Using a bandage prevents the wound from bleeding but does not reduce the bleeding time.
Injury time refers to the duration of the injury. If you live longer than that, you can completely eliminate it.
Although the dirty bandage can prevent bleeding, it increases the chance of being infected when your clothes are covered in blood or attacked by the undead. Therefore, you should use a bottle of disinfectant to purify it.
That’s how to heal in Project Zomboid!
Have any suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.
