In Project Zomboid, the carpentry skill plays a vital role in every single part of your journey.
By leveling up the carpentry skill, you can enhance your abilities to construct, fortify structures, or disassemble furniture, thus ultimately increasing your chances of survival.
Recommended Read: How to Loot Zombies in Project Zomboid
This guide will show you how to level up carpentry in Project Zomboid.
In Project Zomboid, there are many ways to level up your carpentry skill. Besides choosing either the Carpenter, Park Ranger, Repairman, Construction Worker, or Engineer occupation or the Handy trait, you can also disassemble wooden objects, saw logs, craft spears, and make wooden structures to earn more carpentry XP.
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How to Level Up Carpentry in Project Zomboid
In Project Zomboid, carpentry is a skill that allows you to build and create wooden pieces of furniture and weapons.
As the game has millions of wooden structures and furniture, being a master of carpentry makes your life easier. Here’s how to level up your carpentry skill!
1. Choose Occupations and Traits
Unlike metalworking (the skill can only be leveled up by choosing 1 occupation – Metalworker), carpentry skill has more options.
In Project Zomboid, you can choose the following occupation to gain carpentry skill levels in the early game:
- Carpenter: +3 carpentry
- Park Ranger: +1 carpentry
- Repairman: +1 carpentry
- Construction Worker: +1 carpentry
- Engineer: +1 carpentry
Besides, a Handy trait also provides 1 carpentry level. Ideally, you should choose the Carpenter profession and Handy traits, as they gain 4 carpentry levels directly.
Prerequisite Items for 2, 3, 4, and 5
Below are all the tools and materials you should gather to make the most out of your carpentry skill.
- Hammer: you can use either a hammer, stone hammer, or ball-peen hammer.
- Axe: An axe is a weapon that you need to cut down trees to get logs.
- Saw: a must-have to convert trees or branches to logs. Besides, some wooden furniture also requires a saw to disassemble.
- Screwdriver: another tool you need to dismantle several specific types of structures. However, it’s worth noting that not all objects require a screwdriver and saw to dismantle.
- Nail: To craft wooden structures and objects. You should check out this post to learn where to get nails.
- Wood Plank: primary material of any carpentry recipe.
Now, let’s level up your Carpentry skill!
2. Disassemble
Disassembling is the fastest and most efficient way to level up carpentry skills.
Due to their abundance, you can disassemble almost all of the wooden furniture and objects in the game.
To disassemble, make sure you have a hammer and a saw in your inventory, then right-click on the wooden object and select “Disassemble” => “<Object Name>”.
In addition, you can click on the cabinet icon on the left side of the screen and choose Disassemble action.
After that, move the green square to the wooden object you want to dismantle and click on it. Alternatively, you can press ESC while disassembling to cancel the action.
Finding and dismantling any wooden object you see on your way to gain level as much as possible is advisable.
3. Saw Logs
Although sawing logs provides less XP than disassembling, this is an improvised method to level up your skill while foraging in the forest.
To saw logs, you must equip an axe in your primary, then choose the location that has trees, right-click on the tree, and select “Cut Down Tree”.
Next, right-click on the dropped logs and select “Grab Logs” => “Grab All” to transfer all logs to your inventory.
Finally, open your inventory, right-click on those recent logs, and select “Saw Logs” => “All”.
You’ll gain XP for carpentry skill and obtain planks subsequently. Keep in mind that the high weight of planks might cause a “Heavy Load” moodle.
4. Craft Spears
Spear is not only an excellent weapon to deal with the undead but also a craftable item that offers generous carpentry XP.
Each spear requires any type of knife and a plank (or a tree branch) to craft.
You can find a knife in kitchens, crates, or cabinets, while planks can be obtained from sawing logs.
To craft a spear, right-click on either a knife or planks in your inventory and select “Create Spear” => “All”. You can also press “B” to open the crafting menu, click on the “Survivalist” tab, and look for Crafted Spear.
Crafting a spear is a straightforward process, and it serves as a versatile weapon that can be enhanced and combined with other tools to increase its damage potential. As a result, it is optimal to level up your carpentry skill.
5. Make Wooden Structures
Finally, you can gain more carpentry levels by making wooden structures.
Generally, all structures are made the same way: right-click on the ground, select “Carpentry”, and select the structure or object you want to make.
Since Project Zomboid offers several structures to make, here are our picks to take advantage of them for your survival and quickly boost your carpentry skill.
| Structure Name | Requirements | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Double Wooden Door | 6 carpentry levels 12 planks 12 nails 2 doorknobs 4 door hinges | To fortify your base/house. |
| Stairs | 6 carpentry levels 15 planks 15 nails | To travel between floors and enter the gun store. |
| Wooden Floor | 1 carpentry level 1 plank 1 nail | To fortify your base/house. |
| Wooden Crate | 3 carpentry level 3 plank 3 nail | To store items. |
| Large Rain Collector Barrel | 7 carpentry level 4 nails 4 planks 4 garbage bags | To store and collect water from the rain. |
You should find and read carpentry skill books to multiply your XP. These books can be found in post offices, on shelves in residential houses, or in mailboxes.
You can check the XP you’ve gained by pressing “H” and choosing the Skill tab, then moving your cursor to the carpentry bar.
That’s how to level up the carpentry skill in Project Zomboid.
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