Dying Light 2 Stay Human Beginner's Guide

So you’ve got past the prologue, got infected and plopped into the open world of Dying Light 2 Stay Human. You’ve got the basics down, but that won’t help much when dealing with the toughest challenges the game throws at you like Volatiles and bandits who can easily kill you if you aren’t careful. Becoming a true Nightrunner isn’t going to be easy, a few tips here and there will make your stay in The City a whole lot easier.

Do story missions

Okay, this one is pretty obvious, but equipment like the grappling hook is tied to story progression as well as important crafting recipes like the Immunity Booster, which increases the amount of time you can stay in the dark without dying. The game opens up so much more once you get the paraglider.

Take your time

Do side quests, get gold medals in challenges, climb windmills, loot abandoned convoys, or track down inhibitor crates. There’s really no rush to finish the story. I still had a lot of fun without Nightrunner tools. It forced me to learn the parkour system and the fastest routes through The City. While doing so, you’re also working towards becoming more of a zombie hunting badass either by gaining XP or finding enough inhibitors to…

Upgrade your stamina

Just like in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it’s important to spend most of your inhibitors in the early game upgrading your max stamina rather than your health. A lot of areas in The City are tough to get through if you don’t have a lot of it, and if it’s not necessary, you should run instead of fight in most cases. Plus, the more fun parkour skills become available as you increase your maximum stamina like the ability to sprint.

Speaking of skills…

Get Soft Landing

It’s one of the earliest skills you can obtain, and it has saved me many deaths from falling once I unlocked it. It's consistently useful and you’ll be using it through the entire game. The timing and survivable height of Soft Landing is decently generous, so if you make a mistake at least you won’t die as often. Keep an eye out for cars though; they negate all fall damage regardless of how high you are.

Buy a bow

Bows are one of the few ranged weapons you can obtain, and I managed to find one at a vendor towards the end of the first act. It was expensive, but well worth it. Bows don’t degrade unlike all the melee weapons, but you need to craft all the ammo for them. Unfortunately, you don’t get access to the recipe for normal arrows until you reach Downtown. Don’t worry though! There are crafting recipes for various other types of arrows, which can be bought at craftmasters, and the crafting materials needed are readily available either out in the world or at shops. I was able to kill a Volatile way earlier than the game intended, so get those archery skills sharpened.

Horde crafting materials

You’re going to need a lot of crafting materials on the daily if you want to survive. Throwing knives to interrupt attacks, UV light bars to give you some breathing room in the middle fights, and molotov cocktails to thin out hordes. And not only does modifying weapons give them extra damage and effects, it also restores some durability. Simply put, take everything that isn’t nailed down.

Also, keep an eye out for yellow trees on rooftops. While you do occasionally have to kill some zombies or bandits, they have some basic crafting materials needed for medicine and other consumables to ensure you live just long enough to make it to a safe zone.

Check traders regularly

Every shop has its own stock, so be sure to visit traders and see their inventory. They’ll often have good gear, weapons and consumables. If you’re interested in any of it, crafting materials are dirt cheap so it’s never a bad idea to use some leftover money for some extra scrap and alcohol.

Upgrade medicine, lockpicks and equipment

If you loot special zombies like Virals and Goons, you’ll obtain a special crafting material that can be traded at a craftsman to upgrade your crafting recipes. There are a ton of crafting recipes you can obtain from by buying them or completing quests, but I preferred to focus on medicine and lockpicks. Upgrading the medicine recipe will make them more effective, while upgrading the lockpicks recipe will make them tougher to break.

However, Nightrunner equipment like the paraglider requires military tech to upgrade, and they’re often on very high buildings. Again, I really hope you’ve been upgrading your stamina. Just look out for opened parachutes hanging off the edge of a building. You have binoculars for a reason.

Check the time

The in-game day and night cycle is very important to keep in mind whenever you’re doing missions or activities. Some areas are easier to infiltrate in the day or night depending on what they are, so you better move fast because once it changes, more zombies and special infected will spawn in… including Volatiles. Either wait it out in a place where there are UV lights or skip to either dusk or dawn at a safe zone.

With these tips, you’re well on your way into becoming a worthy Nightrunner. Of course, this is just the beginning. And you will probably die a lot trying to make jumps you think you can make. Still, it’s all part of the learning process. There is nothing more valuable than your own experience, so get out there and kick some ass.

Good night, good luck, and most importantly, stay human.