Tier List ranking the best negative traits in Project Zomboid. Let’s take a look at the “free” traits to take and the worst traits to avoid.
Negative Traits Tier List
| Tier | Trait | Points | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|
| S |  Short Sighted | +2 | -2 foraging radius in search mode. Can be negated with glasses. |
| S |  High Thirst | +6 | 200% thirst |
| S |  Weak Stomach | +3 | 200% chance of food illness. Food illness lasts shorter. |
| A |  Slow Reader | +2 | 70% reading speed. |
| A |  Prone to Illness | +4 | 125% progression rate of zombification. 170% chance of catching a cold, 120% cold strength, and 150% cold progression speed. |
| A |  Smoker | +4 | Stress will constantly slowly rise. Smoking Cigarettes will lower the stress level. |
| A |  Unlucky | +4 | -10% chance of finding rare loot. +5% chance of failing item repairs. |
| A |  Underweight | +6 | -1 Fitness. Starting weight is 70 (present between weights 65-75). 80%x melee damage. Increased trip chance and fail at climbing tall fence. (Can be removed by gaining weight) |
| A |  Very Underweight | +10 | -2 Fitness. Starting weight is 60 (present between 50 and 65). 60% melee damage. Increased trip chance and fail at climbing tall fence. 10% more fall damage. (Can be removed by gaining weight) |
| B |  Conspicuous | +4 | 200% chance of getting spotted by zombies. |
| B |  Slow Healer | +6 | Recently inflicted injuries have more severity. |
| B |  Overweight | +6 | Max Fitness of 9. Starting weight is 90 (present between weights 85-100). 1% slower running speed, 200% endurance loss. Increased chance to trip, fail at climbing tall fence. 70% endurance regeneration. (Can be removed by losing weight) |
| B |  Obese | +10 | -2 Fitness. Max Fitness of 6. Reduced run speed and endurance. Starting weight is 105 (present at weights 100+). Increased chance to trip, fail at climbing tall fence. 40% endurance regeneration. 20 more fall damage. (Can be removed by losing weight) |
| C |  Clumsy | +2 | 120% footsteps sound radius, 110% chance to trip while run/sprint vaulting a low fence or lunging zombies. |
| C |  Pacifist | +4 | 75% XP of Melee and Aiming skill. |
| C |  Disorganized | +4 | 70% capacity for all containers. |
| C |  Thin-skinned | +8 | Multiplies the chance of not being injured by a zombie attack by 0.7 |
| C |  Claustrophobic | +4 | Enters in Panic when indoors. |
| D |  Hearty Appetite | +4 | 150% hunger. |
| D |  Slow Learner | +6 | 70% XP in all skills except Strength and Fitness. |
| D |  Agoraphobic | +4 | Panic when outdoors. |
| D |  Hard of Hearing | +4 | Decreased perception radius. |
| D |  Restless Sleeper | +6 | Sleep for fewer hours each time, and slower loss of tiredness when sleeping. |
| D |  Sunday driver | +1 | Accelerates vehicles 40% slower. Has a max speed of 30 km/h. |
| D |  Illiterate | +8 | Cannot read. |
| D |  All Thumbs | +2 | 400% inventory transferring time. |
| E |  Feeble | +6 | -2 Strength |
| E |  Out of Shape | +6 | -2 Fitness |
| E |  Cowardly | +2 | 200% panic except for night terrors and phobias. |
| E |  Fear of Blood | +5 | Stress increases when you see blood. |
| F |  Sleepyhead | +4 | 70% tiredness rate. |
| F |  Unfit | +10 | -4 Fitness |
| F |  Weak | +10 | -5 Strength, 60% melee damage. |
| F |  Asthmatic | +5 | 140% running/sprinting and 130% swing endurance lost. |
| F |  Deaf | +12 | Can’t hear sound. Tiny perception radius. |
S-Tier
The best traits in Project Zomboid are Short Sighted, High Thirst and Weak Stomach, they are examples of traits that cause little to no inconvenience and or are easy to fix.
Short Sighted only affects foraging radius and makes no difference to actual perception sight. High Thirst is easily fixed with a bottle of water.
Weak Stomach isn’t a problem as you can easily avoid rotten/hazardous food.
A-Tier
Slow reader isn’t a problem in single player as you can fast forward (perhaps don’t take this one in multiplayer).
With Prone to Illness you just have to try and avoid getting too wet. Smoker is easily fixed with cigarettes which are abundant and Unlucky doesn’t make much of a difference to loot.
Very Underweight and Underweight are easy to fix by eating food. However do keep in mind you might want to take the Fit trait to balance the -2/-1 starting Fitness.
B-Tier
These traits will cause a minor inconvenience. Conspicuous is great especially if you don’t mind being spotted such as with a gun build.
With Slow Healer you’ll mainly want to avoid broken bones most commonly caused by high falls.
Obese and Underweight is a bit harder to fix than it’s underweight counterpart (eat low calorie foods). However again are great sources of points.
C-Tier
These traits are a bit more annoying to deal with but are manageable. Clumsy isn’t too much of a problem especially if you don’t mind being spotted. The extra trip chance can be a bit deadly though.
Pacifist can be counteracted with Fast Learner however slower weapon xp isn’t ideal to have.
Disorganized won’t get you killed but can be inconvenient as looting is a big part of Zomboid.
Thin Skinned can make the difference between life or death. But if you play safe enough zombies can potentially never get the chance to injure you any. However having a lower rate of zombie injury would be nice just in case.
Claustrophobic is a trait that becomes less of an issue over time. It’s one of the easier phobias to deal with as you tend to spend more game time outside anyway and can always pick larger rooms to base up in.
D-Tier
These traits will be an inconvenience. Hearty Appetite whilst seems like a non-issue can make managing weight a problem. You don’t want to be overweight after all.
Slow Learner prevents you from getting the top tier positive trait Fast Learner. Its going to slow down your skill leveling.
Agoraphobic is much more annoying to deal with than Claustrophobic. It’s much easier to lure and fight zombies outside.
Hard of Hearing reduces perception radius, making it much easier for a zombie to sneak up behind you and end your run.
Restless Sleeper makes managing your sleep schedule a nightmare. You’ll quickly be tired without significant stretches of time to complete tasks.
Sunday Driver makes traveling a nightmare capping max speed at 30 km/h which is very slow.
Illiterate just messes up your build possibilities. You’ll probably want to pick Electrical with the Amateur Mechanic trait otherwise you won’t be able to operate generators/repair vehicles. Maybe you can survive without these skills but in the long run it’s very inconvenient.
All Thumbs increases item transfer rate by 400%. In Zomboid you’ll be moving items all the time whether it’s looting, moving or organizing. This is especially bad in multiplayer where you cannot fast forward.
E-Tier
These traits you’ll generally want to avoid as they are either a major inconvenience or hard to fix.
Strength and Fitness are some of the hardest skills to level in the game making Feeble and Out of Shape very hard to fix.
Cowardly and Fear of Blood will make combat extremely difficult (for non gun/spears) as you’ll constantly be in a state of panic and stress.
If you do end up taking Fear of Blood consider also picking Smoker. You’ll be able to smoke cigarettes to manage your stress.
F-Tier
The worst traits in Zomboid are ones that make game play nearly impossible and or are extremely hard to fix.
Strength and Fitness are some of the hardest skills to level. Plus they affect core Zomboid stats like endurance, melee damage and carry weight. Unfit/Weak will make melee combat near impossible.
You’ll hit for very little damage and or get tired very quickly and deal even less damage. Furthermore you’ll even lose some or all of that starting skill XP boost.
Asthmatic will put you in a similar boat, you’ll exhaust quickly and zombies will take forever to kill.
Deaf is the worst negative trait in Project Zomboid. It will get you killed. You will have a tiny perception radius making it easy for zombies to creep up on you. Plus you won’t hear alarms!
Check out the Positive Traits Tier List.
