Starting skills in Project Zomboid grants a XP boost helping you level the skill much faster, with level 1 making a 400% XP difference. Let’s take a look at how this works.
Starting Skill XP Boost
| Starting Level | XP Boost | Actual relative experience gain |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 25% | 100% |
| 1 | 75% | 400% |
| 2 | 100% | 532% |
| 3+ | 125% | 664% |
Looking at the above chart starting skill level 1 gives a significant XP boost. So how does the above chart work:
- If you start with Lv. 0 Cooking your character will earn 25% XP (you can view this as a debuff). Watching Day 1 episode of Live and Living you will receive 112.5 XP in cooking.
- However if you pick the Burger Flipper occupation that starts with Lv. 2 Cooking your character will get 532% XP compared to Lv. 0 Cooking. Watching the first episode will now give 598.5 XP.
- If you pick the Chef occupation that starts with Lv. 3 Cooking your character will get 664% XP compared to Lv. 0 Cooking. Watching the first episode will now give 747 XP.
- As for Lv. 1 skills we can look at Carpentry. At Lv. 0 Carpentry watching Day 1 Life and Living will give 75 XP.
- Picking the Park Ranger occupation starts you off with Lv. 1 Carpentry your character will get 400% XP. Watching the first episode will now give 300 XP.
The in-game tool tip XP boost values are a bit confusing. But from our testing it looks like your character receives around 4-6.64x the amount of XP depending on your starting skill.
Lv. 1 grants 4x the XP providing incredible value for your character. Therefore its important to take at least 1 level in a skill that your character will want to grind.
Not sure how much XP is needed to level Skills? Check our Skill XP Chart.
