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Perks are one of the gameplay mechanics in Rebuild 3. They are bonus which can help improve the survivors' skills or give them traits that makes for unique playstyle for the survivors.

They can be seen in the survivor's panel in the bottom left corner.

How to Obtain Them[ | ]

There are few ways to obtain perks. One of the main way is through backstory. To get backstory, you need to research Survivor Management from the laboratory and the survivor have to reach at least level 4. From there, you can choose one of three perks from the choice given (for more details, see backstory). You can get maximum 3 perks when reaching level 7 and 10.

Survivors can get perks through randomized events as well, though rare. Or the survivors got their default perks when recruited into the fort. Another way to obtain perks (albeit temporary) is using equipment that give those perks, they are removed when the equipment is remove from the character.

The main leader has a special perk chosen at the start of the game which affects the entire fort, does not gain perks from training, but is (or at least was in earlier versions) still eligible for all event-based perks (doesn't seem to work for me lately, need confirmation)(mine got a former Riffs perk after playing about 15 maps).

There is no limit for the number of perks a survivor can obtain.

Main Leader Perks[ | ]

Name Skills Effects Equipment
Politician +2 Leadership One Extra Survivor (Starting Game/Extra to Take from Previous City) Top Hat
Shop Clerk +2 Scavenging +25% Better Trades (The bonus is purely additive, I.E. a 15% mark-up becomes a 10% discount) Crowbar
Doctor +2 Engineering -1 Day to Injury Recovery Doctor's Bag
Retiree +2 Building +10% Happiness Bonus Hammer
Police Officer +2 Defense +1 From All Guns (Defense Bonus) Pistol
Priest +2 Leadership Church (Replace Office in Starting City) and More Devout Survivors Megaphone
Hobo +2 Scavenging +5 Housing Space Backpack
College Student +2 Engineering Schools and Bars 25% More Effective Calculator
Construction Worker +2 Building Half the Materials Costs Saw
Gang Member +2 Defense No Happiness Loss from Death/Injury Shotgun

Deluxe Jobs[ | ]

Note: Only available if you have the Deluxe Add On. Items come only with starting the game with the perk.

Name Skills Effects Equipment
Rockstar +3 Leadership Double Respect with Factions (Respect Reward Double) Note's Guitar (+4 Leadership, +2 Defense, Musician)
Pizza Delivery Driver +3 Scavenging Driver Perk Special Sword and KITT (+3 Defense, +3 Scavenging. Has Vehicle)
Programmer +3 Engineering Start with a Lab and Tech [1] The Feynman Lectures (+4 Engineering, MacGyver)
Real Estate Developer +3 Building Anyone who Build Anything Takes 1 Day Hardhat (+3 Building, Defended)
Pro Gamer +5 Defense Enemies are Twice as Powerful Handle with Care (+5 Defense, +2 Building)

Notes

  1. The Tech are: Construction, Watch Towers, Bunker Towers, Improved Walls, Electrified Walls, Generator Power, Survivor Management, Signposts and Searchlight.
  2. If played in story mode, the tech will be limited to the tier it is played at.

Skill-related Perks[ | ]

When talking to survivors three options of perk appear. Usually, the [+3 skill] perks and the non-skill-related perks options cannot be altered by changing profession, and the rest of the skill-related perk appears to the correspondent profession. (Exceptions can happen) See backstory for details, but here's the over-simplified version: take the first option two times and at the third time you talk with a survivor, equip equipment that grants the same perk as the option, then powerful perks have higher chances to appear. (Be warned that this is inaccurate and not the best way to do it.)

Leadership[ | ]

Born Leader +3 Leadership skill (Note: additional leadership skill over level 10 is only useful when preaching, allying mission in city hall and probably bartering?)
Musician Bonus happiness to others during missions (Note: this is also a randomly "triggered" bonus)
Negotiator Bonuses while trading with factions (Note: Triggers very often, but requires the faction to have at least one unit of food or materials or fuel left in their stock, the ones that you trade them do not count for that purpose)(Gain bonus respect if player decline the offer.)
Preacher More effective while working in a church (Triggers an event periodically, grant devout perk to one survivor.)
Peacekeeper Reduces chances of riots and fights.

Defense[ | ]

Fighter +3 Defense skill
Firearms Training +1 Defense with anything from pistols to machine guns (Note: This perk can be activated twice(+2 defense) if both the survivor's equipment fits the firearms criteria. Namely, the flare gun.)
Melee Training +1 Defense with anything from a shovel to a sword (Note: This perk can be activated twice(+2 defense) if both the survivor's equipment fits the melee weapen criteria.)
Hand to Hand Combat +2 Defense when no weapon equipped
Demolitions Explosives do extra damage (Does this really exist? Unseen on all websites and games I've played. Also, explosives always kill all zombies, and thus increasing it's damage is not meaningful at all.)
Commander All survivors gain +0.5 to defense

Building[ | ]

Handyman +3 Building skill
Artist Happiness bonus when fortifying buildings
Redecorator May automatically convert useless buildings. (Convert into buildings that player can build. Reaction without the "construction" tech is untested)

(Note: This means that very infrequently, the survivor will trigger a random event to instantly convert a useless building in your fortress like an XXor Gas to a building that serves a purpose (i.e. farm). It does not improve any of the missions that you assign the survivor to. Also, keep in mind that some "useless" buildings can still have event uses. For example XXor Gas can be used in Last Judgement event, and 8-12 Mart can be used in "Ice Cream" event, making this perk have a potentially negative effect.)

Tools Expert Double skill bonus from tools. (The bonuses gained are solely those that apply to the Building skill; no Defense or other bonuses are gained.; works with weapons, tools and cats.)
Defenses Expert Grant +0.5 defense to all buildings
Fearless Reclaim Can reclaim buildings with zombies on them.

(Obviously, clears the zed when mission is completed. Roamers, Zombie Mobs or Massed Zombies will still prevent reclaiming. Danger from zed IS a factor during such missions. Other characters can (and typically should) be added to aid with the mission - fighters to reduce or eliminate the risk and builders to accelerate the process. This ONLY counts as a builder mission, so only builder experience is acquired and no zed will be killed before the entire mission is finished. Should, for any reason, all the characters with this perk be removed from it, the mission WILL be cancelled.)

(Massively "overpriced" perk for anything but the lower difficulties.The main point of the perk is to "save the time". It "does so" by essentially combining two missions, the clearing and the reclaiming, into one simultaneous mission. However actually saving time with it is complicated.

For local survivors the problem is that they only perform one side of the work - either clearing or reclaiming, as such having a team of locals work on both simultaneously isn't inherently better than having them work on it in turn. (should be obvious, but your builders already don't need to idle while your soldiers are killing and your soldiers already don't need to idle while your builders are reclaiming, they just can't both work on the same tile at the same time without this perk but that's it)

And for persistent survivors the problem is that their main value lies elsewhere (on higher difficulties that is), and thus having them involved in reclaiming is very questionable strategically. No other job but fighter can get into "late twenties" of their respective skill, and as a result, finding a replacement for persistent characters in any other aspect is a lot more viable than finding one in fighting.


Situation 1 - early game, persistent survivor, no R.E.D. mc perk. This is one of the few situation where the perk actually shines. You would normally have a single persistent survivor perform both the clearing and the reclaiming, and this perk lets him skip the clearing time.

Situation 2 - early game, persistent survivor, R.E.D. perk on mc. Also good. Zombie clearing mission take a minimum of either 1 day or 0.1 day per zombie for 10+ zombies, and all the reclaiming missions under R.E.D. take exactly 1 day. As such the perk accelerates any clearing mission of 11+ zombies on a tile you're prepared to reclaim.

Situation 3 - late game, persistent survivor, no R.E.D. mc perk, low difficulty. Barely ok. You're not likely to need extra protection, and you can allocate extra builders to the task to accelerate the mission thus saving even more time for you persistent survivor. However, by this point a bigger share of your reclaiming workload should be done by your builders anyway, NOT by your persistent survivors. So, much like the situation 2, all you're saving here is the difference between the minimal clearing and minimal building time.

Situation 4 - late game, persistent survivor, R.E.D. perk on mc, low difficulty. Mostly ok. With R.E.D. past the very early game reclaiming becomes the job only worthy of the time of your newbies. You can still accelerate the clearing though. And in this scenario you don't need extra people for that, like you would need in situation 3.

Situation 5 - late game, persistent survivor, no R.E.D. mc perk, high difficulty. Bad. High difficulty means you need extra protection, that extra protection STILL needs it's fighting XP and it's missing out because it's stuck babysitting a building mission. And, perhaps more importantly, there's a factor of overall zombie threat to consider, which, combined with the fact that building is no longer a persistent survivor's job, means that you'd be better of having a persistent scrapper do the clearing and your team of local builders do the building.

Situation 6 - late game, persistent survivor, R.E.D. perk on mc, high difficulty. Very bad. Builder is basically not a profession with R.E.D., and zombie threat is real. You want strong "army" which is something a scrapper would work better for, and your building should be done by your newbies anyway.

Situation 7 - endgame, local survivors, no R.E.D. mc perk. Almost ok. Most of your locals should be at max level by now, the issue of missing out on XP is eliminated - just let your "topped out" fighters handle the security while your pack of topped builders make this a one day mission, saving your army time. (again, the same 0.1 day per zombie above 10) However you'll be seeing a lot more zed "units" at this point and killing those will have to be done the usual way.

Situation 8 - endgame, local survivors, R.E.D. perk on mc. One big "huh?". With R.E.D. you shouldn't have many high level builders anyway. The ones you do have will still save you those same 0.1 day of clearing per zed over 10th. If you want F.R. for this scenario just look for local fighters with builder-focused story lines. Once they hit level 10 as soldiers switch them to builders and grab your FR. you'll now have a F.R. character that doubles as his own guard.

Situation 9 - endgame, persistent survivor, high difficulty. A regrettable waste of a T3 perk slot. Zed escalation is no joke and if your map lasts long enough on high enough difficulty they are REALLY going to let your "military" feel the weight on their shoulders. This is where the persistent scrappers really shine. The local scrappers would still need their second class training to be of actual use, and the ones that started as soldiers can't both fight and level at the same time, but the persistent ones should be fully trained already and each of them fights about as well as two local soldiers.


In general, on lower difficulties and smaller maps this is a good "acceleration" perk for your walk in the park.

But on any setting where you expect non negligible zed "resistance" you're better off with the extra fighting power that the scrapper perk provides. After all, why would you want to go through so much trouble just to save some time of someone who performs about as well as one fully trained local soldier when you can instead bring someone who performs about as well as two of them.)

Not to put too much of a point on it, but on later difficutlies, with Leadership in your MC, one character with Reckless Reclaim, can take buildings almost as fast as the game can spawn enemies without help, especially, if support characters are depopulating zombies when they have nothing better to do, and depopulating zombies is the better thing to do, unless they're defeating a horde. Anyway, the persistent reckless reclaimer, CAN ALSO FIGHT, but you'll try to prevent that, and, so, having one of these is probably broken, on a five-man team, and certainly, more likely, on a six-man team (MC and likely all are pilots), "Oh, sorry, forgot my axe, and brought my Rocket Launcher, (Andy, Recless Reclaimer). I hope that helps you sort this out, but, yeah, a Luddie 30 Defense character is quite good, but better than a bunch of inteelectuals? Meah, zed disperss after taking just one tile, so if you Gud, that's the deal. Faster tiles make a lot of sense.

Scavenging[ | ]

Resourceful +3 Scavenging skill
Good Cook Bonus food production

(Note: This means that on rare occasion, this survivor will trigger an event that instantly creates food that equals to your population.)

Green Thumb Bonus food while farming (Note: this is also a randomly "triggered" bonus and it gives 20 food.) (Also obtained when equipped with Pitchfork or Pea Shooter)
Hunter Improves hunting missions. learn-able and given by hunting rifles, crossbows and Melanie's boomerang.
Hoarder Extra building materials while scavenging (Note: this is also a randomly "triggered" bonus)
Scrapper Scavenging skill is also added to defense.

(THE most powerful non-leader perk on higher difficulties. Single-handedly pushes your character's "defense" stat from teens into twenties. Scrapper + Fireaxe + named crowbar = 28 defense. Add fighter, melee training, or resorceful and you're at the cap of 30. And you don't even need ammo for that monster. It's also the easiest tier 3 perk to catch because 2 of the scavenger perks can be taken off the list with items, you could even take them both off the list at the same time if you have a pitchfork. Plus all the ludite recruits start with green thumb as a free perk.)

Engineering[ | ]

Genius +3 Engineering skill.
Bookworm Research bursts, +2 Engineering from books.

(Note: "Research Bursts" means that if this survivor is working in a Laboratory, then there is a chance that the current research project will abruptly finish early. The "burst" effect only applies to technologies being researched by that specific survivor, however.)

Crafter Creates extra items in the workshop.

(Note: The extra items created (appears as an event) are free, i.e. crafting extra traps doesn't cost extra materials.)

First Aid Reduces chance of death on missions.
MacGyver Half of Engineering skill added to defense.

(Second strongest defensive perk, with 10 engineering, this gives 5 defense which is already better than the fighter perk. This is THE best tier 2 perk to have on a non-scrapper character, and still one of the better ones for a scrapper.)

Positive Perks[ | ]

Animal Lover Extra skills and happiness if equipped with a pet. +1 Defense, Leadership. Overridden by Allergic to Pets.
Camper Sleeps under the stars, does not need a house
Driver May finish mission early when equipped with a vehicle (this is also a randomly triggered bonus)(It's assumed that this perk only affect certain missions . This is likely useless to researching)
Easy Going Double happiness increases and halve decreases (Also granted by terrible comic equipment)
Fast Recovery Recovers from injury faster (one day faster recovery)
Friendly Makes friends faster, more happiness from friends.
Half Rations Eats less than other survivors. Eats 0.5 food per day instead of 1.
Immune Won't die from a zombie bite, +1 defense. The main character and any Rotten recruits have this by default.
Loner Improved skills when on a mission alone. (+1 skill level)

(It means he/she will do better if doing a mission alone. Ex: A loner with 5 defense skill killing zombies alone will seem to have a defense skill of 6)

Musician Bonus happiness to others during missions (Note: this is also a randomly "triggered" bonus)
Ninja No penalty for how far away a mission is. (Some weapons, such as named swords, also add this)
No Rations Doesn't eat any food. Only Rotten recruits can have this perk. (cannot coexist with half/double rations)
Scholar Learns more from schools (note: "more" means faster, nothing more)
Superhero Increase each skill by 1. Increase max levels by 1. (Max level 12, but nerfed to 11 in later versions.)
Team Player Improved skills when on a mission with at least 3 survivors (+1 skill level) (a specific Gaming Book will also add this)

Tradeoff Perks[ | ]

Addict Regular user of the drug Bath Salts, +1 Defense. (Bad things may happen if bath salt runs out?) (While the idea of paying for extra defense (once you can afford it) may look appealing at first glance keep in mind that your subsequent maps might leave you without any means to purchase more drugs, and even when the option is available the cost can be devastating early on. So the most sensible course of action is to avoid the drug use just to make sure that none of your persistent team members catch the addiction.)
Brave +1 defense, but may take the hit for another survivor.
Coward Less likely to be injured, but -2 leadership
Cultist Follower of The Chosen Ones, +10 Happiness

(Note: Cultists on Kill Zombies missions have a random chance to abandon their mission, lose happiness, and take mandatory time off because killing zombies goes against their religion. Also cultists sometimes choose to "join the chosen ones". They can even outright die as a part of an event (ritual suicide in the form of getting eaten by zombies). Worse yet, anyone stacked with a Cultist is likely to become a Cultist. AVOID THIS PERK LIKE THE PLAGUE THAT IT IS! Isolate any unfortunate victims (NEVER stack them with anyone), BAN the cult as soon as an option becomes available and destroy the cultists faction. You really really, really, REALLY don't want one of your persistent team members to catch this.)(Note: Cultist survivors may lose this perk along with 40 points of happiness if you have no/lose all churches in your fort.)

Devout Extra happiness from churches, none from bars.

(Note: Devout survivors will eventually lose this perk along with 40 points of happiness if you have no/lose all churches in your area. They may also gain/regain it by spending time with other Devout survivors, whether on missions, in training, or just taking time off. It's possible the perk may also be gained from having an active Leader survivor preaching in a church.) (Note: while this perk doesn't seem all that powerful, it's actually a good idea to put preachers and grant your survivors this perk. Preaching adds happiness and when you talk to a survivor, "devout" option(and the skeptic option) will not appear and give space for the OP perks to appear.)

Eccentric Makes both friends and enemies easily.
Intense Focus -1 to all skills, but learns faster in missions.

(Note: This perk is only useful before a survivor reaches max level, after that it's purely negative.)

Light Sleeper +0.5 to all building defense, but happiness increases at half the normal rate.
Pacifist Factions like you more, but no bonus from weapons.

(Note: The "no bonus" effect in question applies only to bonuses to the Defence skill; weapons such as sledgehammers, boomerangs, and so forth will still give their secondary skill bonuses, i.e. Building, Scavenging, etc. This perk also has no effect on items, e.g. crowbars, flare guns, etc.)

(As for the Factions part, it seems to gain you passive respect will all factions over time[1].)

Skeptic +1 engineering, immune to religion. (Will not be a devout or a cultist. Won't gain happiness from preachers. Devouts and cultists will not gain this perk)
Stinky +1 defense, but more likely to make enemies.
Tough Less likely to die, but hard to make friends. (It is unknown if this makes it less likely for the survivor to begin friendships, or if friendships simply build slower.)

Negative Perks[ | ]

Allergic to Pets No benefit from equipping animals. Overrides Animal Lover.(Seems to have chances to disappear if equipped with an animal long enough. Need confirmation.)
Clumsy Increased mission danger. (Choosing "sneak past" in an event can result in clumsy/ninja perk.)
Double Rations Eats more than other survivors.(Often results from recruiting option)
Downer Lowers happiness of other survivors when on missions.(triggered as event)
Rebellious May refuse to work.

(Note: Will cause the survivor with the perk to have a random chance to abandon their mission and take mandatory time off. Often results from lying to survivors when recruiting.)(Keeping the survivor happy seems to prevent them from abandoning their mission.)

Sickly More likely to get sick. (This trait is often gained by survivors who are recruited when choosing a "negative" option during a specific event; it's recommended to always keep a spare medkit to avoid getting a survivor with this trait during said event.)

Item-Unique Perks[ | ]

Caretaker Periodic Increases to Happiness, granted by any child (kid or baby). (Confirmed this is a periodic increase and not a flat 10%)
Defended Prevents death on missions. Granted by the Helmet. (Helmet will be gone after the event triggered.)
Pet Owner Periodic Increases to Happiness, granted by any pet (dog or cat). (Confirmed this is a periodic increase and not a flat 10%)
See Further When scouting, scouts adjacent (not diagonal) buildings as well in the same time, very effective with larger tiles.

Granted by named binoculars. (Simple "Binoculars" only grant the universal +1 to scavenging". The effect stacks with "Improved Scouting" technology to enable scouting of both adjacent and diagonal buildings.(scouting 9 blocks in total for one-tiled buildings.)(tested)

Has Vehicle Removes mission danger caused by distance from fort. Granted by Bicycle, Motorbike, Car, and Armored Car.

Faction Perks[ | ]

People with these perks can call the faction for help (as an option) in certain events. They also cause you to gain passive respect with the faction[1].

Ex Last Judgement Increases sway with the Last Judgement faction
Former 1337cREw Increases sway with the 1337cREw faction
Former Chosen One Increases sway with the Chosen Ones faction
Former DAHLIA Increases sway with the Dahlias faction
Former Luddie Increases sway with the Luddies faction
Former Pharmacist Increases sway with the Pharmacists faction
Former Pig Farmer Increases sway with the Pig Farmers faction
Former Riff Increases sway with the Riffs faction
Friend of Gustav Increases sway with Gustav the trader
Government Agent Increases sway with the Government faction
Rotten Increases sway with the Rotten faction
St. Michael's Dropout Increases sway with the St. Michael's Boys faction

Leader Bonus Perks[ | ]

After certain events, your leader can pick a bonus perk. No items are given with these perks. The perks can be gained in Story Mode in the listed cities or in Free Play as long as the relevant factions are in the city.

Note: if you replay a previously completed city (except the latest in the campaign line of cities available) your leader can retain the perk obtained from the city's save file that was otherwise deleted. Some cities will need to be replayed 2-3 times total to obtain everything, but to achieve net gains in perks, the same city cannot be deleted twice in a row. For example: to gain Police Officer and Rockstar from Wenatchee, you must complete a city after it, like Moses Lake, and then go back to Wenatchee and complete it again to get the second perk, thus allowing your leader to retain both. The only leader perks that are mutually exclusive based on availability are Pro Gamer and Doctor, which can both only be obtained at the start of the game.

In Wenatchee, there is a collaboration questline between the "The Luddies" faction and the "St. Michael's School for Boys" faction. During this questline you're asked by the Luddies to check out Rufus's dad's place for information on the creation of zombies, you can then ask the St. Michael's School for Boys where this house is, find an encrypted PC there, decode it, and speak with either of the two factions. Between 7 and 30 days later, St. Michaels will come to you about their farming problems. This eventually leads to the St. Michael's School for Boys burning down and you get a choice: if you choose to "safely rescue as many kids", then Meet with Ludd, then wait about a day or two, you can pick a bonus Leader perk from the following: (couldn't obtain the perk in Iphone version, confirmed that you CAN get either of the base-game perks on Iphone, just not any of the deluxe perks, as the deluxe version is currently unavailable on Iphone).

  • Police Officer
  • Gang Member
  • Rockstar (Deluxe)

In Moses Lake, there is conflict between the "The Granville Riffs" faction and the "The Last Judgment Gang". The trick to this bonus perk is to befrend one of the two factions a bit and they will give you the opportunity to prepare a trap for the other faction (The Riffs are recommended as the Last Judgement gang will still raid you even if you try to have friendly relations). If you agree, you need to "capture" a mall with the quest function and then talk to the faction you want to trap. At this point there is a showdown at the mall between the two factions if you choose to "Let them kill one another" regardless of which side you favor, you can pick a bonus Leader perk from:

  • Politician
  • Priest + Devout
  • Pizza Delivery Driver (Deluxe)

In Spokane, if you choose to defeat the Government with Jesse OR if you side with Davis and capture rotten faction members for the government, you can pick from:

  • Retiree
  • Hobo
  • Real Estate Developer (Deluxe)

In Nelson, after one of your survivors gets kidnapped by a mysterious ice cream truck (Ice cream truck quest line) you can visit the various factions and find out that the truck belongs to the Pig Farmers, they won't admit to anything. After sneaking into their base you find your missing survivor in a Fridge and free him, at this point you have two choices: forget this ever happened, get some supplies from the Pig Farmers, have the possibility of adding 3 criminals to your base and you automatically become allies with their faction. The second choice is to condemn the Pig Farmers for hunting and killing criminals and selling their flesh for food and fight your way out, this automatically annihilates the "Pig Farmers" faction from the map, in a later moment of reflection you can choose one of the following bonus Leader perks:

  • Construction worker
  • Shop Clerk
  • Programmer (Deluxe)

In Kelowna, if you choose to take down the Last Judgement (optionally with the Dahilas, but if you get their help, Mason and the girl will not join your fort), or choose to sneak Mason Moon and the girl out of the city, you can pick from:

  • Gang Member
  • Priest (Confirmed)
  • Real Estate Developer (Deluxe)

Chilliwack, after completing the Riffs quest line, you can pick from

  • Police Officer
  • College Student
  • Pizza Delivery Driver + Driver (Deluxe)

Non-Leader Perks that any character can get, regardless of Leader status or existing perks:[ | ]

  • Former Riff (via schmoozeRiffsSpar event)
  • Scholar (via schmoozeStmichealsSchools)
  • Intense Focus (via schmoozeCourse while being Cultist)
  • No Rations (via becomeRotten while Omega)
  • Pilot (via airplaneGustavInfo event in Trail)
  • Addict (via combatBathSalts)?
  1. 1.0 1.1
          private static function updateRespect(param1:Faction) : void
          {
             var _loc3_:int = ColinManager.numColinsWithPerk(PerkType.getPerkForFaction(param1.type));
             var _loc5_:int = 25 + 10 * _loc3_;
             if(param1.respect >= _loc5_)
             {
                return;
             }
             var _loc2_:int = ColinManager.numColinsWithPerk(PerkType.PACIFIST);
             var _loc4_:Number = 1 + 0.5 * _loc2_ + 1 * _loc3_;
             param1.addRespect(_loc4_,null);
          }
    
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