World War Z – How to Unlock Perks, How do Perks Work

World War Z has six classes for players to choose from, and each has a variety of perks available to better assist with surviving the zombie apocalypse. Earning these traits works in two ways, but you’ll need to put in some playtime no matter what.

Perks in World War Z are earned from playing missions, and unlocked with Supplies.

Each of the six classes in World War Z come with three primary perks, and nine secondary perks (excluding perks earned from prestige ranks; more on that in a bit). These perks are unlocked by leveling a class, which is done the same way as leveling weapons: by simply playing the game. You can’t change roles mid-mission, so you need to pick what you want to play before readying up. Once inside a mission you’ll earn experience based on how far you make it –  survive till the end for full rewards, but you’ll still earn something if you fail. Each level will unlock a perk to purchase, and every ten levels will unlock a red primary perk.

Primary perks do not need to be purchased in order to be used, but the rest of the secondary perks do. This price is paid in Supplies, the general yellow currency earned from playing the game. Every activity in the game rewards Supplies, but to earn more per mission you’ll need to dial up the difficulty. Horde Mode and Challenge Mode are also great for farming supplies, though the former is easier and more lucrative than the latter if you can make it beyond ten waves.

There are a couple things to keep in mind when purchasing perks. First, only one perk per column can be active at a time, so if you wanna save on Supplies don’t fret over purchasing every single perk you unlock from leveling. Find the ones that fit your playstyle (or fit a popular build), and go with those. Second, if you wanna earn more supplies by increasing the difficulty you’ll need to purchase perks to get your class into fighting shape. For example, Normal recommends you enter with a level 5 class, but the game is assuming you’ve grabbed a couple perks up to that point.

Essentially, don’t jump into Hard or Insane if you don’t have perks up to level 15 or 25 respectively. It’s a grind, yes, but success is more rewarding than failure. Grinding out Horde Mode on Normal is a great way to earn Supplies, even without a pre-made party: hitting level 5 and buying your first two perks isn’t too difficult to do. Also, play through each mission for the first time on Easy to not only learn the layout of the levels, but to put away a small stockpile of Supplies without having to worry about spending any. Once you start plugging away at Normal and Hard missions focus on the perks you want, and the weapons you need to prevent yourself from wasting Supplies.

Finally, you can prestige a class for an eye-watering 7500 Supplies, and you’ll start leveling them all over again. The advantage here are the new primary perks on offer, but you need to repurchase all of your former secondary perks again as you level. There are four additional primary perks you can unlock, each unlocked one by one with every prestige, up to prestige rank 4. This will require a boatload of Supplies, so only do this on your main class first. That, and be ready to grind.