As zombie survival games go, few offer such a complete experience as 7 Days To Die. With its excellent base building, tough high-level missions, and tower defense gameplay during Blood Moon night, it is great fun to play alone, or co-op with friends.

7-Days-To-Die-15-Tips-For-Beginners
7 Days To Die: 15 Tips For Beginners

7 Days To Die can be a tough challenge for newcomers. With these beginner tips, players can not only survive, but thrive.

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Rifles are the least used ranged weapon in 7 Days To Die. Simply because they are not really suited for use indoors, and most missions take place indoors. However, they do have some utility in other situations, such as taking down wandering hordes, or during a base defense. They can also be great fun in PvP combat.

4 Pipe Rifle

Basic Single Shot Rifle

Pipe Rifle In 7 Days To Die
  • Weapon stats (tier 6):
    • Ranged damage: 55
    • Magazine size: 1
    • Effective range: 50
    • Maximum durability: 200

  • Crafting requirements (tier 5)
    • Short iron pipe: 12
    • Glue: 6
    • Wood: 18

The Pipe Rifle is arguably the most useless weapon in 7 Days To Die. Considering that a new player is supposed to craft and use the pipe weapons in this game, carrying a single-shot rifle that takes several seconds to reload, is almost completely worthless.

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7 Best Early Game Perks In 7 Days To Die

Players struggling in the early game of 7 Days to Die may want to prioritize the following perks.

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That being said, an argument could be made for carrying a Pipe Rifle as a secondary weapon, to be used for a first strike on enemies at range. But the problem of the slow, single-shot reload remains in this scenario.

For players who want to give the Pipe Rifle a fair try, it is recommended to use just a 2 x scope, as the weapon lacks the range of other rifles in the game. This build works as a basic, long-range, first-strike weapon.

  • 2 x scope (2 x magnification)
  • Bipod Mod (increases the accuracy and handling of weapons when aiming down scope)
  • Rad Remover Mod (removes zombie radiation effect)
  • Standard 7.62 ammo (cheap to craft)

3 Hunting Rifle

Useful Single-Shot Rifle

Hunting Rifle In 7 Days To Die
  • Weapon stats (tier 6):
    • Ranged damage: 72.3
    • Magazine size: 1
    • Effective range: 61
    • Maximum durability: 400

  • Crafting requirements (tier 5)
    • Rifle parts: 5
    • Forged iron: 50
    • Duct tape: 10
    • Scrap Polymers: 50
    • Spring: 10

The Hunting Rifle is a significant upgrade over the Pipe Rifle in terms of the damage it does (almost 50% more) and the increased range. This makes it a great secondary weapon for a hard-hitting primary strike against enemies.

However, it suffers from the same weakness as the Pipe Rifle, as it is a single-shot rifle with a long reload time. This is not a weapon to use for clearing out POIs, but it does have its place during a blood moon and for base defense.

The increased range of the Hunting Rifle over the Pipe Rifle means that a 4 x scope is more appropriate. Furthermore, with its additional weapon mod slot, some additional damage can be added as well.

Extended Barrel Mod (increases damage but causes more recoil)

  • 4 x Scope (4 x magnification)
  • Bipod Mod (increases the accuracy and handling of weapons when aiming down scope)
  • Rad Remover Mod (removes zombie radiation effect)
  • Standard 7.62 ammo (cheap to craft)

2 Lever Action Rifle

For Cowboys

Lever Action Rifle In 7 Days To Die
  • Weapon stats (tier 6):
    • Ranged damage: 94.7
    • Magazine size: 5
    • Rounds per minute: 82
    • Effective range: 72
    • Maximum durability: 700

  • Crafting requirements (tier 5)
    • Rifle parts: 5
    • Forged iron: 75
    • Duct tape: 50
    • Scrap Polymers: 100
    • Spring: 50

The Lever Action Rifle is a little different than most other rifles. It is intended for rapid fire. Anyone who has ever watched Zoey from Firefly taking out multiple enemies in quick succession with her mare’s leg lever action rifle will understand what this means. Older readers may also remember Steve McQueen using a similar weapon in the old western show, Wanted Dead or Alive.

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7 Days To Die: Best Materials To Farm In The Early Game

By the time players hit the mid-game of 7 Days To Die, they'll have already missed their chance to stockpile these essential survival materials.

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It is quite possible to use the Lever Action Rifle as a primary weapon to take out lower-level POIs. However, once a player starts hitting level 5 POIs, they are going to need something that fires in fully automatic mode.

This build is intended to give the player a long-range weapon that is fairly handy and can be fired from the hip in a pinch if needed. With just a 2 x scope, it is easy to use indoors as well.

  • Muzzle Break Mod (lowers recoil)
  • 2 x Scope (2 x magnification)
  • Bipod Mod (increases the accuracy and handling of weapons when aiming down scope)
  • Rad Remover Mod (removes zombie radiation effect)
  • Amor-piercing 7.62 ammo (highest damage ammo)

1 Sniper Rifle

High Damage At Long Range

Sniper Rifle In 7 Days To Die
  • Weapon stats (tier 6):
    • Ranged damage: 124.9
    • Magazine size: 12
    • Rounds per minute: 140
    • Effective range: 84
    • Maximum durability: 1100

  • Crafting requirements (tier 5)
    • Rifle parts: 5
    • Forged iron: 150
    • Duct tape: 50
    • Scrap Polymers: 200
    • Spring: 60

The Sniper Rifle is the hardest-hitting weapon of all in 7 Days To Die and is one of the best weapons a player can use. This rifle can dish out serious levels of damage very quickly. It is useless when hip-fired, but anyone trying to hip-fire a sniper rifle is on completely the wrong track anyway.

Best Server-Side Mods For A 7 Days To Die Private Server
Best Server-Side Mods For A 7 Days To Die Private Server

There are a few nifty server-side mods perfect for any private 7 Days To Die server. Here's what mods are worth trying out to improve gameplay.

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This weapon is all about doing massive damage at range, dropping whole groups of zombies before they even realize the player is attacking. In most cases, not a single zombie will be able to close into melee range before being killed.

No surprises here, this build is all about doing the most damage, as quickly as possible, at a long range. Some care needs to be taken between shots, as no recoil-mitigating mods are used in this build.

  • Extended Barrel Mod (increases damage but causes more recoil)
  • 8 x Scope (8 x magnification)
  • Bipod Mod (increases the accuracy and handling of weapons when aiming down scope)
  • Rad Remover Mod (removes zombie radiation effect)
  • Amor-piercing 7.62 ammo (highest damage ammo)
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7 Days to Die
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Released
June 28, 2016
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Developer(s)
The Fun Pimps
Platform(s)
Linux, macOS, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One
Genre(s)
Survival, Horror
7-Days-to-Die-Screenshots (3)
5 Images