Perks

Perks are additional stats or powers that a unit may possess. The abilities granted by perks help define a unit's role, their position in the player's battle deck, and give them the edge in battle.

The icon color indicates what type of perk it is.

• Green icons indicate resistance to a specific damage type or effect.
• Red icons indicate a particular fighting or weapon behavior.
• Purple icons usually indicate a perk unique to a single unit or certain types of units.

Although some perks are shared among multiple units, they may not necessarily behave exactly the same. They can differ in their execution, function, or by statistical amounts. Additionally, some perks function differently or do not work in certain game modes.

Currently, four units do not possess any perks at all. These units are Redneck, Farmer, Lester, and Cashier.

Special abilities, while similar, are a separate mechanic from perks. Perks are attributes tied to a unit from the beginning and all the way through. Special abilities can only be unlocked with coins once a unit has been fully upgraded to level 13, and are technically optional.

Note: All perks are listed in order of appearance within a unit collection containing every acquirable in-game unit.

Perk Table

Below is a table containing every documented perk in the game.

Perk Icon	In-game description	Info
	Ability to drop on the battlefield	Units can be placed almost anywhere on the battlefield. A unique targeting marker will appear to indicate where the unit will be dropped/placed or display its radius of effect. All support items possess this perk. This includes Empty Barrel, Medkit, Red Barrel, Molotov, Generator, Nitrogen, Turret, and Drone. SpecOps is the only human unit to possess this perk.
	Fire resistance	Cannot be inflicted with the fire debuff, and capable of freely standing and walking through fire pools instead of going around them. Fire resistance also protects the dead unit's corpse from being burnt to ashes by fire pools. All stationary units with a health bar are inherently fire-resistant.
	Stuns the enemy	Greatly slows the enemy down. There are two forms of the stun effect; the first is an electrical zap that very briefly stops the target completely, and the second is a freezing effect that heavily restricts movement and attack speeds. Both effects are vital to activating the Ice Breaker item set bonus as it gives users a 30% increase to their damage against afflicted enemies. Jailer, Willy, and Rogue utilize the former stun method while Nitrogen and Dr. Norman use the latter stun method.
	High rate of fire	Ranged units with a fast firing speed. The exact firing speed varies between each unit, some of them firing faster or slower than the others. Damage is usually dealt quicker than other ranged units but is generally less accurate and more suited for crowd control on groups of weaker enemies. All shooter class units possess this perk.
	Knocks the enemy back	Pushes enemies back some distance. Some units with this perk can only cause knockback with a critical hit while others can cause knockback with every hit. The distance an enemy is knocked back can vary, though most only push enemies a moderately small distance away. Knockback distance can be partially or completely resisted on certain enemies.
	Bullet resistance	All damage received from ranged sources (excluding Flamethrower, Willy, Builder and Dr. Norman) is reduced by 90%. Turbo is the only unit with full immunity against bullets. For most other units, the damage number is naturally rounded to whole numbers and if a ranged weapon deals 4 damage or less, it will be rounded to zero and deal no damage. A level 13 Sniper Polina's special ability can ignore 40% of the bullet resistance percentage, while units with the Tactical item set bonus can ignore 50%, both of which are multiplicative on the final value but compound additively.
	Has a chance of not becoming a zombie after death	Units killed with their corpse intact will not turn into a zombie. Contrary to the perk's description, this is not determined by chance and is always guaranteed. This perk does not prevent Energy Sphere from turning units into Offals. Grenadier, Welder, Flamethrower, and Juggernaut create an explosion and a fire pool when destroyed, which damage both enemies and allies. Soldier, Cap, Swat, and Rogue simply fall after their death. Specops will do a last-ditch attack by firing three more shots as he dies. Firefighter most ironically lacks this perk, as he has an actual 50% chance to explode on death. Otherwise, he will turn into his namesake zombie.
	Poison resist	Immune to poison effects caused by Epidemiologist or Slob. All stationary units with a health bar are inherently poison-resistant.
	The unit becomes fearless and inspires fear in other units	Units have base stats of -300 charisma and 9,999 valor, rendering them virtually immune to the fear debuff while being capable of inspiring it within other units in a radius, similar to enemies. This perk is exclusive to Saw, Berserker, and Queen. All of the listed units belong to the psycho class.
	Additional damage	Deliver an attack that deals extra damage. This perk is exclusive to Mechanic.
	Chance to dodge a hit	An attack will be avoided by moving backward. Only melee attacks will trigger a dodge, and the unit will still be susceptible to other attacks such as bullets. This perk is shared between Pepper and Ranger, both of whom are ranged units.
	Heals nearby units	Can perform actions that restore lost health to human units. This perk is exclusive to Medkit, Medic, and Paramedic Nancy.
	Direct unit control	Special manual ability that can be activated by pressing the yellow icon above the unit's head. After using a unit's manual ability, a cooldown of varying times begins before it can be used again. Chopper eats to heal himself, recovering a total of 50% of his max health in 4 healing pulses. (60 second cooldown.) Grenadier and Queen both fire a grenade in a forward arc. (10 and 3 second cooldown respectively.) Lionheart unleashes a carpet of fire near him, dealing fire damage and burning corpses. (7 second cooldown.) Although not technically the same, Red Barrel's manual detonation functions similarly as it needs to be tapped directly to explode on demand.
	Explosion resistance	Explosions from enemies, other units, and rage abilities deal reduced or no damage. Firefighter, Dr. Miller, Dr. Kane, Dr. Norman, and Lionheart have a 50% resistance. The TMF 2/2 team power grants full explosion resistance to all of the team's units. Additionally, Firefighter and TMF team units are immune to explosions caused by Fat Zombie, Slob, and Putrid, all three of which produce a large ring of blood when killed. All stationary units with a health bar are inherently explosion-resistant.
	High Accuracy	Unit has a bullet spread angle of 15° or less. All sniper class units possess this perk. This includes Sheriff Charlotte, Sniper Polina, and Andrea. Maria is the only non-sniper class unit to possess this perk.
	Sets the enemy on fire	Inflicts the fire debuff on enemies by creating a fire pool or using incendiary weapons. Enemies ultimately killed with fire will turn to ash, destroying the body. Although the perk is given to units and rage abilities that primarily cause fires, some units can also create fire pools when killed/destroyed. If a fire pool is created, any corpses on the floor within its radius will be destroyed as well (apart from those belonging to units and enemies with fire resistance, and enemies who are already truly dead).
	Ability to come back to life	Unit will get back up and continue fighting some time after their first death and die for real upon their second death. This perk is exclusive to Glenn.
	Close combat protection	Damage received from melee attacks is reduced. Policeman Diaz has a 50% resistance while Soldier has only 25%.
	Only attacks the enemy base	Avoids all enemies and heads directly to the barricade to attack it. This perk is exclusive to Welder.
	It can repair a bus, a turret and a generator	Can heal the bus, Turret, and Generator for varying amounts of their maximum health by approaching them. Despite the perk's implicit description, multiple Turrets and Generators can be repaired, but each subject is healed only once. This perk is exclusive to Welder.
	Upgrades all allied units on the battlefield	Applies the inspiration buff on all units. This perk is exclusive to Cap.
	Additional defense against damage	Unit always starts with a set amount of SP (Shield Points) on top of their regular health. This perk is shared between Willy and Juggernaut, both of whom are heavyweights.
	Gets money from zombies that have been killed	Unit has a chance of granting additional coins after killing an enemy. This perk is exclusive to Austin.
	Lightning-fast attack	Unit will swiftly rush in front of a nearby enemy and deliver a guaranteed critical hit. This perk is exclusive to Carol.
	The unit is immediately available at the beginning of battle	Unit is fully prepared to be sent out as opposed to the normal 10 seconds all other units get off their preparation time at the start of a mission. This perk is exclusive to Agents.
	Stationary zombies are not drawn to gunfire	Unit will not attract attention from any idle zombies at the start of a mission while moving or shooting unlike all other units, most rage abilities, and Bill's rifle. This perk will not work against human enemies, such as marauders and enemy player units in Skirmish or the Christmas Event. This perk is exclusive to Agents and Andrea.
	Two units enter battle at one time	Unit always comes out of the bus as a pair with identical stats. This perk is exclusive to Agents.
	Resurrects units	Can revive a killed unit once, returning them back with 50% health. This perk is exclusive to Paramedic Nancy.
	Becomes a melee unit after running out of ammo	Permanently switches to a melee weapon after firing their ranged weapon once. This perk is exclusive to Builder Abby.
	Places a mine in the specified location	Unit will move to the desired location to place a proximity-based explosive before attacking enemies. This perk is exclusive to Dr. Miller.
	Marks the weaknesses of enemies	Randomly targets up to three enemies on the battlefield at a time, causing them to take extra damage. This perk is exclusive to Dr. Kane.
	Lures zombies	Zombies in a large radius will move towards the unit, attacking it while ignoring other targets. This perk is exclusive to Drone.
	Target two enemies at a time	When shooting, damage dealt alternates between two chosen targets. This perk is exclusive to Maria.

Undocumented Perks

Below is a table containing all hidden perks (perks without any label for them).

Perk name	Info
Knockback resistance	Units possess varying levels of resistance to enemy knockback effects, reducing or completely eliminating them entirely. Almost all units under the heavyweight class, as well as all stationary units with a health bar, possess full knockback resistance. Several other units, many of which belong to the damager class, are partially resistant.

Trivia

• Before update 2.3.0, perk icons had different sprites.
• Before update 2.8.2, Firefighter was the only unit in the entire game to possess explosion resistance.
• Before update 3.6.0, most units displayed varying levels of resistance to fear. With the introduction of the reworked upgrade item system, what was previously dubbed as fear resistance has been officially labelled as the valor stat.
• The sniper class is the only class with all its units to not possess any documented perks.