In Death Road to Canada, there are perks and traits that you give to characters you create. Perks and traits are separate things, but the idea is the same – they are benefits, skills, and/or stat increases that your character is given based on what each perk/trait does. The main difference between the two is that perks will only help a character, but traits can sometimes have negative side effects. Some perks and traits, when used together, create “character builds” that can lead to a successful Death Road run.
Your character’s stats are used for “stat checks” events or for things like car repair (mechanical), ranged skill (shooting), or how quickly your character gets tired when attacking (fitness). Stat check events happen in between looting runs — low stats usually have bad results and high stats usually have good results.
5. Car Nut/Inventive
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Clyde is my Car Nut/Inventive main - he's the brains of every operation!
Car Nut and Inventive are great for those who have trouble getting good cars or fixing them when they break down. With Car Nut, you start with an upgraded car right from the start. Not only this, but, with Car Nut fully leveled up, it also gives you an extra +3 to your mechanical stat. When combined with Inventive’s added +2 mechanical stat and strong wits, you will be a master of repair with this combo!
Although it benefits you most in terms of repairing cars, there are some other events that high wits and mechanical can be useful for. This combination falls under the “Charming” personality trait. What the Car Nut/Inventive build excels in:
Better car at start - Thanks to Car Nut, you start the game with a car that is likely to last longer because of its better gas usage or better durability.
Keeping cars! - A fully-upgraded Car Nut combined with Inventive will land you a 5-point mechanical stat that near-guarantees you will be able to repair your car at least once.
Higher max mechanical - You start with at least 5 mechanical, and you can increase it to 7 with some training. 6 is the normal max.
Wits - You’ll have okay wits, which means you’ll be able to pass many wits checks.
Car Nut/Inventive Build Details:
+5 total mechanical, and the ability to increase it to 7 with some training
Start with a car better than your usual Old Car starter. You can start with the hotrod, station wagon, classic, bug, or muscle car.
High wits stat
Falls under the “charming” stat combo - easier to avoid danger and get free stuff
4. Surgeon/Civilized
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Not only is Pearl trained in medicine, she's also trained in "keeping calm". Important stuff when the world ends!
Surgeon/Civilized is for players who want a higher medical and shooting stat. Surgeon, at its max level, raises your medical and shooting stats by 2. You also start the game with a scalpel, which can easily be broken but is a good weapon to use. Many other perks don’t have weapons you start the game with, so this is a huge bonus.
Civilized increases your medical and mechanical stats by 1. Combining it with Surgeon allows for a total of 3 medical, 2 shooting, and 1 mechanical being added to your character’s stats. It also gives you high personality stats, meaning that things like attitude checks will be easier to pass. Using this combo, you can get out of many difficult situations with some strategizing.
The boost you get to mechanical and shooting can be useful too. Not to mention this combination also gives a character the Charming personality trait.
What the Surgeon/Civilized combo excels in:
Great personality - no need to worry about bad personality checks.
Well-rounded - medical, shooting, and mechanical are all increased
Charming personality trait - you’re in for some free stuff if you play your cards right!
Surgeon/Civilized Build details:
+3 medical
+2 shooting
+1 mechanical
Start with a scalpel
Charming personality buff
3. Ultrafit/Warrior
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Candie, despite her name, can't die! Or, well... it's very hard to kill her!
The Ultrafit Warrior is probably my most commonly-used combo. It’s a very fun choice! A Level 3 Ultrafit perk grants you +4 total fitness. You also start with 2 extra food, enough to feed one human character for a day. Warrior gives you +2 fitness and +2 strength. That means — that’s right — this combo gives you a maxed-out fitness stat as well as a great boost to strength! With this combination, you are able to use heavier weapons than you would with other perk/trait combinations. Both fitness and strength are important when it comes to heavier weapons, so it may still be a good idea to continue building up strength on an Ultrafit Warrior character. For those that favor strength over fitness, Megabuff/Warrior may be a better fit for you!
What the Ultrafit/Warrior combo excels in:
Melee - the high fitness really helps with melee combat against zombies.
Throwing furniture - the guaranteed increased strength will allow you to throw more furniture types than you could before! It also makes it easier to level up strength to an even better stat.
Extra food - this build starts off with an extra day’s worth of food!
Ultrafit/Warrior Build details:
6 fitness — start with the fitness maximum!
2 extra strength
Start out with 2 extra food
2. Ex Wrestler/Grappler
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Marjorie might look sweet and innocent, but she is a zombie-killing machine.
This perk/trait combo is for players, like me, who love playing as strong characters that are able to lift and throw things.
With Ex-Wrestler, you are able to pick up zombies that have fallen to the ground and throw them. Fully leveled, it also gives you +2 fitness and +1 strength. While this can be pretty fun, it’s a bit annoying when the zombies have to be on the ground. That’s where Grappler comes in! WIth Grappler, you are limited in what weapons you are able to use. But you are able to pick up and throw zombies that are standing up!
The main weapons you won’t be able to use with this combination are gonna be your ranged weapons, like guns. I think this is a fair trade, since zombies don’t require ammo to pick up and throw, and there are plenty of zombies to use as deadly weapons against other zombies. The body type of your character will change when you use this combination. You will resemble one of the rare characters, El Satan. This difference is only an aesthetic one, though.
What the Ex Wrestler/Grappler combo excels in:
Increasing fitness and strength — more points added to these stats is never a bad thing!
The ability to throw both downed and standing zombies — more fun than it might sound! Just be careful to not get bitten.
Melee fighting — don’t plan on giving this build a gun; keep it to the melee weapons instead!
Ex Wrestler/Grappler Build details:
+2 fitness, +1 strength
Can throw zombies as though they are furniture, killing them and other zombies
Will cause you to resemble El Satan
Not good at using guns/ranged weapons
1. Health Care/Nurturing
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Herschel got his Ph.D. before the apocalypse - although he could still use a bit more training at the start of a journey to brush up on his skills!
Health Care/Nurturing is my favorite perk-trait combo. It focuses on — and really only benefits — your medical stat. But don’t say no to it yet! With a fully-upgraded Health Care perk, you start with an unbelievable 7 medkits. Not only this, but your medical skill also increases by 2 points. Nurturing gives you a further +2 medical and allows you to increase your medical to a total of 7; 1 point beyond the normal maximum.
With this combo, you will still need to train your medical a few times in order to get the most out of it. But, once you do, it will be worth it. With a medical stat of 7, your character will still be able to heal others even if you are out of medkits. When you do have medkits, they will only require 1 to heal a character.
Nurturing also gives a character a good attitude. However, the character’s loyalty may be a bit low, so there is some risk involved in having this perk combination. Low loyalty can result in your teammates betraying you when given the choice.
What the Health Care/Nurturing combo excels in:
Healing characters - gone will be the days where it takes 4 medkits to heal one point of health to a single character!
Non-healing medical benefits - some people (and some moose) you find on the death road may be in need of medical help. You will be able to provide that care!
