Dead Island 2 Skill Cards and Their Effects

Dead Island 2 ditches the original game’s Skill Trees in favor of doing a bit of card collecting. There are over 70 Skill Cards to earn, find, and occasionally steal. These have various Card effects that make killing zombies easier or more effective. Here’s a handy list to be a companion guide while in Hell-A.

Each Dead Island 2 Slayer has two innate Skill Cards that can’t be unequipped, and each “class” (Ryan/Carla, Dani/Jacob, Amy/Bruno) has three Skill Cards that are unique to their role.

Further, a single Slayer can collect as many as 64 Skill Cards throughout the game. We discuss more about Skill Cards in our How to Get Skill Cards guide. Further, we tell you where to find the secret ones in our Hidden Skill Cards guide. 

Below, we collect all of the Dead Island 2 Skill Cards we’ve found so far in alphabetical order. We also provide information on their Card effects, categories, requirements, and the Slayers that can use them. Our list is currently incomplete, but we’re actively updating it. Cards marked with an asterisk raise your Autophage level by one when equipped.

Protect Your Deck, Son: Dead Island 2 Skill Cards and Their Effects

• Anger Mismanagement* (Numen): Your Fury mode will start to drain health when you’re out of Fury, and only ends on its own when you’re at critical health
• Backstab (Innate, Bruno only): Hit zombies from behind for a Damage boost
• Block (Ability/Defense Skill): Enables Block defensive move
• Blockbuster (Survivor): Perfect blocks make you explode, draining nearby zombies’ Stability
• Blood Rush (Ability/Fury Skill; requires Block): Zombie kills and Counters build Fury
• Bloodlust (Innate; Dani only): Multiple kills in succession restores lost health
• Bob and Weave (Survivor; Amy/Bruno only, requires Dodge): Dodge attacks in succession for a stacking buff to Agility/attack speed
• Born Survivor* (Numen): When you hit critical health, you explode and trigger your Fury mode, during which time your melee attacks restore health
• Breakdancer (Slayer): Hit with a slide attack to gain a moderate boost to Agility/attack speed
• Carnage* (Slayer): In Fury mode, your melee attacks gain significant damage/Force but drain extra Fury
• Caustic Blight* (Slayer): In Fury mode, your melee attacks inflict Melting on zombies but drain extra Fury
• Clear Sightlines (Slayer): Knocking down a zombie gives you a moderate boost to damage with your Curveballs, thrown weapons, and firearms
• Corpse Blossom (Numen): Zombies that die from a status effect explode, which inflicts that status effect on nearby zombies
• Corpse Bomb (Survivor): Any zombie you kill in Fury mode explodes
• Critical Gains (Innate; Jacob only): At low stamina, inflict more damage on critical hit; critical hits restore stamina
• Cull the Weak (Slayer): Attacks against zombies at low health do more damage
• Dash Strike (Ability/Special Attack Skill): Rushing palm strike that inflicts Weakened status
• Deadeye (Slayer): Hitting zombies with Curveballs triggers a stacking boost to Curveballs’ recharge time
• Dig Deep (Innate; Carla only): Toughness bonus at critical health
• Divide & Conquer (Innate; Amy only): Damage boost when hitting isolated zombies
• Dodge (Ability/Defense Skill): Enables dodge defensive move
• Drop Kick (Ability/Jump Kick Skill): Enables Drop Kick: low damage, high Force, launches
• Far From Done (Slayer; Carla/Ryan only): Gain a minor stacking damage boost whenever you block an attack or take damage
• Feral (Innate; Jacob only): Gain a minor stacking damage boost on attack
• Flare-Up* (Survivor; requires Ground Pound): Ground Pound sets zombies on fire but drains health
• Glass Cannon* (Numen): Critical hits do significantly more damage, and even more if you’re at critical health, but your Toughness goes down
• Greased Pig (Survivor): Automatically cancels the QTE whenever you’re grappled by any zombie, including Mutators
• Ground Pound (Ability/Special Attack Skill): Smash the ground to deal damage and drain nearby zombies’ stability
• Group Therapy (Slayer; Dani/Jacob only): Zombie kills in rapid succession restore stamina
• Hack and Dash (Slayer; Dani/Jacob only): Zombie kills temporarily boost your attack speed
• Hammer Fist (Slayer; requires Dash Strike): Dash Strike gains a significant boost to Force
• Heavy Hitter* (Slayer): Heavy attacks deal significantly more damage, but also cost health
• Hot-Footed* (Survivor): Drop Kick sets zombies on fire but drains health
• Hunting Season (Slayer): Hit a zombie with a ranged or thrown weapon to get a moderate damage boost to your melee attacks
• Invigorating (Survivor): Counters restore extra health
• Janus Rage (Slayer): When Fury is full, get a moderate Toughness boost; when Fury isn’t full, get a minor damage boost
• Juggernaut (Slayer; requires Overhead Smash): Overhead Smash builds Fury, does more damage, and hits with more Force
• Jump Kick (Ability): Enables jump kicking
• Lightning Strike* (Survivor; requires Dash Strike): Dash Strike inflicts Electrified but drains health
• Mosh Pit (Innate; Carla only): Damage boost when standing near multiple zombies at once
• No Mercy (Slayer): Gain moderate bonus damage when attacking a zombie that has a negative status effect on it
• Overhead Smash (Ability/Fury Special Attack Skill): In Fury mode, push your Curveball button to smash the ground, inflicting high damage in an area around yourself
• Pain Magazine (Survivor): Perfect blocks/dodges boost your Curveballs’ recharge rate
• Pain Threshold (Survivor): Successful blocks or dodges boost Damage slightly
• Pay it Forward* (Slayer): Your damage goes up significantly whenever you have a negative status effect
• Pummel* (Slayer): Multiple successive attacks receive a major stacking Force bonus, but your first hit loses Force
• Pyro* (Slayer; requires Overhead Smash): In Fury mode, melee attacks and Overhead Smash both ignite zombies but drain extra Fury
• Quake (Survivor; requires Ground Pound): Ground Pound’s Force is boosted to the point where it can send Walkers / Runners flying
• Rallying Cry (Survivor; requires War Cry): War Cry restores lost health and removes harmful status effects from you and nearby teammates
• Rapid Reprisal (Innate; Bruno only): Successful blocks/dodges boost Agility and make heavy attacks charge faster
• Ravenous (Survivor): While in Fury mode, zombie kills restore Fury
• Relief Pitcher (Innate; Amy only): Thrown weapons restore stamina on hit
• Retaliation (Innate; Ryan only): Successful blocks/dodges give a boost to Force
• Safe Space (Survivor): Using a medkit causes an explosion around the character that pushes zombies back
• Safety First (Survivor): Regain health on a perfect block/dodge
• Scream (Ability/Fury Special Attack Skill): In Fury mode, your Curveball button makes you scream, which inflicts Weakened on nearby zombies
• Second Wind (Slayer; Amy/Bruno only): Attack a zombie while sprinting to get a damage boost
• Seesaw (Innate; Ryan only): Knocking a zombie down restores health
• Seismic Stomp (Numen): A successful Skull Stomp causes an explosion that drains Stability from and inflicts Bleed on nearby zombies.
• Serial Killer (Survivor; Dani/Jacob only): Kill a zombie to receive a small temporary damage boost
• Served Cold (Ability/Fury Skill): Blocking or taking damage builds Fury
• Shin Shrapnel (Survivor): Slide attacks do significantly more damage and can knock zombies over
• Short Fuse (Survivor): You can go into Fury mode at 50% meter or higher
• Skull Skewer (Slayer): Headshots with thrown weapons make zombies explode
• Spitting Cobra (Ability/Fury Special Attack Skill): In Fury mode, your Curveball button makes you vomit, inflicting Caustic damage
• Steadfast (Survivor; Carla/Ryan only): Block multiple attacks in succession to gain a stacking boost to Toughness and Force
• Street Brawler* (Ability/Fury Skill): Damage zombies with melee or thrown weapons to build Fury; Fury meter will drain slowly unless full
• Surgeon (Survivor): Maiming zombies causes a moderate damage boost
• Surgical Focus* (Ability/Fury Skill; requires Block): Maiming zombies builds Fury; taking damage drains Fury
• The Limb Reaper (Survivor): Maiming zombies restores lost health
• Thick-Skinned* (Survivor): Slightly raises Toughness, but lowers Resilience
• Thunderstruck (Innate; Dani only): Heavy attacks trigger a high-Force explosion on impact
• Tools of the Trade (Slayer): Zombie kills with a melee weapon boost ranged weapons’ damage; zombie kills with a ranged weapon boost melee weapons’ damage
• Unrelenting (Slayer): Get a minor damage boost when you attack a zombie who’s been knocked prone
• Vivisuction (Survivor; requires Dash Strike): Dash Strike restores health on hit
• Volatile* (Slayer): In Fury mode, your melee attacks make targets explode but drain extra Fury
• Voltaic Scream (Slayer; requires Scream): Your Scream attack Electrifies nearby zombies
• War Cry (Ability/Special Attack Skill): Yell to boost Toughness for you and your squad and inflict Weakened on nearby zombies
• Warhead (Survivor; Carla/Ryan only; requires Drop Kick): Drop Kick causes a Forceful explosion on contact that drains nearby zombies’ Stability
• Wrecking Ball (Survivor; requires Jump Kick): Jump Kick inflicts Weakened status

That’s our list of the Dead Island 2 Skill Cards we’ve found so far. Check out our Best Card Combos guide for ideas on how to deck out your Slayer, and for other tips, stop by our dedicated DI2 guide hub.