Project Zomboid is an incredibly addictive indie top-down game where players are thrown into a massive open-world sandbox environment with only one goal: to survive as long as possible.

What you’ll learn

  • Early survival:
    The easiest craftable weapons that carry you through the first week (and sometimes into late game).
  • Skill synergy:
    Why sticking to one weapon type boosts damage, swing speed, and durability.
  • Crafting edge:
    How Wooden Spears offer cheap range + power you can build almost anywhere.
  • Durability vs. power:
    When Crowbars and Firefighter Axes outshine beginner picks once you settle in.
  • Luxury finds:
    Why Katanas and the JS2000 Shotgun are game-changers—but too rare to be your main plan.

The beginning of the game is extremely unforgiving for new players, as the game doesn’t explain too much about what you’re supposed to be doing. Learning and discovering are a part of the fun, but it’s not exactly everyone’s idea of “fun”; some may find the game frustrating for that very reason. It’s worth noting, though, that the difficulty level in Project Zomboid is very fair. The more you play, the more experienced you will become – with each death, you’ll be gaining valuable game knowledge that will help you survive longer on your next run.

The game offers a huge array of weapons to choose from. A lot of everyday objects you find can be used as weapons: forks, frying pans, metal bars, shovels, you name it. The catch is that you can’t really figure out how good a weapon is until you try it yourself or refer to a guide, because each weapon has a set of hidden properties that determine its usefulness. Some weapons break easier than others, some hit harder, some have better range, and none of that is explained directly in the game.

Weapon Proficiency and Why You Should Stick to One Weapon Type

Before we talk about the weapons, let’s spare a minute to talk about something extremely important. In Project Zomboid, your character gains skill levels over time. The more you use or do something, the more proficient you’ll become at doing it. This also applies to weapons.

Weapons are grouped into several different categories: axe, long blunt, short blunt, long blade, short blade, spear, and firearms. It’s strongly advised to choose one or two categories and stick to them, unless you’re forced to use something else. That’s because the more you use the same weapon type, the more experienced you will become at using it, which directly improves your combat abilities and makes surviving easier. However, gaining weapon experience is a very slow and tedious task – that’s why you shouldn’t spread your area of expertise too wide.

If you’re curious about the best weapons in Project Zomboid, we’ve prepared a handy guide for your convenience. It’s not exactly a weapon tier list, but rather a list of weapons that are particularly useful in various scenarios. We’ll explain what makes the weapon valuable and why you should keep an eye out for it when looting the surroundings.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the best weapons and survival tools you can find and use in Project Zomboid as of Build 41.

Wooden Spear – Cheap and Deadly Crafted Weapon

Wooden Spears are often overlooked by the players, yet they’re surprisingly powerful and make for an excellent starting melee weapon that can carry you well into the endgame. What makes spears super useful at the beginning, in particular, is the fact that you can easily craft them yourself.

At the beginning of the game, you may have trouble finding anything to defend yourself with; usually, you start without any weapon, so getting one should be one of your first priorities, and, as it happens, spears are very easy to get. Considering that all you need to make one is some wood and a knife, you’re looking at a virtually infinite supply of weapons that can be found everywhere without the need to rely on RNG.

High accessibility combined with good range and high crit chance that allows spears to often take down a zombie in one hit from a safe distance, makes the spears feel almost too good to be real.

There is a drawback, however. Spears break easily, and it will be an issue for a while, until you level up your maintenance and carpentry skills a bit. You should always carry a knife and an axe around – this way you’ll be able to carve more spears on the spot. Don’t waste materials to repair them; it’s not worth it, unless you’re cornered and have no other choice.

Crowbar – An Unbreakable Zombie Smasher

If you want to specialize in long blunts, the crowbar is arguably the best thing you can get. If you find it early in the game, you’re already set; crowbars by default are extremely durable, and they will help you kill hundreds of zombies before they finally break.

Crowbars don’t deal much damage at the beginning. They’re also fairly heavy and take more stamina to swing around compared to lighter weapons. However, crowbars are totally worth it in the long run; sticking to them pays off later on. As your character grows stronger and gets more experienced with long blunts, you’ll find that it’s not uncommon to take down most zombies in one or two hits. High durability gives you peace of mind, too, as you don’t need to stress yourself over the need to find a replacement often.

A major drawback of crowbars is that they can’t be repaired. It won’t be an issue later on, as you’ll be able to loot more of them from zombies than you can use, but if you run out of your crowbars during the early stages, baseball bats are a perfectly fine alternative in the long blunt category. They’re less durable, but they pack a punch and can be repaired, which should hopefully last you enough to find a new crowbar. You can also use them to craft a more powerful, spiked variant if you have some nails lying around.

Firefighter Axe – Tearing Down Doors and Zombies Alike

A firefighter axe is the most powerful weapon in the game, falling behind only the pickaxe and sledgehammer in terms of raw damage output. What makes it a particularly deadly weapon is the fact that you can combine it with certain character perks to get even more out of it. More specifically, you can go for a full-strength Lumberjack build, which comes with an Axe Man trait – a special bonus that gives your character a significant attack speed boost when using axes. No other weapon type has access to such a powerful trait, making axes a top-tier choice if you want to turn your character into a killing machine.

So, what’s the drawback? Firefighter axes are fairly rare to find, and you’re not expected to be able to sustain them. You can find them inside fire trucks or carried by nearby zombie firefighters. You can also try your luck in warehouses. If you’re planning to main axes, it’s recommended to start the game in Rosewood, as there’s a fire department building there.

On a side note, pickaxes are also absolutely amazing, but they’re even rarer than firefighter axes.

Nightstick – A Sturdy and Reliable Sidearm

All the weapons mentioned earlier are meant to be wielded in both hands for maximum efficiency. So, what if you’d like to use a one-handed weapon and carry something else in the other? Like a flashlight, for example, so you could run around the neighborhood at night or explore dark rooms? That’s where nightsticks come in handy.

Nightsticks are quite balanced weapons. They hit hard enough, they don’t break easily, and they don’t need much stamina to swing. They’re especially useful when you’re fighting in tight spaces. They’re fairly common, too – almost all undead police officers carry one. They can’t be repaired, though.

JS2000 Shotgun – The Ultimate Horde Sweeper

Firearms in Project Zomboid are not as powerful as one would’ve expected. Although they can reliably kill zombies from a safe distance when your firearm skills are high enough, the ammo is scarce, and the noise attracts all nearby zombies, which isn’t ideal most of the time. For that reason, firearms are usually best used as a bait to lure all zombies away from your target, rather than to actually kill the enemies. But there’s an exception, and that’s a JS2000 shotgun.

What makes JS2000 special is the fact that it can easily kill enemies in one shot, even when your skills are low. Not only that – it can also damage multiple zombies at a time, even if you’re playing with a multi-hit option for weapons disabled. As such, it’s an awesome weapon to quickly dispose of large groups of zombies. It’s also worth mentioning that firearms don’t use stamina, so there’s no risk of running out of breath as you’re dancing with the horde.

The main concern here is the ammo, which is quite difficult to find. Just play as usual and loot the surroundings until you get 200-300 shells – it should be enough to comfortably clear a new part of the town.

Katana and Machete – Luxury Picks

Katana and machete are the top melee weapons. They’re easily the strongest weapons in the game, and they can kill most zombies with just one swing, even if your character isn’t particularly skilled at using long blades, which makes their appearance on the list fully justified.

However, katana, machete, and long blades in general are a very rare sight in Project Zomboid. Finding them feels great as they will allow you to turn your character into an absolute maniac who’s effortlessly slashing through the hordes of monsters. The killing spree won’t last long, though, as long blades aren’t particularly durable, and you won’t be able to find a replacement before your weapon breaks. You’ll have half an hour of pure fun and slashing madness, and then it will be back to normal.

Katana and machete are the true definition of luxury weapons. They’re absolutely worth using, so use them when you find them, but don’t plan your gameplay around them.