dead island 2 drops the original game’s skill trees in favor of card collecting. There are over 70 ability cards to earn, find and occasionally steal. These have different card effects that make killing zombies easier or more effective. Here’s a handy list for being a companion in Hell-A.
Every dead island 2 Slayer has two innate ability cards that cannot be discarded, and each “class” (Ryan/Carla, Dani/Jacob, Amy/Bruno) has three ability cards unique to their role.
Also a single Slayer can collect as many as 64 ability cards throughout the game. We discuss more about skill cards in our Guide to obtaining Skill Cards.
Below we collect all of them 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 they can use. Our list is currently incomplete, but we are actively updating it. Cards marked with an asterisk increase your autophagy level by one when equipped.
Protect your deck, Son: Dead Island 2 Skill Cards and their effects
- Anger Mismanagement* (God): Your Rage mode starts consuming health when you run out of Rage and only ends by itself when you reach critical health
- Backstab (Innate, only Bruno): Hit zombies from behind for a damage boost
- Block (Ability/Defense Ability): Activates block defense movement
- Blockbuster (Survivor): Perfect blocks will explode you and reduce the stability of nearby zombies
- Blood Rush (Ability/Rage Skill; requires Defense): Zombie kills and counters build Rage
- Bloodthirst (Innate; Dani only): Multiple kills in a row restore lost health
- Bob and Weave (Survivor; Amy/Bruno only, requires Dodge): Dodge attacks one by one to increase mobility/attack speed
- Born Survivor* (Numen): When you reach critical health, you explode and trigger your Rage Mode while your melee attacks restore health
- Break Dancer (Slayer): Strike with a Slide Attack for a moderate Agility/Attack Speed boost
- Carnage* (Slayer): In Rage mode, your melee attacks gain significant damage/power but drain additional Rage
- Caustic Rot* (Slayer): In Rage mode, your melee attacks inflict smelting on Zombies, but drain additional Rage
- Clear Lines of Sight (Slayer): Knocking down a zombie gives you a moderate damage boost with your curveballs, throwing weapons, and firearms
- corpse bloom: Zombies dying from a status effect explode, applying that status effect to nearby zombies
- Corpse Bomb (Survivor): Each zombie you kill in Fury mode will explode
- Critical Gains (Innate; Jacob only): Deal more damage on critical hits with low stamina; Critical hits restore stamina
- Culling the Weak (Slayer): Attacks against zombies with low health do more damage
- Dash Strike (Ability/Special Attack Ability): Rushing Palm Strike that inflicts the Weakened status
- Deadeye (Hunter): Hitting Zombies with Curveballs triggers a stackable boost to Curveball recharge time
- Dig Deep (Innate; Carla only): Toughness bonus at critical health
- Divide and conquer (Innate; Amy only): Damage bonus when hitting isolated zombies
- Dodge (Ability/Defense Ability): Activates evasive maneuvers
- Drop Kick (Ability/Jump Kick Skill): Allows Drop Kick: low damage, high power, launches
- Far From Done (Slayer; Carla/Ryan only): Gain a small stacking damage bonus when you block an attack or take damage
- Wild (born; Jacob only): Gain a small stacking damage bonus when attacking
- Flare-Up* (Survivor; requires Ground Pound): Ground Pound sets zombies on fire but drains health
- Glass Cannon* (Numen): Critical hits deal significantly more damage, and even more if you’re at critical health, but your toughness drops
- Greased Pig (Survivor): Automatically breaks the QTE when attacked by a zombie, including mutators
- Ground Pound (Ability/Special Attack Ability): Slams the ground to deal damage and destabilize nearby zombies
- Group Therapy (Slayer; Dani/Jacob only): Killing zombies in quick succession restores stamina
- Hack and Dash (Slayer; Dani/Jacob only): Zombie kills temporarily increase your attack speed
- Hammerfist (Slayer; requires Dash Strike): Dash Strike gains a significant power boost
- 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 additional health
- Janus Rage (destroyer): When Fury is full, you get a moderate toughness boost; If Fury isn’t full, you get a small damage boost
- Juggernaut (Slayer; requires Overhead Smash): Overhead Smash builds Rage, deals more damage, and hits with more power
- Jump Kick (Ability): Enables jump kicking
- Lightning Strike* (Survivor; requires Dash Strike): Dash Strike inflicts Electrified but drains Health
- Moshpit (Innate; Carla only): Increases damage when standing near multiple zombies at the same time
- No Mercy (Hunter): Gain moderate bonus damage when attacking a zombie that has a negative status effect on it
- Overhead Smash (Ability/Rage special attack skill): In Fury mode, press your curveball button to smash the ground and deal high damage in an area around you
- Pain Magazine (survivor): Perfect blocks/dodges increase the recharge rate of your curveballs
- Pain Threshold (Survivor): Successfully blocking or dodging increases damage slightly
- Pay it Forward* (Slayer): Your damage increases significantly when you have a negative status effect
- Pummel* (destroyer): Multiple consecutive attacks gain a large stacking power bonus, but your first hit loses power
- Pyro* (Slayer; requires Overhead Smash): In Rage mode, both melee attacks and Overhead Smash Zombies ignite, but drain additional Rage
- Quake (Survivor; requires Ground Pounds): Ground Pound’s Force is boosted to the point where Walkers/Runners can fly
- Rallying Cry (Survivor; requires War Cry): War Cry restores lost health and removes harmful status effects from you and nearby teammates
- Swift reprisals (Innate; Bruno only): Successful block/dodge increases agility and allows heavy attacks to charge up faster
- Gluttonous (Survivor): In Fury mode, zombie kills restore Fury
- Relief Pitcher (Innate; Amy only): Thrown weapons restore stamina on hit
- Vengeance (Innate; Ryan only): Successful blocks/dodges give a boost to Might
- Safe Room (Survivor): Using a medikit 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): In Rage Mode, your curveball button makes you scream, which inflicts weakened nearby zombies
- Second Wind (Slayer; Amy/Bruno only): Attack a zombie while sprinting for a damage boost
- Seesaw (Innate; Ryan only): Knocking down a zombie restores health
- Seismic pounding (Numen): A successful Skull Stomp causes an explosion, stealing stability from nearby zombies and causing them to bleed.
- Serial Killer (Survivor; Dani/Jacob only): Kill a zombie to gain a small temporary damage bonus
- Served Cold (Ability/Anger Skill): Blocking or taking damage builds Rage
- Shin Splinters (Survivor): Slide attacks do significantly more damage and can knock down zombies
- Short Fuse (Survivor): You can switch to Fury mode at 50% meter or higher
- Skull Pike (Slayer): Headshots with thrown weapons cause zombies to explode
- Spitting Cobra (Ability/Rage Special Attack): In Fury mode, your curveball button will make you vomit and deal Caustic damage
- Steadfast (Survivor; Carla/Ryan only): Block multiple attacks in a row to make Tenacity and Power stackable
- Street Thug* (Ability/Angery Skill): Damage zombies with melee or thrown weapons to build rage; Rage gauge slowly expires when not full
- Surgeon (Survivor): Mutilating zombies causes a moderate damage boost
- Surgical Focus* (Ability/Rage Skill; requires Defense): Mutilating Zombies builds Rage; Taking damage drains Fury
- The Limb Reaper (Survivor): Mutilating zombies restores lost health
- Thick Skinned* (Survivor): Slightly increases toughness but lowers resilience
- Of Thunderbolt (Innate; Dani only): Heavy attacks trigger a high-power explosion on impact
- Tools of the Trade (Slayer): zombie kills with a melee weapon increase the damage of ranged weapons; Zombie kills with a ranged weapon increase melee weapon damage
- Relentless (Slayer): Gain a small damage bonus when attacking a zombie that has been knocked down
- Vivisuction (Survivor; requires Dash Strike): Dash Strike restores health on hit
- Volatile* (Slayer): In Rage mode, your melee attacks detonate targets but drain additional Rage
- Voltaic Scream (Slayer; requires Scream): Your Scream attack electrifies nearby zombies
- Warcry (Ability/Special Attack Ability): Shout to increase toughness for you and your squad and inflict weakened nearby zombies
- Warhead (Survivor; Carla/Ryan only; requires Drop Kick): Drop Kick causes a powerful explosion on contact, stealing stability from nearby zombies
- Wrecking Ball (Survivor; requires Jump Kick): Jump Kick inflicts the Weakened status
This is our list of dead island 2 Skill cards we’ve found so far. Check out ours Guide to the best card combinations for ideas on how to decorate your Slayer and more tips, check back our committed DI2 guide hub.
