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Last Day on Earth: Survival Guide: 10 Tips, Tricks & Strategies to Become an Ace Survivor

Last Day on Earth: Survival launched way back in 2017 and despite still being in beta stage up to now, it has proven to be one of the best camp-building survival games on both iOS and Android platforms. In contrast with most camp-building survival games, Last Day on Earth: Survival places you in a more isolated role as a survivor, without troops or armies to command, and a rather more personal approach towards scavenging necessities.

last day on earth survival loading screen

Last Day on Earth: Survival is set in a post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world where even the most basic of needs has become a huge challenge to sustain for every remaining survivor. Your constant objective in the new world revolves around staying alive but for the longer part of your adventure, you would naturally seek to improve your living standards and provide for yourself a shelter that comes the closest to your previous life in terms of comfort and functionality.

In a world where every bit of resource takes some effort and risk to acquire, you can expect that the undead is not the only one that present a danger to your well-being. There are still plenty of animals in the wild, and not all of them are exactly friendly. To top that all off, the need for food, water, and other resources can force the hands of other survivors to want to raid or plunder other survivors’ shelters for survival, or perhaps just greed.

last day on earth survival high value cargo

Last Day on Earth: Survival lets you dive right into the heart of a survival adventure with a bit of guidance as well as a lot of self-exploration early on. The control settings and features are easy enough to learn even for complete beginners yet the abundance of tasks to take on coupled with the plethora of items and features to explore can seem like an overwhelming welcome for the uninitiated. If you have just set foot on Last Day on Earth: Survival’s world or are about to, worry not as we have you covered with all the basic tips and strategies you need to become an ace survivor!

1. Master The Basics

Last Day on Earth: Survival starts you off on a small parcel of land with a makeshift shelter that comes with some furniture, some of which still needs fixing or finalization, surrounded by land littered with an unlimited supply of basic resources. There will be literal arrows that point to where you need to go and what you need to interact with.

last day on earth survival loot stashes

The initial minutes of your journey will serve as an introduction to Last Day on Earth: Survival’s world and will expectedly involve activities that will soon form part of your routine. Starting with the old, worn-down pick-up where you can obtain some basic materials, you will be able to go through some basic crafting and will have the basic tools you need to chop down trees and break down boulders.

Of course, your new shelter will also have its share of zombies to greet you more appropriately to the new world and you should at least have a taste of taking it down with your bare fist or a basic weapon.

Zombies can sometimes drop items like ropes which is a very useful crafting ingredient, especially at the start of your adventure. There will also be a deer within your camp that you can take down. This is where you will learn to use the stealth approach, which makes it a lot easier to approach targets and slay them with a melee weapon.

last day on earth survival gameplay

The introductory session comes close to an end when you are asked to follow the dog, which takes you to the global map where you can head on to your next gathering destination. This will introduce you to Last Day on Earth: Survival’s map and energy system.

Traveling to and from your home can be done basically through walking or running. Walking takes some time but will not consume energy. Running lets you travel in seconds which would take you minutes to accomplish via walking. This will, however, consume energy. Energy has a cap and replenishes over time, so make it a point to not let it go to waste by keeping it at max value.

last day on earth survival pine bushes

You will only be able to visit a couple of locations at first from the world map but even at the initial moments of your journey, you can already scan just how big the entire map is when you unlock everything. Locations have colored indicators as well as skull ratings when you click on them. Green areas are the easiest and Yellow ones are at mid-difficulty. Be sure to avoid red ones (3 skulls) as a beginner as these can be too challenging even for experienced survivors.

last day on earth survival abandoned site

2. Keep Tabs On Health, Hunger, And Thirst

Although technically still part of the basics, Last Day on Earth: Survival banks heavily on the survival aspect of its gameplay. As a survivor, not only do you have to pay attention to your health but also your hunger and thirst levels. By default, you will already have a meat drier lodged just at the entrance of your home, and hunting deer will form part of the introductory tasks, giving you access to raw meat.

last day on earth survival meat dryer

A few levels up later and you will unlock a blueprint for a rain catcher. This will be your everlasting source of water at home. At this point in your adventure, you should have picked up a bottle of water or two, and consuming it to quench your thirst will leave an empty bottle in your bag. The empty bottle is very important as this can be replenished via the rain catcher.

last day on earth survival rain catcher

Meat and water stand only as the most basic sustenance but there are plenty of other food types you can gather and harvest as well as some that you can prepare via cooking. Some food types can increase food and water levels simultaneously. A garden bed will also be primarily available to you at the start of your journey and you can plant seeds there that will grow fruits and vegetables over time.

There are plenty of ways to obtain these necessities but it can sometimes be easy to forget just how fast you can consume them. Be sure to make a habit of stocking up on both food and drinks over any other resource as you will never run out of a need for them.

last day on earth survival garden bed

Being low on either food or water will have adverse effects and after some time of being too hungry or thirsty, your health will start to deteriorate. In addition to a weapon on hand before leaving your shelter, food, water, and health kits are among the most basic items you should have with you.

Keep in mind that having both food and water at decent levels can still make every adventure outside your shelter have risks involved. Add that to worrying about going hungry, thirsty, or both can make the experience folds more challenging.

In addition to going hungry and thirsty, Last Day on Earth: Survival also employs various factors that contribute to necessities and survival. You will also have to provide yourself with a shower as going through adventures one after another will lead to accumulating odor that attracts the undead as well as wild animals.

You probably never needed a shower in any of the survival adventures you have been on so this will take some time to get used to. In addition to the makeshift shower you build, each shower you take will require 2 bottles of water as well.

last day on earth survival level up

Let us not forget the need for bio breaks as well as all that eating and drinking naturally lead to a need to excrete some waste. Although there is no need for bowel movements, you will occasionally need to urinate in Last Day on Earth: Survival.

A toilet icon will let you know when the time comes and you can do it anywhere outdoors. If you keep holding it in, you will not be able to do much and movement will be tremendously slowed down. A proper restroom can be crafted at a later point in time although we have yet to confirm its advantages over just going anywhere.

chasing the captive in last day on earth survival

Finally, Last Day on Earth: Survival also employs night and day shifts as well as changing weather conditions. Sometimes, if the weather can be too cold and some regions make it even colder. Take extra care in these instances especially if you do not have warm-weather clothes.

Likewise, there are also toxic elements you will encounter in your adventure and like extreme cold, this can negatively impact your health as well. Higher-level clothing can come with protection from this along with other harmful elements you will encounter.

3. Follow The Stories & Missions

Last Day on Earth: Survival does not just throw you into a post-apocalyptic world where everything simply revolves around gathering and survival. You will come to discover that there is hardly any monotony or routine in your regular activities especially when you are pursuing campaign quests or missions.

It may be a little challenging to notice early on, but the game has a narrative. Last Day on Earth: Survival has a story campaign that just does not introduce you to new characters and locations, but also takes you through the numerous activities and features to partake in its world.

last day on earth survival lost shelter

You will always see the current mission on the left side of the screen but you can see the bigger picture by clicking on the icon at the upper right side of your screen. Last Day on Earth: Survival’s campaign is divided into Acts, which are further subdivided into chapters. Each chapter is comprised of several missions with some missions made up of several tasks as well. Completing a mission earns you valuable rewards on top of whatever items and necessities you pick up while pursuing tasks on those missions.

last day on earth survival dealer's machinations

Accomplishing tasks and pursuing missions will typically have you moving from one location to another. In this sense, it becomes important to learn how to manage your energy. Even with a cap of 200, energy can quickly be depleted if you always choose to run from one location to the next. Strategizing travels in line with the work you need to perform back at camp should quickly become a habit to make.

last day on earth survival parachute

You can expect that there will be gaps between pursuing tasks or missions in line with the story campaign. There are the usual gathering tasks you need to perform to ensure that you are more than prepared for whatever challenges await you outside of your camp.

Likewise, there will also be plenty of time-limited special events that you should take advantage of, and with limited yet continuously replenishing energy being a major limiter, you will have to juggle through these activities as efficiently as possible.

last day on earth survival crate

4. Keep Your Items And Shelter Organized

One of the common scenarios in survival adventure games that you would naturally expect to happen in Last Day on Earth: Survival is that you will want to continuously gather and gather resources to no end. In addition to food, beverages, and health kits, there is an abundance of items and materials to be discovered and obtained in the outside world.

As your adventure progresses, so too will the variety of materials you uncover along with blueprints you unlock that will require more of those materials. There are also consistent expenditures like repairing your shelter after it was attacked and so on.

last day on earth survival items

While there is nothing wrong with wanting to gather and hoard items beyond your current and immediate needs, storage space and security for your precious items will always be a concern. For starters, you will only start with a carrying capacity of 10 plus clothing and weapon you can equip. A basic backpack adds 5 more slots and the best backpack will let you hold a maximum of 15 extra items.

Although most items can also be stacked, the usual stack limit is only 20, which isn’t much but still an appreciated feature. Naturally, you should have sufficient storage space at home where you can temporarily keep some items and materials for later use as well as store a good supply of necessities you will always need.

last day on earth survival crates

The small box is among the most basic items you will craft in Last Day on Earth: Survival. Although you will have one at the shelter and be able to craft another as part of the introductory guide, only material requirements and space will restrict you from crafting more of them.

We recommend crafting as many as you need and at the same time organizing the boxes by content. As your journey progresses and you amass a variety of materials with growing numbers, organizing them will help make it easier for you to find what you are looking for.

last day on earth survival small box

Your starting shelter will be small relative to the size of the land it is on and even in the early part of your adventure, you will be able to modify and enlarge your cabin. As you unlock more and more blueprints with each new level reached, what will naturally happen is that you will need more space to place and organize the different furniture you will craft. Added to these as well are existing furniture and structures within your shelter that will already be laid out and will need some materials for it to be finalized.

last day on earth survival building

Note that on top of material requirements to build different types of machinery and furniture, some will also require floors to be on a certain level before the furniture can be placed on them. To perform all sorts of improvements and modifications to your home, click the building structure on the right side of your screen.

You can build a wall, a floor, a door, and a wall with windows. Once placed, you can tap on them to initiate an upgrade. Keep in mind that walls level 2 and below can be destroyed by zombies but then levels beyond that are not as easy to build, especially for beginners.

last day on earth survival zombie horde

While in the build mode, you can also opt to remove existing walls and floors. Note that you will not recover materials used for those that you choose to destroy. As for furniture, you can choose to keep 3 of them in your inventory and you can also rotate them and pick them up and place them somewhere else.

Be sure to take advantage of this feature to design your shelter with efficiency in mind. If you can afford to have level 3 floors and walls, thoroughly plan which items within your shelter you want to keep safe the most.

last day on earth survival furniture

Organizing everything in your shelter can be a tedious and time-consuming task and as you tend to perform the task you will continue to become hungry and thirsty as well. As challenging as this feat can be especially for beginners, the rewards it will reap will more than pay off for the effort.

5. Plan Crafting Prioritizations

Gathering various materials and taking part in all sorts of adventures make survival games like Last Day on Earth: Survival a ton of fun to spend time on. To top that all off, Last Day on Earth: Survival has a crafting feature that is central to its core gameplay mechanics.

Although some of the resources you gather like food items are readily consumable, most items are crafting ingredients you need to create something else and this feature is perhaps what stretches the level of excitement in your adventure as you will always be looking forward to building new projects.

last day on earth survival spear

There is an abundance of items to craft in Last Day on Earth: Survival but you will only be able to unlock a few blueprints at a time. As you reach certain milestones relative to your level or new locations you discover through your adventures, new blueprints will be made available to you. For the most part, you can create and finalize projects so long as you have all the necessary materials but some will also require specific skills, like the fishing pole.

last day on earth survival cb radio

If you look at the presentation of blueprints you have on the crafting menu, it is largely arranged from the most basic first. Naturally, the hatchet and pickaxe are at the first 2 slots since these are the tools you need to break down boulders and chop down trees, leading to earning materials to craft the succeeding items on the list. Be sure to check if you already have some of the earlier items as most do not need duplicate copies early on like the CB Radio and Garden Bed.

last day on earth survival zombies

Again, we would like to stress the importance of prioritizing targets and projects in Last Day on Earth: Survival. Since food and water will always be your top priority, then you should craft the Rain Catcher to always have a ready supply of water and the various furniture that leads to generating or processing food. These latter items make food materials better and replenish your hunger levels a lot more. Note that you need your items to be with you or your backpack before you craft anything.

We also recommend checking a blueprint’s description on the right side of the page. If you happen to be unfamiliar with any of the needed materials to initiate crafting, you can tap and hold on to each one to see a short description. Identifying which materials can be scavenged and which ones are products of processing will naturally become part of the knowledgebase you have as you spend more time in the world of Last Day on Earth: Survival.

last day on earth survival iron bar

It helps to plan which blueprints to consider as your next project, especially if you do not yet have sufficient materials to craft it. Last Day on Earth: Survival makes some gathering adventures easier by providing you with a list of potential items you can obtain from a location when you highlight them. Even from the easiest spots like the Pine Bushes, there are various rewards you can earn with each visit, though some are not guaranteed.

6. Save Your Best Gears For The Bigger Challenges

One of the gameplay mechanics that further add to the challenges that Last Day on Earth: Survival brings is that everything you have with durability on it will continue to lose its health. Tools for farming, weapons, and every piece of armor you have will naturally wear out and there is nothing you can do to prevent or reverse that situation.

What makes it even more challenging is that these gears are even more difficult to store since they cannot be stacked and duplicates will occupy as many empty slots in your storage. Regardless of the space limitations, weapons and gears are worth keeping especially the ones that are more challenging to craft or obtain.

last day on earth survival gear selection

Different types of weapons and armor sets have different attributes with rare ones tending to boost your stats better. You will start with melee weapons but will sooner or later have access to guns and bows as ranged alternatives. Guns are typically very strong but make a lot more noise than any melee weapon does, making it risky to use as it alerts nearby enemies. However, it helps a lot to carry one in difficult locations especially as a last resort to survive.

last day on earth survival gear selection 2

Given the difficulty assigned to each location as we mentioned earlier, we recommend aligning the set of weapons and armor you take with you depending on the adventure’s difficulty. If you happen to have a strong melee weapon and armor set, do not waste any of its durability in farming for material supplies from easy locations.

To some extent, this practice may have risks of throwing you into a hoarding frenzy, so be sure to manage the number of spare weapons and armor you keep in line with the available storage space you have as well as your ability to craft them.

last day on earth survival gear selection 3

7. Choose Your Perks Wisely

Last Day on Earth: Survival provides a basic character customization feature before letting you jump in on the actual adventure. Even with the aesthetic choices, there is still a relatively fair chance of meeting another player survivor with the same visual choices as you.

However, Last Day on Earth: Survival makes it highly improbable for 2 players to have the same build and capability. This is not just attributable to your choice of gear and mods but largely related to the perks you choose to have or improve. Since each new level reached lets you choose a perk, your preferences and luck almost ensure that your survivor will be built differently from everyone else’s.

last day on earth survival skill selection

Perks may be active or passive skills and each level up lets you choose 1 skill from among 4 choices. You can re-roll the selection using premium currency but we recommend against it. Rare skills are easy to determine as they are usually colored differently from everything else. Although going with your personal preferences is always a good idea, we recommend that you always take rare skills when you chance upon them and at the very least grab level 1 of each passive ability.

last day on earth survival skill requirement

Also, consider skills that will expand what you can do across various situations. Fishing, for one, is among what we consider to grab as soon as we see it. Being able to pick locks can come in handy in select locations as well. There are even skills that relate to breeding dogs and once you get into it as a side activity of sorts, you may want to snatch those skills that improve certain probabilities.

last day on earth survival fishing

To check your current roster of skills, you have to click on the bag icon at the bottom of your screen, which leads to your inventory, and then click the skills button. There are 7 active skills and 37 passive skills to unlock. There are also temporary skills that you can have based on gears, sustenance, and even your dog companions.

last day on earth survival rolling

At the start of your dive into the world of Last Day on Earth: Survival, you will already have 2 active skills ready to be used. Auto mode has a fixed button on the lower left side of your screen while sneaking can be activated via its button on the lower right. The auto mode makes it easy to keep your base camp clean of trees, boulders, and other items you can farm.

On the other hand, sneaking is undoubtedly a very useful skill not just to have an easier time hunting deer, but it can be used to sneak up on zombies and raiders as well.

last day on earth survival sneak attack

Unlocking the 3 other active skills on the left and 2 additional skills on the right can be challenging but certain level milestones will guarantee that they appear on the perk selection window. Note that you can only use 2 active skills at the same time and given that some can only be assigned to the left button while others to the right button, there are limited, but still numerous skill combinations to consider.

As a substitute for auto mode, you can have Animal Friend, which makes animals not afraid of you for a while. Look Around can give you a bird’s eye view of the immediate vicinity and will prove to be very useful in unfamiliar areas. Finally, there is self-healing, which is pretty much self-explanatory and useful across almost every scenario.

In exchange for sneaking, you can learn and use Sprint, which gives you a temporary running speed boost when activated. This can be handy to have for exploration as well as defensive purposes. Roll lets you tumble forward to avoid all sorts of incoming damage. Enemies will never be able to damage you while you are executing a roll.

8. Take Advantage Of Special Events

The long yet very immersive story campaign in Last Day on Earth: Survival is sure to provide countless hours of gameplay especially tied into the gathering and crafting activities in between. Beyond all that, however, there are plenty of special time-limited events that appear on the world map, each offering sets of rewards that are difficult to ignore. Some can be too challenging for the uninitiated and others may impose requirements you need to work for first. Nonetheless, we recommend that you take advantage of each one whenever possible.

Just like any other location that requires travel in Last Day on Earth: Survival, partaking in events can require some waiting time or spare energy at your disposal. In this sense, we recommend saving some energy for these special events as you may want to prioritize them even over progressing through the story whenever they appear. Events outside of the campaign will naturally be available only for a limited time, and that time passes even if you are offline and away from the game.

last day on earth survival crashed plane

One of our personal favorites among special events is the Crashed Plane Event. If you think positively about the benefits of visiting a crash site in a zombie apocalypse, then you may have a good idea of this event in mind. The location for this event comes with a lot of bags and crates to open and loot. Due to the volume of materials and items you can earn from this event, a single trip will never suffice to grab all of them.

In this sense, it is best to travel as light as possible with only a weapon in your inventory slot, provided that health, hunger, and thirst levels are commendable. The Crashed Plane Event is likely to reward you with a pistol tucked somewhere along those bags, along with random clothing and weapons you would want to save for later. There are only a few enemies in the Crashed Plane Event but you should still be ready for them.

last day on earth survival fight

The Airdrop very much plays like the Crashed Plane Event except there will only be a single source of loot for you to scavenge. There will always be a Floater Bloater on the map along with a couple of Toxic Spitters and the crate you are looking for will almost always be close to or at the center of the map. Items you can earn here are random but may also include rare weapons with mods as well as crafting materials not as easy to find everywhere.

last day on earth survival missing crate

The Fishing Spot, which is where you can find a relaxing fishing game of sorts, is not always open as well so if you are raring for some extra food as well as earn other random items, be sure to check it out. You will naturally need some fishing skills before you can get anything off this area. Craft a Fishing Rod and bring some Burley as well before heading into it.

last day on earth survival fish

There are many other limited events like the Destroyed Convoy, Hunter’s Camp, and Rest Stop you will surely notice on the map. Be sure to check the requirements of each one, the required energy or travel time, as well as the means to go there on top of the possible rewards before going in.

9. Always Prepare Well Each Time You Leave The Shelter

Last Day on Earth: Survival gives utmost importance to strategy and planning, making it an even more challenging adventure for those who may not be used to planning. With several elements that we discussed like health, hunger, thirst, and even storage space planning, preparing well ahead of a journey can still go beyond all that.

In addition to making certain that your health, hunger, and thirst levels are as close to max as possible before heading out, it is very important to have an idea of what to expect from each new location you visit. For the most part, there will be surprises as there are certain items you would wish you had with you on some missions counteracting the usual preparation of traveling as lightly as possible.

last day on earth survival inventory

One of these examples is an adventure inside any of the bunkers. Bunker Alfa will be the first one to visit and nothing you have experienced so far in your adventure will prepare you for what to expect inside. Venturing into the bunkers comes with excellent potential rewards and coincidentally has high risks. There are powerful zombies almost anywhere within bunkers but just like any location or event that involves soldiers, very valuable weapons and materials also lay deep within each of them.

last day on earth survival bunker alfa

For starters, you should expect that an adventure into any bunker is never a one-time trip. Bunkers are huge and progression within them can be very challenging, seemingly impossible even to the uninitiated. You will need the appropriate CAC Card to gain entry to a specific bunker and there are codes to take note of as well to get further within. The codes can be obtained from the radio and some zombie or dead soldiers you encounter may also hold notes containing the code.

last day on earth survival bunker door

Combat Coupons, Ration Coupons, and Survival Kit Coupons are common drops from the undead within the bunker and there will always be areas close to the bunker’s entrance where you can exchange these for excellent rewards. If you happen to loot some severed finger from an undead soldier, there are some rooms within the bunker where you can use them to gain entry.

last day on earth survival new blueprint

10. Death And Revival Strategies

One of the main reasons all the tips and strategies we laid out become critically important, is because you would typically want to avoid dying in Last Day on Earth: Survival. Dying will have you lose everything you have, from shirts and pants to weapons, your backpack, and everything else you are carrying with you. In some cases, you may be lucky enough to recover the items you drop when you perish, but in difficult locations or in important missions that you are in the middle of, dying can bring such a huge hassle.

last day on earth survival killed

Despite that, death in Last Day on Earth: Survival can still be put to good use. In case when you are low on food and water supply, as well as health, and at the same time close to needing a lot of each or all restored, you can just allow yourself to die. Of course, this means that you should empty your inventory and gear and proceed to find anything that can kill you. When you respawn, your health, hunger, and thirst levels will be restored to their maximum amount, saving you the usage of resources in filling them up.

last day on earth survival toxic spitter

That is all we have for you on our Last Day on Earth: Survival Beginner’s Guide and while we are certain that the game still offers plenty of things we have yet to cover, we are fairly certain that the simple tips and strategies we provided will jumpstart your knowledge of survival and progression in your adventure. If by some chance you uncovered some extra tips and strategies worth sharing here, do not hesitate to do so and drop us one or a couple below in the comments!