Dead Island 2 All Challenges Guide

Dead Island 2 has 84 Challenges. Completing the first tier of every challenge unlocks the following 6 trophies & achievements:

1.  Perks of the Job – Complete all Tiers of 5 Blueprint Challenges
2.  On Safari – First Tier of every Zombie Challenge
3.  Variety is the Spice of Death – First Tier of every Weapon Challenge
4.  Zombicidal Maniac – First Tier of every Combat Challenge
5.  Survival Skills – First Tier of every Survivor Challenge
6.  Smorgasbord – First Tier of every Exploration Challenge

You can view your progress and rewards for all Challenges in the Menu under Challenges > click a category and scroll over each challenge to see the requirement on the right. For trophies you only need the first tier of every challenge (one white checkmark), except for Blueprint Challenges which require completing all tiers. For Blueprints you only need to complete 5 of the 7 challenges, so can skip any 2.

Challenges are little gameplay tasks you do naturally as you play. Things like defeating certain types of zombies a number of times or crafting and completing quests. Even without focusing on these you will complete the vast majority automatically from game progression. Every challenge gives some type of reward. Some improve your character’s stats, other gives money or items.

IMPORTANT: Not all Challenges track from the start of the game. This is normal and not a bug! Challenges unlock gradually as you advance the story. For example, Blueprint Challenges only start counting after getting the tutorial screen for “Autophage Perks” in Main Quest #15: The Giant-Slayer.

The best approach is to finish the story first, then do all Side Quests & Lost and Found Quests. Then clean up your remaining Challenges afterward. By that point all challenges are available and you will have completed most of them already from quest progress.

Blueprint Challenges

Blueprint Challenges only track after getting the tutorial screen for “Autophage Perks” in Main Quest #15: The Giant-Slayer!

1. Contagious – Hit zombies with Heavy Attacks 100 times: Hold / to perform heavy attacks with melee weapons
2. Infectious – Inflict the Bleeding status effect on zombies 50 times: At a workbench equip a weapon with a bleed mod, or use curveballs with bleed damage such as Nail Bomb
3. Infernal Combustion – Inflict the Ignited status effect on zombies 50 times: At a workbench equip a weapon with a fire mod, or use curveballs with fire damage such as Molotov Cocktail
4. Leechblade – Slay 100 zombies with Melee weapons: Use any melee weapons to defeat 100 zombies
5. Shockwave – Knock down zombies 100 times: Drain the stamina of zombies to knock them over, by doing jumpkicks or simply tapping to kick them until they fall over
6. Static Charge – Inflict the Electrified status effect on zombies 50 times: At a workbench equip a weapon with an electric mod, or use curveballs with electric damage such as Electric Star
7. Vampire – Collect 200 zombie parts: After getting the “Autophage” tutorial screen in Main Quest #15: The Giant-Slayer!, zombies will start dropping yellow sacks with zombie parts. Pick these up from the ground after defeating zombies, they can be used for crafting new special mods at the workbench

Combat Challenges

1. Serial Killer – Complete [5/10/15/All] Combat Challenges: Complete other challenges in this category
2. Blood Will Have Blood – Slay [50/100/150/250] zombies with Bleed Damage: Equip Bleed mods at a workbench
3. Broken Bodies – Maim [50/100/250] zombie limbs: “Maiming” is when you cut off limbs, use sharp slicing weapons like swords
4. Cooling Off – Make [25/50] zombies Soggy: Make zombies Soggy by drenching them in water, for example with water canisters often sitting on the floor
5. Dangerous DNA – Slay 25 zombies while at the max Autophage tier in the Skill Deck: after getting the tutorial screen for “Autophage Perks” in Main Quest #15: The Giant-Slayer!, you will start receiving some Skill Cards with a skull on them that say “AUTOPHAGE skill” when scrolling over them. Max Autophage requires having 3 of these skill cards equipped (each card increases your autophage level by 1, level 3 is the maximum). Then defeat 25 zombies while having 3 of those skill cards equipped. You unlock more autophage cards gradually from leveling up.
6. Dinnertime’s Over – Interrupt [5/15/25] Butchers while they try to feed: Butchers are first encountered during the story at The Pier, near the end of the game. They are the enemies with 2 sharp claw-arms. After hurting them they will run off to feed on a corpse which restores their health. While they feed attack to interrupt them.
7. Dissolving Problems – Slay [50/100/150] zombies with Caustic Damage: Caustic damage is the green acid. Easiest option is to activate Fury Mode and then use the Spitting Cobra skill card with / to spit acid (automatic unlocks from story & leveling up). There are also weapon mods for caustic damage you can use.
8. Electrifying Personality – Slay [50/100/150/250] zombies with Shock Damage: Equip a weapon with electric mod at a workbench
9. Ferocious Firestarter – Slay [50/100/150/250] zombies with Fire Damage: Equip a weapon with fire mod at a workbench
10. Finish Them – Slay [25/50] zombies using finishing moves: Finishing moves are when zombies fall on the floor and you get a / prompt to stomp their head.
11. Furious Fighter – Slay [50/100/150/250] zombies using Fury: Fury is unlocked during Main Quest 14: The Red Mist, after this you can activate it by pressing  + .
12. Hazards Pay – Slay [10/25] zombies using environmental hazards: This should come naturally over time, for example shoot explosive objects in the environment, let zombies walk into electrocuted water or fire or leaking acid barrels.
13. Headshot Aficionado – Slay [25/50/75/100] zombies with killing blows to the head: The killing blow on a zombie must be a hit in the head
14. Hey, Catch! – Slay [5/15/25] zombies with explosive zombies: For this use “Grenadier Walkers” zombies, attack their explosive vest and let them blow up near other zombies.
15. Impressive Aim – Throw a melee weapon and hit a zombie 35+ meters away: Use light melee weapons, they fly further. Then find a zombie that’s standing still or feeding on a corpse and throw the weapon from 35+ meters to hit it. Throw all weapons in your inventory, if you miss with all of them pick them up again, fast travel away to reset the zombie spawns, then come back to retry.
16. Live Long and Propser – Slay [25/50/100] zombies without dying: Kill zombies in life without dying in between (dying resets counter)
17. Mostly Armless – Maim [5/15] Crusher arms: Cut off the arms of Crusher type zombies. Using sharp weapons like swords is best. Crushers are the big muscular zombies that do jumps and shockwave attacks.
18. Ninja – Dismember 3 zombies with a single Shuriken throw: Equip the Shuriken Curveball from the inventory, aim it at the legs of 3+ zombies standing close together, it should tear off a leg of each of them. To deal more damage make sure you are at least the same level (or above) the zombie levels. You can also equip 3 Autophage skill cards to reach Autophage Level 3 to deal more damage, and equip Curveball-modifying skill cards.
19. No Time to Grow – Slay [1/5] Mutators before they mutate: Mutators are one of the last zombie types you encountered, very late in the game. As long as they aren’t alerted they stay in their normal form and look like common walkers. But if you make noise or alert them, they will quickly transform into big monsters with a claw-hand and an open ribcage. There’s a Mutator Hotspot at the end of “The Metro” area. At least one will always spawn there. Use a sniper rifle to shoot it in the head to kill it from a safe distance without being spotted, or activate Fury Mode and quickly punch it to death before it can mutate.
20. Perfection – Pull off [25/50/75/100] perfect defense moves: A perfect defense is when you press to dodge just before an enemy attacks
21. Pushovers – Knock down [25/50/75/100] zombies: Knock down zombies by pressing to perform kicks and drain their stamina, or do jumpkicks
22. Shut Up – Interrupt [5/15/25] Screamers while they are screaming: Screamers are the Apex variants that make a loud scream to summon other zombies. While they scream attack once to interrupt them.
23. Speed Freak – Pull off [10/25/50] multikills: Multikills are best done with curveballs, such as explosives that you unlock later in the game. You can also use firearms like shotguns, damage the enemies first so they die in 1 hit. Should come naturally over time.
24. Splash Zone – Slay [5/15/25] Slobbers with melee attacks: Slobbers are the puking zombies that puke acid projectiles at you. Defeat them with melee weapons. Can attack relatively safely from behind, dodge away when they try to strike.
25. Trick Kick – Knock down 3 zombies with a single Jump Kick: press to jump and to perform a jump kick in midair.
26. Zombie Space Program – Launch [25/50/100] zombies: You “launch” zombies by attacking them with heavy blunt weapons like hammers. It’s best done by installing an Impactor Mod and then doing heavy attacks. You get access to those mods gradually with game progress, from quest rewards and buying from merchants. This will send the zombies flying. For example, the hammer you get for completing the story is great for this.

Exploration Challenges

1. Well-Traveled – Complete [1/2/4/6] exploration challenge: Complete other challenges in this category
2. Private Eye – Complete [3/6/9] Lost & Found missing person quests: See Missing Person Quests
3. Road Trip – Travel to every Zone: Travel to all 10 maps, you do so automatically from story progress
4. Safe Cracker – Unlock [5/10/25] Lockboxes: Lockboxes are marked on the map by white safe icons . The keys to these are held by uniquely named zombies. So go around the maps and look for zombies with unique names, defeat them and loot their keys. Then revisit all lockboxes to open them with the corresponding keys. Simplest way is to do all quests first and you will collect a lot of keys naturally along the way, then run from one lockbox to the next after all quests are done.
5. The Heart of the Cards – Collect [5/10/25/35] Skill Cards: You automatically get skill cards from leveling up and from quest rewards. Some are dropped by certain zombies.
6. Well-Read – Complete [5/10/25/35] Journal collections: There are 234 journals, you get 112 automatically from quest rewards. The open world ones aren’t needed for this.
7. Zombie Pirate – Complete [1/3/6] Lost & Found weapon quests: See Lost & Found Weapon Quests.

Survivor Challenges

1. Survival Skills – Complete [1/3/All] survival challenges: Complete other challenges in this category
2. Hollywood Rich List – Amass 1,000,000 cash: Easiest method is to buy weapons from merchants, then sell them back to the same merchant to get some of your money back. Travel to next merchant, rinse and repeat. After you are level 30 you should have plenty of cash to buy & resell weapons. It counts your total cash you ever had, you don’t need to hold 1 million at the same time. Spending it is fine. At level 30 you will get lots of purple weapon drops that sell for about $10,000 a piece. You can quickly farm these from apex variants at apex hotspots and from opening lockboxes, then sell ot merchant
3. Mod Maker – Fabricate [5/10/25] Mods: Add any mods to weapons at workbenches.
4. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – Scap [10/100/250] weapons for parts: In the inventory hold to scrap weapons.
5. Repo Man – Collect [50/100/500] zombie parts: After “Main Quest #15: The Giant Slayer!”, zombies will start dropping little yellow sacks containing zombie parts, pick those up.
6. Resourceful – Collect [100/500/1000/3000] parts used in fabrication: Happens naturally over time, you get parts as drops from zombies, from looting other objects, from dismantling gear, buying them, or from quest/challenge rewards.
7. Revival Act – Revive another Slayer [1/10] times: Must be done in online-cop. Revive co-op players for this.
8. Scavenger – Loot [100/500] containers: Loot any lootable container objects throughout the game.
9. Staying Alive – Use [10/50/100] Med Kits: Press to use Medkits, you can buy more from merchants, or craft them at workbenches after getting the blueprint, or get them as random drops from enemies.
10. The Perks of Being A Zombie Slayer – Fabricate [5/10/25] Perks: At a workbench craft perks for weapons.

Weapon Challenges

1. Weapons Expert – Complete [1/3/All] weapon challenges: Complete other challenges in this category
2. Batter Up! – Slay [50] zombies using Curveball items: Curveballs are your abilities, you can equip them in the inventory. The tracking for this challenge seems to only count 1 kill per use. So if you kill 10 zombies with one curveball use it will count as 1. Basically, use curveballs 50 times and always get at least 1 kill. I used Shuirken, Pipe Bombs, Nail Bombs.
3. Crack Shot – Slay [50/100] zombies using Rifles: You get firearms later in the story, can then buy them from merchants or get from random drops
4. Gunslinger – Slay [50/100] zombies using Handguns: You get firearms later in the story, can then buy them from merchants or get from random drops
5. Legendary – Find a Legendary Weapon: You get a legendary weapon automatically for finishing the main story, so this is unmissable from the story. Legendary gear has orange color.
6. Shotgun Shogun – Slay [50] zombies using Shotguns: You get firearms later in the story, can then buy them from merchants or get from random drops
7. Slice and Dice – Slay [50/100/200] zombies using Maiming weapons: In the inventory, at workbenches or merchants scroll over your weapons, in the top right corner above the weapon name it shows what type of weapon it is (Maiming / Headhunter / Bulldozer / Frenzy etc).
8. Surgeon General – Slay [50/100] enemies using Headhunter weapons: In the inventory, at workbenches or merchants scroll over your weapons, in the top right corner above the weapon name it shows what type of weapon it is (Maiming / Headhunter / Bulldozer / Frenzy etc).
9. Swing Away – Slay [50/100/200] zombies using Bulldozer weapons: In the inventory, at workbenches or merchants scroll over your weapons, in the top right corner above the weapon name it shows what type of weapon it is (Maiming / Headhunter / Bulldozer / Frenzy etc).
10. Think Fast – Slay [50/100] zombies using Frenzy weapons: In the inventory, at workbenches or merchants scroll over your weapons, in the top right corner above the weapon name it shows what type of weapon it is (Maiming / Headhunter / Bulldozer / Frenzy etc).

Zombie Challenges

1. Zombie Hunter – Complete [1/6/12] zombie challenges: Complete other challenges in this category
2. A New P.B. – Slay [50/100/1000] Runners while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
3. Backdraft – Slay [10/30/50] Firefighter zombies while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
4. Boom and Doom – Slay [10/50/100] explosive zombies while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
5. Burst at the Seams – Slay [10/30/60] Bursters while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
6. Butcher Butcher – Slay [10/25/50] Butchers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
7. Change Is Constant – Slay [10/25] Mutators while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
8. Cleaning House – Slay [50/100/1000/5000] zombies while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
9. Crust of the Crop – Slay [50/100/1000] Shamblers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
10. Feeling the Burn – Slay [10/25] Inferno rushers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
11. Gastric Bypass – Slay [10/25/50] Slobbers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
12. Heartburn Relief – Slay [10/25] Firestorm Slobbers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
13. Leech Removal – Slay [10/25] Putrefied Slobbers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
14. Not the Bees!! – Slay [10/50] Insect Swarm Walkers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
15. Punching Up – Slay [10/25/50] Crushers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
16. Quiet in the Neighborhood – Slay [10/25/50] Screamers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
17. Sharp-Witted – Slay [10/25/50] Spiky zombies while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
18. Shockingly Loud – Slay [10] Voltaic Screamers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
19. Smells Like BBQ – Slay [10/50/100] Burning zombies while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
20. Those Who Melt It – Slay [10/50] Caustic-X Walkers or Putrefied Slobbers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
21. Top Zompedia Contributor – Fully update [1/10/20/All] Zompedia entries: See Zompedia.
22. Turtle Soup – Slay [10/50/100] Riot Gear Walkers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
23. Walk on By – Slay [50/100/1000] Walkers while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.
24. Zap, Crackle, And Pop – Slay [10/50/100] Shocking zombies while playing the game as any Slayer: See Zompedia.