Out of the six slayers in Dead Island 2, Ryan doesn’t only have the best chance of becoming a fan favorite in the coming days, but he is the easiest character to pick for killing zombies. With the right Dead Island 2 Ryan build, you can easily turn the tide of any battle and make the best use of Ryan’s abilities.
Ryan in Dead Island 2 is built like a tank and can absorb a lot of punishment. By sacrificing his mobility, Ryan can go toe to toe with the strongest enemies the game has to offer. We will be covering the best skill cards for Ryan in Dead Island 2 that will turn him into an unstoppable killing machine while stomping the fragile brains of zombies in his path.
Best Dead Island 2 Skill Cards for Ryan
Skill Cards in Dead Island 2 are usually obtained by progressing the story or by completing side quests. Most cards are available for all characters but there are some characters specific cards too.
Ryan’s build is mostly geared toward his blocking ability and his tendency to regenerate some health and stamina while doing so. Ryan gets a lot of perks from maiming zombies so his weapons skill tree will be filled with weapons that can damage zombie limbs.
Block
This card gives the ability to block an incoming enemy attack. If you block the attack right before it lands, it regains Ryan’s stamina and stun zombies for devastating counterattacks.
Drop Kick
This card allows Ryan to perform a drop kick on a zombie to push it back and gain some distance.
War Cry
This ability strengthens Ryan’s and allies’ toughness while making the zombies weaker in the surroundings.
Served Cold
This skill allows Ryan to fill his Fury meter by blocking or taking damage.
Scream
In Fury mode, Ryan will scream to weaken his enemies and make them stumble.
Safety First
This survivor skill allows Ryan to gain some HP from blocking attacks.
Blockbuster
This survivor skill causes an explosion on a successful block by Ryan, draining the stability of nearby enemies.
Steadfast
Successive blocks will allow Ryan to gain more Toughness and Force for a limited period.
Pain Threshold
Another survivor skill that increases Ryan’s attack damage with each successful block.
Far From Done
This slayer ability stacks Ryan’s attack power by blocking enemies’ attacks or taking damage.
Surgeon
Ryan can maim zombies with melee weapons to get a damage boost.
The Limb Reaper
This survivor skill allows Ryan to refill his health by maiming zombies.
Pay it Forward
This is an autophage skill. Ryan gets a major boost to his damage every time he is inflicted with a status effect.
Born Survivor
This numen skill card causes Ryan to explode using his Fury meter. With each successive hit to the zombies, Ryan gains HP.
Glass Canon
Another autophage skill. Sacrifice Ryan’s toughness to get a massive boost to his critical damage. It increases as Ryan’s HP gets lowered.
Dead Island 2 Ryan build
Block, Served Cold, Safety First, Blockbuster Steadfast, Pain Threshold, Far From Done, all of these skills stack up with blocking. As our main focus is on blocking the incoming attacks as Ryan moves a lot slower to actually dodge the attacks, these skills use the blocking to Ryan’s advantage.
Not only do they allow Ryan to regain his health and stamina but they also inflict some devastating damage to the attacking zombies. To make things even better, Ryan gets a lot of perks like increased damage and boost to his attack power.
To make blocking even sweeter, equip the Pay it Forward skill. Ryan’s damage increases every time he is inflicted by a status effect, making the daredevil style of play more accessible. The Limb Reaper when combined with maim weapons allows Ryan to recover some of his HP with each successful strike.
You gain health if someone attacks you, you gain health if you hurt someone, you get stronger with every attack that lands on you. This is like making fun of enemies around you with this amazing defense build.
Best weapons and curveballs for Ryan
Wildstyle with 571 power and 1371 damage. One of the best weapons to maim zombies in Dead Island 2. Also allows you to regain health with proper weapon perks like Vampire and Leech.
Smashing Mutilator Pickaxe with 585 power and 1359 damage. Use Vampire, Relentless and Shock Wave Perks to regain some health, land a critical hit for damage boost and knock down enemies with an explosion on impact respectively.
For guns, we recommend Big Shot and Punctuator Nail Gun. These two are some of the best firearms in Dead Island 2. We also recommend experimenting with other weapons as they drop randomly from enemies and finding a particular weapon can be a chore.
As for curveballs, we recommend using whatever you fancy. You can’t go wrong with anyone. This is the kind of build you can easily carry toward the endgame and beyond. Enemies and bosses in Dead Island 2 don’t stand a chance against this Ryan’s block-and-gain build. Did we mention it is one of the best Dead Island 2 builds for co-op?
