In Project Zomboid, clothes are players' first line of defense against zombies and the environment. However, not all clothes are equally effective, with many being strictly better than others in terms of zombie protection or environmental protection. Of course, in a zombie apocalypse beggars can't be choosers, but beggers can certainly keep an eye out for better offerings and make the best out of what they get in the future. After all, the best of the best isn't required to cover bare necessities.
There's a ton of different clothes to choose from, and without painstakingly checking each item, the differences won't be immediately clear. In addition, clothes can be found in varying conditions that vastly change how they'll perform in the world. Each part of a piece of clothing can have a hole that affects its stats for the worse until repaired or reinforced through tailoring. It doesn't help that most of these details are represented by bars instead of numbers, as well as being located in extra menus; players don't have the luxury of time when it comes to looting while zombies approach and moodles are causing issues.
Clothes in Project Zomboid have a few different attributes worth noting. The most obvious attributes are scratch and bite resistance, which gives a chance for their respective attack to fail instead of landing on players. In a game where even a simple scratch or laceration can be fatal, any amount of protection is valuable. Clothes also have different environmental protection values, specifically for insulation, wind chill resistance, and water resistance. Water-resistance usually isn't all that impactful, as it's only relevant during the rain and snow and can be counteracted with the other attributes, but insulation and wind resistance are important. The winter months will be vicious without warm clothes, so it's important to have warm clothes on hand, if not worn. Finally, some clothes have a speed modifier for combat and movement that can make seemingly good clothing come at a significant cost.
Which Clothes To Get In Project Zomboid And How
It's worth noting that compromises have to be made when it comes to clothing in Project Zomboid; most of the best clothing either sacrifices mobility, zombie protection, or environmental protection. It's also possible for clothing to be too good, causing overheating. If players are overheating, they can either take layers of clothes off, find replacements with less insulation, or deal with the overheating and carry extra water.
Face: Balaclava and Welder Mask
Balaclavas provide the best possible environmental protection in the slot, although they're relatively rare as they can only be found on bandit zombies. Welder masks are not only tied for the best zombie protection and have decent environmental protection, but are also an essential tool for all forms of metalworking, and can be found on zombie mechanics and in most locations tools would be found.
Hat: Winter Hat, Crash Helmet, and Motorcycle Helmet
Winter hats provide the best possible environmental protection in the slot with no downsides, and are found on shelves anywhere clothes would normally be found, albeit uncommonly. Crash helmets provide complete protection from bites and scratches as well as very high environmental protection with no downsides, and can be found exclusively on motorcyclist zombies. If players are willing to give up 5% of their movement speed in Project Zomboid, motorcycle helmets provide complete protection from zombies as well as maximum protection from the environment, and are also found on motorcyclist zombies.
Neck: White Scarf
The white scarf offers minor scratch resistance as well as maximum environmental protection with no downsides, and can be found inside storage crates in any clothing or department store. Strangely, the other colors of scarves have worse attributes, so players should specifically locate the white ones if they want the best clothing possible.
Shirt: Denim Shirt and Lumberjack Shirt
Denim shirts are the only shirt to offer minor resistance to bites and scratches, as well as decent environmental protection, and can be found anywhere clothes are normally found in Project Zomboid, especially in bedroom wardrobes and drawers. If players don't need zombie protection, the lumberjack shirt has significantly better environmental protection.
Vest: Police Bulletproof Vest
All of the bulletproof vests offer resistance to zombies, but the police version has the best environmental protection, albeit only slightly better than the civilian version. It can be found in police stations as well as on police officer zombies.
Jacket: Firefighter Jacket and Leather Jacket
Firefighter Jackets in Project Zomboid offer high protection from everything, but also slow the player down, and can be found on firefighter zombies. If this slowdown is too significant, leather jackets downgrade the protection in exchange for returning nearly all mobility, and can be found anywhere clothes are normally found.
Gloves: Leather Gloves
Leather gloves are the only gloves to offer protection from zombies and provide very high environmental protection to boot. They can be found anywhere clothes are normally found.
Holster: Double Holster
As the name implies, the double holster is like a holster, but doubled. It lets Project Zomboid players carry two pistols that can be equipped through a hotkey, as well as reduces the weight of the equipped items by 30%, and can be found in police and military locations.
Pants: Padded Pants and Military Urban Camo Pants
Padded pants offer maximum environmental protection and minor bite and scratch resistance, at the cost of 5% movement speed, and can be found in clothing stores as well as houses. If that movement speed is a concern, military urban camo pants sacrifice some of the environmental protection for returning speed, although they're also very rare, located only on soldier zombies and zombie survivalists.
Shoes: Military Boots and Sneakers
Military boots offer complete immunity to zombies, decent environmental protection, and the best stomp damage in exchange for a hefty 15% of the player's movement speed. They can be found uncommonly on all zombies, especially soldiers and survivalists in Project Zomboid. If that mobility penalty is too harsh, sneakers sacrifice most of the resistances and a quarter of the stomp damage in exchange for a 10% movement speed bonus instead, and can be found anywhere clothes are normally found.
Wrist: Digital Watches
Digital watches give the player information on the time of day, date, and temperature, as well as allow for setting an alarm. They're exclusively found on zombies and other corpses but are relatively common.
Project Zomboid is available on PC.