When you play 7 Days to Die, you’ll often run into distinctive terms in strategy articles and chat. Knowing what they mean makes everything click much faster, so we’ve put together the basic terminology here.
Core of the Game
- Blood Moon … A massive zombie horde event that arrives every 7 days. The sky turns red, and at night zombies swarm your base. The biggest highlight of the game.
- Horde … A pack of zombies. The Blood Moon pack in particular is called the “Blood Moon horde.”
- Game Stage (GS) … A “strength indicator” calculated from the number of days played and your player level. The higher your GS, the stronger and more numerous the enemies become, and the better your loot gets.
- Loot Stage … A value that determines the quality of the loot you can obtain. It rises and falls with your GS, your inventory, and more.
Places & Exploration
- POI (Point of Interest) … A structure such as a house, store, or ruin. The setting for quests and exploration.
- Biome … Terrain such as forest, desert, snowy plains, or wasteland. The harsher the biome (like the wasteland), the stronger the enemies and the better the rewards—high risk, high reward.
- Trader … An NPC that serves as a hub for buying, selling, and quests. They have business hours and close at night.
- Clear (Infested) … A trader quest to wipe out all the enemies inside a POI. The experience and rewards are large.
Combat & Character Progression
- Perk … An ability upgrade. They are arranged under five attributes (Strength, Perception, Agility, Fortitude, and Intellect).
- Magazine … The main progression element from V2 onward. Collecting and reading them unlocks crafting recipes and upgrades.
- Tier … The grade of equipment or POIs. The higher the number, the higher the performance and difficulty.
- Gyrocopter / Auger, etc. … Common names for the high-performance tools and vehicles of the late game.
Items & Bases
- Forge … Equipment for smelting iron and other materials. Essential from the mid game onward.
- Workstation … Equipment for specific crafting, such as the workbench, chemistry station, and cooking pot.
- Falling base … A classic defensive design that lures zombies into a pit trap to deal with them.
- Funnel … Narrowing the zombies’ path down to a single point. A basic defensive technique.
Related: Early-Game Roadmap ／ FAQ ／ Bases & Defense