Build and Kill Zombies Skills: Skill Tree Order and What Each Rank Does
Which Build and Kill Zombies skills to buy first, how the permanent skill tree unlocks in tiers, what Luck I, Luck II, and Gold Roll I change, and the tree's limits.
The Skills menu is the only permanent progress in Build and Kill Zombies. Everything else resets between runs, and skills never reset when a run ends, which makes the tree the safest place to put any unspent cash. Nodes come in tiers bought with the same cash you earn from runs: the second rank of a perk unlocks after you buy the first, and Luck II is explicitly gated behind Luck I.
To open it, press F during lobby play to bring up the menu system and select Skills to increase your skills. If you're short on parts, one creator also notes that increasing the support unlock through the skills is an available path.
Verified buy priority
| Priority | Skill | Effect and why |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | Luck I | Improves your roll outcomes at both machines. Everything in the game runs through those rolls, so this multiplies the value of every cash you spend after it. |
| 2nd | Luck II | Stacks a second layer of the same bonus onto every roll, gated behind Luck I. The roll improvement compounds. |
| Later | Gold Roll I | The expensive end of the tree, costing thousands of cash and unlocked last. A goal, not an early buy. |
A tier list ranks the Luck skill ranks in S tier (prioritise without hesitation), while placing Luck II in B tier — buy it deliberately, not reflexively — even though it doubles down on the best-value purchase. Either way, both Luck ranks come well before anything else in the line.
What each named skill changes
- Luck I: the standard opening purchase, feeding straight back into the part rolls that gate everything else. It is reported as +10% Luck on rolls. Luck shifts how often rarer entries appear on rolls — stronger engines, wheels and weapon mounts are the main mid-game target — but it does not change what a part does, and since luck improves odds rather than guaranteeing results, a streak of poor rolls is still possible after buying it.
- Luck II: stacks a second layer of the same roll bonus, so the improvement compounds.
- Gold Roll I: access to a higher-grade roll; the expensive end of the tree, unlocked last and treated as a late-game goal.
Gold Roll I: cost and timing
Gold Roll I costs thousands of cash and sits at the top of the tree. Buy it only after everything cheaper is purchased — in the endgame stage when cheap upgrades are exhausted and only expensive ranks remain. Many players never reach it, and once it's bought there is little left to aim for in the tree.
What the skill tree can and can't do
The tree is short: five confirmed ranks is not much long-term depth, and costs escalate sharply, with a large gap between the cheap early ranks and the thousands of cash needed at the top. Skills do nothing for a run already in progress — a luck-only buyer still cannot survive a wave they were losing to. And because skills cannot be reset, an early misjudgement cannot be undone.
Keep in mind that only three skill nodes are commonly named in guides (Luck I, Luck II, Gold Roll I), exact cash costs for the early ranks aren't given anywhere, and skill names, ordering, costs, and effects should be rechecked in-game after balance updates. Once your Luck I and Luck II purchases are made and you're saving for Gold Roll I, the next closely related task is managing your rolls to convert that luck into the parts you need.