In DayZ Standalone, Character Status is the overall well-being of a player as measured by several key stats. It also encompasses everything that affects the player in terms of injuries, disease, the environment, and more.
Player health is a complex system of attributes that requires regular monitoring and action to keep in check. The state of wellness of your character will also determine how well you are able to do certain activities, how resistant you are to diseases, and other side effects.
Player Stats
A stat is a numerical value that represents a specific facet of a character's health. Players are not able to see their character's raw stat numbers. Instead, they are conveyed to the player through in-game messages, UI indicators, and visual effects. All stats have some sort of effect when they reach a specific threshold. These can be positive effects like health regeneration or negative effects like falling unconscious.
Players start with full health and full blood as a "fresh spawn" character on the coast.
| Stat | Range | Starting Value | Description | Affected By | Effects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | -500 - 20,000 | 1000 | The nourishment level of your character. Needed to move quickly as well as recover blood & health. | Food, Drink | Energized, Hungry |
| Hydration | -1,000 - 4,000 | 1800 | The level of water in your character's body. Necessary to keep temperatures down and recover blood & health. | Food, Drink | Hydrated, Thirsty |
| Blood | 0 - 5,000 | 5000 | The volume of blood in your character's body. The rate of blood loss fluctuates depending on the magnitude of your injuries. Losing blood will cause your vision to desaturate (the less color you see, the lower your blood level). Losing too much blood will cause your character to fall unconscious and even die (due to low health). | Injury, Hunger, Thirst, Temperature, Disease | Death, Unconsciousness |
| Health | 0 - 5,000 | 5000 | The overall well-being of your character. Affects how much damage you can take before losing consciousness or dying. Health loss occurs through trauma, starvation, etc. | Injury, Hunger, Thirst, Temperature, Disease | Death |
| Shock | 0 - 5,000 | 0 | The amount of trauma your character's body has sustained in a short period of time. Dissipates slowly on its own. Too much at once and your character will go unconscious. | Injury, Disease | Unconsciousness |
| "Bone" | 0 - 100 | 100 | The condition of your character's skeleton. Also referred to as "bone condition" or "spinal damage." Heals extremely slowly. Players accumulate damage to this stat over time through repeated injuries. | Injury | Death, Fracture, Sprain, Chipped |
| Stomach | 0 - 4,000 | 1000 | The amount of food and water in your character's stomach. Players are only able to consume so much at a time before they vomit, causing them to lose some energy and hydration. | Food, Drink | Stuffed |
| Temperature | 30ºC - 43ºC | 36.5ºC | The body temperature of your character. Players must maintain a balance or their overall health will suffer. Players will use energy and water more quickly when they are too hot / too cold. | Environment | Hyperthermia, Hypothermia |
| Humidity | 0 - 1.0 | 0 | The "wetness" of your character. The higher the value, the more rapidly a player's temperature will decrease. | Environment | Temperature Decrease |
The Basics
Every player will have to address their character's most basic of needs, and this is a continuous process. Food and drink are needed as fuel to keep moving, and directly serve to manage the player's other vital signs through careful balance. All of the mechanics described in this category are critical to keeping a player alive, healthy, and capable.
Energy
| Icon | Conditions | Effects | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Energy > 4000 | ||
|
Energy > 2000 | ||
| (No Icon) | 1000 to 2000 | ||
|
Energy < 1000 | "My stomach grumbles" • "I'm feeling hungry" • "I want to eat something" • "I feel hungry" | |
|
Energy < 500 | "I'm extremely hungry" • "My stomach grumbled violently" • "I'm starving" | |
|
Energy < 0 |
|
"I'm dying of starvation" |
Survivors start with 1000 energy, just barely low enough to have a "hungry" indicator.
The need for more calories to burn is a constant for players of the game. Every single action you perform will use at least some energy (including walking/running/swimming), so unless you plan on sitting perfectly still, this is an aspect of survival you will have to address at all times. You should always have food in your inventory for when the need arises, and if you don't, then you should absolutely be looking for something in order to be prepared.
Energy is a necessary part of recovering from injury and illness as well, through the process of natural regeneration (see below). The first "hungry" status appears at just 5% of total energy capacity. Note that the light green Energized status appears at only 20% of total energy capacity (4000 out of 20000), so it possible to create a large store of energy for yourself through continuously eating to capacity and keeping activity to a minimum in order to avoid burning off calories.
Allowing your energy to deplete entirely will cause starvation. It is generally the result of not eating enough, but energy loss can be quickened by hypothermia, illness, and overeating. When starving, you lose blood and health. Be careful not to eat too much or you may end up vomiting, and avoid consuming rotten or burnt food. However, if you are dying from starvation, the risk of food poisoning is generally preferable to a guaranteed death.
Hydration
| Icon | Conditions | Effects | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Water > 3500 | ||
|
Water > 2500 | ||
| (No Icon) | 1500 to 2500 | ||
|
Water < 1500 | "I feel thirsty" • "I'm thirsty" • "I need a drink" • "I feel like having a drink" • "I want to drink something" | |
|
Water < 500 | "I really need to drink" | |
|
Water < 0 |
|
"I'm dying of dehydration" |
Survivors start with 1800 water, just above the "thirsty" mark with no status indicator.
Water is lost naturally at a very slow pace, but most activities will degrade it faster. When your water falls below a certain value, you will become mildly thirsty (yellow) and eventually even more severely thirsty (orange). If a player consumes more water than what is purely necessary, they will become hydrated (dark green) and eventually well hydrated (light green), which means they can go about their activity without concern for their water level for a while. Certain activities will cause water to be lost more quickly, such as jogging/running, swimming, etc.
Dehydration is caused by an insufficient amount of water in the body. It is generally the result of not drinking enough, hyperthermia, sickness, eating dry food, or vomiting from overeating. When dehydrated, you lose blood and health. If you are dying from dehydration it is imperative that you hydrate, so the nearest drinkable water source will do, as chancing infection is usually preferable to certain death. Be careful not to eat or drink too much or you may end up vomiting.
Blood
Blood is capped at 5000. Unlike in the DayZ Mod, there is no icon indicating blood levels in-game. Instead, blood level is represented by the screen desaturating -- the less color you see, the lower your blood level.
As your blood level decreases, you lose resistance against shock damage caused by getting hit with melee attacks or by bullets and are therefore more likely to get knocked unconscious. When your blood level falls below 500, you will immediately fall unconscious. You (or more accurately, someone else) will have to restore your blood level above 500 to successfully recover consciousness. Natural regeneration would allow for this on its own, but if you are bleeding or otherwise actively losing blood, intervention by another player will be needed. The only situation where your blood level would decrease without you bleeding would be another player removing blood from your body via an IV or syringe.
Losing most of your blood will not kill you, but it will prevent you from recovering consciousness on your own. If your blood reaches 0, you will die.
Regaining Blood
Blood can be regained through various methods:
- Natural Regeneration: Slow but steady recuperation over time (1-3 blood/second).
- Saline: Instant 2000 blood increase -- enough to wake an unconscious player, assuming the cause is blood loss. This method is risk-free.
- Blood Transfusion: Instant 2500 blood increase. However, you need a blood donor and it's potentially lethal unless both blood types are tested, the donor's bloodtype is O-, or the recipient's bloodtype is AB+. For more information see Blood Type below.
Natural regeneration is the only method which does not require another player, but there isn't really a situation where it can occur where another player hasn't explicitly taken your blood through an IV (therefore someone would be present to potentially help you).
Blood Type
Blood type is a variable in DayZ Standalone. Every character has a specific blood type that is unique to that character and does not transfer when a new character is spawned after death, nor does it carry over to other characters on separate hives. A player's blood type affects their ability to donate or receive blood transfusions.
To perform a successful blood transfusion using a blood bag, a donor's blood type must be compatible with the recipient's. It's imperative to check blood type compatibility before performing a blood transfusion, as transfusion with incompatible blood type will result in the fatal Hemolytic Reaction (see below). When in doubt, and when available, use a saline bag if you wish to avoid the risk. Also, be aware that the player who is having their blood removed for a transfusion will immediately lose 2000 blood.
Blood type can be determined by using a blood testing kit and syringe. Simply equip the kit in your hands and you can test either your own or another player's blood. All players involved must stay still, or else the action will be cancelled. Possible blood types and their associated compatibility can be found on the table below.
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Health
| Icon | Conditions | Effects | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Full blood & full health | Resistance to infection |
Health is also capped at 5000. It can be seen as the tangible life force of your character. Players lose health when they get shot, bitten, punched, starved, dehydrated, overheated, sick, etc. Reaching zero health results in permanent death.
Regaining or maintaining full health requires players to manage a number of other vital stats, particular energy, hydration, and blood. Health can only be regained through natural regeneration, which occurs under the right conditions. For more information on that process, see the full section below.
When players have full health and also full blood, they will achieve a state of "Healthy" marked by the equivalent status indicator in the inventory screen. This serves as a visible marker of good overall well-being, since it shows that a character has nothing wrong with them and is in good standing for most critical stats. When players are "Healthy," they have an increased resistance to infection. It is important to note that "Healthy" does not necessarily mean that the player has totally recovered their bone and shock stats, but in most cases those things would be achieved near-simultaneously.
Shock
This is an accumulated value that has no visual representation anywhere on the game's UI -- no icon, no text, etc. As damage is inflicted upon a player, they will of course lose blood, health, and bone in varying amounts, but they will also receive shock damage that adds up over time. This is in contrast to most other player stats, which go down from full rather than up from empty.
The shock stat drains very slowly, and players who take too much shock damage in too short a period of time will find themselves unconscious -- or even dead -- if the value is too high. Shock will go down slowly on its own over time.
Bones
| Body Part | Transfer to "Core" Stat | Transfer to Other Parts |
|---|---|---|
| Head | 100% | |
| Lungs | 100% | |
| Torso | 70% | 50% transfer to Head, 30% transfer to Left Arm, 30% transfer to Right Arm |
| Left Arm | 30% | |
| Left Hand | 10% | 50% transfer to Left Arm |
| Left Leg | 30% | |
| Left Foot | 10% | 50% transfer to Left Leg |
| Right Arm | 30% | |
| Right Hand | 10% | 50% transfer to Right Arm |
| Right Leg | 30% | |
| Right Foot | 10% | 50% transfer to Right Leg |
Possibly the most complicated -- and, as a result, the least understood -- player stat in all of DayZ. A player's bones are measured by eleven individual sub-stats: head, lungs, torso, and the hand, arm, leg, and foot of each side of your body. Those sub-stats feed into a "core" bone stat, and then that core stat in return has effects on each sub-stat. It's a distinctly two-way relationship.
More specifically, when a player takes damage to any of the eleven individual areas of their body, they also take damage to their core bone stat. As a result, damage to the core stat multiplies any future damage dealt to the individual areas. In other words: you are more susceptible to damage anywhere on your body afterwards, regardless of where on your body the original damage was done. This means that you are more at risk for limb fractures or even death until your core bone stat has recovered.
Further complicating the situation is that some sub-stats have a direct relationship to another sub-stat, in addition to being tied into the "core" bone stat. You can see these relationships in their most basic form on the table above. Not all body parts transfer damage to another body part, and most that do have this characteristic transfer only a very minimum of damage to another area. Perhaps the most important transfer occurs between the torso and the player's two arms (left and right).
This stat cannot be seen anywhere by the player, as it is not represented by an icon in the inventory screen or by text elsewhere. Therefore, players should exercise caution and err on the side of safety concerning bone damage. When in doubt, treat for the condition even if you are unsure. Damage to this stat can be recovered using morphine or a splint, and in many cases one of either is enough for full recovery or close to it. It is also possible to recover from bone damage naturally over time, which has the same requirements as recovering health (full blood, bright green "Energized," dark green "Hydrated"), but bone recovery is much slower by comparison.
Visualization of Damage Transfer
Stomach
| Icon | Conditions | Effects | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Stomach > 1800 | "My stomach feels stuffed" • "I feel really full" • "My stomach feels completely full" | |
|
Stomach > 2800 | "My stomach feels absolutely stuffed" • "I feel over-fed" • "My stomach feels much more full than it's normal" | |
|
Stomach >= 3300 | Vomiting:
|
"I am close to vomiting" • "I think I'm going to vomit..." • "I'm going to vomit..." |
A character has only a finite amount of space in their stomach in which to put food and water. As a player consumes more of these items, they will become more and more "stuffed." This progresses through two more levels until you are severely stuffed, at which point you will vomit to create space in your stomach. Once the player is vomiting there is nothing to do except wait for it to pass. Eat and drink as necessary to reenergize and rehydrate.
Keeping the balance between your energy/water levels and your stomach capacity is crucial to the success of your survival efforts.
Natural Regeneration
This is the process by which players can (somewhat) passively regain their critical stats of blood, health, and bone. A player will naturally regenerate blood, and then health & bone, if they keep well-fed and hydrated by eating and drinking.
Regenerating Blood
In order to regenerate their blood a player must meet the following requirements:
Slow Blood Regeneration (1 blood/second)
- Energy > 2000 (dark green "Energized" status icon)
- Water > 1500 (no status icon)
Fast Blood Regeneration (3 blood/second)
- Energy > 4000 (light green "Energized" status)
- Water > 2500 (dark green "Hydrated" status)
Other options for increasing blood level include:
- Blood Bags (2500 blood/bag)
- Saline Bags (2000 blood/bag)
Regenerating Health
In order to regenerate their health a player must meet the following requirements:
Slow Health Regeneration (1 health/second):
- Blood = 5000 (maximum value)
- Energy > 4000 (light green "Energized" status)
- Water > 2500 (dark green "Hydrated" status)
Currently, this is the only way to regenerate health, there is no way for other players or items to speed up recovery.
Regenerating Bone
In order to regenerate their bone a player must meet the following requirements:
Slow Bone Regeneration:
- Blood = 5000 (maximum value)
- Energy > 4000 (light green "Energized" status)
- Water > 2500 (dark green "Hydrated" status)
Other options for restoring bone level include:
Injuries
Mechanics in this category are the result of something bad that has happened to the player due to violence or unfortunate circumstances. Effects can range from minor inconvenience (pain) to disabling (broken legs) to life threatening (bleeding) and everything in between. Some injuries, such as falling several stories from a building or ledge, will kill a character instantly in addition to ruining much of their equipment.
Bleeding
| Icon | Conditions | Effects | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Injury | Loss of blood. The severity of the injury dictates how quickly the player is losing blood. | "I can feel blood dripping" • "My clothes are damp with blood" • "I can feel blood dripping off my body" • "I feel warm blood on my clothes" |
Blood will spurt out of the player, which can be seen by other survivors (and the player themselves when in third person view). The screen color will slowly fade to grey as the amount of blood decreases -- starting from the maximum of 5000 blood, and down to a minimum of 500 before the player falls unconscious. The amount of blood lost per second is 1% of the initial blood damage taken from the attack that caused the bleeding. However, blood lost per second is never less than 5. NOTE: Bleeding does not reduce health, only blood.
Bleeding will not stop until you patch yourself up. Immediate treatment using a bandage or a rag is required to prevent further blood loss and its side effects. If you are unable to apply a bandage you will fall unconscious, and unless someone applies a bandage to your unconscious body, and you regain over 500 blood, you will die. For a list of items that can be torn into rags, see that item's article.
Long-term treatment should include the player staying well-fed and hydrated in order for natural regeneration to occur. One may optionally receive a saline bag or a transfusion from a blood bag to give a quick boost to blood levels. Warning: giving a blood transfusion to a player with an incompatible blood type will kill them! Make sure both donor and recipient have matching (or compatible) blood types before completing a transfusion.
This condition typically occurs when a player is injured by zombies but can also happen due to gunshot wounds or melee damage from other players. When bleeding, a player will receive various warning messages indicating that they are bleeding. Loss of blood may vary depending on the type of injury, the following are a list of inflicted injuries in order of most severe to the least in terms of blood loss.
- Projectile/gunshot wounds (larger caliber bullets being worse)
- Slice wounds (bladed weapons)
- Blunt force
- Zombie attacks
Consciousness
The player has passed out, and is unable to see, move, or communicate with those around them. Unconsciousness is commonly caused by severe blood loss and/or being overwhelmed by shock from an attack. To treat the symptoms that led to unconsciousness, check the player's pulse.
- Blood Loss: With time, an energized and hydrated player will be able to regenerate blood and get back up on their own. However, if the condition was caused by bleeding, they will not be able to recover without assistance. Receiving a saline or blood bag will give a quick boost to blood levels and recover them instantly once bleeding has been stopped. Remember, blood can be transfused from one person to another as long as their blood types are compatible.
- Shock: This is a temporary condition. Shock dissipates on its own over time, so provided you are not otherwise losing blood or unconscious for another reason, you'll recover naturally from this state in less than five minutes. Alternatively receiving an epinephrine injection will fix this condition instantly, however if the player has low blood they may head straight back into unconsciousness. It is therefore advised to bandage and fix all other conditions before the player is injected with the epinephrine.
- Heart Attack: A heart attack is caused by random chance during unconsciousness. The primary determining symptom is an irregular pulse. Use a defibrillator to revive an unconscious player with this condition. Note: this equipment is to be used ONLY on patients who are determined to be experiencing a heart attack, as indicated by checking patient's pulse and questioning how the patient arrived at their situation. This will render an otherwise healthy player unconscious or potentially kill them. It requires a functioning battery to be operated.
Pain, Sprains, and Fractures
| Status | Cause | Effect | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arms | |||
| Chipped (No Icon) |
Injury > 50% | "My arm is in pain" • "My arm is painful" | |
| Fractured (No Icon) |
Injury = 100% | Character has a much harder time using firearms | "My arm is in extreme pain" • "My arm is extremely painful" • "I think my arm is broken" |
| Legs | |||
|
Injury > 15% | Character moves slower than usual | "My leg is painful" |
|
Injury > 40% | Character moves slower than usual | "My leg hurts" |
|
Injury > 90% | Disables the character from walking/jogging/sprinting or vaulting | "My leg is extremely painful" • "I think my leg is broken" |
| Feet | |||
| Sore (No Icon) |
Ruined shoes or no shoes | Character is unable to recover health | "My feet hurt" • "My feet are sore" |
These are injuries which are typically less deadly, but no less inconvenient, and which may still result in your death if they happen at an inopportune moment -- like when you're already in poor condition. This category is primarily relevant to a player's arms, legs, and feet, and ranges from mild pain to debilitating broken limbs. Though most often caused by a long fall, either through carelessness or by unfortunate circumstances, these injuries can also be the result of an attack from zombies or other players.
Damage done to the extremities of a player's body also directly affect the "core" bone stat (see above), and indirectly make other extremities more susceptible to injury as well as putting the player into a condition where they are more easily killed by additional injuries or violence.
Limbs
A light injury or medium injury will not result in any disability, but will cause the player to move more slowly and make them less effective at most actions. A complete fracture will result in the player being unable to walk or run (legs) or make using a firearm very difficult (arms). Some players will specifically target another player's limbs in order to prevent them from effectively fighting back or escaping -- a valid tactic for taking control of a situation without having to kill the other person.
The best way to treat limb injuries is through the use of either a splint or morphine. Pain can only be rid by the use of morphine as well, as painkillers are non-functional at the moment.
Note that only leg injuries have a corresponding status indicator in the inventory screen. Arm injuries do not have icons, but are represented by the same text indicators on the bottom left of the screen, including red-colored text to convey when injuries are more severe. Arm injuries also only have two stages, whereas leg injuries are split up into three different levels.
Foot Pain
A foot injury is caused by walking or running in ruined shoes, or no shoes at all. While moving around, you cause damage to your feet based on the terrain you're moving on and how fast you're moving. Wearing shoes negates some damage at the expense of their condition. Eventually shoes become worn out and your feet will begin to take small amounts of damage. When a player is energized and hydrated enough to regenerate health, they will not notice much loss of health but will be unable to achieve and sustain a "Healthy" status while on the move.
General Pain
The character is in pain after taking damage. Pain is characterized by audible moaning when the character logs in, but is otherwise not represented by any icon or text that is visible to the player. It does not much, if any, noticeable effect on the player at this time.
Illness and Disease
Beyond the more obvious physical injuries discussed above, players can also be the victim of various afflictions that can result in very dire, difficult circumstances or even death. Illness and disease can be contracted any number of different ways, ranging from dirty water to zombie-related wounds.
Brain Prion Disease
This condition is the result of cannibalism -- despite how the real life counterpart of the disease is transmitted, you can get it by merely eating the flesh of another player. This is the only way to contract the disease. The disease itself is not fatal, however it causes the player's character to hysterically and uncontrollably laugh/cry every few minutes, as well as to shake and flinch randomly. These noises can give away the player's position, and they also serve as a dead giveaway that the player has eaten human flesh. The shaking starts immediately after eating the human meat and will increase in intensity over the course of five minutes until the player ends up with very violent flinching. This flinching makes aiming weapons exceedingly difficult.
There is no cure for the brain disease. The player's character will suffer from it until he/she dies. The Brain Prion Disease has no unique marker in the player statuses menu. Any sick status contracted from eating human meat is usually food poisoning rather than a direct result of the disease. Players also do not suffer from any noticeable loss of blood, health, energy, or water long-term while suffering from this condition.
Cholera
| Icon | Duration | Effects | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mild Cholera | |||
Stage 1 
|
60-120 minutes |
|
"I feel tired" • "I feel run-down" • "I feel worn-out" |
Stage 2 
|
120-180 minutes |
|
"I feel a rumble in my bowels" |
Stage 3 
|
120-180 minutes |
|
"I feel a rumble in my bowels" |
| Stage 4
|
60-120 minutes |
|
"I feel tired" • "I feel run-down" • "I feel worn-out" |
| Medium Cholera | |||
| Stage 1
|
60-120 minutes |
|
"I feel tired" • "I feel run-down" • "I feel worn-out" |
| Stage 2
|
120-180 minutes |
|
"I feel a rumble in my bowels" |
| Stage 3
|
120-180 minutes |
|
"I feel a rumble in my bowels" |
| Stage 4
|
60-120 minutes |
|
"I feel tired" • "I feel run-down" • "I feel worn-out" |
| Severe Cholera | |||
| Stage 1
|
60-120 minutes |
|
"I feel tired" • "I feel run-down" • "I feel worn-out" |
| Stage 2
|
120-180 minutes |
|
"I feel a rumble in my bowels" |
| Stage 3
|
120-180 minutes |
|
"I feel a rumble in my bowels" |
| Stage 4
|
60-120 minutes |
|
"I feel tired" • "I feel run-down" • "I feel worn-out" |
This disease is contracted when a player drinks from an unclean source of water such as a pond. Though it is not always guaranteed that players will contract this illness when they drink unclean water, there is a relatively high chance for this to happen, so it is preferable to seek out a clean source such as the water pumps found in most towns or to hydrate yourself using food and drink.
Food & Chemical Poisoning
| Icon | Duration | Effects | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mild Food Poisoning | |||
| Stage 1 (No Icon) |
3-7 minutes | "I have a funny taste in my mouth" • "My mouth tastes funny" • "I notice a weird taste" • "My mouth tastes weird" | |
| Stage 2
|
10-20 minutes |
|
"I feel nauseous" |
| Stage 3
|
20-40 minutes |
|
"I feel dizzy" • "I feel light-headed" • "I feel faint" • "I feel unsteady" |
| Stage 4 (No Icon) |
15-30 minutes | ||
| Moderate Food Poisoning | |||
| Stage 1 (No Icon) |
3-7 minutes | "I have a funny taste in my mouth" • "My mouth tastes funny" • "I notice a weird taste" • "My mouth tastes weird" | |
| Stage 2
|
10-30 minutes |
|
"I feel nauseous" |
| Vomiting
|
10-15 seconds |
|
"I am close to vomiting" • "I think I'm going to vomit..." • "I'm going to vomit..." |
| Stage 3
|
20-40 minutes |
|
"I feel dizzy" • "I feel light-headed" • "I feel faint" • "I feel unsteady" |
| Stage 4 (No Icon) |
15-30 minutes | "I feel tired" • "I feel run-down" • "I feel worn-out" | |
| Severe Food Poisoning | |||
| Stage 1 (No Icon) |
3-7 minutes | "I have a funny taste in my mouth" • "My mouth tastes funny" • "I notice a weird taste" • "My mouth tastes weird" | |
| Stage 2
|
10-30 minutes |
|
"I feel nauseous" |
| Vomiting
|
10-15 seconds |
|
"I am close to vomiting" • "I think I'm going to vomit..." • "I'm going to vomit..." |
| Stage 3
|
20-40 minutes |
|
"I feel cramps in my stomach" |
| Vomiting
|
10-15 seconds |
|
"I am close to vomiting" • "I think I'm going to vomit..." • "I'm going to vomit..." |
| Stage 4
|
15-30 minutes |
|
"I feel exhausted" • "I feel extremely tired" |
| Chemical Poisoning | |||
| Stage 1 (No Icon) |
40-120 seconds | "I have a funny taste in my mouth" • "My mouth tastes funny" • "I notice a weird taste" • "My mouth tastes weird" | |
| Stage 2
|
2-5 minutes |
|
"I feel nauseous" |
| Vomiting
|
10-15 seconds |
|
"I am close to vomiting" • "I think I'm going to vomit..." • "I'm going to vomit..." |
| Stage 3
|
20-40 minutes |
|
"I feel cramps in my stomach" |
| Vomiting
|
10-15 seconds |
|
"I am close to vomiting" • "I think I'm going to vomit..." • "I'm going to vomit..." |
| Stage 4
|
15-30 minutes |
|
"I feel exhausted" • "I feel extremely tired" |
The player has contracted an illness through consuming things that they are not supposed to. These illnesses are really just different severities of the same condition, but all of the different forms consist of several stages. If managed correctly, they will pass away on their own after getting the player go through the worst of it. Remaining energized and hydrated throughout the duration should allow the player to recover from all but the worst illness.
Mild Food Poisoning
- Causes: Consuming burned meat, rotten fruit/vegetables (50%), or an alcohol tincture (75%).
- Symptoms: Strange taste in mouth, nausea.
- Treatment: Charcoal tablets, taken at any point, will allow a player to recover. (During the recovery stage, the sickness status will remain for few minutes, but all ill effects will cease.) Alternatively, drink water, and to a lesser extent, eat food. If blood loss symptoms are present, administer saline or a blood transfusion. This condition should be easily endured if energy/water levels are high.
Moderate Food Poisoning
- Causes: Consuming raw meat, rotten fruit/vegetables (5%), poisonous berries, or an alcohol tincture (20%).
- Symptoms: Same as Mild, with additional vomiting.
- Treatment: Same as Mild. Requires more water and food, and is more likely to require saline or a blood transfusion to overcome.
Severe Food Poisoning
- Causes: Consuming rotten meat.
- Symptoms: Same as Moderate, with additional cramps and vomiting.
- Treatment: There is no confirmed remedy for Severe Food Poisoning, it has to be endured. Drink lots of water and eat lots of food, and keep saline or blood bags handy for recovery.
Chemical Poisoning
- Causes: Consuming disinfectant directly or food that has been sprayed with it.
- Symptoms: Same as Severe Food Poisoning.
- Treatment: There is no confirmed remedy for Chemical Poisoning, it has to be endured. Drink water and eat food. When blood gets low, administer saline.
- Note: This is a serious and difficult status to recover from without constant assistance, with a high chance of mortality. Keep yourself hydrated, and take care not to overfill your stomach. Patients will likely fall unconscious from blood loss and will need saline or a blood transfusion to recover. NOTE: making your player vomit will NOT cure the sickness.
Infected Wounds
| Icon | Duration | Effects | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stage 1
|
3-7 minutes |
|
"My wounds are itchy" • "I have itchy wounds" |
| Stage 2
|
10-20 minutes |
|
"My wounds are infected" • "I have infected wounds" |
| Stage 3
|
20-40 minutes |
|
"My wounds are seriously infected" • "I have seriously infected wounds" • "I'm feeling hot" • "It's really warm" |
| Stage 4
|
15-30 minutes |
|
"My wounds hurt less" • "My wounds look cleaner" |
The player has contracted this through using a Sewing Kit to patch a wound. If left untreated, an infected wound will go through four stages each more severe than the other. It is possible to recover naturally over time from an infection, but the danger of dehydration is very high. Note that there are no status indicators for this condition, only the text warnings that will appear in the corner of your screen.
- Symptoms: Itchy wounds (onset), infected wounds (advanced), weakness (severe), and dehydration.
- Treatment: If caught right away at the onset, use an alcohol tincture to clean the wounds. If the infection has progressed, use antibiotics as a remedy.
Hemolytic Reaction
| Stage | Duration | Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1
|
5-20 seconds | -10% Blood/sec |
| Stage 2
|
30-120 seconds | -20% Blood/sec |
| Stage 3
|
60-180 seconds | -25% Blood/sec |
| Stage 4
|
3-7 seconds | -5000 Blood |
A reaction to receiving incompatible blood type during blood transfusion. Hemolytic reactions are extremely dangerous and have a 100% mortality. The player will fall unconscious, shortly followed by death. Make sure to check blood type compatibility before performing a blood transfusion. A saline IV is a safer option as there is no risk of incompatibility or side effects.
Salmonellosis
| Icon | Duration | Effects | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mild Salmonellosis | |||
| Stage 1
|
180-480 minutes |
|
"I feel cramps in my stomach" |
| Stage 2
|
180-480 minutes |
|
"I feel a rumble in my bowels" |
| Stage 3
|
120-360 minutes |
|
"I just soiled myself" |
| Stage 4
|
120-360 minutes |
|
"I feel tired" • "I feel run-down" • "I feel worn-out" |
| Medium Salmonellosis | |||
| Stage 1
|
180-480 minutes |
|
"I feel cramps in my stomach" |
| Stage 2
|
240-540 minutes |
|
"I feel a rumble in my bowels" |
| Stage 3
|
180-540 minutes |
|
"I just soiled myself" |
| Stage 4
|
180-540 minutes |
|
"I feel tired" • "I feel extremely tired" |
| Severe Salmonellosis | |||
| Stage 1
|
180-540 minutes |
|
"I feel cramps in my stomach" |
| Stage 2
|
240-600 minutes |
|
"I just soiled myself" |
| Stage 3
|
240-540 minutes |
|
"I just soiled myself" |
| Stage 4
|
180-600 minutes |
|
"I feel tired" • "I feel extremely tired" |
This illness is contracted when a player consumes raw meat or fish. Similar to cholera or food poisoning, this disease does not have to be fatal, but will likely require a long period of recovery wherein you will need to eat food and drink water often in order to pull through it. Antibiotics can be used as a remedy to speed up the process.
Effects of the Environment
As if maintaining your basic stats and dealing with disease & injuries wasn't enough, players are faced with challenges from the environment itself as well. The temperature, and especially any precipitation, can have profound effects on your character's ability to stay healthy and effective.
Temperature
| Icon | Conditions | Effects | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hyperthermia | |||
|
Temperature > 37.1°C |
|
"I am hot" |
| Overheating | Temperature > 38.0°C |
|
"I am overheating" |
| Hyperthermia | Temperature > 40.0°C |
|
"I am hyperthermic" |
| Hypothermia | |||
|
Temperature < 35.8°C |
|
"I am cold" • "I am shaking" |
|
Temperature < 35.0°C |
|
"I am freezing" |
|
Temperature < 34.5°C |
|
"I am hypothermic" |
Clothing is the main factor in determining your body temperature. Every clothing item you wear offers some degree of insulation (or lack thereof) that is relative to the size, material, etc. of that item. Smaller, lighter, and thinner items have a relatively low insulation value and larger, thicker, and heavier clothing items have a higher insulation value.
The weather is a factor in how warm or cold you are. Outside temperatures will vary based on the time of year and time of day and are further affected by your altitude on the map. Rainy weather will result in lower outdoor temperatures, whether you're wet or dry. However if you are wet, the degree of warmth your clothing gives you is drastically reduced.
Your breath will assist you in gauging if it is cold outside: if you can see your breath, get some warmer clothing on! You can also tell if your temperature is increasing/decreasing by checking your character's text-based status messages in the bottom-left of the screen. "It's chilly out there" means your temperature is currently decreasing. "I am sweating" means your temperature is currently increasing. Cold/hot, freezing/overheating, and hypothermia/hyperthermia status icons will be indicated in the inventory screen as your temperature moves towards one of those extremes. For precise measurement of your body temperature, use a thermometer.
Loss of body heat from exposure to cold air or water will result in hypothermia. Overheating will result in hyperthermia, causing you to dehydrate due to excessive sweating. Both conditions can be fatal if they are ignored, though hypothermia is largely considered the more dangerous condition because it directly drains you of life force (health and blood) instead of just water or energy.
Mechanics
Ambient temperature of the environment is an important variable influencing a character's body temperature. Base ambient temperatures differ based upon the real-life time of year, as determined by the real-world place that Chernarus is based upon (essentially local temps in the Czech Republic). This base temperature is then modified by things like altitude and presence of rain.
- Sun – Clear and sunny days mean higher temperatures.
- Rain – Rain means lower temperature, and will lead to wet clothes, which will drastically affect your clothing's ability to insulate you.
- Altitude – Higher altitudes and windy conditions mean lower temperatures.
All these factors combined will determine the ambient temperature in the location where you are at. Once the ambient temperature is calculated, your body temperature will start to slowly increase or decrease based upon that value.
You increase your body temperature by:
- Sitting beside a fireplace (very fast)
- Wearing heavily insulated clothing items (varies)
- Exposing yourself to sunshine or remaining inside buildings (slow)
- Descending to lower altitudes (varies)
- Moving (varies)
- Using a heatpack (slow)
Your decrease your body temperature by:
- Removing clothing items (varies)
- Exposing yourself to rain or swimming (fast)
- Being outdoors at night (slow)
- Being outdoors at higher altitudes (slow)
- Sitting still (slow)
Hyperthermia
The player suffers from severe overheating. It is usually caused by a combination of intense physical activity (running, sprinting), hot weather, and/or wearing very warm clothing for the conditions. When overheated, the player's water levels will decrease rapidly and it may lead to dehydration.
Treatment for hyperthermia includes decreasing your body temperature and rehydrating yourself. Find a cool spot in the shade, remove warm clothing or swap it out for something lighter, and in extreme cases take a swim in a pond or the ocean to get yourself wet in order to cool down more quickly.
Hypothermia
The player is freezing due to lack of warmth. Loss of body heat is caused due to a prolonged exposure to cold weather, not wearing heavy enough clothing, and/or high levels of humidity. It results in rapid loss of energy and, if left unmanaged, the player could freeze to death.
Treatment for hypothermia includes increasing your body temperature and re-energizing yourself. Get out of the cold and into warm, dry clothing. You can also use a heatpack or start a fireplace and be warmed by its heat. Increased activity like running also helps.
Humidity
| Icon | Conditions | Effects | Text Indicators |
|---|---|---|---|
| (No Icon) | Humidity <= 0.05 | ||
|
Humidity > 0.05 | Unknown | "I feel damp" |
|
Humidity > 0.20 | Unknown | "My body feels wet" |
|
Humidity > 0.50 | Unknown | "I am soaked through" |
|
Humidity > 0.80 | Unknown | "I am completely drenched" |
This is a stat that measures a player's overall "wetness," for lack of a better way of describing it. Humidity is gained either by getting exposed to rain or taking swim in any body of water. When your humidity rises, you will see a status indicator to warn you of your character and your items becoming wet. Eventually, your humidity level will decrease until the player becomes completely dry.
Humidity has no direct effect on a player's health, instead it affects player clothing by reducing its heat insulation value. This will then reduce the player's temperature, which can be beneficial if they are suffering from hyperthermia, otherwise it might cause them to eventually suffer from hypothermia.
There are four levels of player humidity other than the non-status of being dry. They are as follows, in order from least to most wet: damp, wet, soaked, and drenched.
Once a player has gained some level of humidity, there are a few options for reducing that level back to dry:
- Wring out your clothes. Take off a piece of wet clothing, empty it of its contents, and perform the user action "wring out" on this piece of clothing. This will not directly make you less wet, however it will make it easier for you to dry off.
- Run around for a while. If you keep moving, especially at a quick pace, you will naturally "air dry" over time.
- Sit next to a fireplace. This is by far the most effective method. This will completely dry both you and your items in a matter minutes.
Other
Stamina
Although a true stamina system has not yet been implemented to DayZ as of version 0.61, it will be coming in the future. Clothing, weapons, and other equipment will have a designated amount of weight, and the total weight bogging the player down will have an effect on how long, how far, and how fast players are able to travel through the world -- at least on foot.
For now, what we have in place of that upcoming system are rudimentary effects of fatigue. While players are not directly affected by the weight of their inventory, there are consequences for foot travel based on how long and how fast you have been moving. If you walk slowly everywhere, you will be virtually unphased when it comes time to perform other actions. Jogging, and especially running (sometimes referred to as "sprinting"), have a much more profound effect on the player.
In reality, very short bursts of quick travel will have a very limited effect on players. Long-distance running between towns, however, will leave a player fatigued and ineffective in combat. When you have been running for an extended period, you will naturally wheeze and gasp for air until your heart rate settles and the fatigue dissipates. This is, of course, undesirable as it leaves you vulnerable to being heard by other players. More importantly, your aim with a weapon will include a huge dose of sway, making it almost impossible to accurately fire shots at a target. Due to this, it is recommended that players allow themselves to "catch their breath" before entering a questionable or dangerous situation after they have traveled a long distance by walking/running.
It's also important to remember that traveling on foot, especially by running quickly, will drain a player's energy and water stores. A drop in these stats will actually cause you to travel slightly slower than a player who is otherwise fully energized, hydrated, and healthy. In the future, it is likely that this effect will be even more profound with a fully-realized stamina system.
Trivia
- Previously in the DayZ Mod, Blood was used as a way to indicate overall health.
Sources
Most of the information in this article can be obtained from the configuration data within the following files:
characters_data.pbo gear_medical.pbo server_data.pbo