Dead Island 2: Curveball Techniques

Dead Island 2’s curveballs are explained in “Out of Nowhere.”

Dead Island 2 features a total of 13 Curveballs. Up to two can be equipped at once, and each one has a different cooldown.

Your Curveballs are some of your strongest tools for surviving Hell-A early on in the game, before you have a few essential components of your zombie-slaying arsenal. There aren’t many situations in DI2 that you can’t influence with deft Curveball use, but they do get a little less so as your arsenal develops and the city’s zombie population becomes more bizarre.

There are several effects that can shorten the time it takes for Curveballs to recharge if you decide to go all-in on them. Try adding Skill Cards like Pain Magazine or Deadeye to your arsenal, or upgrade your gear with primed weapon perks.

Zombies can be defeated with direct-damage Curveballs to earn points for the Batter Up! Battle Challenge. As the best Curveballs are those that don’t deal HP, this is a little challenging, but it is still fully doable. When moving from place A to place B within Hell-A, just make sure to take off stray zombies with Curveballs.

Curveballs in Dead Island 2: How They Work

Your Curveball button is by default set to Q on a computer, R1 on a PlayStation 4, or RB on an Xbox. As previously mentioned, you can equip two Curveballs at once and switch between them by pressing the T button on a PC or the right D-pad button on a PlayStation or Xbox.

You can use up to two Curveball slots simultaneously to create large combos because each one has its own recharging timer. The Flesh Bait may divert a large group of zombies at once and position them for a grenade or explosion, while the Chem Bomb causes Soaked on its targets, making them susceptible to electrical damage.

Hence, Curveballs pair nicely with specific Skill Cards and modifications, such No Mercy or Contagious, which offer helpful advantages if you’re hitting a zombie who is under the influence of a bad status condition.