In Project Zomboid, if items play a crucial role in survival, then the containers used to carry things are equally important.
The game has many types of containers, and backpacks are considered the best of them all. But not all backpacks offer the same quality. Thus, we’ll showcase which backpack is the best in Project Zomboid.
Recommended Read: How to Get Seeds in Project Zomboid
In Project Zomboid, deciding which backpack is the best depends on several factors.
The 3 best backpacks in Project Zomboid are the military backpack, large backpack, and big hiking bag. The military backpack has the best capacity and encumbrance reduction, but it’s rare. The big hiking bag has the third-best capacity and encumbrance reduction, but it’s the most common backpack on the list. The large backpack is a mixture of the previous two.
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Which Backpack is The Best in Project Zomboid?
Sooner or later, you’ll get an additional container for your journey. They are bags, handbags, gun cases, backpacks, etc. Among them, the backpack stands out thanks to its awesome versatility.
Project Zomboid features several backpacks, so we need to consider some criteria to rank them.
There are 4 criteria to determine the best backpack:
- Encumbrance: refers to the weight of the backpack. Carrying a backpack with a higher weight makes traveling worse. Luckily, most backpacks have a small weight, and that’s worth trading for their capacity.
- Capacity: refers to the maximum weight at which you can place all items. All backpacks have capacities between 15-28.
- Encumbrance reduction: refers to the percentage of reduced weight after you place items in the backpacks. The encumbrance reduction doesn’t add more capacity. It just reduces the weight of the backpack’s contents.
- Distribution: refers to how commonly a backpack is.
In addition, choosing the Organized trait adds an extra 130% of capacity, increasing the maximum capacity of all backpacks. Therefore, adding this perk is recommended if you want more space to store.
Now, let’s see which backpack is the best in Project Zomboid based on the criteria above.
1. Military Backpack
By default, the military backpack has a capacity of 28 and an encumbrance reduction of 87%, making it the highest in capacity and weight reduction.
Assuming that you use all of its capacity and equip it, the total weight you have to carry is:
(2 x 30%) + (28 – (28 x 87%)) = 4.24
In this formula, we have:
- 2: The backpack’s weight.
- 30%: The percentage that indicated the remaining backpack weight when equipped. This value is fixed and applied to all backpacks.
- 28: The backpack’s capacity.
- 87%: The encumbrance reduction.
That said, the full encumbrance you have to carry is only 4.24, while the actual weight is 30.
So, the military backpack is the most optimal backpack to carry supplies. However, it’s pretty rare to obtain.
You can acquire the military backpack from military zombies in military camps and government facilities. The military backpack also has a small chance to spawn in army surpluses.
There is one army surplus in the suburban area, far from the north of Rosewood or the southwest of Riverside.
There’s a military base to the northwest of Rosewood. The base is surrounded by dense forests and isolated from the rest of the world. But you can get there by car and follow the path below.
If you’re living in Louisville, you can also find an army surplus in the north area of the town, near the river.
Travel south from Louisville, and you’ll find another vast military checkpoint with several camps and houses.
2. Large Backpack
The large backpack is the regular version of the military backpack. It has a capacity of 27, an encumbrance of 2, and an 85% encumbrance reduction.
The total weight you have to carry while equipping it on your back and placing all items is shown below:
(2 x 30%) + (27 – (27 x 85%)) = 4.65
The total weight you carry reduces from 29 to 4.65.
In Project Zomboid, you can get the large backpack from the reanimated survivor zombies in barricaded houses or hordes. Large backpacks always contain items inside, so you’ll have more supplies to survive longer in this apocalyptic world.
3. Big Hiking Bag
The big hiking bag can be equipped on the back like other backpacks. It weighs 1.5, which is less than the military backpack and large backpack.
The big hiking bag has the third highest encumbrance reduction of 80% and the third highest maximum capacity of 22. If you put all the items to fill the bag’s capacity fully, then equip it on your back, the total weight you have to carry is:
(1.5 x 30%) + (22 – (22 x 80%)) = 4.85
The total weight is reduced from 23.5 to 4.85.
Regarding distribution, the hiking backpack is much easier to find than the military and large backpacks. It spawns mostly in closets and dressers in residential houses, warehouses, or camping sites.
Big hiking bag also comes up with more colors, which you can choose to match your style.
That’s the answer to which backpack is the best in Project Zomboid!
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