Levels, Ranks and Progression
There's more to climb on The Loot Lounge than your character level. Here's every ladder on the server and what each one gets you.
Character level and skill points
Kill, loot, craft and quest to earn XP. Each level gives a skill point to spend on attributes and perks.
- The best XP comes from House Contracts (floor 18 pays 29,500) and Raids (up to 80,000).
- Dying costs XP, except before level 10, when new-player protection covers you.
- Extra skill points: collect Magazine Notes or Quest Notes from books, craft a skill-point magazine, and read it for 5 skill points. Each of Project Z's five Stupid Bets quests pays another point.
- Elixirs and Rare Contracts add permanent health, stamina and damage. Elixirs are capped at +100 health or stamina and +10% damage per line.
- Level gates: some of the best gear waits for you. Project Z tier 4 "Imp" gear needs level 100, and tier 5 weapons and unique bundles need 150. The International Market opens more of its catalogue at levels 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150.
Project Z's skill tabs
Four extra tabs on your skills screen, explained in full in the Project Z guide:
- Self Traits: positive and negative traits you level (or shed) by what you do. No skill points needed.
- Passive Skills: weapon mastery, Dead Hunt, Boss Expert (one perk per boss) and biome adaptation, all levelled by kills and time. No skill points needed.
- Master skills: once a crafting skill hits 75 or 100, Master magazines raise your crafted quality and unlock advanced mods and stations.
- Perfection: better trader prices as you rank it.
Crafting skills
Crafting skills level up by reading magazines. Magazine boosters make a particular magazine easier to find for an hour.
Trader tiers
Doing trader jobs raises your tier with the traders, and each tier unlocks harder, better-paying jobs. House Contract floors follow your trader tier, and the Raid Contracts appear at the top tier. House Contracts themselves don't raise your tier, so mix in normal trader jobs. You can hold up to 5 trader jobs at once.
House Contract floors
| Floors | Section | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 6 | The Opening Floors | 3 to 4 waves, first bosses |
| 7 to 12 | The High-Stakes Floors | 5 to 6 waves, tougher bosses |
| 13 to 18 | The Vault Floors | 6 waves, multiple bosses, gear-gated at the top |
Clearing contracts lowers the House's cut when you bank chips: 20% to start, 16% after 10, 13% after 25, 10% after 50.
The Seven's marks
The Seven campaign has five ranks: Open Hand, Witnessed, Red Debt, Elder Hand and The Black Seat, earned through its story. Its skills tab tracks your rank, story step and rites, and its perks give real bonuses once your rites and rank allow them. See The Seven guide.
The Undercity's Register
The Undercity has its own skills tab too: five ranks from its story quests, plus rows that fill on their own as you spend time underground, clear the Six, kill the Taken and open caches. See The Undercity guide.
Seismic Mastery
TLL Aftershock has its own perk tree: 5 paths of 4 perks, 5 ranks each, with the top rank unlocked by achievements. Track it in the Challenges menu under TLL Aftershock.
Gang levels and ranks
Your gang earns XP together from contracts, blood moons, defending and capturing turf, and bringing in new players, up to level 20. Each level after the first gives a gang point for the gang's perk tree, which lives on the Gangs tab of your skills screen. Members rise from Recruit through Soldier, Officer and Underboss to Boss. See the Gangs guide.
Achievements (Badges)
Server achievements unlock as you play, and each pays TLL Coins: Common +10, Uncommon +20, Rare +30, Epic +60, Legendary +100. See them all on the Badges page.
| Type | Examples |
|---|---|
| Kills | First Blood (1), Horde Breaker (1,000), Extinction Event (25,000), Death Incarnate (100,000) |
| Kill sprees | Bloodbath (200 in a day), One-Man Horde (1,000 in a day), Total Annihilation (3,000 in a week) |
| Level | Getting Started (25), Seasoned Survivor (75), Wasteland Elite (150), Living Legend (300) |
| Gamestage | Nightmare Fuel (100), Endgame (250), Graveyard Shift (500) |
| Survival | First Day, Survivor's Instinct (7-day streak), Die Hard (30 days), Immortal (60 days) |
| Building | Handyman (1,000 blocks) up to Megastructure (150,000) |
| Mining | Digger (5,000 blocks) up to Planet Cracker (500,000) |
| Crafting | Crafting 101 (50 items) up to Industrial Complex (2,500) |
| Travel | Wanderer (100 km) up to World Walker (2,500 km) |
| Time played | Regular (10 hours) up to Part of the Furniture (1,000 hours) |
| Combat | Boom, Headshot!, Sniper Elite (75 m+), Legendary Kill, Mythic Kill |
Community ranks
Your website rank shows next to your name on the forum. You earn activity points: +15 per topic, +5 per reply, +10 for a best answer, +3 per like received, +1 per like given, +20 for linking Steam, +5 per server achievement and +2 per day you log in. There are 15 ranks, from Fresh Meat to Wasteland Myth at 12,000 points, and each new rank pays once, from +5 up to +600 coins.
Survival streak
Time alive is tracked in real-world days, and one death resets it. It pays +10 coins at 24 hours, +75 at 3 days and +200 at 7 days.
Leaderboards
The Leaderboard page ranks daily and weekly zombie kills, blood moon kills, the Pit (King of the Pit and Pit Legends), top survivor and lifetime totals.