Generally a Starting duo should be balanced around having the following:

A Scavenger

A Crafter or a Hybrid

What is a Scavenger?

• Send out to locations, looting and being good in combat against Zombies

What is a Crafter/Base?

• Postive Crafting Traits that save your resources or being low maintenance due to traits reducing their hunger, sleep or morale needs.

What is a Hybrid?

• A Character having good Crafting/Base traits but also having slightly good Combat/looting traits.

then each character has different abilities to rank them on, which also results into them either being a Scavenger,Hybrid or Crafter/Base

• Combat/Scavenge
  
  
• Crafting
  
  
• Maintenance

and then also getting ranked as a Duo with how well they play into each others bad and good traits
Lets call that point Synergy

With 5/5 being the best and 0/5 being the worst at it.

TIERS for characters

• S: The Character is objectively a One of the best characters, with Amazing positive traits and little to no downsides.
  
  
• A: well balanced Character with more positive traits than bad traits.
  
  
• B: Has good and negative traits, but overall still a good choice for your Shelter.
  
  
• C: Mostly negative traits, little to no positive traits but can be situational useful
  
  
• D: only negative traits, no positive or not mattering positive traits

These TIERS also work the same for the Starting duo just that they get judged together and not as a single Survivor

Daphne:

First Aid Training

• craft more items at the medical area for the same cost

Good Cook

• Recipes generate more food at the cooking station

Pacifist

• Attack damage reduced

Rating: S+ Tier

Type: Base

Penny:

Blade Expert

• Increased damage when using a bladed weapon

Sneaky

• Makes less noise when scavenging

Haunted

• Undead attacks may also add a trauma state

Rating: S- Tier

Type: scavenger

• Combat/Scavenge 5/5 ★
  
  
• Crafting/Base 5/5 ★
  
  
• Maintenance 2/5 ★
  
  
• Synergy 5/5 ★

Penny and Daphne is what i consider the Best Duo, for the simple reason that Penny is one of the best combat Survivors in the game which the early access is lacking at the moment and Daphne also being the second best crafter in the game right behind Barb

the only downside is that Penny sometimes when getting hit gets haunted which has a chance to not recover when sleeping but that chance is so slim that i dont see it as a downside at all really

With this Penny and Daphne receive the award for the most newby and veteran friendly duo.

Newbie rating: S Tier

Veteran rating: S Tier

Darrel:

Iron Stomach

• Can eat anything without getting an Upset Stomach

Whittler

• Melee weapons are cheaper to craft

Bad Cook

• Can only cook slop at the Cooking Station

Rating: A+

Type: Base

Leo:

Tough

• This survivor takes less damage in combat

Slugger

• increased damage when using melee weapons

Voracious

• loses more hunger each phase

Rating: S Tier

Type: Scavenger

• Combat/Scavenge 5/5 ★
  
  
• Crafting/Base 3,5/5 ★
  
  
• Maintenance 1,5/5 ★
  
  
• Synergy 4/5 ★
  
  Darrel and Leo synergy with each other in the sense that Darrel is an ok Base/crafter survivor and can make Leo´s melee weapons for him and Leo being on par with Penny combat wise
  
  the problem about this pair is needing to reach towards recruiting Frank to have a good cook to clench Leo´s higher hunger
  
  with all this in mind, this is still one of the best Starting Duo´s for newbies but Veterans will most likely choose another pair.
  
  Newbie Rating: A Tier
  
  Veteran Rating: B Tier
  
  
  

Sebastian:

Gunsmith

• Ranged weapons and Ammo are cheaper to craft

Marksman

• Deals more damage when using firearms

jaded

• Morale is restored slower than other survivors

Rating: A

Type: Hybrid

Dianne:

Untiring

• Loses rest slower than other survivors

Optimist

• Passively gains a small amount of Morale every phase

Poor craftsperson

• Barricade repair is less effective

Rating: B

Type: Base

• Combat/Scavenge 3,5/5 ★
  
  
• Crafting/Base 3,5/5 ★
  
  
• Maintenance 4/5 ★
  
  
• Synergy 3/5 ★
  
  Sebastian and Dianne nearly work perfectly together except that Dianne is only really a Base character with no crafting ability, but one of the lowest maintenance needs a Survivor can have and Sebastian kinda has a Synergy with himself
  
  The only real issue is that Guns are already OP and mostly oneshot so his trait does not matter as much, but this Starting Duo is very beginner friendly.
  
  Newbie Rating: B Tier
  
  Veteran Rating: C Tier
  

Hector:

Gearhead

• Gains an extra component for each dismantled item

Fortifier

• Barricade repair is cheaper

Insomniac

• Loses more Rest each phase

Rating: S+

Type: Base

Kayla:

Evasive

• small chance to not taking damage in combat

Escape artist

• create more Lockpicks when crafting at a Workbench

Lightweight

• Reduced Backpack space

Rating: C

Type: Base

• Combat/Scavenge 1/5 ★
  
  
• Crafting/Base 5/5 ★
  
  
• Maintenance 2/5 ★
  
  
• Synergy 0/5 ★
  
  Hector and Kayla have one problem; Kayla
  
  Kayla practically does not exist in this Starting duo, she has one of the best AND negative Scavenger traits with the negative one rendering her positive one useless and her crafting skill is also the the second most useless crafting skill
  
  with that Hector needs to go out scavenging until you find a Scavenger survivor to take over
  
  but if you succeed doing so this Starting duo becomes very good since Hector is one of the best Crafters this game has to offer
  
  no Newbie should ever pick this Pair and stick to better options, but Veterans will often pick it purely because of Hector and ignore having Kayla with them
  
  Newbie Rating: C Tier
  
  Veteran Ranking: S Tier
  
  

Tracy:

Will to Live

• Melee damage is increased while on low Health

Determined

• This survivor is resistant to Morale loss from low Needs

Non-Drinker

• Alcohol items cannot be consumed

Rating: C Tier

Type: Hybrid

Wayne:

Thrill Seeker

• gains the Adrenaline State from Damage, which boosts Morale

Moonshiner

• can craft Crude Moonshine from the cooking area

Restless

• Spending a phase without leaving the shelter results in Morale loss

Rating: C Tier

Type: Scavenger

• Combat/Scavenge 2,5/5 ★
  
  
• Crafting/Base 2,5/5 ★
  
  
• Maintenance 2,5/5 ★
  
  
• Synergy 0/5 ★
  
  Tracy and Wayne are ok Survivors but thats about it they are *just* ok
  
  they are both Survivors with no real advantages and no real disadvantages, but they compete with all these other starting duo´s and have no chance against any of them
  
  not worth taking them over the other choices
  
  Newbie Rating: D Tier
  
  Veteran Rating: D Tier
  
  
  

18.04.25 [Hotfix v0.3.3- Loot,Melee weapon and Stealth kill noise]

• Penny ---> changed from S Tier to S- Tier due to stealth kills making 50% less noise now, which makes her trait worse
  
  
• Darrel ---> changed from A Tier to A+ Tier due to Melee weapons now costing more to craft and less melee weapons findable in the world
  
  
• Hector ---> changed from S Tier to S+ Tier due to needing more materials for melee weapons making his dismantling more important

Thank you for reading my Guide for the Starting Duo Survivors in Into The Dead: Our Darkest Days

Any questions about the guide or you feel i missed something?

Ping me in the official Into The Dead: Our Darkest Days Discord or write me a Dm on discord;
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Ever asked yourself what are the best recruitable Survivors? check out my other guide:

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3462699101