You're crouched in a Tier 5 wasteland POI, heart hammering against your ribs because a feral wight just screamed somewhere in the vents above you. Your inventory is stuffed. You have no more room for that stack of brass radiators or the level 6 pump shotgun you just looted. Then, you hear it. A soft, whirring buzz. Your 7 Days to Die drone hovers right over your shoulder, bobbing slightly as if to say, "Hey, I got you."
It’s a lifesaver. Usually.
Except for when it decides to hover directly in front of your face while you're trying to line up a headshot on a lumberjack zombie. Or when it clips through a wall and disappears into the void, taking your stacks of forged steel with it. The robotic drone is easily the most complex and polarizing piece of technology in The Fun Pimps' sandbox survival hit. It’s a late-game luxury that changes how you play the game, turning a lonely survival struggle into a team effort—even if your teammate is a floating box with a personality chip.
Getting Your Hands on the Tech
You can't just slap some scrap metal together and call it a day. Finding a 7 Days to Die drone requires a serious investment in the Intellect tree. Specifically, you need to pump points into Robotics Inventor. By the time you hit level 4 in that perk, you’re looking at the ability to craft the Junk Drone. But honestly? Most people find their first drone in a Working Stiff crate or buy it from Trader Joel or Jen. It’s expensive. It’s rare. And it’s worth every Duke.
To build one from scratch, you're going to need 7 Days to Die drone parts, which are notoriously stingy with their spawn rates. You’ll also need forged steel, electrical parts, and motion sensors. It feels like a massive hurdle when you're still fighting off vultures with a wooden club, but once you deploy that first unit, the game shifts. It’s no longer just about your carry weight; it's about fleet management.
The Storage Problem Solved
The primary reason anyone uses the drone is the cargo mod. By default, the drone doesn't have much room. But once you slap a cargo mod on it, it basically becomes a flying chest. Imagine clearing a high-tier skyscraper and not having to leave behind the lead or the paper because you're over-encumbered. You just transfer the loot to your mechanical buddy. It follows you down the fire escape, through the basement, and back to your 4x4. It’s the ultimate pack mule.
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Mods That Actually Matter
A naked drone is fine, but a modded drone is a god-tier companion. You’ve got options.
The Medic Mod is the big one. If you have first aid bandages or kits in the drone's inventory, it will literally fly over and heal you when your health drops below a certain threshold. It’s like having a dedicated healer in a raid, except this one doesn't complain about your positioning. Just make sure you actually keep the supplies stocked. There is nothing more pathetic than hearing the "empty" beep of a drone while you're bleeding out from a dog attack.
Then there’s the Stamina Boost. This thing is a sleeper hit. It emits an aura that helps you recover stamina faster. If you’re a heavy armor user who swings a sledgehammer, this isn't just a "nice to have" feature. It’s essential. You can keep swinging longer, keep running further, and generally stay alive when the stamina bar usually hits zero.
- Cargo Mods: Stack them. You can put multiple on if you have the slots.
- Armor Plating: Reduces the damage the drone takes from those pesky vultures.
- Morale Booster: This is more for flavor, but it gives a small buff to nearby players.
- Teddy Bear/Duck/Whatever: Purely cosmetic, but it makes the apocalypse feel a little less lonely.
The "Personality" Factor
One of the weirdest features of the 7 Days to Die drone is the personality chips. You can install these to change how the drone talks to you. Some people love the snarky, sarcastic voice that mocks you when you take damage. Others prefer the standard, robotic "Tactical" voice. Personally? I find the "Noisy" ones a liability. When you're trying to be stealthy in a dark room, having a robot chirp about its battery life is a great way to wake up every sleeper in the building.
When Things Go Wrong (and They Will)
We have to talk about the bugs. If you spend any time in the 7 Days to Die community forums or the subreddit, you’ll see the horror stories. Drones have a habit of "de-syncing."
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Sometimes you’ll log out, and when you log back in, your drone is gone. Not destroyed—just gone. It might be hovering at the exact coordinates where you last saw it, or it might have teleported 2 kilometers away to the 0,0 map center.
Pro-tip: If your drone disappears, don't just build a new one immediately. Check your map for the little yellow icon. If it's not there, try going back to the last place you entered a vehicle. Drones often get "stuck" in the transition between you being on a motorcycle and being on foot. If it's truly lost, you might have to use console commands (jd clear or jd find) to reset the entity, provided you have admin rights. It's a pain, but losing a fully modded drone is worse.
Tactical Positioning and Defense
The drone isn't a combat unit in the way the Sledge Turret is. Don't expect it to gun down a horde. Its job is support.
I’ve found the best way to use the drone during a Blood Moon is to keep it tucked away. Vultures hate drones. They will ignore you and go straight for your flying friend. If your drone gets destroyed during the 7th-day horde, you lose access to whatever healing items or ammo you had stored inside it. Build a little "drone cubby" in your horde base—a 1x1 hole with a bars or a hatch—where it can hover safely while still providing its passive buffs.
Honestly, the drone shines most during "Clear" and "Fetch" quests. It handles the loot while you handle the zombies. It’s that simple. When you're looting a bookstore, the drone is your best friend. When you're parkouring across rooftops, it's a bit of a nuisance that sometimes bumps into you and knocks you off a ledge. You have to learn the "drift" of the drone. It doesn't stop instantly. It has momentum. If you stop suddenly, it might glide right into your line of fire.
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Practical Steps for Drone Mastery
If you're looking to integrate a drone into your survival loop, follow these steps to avoid the common pitfalls:
- Prioritize the Medic Mod first. The storage is great, but the auto-heal saves runs.
- Keep it away from your face. If the drone keeps blocking your view, try crouching or moving erratically to reset its follow path. It tends to hover to your right and slightly behind.
- Check the durability. Drones take damage. If it gets hit by a stray bullet or a zombie swipe, repair it with a repair kit just like you would a gun. A broken drone drops to the ground and becomes a physical obstacle.
- Empty it regularly. Don't treat it like a permanent backpack. Use it to ferry items to your vehicle. If the game crashes and the drone wipes, you don't want your only stack of solar cells to be in its inventory.
- Use the "Stay" command. If you're doing something precise—like building a complex trap corridor—tell the drone to stay in a corner. It will stop it from hovering over the block you're trying to upgrade.
The 7 Days to Die drone represents the peak of the game's crafting progression. It’s a sign that you’ve moved past the "scrounging for cans" phase and into the "dominating the apocalypse" phase. It has its quirks, and it can be buggy as hell, but once you get used to that mechanical hum following you through the ruins of Navezgane, you’ll never want to go back to solo looting.
Just... watch out for the vultures. They really do have a vendetta against anything that flies.
To get the most out of your drone today, head to your nearest trader and check their "Secret Stash" or "Special Items" tab. If your Bartering skill is high enough, you might find a high-tier drone or a Medic Mod before you've even touched the Robotics Inventor perk. Grab it the second you see it. Your back (and your health bar) will thank you.