Moodles

Moodles are the status icons on the right of the screen. Each has up to four levels; the colour deepens as it gets worse. Here is every one in Build 42, what it does to you and how to clear it. Updated for Build 42.21, November 2026.

A dark street — Read the right edge of your screen

01Part

Every moodle

Moodle	Levels, mild to severe	Effect
Hungry	Peckish, Hungry, Very Hungry, Starving to Death	Slower healing, less carry weight and endurance; the last level drains health
Thirsty	Slightly Thirsty, Thirsty, Parched, Dying of Thirst	Weaker in combat, slower recovery; the last level drains health
Tired	Drowsy, Tired, Very Tired, Ridiculously Tired	Worse melee and awareness, narrower view
Endurance	Out of Breath, High Exertion, Excessive Exertion, Exhausted	Slower swings and movement; no running at high levels
Heavy Load	Weighed Down, Overloaded, Very Overloaded, Extremely Overloaded	Slower, more trips and falls, injury risk at the top
Panic	Nervous, Alarmed, Frightened, Terrified	Worse aim and melee, narrower view
Stressed	Tense, Agitated, Stressed Out, At Breaking Point	Lower damage, feeds unhappiness; smokers get it without tobacco
Bored	Getting Bored, Bored, Very Bored, Extremely Bored	Feeds unhappiness
Unhappy	Sad, Weepy, Miserable, Hopeless	Slower timed actions
Angry	Irritated, Annoyed, Angry, Furious	Exists in the game data; little or no effect in vanilla
Uncomfortable	A Little to Extremely Uncomfortable	From bulky or armoured clothing and the environment; feeds unhappiness. New in B42
Sick	Queasy, Nauseous, Sick, Fever	Food poisoning, Knox infection or a cold; lowers the health cap
Pain	Minor Pain, Pain, Severe Pain, Agony	Worse aim and actions; stops sleep at high levels
Injured	A Little Hurt, Injured, Severe Injuries, Critical Injuries	Slower and weaker
Bleeding	Minor, Bleeding, Severe, Massive Blood Loss	Constant health loss until bandaged
Has a Cold	Runny Nose, The Sniffles, Head Cold, Nasty Cold	Noisy sneezing and coughing that zombies hear
Noxious Smell	Bad Smell, Awful Odor, Overwhelming Stench, Deadly Fumes	Corpse piles or toxic air; raises sickness, can drain health. New in B42
Drunk	Tipsy, Inebriated, Plastered, Utterly Shit-faced	Blurred view, tripping, tiredness
Wet	Moist, Wet, Soaking, Drenched	Clothes stop insulating; risk of a cold
Hypothermia	Chilly, Cold, Freezing, Hypothermia	Healing stops, movement slows, then damage
Hyperthermia	Unpleasantly Hot, Overheated, Sunstruck, Hyperthermia	More thirst and tiredness, nausea, then damage
Windchill	Slight, Uncomfortable, Freezing, Horrific	Body cools faster outdoors
Well Fed	Satiated, Well Fed, Stuffed, Full to Bursting	Good: faster healing. At the top you cannot eat
Restricted Movement	One level	Heavy clothing or big items stop you sprinting
Zombified / Deceased	One level	Game over

02Part

How to fix each one

Hungry, Thirsty

Eat and drink before it reaches level 2. Water first: thirst kills faster.

Tired

Sleep in a bed, in a barricaded room, with the curtains shut. Coffee and pills buy an hour or two.

Panic

Get away from zombies. Beta blockers help. Brave and Desensitized reduce it.

Stressed, Unhappy, Bored

Read magazines and comics, play music, eat good food, smoke if you are a smoker. Antidepressants work slowly.

Pain

Painkillers, then treat the wound itself.

Bleeding

Bandage every wound at once. Remove glass and bullets first, then disinfect, then bandage.

Sick

Rest, eat light, drink. If it is the Knox infection, nothing helps; see infection.

Has a Cold

Stay warm and dry, rest. Sneezing gives you away, so stay home.

Wet, cold, hot

Change into dry clothes, sit by a heater or fire, or strip layers in summer. Watch the temperature on the health panel.

Heavy Load

Drop weight or wear a better bag. Organized and Strong help.

Uncomfortable

Take off bulky armour when you are safe at home.

Noxious Smell

Burn or bury corpse piles, and keep them away from your base.

03Part

Beyond the moodles

Moodles summarise; the health panel (press H) shows every wound, its type and whether it is bandaged, and the body temperature. Check it after every fight. Treatments for each injury are in the beginner’s guide.

04Part

Thresholds and exact level effects

Most moodles trip at fixed percentages of a hidden stat. pzwiki publishes the figures below; most were last checked against 41.78 and the tiredness row against early Build 42, and nothing in the 42.x patch notes claims to have moved them, so treat them as a close guide rather than gospel. Percentages are how full the bad stat is, except Endurance, which is how much you have used.

Moodle	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	What the levels do
Hungry	15%	25%	45%	70%	Carry capacity −1 at level 2, −2 from level 3; healing −35% then −60%; health drains at level 4
Thirsty	13%	25%	70%	85%	Carry −1 at level 2, −2 at level 3; health drops at level 4
Tired	60%	70%	80%	90%	Melee damage −50/80/90/95%; endurance regen stops at level 4
Endurance	25% used	50%	75%	90%	Melee damage −50/80/90/95%; movement 19/37/56/75% slower; no sprint from level 2, no run from level 3
Stressed	25%	50%	75%	–	Weapon damage −0.1 at level 2, −0.2 at level 3; unhappiness rises
Bored	25%	50%	75%	90%	Nothing itself; feeds Unhappy faster at each level
Unhappy	20%	45%	60%	80%	Timed actions about 7/14/20/27% slower
Drunk	10%	30%	50%	70%	Fatigue rises, driving controls lag, sleeping-pill overdose dose halves
Wet	15%	40%	70%	90%	Cold risk from level 3, high from level 4
Heavy Load	100%	125%	150%	175%	19/37/56/75% slower; damage from level 3 unless sitting
Hypothermia	36.5 °C	35 °C	30 °C	25 °C	Attack speed −34/67/90% from level 2; health loss at level 4
Has a cold	20%	40%	60%	80%	Sneezing grows louder and more frequent; speed and healing fall from level 3

Two readings matter most. Endurance level 2 is where melee damage drops by 80%, which is why a fight you are winning turns at the moment the second icon appears. And the hunger and thirst damage levels sit well past the first icon, so a Peckish character is still fully capable; the cost before that is capacity and healing, not strength. See health for what the drains do to wounds.

05Part

Traits that change your moodles

Many traits are really moodle modifiers, and Build 42 reshuffled their prices. Point values below are from 42.20.4 data; a minus is a cost, a plus is points back. Rates in brackets are the established figures where pzwiki publishes them. Full list on traits and occupations.

Hunger and thirst

Hearty Appetite (+4) makes hunger rise 1.5 times as fast; Light Eater (−2) slows it to 0.75. High Thirst (+2) and Low Thirst (−2) roughly double and halve water use.

Sleep

Sleepyhead (+4) raises the fatigue rate by about 30%, Wakeful (−3) lowers it by the same. Restless Sleeper (+6, the old Insomniac) sheds tiredness slowly while asleep.

Panic

Cowardly (+2) doubles panic gain from zombies; Brave (−4) cuts it by about 70%. Desensitized (Veteran only) takes no panic from zombies and, since 42.16, ignores Discomfort too. Adrenaline Junkie (−4) moves about 10% faster at Strong Panic and 25% at Extreme.

Sickness

Iron Gut (−2) and Weak Stomach (+2) shorten or lengthen food poisoning. Resilient (−4) is about 55% less likely to catch a cold and zombifies more slowly; Prone to Illness (+4) is the reverse. Outdoorsman shrugs off rain.

Skin

Thick Skinned (−8) multiplies your defence threshold against a zombie's attack by 1.3; Thin-skinned (+8) divides it by the same, and roughly doubles the chance a tree scratches you through a hole.

Carrying

Organized (−4) multiplies every container by 1.3, Disorganized (+6) by 0.7. Neither touches your main inventory limit; that is Strength.

Stress

Smoker (+3) gains stress and then unhappiness without tobacco, and cigarettes clear both. Fear of Blood (+5) panics when you treat yourself and stresses when bloody.

Our view: Cowardly is the cheapest trap in the list, because doubled panic means doubled vision loss on the exact night you need it, while Hearty Appetite is manageable once a farm is in. Thick Skinned went from a bargain to a serious investment at 8 points, so weigh it against a neck guard and a padded jacket, which cost nothing at character creation.

06Part

Moodles in a fight, and the loops that follow

Only a handful of moodles matter once a zombie is in reach, and they stack.

Panic

Panic narrows your vision cone, lowers the chance a shove knocks a zombie down and, per pzwiki's figures, trims critical chance by 1.3% per level up to 5.2%, with melee damage down by 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3 at levels two to four. Zombies behind you raise it faster than ones in front, and turning to re-spot a group adds a fresh dose, so stand still and let them come. For firearms pzwiki's older numbers were a flat damage cut that Aiming 6 removed; Build 42 reworked guns so that moodles now lower hit chance instead, scaled by the sandbox option Firearm Moodle Multiplier (1.0 in most modes, 1.25 in Extinction, 0 to disable). Beta blockers or a drink drop panic fast, and the recovery rate climbs every midnight you survive, up to 150 days.

Endurance, tiredness, pain and load

These are the ones that actually kill. Endurance level two means 80% less melee damage and no sprint; Tired level two is another 80% off; Heavy Load over 125% ends sprinting and slows attacks 14%; pain from an arm wound lowers damage and attack speed; Stress level two takes another 0.1 off every weapon. Sit down after a clear (ground, chair or car seat) because walking barely recovers endurance and sneaking recovers none.

The loops

Fighting lowers boredom, and sitting indoors raises it, so a long safe stretch turns Bored into Unhappy and slow actions; a short loot run fixes it faster than a book. Alcohol clears panic and unhappiness but raises fatigue and lags driving, and a drunk character needs half the sleeping tablets to overdose. Sleeping can end with a nightmare that wakes you panicked and stressed, which is why a barricaded room beats a car seat. See zombies for what they can hear while all this is going on.

07Part

Quick answers

What is a moodle in Project Zomboid?

A status icon on the right of the screen that shows a need, feeling or condition. Most have four levels of severity.

What new moodles are in Build 42?

Uncomfortable, from bulky clothing and armour, and Noxious Smell, from corpse piles and toxic air.

What does the Queasy moodle mean?

The first level of Sick. It can be food poisoning, a cold or the Knox infection. If you were wounded by a zombie in the last day, assume Knox.

How do I get rid of Unhappy?

Read magazines or comics, eat good food, listen to music, and avoid the stressors. Antidepressants help slowly.

Moodle names and levels from the Build 42 game data as published by pindrop.gg, pzfans.com and projectzomboid.wiki. Exact thresholds for Endurance and Well Fed are not published. Added November 2026: pzwiki.net Hungry, Thirsty, Tired, Endurance, Stressed, Bored, Unhappy, Drunk, Wet, Heavy load, Hypothermia, Has a cold, Panic; pzfans.com traits list and moodles guide (42.19 to 42.20.4).