Levelling up Welding in Build 42 costs, per pzwiki’s own tables, 75 XP for level 1, doubling to 150 for level 2, then roughly doubling again each level up to 9,000 XP for level 10 — and the fastest way to earn that XP changes recipe partway through: dismantling car wrecks (levels 0-2), then scrap metal knives (levels 2-4), then metal sheets (levels 4-10). Because the XP required and the XP-per-action both change, the “actions needed” curve isn’t a smooth ramp — it can briefly get cheaper right where a better recipe unlocks. Below is a calculator built on that math, not on a guessed multiplier.
“How the hell do I grind the welding skill?” is a real, recurring question, and the usual answer — weld scrap, weld frames, weld whatever you can afford — is correct and also useless, because it never tells you the one thing that actually determines whether your plan is reasonable: how much worse each level gets than the one before it.
Project Zomboid welding grind, at a glance
| Situation | Estimated actions | What to do about it |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh character, grinding 0 to 3 | 192 actions (~0.21 h) | This stretch is close to linear — do not over-plan a short early grind. |
| Grinding all the way from 0 to 9 | 2142 actions (~2.38 h) | Front-load this early in a run — the late levels alone dominate the total actions. |
| Already at 7, pushing the last two levels to 9 | 1080 actions (~1.2 h) | This is the steepest stretch in the curve — plan for scrap availability, not just time. |
These action counts are calculated from pzwiki's per-level XP table and its per-action XP figures for the cheapest known recipe at each level, not from a single developer-published grind table. Use the calculator below with your own observed seconds-per-weld and scrap use.
Estimate the grind ahead of you
Welding grind estimator
- Weld actions needed (estimate)
- 462
- Real time at your pace (estimate)
- 30.8 min (0.51 h)
- Scrap metal needed (estimate)
- 462 units
The single costliest step in this range is level 3→4, grinding it with scrap metal knife (estimate from pzwiki's XP tables, not a single verified source).
Action counts are calculated from pzwiki's per-level XP table and its per-action XP figures for the cheapest recipe at each level (see Sources) — not a developer-published grind table. Time and material totals come from the numbers you enter for your own weld speed and scrap use.
Time your own next ten welds with a phone timer and note the scrap it cost you — that’s the two numbers this needs. Everything it outputs is an estimate built on a modelled curve, not a value pulled from the game’s files, and it says so on every update.
Why the curve isn’t a smooth ramp
Welding is reported, consistently, as a skill that starts cheap and gets expensive fast — and pzwiki’s own numbers back that up, but not as a clean multiplier. Two separate tables combine:
| Level (0→) | XP required | Cheapest known action | XP per action | Actions needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 75 | Dismantle car wrecks | 1.7 (17 XP / 10 uses) | ~44 |
| 2 | 150 | Dismantle car wrecks | 1.7 | ~88 |
| 3 | 300 | Scrap metal knife | 5 (20 XP / 4 uses) | 60 |
| 4 | 750 | Scrap metal knife | 5 | 150 |
| 5 | 1,500 | Metal sheet / small metal sheets | 12.5 (25 XP / 2 uses) | 120 |
| 6 | 3,000 | Metal sheet / small metal sheets | 12.5 | 240 |
| 7 | 4,500 | Metal sheet / small metal sheets | 12.5 | 360 |
| 8 | 6,000 | Metal sheet / small metal sheets | 12.5 | 480 |
| 9 | 7,500 | Metal sheet / small metal sheets | 12.5 | 600 |
| 10 | 9,000 | Metal sheet / small metal sheets | 12.5 | 720 |
The XP-required column is pzwiki’s generic “regular skill” row, which the wiki itself flags as measured “in build 41.78.16” and not reconfirmed for Build 42 — see the version note below. The XP-per-action column is Build 42 data from the Welding page. Notice level 2→3 (60 actions) is cheaper than level 1→2 (~88 actions), even though it needs twice the XP, because the scrap metal knife recipe earns nearly three times the XP per action of dismantling a car wreck. That dip is real, not a rounding artefact, and it is the opposite of what a smooth “gets worse every level” curve would predict.
What follows from that
- The car-wreck stretch (levels 0-2) is the actual grind, not the top end. It needs the least XP but earns it slowest, which is why “just weld scrap and it’ll come” advice frustrates new players — the early recipe is genuinely the worst XP-per-action of the three.
- Switching recipe at level 2 and again at level 4 matters more than raw persistence. Staying on car wrecks past level 2, or on scrap knives past level 4, means grinding at a worse rate than the game allows once a better recipe is available.
- The 4-to-10 stretch is long in actions (2,520 of them) but flat in method. Once you’re on metal sheets, the only lever left is how many you make in a sitting — there’s no further recipe upgrade in what pzwiki documents.
If you’ve logged your own XP gain per action, that number is more trustworthy for your save than any of the above — see the open questions in the verification box for what pzwiki itself flags as unconfirmed.
Sources
- Welding — PZwiki — read in full 22 September 2026. “Leveling” section: dismantling car wrecks (~17 XP per 10 Welding Torch Uses) for levels 1-2, scrap metal knife (20 XP per 4 Welding Torch Uses) for levels 3-4, metal sheet/small metal sheets (25 XP per 2 Welding Torch Uses) for levels 5-10; notes cutting bars as an alternative from level 2, and flags its own action list as possibly incomplete. Page stamped 42.18.0, current stable 42.20.4.
- Skill — PZwiki — read in full 22 September 2026. “Regular skill” XP-per-level table (75/150/300/750/1,500/3,000/4,500/6,000/7,500/9,000 for levels 1-10), explicitly measured “in build 41.78.16” and not reconfirmed since; only Strength and Fitness use the separate “passive” row. Page stamped 42.3.1, current stable 42.20.4.
- Welding I: “Basics of Welding” — PZwiki — confirms welding skill books exist and grant a multiplier on top of the base XP curve above; not itself a source for the base curve.
