At the beginning of a wipe, you will have zero trader reputation. This means you can only purchase a limited amount of gear, which we obviously want to change. So we are going to have to raise your reputation level. There are two methods to raise your reputation, the simplest is selling Scrap Metal to safezone traders. Each time you sell a piece of Scrap Metal, your progress toward the next level will go up by one. The other method, is selling Cigarettes or Watches to the Roaming Traders. These two items are sold for 10 reputation each, making leveling potentially faster. With all that in mind, lets look at all the stats laid out:
| Rep Lvl | Required Points |
|---|---|
| 0 | - |
| 1 | 100 |
| 2 | 500 |
| 3 | 1000 |
| 4 | 2000 |
While those numbers may seem high, the majority of the items sold at the traders will be unlocked by level two. Level Three and Four are your late game levels, unlocking endgame gear like the UAG at level three, and Heavy Assault Vests at level four. So don't get discouraged! Trader leveling is a constant process as you play Deadside, its meant to take some time investment to unlock the best items in the game for purchase.
The easiest way to level reputation, is to gather lots and lots of Scrap Metal. This item can be found everywhere across the map, though some areas spawn much more than others. If you are still in the spawn zone, check cars by the road, or powerlines. These will typically have some scrap laying on the ground for you. As you get further away from the spawn area, start to look for industrial zones. These are littered across the map, and will take a bit of exploration to find if you are a new player. Military areas are good for scrap as well, the larger the military area, the better. Generally, if you find yourself in a large POI, start to look for scrap metal piles. These piles are extremely useful for getting lots of scrap quickly, run up to them and look for the yellow outline. If the outline is present, this means that the pile is loot-able. These piles can spawn 5-10 Scrap. Some areas that have lots of these piles, are the Airfield in the south east, Kamensk in the south west, and the Radar Island Base on the North Island.
Another useful method to get a few extra scrap on the side, is feeding weapons and tools into a Metal Planer. This will convert them into a piece of scrap for you. Metal Planers can be made at your base, and powered with a generator, or you can find one in some high risk POI areas.
Getting good at farming scrap metal will always be useful during your Deadside gameplay. Even if you have finished leveling your traders, you can convert this scrap metal into Sheet Metal by feeding it into a Metal Planer. The Sheet Metal can then be used to upgrade your base to metal tier. You could also sell or trade the scrap to other players if you aren't interested in base building.
This method of trader leveling comes with a bit more risk if you play on PvP servers, but can greatly speed up the processes. Cigarettes and Watches can be found in many places across the world of Deadside. The first place you might find them, are inside of car lootboxes, and duffle bag lootboxes. This makes large civilian areas a great place to gather these items, due to the large amount of both lootboxes scattered around. AI can sometimes be holding these items in their pockets. So at missions where there are many AI to loot, be sure to check their pockets just in case. There are other good items that can spawn in their pockets as well, not just rep items.
Both Cigarettes and Watches have static spawns on the map, and can be found laying around out in the open. For example, you can sometimes find cigarettes sitting out on windowsills at construction sites. Some locations have a lot of these spawns, for example, the Police Station at Kamensk has a bunch of Cigarette spawns. This makes Kamensk a great place to farm all three of these items, as it has some large industrial zones as well.
In order to get any value out of these items, you will need to sell them at a Roaming Trader. These traders randomly spawn across the map, and have no safezone protection. This means its possible that a hostile player can setup camp at one of these traders, waiting for someone to deliver free rep to them. So be extremely careful at these Roaming Traders. But the risk is worth it, there isn't any other way to get value out of these two items, so you may as well try!
Below is a list of all items unlocked at each reputation level, so that you know what you are working towards
| Item Category | Item Name | Buy Price |
|---|---|---|
| Ammo | 9x18 | 4.5K |
| Ammo | 12x70 | 4.5K |
| Ammo | 7.62x25 | 4.5K |
| Weapons | TTk | 1K |
| Weapons | IZH-70 | 1K |
| Weapons | IZH-43S | 1.5K |
| Weapons | IZH-43 | 2.5K |
| Weapons | Scorp | 5K |
| Equipment | Beanie | 500 |
| Equipment | Hunter Gloves | 500 |
| Equipment | Tracksuit Jacket | 500 |
| Equipment | Tracksuit Pants | 500 |
| Equipment | Jeans Jacket | 1K |
| Equipment | Jeans | 1K |
| Equipment | Moto Helmet | 600 |
| Equipment | Hunter Vest | 3K |
| Equipment | Bag | 3K |
| Modifications | Weapon-Mounted Flashlight | 3.5K |
| Restoration | Canned Fish | 4K |
| Restoration | Soda | 3.5K |
| Tools | Plastic Lighter | 1K |
| Tools | Paint Kit | 2K |
| Tools | Walkie-Talkie | 2K |
| Tools | Hunting Shovel | 2.5K |
| Tools | Hammer | 1K |
| Tools | Fire Axe | 2.5K |
| Tools | WoodCutter's Axe | 2.5K |
| Tools | Base Lock | 2K |
| Tools | Folding Knife | 2K |
| Tools | Tool Set | 6.5K |
| Item Category | Item Name | Buy Price |
|---|---|---|
| Ammo | 9x19 | 5.5K |
| Ammo | .45 | 5.5K |
| Ammo | 5.45x39 | 6K |
| Weapons | Berta M9 | 6.5K |
| Weapons | C1911 | 6.5K |
| Weapons | M133 | 12K |
| Weapons | BB-19 | 14K |
| Weapons | S85 | 12K |
| Equipment | Aviator Goggles | 1K |
| Equipment | Tactical Gloves | 1K |
| Equipment | Gorka Jacket | 2K |
| Equipment | Gorka Pants | 2K |
| Equipment | Ballistic Helmet | 5K |
| Modifications | LED Barrel Flashlight | 5.25K |
| Modifications | OET | 10K |
| Modifications | Hunting Scope | 11K |
| Restoration | Bandage | 2K |
| Tools | Metal Lighter | 2K |
| Tools | Combat Knife | 3K |
| Tools | Plastic Fishing Rod | 10K |
| Tools | Vehicle Lock | 15K |
| Tools | Fuel Canister | 12K |
| Tools | Radio detonator | 15K |
| Other | Pistol Components | 300 |
| Other | Submachine Gun Components | 500 |
| Other | Shotgun Components | 400 |
| Other | Assault Rifle Components | 800 |
| Other | Sniper Rifle Components | 1K |
| Random Goods | Unknown Firearm | 50K |
| Random Goods | Unknown Equipment | 10K |
| Random Goods | Unknown Weapon Module | 15K |
| Random Goods | Unknown Materials | 5K |
| Random Goods | Unknown Blueprint Fragment | 3K |
| Random Goods | Unknown Decoration | 5K |
| Item Category | Item Name | Buy Price |
|---|---|---|
| Ammo | 7.62x39 | 6K |
| Ammo | 5.56x45 | 6K |
| Weapons | UMR45 | 25K |
| Weapons | PP-3000 | 25K |
| Weapons | AK-SU | 20K |
| Weapons | Mosin-K | 15K |
| Equipment | Basebal hat | 2K |
| Equipment | Buff | 2K |
| Equipment | Assault Gloves | 2K |
| Equipment | Military Jacket | 4K |
| Equipment | Military Pants | 4K |
| Equipment | Ballistic Helmet Mk2 | 8K |
| Equipment | Police Vest | 18K |
| Equipment | Assault Backpack | 8K |
| Modifications | D-point | 11K |
| Restoration | PainKillers | 4K |
| Other | Signal Flare - Red | 50K |
| Other | Signal Flare - Green | 30K |
| Other | Signal Flare - Blue | 25K |
| Other | Signal Flare - Violet | 25K |
| Random Goods | Unknown Rare Firearm | 100K |
| Random Goods | Unknown Rare Equipment | 25K |
| Random Goods | Unknown Rare Weapon Mod | 30K |
| Random Goods | Unknown Rare Materials | 25K |
| Random Goods | Unknown Rare Blueprint Fragment | 10K |
| Item Category | Item Name | Buy Price |
|---|---|---|
| Ammo | 5.7x28 | 7K |
| Ammo | .308 | 13K |
| Ammo | 7.62x54R | 13K |
| Weapons | F-57 | 13K |
| Weapons | MS590 | 20K |
| Weapons | MR5 | 30K |
| Weapons | Mosin | 60K |
| Equipment | Tactical Glasses | 2K |
| Equipment | Ghillie Jacket | 12K |
| Equipment | Ghillie Pants | 12K |
| Equipment | Tactical Helmet | 10K |
| Equipment | Tactical Helmet Mk2 | 12K |
| Equipment | Field Vest | 6K |
| Equipment | Tactical Armored Vest | 25K |
| Equipment | Typhoon Backpack | 16K |
| Restoration | Med-X | 6K |
| Other | Advanced Pistol Components | 3K |
| Other | Advanced Submachine Gun Components | 5K |
| Other | Advanced Shotgun Components | 4K |
| Other | Advanced Assault Rifle Components | 8K |
| Other | Advanced Sniper Rifle Components | 10K |
| Item Category | Item Name | Buy Price |
|---|---|---|
| Ammo | .50 | 17K |
| Ammo | VG-25 | 8K |
| Weapons | N4 | 35K |
| Weapons | AK-mod | 40K |
| Weapons | AR4 | 40K |
| Weapons | Skar | 40K |