Apologies if someone has made a guide about this already, but I haven't seen any guides or posts on how to do this. Most people I found who posted about this concluded it was impossible to do on purpose, reliably.

I got Scrapper + Macgyver on one person, and I thought I was the luckiest guy ever. I never thought it was going to happen again, but as I looked into it and learned how perks work, I tried to recreate it, and it worked! From there I expanded on it and found some other ways to create a Scrapper + Macgyver survivor.

NOTE: All of my attempts to create such a survivor have worked using these methods, but I haven't done enough testing to say that it's guaranteed.

UPDATE: I have replicated this in all of these scenarios, minus the ones with Eccentric, and I still haven't failed after 5 attempts on each. So I say it's guaranteed, but I still could be wrong.

UPDATE: I have replicated this several more times, minus the ones with Eccentric (not particularly a fan of Eccentric), and still haven't failed.

BACKSTORIES: This post will assume you know how perks work and if you don't, it'll still be pretty easy to follow even if you don't know the technicalities. To change a survivor's backstory, you simply rename them. Survivor's will "lock" their backstory once one of the three optional perks, which are prompted by the speech bubbles, are chosen. One thing that I stumbled upon in experimenting, if a survivor is locked into any backstory, then no other survivor can have that same backstory in the same city, unless all other backstories are taken. Once they are all taken the backstory pool will reset so all backstories are available again, but you need a significant amount of survivors to do this. Would've saved me a few hours of changing names if I'd known that.

I did not use any 'normal' survivors for this. I used Former Luddie survivors that were obtained the traditional way of inviting them to join you or telling King Ludd you want them after you do a rescue mission for him. All Former Luddies come with the Green Thumb perk which under some circumstances are helpful and others not so much. You can also use a 'normal' survivor that has attended one of Ludd's conferences and gained the Former Luddie perk, but keep it mind Green Thumb might get in your way later. It's best not to rely on the conference way.

I'm sure that other combinations are possible using other factions, i.e. Former Government Agent and a Government backstory, but I haven't tested them. Former Luddies are the easiest for the simple fact they start with the Green Thumb which eliminates a Scavenging perk which could contest a chance for Scrapper.

UPDATE/EDIT: After coming back to my own guide I made years ago, I never did explain what the other reason we use Former Luddies for. It's hinted at but never explicitly stated. The goal here is to match perks in the backstory with perks you already have. That's why we use former Luddies and Luddie backstories. The 3rd pick is the former Luddie perk, but since you have it already, the game substitutes that for something else related to whatever class you are. That's why in the directions below we use different items to shift those perks around and manipulate which ones we want to show up. If you want to know what perks are available and what tier they are, I encourage you to go to the actual wiki and learn what the variables we're working with are.

Hope this guide helps people out making their dream teams for that impossible difficulty! If anybody finds errors with a certain scenario, and it didn't pan out, please post it below, and I'll make a note about it (but try the said scenario at least twice before posting there is an error with it). I'd also be interested if someone else finds other ways to make a Scrapper + Macgyver survivor! Now let's talk about some perk combos.

Once you have a Former Luddie, you have to keep rerolling the backstory until you get one of the following Former Luddie backstories...(courtesy of the Rebuild 3 wiki)

1. “How are you doing today? ... stress”

2. “You! You’re one of them, aren’t you? AREN’T YOU?!”

3. “Hey! You! Yeah, you. You seen any colanders around? Or pots?”

4. “Sure, these zed are grumpy, but ya ever seen a llama when it’s got its goat up?”


Using the second or third backstory, you can create a survivor that has...

Eccentric (for the first pick as any class)
Macgyver (for the second pick as an Engineer)
Scrapper (for the third pick as a Scavenger)

Don't think Green Thumb is needed here, if it is, use a Pitchfork. If First Aid gets in your way on the second pick, use the Doctor's Scalpel. You will need an item that gives you the Hunter perk for the third pick. (Hunting Rifle, Crossbow, or Melanie's Boomerang)


Using the fourth backstory, you can create a survivor that has...

Animal Lover (for the first pick as any class)
Macgyver (for the second pick as an Engineer)
Scrapper (for the third pick as a Scavenger)

Exact same scenario as above. I do know on this backstory that First Aid and Green Thumb will not conflict at the same time.


The first backstory is a little flexible. You can use it create a straight up Lv 30 Soldier like the above scenarios or use it to make a pretty killer Builder (which can be very helpful if you don't have the deluxe version with the Real Estate Developer leader perk). The Hunter perk doesn't get in the way on this backstory.

For a Soldier...

First Aid (for the first pick as any class)
Macgyver (for the second pick as an Engineer)
Scrapper (for the third pick as a Scavenger)

No perks should get in your way here. If Green Thumb does, Pitchfork.

EDIT: I found this out while I was messing around, you can put ANY Tier 1 perk in place of First Aid because of the Doctor's Scalpel, however if you didn't start with Green Thumb, you have to have a Pea Shooter. I have described this right below. The reason for this is because First Aid is one of the three main perks for this backstory, so it can be substitued and still count as having the first main perk of the story.

For a Builder...(highly recommended that you start with Green Thumb)

Tools Expert (for the first pick as a Builder)
Macgyver (for the second pick as an Engineer)
Scrapper (for the third pick as a Scavenger)

First Aid will get in your way for the first pick, Doctor's Scalpel. You have to hold the Doctor's Scalpel through the whole process. The second pick won't be hindered. For the third pick, Green Thumb will get in the way. If you did not have Green Thumb at the start (because he/she wasn't a legit Former Luddie, i.e. the conference), this causes a problem since the Pitchfork can't be used here. You have to use the Pea Shooter (which is a pretty rare item) to get Green Thumb from the weapon slot in order to pick Scrapper.

Using the Former Luddie backstory, “You know, it was a lot easier to be a vegan when there was a well-stocked tofu aisle...” and another Former Luddie survivor, you can get a guaranteed Resourceful Scrapper.

Hoarder (for the first pick as a Scavenger)
Resourceful (for the second pick as any class)
Scrapper (for the third pick as a Scavenger)

No perks will get in your way even if you don't have Green Thumb, because you will be forcing Scrapper to show up anyway. If something does get in the way for some reason, you can get around it.


Using any survivor and the Friend of Gustav backstory, “Hey there friend, are you tired? Hungry? ... Food for gold!”, you can make a pretty good Leader.

Friend of Gustav (for the first pick as any class)
Macgyver (for the second pick as an Engineer)
Born Leader (for the third pick as any class)

I used Andy Moore from the 1337Crew and the Government Research line. He starts with Crafter which allows for an easy Macgyver, and he doubles as the pilot you need to fly away with 6 survivors. No items are needed here. When using a normal survivor to do this First Aid might get in the way which again, Doctor's Scalpel. They can then gain all of the other 'Former' perks through other factions' conferences further improving your foreign relations.


Using any survivor with the general backstories, “I used to take care of the children’s section of the main library in our hometown.” or “I’m a scientist! An oceanographer, to be specific.”, you can make a multipurpose Engineer.

Crafter (for the first pick as an Engineer)
Macgyver (for the second pick as an Engineer)
Genius (for the third pick as any class)

Using the oceanographer backstory, no items are neccessary if your survivor is already Devout or a Skeptic. If not, First Aid might get in the way. Using the librarian backstory, First Aid might get in the way.

PERSONAL NOTE: I personally equip the Doctor's Scalpel for the item slot to get 18 Engineering and First Aid. I use my Engineer for early research, events that require Engineers, and killing zombies. Any other Engineers I recruit get Bookworm for the research boosts. Using the item slot for the FTB-Guide + Bookworm (instead of Crafter) yields 19 Engineering (still a 9 point boost to Defense) and kind of restricts them to researching where as Crafter is potentially useful all the time, especially the first time it's used. I have noticed that Crafter always activates the first time it's used on any map guaranteed. My stategy is quick research Basic Traps and then spend my Crafter bonus on traps yielding 6 traps early game.

EDIT: I just learned that Macgyver rounds up instead of down which would mean FTB-Guide + Bookworm would be a 10 point boost to Defense even though it yields 19 Engineering. Personally, I still would get Crafter.