Dead Island's got 4 main characters to chose from, and because I am a sword nut, I picked the sword character on my first and blind playthrough. This is a good idea...with more than one player around. Xian I would consider to be the 2nd least useful character (Purna being lower) when playing solo:

+ Low HP. She will stop getting it at a early point, and if a zombie throws something at you, there's a good chance that will instantly kills you. If you go on to Riptide with the same character, that will be your number one main cause of death. A zombie just threw a piece of wood at you. Ded.

+ Worst at using guns. She's the only character who lacks any skill with guns. Not that big of a deal, seeing how guns and ammo aren't all that common and headshots will kill any human opponent in one shot. But that does limit her to fighting close-range pretty much the entire time, which, with her low HP...

+ Blades and mods aren't all that common and are generally feeble in durability. Xian is really, really, REALLY reliant on having blades as her weapons. The majority of weapons in this game are blunt, along with the mods. They were be some blade mods, but blunt mods tend to come earlier. Early-game Xian can be quite suffering. Well...more so for Riptide...

But she can be fun if you like doing high damage! Xian is your damage-girl, to the point where she can easily take down the special zombies with a few good strikes or even one good throw. And she's got a lot of stamina to work with as well, so she can spend a long time running around the island.

Picking out skills comes down to two items: a. Are you playing multiplayer? and b. Do you want to play Xian optimally? While I will always encourage playing for fun, I also encourage playing smarter. Trying to play Dead Island in the same manner as like Dead Rising (and watch as I end up typing Dead Rising instead of Dead Island) is only going to get you killed over and over again.

So get the skills to pay the bills, yo!

One thing to keep in mind when picking out skills is that skill trees do not operate in the same manner as they do in Borderlands. In Borderlands, moving down the skill trees just requires you to put in enough points into the tree; usually 5 points but if one tier has only one skill, it will only require one point. But in Dead Island, you NEED TO PUT THE POINTS INTO THE MOST RECENT TIER. Putting into skills at a higher tier will not unlock the later tiers.

In other words? Let's say you want to get Field Medicine perk; that makes med-kits more powerful. You need to put at least 3 points into the tier above ,be it Deeper Pockets, Picklock, and/or Endurance. Putting more points into Life Insurance, Vampire and/or Spectre will not unlock Field Medicine. And you have to get Field Medicine to get access to the later tiers.

So, let's go to the important skills AKA the ones you have to get if you want to unlock the later skills. Now, the third skill in each line isn't required, being that is the last one, but you should get it. They're straight up upgrades.

Bloodrage



Boiling Bloodrage



Burning Bloodrage



Xian has some rage issues. Some serious ones. That's okay, it makes her insta-kill zombies and take down special zombies lightening fast. She's the character that needs to use Fury the most.

Blade Fighter




Sharp Expert




Blade Master



Do you want to deal damage? Well, get these! Don't use the stomp move until you get the third tier. Until then, just spam kicks.


First Aid



Field Medicine



Surgeon General



Xian also has a med-kit addiction. That's also a good thing. If playing multiplayer, Xian players should focus on using med-kits and leaving the energy drinks to their friends.

Some skills aren't worth any points. Don't bother with these unless you're memeing or something.

Rerage



Wow, you rolled the dice and got back a piddling amount of rage from low odds. You do know that she can refill insanely fast with other skills? Like, within three zombie kills? So fast in fact, that if this skill does trigger, it won't really help?

Stroke of Luck



Sounds useful...for other characters. Xian is so powerful late-game that she can instantly murder most zombies, even Thugs if she tosses something sharp into them.



Choice Cuts




Wow, such EXP!...if you're not bothering to go for critical blows, of which Xian is really, really good at. Ironically, the skill above it (The one that shares the same art) can interfere with this one. If you go for cut limbs, you might end up killing the zombie instantly and negating any possible EXP from cut limbs.



Life Insurance




Bad news, Xian dies a lot. Good news is that you don't lose that much money and it's very easy to get money. Just grab some weapons and sell them.


Rally




Xian already has so many ways of maintaining stamina that she doesn't need this. And honestly? By the time you get down to half HP, you're not going to last much long anyway.


Flying Strike




Everyone was kung-fu fighting ~
This skill is so lacking ~
In fact, it's a little bit awkward ~

Some skills are more for certain playstyles or if you're playing with other players.

Spectre




This is made for multiplayer. If you're alone...it might work? Maybe? Still, the name of the game is 'fight or flight', not avoid. If you got a Sam B on your team, this work wonders as he can attract zombies with one of his own skills.


Deeper Pockets




I actually went the entire Dead Island without getting this, but end up getting this when I went on over to Riptide. It comes down to if you plan on keeping on more useful weapons than what you can fit on your wheel...or if you want to carry more vendor trash before cashing in.

Merchant




For the most part, you should save your money for modding, but if you need to buy something from vendors you should go for med-kits first, crafting supplies second. Buying weapons if they're of good rarity (Never buy white or green) can make this skill useful. But otherwise? Eh...

Assassin's Guile




Xian's fury has an annoying quirk of her doing a long flourish with her knife before she can attack, of which she can get smacked around and even killed. But I have never picked the skill myself, I just tend to hang back and wait until I can actually use the Fury. I never got this as I didn't really started to use Fury until Riptide, but maybe you can learn from my mistakes.

Deep Wounds




Serrated Blade




Bleeding? Eh, not really my thing. Poison is way more effective; it stuns the enemy in the process. Plus, I don't think I really ended up using the bleeding mod weapons that much. (There's not much of those, I think) But if you prefer to bleed your enemies like stuck pigs, go ahead.




Picklock




Eh, this one IS worth it. It's just that the results you get out of the locked chests may not be worth it. I did recall seeing one guide that recommended you should only get it up to level 2, but never to level 3. Level 3 chests aren't frequent. Still, good for money-making.



Volatile



Other skills can help you refill your Rage. This does help, but not really by much. Get this after you gotten the ones I detailed in the next section.

These skills are the ones I recommend the most to get. You should prioritize these skills if you wish to make Xian the most dangerous thing alive.

Lighting Moves



You may insert whatever speed-related memes you want. Still, it is a game in the first person so higher speed will always be busted, plus it means you can easier fill up the EXP multiplier. OR escape, if you're in trouble.


Grim Inspiration



Flowing Strikes



Look, Xian is all about getting into Rage, and these two make it so much easier. She can Rage-chain! Three critical kills, and she's back to using Rage again. Combine that with these skills:


Tailing Blows



Pressure



And you will never be without rage, baby.



Vampire



Endurance



Effortless



Xian would make for a excellent character in a Souls-like game; she doesn't have (many/significant) stamina problems!



Flawless Blade



Backstab



Yes, I would like to order some high damage please.



Custom Maintenance




Maintenance




Oh, and a side order of more durable weapons please!




Equal Chances



I probably should put this in the essential category. Zombies are scaled around your level, if not way higher. The 'penalty' referring to is about damage. You'll deal less damage to higher level enemies, and this makes it easier to kill them.



Poisonous



Master Assassin




Poison is the best status effect for Xian. Poison deals damages and stuns enemies at the same time. And unlike fire and electricity, poison doesn't damage you! Make the zombie spill their guts before you spill their guts.


Combo



Really cannot put this in the lower category, but I don't think it belongs here. Eh, still. Combine with Fury-chaining and you'll level up way more often.

+ Throw your weapons! No, seriously, Xian is the second best thrower of the group. Blade weapons stick inside of bodies after being thrown, making them easy to recover afterwards. Throwing also doesn't lower the durability of a weapon and there's a greater chance of triggering a status effect.

+ Circle-strafe. When you get Backstab, you can start playing TF2 Spy. Zombies don't turn that fast anyway.

+ When playing with friends, you become the special zombie slayer due to how hard Xian can hit. Butchers are jokes to Xian. I never, ever had a problem with a Butcher with Xian. You can demolish Rams thanks to Backstab. Throw your weapons at Thugs. Rip and tear until it is done.

+ Bleach and Oleander is essential for Xian's best elemental effect, poison. Keep some on you at all times, and don't go nuts selling it off.

+ Keep a pistol around you at all times. Xian might not have skills regarding guns, but a headshot is still a headshot to humans. Xian's low HP means she will suffer big time to humans, as they can drain you insanely fast. Go for headshots!

+ Med-kits? Med-kits. Xian has an addiction, feed it. Keep twenty around you at all times.

+ Repair all the time! Blade weapons don't last that long so keep them maintained.

Early game doesn't have many sharp things to rely on, so get used to playing blunt until you start to find some knives. Don't be afraid of white-tier weapons, Xian NEEDS blades. Once you unlock all of the slots in your weapon wheel, you should ditch blunt all together. If you get a blunt weapon from quest reward, sell it. You could always use the money.

You should have a good set-up by the time you hit the hotel, and have unlocked Rage. You should save Rage for big rooms full of zombies or having to deal with two ore more special zombies. Thugs are very frequent early game, and they're going to be your second biggest threat. The absolute worst thing to happen to you at this point is that you throw all of your weapons at the Thug, the Thug survives and slaps you into respawn. Just be thankful, really thankful, this game doesn't despawn the weapons embedded into a zombie.

...just don't reload checkpoints or leave the area. Trust me. That happened to me in Riptide after one of the bosses despawned.

Your biggest threat? Suiciders. Those will straight-up murder you. Tossing a weapon is your best bet. Just keep yourself as far back as possible before tossing something. You cannot deal with them while under Rage. Your best bet is to run up to them, trigger them to explode, and RUN AWAY. You won't get EXP for it...but you should be thankful that the Suicider is gone.
(NOTE: Despite them going boom, throwing a bladed weapon at a Suicider will result in the weapon being stuck inside of them. Just go on through the red mist and collect your weapon)

Reaching the City will be the biggest difficulty spike for Xian. Humans will kill her fast, there's a crapton of zombies running around, Rams can screw you over...and by this time, Xian will stop getting increases to HP. Dying will be frequent. And maybe that required mission to turn off fire hydrants will be bugged and you will have to restart to get it worked.

Be thankful that Floaters are fodder to Xian. Get right in front of their faces and chop them up.

You should carry around at least one pistol, even more so when you go off towards the sewers. You will be facing off against a ton of human opponents and you should be getting ready to land headshots. Need practice fighting humans? In the middle of the city is this four-way area with respawning human opponents. Also make sure to grab the guns they drop and sell them. Assault rifles go for a lot!

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY! By this point, you should be stocked up on med-kits. Tens of them. Energy drinks will be less common by this point and more spread out, even more so once you get out to the jungle. Get used to hammering your med-kit button as Xian. Feed that addiction, baby.

With access to more mods (Provided that you have been doing side-quests) you should focus on getting your loadout modded. Poison is your best bet; it doesn't inflict damage to you unlike fire and electricity. Venom and Toxic all the way baby.

...and no, the Ripper mod doesn't count as blade. It's Blunt. Guess that's one dull saw blade.

When you hit the jungle chapter, you should be comfortable with your loadout and skills. If you somehow haven't gotten Rage unlocked, GET IT. There's a lot of enemies out there and absolutely little sparse medical items. Med-kits more and more. What's that? Twenty of them? Thirty of them. If not more...

Got to the lab? Good. Do the quests, Rotting Flesh and then Substance of Matter. That gives you the Deathstalker mod. Prison? Complete the Butcher of Banoi quest. This gives you Zed's Death, which might as well be named Xian's best weapon. A Deathstalker Zed's Death. This will carry you for the rest of the finale.

SAM B Guide: https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2925205892

PURNA Guide: https://psteamcommunity.yuanyoumao.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3038047820

LOGAN Guide: Coming soon!