Medical — Charcoal

Overview

Charcoal tablets are the primary medicinal treatment for chemical poisoning in DayZ. Consuming gasoline, disinfectant spray, or alcoholic tincture will rapidly drain your health, making these tablets essential for survival.

How It Works

When you ingest a toxic substance, a hidden status effect icon for "Chemical Poisoning" will eventually appear. Consuming a charcoal tablet initiates a hidden "cure" state that gradually neutralizes the toxin in your system. You must remain hydrated and energized while the medicine processes, as the poisoning will continue to deal damage until the effect is fully cleared.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Open your inventory and drag the Charcoaltablets to your hands.
2. Press and hold the left mouse button (or your assigned hotkey) to consume one pill.
3. Wait for the "Chemical Poisoning" icon to disappear from your HUD.
4. If your health is low, eat food and drink water to regenerate the blood lost during the poisoning period.

Tips

• Taking more than one tablet at a time does not speed up the healing process; it only wastes your supply.
• If you accidentally drink gasoline, immediately begin taking charcoal before the icon even appears to mitigate damage.
• You can keep track of the healing progress by watching your health bar; once it stops decreasing and begins to slowly tick upward, the poison is neutralized.
• Keep one stack of charcoal in your inventory at all times, as chemical poisoning can kill an geared survivor in minutes.
• If you have no charcoal, attempt to vomit by eating or drinking in very small increments, though this is significantly less effective.

Common Mistakes

• Eating multiple pills simultaneously, which provides no additional benefit and wastes rare medical supplies.
• Forgetting to wash bloody hands before eating, which causes Salmonellosis rather than chemical poisoning; charcoal will not cure this (you need Tetracycline instead).
• Ignoring the initial health drain, leading to unconsciousness before the player can navigate their inventory to consume the cure.

Related Items

• Charcoaltablets
• Tetracyclineantibiotics
• Vitaminbottle
• Clearsyringe

Related Guides

• Sickness and Disease
• Water Purification
• Food and Nutrition