Don’t be caught without a weapon in hand
Knowing how to craft a weapon in the Forest is a basic necessity. Especially when you consider how hard everything tries to kill you. But, The Forest has a vast collection of weapons you can use to defend yourself, and we’ll focus primarily on the ones you can craft.
Before we begin, it’s good to know all of the options available when it comes to crafted weapons and defensive tools:
- Crafted Axe
- Crafted Club
- Crafted Bow
- Slingshot
- Weak Spear
- Rock
- Stick
Some of these can be transformed into upgraded versions, but we’ll focus on the basic renditions of the weapons listed above.
Basic weapons in The Forest
Axes, Spears, Bows, and Clubs will be your go-to weapons of choice in the beginning stages of the game, and you’ll need them for more than just defending yourself. There are more nuanced versions of these weapons, but we’ll cover those later on in the article. For now, let’s delve into the crafting recipes for the most basic of weapons.
Crafted Axe
The Crafted Axe is the slowest-moving axe in the game, but it does deal more damage than the regular Plane Axe. The materials required to craft this axe are common, which is also why it’s generally mediocre. It’s classified as both a weapon and tool, but we’d recommend only chopping trees with it. You can also put upgrades on the crafted axe if you’ve taken a liking to it.
It can be crafted by combining the following materials:
- 1 Stick
- 1 Rock
- 1 Rope
Crafted Club
Cannibals carry very similar clubs, but those aren’t classified as ‘Crafted Clubs’ for some reason. But there’s a reason why cannibals carry this club. It packs a hard punch and allows you to block hits you otherwise couldn’t have.
You can sometimes loot a club like this off of fallen cannibals, but looting it and crafting it requires you to kill a cannibal in the first place. Similar to other weapons, the club can also be upgraded accordingly, making it one of the best-starting weapons.
Its crafting recipe is pretty simple:
- 1 Stick
- 1 Skull
Crafted Bow
The Crafted Bow should be among the first items you should think about crafting when starting a game, and it’s beneficial for getting comfortable on this crazy peninsula.
The crafted bow is intended more for animal hunting than for attacking cannibals. However, you can still use it to defend yourself. The reasoning behind why it’s not recommended for cannibals is simple – it’s tough to hit a manic and psychotic cannibal successfully. This type of bow can only be upgraded with a flashlight upgrade.
It can be crafted by combining these materials:
- 1 Stick
- 1 Cloth
- 1 Rope
If you’re interested in more information about bows in The Forest, be sure to check out our article on how to make bows & arrows in The Forest.
Slingshot
A Slingshot, just like the Crafted Bow, is one of the first things that you should consider crafting when you get out of that wretched plane. You can easily craft it, and you’ll only need small rocks to use it. It’s great for killing pesky rabbits and birds, yielding valuable materials that kickstart your journey.
The crafting recipe is as follows:
- 1 Stick
- 1 Cloth
- 1 Electrical Tape
If you’re wondering how to get Electrical Tape early on, check the suitcases outside your plane; you’re bound to find some.
It’s highly advised not to use a slingshot against more formidable enemies, as it does very little damage and won’t really do anything but anger cannibals and mutants. Still, the slingshot is a great tool for baiting enemies into certain traps or choke points. Another ingenious trick you can do with slingshots is distracting enemies, allowing you to sneak by them once they’re distracted.
Weak Spear
Spears are your most basic form of melee weaponry when it comes to hunting. Not only are they one of the most accessible weapons to craft, but you can also throw them. They mainly make for good throwing weapons because they are strong against Deer and Lizards.
Although adept for hunting, you can also use spears to open suitcases quickly, finish off wounded cannibals, or even fish if you don’t feel like using bows and arrows. Fishing with a spear is quite simple. You simply have to throw it at a fish in your chosen pond. As for cannibals, you’re better off using clubs or axes.
To craft a spear, you’ll need to combine 2 sticks.
Rock & Stick
These two are as primitive as weaponry can get and should only serve you as crafting materials. Nevertheless, if you do find yourself in a pinch, sticks, and rocks are literally found everywhere.
Upgraded weapons in The Forest
Upgraded weapons or tools are, in most cases, just better versions of their basic counterparts, and they should be what you strive for right off the bat. Even if you’re not that established, upgrading your weapons isn’t a challenge and won’t really drain you of any critical resources.
Now, there are upgrades that you can add to an already existing weapon, but that’s not what we mean here. These are upgraded weapons that you can craft, not basic weapons and tools that have a damage upgrade/modification applied. If you’re interested in every weapon modification and upgrade in The Forest, check out our article covering this topic.
There are quite a few, but this should be all of them:
- Upgraded Stick
- Upgraded Spear
- Incendiary Spear
- Upgraded Rock
Upgraded Stick & Rock
Sticks and rocks have always been prevalent due to their natural abundance, and they aren’t all as useful as weapons in The Forest. But what if we told you that you could upgrade them and even modify them? Upgrading a stick or rock isn’t revolutionary, but it will allow you to take a more diverse approach.
These are the materials you’ll need to craft an upgraded stick or rock:
- Upgraded Rock: 1 Rock + 1 Cloth
- Upgraded Stick: 1 Stick + 1 Cloth
An upgraded stick is mainly used as a torch, offering little damage output. It excels at blocking, which is always great for exploring dark caves. It’s also stamina efficient, meaning you can quickly swing it without losing much of your stamina in the process.
Upgraded rocks, on the other hand, deal much more damage and knock enemies down with less effort. The only drawback is that one hit consumes a good chunk of your stamina, so use this one wisely.
Although already improved upon, you can still add the following weapon upgrades onto an upgraded stick:
- Speed Upgrade: 1 Feather + 1 Sap
- Damage Upgrade: 1 Tooth + 1 Sap
- Damage Upgrade+: 1 Bottle of Booze + 1 Sap
As for upgraded rocks, you can only put one weapon upgrade on it:
- Damage Upgrade+: 1 Bottle of Booze + 1 Sap
Upgraded Spear
Spears are a tricky thing to master if you’ve recently started playing The Forest. Learning how to craft more advanced versions of them is crucial in nearly every playthrough and will aid you in almost any endeavor. Upgraded Spears are similar to Weak Spears in most ways; the only real difference would be the extended melee range that upgraded spears offer over their weaker counterpart.
The general consensus around spears is that you should use them for hunting and gathering. But upgraded spears are still effective if used against a single cannibal. Wielding a spear against a group of cannibals is never advised, as it doesn’t deal Area of Effect damage. Also, upgraded spears can sometimes be found in villages, so keep an eye out for those when looting villages.
Upgraded Spears are crafted by combining these things:
- 1 Weak Spear
- 2 Cloth
- 3 Bone
Keep in mind that upgraded spears and weak spears deal the same amount of damage when thrown, so make sure only to use weak spears when you need to throw one.
Incendiary Spear
The Incendiary Spear is just an Upgraded Spear with a Molotov cocktail attached to the tip. It’s extremely effective against mutants and sets anything imaginable on fire. It’s identical to the upgraded spear, and once the cocktail on the end explodes, it’ll be available to pick up as an upgraded spear again.
The crafting recipe for an incendiary spear is as follows:
- 1 Upgraded Spear
- 1 Cloth
- 1 Bottle of Booze
Poisoned Spear
Although this isn’t an official weapon type in the game, it’s still possible to make upgraded and incendiary spears that are poison-tipped. You can do this by combining an upgraded spear with the following mushrooms or berries:
- 4 Twinberries or 4 Snowberries
- 1 Jack or 1 Amanita Mushroom
If you’ve done your fair share of foraging, you should have a pouch and plenty of berries or mushrooms. If this is the case, it won’t hurt for you to add a poison upgrade to your designated spear, as it will significantly hinder the movement speed of your enemies.
Explosive weapons in The Forest
Surprisingly, The Forest has a nice assortment of explosives that one can use to decimate mutants and cannibal hordes alike. Nearly all of the explosives in this game are crafted by the player, so you won’t have to tirelessly search for them somewhere on the map, except for Dynamite, which can only be found in explosive crates.
These are all of the explosives that you can craft:
- Molotov
- Bomb
- Sticky Bomb
- Head Bomb
- Explosive Wire Trap
Molotov
Molotov cocktails are the most basic form of explosives and, unlike other explosives, don’t really require any rare materials to craft. It has the ability to ignite nearly anything flammable in the world and will definitely burn any living thing it lands on. Crafting a Molotov cocktail is as simple as combining 1 Bottle of Booze with 1 piece of Cloth.
Bomb
To no one’s surprise, bombs in this game are unquestionably lethal and serve as the primary explosive weapon in this category. Bombs are mostly known for their ability to tear anything organic to shreds, but they have other uses such as tree-farming and path-clearing. Buildings of all kinds are at risk when it comes to bombs. That’s why it’s strongly advised to handle them cautiously when around structures.
Crafting a bomb is expensive and will require you to sacrifice valuable materials such as:
- 1 Bottle of Booze
- 1 Circuit Board
- 1 Coin
- 1 Wrist Watch
- 1 Electrical Tape
Crates full of Circuit Boards can be found on the beach near the shipping containers. Coins, Booze, and Electrical Tape are all found in luggage. The Wrist Watch is the rarest and most valuable material here, and large amounts are found only in certain areas, such as Cave 1 and Cave 7.
Sticky & Head Bomb
Some people argue that sticky bombs are way better than regular bombs, given how you can stop them from rolling and stick them on cannibals. But, it would be wiser to call them situational instead. You can’t always close the distance between you and the enemy, so we recommend having regular and sticky bombs in your arsenal. Crafting a sticky bomb requires you to combine 1 Bomb with 1 Sap.
No other bomb can compete with the Head Bomb, as it’s hands down the most powerful bomb in the game. One well-placed head bomb can annihilate multiple enemies at once, but its large fuse time of 5 seconds nearly always lets your enemies evade it. It works best against slow mutants and large cannibal hordes. And whatever you do, take your surroundings into consideration when deploying this bomb. There’s always a chance it can roll straight back to you; it is a head bomb, after all. You’ll need to combine 1 dissected head with 1 Bomb for a head bomb.
Explosive Wire Trap
The explosive wire trap is technically not a craftable inventory item, but it’s still worth categorizing as an explosive. The only way for you to set this trap up would be to build it manually, and you’ll need to gather the following materials:
- 1 Stick
- 2 Rope
- 1 Bomb
These wire traps, including the Molotov wire traps, are nothing short of incredible, especially in terms of exterior base defense. A viable strategy for wire traps would be to place them outside your base to catch any stragglers that get close enough. You’ll essentially be creating a minefield that catches any incoming hordes off-guard. However, it would be wise not to place them too close to your walls.
The Flintlock Pistol
A handful of tools and weapons can be found on the peninsula, and the Flintlock Pistol is one of those. It’s more of a trinket from the past, but it still packs a hell of a punch regardless.
This pistol is one of the only “craftable” unique items that you can find in The Forest, and if you want it, you’ll have to go on a hunt of sorts. This hunt will have you find 8 individual parts of the Flintlock Pistol so that you can build it yourself.
Finding these parts can be tricky and will most likely lead you on an expedition around the entire peninsula. First off, you’ll need explosives of any kind. Then, you’ll have to look for distinctive rock mounds around the whole map. Once you’ve found one, throw an explosive on top of it and wait for it to blow up. Once it’s open, you’ll be able to see the hole’s contents.
Alongside gun parts, these mounds also sometimes contain flintlock pistol (old) ammo, rope, a watch, or even a skull. There are 8 designated locations for these rock mounds, and TheForestMap is a website that you can use to find them. The link we’ve provided already has everything else but the rock mounds filtered out.
Upon finding all 8 gun parts, you can make your way to the backpack and combine all of them to craft the Flintlock Pistol. Now, this pistol deals a crippling amount of damage up close, but the time it takes you to reload is what essentially kills this pistol for many people. It’s best used against one-on-one fights with mutants or cannibals. It is also possible to apply a flashlight upgrade by combining this pistol with 1 Flashlight and 1 piece of Electrical Tape.
Miscellaneous Weapons
There are also other miscellaneous items that could be categorized as weapons. These items aren’t craftable but could still be used to fill the role of a weapon if needed.
This includes items like a Turtle Shell, Leg, Arm, Head, or even a mere Bone. Things like this obviously won’t match the block, speed, or damage of a Crafted Axe, but they are fun to play around with nonetheless. Rocks and Sticks could be put into this category, but there are upgraded versions for both of those, so we felt like they would fit in with the basic weapons.
Unique Weapons
Now that we’ve managed to cover all of the weapons you can craft, there are also other, more powerful weapons out there that unfortunately can’t be crafted. These are generally considered better than their crafted counterparts and can only be found in distinct locations around the peninsula.
All of these weapons are unique in their own ways, and the reason why they’re so rare comes down to their spawn location. Most, if not all, unique weapons, are located at the end of notable sites, and this will undoubtedly force you to encounter some of the worst enemies this game has to offer. If you’re not quite ready for the crippling darkness of caves in this game, then stick to crafted weaponry for the time being.
Now you know how to craft weapons in The Forest
Crafting in The Forest isn’t too complicated, and once you get the hang of it, you won’t really need guides like this to help you. You might feel lost at first, but the crafting system in place has a way of guiding you if you’re on the right path. Even then, if you still continue feeling lost, there’s no shame in checking out guides like this.
Knowing how to craft weapons in The Forest is imperative, which is why we hope that this article was of some use to you. If you’re new to The Forest and interested in it, we have a variety of articles that cover the game and all of its intricate aspects. The ones that stand out the most would be our beginner’s guide and general game review.
