Sons of the Forest how to build and crafting explained
Half time exploring, half time cutting wood.
Surviving in Sons of the Forest forces you to learn how to build and how to craft so you have all the needed tools and structures to protect yourself.
When it comes to Sons of the Forest, a different danger is waiting behind every rock or inside every cave. From dealing with human necessities, such as hunger, to enduring extreme weather conditions, there is a lot to be concerned about. If this wasn’t enough already, mutants and cannibals attack as soon as they see you.
Because of that, any exploration session is preceded by some preparation. In this guide, we cover how you can build structures and how you craft tools and weapons to make your way out of the weird island of Sons of the Forest.
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How to build in Sons of the Forest
The way building works on Sons of the Forest is a mix of following instructions from the book with a little bit of creativity on your end. Although this might sound difficult at the beginning, this system actually allows you to have more freedom to construct things.
The first method you can use to construct structures in Sons of the Forest is based on stacking or connecting some materials, such as sticks, logs, and even skulls! This gives you a lot of freedom and room to use your creativity to some extent, mostly because you don’t need a recipe to create things. For example, sticks can be placed on the ground to make a small fence. Or you can use logs, and chop them in different sizes, to create a ramp. You can consult your book and see the options shown when you’re holding it with the right hand to have some ideas of what you can create.
The first step to use this method is to position one stick or log items in the place you plan to build something. Then, while holding another item, interact with the first one and see if a white arrow or a dashed line appears. This indicates the direction you can place one item in relation to the other. Now you need to use your imagination to think about what you can create from there.
The second method is by using the recipes shown in your book when held with the left hand. In this mode, you find many recipes for different types of structures that can be useful. In case you want to construct one of them, you just need to select it and choose the place where it's going to be built. Doing so places a translucent version of the structure to which you can take the materials needed.
This method is less creative and has established steps you need to follow in order to complete the project. In the case of being a solo player, you can ask Kevin to help you build the structure. He will get the materials as well as take them to the right place by himself.
How to craft in Sons of the Forest
To craft most items in Sons of the Forest, you need to use the crafting mat that is part of your backpack. To access it, all you need to do is to open the inventory and once facing the quite big backpack open on the floor, you will see a central gray area and all your items around it. That’s the crafting mat. Keep in mind that the mat is also used to recharge or open items, such as Canned food and Flashlight.
Now, there are a lot of things you can craft with this system. The game will explain the recipe of some after you have collected all items necessary for the first time. To check the recipes that one item is part of, just select them, choose the combine command, and then place the cursor on the small cog at the top right of the mat. It will show what you can craft with that specific item as well as what additional materials you need. Once you have all of them on the mat, just activate the cog and the item will be ready.
In case you want to try mixing the items you have and see if you can craft anything, you must select one material and see if there is any other one that is not gray. And since the game won’t tell you what items are possible to be crafted, here is a list of Sons of the Forest crafting recipes:
- Molotov - 1x Cloth, 1x Vodka Bottle.
- Time Bomb - 1x Watch, 1x Circuit Board, 1x Wire, 5x Coins, 1x Duct Tape, 1x C4 Brick
- Crafted Spear - 2x Stick, Utility Knife, 1x Duct Tape
- Crafted Bow - 2x Stick, 1x Rope, 1x Duct Tape
- Crafted Club - 1x Stick, 1x Rope, 1x Skull
- Leaf Armor - 1x Cloth, 10x Leaf
- Hide Armor - 1x Cloth, 2x Animal Hide
- Bone Armor - 4x Bones, 1x Rope, 1x Duct Tape
- Stone Arrow - 4x Small Stone, 2x Feather, 2x Stick
- Tech Armor - 1x Tech Mesh, 1x Wire, 1x Circuit Board, 1x Duct Tape, 1x Batteries
- Repair Tool - 1x Stick, 1x Rope, 1x Stone
- Torch - 1x Stick, 1x Cloth
- Zipline Rope - 1x Grappling Hook, 1x Rope
- Health Mix - 1x Yarrow, 1x Aloe Vera
- Health Mix + - 1x Aloe Vera, 1x Horsetail, 1x Fireweed
- Energy Mix - 1x Chicory, 1x Arrowleaf
- Energy Mix + - 1x Chicory, 1x Devil’s Club, 1x Fireweed
On the other hand, there are items you can only craft using a 3D Printer. There are four of them spread on the island, but one can be found in a hidden facility you can access through a cave entrance you find in the area marked on the map below.
Different from regular items you can craft, printed items demand a certain amount of Resin to be made. Here are the items you can create with the 3D Printer:
- Arrow - 50 ml of Resin
- Flask - 100 ml of Resin
- Mask - 150 ml of Resin
- Grappling Hooks - 100 ml of Resin
- Tech Mesh - 250 ml of Resin
- Sled - 1000 ml of Resin
And with all of that you know everything you need about how to build and how to craft in Sons of the Forest.