30 Far Cry 5 Tips That Will Help You Take Back Hope County

The latest entry in Ubisoft's sandbox shooter series is here and pits you in the American homeland, fighting against cultists with a serious doomsday crush. While the formula for Far Cry is pretty established at this point, some new systems and quirks can throw you off even if you are a fan of the series.

I spent more than 30 hours taking the fight to Eden's Gate for the heart of the valley and have come back with well-earned tricks that will give you a leg up in this war.

Exploration

1. After a lengthy tutorial, one of the first things you want to do is unlock Boomer. If you open your map, you'll see his icon on it. Go there and do the mission to make the mutt a loyal and essential support buddy for the game's opening hours.

2. It is always in your best interest to save civilians from cultists. Besides a small boost to your resistance points bar, they can also reward you with valuable information leading to new missions, buddies, and prep stashes.

3. Prepper stashes are hidden caches of ammo, money, and magazines that give you valuable perk points. You usually find a note or character telling you the location of said stash and then you have to head there and complete some environmental puzzles or take on foes to get there. It's always worth the effort.

4. The buddy system from Far Cry 2 returns, with you being able to recruit NPC soldiers (and animals!) to help you out as you explore Hope county. Make use of your buddy. Not only do they provide support, but they can also revive you when you get downed in combat. Having a buddy at all times is basically the equivalent of having an extra life.

5. You often pass wildlife signs for bears, wolves, and other such animals when you enter an area filled with corresponding wildlife. The game will mark that location on your map with the animal's outline. This is useful for missions that require you to hunt animals for certain skins but don't provide waypoint markers to the beasts' location.

6. Speaking of collecting animal skins and furs, you might be tempted to try and run over a grizzly or a bison to get that fur. Don't do that. If you burn or run over an animal, their fur/meat decreases in quality, meaning it's useless for collection missions and sells for far less.

7. Money is precious in Far Cry 5. You might be tempted to spend your hard-earned cash on items like medkits or ammo, but don't. There's enough around the world that you can get by even when things get dicey. Save your funds for weapons, attachments, and clothes.

8. Homeopathics are consumable boosters that give you heightened senses, let you hit harder and run faster. The most useful one lets you see every enemy and animal outline for a huge distance. Use this when you're hunting game or planning an assault.

9. While you can drive on most terrain just fine with trucks, cars, and buggies, don't bother going up mountain roads with anything other than an ATV. It's basically a disaster waiting to happen.

10. You don't necessarily need to run back to a town or outpost to refill your ammo. Be on the lookout for gun traders in the area. They're often in the wilderness and have gun emblems over their head.

11. Don't feel the need to do every side mission or quest. If you're getting stuck on one, you can usually avoid it (unless it's a character unlock/story mission) since your progression is mostly decided by the resistance-point bar.

12. You can jump into a friend's session to help them progress through the story of Far Cry 5, but keep in mind, that even if you're in the same exact place in the story, you will not progress alongside them.

13. Far Cry 5 has a nasty habit of booting you out of missions for the sake of random cutscenes that occur as you make your way along each location's resistance-point bar. There's really no indicator when this happens or anything you can do to stop it but, uh, it's good to be aware, I guess?

Combat

14. Early on, one of your first weapon purchases should be a silencer. Probably for your pistol. It's best to have a silent option and a loud option for taking outposts.

15. You can throw your melee weapons. This is surprisingly useful as a well-placed pipe or bat to the face knocks most charging foes out of commission (bonus: it looks funny as hell).

16. On console, drive-by shooting is highly automatic and targets foes with nearly pinpoint accuracy. Keep that in mind when you're trying to take down convoys or get a driver to stop.

17. Lay traps before a fight. If you're taking an outpost or defending a spot, you have various kinds of explosives. Proximity mines are particularly helpful when you want to take down a convoy that's rolling in.

18. Always survey an area before you try to take it. Use your binoculars to tag foes and then decide what the best course of action is. Remember: If enemies see you, and you haven't disabled nearby alarms, they will call for backup.

19. If you have a buddy (and you should have a buddy), use their abilities to your advantage. If you have Peaches, the cougar, she can sneak through tall grass and stealth kill enemies. Meanwhile, Grace is super useful at being a sniper and killing enemies from afar. Play to their strengths as well as yours.

20. Heavy enemies are all but impervious to gunfire. Your best bet is to light them on fire with a molotov or blow them up with a mine. Seriously though, don't bother with melee or gunning them down with anything other than an LMG.

21. You need to be flexible in combat. Your ammo will often run out. A new horde of foes will show up. Learn to have contingency plans, like taking cover in a house and setting traps. You can't brute force your way through this game.

22. Helicopters are particularly annoying to take down when you don't have a rocket launcher, but it can be done. Blast away at the pilot. One or two shots will kill him, sending the helicopter spinning to the ground.

23. If you want to go all Mad Max, several missions reward you with vehicles outfitted with machine guns and explosive attacks for road battles. These can also be useful for raiding an outpost if you just want to go guns blazing from the get-go.

24. If you see a blue icon flashing with a skull, it means your buddy is down. Go revive them. If they "die," they won't be out of the game for good, but you're have to wait a good 10 minutes before they come back.

Leveling

25. Perks, earned by performing certain actions or finding magazines, are basically Far Cry 5's version of skillpoints. You need them to buy essential character upgrades.

26. Abilities are divided by perk categories, with certain skill trees dedicated to stealth, others to traversal, and so on. This might sound dumb, but you're going to want to invest in the ammo capacity skill tree sooner rather than later. Not only does this give you access to more ammo (obviously) but later tiers unlock the ability to carry a 3rd and 4th weapon in your weapon wheel, which gives you much more tactical legroom to work with in combat.

27. The parachute and wingsuit are also abilities you should grab early on. The ability that lets you stay underwater for a longer duration as well is another skill you should grab.

28. Outside of those listed above, you can use the perk system to enhance whatever your playstyle is. If you're going to be sneaking a fair amount, the perk that makes your footsteps silent is essential, for example.

29. You might be tempted not to grab any of the perks that reduce weapon sway and recoil but the effects are especially powerful, especially for SMGs and shotguns.

30. Remember: Don't think about the perk system as, "What can I get next?" but also, "What can I get down the road?" Sometimes it's worth saving up for the expensive perks early on, like being able to have a second buddy roam with you.

For more on Far Cry 5, check out our official review.