The Long Dark is a first-person game developed by Hinterland Studio way back in 2014. In this one, you'll be thrown into an open world set in the Canadian wilderness. You'll have to look out for specific stats (like body temperature, caloric intake, hun🔜ger, thirst, or fatigue) and only have a few things to survive with.
Because this is a survival game, you'll have to explore the map to see what kind of resources y🐎ou can gather in order to make it out alive. Things like water or firewood could be the difference between life and death.
Eventually, you'll have to learn how to hunt animals to use them as a food resource. This is when Archery becomes relevant as it will help you kill animals using just a bow and arrows. Here's everything you need to know about 😼this survival skill and how to improve it.
Why You Should Use A Bow And Arrow In The Long Dark
While Archery is an important part of the game, it is not the only way to shoot things to hunt them down. In The Long Dark, you can use other kinds of weapons like the Hunting Rifle, Stones, the Revolver, or the Distress Pistol.
Each weapon has its advantage and is not a one-type-works-for-all kind of situation. For example, Stones are easy to find and can be used for stunning smaller targets, like rabbits. At the same time, revolvers are good for making noise and scaring wolves away.
- The advantage of using a bow and arrow is that the ammo is reusable, and the skill gets really useful at higher levels.
Moreover, arrows cause the target to bleed more (meaning shorter bleed-out times) when compared with bullet shots. However, when using an arrow, you have a lower chance of delivering a critical hit.
How To Practice Archery
Beforꦅ🃏e you can go around and start shooting things, you'll have to equip your character with:
- A Survival Bow: This is a craftable weapon you can make in the Workbench. You'll need a Hunting Knife, one Maple Sapling, and two Guts. The process takes five in-game hours. There's also a chance you'll find the Survival Bow in some of the areas of the world.
- A Simple Arrow: These are reusable ammo. You can find them in some places of the game or craft them in the Workbench using one Arrowhead, one Arrow shaft, and three Crow feathers. The process takes 90 in-game minutes. While the arrows are reusable, their quality will decrease by 25% with each hit.
How To Increase The Archery Skill
There are three ways to increase this survival skill; you ca𓆉n either:
- Hit the game's wildlife (except for crows) using a bow and arrow. This will grant 1 Skill Point.
- Craft Simple Arrows. Doing so will grant you 1 Skill Point.
- Reading the research book "Stay on Target." There are multiple copies of the book in the game, and each time you read one, you'll get 10 Skill Points. Reading the research books takes five in-game hours.
Bonuses For Each Skill Level
Once you reach🍌 a specific level in the Archery skill, you'll be able to unlock ♎the following benefits:
- Archery Level 1: Unlockable with 0 Skill Points, this is the Archery skill's basic level.
- Archery Level 2: You'll unlock this level once you've gained 15 Skill Points. In level 2, the bow sway is reduced by 25%, and the arrow damage increases by 10%.
- Archery Level 3: You'll need 40 Skill Points to unlock this level. During this one, the bow sway is further reduced to 50%, the arrow damage will increase another 10%, and the Critical Hit damage will increase by 15%.
- Archery Level 4: Unlockable after obtaining 75 Skill Points. In level 4, the bow sway will now be reduced by 75%. The arrow damage increases by 10%, the Critical Hit change also increases by 25%, the Bleed Out time from targets reduces by 25%, and the per-use condition loss is reduced by 50%.
- Archery Level 5: This level unlocks after obtaining 150 Skill Points. With this level, the Bow Sway will be reduced by 75%, the arrow damage increased by 25%, the Critical Hit chance increases by 50%, the Bleed Out time is also reduced by 50%, and the per-use condition loss reduces by 50%. Finally, you'll be able to use the Survival Bow when your character is crouched.
What You Can Hit Using The Archery Skill
In The Long Dark, there is a wi💛de array of wildlife you can hunt down, kill and eat. As mentioned bef💙ore, each time you hit an animal, your Archery Skill increases. Here's everything you can shoot at:
- Rabbits
- Deers
- Wolves
- Bears
- Moose
A good tip for increasing this skill is to shoot rabbits. You can get closer to them so it'll be easier to hit them, and there's a higher chance they won't run away, thus making you not lose your arrow. Sure, you can also shoot deers and wolves, BUT deers are faster, and you can't get that close to them, and wolves can do some damage to your health.
Another thing you can do is cook the meat you're getting from your kills, so you'll be increasing your Archery skill as well as your Cooking skill.
Using The Survival Bow
Successfully hitting animals with the bow and arrow has a bit of a learning curve.ꦇ When using this weapon, take into consideration:
- Draw speed: This is slower than the one from the Hunting Rifle.
- Horizontal sway: When you're aiming the bow, it will sway from left to right. This will inevitably affect the arrow's flight. This sway increases if your character is tired, thus making it difficult to land a good shot.
- Vertical targeting: The arrow's flight forms an arc. This means that the farther the target is, the higher you should aim.
- Arrow flight speed: Compared to bullets, arrows are way slower, so take into consideration your target's speed when hunting.
- Usability: Unless you have a level 5 archery, you won't be able to use the Survival Bow when crouched.