In SCUM, you’ll need to rely on your wits and intelligence to stay alive for as long as possible.
One of the ways in which the game gives you alternative options to looting and hoping that food, water, and weapons are waiting around the next corner is the introduction of the crafting mechanic.
By collecting resources, you can craft some basic items that can either help you loot more easily, give you weapons to defend yourself, or stay alive by cooking foods.
With so many different crafting options, however, it can be difficult for new players to know what they should look for first. Hopefully, this will serve as a quick-start guide to crafting to help you catch up to some of the better players around.
Learn the basics
Stone knife
A stone knife is the first real object you need to craft to make most things in the game. You can find rock piles on the ground almost anywhere and search them to find two rocks that can be combined into a stone knife.
Spear
Using that knife you just fashioned, you’ll then want to head to a nearby bush and cut it up until you find a large stick. You can then click the large stick and the stone knife to give you the option to create an improvised spear. This will give you a much-needed weapon that can be either thrown at enemies or used in defense.
Basic backpack
A backpack will give you more slots to carry things around, making your looting spots more favorable.Â
The backpack acts as the first real test of your crafting and combat skills. You’ll need to either loot shirts or kill zombies to take their clothes to grab a bunch of rags by cutting said clothes up with a stone knife.
You’ll need five rag strips to make a rope and three pieces of rags, along with the stone knife, to craft a backpack. This will finally give you the tools you need to hoard loot and defend yourself.
Improving
After getting the basics down, there are some items you should look toward getting next to improve your life expectancy.
Axe
Let’s face it, having to make a stone knife every few seconds is less than ideal. To counteract this, you can make a basic axe that lasts longer and can also be used as another weapon.
It’ll require a rope, a stick, and the crafting of two stones into an axe head in order to create one, giving you a better cutting tool with more durability.
Keeping yourself healed
Although this isn’t necessarily a crafting tip, keeping a slew of clean rags on you when you’re fighting or going into dangerous areas is an essential survival resource.
You can only bandage wounds with clean rags after cutting clean clothes. Dirty rags can’t be used to heal you, so it’s best to use dirty rags for crafting needs while holding onto clean rags for other purposes.
