One of the resources that you’ll need to help you survive as you’re exploring in The Forest is water. While there are plenty of places to find water, most of it isn’t safe enough for drinking.
Drinkable water will be a significant requirement as you progress into the main story. As you go spelunking through caves and fighting off all sorts of weird creatures in the depths below, you’ll need to have this resource quickly available on hand to make sure your player character is properly hydrated. Here is what you need to know about getting drinking water in The Forest, and how to store it.
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How To Get Water In The Forest
In The Forest, your Hydration meter is displayed on the HUD, represented by the water droplet icon. You’ll need to drink regularly to stay hydrated because if this reaches a critically low point, it’s possible for your character to die. Drinking water will increase your Hydration, but you’ll also want to make sure that the water you are consuming is clean.
There are a few ways you can obtain fluid to help you keep hydrated, but from the start of the game, you’ll need to move quickly, as you’ll almost immediately begin to be thirsty.
Boiling Water
There are numerous ponds that you’ll come across in The Forest, but the water in these ponds is unsafe to drink as it is polluted. You have to boil this water if you want to drink it without getting sick. To do this, you’ll have to find an Old Pot. These can be found while you’re exploring and are most common at campsites and cannibal villages. Because the plane crash spawn location is random in The Forest, you’ll need to do some searching around the area where you start to see if there are any places to get an Old Pot.
Once you have the Old Pot, your next step is to build a fire; either the basic fire or firepit will do the job. You can access the Build menu in the Survival Guide by pressing B on the keyboard.
- A Basic Fire requires seven leaves and two sticks.
- A Firepit requires seven leaves, four sticks, and 7 rocks.
Sticks and rocks can be found in abundance by picking them up off the ground. You can also collect sticks and leaves by using your axe on small trees to break them down.
After you’ve built your fire, then you have to search for a pond or lake. Do not try to get water from the ocean, as this is undrinkable. When you have found a source of water, equip the Old Pot by accessing your Inventory. When the Old Pot is in your hands, move toward the water without getting too deep in, and you should see an icon appear if you angle the pot into the body of water. You can press the C button on the keyboard to scoop up the water.
Bring the filled Old Pot back to your fire and place it on top. Make sure to light the fire, and this will begin the process of boiling it. Once it has been completed, you’ll see an icon appear that the water is safe to drink. Don’t forget to pick your Old Pot back up once all the water has been consumed.
Water Collector
The other reliable source of water in The Forest is rain. But for that, you need a way to catch the rainwater, and the way to do this is by using a Water Collector. The core component of a Water Collector is a Turtle Shell, and the most reliable way to find turtles is along the south coastline or around ponds and rivers. Once you have found a turtle, you have to kill it and then harvest its shell. Head back to your camp and get ready to set up the Water Collector.
Access the build menu by pressing B on the keyboard to bring up the SurvivalGuide. Select the Food tab and then choose the Water Collector. For this recipe, you’ll need four sticks, and one turtle shell. Place the Water Collector somewhere outside, and away from a location where it could be destroyed accidentally.
After you’ve built a Water Collector, it will begin to slowly fill with water each time it rains, and then you can drink from this as a source. I recommend building a couple of Water Collectors at each base, so you’ve always got drinking water on hand if needed.
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How To Collect Water – Waterskin
The Waterskin is a tool in The Forest that is used to collect and store water for later use. This is a convenient tool for when you are going on long explorations away from your base, as you need to have a supply of water with you available to keep you hydrated.
To craft a Waterskin, you need to have two Deer Skins and one Rope. Deer can be found all across the map, and you can kill them with a few hits using a weapon. Rope can be crafted by combining seven cloth in your Inventory.
Once the Waterskin has been crafted, you can equip this and collect any water by standing near the source. I advise only using the Waterskin on clean water in a Water Collector or water that has been boiled with the Old Pot.
