FarCry is an influential title for first-person shooters, and while most players are veterans of the series, there’s an entire new influx of players experiencing FarCry 5 with fresh eyes. FarCry is a special kind of FPS, combining precision shooting mechanics and slight RPG-like elements in a vast open-world. With that being said, there are things called perks, which are unlocked throughout the game, that are more important than others, especially from the start. Not only do you have to worry about the perks you want, there are regions and Guns for Hire that you should focus on first to ease your playing experience. Here is a detailed guide to which perks, Guns for Hire, and regions you should tackle starting out.
Since perks play such a crucial role in FarCry 5, I want to make sure I cover this first. Perks are special abilities or upgrades to equipment that you can unlock along the way as you earn Perk Points. There are a ton of perks to be unlocked, and when you first look at the list, it can be overwhelming deciding how to initially build your character’s skills. The list of the perks is shown below:
Perk Points can be earned several different ways. Completing side missions, main missions, prepper stashes and playing FarCry Arcade mode are just a few examples. After you’ve saved a suitable amount of Perk Points, you can cash them in for perks that will help you throughout your adventure in Hope County. With so many perks to unlock, here are a few that you should prioritize your points for first, as they will make your time playing less painful than being mauled by a wild bear with nothing but a shovel.
PERKS:
Health Boosts – Heath Boosts obviously boost your health and they are a precious perk to unlock, as dying in Hope County can easily be done. There are three of these that you can obtain.with a fourth available after you beat two of the three Seed siblings. The Health Boosts are located in the Survivalist group of perks and have + symbols as their icons. The first one you can get costs six points, the next one seven and the third one costs a whopping eight points.
Additional Holster and Weapons Collector – I personally found these to be some of the most useful perks next to having more health, because they allow you to carry more guns, which is always fun. This is a life saver when you have a religious cult that wants to kill you nonstop. When you start off the game, you can really only carry a pistol and one other gun or bow. Once you get both perks unlocked, you can carry 3 main guns and one pistol, which allows you to prepare for any situation that you encounter. The Additional Holster perk you can get right away with 8 points. In order to obtain the Weapons Collector perk, you have to dispose of one of the Seed siblings first. Their icon looks like a pistol holster and is located in the Prepper group.
Grapple and Parachute – The Grapple and Parachute perks can be obtained straight out of the gate, as each costs one perk point. These come in handy if you ever jump out of a plane or see grapple points (see image below)
They make traversing the map easier than having to walk around huge mountains and allow you to get to places that may unlock other goodies along the way.
Auto Repair – This perk is worth its weight in gold when driving vehicles. If your vehicle gets shot at and gets damaged, over a period of time, the vehicle will repair itself! This is super useful if you’re like me and become slightly attached to the vehicle you’re using and don’t want it to blow up. The Repair Torch perk can repair your vehicle as well, but you have to get out to do it, so while its useful to have, I suggest getting the Auto Repair perk first. The Auto Repair perk is in the Renegade group of perks and costs six points.
Journey Pack – The last and final perk I would suggest is the Journey Pack located in the Prepper group. This perk allows you to carry more items, such as fish, animal pelts and other trinkets you acquire along the way.If that wasn’t enough, it also allows you to hold up to five med kits instead of just three. With this game being pretty ruthless at times, having med kits available can really get you out of a pinch, and having more of them never hurts. (See what I did there?) This perk costs seven points.
SPECIALISTS:
Specialists are characters you unlock by completing certain story missions. There area total of nine specialists that you can bring with you and call to your aid when you-know-what hits the fan. Even though there are only nine of them, some are more important to have than others. You can find all the Specialists locations on the map right off the bat, so you know exactly where to go to unlock them. The ones I think are most beneficial are listed below:
Boomer – Boomer, is a dog that is a very “good boy”. Not only will he help kill enemies for you and sometimes bring you weapons he finds, his most beneficial skill is tagging all nearby enemies. This is one of the best companions to have with you, especially if you’re trying to take out Cult Outposts and need to know where everyone is so you can plan your attack. If you’re like me, I love to approach as stealthily as possible. Knowing where enemies are allows me to decide which ones to take out first and lessen the chances of someone raising the alarm. The latter causing me to go in guns blazing.
Jess Black – Jess Black is probably the most useful specialist. She is extremely stealthy and utilizes her skills with the mighty bow to take out targets as quickly as possible.The affection wild animals have for her is another thing I love about her, as most that come around tend to be friendly and don’t cause you too much trouble. One less thing you have to worry about when going against large groups of targets.
Grace Armstrong – Grace is another specialist near and dear to my heart, with her super stealthy composure and skill set. She boasts a sniper rifle to help you pick off enemies. When she fires her rifle, there’s a chance she’ll scare off some of the enemies, which consumes less of your own ammo to take out the remaining enemies that were stupid enough to stick around. Grace is awesome to use when you just wanna sit back and slowly pick off your enemies one by one.
The final thing I think that’s important for you to know is which area to start in. When you’re done with the introduction of the game, it doesn’t accurately guide you on where to go next, its left entirely up to you. This, again, could be highly confusing for newcomers to the series, especially when previous entries told you your next target. FarCry 5 leaves three regions wide open for you to explore until your heart’s content. You can focus one at a time, or chisel away at each area slowly until all that’s left are the Seed Siblings to take care of. I’m going to give you a bit of a direction of where you should start.
Your primary point of interest should be Jacob Seed’s location, which is the northernmost part of the map (see image above). I say this is because there are less resistance points (points you earn doing missions to take out the cult activities) you have to earn before you get to take on Jacob. Jacob only requires 10k points while the other 2, John and Faith, require 13k. Now this is just my personal opinion and you are more than welcome to start off in any of the other two regions, but if you are new to the game, I highly suggest going after Jacob first. He also has the least amount of missions out of the three, the fewest Cult outposts to conquer and the least Cult Properties to destroy. Overall, you don’t need to do a ton to be able to take out Jacob and also unlock the Weapons Collector Perk to allow you to carry a total of four guns.
I hope this little guide aids you along your journey through hope county, and makes the game a little easier for those that are new to the FarCry series. This game can be unforgiving at times and having some of the things that I listed above definitely helps you get past some of the more frustrating parts. The Father and his Seedlings won’t last long using this guide!
