Soulmask Complete Hunting Guide — How to Hunt

Soulmask is a survival game, meaning the main aspects of the game are staying well-fed and hydrated. Going hunting is a great way to stay stocked up on food for your camp. Not only will you harvest a lot of valuable materials and food from animals, but you will also earn hunting promotions. Here’s all you need to know.

How to Hunt Animals in Soulmask

Hunting is an important part of the Soulmask experience and an activity you will want to take up at some point. Even if you didn’t choose the Rich mask in character creation, you can still excel and earn Hunting Promotions as you discover and hunt new animals.

All animals have worthwhile materials you can use as food or crafting. Tracking them down and killing them, though, will require more finesse than you think. Here are some tips for a successful hunting trip.

Best Weapons for Hunting

Using the proper weapon when hunting is very important. The way you take down an animal matters because you can damage parts of it, preventing you from harvesting all its materials. The cleaner the kill, the more materials you can harvest.

In general, I would suggest using a bow for hunting or any other ranged-type weapon, like a spear. Bows and arrows, however, are the best for range, speed, and precision. You’ll be able to take down animals much quicker and cleaner when using them (plus, if you have the Rich mask, you’ll do extra damage).

Here are some crafting recipes for weapons you can use (you’ll be able to make even better ones as you progress more, but these are good starting points):

If you’re using a bow, make sure you also create some arrows for it under the ‘Other’ tab. Then, drag them from your inventory and place them on top of the bow to load them. Once you have one of these weapons, you’ll be ready to start the actual hunting process.

How to Sneak Up on Animals

When you’re hunting, you can’t just run full speed ahead toward the animal. You’ll do better damage and avoid any messy strikes by sneaking up on the animal and attacking them when they don’t expect it. This is especially important because animals can detect you, either by seeing you or hearing you, and will attack you or run away.

To sneak up on an animal, press Ctrl on your keyboard to crouch. This way, you’ll be harder to detect. Then, move very slowly. You can use the Life Perception with Q key while you’re doing this to easily view the animal nearby with a red outline around it.

If the animal starts to detect you, you’ll see an eye or ear meter above them. It will begin to fill as they detect you more or lower if they don’t notice you. If it fills all the way up, it has fully detected you and, depending on the animal, will either attack or run away. You’ll want to avoid this as much as possible, so be aware of your surroundings, how fast you’re moving, and what gear you are wearing so you can stay as silent as possible.

While you’re undetected and in range of the animal, pull back your bowstring and aim toward them by holding M1. The crosshair on the screen will indicate where your arrow will go. However, you’ll also want to pay close attention to the dot in the center and what color it turns.

When the dot in your crosshairs turns red, it means you are aiming precisely over the animal, and if you release the arrow, it will hit. Even if the dot is red, it doesn’t mean you’ll be getting the best shot. You’ll still want to ensure you are aiming for the animal’s weak spot. This is usually the head, but you can also check your Hunting Gallery in the Hunting menu (K) to view what it is for each animal you’ve discovered.

Let go of M1 while you’re aiming to release the arrow and send it flying toward the animal. If you hit a weak spot, they will take a lot more damage. Depending on what the animal is, one arrow may be enough. However, for tougher animals, you may need to hit it once or twice more to take it down. Try to be as quick as possible with any following attacks because the animal will notice you once you take that first shot.

How to Harvest Animal Materials

Once an animal is killed, you can harvest the materials from its corpse. However, to do so, you’ll need a Butcher’s Knife. Switch to the Butcher’s Knife in your shortcut items or inventory, then approach the corpse. Swing at it to start harvesting the materials from it.

You can keep swinging the knife several times, collecting as many materials as possible. Once the animal’s corpse disappears, you’ll know you’ve collected them all. Depending on the quality of your hunt, there will be more or less materials to harvest.

How to Make a Butcher Knife

There are several different Butcher’s Knives you can make, just like any other weapon. Since butchering an animal depletes the knife’s durability, you may want to craft a few to have some on reserve. The better the quality of the knife, the longer it will last. Here are some crafting recipes for them (if you don’t want to make a brand new every time, there’s always the option to repair):

How to Earn Hunting Promotions

The more you hunt, the better your hunting skills will grow. You’ll actually receive separate level-ups just for hunting, which will lead to Hunting Promotions. Hunting Promotions will unlock increased slaughtering outputs, slaughtering speeds, better concealment, less noise, and more damage overall to animals.

You can check your Hunting menu by pressing the K key. Here is where you’ll see your progress on the Hunting Promotions, as well as your Hunting Log and Gallery. Each promotion has different requirements you’ll need to reach to level up. Here’s a look at them all:

Now that you know the ins and outs of hunting, you can get out there and start honing your craft. Don’t forget, you can also assign Tribesmen jobs to hunting, especially if they are proficient in it. However, you won’t be earning those Hunting Promotions unless you do it yourself.

Want more tips and tricks like this? Check out GameSkinny’s Soulmask guides hub!