Mist Survival – Basic Starting Guide

This guide will help you play Mist from the very first moments of a new game to the point where you have everything needed to keep a running game. It honestly only takes around 14 days (in Mist game time, not real time) to get everything ready. You will have armor, weapons, clothing, ammunition, an upgraded workbench, drying/tanning rack/ water purifier, cooking pot, cooking grill/BBQ, firewood stump, and a cute female companion named “Kate.”

• Mist Survival Map
• Mist Survival Weapon Stats
• Mist Survival How to Unlock FPS
• Mist Survival Inventory Slot Upgrade Guide
• Mist Survival Basic Base and Crafting Guide

The whole point is to have a longbow and hunting arrows so you have an endless (renewable) source of ammunition and a great weapon (renewable) The longbow with hunting arrows can kill everything in the game, even bears. It’s silent so you can raid bandits and hunt zombies with efficiency, grace and style.

What to do when you begin a new game

Pick up everything at the shelter near you. Leave immediately. never stay at these “lean-to” shelters… death traps with zero protection from zombies, bandits, bears, or even chickens.

Most often a bear will be near your start point, so as soon as you hear it breathing, run! Shift+W! Get away from that bear. Stop running once you can turn and see him walk away.

Loot everything. You absolutely need a weapon: a combat knife or an axe. Until you have a weapon, you will absolutely need to avoid all combat with anything. You can crouch to sneak (CNTRL) When mist starts to appear, you need to get inside any structure you can enter. Mist events normally happen between 9am to 3pm game time. You might get two or three some days, but usually there’s one event per day. Mist events spawn zombies. They are fast. They swipe and bite you and cause bleeding wounds. One wound can slow you down. if you can’t run, you will probably die.

Get near structures with doors. Top floors are best. The zombies stay at ground level mostly. Just wait them out. The mist will go in less than an hour game time.

Once you have a weapon, still avoid zombies but if you have to, you can sneak up on them from behind and take them out (F) using the knife. One or two chops with an axe will do as well.

You need to get food, water, and by nightfall you need a temporary base for storage and home. Bases are marked with the floating “GEAR” symbol.

Do not go out at night or in the mist. Ever. No matter how tough you are, it’s just inviting surprise attacks from fast zombies.

Home Base Selection

Your home base should be big enough to store everything you need. I always choose a big empty white house near a water tower. It has a bed upstairs. It has cupboards, shelves for storage. It has lots of room for workbench, tanning rack, cooking pot, water purifier. It is also near a farm with a forge and blacksmithy. You can smelt metal ingots at the forge and craft arrowheads, tools and gears at the smithy. You can upgrade your workbench with two gears.

Once you have a homebase start bringing all your loot there. Collect piles of metal scraps, components. Use an axe to chop down trees.

Whenever you chop down a tree, you get bark, branches, leaves and logs. Logs make wood and firewood. You use a stump and logs to make firewood. You use a saw and logs to make wood (lumber.) You use bark as tinder for firestarting. You use bark with leaves to make lashings (home made rope.)

Once you find a shotgun you can kill bears and bandits. Two shots to the face will take down a bear. A third may be needed. From a bear carcass you get meat, guts and hides.

Dry your hides and guts on the tanning rack. Cook your meat on a BBQ grill. Salt your cooked meat and store it. Upgrade your bench as soon as you can. Use two gears and scraps and components.

Build a water purifiier right away. You will need to make a bucket to pick up water, or use empty water bottles. You get water from laes/ponds. Just wade in and press (v.)
You put your water into the purifier and light a fire. It will fill water bottles on its own.

For all other devices you need to craft a basic fire or campfire under their placement. You light the fire and cook or render fat into oil.

Crafting Essentials

You need an upgraded workbench, tanning rack and access to a forge and blacksmithy. Never bother building a forge or smithy…there are several all over the game map. Use the white house near the farms as a base. The farm has a forge and smithy and is visible from distances due to the barns and windmills.

Make a longbow and hunting arrows. Make basic arrows to practice shooting your bow until you get the hang of the aim and distances. Shoot zombies, bandits and bears in the heads with hunting arrows. Enjoy!

Collect piles of logs, branches, metal scraps, components in your base. Make nails at the bench. Build small animal traps and place them on the farm to catch chickens. Hunt chickens with the bow or the 9mm. Use their feathers for hunting arrows and the meat/fat for your larder. Cook all meat before eating.

Bandits Ain’t A Thang, Kid

Get a shotgun and plenty of ammo. Get a combat knife and an axe. Sneak up on a bandit camp. Bandit camps have carrots, potatoes, broccoli, and tons of other goodies like ammo and food.

Find little corners of the camp fence to shoot bandits in the head with your boomstick.
“Bandit, meet Boomstick. Boomstick, say hello.” After each headshot run away. The bandits will calm down after you are gone for a few minutes. Repeat until you get six or seven. Then carefully enter the camp and finish off the rest.

At the top of the tower in their camp is armor and a hostage. Free the hostage and you get an NPC at your base. The armor helps you win gunfights and helps somewhat in melees with zombies. It is just an edge…avoid trading blows with foes. Go for headshots/one shot kills and run away, repeat.

Avoid clearing zombie infestations in houses unless you get good at the kill/run/return/kill pattern. You need to raid bandits for cooking ingredients, seriously. It multiplies your food massively. They also have tons of ammo and gear. Once you can hunt them with a longbow, all the ammo is gravy. Save your guns for base defense and bearhunts.

Enjoy!