How to get over fear of wildlife (especially bears and Timberwolves

[Undetected_YT]

I have a fear of Bears and other wildlife in The long dark. Can someone tell me tips on how to get over my fear. It's pretty annoying. 

[Leeanda]

I play on pilgrim for that very reason! Hate those bears!  

Im not sure you can completely conquer the fear and personally I. Wouldn't want to! Keeps you alive for a lot longer! 

It does get better the more you play and more experienced you get  but you could start on you're own custom settings until you feel more confident about  everything!

[Pınar51-06]

I like play on pilgrim too but ı can say that playing story mode and doing some easy challenges (like nomad or archivist) helps playing with bears and wolfs. Also reading searching books and shooting deers first (🥺sorry deers) maybe help to increase your skills.

[Undetected_YT]

Thanks for the tips! 

[mfuegemann]

You can normally avoid encounters by proceeding with care. Wolfs can be held at bay with a lit torch or a burning flare. There are some great turorials on how to scare them off with a stone.

Bears also wait a bit if You are carrying a flare and give You time to retreat. But You have to be quick about it. 

The final tip for moose and bear is, that You can drive them off with the flare gun. Wait until they charge and then shoot them in the head. You will either get an instant kill or they will run off in fear.

[Lord of the Long Dark]

Playing on pilgrim through stalker you don’t need to fear the animals- they hit like marshmallows. Just snipe them from out of their aggro range. 
  

[Leeanda]

16 minutes ago, Lord of the Long Dark said:

Playing on pilgrim through stalker you don’t need to fear the animals- they hit like marshmallows. Just snipe them from out of their aggro range. 
  

I wouldn't compare a bear with a marshmallow!  Even on pilgrim I've had a few close calls with Yogi and I always shoot from a distance!  Theyre speedy little ...things😊

[Lord of the Long Dark]

Well for beginners you can always cheese the bear either by starting a fire and taking a free shot at him or lure him to a vehicle and shoot him and quickly enter vehicle and he will walk away. Repeat until dead.

  Once you get better you welcome animals because it’s your only food after a while in interloper  in fact in interloper it’s annoying when the wolves run from you.  

 

Edited September 21, 2021 by Lord of the Long Dark

[Leeanda]

12 hours ago, Lord of the Long Dark said:

Well for beginners you can always cheese the bear either by starting a fire and taking a free shot at him or lure him to a vehicle and shoot him and quickly enter vehicle and he will walk away. Repeat until dead.

  Once you get better you welcome animals because it’s your only food after a while in interloper  in fact in interloper it’s annoying when the wolves run from you.  

 

I have that problem now on pilgrim! They run away before I even have time to get my gun out most of the time! 

[sierra 117]

Start a throwaway stalker save and practice some naked wolf wrestling, lol

That's what I do when the fear starts to creep back. 

But for me personally I get so immersed in the long dark that I quickly return to almost having a heart attack when being pursued.lol

 

[hozz1235]

Pilgrim as others have mentioned, or make a Custom Game.

[Glflegolas]

Wolves are the most common animal that you'll need to deal with. If a wolf does detect you and you walk away at a constant speed, the wolf will almost never get close enough to initiate the charge, unless you're very encumbered and moving very slowly. If the wolf does charge, you can outrun it for a short time by sprinting if you're not encumbered. Stones, gunshots, flares, campfires, torches, and bows are all excellent ways of dealing with pesky pooches. Wolves will flee from thrown stones if hit, and gunshots often scare them away. Also, they won't get too close to a burning campfire or torch or flare. If using the fire, you may use accelerant to quickly light the fire to be extra safe. Throwing a lit flare or torch at a growling wolf will usually scare it off. Hitting a wolf with an arrow will also scare it. Lastly, you can wear a wolfskin or bearskin coat to scare wolves away.

Bears are a little tougher, however, if you sprint away from them, you will usually leave their detection range. If you do get charged, the flaregun will scare them off. Sleeping in a bearskin bedroll allows you to sleep anywhere outside with no risk of being attacked by a bear.

Timberwolves are tricky to deal with. Try throwing a lit marine flare at the members of the pack over and over, or shooting them with a weapon. The revolver works best, but the bow can work well too.

[Pencil]

I would say to learn the spawns of wolves and bears using Pilgrim mode. If you know where a wolf/bear can or cannot be in a region, you can explore with more confidence. It's helpful to crouch in areas that have hostile wildlife. If you hear footsteps and you have no idea where it's coming from, you can just light a flare to keep you safe. 

Also, if your playing on any difficulty other than Interloper where flares are plentiful, light a flare any time you are entering a wolf/bear area, even if you don't see one, since they will not attack you when you're holding one (unless you approach them when they stop and growl.) If it's night time and I'm walking through crumbling highway, I would light a flare and book it. Sometimes I'll even turn off my sound lol. 

Playing the Hunted Part 1 can help get over fear of bears. 

Idk, maybe trying to fight the indoor wolves will help with wolf fear... or that might make it worse lol. 

[acada]

It can help if you play with headphones. I usually hear those pesky toothy munchers before I see them. The bear have had crows sharp sound which could be heard long time before you meet him. It was different than weather birds or carcass birds. Not sure after this patch. Wolfs can be heard of course howling, munching on their prey. But sometimes it is grass rustle which warns you. 

[whirls]

You need to know the map and where the wildlife is in order to relax while being in a safe region. If you think in every corner a wolf could be, you ll get stressed out. So get the maps:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1901570789

 

Bears are very easy to avoid, if they block your path, then just try another time / day.

 

Wolves are a little bit more difficult, but similar. Problem is they are more and smell you easier. Timber wolves are indeed a pain. I see it like this: if you pass a region with timber wolves (bleak inlet), you ve a good reason for it. So be ready for a fight or sprint from car to car or whatever strucutre. Timber wolves will not follow you forever and leave you if you get out of their ground. So know there space limitations and you can plan your infiltration / exfiltration. In the last 100 meters you can use marine flares. So I play stalker and I shoot them all.

Normal Wolves can be distracted by going nearby of rabbits or deers. If a normal Wolf is following you, most times others will run away from you. That way wolves will actually not block your path.

When Bears and Wolves are charging you, you can jump from a cliff, which they make stop following you often. So run up on a hill, find a rock and "climb" down.

Face the fear and it will become smaller.

[ChillPlayer]

I have written a very detailed guide for how to deal with wolves back in 2015 on steam. And to my surprise after quickly skimming through it, most of it is still relevant except for the actual handfight, which was changed completely. But everything else might help you to deal with our best friends

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=391000817

 

[whirls]

so there IS modding possible for TLD?? Found a good collection:

 

https://xpazeman.com/tld-mod-list/

 

[Stone]

@Undetected_YT I tell my kids fear is all about the unknown. Things are less scary when you understand them. So as many have said here - getting to know where bear / wolf / moose encounters are likely really helps and so knowing how these things behave. Everything is scared of a flare gun shot so if you're really worried, walk around with that at the ready. Moose are rare, appear in locations that are usually open and marked by debarked trees and give you a warning if you're too close. Bears generate a different crow noise (which some people find useful) and you'll either stumble upon them or have them approach if you smell. And wolves are most predictable / manageable as you can always drop a fire for safety or drop meat or just walk away. Scent is a great example of how much control you have over their behavior as at the right distances you can pick up meat, drop it, pick it up, drop, etc and literally watch them respond to your scent coming and going as they start to walk to you then turn away. So know them and know what you can control. You will get unlucky sometimes and be attacked, just plan to avoid attacks and be ready to recover if they happen and you'll find you're lucky goes a long way. Good luck!

[Semple Fi]

Define “fear”?

 I’ve noticed that the change in the soundtrack is what makes it worse for me. So I mute the audio and carry on with the encounter….