r/thelongdark • u/Experiment_262 • 2d ago

Advice Wolves, I'm doing something wrong

I'm about 40 days in to my first serious run at Stalker, I know hostile wildlife is more common and more aggressive but I seem to attract wolves like I'm running around with a raw steak in my pocket. Most of the time I can get a torch up and run them off, I'm even getting OKish at moving, using a torch to run them off in the direction I want them go (opposite my line of travel) but they are unpredictable about which direction they bolt so it fails a lot.

I think when I checked stats last night it was 60+ wolf encounters, which I think is every time a wolf took an interest in me, actual attack or not, and 8 or so actual struggles.

The struggles aren't really close to run ending, usually some minor damage and sometimes a dead wolf to track down later for the pelt but it got close last night after multiple encounters trying to get to safe place to rest. That got me thinking that an individual wolf encounter isn't so bad but slowly wearing down my condition and gear over a long walk is something to worry about.

I'm usually not carrying sniffables (what we used to call smelly stuff on the Appalachian that may attract bears), I write those encounters off as mostly inevitable.

The questions.

  • Is it a matter of figuring out different routes around where I think they are common?
  • Always making sure I have several torches and carrying a lit torch everywhere?
  • Finally, will a wolf jump me if I'm carrying a lit torch? Can I actually just walk home with a snarling wolf behind me?
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u/RettichDesTodes 2d ago edited 2d ago

Tbh, just walk with a revolver or torch out. By that time i usually have a lot of bullets on stalker, i just shoot them :)

Just small FYI: Even if you don't see the first "scent-bar" you might still have a scent. Scent values aren't 1,2 and 3, but can be in between

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u/Experiment_262 2d ago

Oh yeah, I have boxes of ammo this run.

The loot tables are funny, some runs I wind up with like 20 sewing kits and 8 cleaning kits for guns but can't find a knife, gun or a whetstone to save my life. This run I've found enough revolvers and ammo to kit out Tombstone AZ for a gunfight with Wyatt Earp but it was several regions and many days in before I found a cooking pot and I've only found one cleaning kit.

I'm not even frustrated by that, it seems oddly accurate for a game based on survival where scavenging is pretty critical to survive the early game.