Far Cry 3 Strategies and Tips

I have created this guide because Far Cry 3 is my 2012 GOTY. It contains short, mostly long, obvious, beginner and advanced strategies and tips. Keep in mind they are based off of my own experiences after thoroughly completing the game five full times and working on my sixth playthrough. Feel free to follow, not follow, add to or tweak any of my strategies or tips. This is what I think will make Far Cry 3 a more enjoyable experience for any player.

Where to Begin

It can be overwhelming when Far Cry 3 first puts you out on your own. As I have seen many guides on this dilemma already I will tell you this. As you play the game and use my strategies and tips it will be clear to you that it doesn't really matter how you start. Some ways make it challenging while others make it a near joke of how easy it can be. I suggest discovering this on your own as it is just part of the fun.

If you insist on something more I will tell you briefly what I find works best and what I would suggest doing (again after 5, nearly 100% playthroughs). Start out by upgrading the Weapon Holster Pouch and adding a weapon of your choice (2 weapons are enough for now). Explore West towards the Dr. Earnhart mission. Free a Radio Tower. Stay away from the outposts. Complete several missions or at least complete the mission when you Meet Citra. From here do any and all exploring you want.

By completing story missions you unlock skill points and syringe recipes so find a good balance between story missions and exploring. If the skill tree says to complete more missions to unlock that skill point you want then complete more missions until it is unlocked.

Skill Points

Earning skill points in Far Cry 3 doesn't take very long depending on how you play the game. Basically, if you rush through the game you won't be able to earn enough xp to get the useful skill points. By taking your time you can. Here is a sum of the ways to earn xp:

• Story missions usually offer the biggest xp gains
  
• Liberating outposts undetected yields 1500xp
  
• Liberating outposts after being seen gains 550xp without the alarm going off
  
• Liberating outposts after being seen and allowing the enemy to trigger the alarm gains 500xp
  
• Completing side missions such as supply drops gives 250xp (500xp later in the game)
  
• Finding relics also gives 250xp
  
• Chained kills, headshots, knife takedowns, multiple kills and taking out heavies with a knife takedown all give more xp than simply kiiling enemies with chest or limb shots (such as 10xp versus 30xp)

Don't forget that you must progress through story missions in order to unlock skill points. A few skill points have a requirement that must be completed before it unlocks such as with Death From Above or Below. The 3 skill trees are The Heron, The Shark and The Spider. Each has its strongest skill points that help greatly in the game or just allow new tactics to be available which allows more fun to be had.

The Heron has Death From Above, Death From Below, Deep Breath, Soft Landing, Syringe Potencies and Marathon Man.

The Shark has the Conditioning skills giving more health slots, Button up for better armor and Heavy Beatdowns which unlocks the ability to kill heavies using knife takedowns (huge xp bonus).

The Spider is the most useful for stealthy players and since most skills are useful, the ones that you shouldn't be in a hurry to get are Penny Pincher, Dealmaker, Loot Takedown, Expert and Combat Archer.

Crafting Pouches

Crafting is based on your style of play and what you will use the most. Pouches basically increase how much you can carry and includes weapons, syringes, ammo, arrows and how much loot and money you can carry. To do so you must find, kill and skin many animals. The Zoology skill point helps greatly in this task. You shouldn't have to kill anymore than 10 of each animal to complete all the pouch upgrades. If predators are giving a hard time then unlock better weapons and increase skill points that give more health. You can also try using Hunting syringes to increase the damage against animals.

Basically if you want to carry more of this or that then get the skins and upgrade. There is no best way in terms of which to upgrade first as it always depends on how you play. To get extended pouches you usually have to liberate outposts to unlock the rare animal quests but note that not all are for rare animals.

Crafting Syringes

By completing story missions and some side missions you unlock more recipies for syringes. Most people claim that they are mostly useless but that isn't true unless you're just rushing through the game. Medical syringes are of course a must. Eventually you unlock a medical syringe that heals all health bars and increases the total by 4. Once available, dont bother using the first one.

In Hunting the animal repellant can be used tactically against predators. The best example is when liberating outposts that have dogs that will most likely get you spotted. Use the animal repellant and that problem goes away. If you can't spot an animal, kill an animal or don't need predators ruining your plans then use Hunting syringes.

Combat syringes help by making you fireproof or spotting enemies and explosives nearby.

Exploration syringes help you dive for longer, spot plants and my favorite that allows you to sprint significantly faster.

There are also two bonus syringes if you find 30 and then 40 relics. The first makes you invincible and the second allows one shot kills. The downside is the high amount of leaves they require to be crafted.

Again, the syringes are only as useless as you make them to be.

Liberating Outposts Undetected

It's easy to simply go crazy and shoot everyone at an outpost. This only gives either 500 or 550xp. Instead I recommend liberating them undetected to gain 1500xp. Always remember to keep moving when attacking an outpost to avoid getting caught. If they see their friend drop dead they will run towards the attack origin, this is when you need to move and avoid getting spotted. If you fail and get detected you can try again by dying on purpose and the game will load you in a position nearby the outpost. Always save before liberating an outpost.

The most efficient way is to use the knife, a silenced sniper rifle or a bow. Some enemies have body armor and require a headshot to kill to avoid being detected. Always recon the area using either an aimed weapon or prefferably the camera which has great zoom. The game marks the enemies and animals for you so you know where every threat is.

If there is a caged animal, make sure there are no enemies using molotovs. They scare the animal away. If they are not present then shoot the cage, release the animal and watch the fun. Any predator released can clear out an entire outpost. You can also use the released animal as a distraction to pick off enemies silently.

You can also use explosives and remain undetected. When you shoot an enemy and they run towards your position, you can have mines already placed as a trap. You can also sneak in and place C4 near enemy positions. As long as they never detect you then the outpost will be liberated for 1500xp.

Weapons/Radio Towers/Money

Freeing radio towers unlocks weapons, makes them free in stores and reveals a section of the map. Usually money is no problem and your wallet gets full really fast. Don't be afraid to spend your money on armor, ammo, attachments and paint jobs. I wouldn't suggest buying any weapons unless you really want to because every wepaon eventually becomes free, you just have to free the radio towers. To earn money, complete side missions and sell loot often for fastest results.

The best weapons to use is a matter of opinion but some weapons just make the game easier. The first would be the .50 caliber sniper rifle when equipped with a high powered scope and silencer. Heavies wear helmets that forces you to shoot them in the back of the head. On the second island, they have armor covering the back of their heads as well. With the .50 caliber sniper rifle you can make a headshot from any angle. The bow just makes stealth simple and is detected less than a sniper rifle. As for the rest of the weapons, your customizations and skills as a shooter determines what weapons are "ultimate." Keep in mind that you unlock another set of more powerful weapons once you reach the second island (like the .50 caliber sniper rifle). Free radio towers to make these weapons free as well.

Signature Weapons

There are a total of 8 signature weapons available throughout the game. Note that they cannot be customized and are expensive.
The AMR which is a sniper rifle unlocked by collecting 20 relics.
The Bull Shotgun is unlocked by collecting 10 relics.
The Bushman is an assault rifle unlocked by activating all radio towers.
The Cannon is a revolver pistol unlocked as a Uplay Reward.
The Japanese Tanto machete is unlocked by discovering 6 letters.
The Shadow pistol is unlocked by liberating 17 outposts.
The Ripper is a light machine gun unlocked by completing 6 trials of Rakyat.
Finally the Shredder is a submachine gun unlocked by collecting 10 memory cards.

A Note on Sprinting, Driving and Fast Traveling

Just the same as Far Cry 2, there is an extremely large amount of running around, driving and all around traveling. Fortunately, this time there are fast traveling points which are usually unlocked by liberating an outpost. Running on foot isn't boring anymore because there are almost always patrols and predators in the jungle and on the roads. The driving, in my opinion has improved and after 5 playthroughs I have never had to use the repair tool on a vehicle except to help an ally and gain a $100 reward (if you kill someone with the repair tool you earn an Achievement). Remember, just as with games like Skyrim, GTA and Sleeping Dogs, exploring, getting lost and running around is part of the experience and usually gives great rewards for your efforts and patience.

Last Notes and Random Tips

Complete as many hunter quests, dead wanted quests and other side missions as you can. The reason is that it gives great rewards, great practice, money, experience points and sometimes it's just plain fun to fight bears with only a knife.

Be creative in your attacks. Use mines and C4 to create ambushes or create chaos. Shoot the driver of a jeep and watch the car and other enemies fly. Drive a boat onto shore to hit enemies. Use the glider to fly straight into an enemy position and surprise them. The possibilities are just about endless.

Although rare, snakes and crocodiles do exist and can attack at almost any moment in the game. A snake attacked me as I was taking on a Heavy Gunner and I died. Crocodiles are rarely ever seen but are easy enough to fight off with button mashing. Any river deep enough has a crocodile just waiting.

You can unlock every skill point before completing the game. The easiest way to do this is by freeing all outposts on both islands silently giving that 1500xp reward.

Feel free to comment or rate this guide. Let me know if this helped or if you need help with anything else such as on the second island.

[sharath.kumar212]

thats help ful

[Dr. Reefer]

Favoriting this guide, very in-depth. One of my games of all-time for sure :)

[LordGrim]

Thank you, I just played it for the first time.. ^_^

[dedh00krz69]

Comments being as recent as 17 hours ago on a thread for a game thats over a decade old is wild as fuck to me and i love it so much.

[SegueArt_]

I love I'm still getting comments so many years later. Proves how great this game is!

[Goodluck Johnathan 9853]

Thank you segue ... Love

[SegueArt_]

@gary: Haha agreed that 3 and 4 are the better ones. Far Cry 2 had only a couple of cool bits like the mortar rounds and I also love Far Cry Primal because of the ancient world. 5 had good bits too but forced you to face the boss' when you didn't want to so the open world freedom felt limited. And 6, well let's not talk about 6.

[gary]

2023 and still 3 and 4 are my most played games. I've only played 2 twice it was awful.
Not that keen on 5 either due to the kidnapping business, and 6 won't lay on my PC
The main issue I have is not being able to skip cut scenes which become laborious when you've played it 30 times. And the driving of vehicles. It's like driving one handed while drunk with 3 flat tyres.

[SegueArt_]

@kickedoff5: That's okay, the first two were better back in the day. The 3rd one is still probably the best in my opinion. It has its rough edges but is more accessible to players of all skill levels. My guide will definitely help you get the most out of it.

[kickedoff]

Just bought the whole set. Gave up on 1 near the end when I kept running out of ammo. Didn't like 2 much at all - quit early. Now, I am on 3.