Just like in real life, staying hydrated in The Forest is one of the priorities, besides eating, if you wish to survive. Makes perfect sense for a survival game, right? In The Forest, you can collect and drink water from various sources including ponds, rain, and berries.
Hydration in The Forest
First of all, you should know a thing or two about hydration and water in The Forest. For instance, it occurs as time passes, but you can also cause it by eating dried meat of any kind. In addition, you’ll get 5% dehydration on Hard Mode, while Hard Survival Mode will get you 20% dehydration.
Although being dehydrated won’t negatively affect you, reaching the lowest level of dehydration means death. You can find the hydration stats next to your HUD’s fullness stats.
Lastly, there are three types of water in The Forest, salt water, fresh water, and polluted water. Drinking the polluted water will grant you a 20% chance of getting sick, in addition to reducing your health by a few percent.
How to Collect and Drink Water in The Forest
Build Your Base Close to Freshwater
There are a few ways you can collect water in The Forest, and it’s entirely up to you how you wish to proceed. One of the best methods of getting an abundance of drinkable water is by simply building your base close to a freshwater source.
Some examples include rivers, creeks, and ponds. However, this approach won’t work with seawater, as it’s not drinkable. In case you’ve built your base far away from any water source, don’t fret, as there is a solution. In addition to crafting the Water Skin and filling it up, you can also build a water collector.
Build a Water Collector
To do it, you’ll need four sticks and a turtle shell which will actually collect the water. This also means you’ll need to kill a poor turtle, and you may find them anywhere near the sea.
To create a rain collector, you’ll need to press B to open your survival book and look in the “Food” category. Then, once you make a water collector, all it’s left for you is to wait for it to fill up and drink water from it.
Boil Polluted Water
Another way to collect and drink water in The Forest, which is probably much more demanding, is by boiling polluted water. To do so, you will need to collect an Old Pot, and exactly five of them are spread throughout an entire map.
However, you won’t need to search for them for a long time, as the easiest one is located at an abandoned campsite just on the coast, northwest of the yacht.
To use the pot:
- Get close to a water source and fill it up.
- Build a campfire
- Hold the C button to boil the water for around 30 seconds.
How To Increase Hydration Using Items in The Forest
A few items in The Forest can increase your hydration and affect you in other ways. You’ll find these items in the table below:
| Item | Effect |
| Blueberries | Increases your hydration, fullness, and energy stats. |
| Booze | Increases your hydration, fullness, and energy stats. |
| Blackberries | Increases your hydration, fullness, and energy. |
| Soda | Increases your hydration and energy. |
With your main needs fulfilled, you can get to collecting more advanced resources that will help you survive in The Forest:
How to Make Rope in The Forest | How to Get Bones in The Forest | Where to Find Raccoon Locations in The Forest
