Mechanics

Almost every system in Far Cry 5 feeds the same currency. Skinning a deer, catching a sturgeon, rescuing a civilian, killing a cultist with a rocket launcher: all of it pays Perk Points, and Perk Points buy the abilities that change how the rest of Hope County plays. This guide follows our seven Far Cry 5 mechanics pages in that order, starting with where the points come from and what to spend them on, then the hunting and fishing that pay most of them, and closing with how the story can end, the references buried in Hope County, and the Arcade.

Where Perk Points come from

There are three taps. The first is challenges: 70 of them across four categories, worth 151 Perk Points in total if you finish every one, tracked in the menu that opens from the PS4 touch pad or the Xbox One select button. The second is the 14 perk magazines lying in bunkers, sheds and caves around the map, each one a point you can walk up to and take; our perk magazines page has all of them. The third is prepper stashes, several of which pay out three magazines at once alongside the cash, which is why our collectibles guide puts the stashes at the top of the collecting order. Perks have their own menu and can be bought in any order the tree allows, so points spent early on movement pay for themselves across the whole campaign.

The five perk trees

Our perks guide covers all five paths in detail. Survivalist keeps you alive and improves what you take off animals and fish. Renegade is the loud tree, vehicles and heavy weapons and getting into places from the air. Assassin is stealth, climbing and close quarters. Prepper is pure carrying capacity, one bag at a time. Leader shortens the recovery time of your Guns for Hire and eventually lets you take two of them out at once.

The perks that change how you play

Most perks are small percentage upgrades. These are the ones that open up parts of the map or parts of the game you otherwise cannot reach.

The masteries are worth grouping. Rifle Mastery, Weapons Pro, Heavy Weapon Mastery, Close Combat Mastery and Primal Mastery each make one family of weapons more accurate and faster to reload, aim and swap. Which one you buy should follow the loadout you actually carry, and our loadouts guide pairs them with the four roles it builds around.

A setup that carries the campaign

Challenges, and what each one pays

Our challenges guide lists every requirement and payout. Hunting is the largest pot, Assault the most varied, and World the one you have to go out of your way for.

The best value in the Assault list is Long-Range Kills, which wants only five and pays four points, the single largest award in the game. A cluster of three-point challenges sit just behind it: 20 LMG kills, 20 arrow kills, 10 flamethrower kills, 10 grenade launcher kills, 10 rocket launcher kills, three Saboteur kills, two Death from Below kills, four Death from Above kills, five chain takedowns, 15 standard takedowns and the flat 100 Total Kills. At the other end, 10 melee kills and 10 hit and run kills pay a single point each, so save the specific weapon types for when you have the gun rather than buying one for the challenge.

Guns for Hire challenges tick along on their own if you rotate your companions. Boomer and Peaches each pay three points for 10 kills, the Fighters pay three for 15, and Sharky, Jess Black, Hurk, Adelaide, Cheeseburger, Grace and Nick Rye pay two apiece for five kills each, with Grace's counted as sniper kills and Nick's as kills from the air. The specialists themselves are on our missions guide, since most of them join after a side mission.

Hunting

Hunting in Far Cry 5 is not about food. You kill animals to skin them, skinning fills challenges, and challenges pay the points, with meat and skins sold for cash on the side. Our hunting guide covers the technique: sniper rifles and composite bows are the right tools because anything messier ruins the skin and its value. Prey animals bolt, so shoot them from distance. Predators come at you instead, which makes them easier to hit and much more dangerous, and a bear will take several shots before it drops, so have an exit planned. A hunting magazine picked up in the world marks hunting grounds where the animals gather.

Hares are the outlier worth noting: one kill, two points. Wolves are the worst rate on the board at five kills for two points, so take them when they attack you rather than hunting them deliberately.

Fishing

Fishing unlocks through Skylar at Dylan's Master Bait Shop, on the border of the Whitetail Mountains. Finish her mission Tools of the Trade and she hands over a rod and a tutorial. From there the loop is: pick an insect from the Utility Wheel, cast into a fishing hole with the right trigger held down, and tap the left trigger now and then to tempt a bite. When the controller vibrates, hammer the right trigger to set the hook, then reel against the direction the fish is swimming with the right stick. If the tension line turns red it snaps, so give it slack and resume once the line calms down. Our fishing guide has the full spot list.

Every species on that list is a Hunting challenge, and 10 of the 12 fish challenges pay a point each while Pallid Sturgeons and Paddlefish pay three. Fisher King is close to mandatory for the record fish, since it tires them out far faster on the line. Chinooks are the money fish at 100 dollars a piece from any vendor, and if Cheeseburger is following you around, the catch doubles as bear food.

The three endings

Far Cry 5 has three conclusions and one of them can happen before the story starts. Spoilers follow, and our endings guide walks each one in full.

Easter eggs and references

Hope County is stuffed with nods to Ubisoft's back catalogue and to the real world. Our Easter eggs guide collects the ones that go somewhere.

Far Cry Arcade and the map editor

Finish the intro, liberate Dutch's Island and the map editor opens up. Our map editor guide covers what it holds: roughly 9,000 objects, drawn not only from Far Cry 5 but from Far Cry 4, Far Cry Primal, Assassin's Creed Black Flag, Assassin's Creed Unity and Watch Dogs. You can build a map offline, but playing one requires being online.

Modifiers are where the editor gets strange: Countdown, Loadout Creation, One Shot Kills, modified gravity, modified jump height, a score to reach, Invincible and Infinite ammo. Progression runs both ways, so levelling in the campaign carries into Arcade and Arcade levelling carries back, and the perks you own apply in both, which is noted on the perks themselves.

Frequently asked questions

What is the fastest way to get Perk Points early?

Skin animals as you find them and fish the easy species. Fifteen of the Hunting challenges want a single kill or catch, and the world's perk magazines are free points on a shelf. The Assault challenges then fill in on their own while you clear outposts.

How many Perk Points are there in total?

The 70 challenges are worth 151 points between them, and the 14 perk magazines and the prepper stash rewards sit on top of that, which is enough to buy well past the 25 perks the Survivalist trophy asks for.

Which rod should I be using?

The Natural rod at 400 dollars is fine for the ordinary species. Old Betsy is the best rod in the game, but it only arrives after you have beaten the fishing records at all 12 hard spots, which in practice means owning Fisher King first.

Do the endings change anything you keep?

No. They are conclusions rather than branches, and the secret one skips the campaign entirely. If you want the full story, take Resist and treat Walk Away and the ten-minute ending as things to see once.