How to Get the Best Start in SCUM

SCUM is a hardcore survival game that can be pretty overwhelming for first-time players. However, once you get used to mechanics, it's one of the best online survival experiences out there. Getting used to things is easier said than done, though, because even if the game has a tutorial at the beginning, it won't hold anyone's hand when it comes to actually surviving on the island.

This guide is all about teaching players what to do on their first time dropping onto the island. There are plenty of things to remember in SCUM, but if all you're concerned about is not dying in the first five minutes, then this guide should help you out.

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By Chad Thesen

Best Things to Do First in SCUM

If you're dropping in for the first time, you'll likely have nothing but the clothes on your back and DEENA, the AI who'll teach you the game's basic controls. DEENA's tutorial should give you a good idea on how to gather and craft items as well as how to navigate the game's menus, and if you finish her short chain of tutorial tasks, you should now have a basic grasp of how to do the very basics.

Still, you'll likely be left wondering what to do next after the tutorial. SCUM's map is huge, and with your hunger and thirst meters constantly depleting, you'll be pressed for time. Here's what you should do after completing the tutorial.

Craft Basic Tools Fast

After the tutorial, you should have a Stone Knife, an Improvised Wooden Spear, a basic wooden bow, and an Improvised Courier Bag on you. The latter two are alright for beginners, but we strongly recommend ditching the knife and spear for a Stone Axe.

To get a Stone Axe, you'll need the following:

1 Small Stone Axe Head (made from two Small Stones)
1 Long Wooden Stick or 1 Short Wooden Stick
1 Tree Bark Rope (or any rope)

The Stone Axe can cut down trees and other small objects, and it's a decent starting melee weapon too. More importantly, it'll only save you some precious inventory space.

As a reminder, before venturing deeper into the island, make sure to have these items:

Stone Axe
Wooden Bow
A full stack of 12 Wooden Arrows

Look for Food and Water

Once you have a basic kit, it's time to find some food and water. The latter should be easy enough — open your map and look for a nearby body of inland water, like ponds, lakes, and rivers. Do not drink seawater.

Food, on the other hand, is trickier. You can try the following if you're getting peckish:

Scavenge for fruits, berries, insects, and mushrooms
Loot POIs like villages, towns, and military bases
Hunt animals
Go fishing

For new players, your best bet at early food is bushes and fruit trees. If you're lucky, you might find a farm that has a variety of crops already planted. In any case, once you find a food source, make a campfire and cook whatever you find.

Claim Land

Ideally, you should look for food and water near some trace of civilization like a village or town. You'll want to find these traces of civilization as they'll have the materials you need to craft a Flag, which acts as a land claim block. In order to build bases, you need set a Flag down first — doing so will also prevent hostile NPCs from spawning nearby.

To place buildables, open the Crafting menu and select the Base Building tab on the upper-right.

To craft a Flag, you need the following:

Metal Scraps
Rags
Bolts or Nails
Tool Box

You can craft Rags by cutting clothes dropped by Puppets. Meanwhile, Scraps and Bolts/Nails can be found inside warehouses, offices, or anywhere you'd expect pieces of construction hardware would be.

As for the Tool Box, you can either find a regular Tool Box or a Small Tool Box while exploring, or you can craft an Improvised Tool Box using the following:

2 Metal Scraps
2 Wooden Plank (cut logs from trees)
1 Bolt
1 Nail
Any blunt tool

Once you've planted a Flag, you can now start building a base. We recommend setting up a Flag in an abandoned village or homestead and just claim a nearby building as your shelter.

What to Do Next?

The steps outlined above should be enough to give you a basic idea of how to get a foothold in SCUM. At this point, you're free to explore the map and create more camps using the steps above. If you're not sure where to go, we recommend doing the following: