To survive on the remote island of Sons of the Forest, you must have a decent weapons arsenal. The better the weapons, the higher the odds of defending yourselves from enemies. My guide will cover all the information regarding weapon locations.
Related: 25 Best Sons Of The Forest: Tips And Tricks
All Weapons Comparison And Locations
A comparison table below will showcase each weapon and its stats against one another. You can deduce which one suits your playstyle and what you should avoid:
All Weapons Comparison Table.
Melee Weapons Locations
Each melee weapons have their specific uses and stats based on speed and damage. Some of them have to be crafted using materials. In this section, I will go over all the details regarding where to find them in the game.
Axe
| Added in | EarlyAccess.32355 |
| Item type | Melee Weapon |
| Location(s) | Helicopter Crash |
| Obtained through | At the start of the game, from the emergency equipment bag |
| Equipable | yes |
| Upgradable | no |
| Throwable | no |
| Storage | Unknown |
| Speed | Unknown |
| Damage | Unknown |
| Block | Unknown |
| Range | Unknown |
| Max. Stack | Unknown |
The Tactical Axe is arguably essential for surviving on the Sons of the Forest island. It’s great for defending yourself against enemies and chopping down trees.
It can be found at the beginning of your game inside the Emergency Pack. You can also find the Utility Knife alongside the Axe in the Emergency Pack.
But you should also begin your search for the Modern Axe once you’re ready, as it’s much faster at chopping down trees and inflicts more damage to enemies.
If you follow the road towards this location on the map, you’ll find a gap between the tracks. This is where the camp is located. This camp will have all kinds of tools available, but you can find the Modern Axe lying close to a dead body in one of the tents.
Read in detail: Sons of the Forest Best Axe With Locations
Crafted Spear
| Also known as | Weak Spear |
| Category | Melee Weapon |
| Attacks | Melee |
| Equipable | yes |
| Upgradable | no |
| Throwable | no |
| Storage | Unknown |
| Speed | Unknown |
| Damage | Unknown |
| Block | Unknown |
| Range | Unknown |
| Max. Stack | Unknown |
A Crafted Spear is also a convenient weapon to use in combat. You can prepare a Crafted Spear using only a few materials and don’t need to look around the map for those materials.
To craft a spear, you need to find yourself some sticks. You can find them on the beach at the start of the game or in the forest. You can also get them by chopping down trees or ordering Kelvin to find them.
Next, you must collect duct tape from small containers scattered around the spawn location. Once you have these materials, open your Inventory Mat by pressing the “I” key. Combine 1x Duct Tape, 2x Sticks, and the Knife to craft your spear.
Machete
| Added in | EarlyAccess.32355 |
| Item type | Melee |
| Location(s) | Northern Coast |
| Equipable | Yes |
| Upgradable | No |
| Throwable | No |
| Speed | High |
| Damage | Medium |
| Block | Medium |
| Range | Short |
In my opinion, Machete is one of the better weapons in the game for melee combat. It’s effective because of its fast speed and inflicts a decent amount of damage on enemies.
To reach the Machete, follow the beach’s coastline on the map’s Northside. In the area, you’ll come across some dead Killer Whales. Continue going this way, and you should find a camp.
There’s a bunch of loot available here including the Shotgun. Search the place for a pair of Dinghy Boats, and you’ll be able to find the Machete inside one of them.
Stun Baton
| Also known as | Cattle Prod |
| Category | Melee Weapon |
| Attacks | Stun Melee |
Stun Baton is another helpful weapon you can get early in the game. If you hold down the left-click mouse button, you’ll activate an electric shock that temporarily stuns your enemy. You can use this opportunity to either run away or finish them off, but you’ll have to act quickly before the enemy recovers.
The Stun Baton is located near the stream marked on the map. Follow the sound of the water until you reach a small waterfall. You’ll see the Stun Baton between a pile of skulls at the waterfall’s base.
Chainsaw
| Equipable | Yes |
| Upgradable | No |
| Throwable | No |
| Speed | MEDIUM |
| Damage | GODLY |
Getting the Chainsaw is tricky, as you’ll have to obtain the VIP key card and the Maintenance key card first. It would be best to have them first before entering the bunker inside the cave withholding the Chainsaw.
Once you obtain them, you can head to the location on the map to find the cave. Enter the cave and keep exploring the bunker. You’ll come across a door that requires the Maintenance essential card to open. Open the door and go left from the Gym area.
Keep going until you reach the Lobby, and walk up the stairs. Walk straight from here until you find the second door, which requires the VIP key card. Open the door and walk down the hallway until you reach the Cinema room.
Inside the Cinema room, you’ll find the Chainsaw inside a corpse sitting on one of the bag chairs.
Katana
| Added in | EarlyAccess.32355 |
| Item type | Melee |
| Location(s) | South-Eastern Cave Bunker |
| Equipable | Yes |
| Upgradable | No |
| Throwable | No |
| Speed | High |
| Damage | Medium |
| Block | Medium |
| Range | Medium |
The Katana is the best melee weapon in the game. But I must tell you, getting your hands on it can be challenging, but the hard work pays off.
First, you’ll need to enter the cave until you find a hole that leads to the bunker. Use the Maintenance key card to enter the bunker and follow its path.
Continue down the stairs until you reach the second door and open it. Doing this will play a cutscene, and you can’t exit from how you came. Explore the bunker for any items you want such as the Golden Armor, then continue to the floor beneath.
On the second level, you’ll see a similar layout as the one before. Go down the path and towards the second room on the right; you’ll find the Katana on a stand.
Ranged Weapon Locations
Slingshot
| Added in | Early Access.32355 |
| Item type | Weapon |
| Location(s) | Cave near river |
| Equipable | Yes |
| Upgradable | no |
| Storage | 1 slot |
| Speed | Unknown |
| Damage | Unknown |
| Range | Unknown |
| Max. Stack | 1 |
| Uses | Small rocks |
| Max. Capacity | 1 |
The Slingshot is easy to find and use in Sons of the Forest. It’s great for picking at enemies from afar and finding ammunition (rocks) scattered over the map. Now it’s not on the level of guns dealing damage but still quite helpful.
You can find the Slingshot at the cave entrance on the map. Look for dead bodies mounted on spikes nearby. In one of those bodies, you’ll be able to find the Slingshot.
Crafted Bow
| Added in | EarlyAccess.32355 |
| Item type | Ranged |
| Equipable | Yes |
| Upgradable | No |
| Throwable | No |
| Speed | Medium-High |
| Damage | Medium |
| Range | Low-Medium |
| Uses | Arrow |
As you may know, ammo is hard to come by on the Sons of the Forest island. So what you can use instead of guns is the Crafted Bow. It might not be as effective as guns, but it’s still a great way to damage enemies from a distance.
To get the Crafted bow, you need to get your hands on three materials: Duct Tape, 2x Sticks, and a Rope. Finding the first two is relatively easy, as you can find them in any abandoned camp. But the rope can be a bit challenging to find.
You can find it inside a cave near the side of the mountain or inside enemy camps. They can also be found along the island’s coastline on one of the spawn locations.
Once you get your hands on all three items, you can open up your inventory to combine them. The result of this will be the Crafted Bow.
You must combine 2x Sticks, 4x Stones, and 2x Feathers to craft arrows for the bows. You can get the first two by roaming the island a bit. Feathers can be obtained from killing birds.
Crossbow
| Added in | EarlyAccess.32355 |
| Item type | Ranged |
| Location(s) | Food and Dining Bunker |
| Equipable | Yes |
| Upgradable | Yes |
| Throwable | No |
| Speed | Low |
| Damage | Medium-High |
| Range | Medium-High |
| Uses | Crossbow Bolt |
The Crossbow is a powerful ranged weapon you can use against enemies in the game. Its bolts can be retained after being shot, but its reload time is relatively slow. So, you can use it to engage in a fight and then switch to a quicker weapon to finish off the enemy.
The Crossbow is also found inside a bunker. This requires entering the Maintenace key card, so you must find that first.
To get the Crossbow, enter the bunker and follow the path until you reach a Kitchen. You’ll need to unlock a door using the Maintenace key card to move further. It will lead to a Hydroponic Center. Here you’ll be able to find the Crossbow inside one of the corpses and a few Crossbow bolts.
Read in detail: Sons of the Forest Crossbow Location
Compound Bow
| Added in | EarlyAccess.32355 |
| Item type | Ranged |
| Location(s) | Maintenance Bunker B |
| Equipable | Yes |
| Upgradable | No |
| Throwable | No |
| Speed | Low-Medium |
| Damage | High |
| Range | High |
| Uses | Arrow |
Getting a headshot from this weapon will instantly kill most enemies. You can also retain its bolts, so you’ll usually have a lot of ammo.
To reach the Compound Bow, you must travel southwest of the map near the plane crash site. Go towards the west of the area until you find the entrance to the bunker. To get inside the bunker, you’ll need to dig out its door; for that, you’ll need the shovel.
Once inside the bunker, make your way to the bathroom. You’ll see a corpse inside the bathtub with the Compound Bow beside it.
Pistol
| Also known as | Pistol |
| Added in | Early Access.32355 |
| Item type | Ranged |
| Location(s) | 1. On the Survival raft 2. In green point cave near the lake cave on the rear side of the map (requires maintenance keycard) |
| Equipable | Yes |
| Upgradable | Yes |
| Throwable | no |
| Speed | Fast |
| Damage | Low-Medium |
| Range | Medium |
| Uses | 9mm Ammo |
| Max. Capacity | 12 |
Nothing beats a classic pistol for killing enemies in Sons of the Forest. Although its ammo can be hard to come by, the damage it inflicts from a range is only matched by the shotgun and the revolver.
You can find a 9mm Pistol on a small boat floating on the island’s west side a few miles from the west coastline. You’ll need to swim to get over there but beware of sharks spawning to the right of the boat. Once there, you can find the pistol, the GPS locator, and a few other supplies.
Read in detail: Sons of the Forest Pistol Location and Guide
Revolver
| Added in | EarlyAccess.32355 |
| Item type | Ranged |
| Location(s) | Maintenance Bunker C |
| Equipable | Yes |
| Upgradable | No |
| Throwable | No |
| Speed | High |
| Damage | Medium-High |
| Range | Medium-High |
| Uses | 9mm Ammo |
| Max. Capacity | 6 |
The Revolver deals more damage than the pistol, but its smaller magazine can be a bit limiting when facing off against a group of enemies. Nevertheless, it’s still a great ranged weapon to use for engaging in a fight.
To find the Revolver, you’ll need to dig up the entrance of a bunker. When you enter this bunker, you’ll find two rooms. The first room will have the corpse of a worker, and beside him will be the Revolver.
Shotgun
| Also known as | Unknown |
| Added in | Early Access.32355 |
| Item type | Weapon |
| Location(s) | GPS locator marker in grave/counter in night club |
| Obtained through | Digging up the grave with a shovel/picking up on the bar counter of the night club |
| Equipable | One/Two Handed |
| Upgradable | Shotgun Rail used to add attachments; Flashlight and Laser Sight |
| Throwable | N/A |
| Storage | Unknown |
| Speed | Slow fire rate |
| Damage | High |
| Block | N/A |
| Range | Short |
| Max. Stack | 1 |
The Shotgun is the most devastating weapon in Sons of the Forest. Once you get it, you can one-shot almost any enemy out of their range.
There are two locations from where you can get the shotgun.
First, you can go to the north coastline of the map. On the beach, you’ll find an abandoned camp; inside one of the tents, you should see the Shotgun.
You’ll need to dig up a grave to get the Shotgun from the second location. To do that, you’ll need the Shovel first. Once you have the Shovel, go to the area marked on the map and dig out the grave. Inside the coffin of the dead soldier, you’ll see Shotgun.
Outside of melee and ranged weapons, some other weapons are available in Sons of the Forest Weapon Locations.
Grenades
You can get Grenades from Sons of the Forest in several locations. But my recommended approach to obtain them, in the beginning, is near the island’s west coastline.
On the beach, you’ll see a corpse and some supplies. In front of the corpse, you’ll see a weapon safe from which you can get two grenades.
Molotov Cocktail
| Added in | EarlyAccess.32355 |
| Item type | Ranged |
| Equipable | Yes |
| Upgradable | No |
| Throwable | Yes |
Molotov Cocktails are great for getting out of a crowd of enemies. You can run away and throw it over to quickly slow down the enemy and clear out many low-health enemies.
Crafting a Molotov Cocktail is quite simple. All you need is 1x Cloth and 1x Alcohol Bottle. Combine the two materials in the crafting space to get the Molotov Cocktail.
Time Bomb
| Item type | Weapon/Tool |
| Equipable | Yes |
| Throwable | Yes |
| Storage | Inventory |
| Max. Stack | 3 |
Time Bombs are essentially delayed grenades. You can use them to kill a bunch of enemies at once or damage a small group of enemies.
To craft a Time Bomb, you’ll need 5x Coins, 1x C4 Brick, 1x Silver Watch, 1x Wire, 1x Circuit Board, and 1x Duct Tape. Combine all these materials to get the Time Bomb.
Putter
Putter is a fun tool you can use to play golf if you have the golf balls to go with it. It can also be used as a weapon but isn’t very effective compared to others. You can get the Putter from several locations, such as the bunker you find the Katana from and others.
Guitar
Lastly, the Guitar is another melee weapon found in the same bunker where you get the Chainsaw. It’s overall inferior to the Modern Axe in terms of damage and speed.
My Thoughts On All Weapons
All of these weapons add much value to the gameplay and offer great creativity to take on the threats. In my playthrough, only a few of the weapons qualified as the best ones. But I think these were purely dependent on my playthrough choice.
The same will be the case with your gameplay. That is why, I always recommend players to experiment with different weapons and find whatever fits best for tackling enemies.
Up Next:
- Sons Of The Forest Best Base Locations.
- Sons of the Forest Night Vision Goggles Location.
- Guide: Sons of the Forest Server Hosting & Server.
Good job! Please give your positive feedback 😏
How could we improve this post? Please Help us. 💡
Nauman Shah is a VeryAli’s Guide Writer. With a background in Software Engineering along with immense love for video games and three years in Unity 3D games development, Nauman joined the writing media to share his thoughts around the world. Moreover, he likes to smash people with difficult questions on social media and watch shows with a cat named ‘Blep’.
Nauman primarily plays RPG and Open World Games – His Gamer Tag is #Sammich. You can check his gaming library and connect with him!
