Rain World – How to Befriend Scavengers

A guide on scavengers and the most efficient way to befriend them. Includes a video as well.

Introduction

Note: Credit goes to Flamefriends

You ever get tired of those pesky scavengers spearing you for seemingly no reason? Do you want to make your world somewhat more peaceful? Or maybe you just don’t want to give these guys a pearl every time you want to go through the garbage wastes. Whatever the reason, the Chieftain passage is one of the few passages that has direct consequences to the world around you. Achieving this passage takes time, but it’s time well spent if it means one less enemy to worry about. In this guide, I’m going to go through the process I take to befriend these little dudes. I’ll also put a video guide at the bottom for those who want a visual aid or need help navigating the Industrial Complex.

Before You Start

While you might be tempted to jump right into the game and hurry off to the Industrial Complex, make sure that you’ve unlocked the Survivor passage, as the progress for the Chieftain, as well as the progress for any other passage in this game, will not be counted until after you’ve achieved that passage. For this reason, it’s a good idea to stay in the Outskirts until after your first passage. Take all the time you need to get used to the controls and surviving before you try to tackle this. It’s possible to get up to 5 passages before you even leave, so don’t feel pressured to follow your little yellow guide just yet.

Getting Started

Now then, you’ve grown comfortable with how the slugcat moves and how to properly survive. That’s good! I’m proud of you! You’re one of a mere 22% of people that have made it this far! Now comes the real challenge though, because while 22% of people have played enough to become a Survivor, only about 4.6% of people have become a Chieftain. It’s not that it’s a particularly hard achievement though, it’s just knowing what to do that gets people. If you’re here, you probably know how little direction Rain World gives you on what you can and cannot do. Hopefully this guide will make it a little easier though.

Your first order of business is to get to the Industrial complex. Your little yellow guide will actually point you in that direction anyway, so you’re furthering that quest as well. Once you get to the Complex, you need to make your way to this room.

Ignore the dead lizard. He’s not important. What is important is the shaft above my slugcat. This leads to the shelter that will serve as a base of operations for the purpose of making the scavengers love you. There’s also a karma flower in there, so bonus points.

Setting Up

The reason I choose this shelter is because of its proximity to another room — this one.

Seems like an ordinary room, right? Well, this one is special. See, this room has an unmarked tunnel to my slugcat’s immediate right. And guess where it leads.

Behold! This is a scavenger cave! This is the place they store their extra spears and bombs and pearls. It’s important to note that scavengers won’t like you coming in here uninvited, so make sure there aren’t any in the nearby area before you go venturing down this rabbit hole. I usually go to this room first before the shelter, but in the video guide I made they were present, so I had to save this part for the next cycle.

The Method

It might seem a bit cruel, but this is the fastest way to win their affection. Assuming you went in unnoticed, you’re allowed to take anything in this room with next to no consequences. Those exploding spears and grenades would be nice to have, but those are red herrings (and not just because the explodey bits are red.) What you really want is the pearls. See, the way to befriend a scavenger is to give them things they like. You will gain reputation with the tribe for every spear, mushroom, firecracker plant, karma flower, and pearl you give them (among others), but these pearls in particular are the ones that give the most reputation out of all of them.

Simply take those pearls back to your shelter and hoard them there. You don’t have to do anything with them yet, but putting them in your shelter keeps them from despawning and allows the scavenger cave to “restock” pearls in the upcoming cycles. This allows you to gather plenty pearls while you wait for the scavengers to come back. This area is fairly easy to survive in as well, offering plenty of flora and fauna nearby to munch on while you gather those pearls.

After a few cycles of pearl stealing, you may notice the scavengers return. Don’t panic. If you did it right, they won’t know you were the one stealing their pearls and won’t necessarily kill you on sight. Approach them cautiously nonetheless, since they will attack the slugcat if it seems too aggressive. I’m sure you know that by now, but just in case you didn’t, there it is. Approach them cautiously, lay down if they raise a spear to you, and toss a pearl their way. They’ll pick it up if they’re receptive.

Additionally, scavengers drop everything they’re carrying if they pick up a pearl, so you can use this to your advantage as well. You can pick up a dropped exploding spear, for example, then drop it for another scavenger to pick up, there by creating a chain reaction of reputation gain. Remember though, plucking a spear from a scavenger while they’re holding it will anger them, so try not to do that. It’s ok to do it once in a while after you’re already friends if you’re in danger (ex: about to be zapped by an adult centipede) but don’t make a habit of it. If you take candy from a baby, the mother will get you. If you take spears from scavengers, the entire troupe will retaliate. It’s also good to not have weapons on you the first few times you encounter them anyway, since that’ll make the slugcat seem more dangerous and make it more likely that they’ll attack you. There is a cap for the amount of reputation gained in a day though, so don’t give them more than a couple of pearls on any given cycle.

The Payoff

It may not count your first pearl giving as part of the passage, but that’s because you have to do it over the course of multiple cycles. It’s not a bug or a mistake, I promise. Note that it won’t count the first cycle of progress passages like the Hunter, the Monk, and the Saint as well. It’ll take a minimum of 3 counted cycles for scavengers to fully accept you into their tribe, but once they do, you can bet you’ll be a much safer slugcat. Maybe a little too safe at times, since befriended scavengers will follow you into your shelters and lead to severe crowding in the morning. Still, it’s better than having to worry about vultures, lizards, and scavengers. Especially since it’s a global friendship. These Industrial Complex scavengers will go on to tell their Garbage Wastes and Chimney Canopy buddies about this really cool slugcat that just gives pearls out like it’s nothing, and they’ll tell their friends, and so on and so fourth. You’ll never have to pay a toll again after this (though offering things like spears and mushrooms at tolls will help you keep your reputation in peak condition. It regenerates after you’ve achieved the passage, but it’s still a nice thing to do.)

Conclusion and Video

Congratulations! If you’ve made it this far, in one piece or several pieces, you’ll have your efforts rewarded with the Chieftain passage! Now you can go forth and live your slugcat life with one less threat in the world. Just don’t get in between a scavenger and an observer. All bonds go out the window when they see one of those guys. Anyway, here’s the video if you want it.