Image: Bend Studio / PlayStationNo screenshot of What It Takes To Survive yet. This one shows Deacon St. John (Bend Studio / PlayStation).
What It Takes To Survive
You need O'Brian's help to get Sarah off Wizard Island by air, so you ride out to meet him. He sends you into the Ice Wind Lava Cave to find Cooper, and the job gets much bigger from there.
- Type
- Story
- Given by
- James O'Brian
- Region
- Crater Lake
- Rewards
- 10,000 XP, Poison Bolt recipe
Storylines
Part 12 of 13 in Finding NERO
Part 15 of 19 in I'm Never Giving Up
Found in
- Crater LakeCrater Lake is the far southern region built around the real lake and Wizard Island, the Militia's headquarters. It opens in the second half of the story and has the most encampment jobs and NERO research sites in the game.
- Ice Wind Lava CavesThe Ice Wind Lava Caves are lava tubes Deacon explores in What It Takes To Survive, while meeting O'Brian. You meet your first Reacher here and then fight a 100-Swarmer Horde underground.
- Ice Wind Lava Caves HordeA 100-Swarmer Horde inside the Ice Wind Lava Caves that you must clear at the end of What It Takes To Survive. It does not count toward Horde Killer, so treat it as a story fight in tight tunnels.
Good to know
- The mission ends with a 100-Swarmer horde inside the cave.
- It is the first time you meet a Reacher.
- Bring Napalm Molotovs, a strong primary and plenty of ammo before you go in.
- Three in-game days pass over the course of the mission.
What happensSpoilerShow
Deacon's plan is to have O'Brian fly Sarah out, so he agrees to run one more job. Inside the cave you follow Cooper's trail, kill a Reacher and then fight off a horde. O'Brian explains that hordes hold together by scent and that the Freakers are changing fast.
Objectives
1. Drive to the meeting. 2. Ride to the Ice Wind Lava Cave. 3. Go inside and explore. 4. Track Cooper. 5. Kill the Reacher. 6. Clear the horde.
Tips
Before triggering the horde, scout the cave for choke points and set traps along your retreat route.
- CooperCooper is a NERO researcher and a friend of O'Brian. His team goes into a cave in the Highway 97 region to sample a mutant Freaker and stops answering the radio. O'Brian sends Deacon in to find them.
Deacon St. JohnDeacon St. John is the player character: a former soldier and Mongrels MC enforcer who now works as a drifter and bounty hunter in post-outbreak Oregon. You play as him from the opening hunt for Leon. He still grieves his wife Sarah, whom he believes died early in the outbreak.- James O'BrianJames O'Brian is the NERO volunteer who loaded Sarah onto an evacuation helicopter when the outbreak began. Deacon finds him again two years later as a NERO lieutenant in the Finding NERO storyline. He becomes Deacon's only inside source on NERO and on what happened to Sarah.
HordesHordes are packs of 25 to 500 Swarmers that move, feed and sleep as one, and they are the biggest fights in Days Gone. Each one needs scouting and a plan, but clearing them makes a region safer and pays out in weapons.- ReachersReachers are fast, hairy Freakers that charge, maul you, then back off to set up an ambush. They hit as hard as a Breaker with about half its health, so steady aim matters more than raw firepower.
Related missions
- Image: Bend Studio / PlayStationStory
Moments of Lucidity
O'Brian has another job for you near Lost Lake. You find a NERO field team, put a GPS tracker on their helicopter and spy on the researcher.
- Image: Bend Studio / PlayStationStory
On Herod's Birthday
O'Brian wants more NERO data, so Deacon tracks a NERO field research team in the Lost Lake region. You tag their helicopter with a GPS tracker and watch the researcher at work.
- Image: Bend Studio / PlayStationStory
There's Nothing You Can Do
The secret ending. After the credits, O'Brian gets in touch and asks to meet you in person at a NERO landing zone by the Pioneer Cemetery. You ride out to hear what he has to say.
- Image: Bend Studio / PlayStationStory
Why Am I Here?
O'Brian wants another meeting, and you ride out in the Lost Lake region to find him. This time he has news about what happened to Sarah after that night in Farewell.