How to find a rope gun and a cross

Difficulty: 7/10 | Time: 15-20 minutes.

Briefly:

1. Find the cave entrance.
2. Run forward to the large zone. Inside: 4-6 "Puffies". Straight ahead, by the flashlight — cross. Pick it up and run all the way left.
3. Pick up explosives and neutralize the "Blob" by attaching them to it.
4. Here: 5-7 "Puffies", 2-4 "Fingers", 1 "Twins". Run forward toward the narrow passage, enter it and keep going.
5. Turn left and run forward to the large zone. Here: 2-3 "Fingers" and 3-5 "Puffies". Run all the way to the front into the narrow passage.
6. Turn left twice in a row and run forward.
7. Cross the large puddle on the right side. Here: 2-6 "Babies" and 1 "Fingers". Run a little further and pick up the rope gun.
8. Go down the rope, run all the way to the end — no enemies. At the end, the cave exit.

📍 Path to the Cave

• First, run to the starting beach near the ocean and the boat with the pistol.
• Turn your back to the water and run toward the right river (img. 1).
• When you reach the river fork, take the right road (img. 2). Run along the road to the first fork. Turn right and run forward to the second fork.
• Turn left and run to the end of the road. You'll reach a body of water. In the middle of this water are rocks — on these rocks lies the stun club.
• A river flows through this body of water. On the northern part of the river is the cave entrance — "Cave B". It's also marked on the GPS map (img. 3).

⚔️ Actions Inside the Cave

• Right after entering — safe zone. Catch your breath. Raw meat and various supplies are here — take anything useful.
• Run forward until you reach the descent to the large zone (img. 4). Danger starts ahead. inside this zone are 4-6 "Puffies". I advise not engaging — they don't drop armor and will waste your time and resources. Just run past them. IMPORTANTIf you still want to fight — reveal yourself to the enemies and then climb back up. They'll run toward you but will stay below — throw a grenade or sticky bomb down at them to finish them off. There's a small chance a few will climb up. If that happens, repeat the process until they're all gone.
• Ahead, by the flashlight, lies the cross. Several bullets and supplies are around it (img. 5). Be sure to pick it up — the cross will be useful against demons later.
• After picking up the cross, immediately run left toward the second flashlight. You can pick up a story picture there — optional, but good for the collection.
• Turn into the far-left corner and run into the narrow water passage (img. 6). At the end of this passage, an unpleasant surprise awaits — "Blob" stuck in the passage. It can't get through, but don't get too close.
• Look around — one of the victims has homemade sticky bombs. Take them, throw one at the mutant, and run back 10 meters to avoid the blast. Once the "Blob" explodes, the passage will open. Run forward into the open space (img. 7).

• You've passed the hardest part of the cave. At the fork, I recommend turning left and running along the left side. You'll encounter 2 wooden crates along the way — be sure to break them, they contain useful supplies. At the end of the left path, another open space with 2-3 "Fingers" and 5-6 "Puffies" (img. 9). Again, I suggest running through without fighting.
• You'll then find yourself in a narrow passage. Turn left twice and run forward until you see a large puddle. Inside are 2-6 "Babies" — small but fast.
• Cross the puddle strictly on the right edge. This way, you won't get stuck and can avoid extra hits. After the puddle, you'll enter a medium-sized zone. Here you'll meet 1 "Fingers" and 2-6 "Babies". At this stage, I recommend running past — after picking up the rope gun, you'll need to use it immediately to cross a natural obstacle; enemies can't reach you there (img. 10).
• After dealing with the enemies, run forward a little. You'll see a cliff with a rope hanging down. Next to the cliff is a suitcase. Inside — rope gun. Pick it up. Congratulations, you've reached your goal.

🚪 Cave Exit and Next Steps

• After picking up the rope gun, go down the rope (or down the slope). Then run forward all the way — the path is straight, no turns.
• On early game stages, mutants rarely appear here, so the exit will likely be safe. But don't relax — always keep your weapon ready.
• You'll exit on the opposite side of the cave entrance. Now you have the rope gun — with it, you can build ziplines, move logs, and reach hard-to-reach places. It's one of the most useful tools in the game.

💡 TIP: Use the rope gun often — it's super convenient. Ammo for it can also be crafted on a 3D printer.

🔧 Rope Gun: Full Overview

Rope Gun — a key tool in Sons of the Forest, required to use any zipline, whether part of the game world or player-built. Without it, you can neither build nor use existing ziplines. The tool is hidden deep in a mutant-infested cave, but obtaining it opens huge possibilities for survival and exploration.

Core Features

• Thanks to its built-in motorized mechanism, players can move up and down ziplines at the same speed, regardless of the rope's angle. This makes the rope gun indispensable for fast travel across rough terrain.

Resource Transport

• Logs and rocks can be transported via ziplines. Simply attach them at any point on the zipline while facing the desired direction. This is a very fast, simple, and cheap way to move large quantities of resources to a specific spot — especially useful when building a large base away from the forest.

How to Build a Zipline

1. Load a zipline rope into the rope gun.
2. Aim at where you want the first anchor point. If a rope can be fired, a white dot will appear on the surface. The rope gun's indicator will show the distance to the anchor point and whether it's valid.
3. Fire the first anchor.
4. Reach the other location and attach the second end.

Important limitations:

• No solid obstacles (rock formations, buildings) between the two zipline ends. Trees are not blocked — you can shoot a rope straight through a trunk. However, players and cargo will be knocked off the zipline if they hit a solid tree.
• Maximum zipline length is 150 meters. Trying to extend beyond this will break the line and return the rope to your inventory.
• If you stow the rope gun or start swimming while extending the rope, construction will be canceled, and the rope will return to you.

Combat Use

• Shooting NPCs with the rope gun deals 1 point of damage and the projectile passes through them as if they weren't there. Useless as a weapon, but can occasionally distract an enemy.

Role in Story and Survival

• The rope gun plays an extremely important role in survival. Only with it can you reach the equally essential shovel — one of the key items for story progression. The tool opens new exploration possibilities, so getting it as early as possible is very important.

💎 Additional Tips

• Use the rope gun to create a network of ziplines between your base and key map locations (resource spots, caves, water access). This will save hours of real-time running back and forth. Ziplines are especially useful for transporting logs from logging sites to your construction projects — you can move an entire forest in minutes that would take half an hour to haul manually. Don't forget to carry spare zipline ropes — each line consumes one.

✝️ Cross: Full Overview

The Cross is a unique item in Sons of the Forest. At first glance, it seems useless, but it's actually one of the most important tools against demons. Most enemies (cannibals, wild animals, and regular mutants) don't care what you're holding, but some monster types are truly afraid of it. The Cross can be considered a melee weapon because you can use it to kill demons — some of the strongest enemies in the game.

💡 TIP: I recommend binding the cross to a hotkey (1-9) or adding it to your quick-access inventory (when holding the inventory key). In combat, you may not have time to open the inventory and grab the cross.

Solafite Upgrade

• The cross can be upgraded with 6 units of solafite at the solafite upgrade table. The result is an almost entirely golden Cross with a slight damage increase against demons. The upgrade isn't mandatory but noticeably eases fights against these monsters.

Usage Against Demons

Demons are special mutants that move on all fours. These monsters are extremely fast and hit hard, making them dangerous even for experienced survivors.

• Effect on demons: If you raise the Cross to a demon or demon boss and use it (LMB), the enemy will recoil and then catch fire. The demon burns for 4 seconds, the demon boss for 2 seconds.
• Killing with the Cross: If a demon's health drops below 30% from a Cross attack, it will collapse and writhe on the ground until killed. Killing a demon with just the Cross takes 4–5 applications on normal difficulty, which is quite slow.
• Area effect: The Cross affects all nearby enemies, not just one. You can ignite several demons at once if they're within range.

Usage Against Regular Mutants

• Regular mutants don't catch fire from the Cross, but they will recoil in fear from you. You can use this to:
• Sneak past creatures in narrow cave passages without fighting.
• Frighten them away, then kill them from a safe distance with a bow or shotgun.
• Buy time to escape or regroup.

Usage Tips

• Timing and positioning: Use the Cross when mutants are about to attack or when you're surrounded. Its ability to repel attacks can give you crucial moments to escape or counterattack.
• Combining with other weapons: Repelling mutants with the Cross and then quickly switching to a more powerful weapon can be devastating.
• Stealth and escape: The Cross is exceptionally useful in stealth operations. Use it to bypass enemies without direct combat. If overwhelmed, the Cross can buy you precious seconds to flee or hide.
• Quick access: To equip the Cross, open your inventory, find it among your items, and assign it to a quick-select slot. This allows you to deploy it quickly during unexpected encounters.

Where to Find Demons

• You're guaranteed to encounter demons in the lava caves near the end of the game. So it's very good if you've found the Cross before then.
• You can also encounter these mutants on the surface while exploring different locations. Their spawn chance increases over time: the more days you survive on the island, the higher the chance of a demon attack.

💎 Additional Tips

• The Cross is extremely effective against demons encountered near the end of the game in the deepest caves. Regular weapons are inefficient against them, but with the Cross you can easily repel demons and then finish them with another weapon. Don't forget that the Cross also works on the demon boss, though it's less effective against him — using ranged weapons is better. Even without the solafite upgrade, the Cross remains your best friend against these dangerous foes.