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Warmth icon

Warmth is one of the four essential needs. Warmth is a measure of the temperatures the player is exposed to. The player's warmth drains when the temperature the character experiences dips below 0°C (32°F) and is regained when it is above. Exposure to the elements is the main reason for loss of warmth and can be countered by staying indoors, having good clothing, being near a fire, and by consuming hot food and drinks. Warmth will also deplete completely immediately if you fall into freezing water. When warmth is depleted, condition starts to rapidly deplete and is able to kill within hours. This makes warmth the most critical need to satisfy.

Gaining and losing warmth[]

Detailed temperature information is viewable on the player status page, beneath the Needs meters. The most critical piece of information is the feels like temperature, which is the key to maintaining warmth. As long as it is greater than 0°C (32°F), the character will gain warmth; if it is below 0°C (32°F), warmth will be lost. How quickly warmth is gained or lost is directly proportional to how far from the freezing temperature the character is feeling (e.g., -8°C will cause the warmth meter to deplete much faster than -1°C).

Warmth bar[]

The warmth meter degrades through various states between Warm and Freezing (Warm, Chilled, Cold, Numb, Freezing). Chevrons (arrows) beside the meter point either up or down in the bar to indicate which direction the player's warmth is progressing, with more chevrons indicating faster progress.

The character is fully warm when the bar is full and is freezing when the bar is empty. The amount of time the bar takes to fill or deplete depends on the 'feels like' temperature.

On Interloper difficulty the temperature breaks are significantly reduced (see tables below) meaning a one hour warm to freezing temperature of just -9°C compared to -15°C in Stalker. The rate at warmth loss is also not linear and makes the 1st temperature break far more significant and therefore every degree within the 1st chevron bracket much more important.

It is also important to realize that the brackets are a sliding scale and the tables below are only true for that temperature. For instance, in Interloper difficulty, a temperature of -8°C (a single downward chevron 'v' on the HUD) does not mean you can stay out for 15 hours. In this example, a full warmth bar will deplete in just over 1 hour of in-game time (5 minutes of real-time).

In V1.15 the only way to check the 'feels like' temperature is to open the character status window (default 'f' key) however it should be a valuable source of information as a single chevron on the HUD meter could well represent the ability to stay out for hours, or a mere matter of minutes.

Length of Time from Warm to Freezing for different feels like Temperatures (Interloper):

Time Temp Chevrons
15 hour -1°C v
1 hour -9°C vv
30 min -18°C vvv

Length of Time from Warm to Freezing for different feels like Temperatures (Stalker):

Time Temp Chevrons
15 hour -1°C v
1 hour -15°C vv
30 min -30°C vvv

Hot foods and drinks[]

Hot foods and drinks can be used for extra warmth. When consumed, they bestow both a boost to the warmth meter and a buff affliction, Warming up, to make the character feel warmer for a short time. This boost can be used to stave off freezing for a short time when conditions do not allow for a full warm-up. See Hot.

Affecting condition[]

When the warmth meter is empty the player enters a state called 'freezing', and condition begins to drain rapidly. The rate of drain is constant regardless of how far below freezing the character is feeling. Even 1° below freezing is enough to maintain the rate at -20% condition each hour. 'Feels like' temperature must be brought above 0°C (32°F) to end this state and stop the condition loss. The hypothermia affliction will set in after 2 hours of freezing, doubling the rate to -40% per hour. Surviving more than 3 hours while freezing is unlikely.

Warning: Engaging in time accelerated activity (e.g., carcass harvesting) while freezing has resulted in many deaths due to this rapid and sudden condition loss.

Fire[]

Standing next to an active fire will prevent condition loss due to freezing when playing on Pilgrim and Voyageur difficulties. Stalker and Interloper players must be near a fire that is hot enough to produce a 'feels like temperature above 0°C (32°F).

Clothing optional[]

If one is freezing and has no hope of getting out of a freezing status due to the weather conditions, it may be wise to temporarily remove all clothing items. Since the loss to condition from freezing is constant and not dependent on how cold the character feels, taking off all one's clothes has no detrimental effect to warmth if one is already freezing. Storing clothing may help avoid some unnecessary item decay and prevent clothing items from getting wet, especially in blizzards or when passing through waterfalls.

Note that exposed skin is prone to frostbite, which causes irreversible condition loss, so removing clothing, particularly while outdoors in cold, windy conditions can have more severe side effects.

Wet/frozen clothing[]

If clothing becomes substantially wet then it will lower the total warmth factor of that article of clothing, thereby affecting the player's total "feel like" warmth rating. If wet clothing is not dried off from being indoors or near a fire, it has a chance to freeze over. Wearing frozen clothing will not only degrade the total warmth value of the clothing item, but can also result in Frostbite in the area of the body it currently being worn on (ex: Frozen mittens will start causing Frostbite in the hands) if it is not removed. it is generally advised to remove or swap out wet/frozen clothing so that is can be unfrozen and dried in order to keep the player warm.

Hypothermia[]

Hypothermia is an affliction that is applied whenever a character's warmth remains at freezing for 2 consecutive hours or if a player falls through thin ice. Once afflicted, the player's condition loss will double the rate of loss from freezing and fatigue will drain rapidly. Hypothermia can only be cured by maintaining a feels like temperature above 0°C (32°F) for 24 continuous hours.

Trivia[]

  • There is currently no penalty for getting too hot. Even at "feels like" temperatures in excess of 50°C (122°F), which can be caused by adding large amounts of wood while standing close to a fire, the warmth bar will not go above "warm". In real life, these temperatures would be unbearable, and would result in excessive sweating (dehydration), heatstroke, or burning of exposed skin.

Character quotes[]

  • "Too cold to think!"
  • "God damn freezing!"
  • "I can't feel my hands."
  • "Can't feel my feet."
  • "My fingers feel numb."
  • "This cold is making my head feel thick!"
  • "Need to find some place to escape this cold."
  • "Gotta warm up somehow."
  • "Did I say I hate being cold? 'Cuz I really do!" (Female Survivor)
  • "So cold (shivers) think of fire (shivers) yeah, hot fire. (shivers)-PHUGH! (shivers)" (Female Survivor)
  • "So cold...just need to lay down for a bit..." (Male Survivor)
  • "I'll die if I don't warm up soon." (Male Survivor)
  • ''Wait... I'm so cold I'm... warming up again." (Male Survivor)
  • "Heh, wait... I'm so cold I'm...warming up a bit." (Female Survivor)
  • "PHEW! Sure gettin' cold!" (Female Survivor)
  • (Various shivering noises from the player character, sometimes followed by frustrated grunts)
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