How do flares work?

TheRealEBE

By TheRealEBE
in How To Play

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TheRealEBE Wolfbait

TheRealEBE

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Hi all, I am wondering how flares are supposed to be used effectively to scare off wolves. I have tried to scare them off with flares before, but it doesn’t work, when I throw flares near wolves they just creep towards me and charge me anyway. Is there something specific I need to do with a flare to scare them off? Any help would be appreciated.

Also, do flares distract bears?

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Mixxut Pathfinder

Mixxut

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When the wolf charges towards you when you have a flare, it usually stops before attacking you and stays still and growls at you. If you throw the flare at the wolf at that point it usually gets scared and runs away. (Notice that it how I used the word "ususally")

This almost always works for me. Not always tough (which is pretty realistic and obviusly dangerous) and throwing flares at wolves is usually my last resort.;)

Bears don't care about flares.

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Spakerman Pathfinder

Spakerman

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also, if you have some accelerant, you can use the flare to start a fire quickly if you have backed away a bit.  With the flare and accelerant the fire is almost instant and you will then be safe from wolves.  Of course this is weather dependent and takes a bit of skill.

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Mixxut Pathfinder

Mixxut

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9 hours ago, Doc Feral said:

I read somewhere that throwing a flare at a bear could work (it was the Old Bear in Wintermute, I think). I don't want to try anyway.

Oh I've never heard of this! I was 100% sure that bears don't care about flares. Intresting...

2 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

In the interest of being clear to new players, Mixxut means thrown flares.  Flare shells fired from the flare gun are quite effective on bears!

Oh yeah, flare shells are the ultimate defense against bears:)

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Mixxut Pathfinder

Mixxut

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1 hour ago, ltnshinysides said:

All good advice, I have had a difficult time with using flares effectively against wolves as well. Used up many flares from my flare gun as a result. Thanks for the info!

No problem! Shooting a flare shell always makes me a little bit worried, since there aren't too many of them in the game.

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TWM Pathfinder

TWM

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On 29-8-2018 at 12:14 PM, TheRealEBE said:

Okay. So if I need to use a flare I should just hold it and move away slowly from the wolf, instead of throwing the flare?

The wolf will keep its distance, although it will advance, so this works less well in the middle of nowhere. Also note that if you advance towards the wolf, its not going to back down but lunge forward and you'll enter into a fight with the wolf.

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Soul Sojourner Pathfinder

Soul Sojourner

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Something I didn't see mentioned yet, and it's true for torches too, is that if you do actually throw your flare or torch and the wolf doesn't run away, make sure you keep moving away slowly to delay the wolf attack, but also move so that the wolf is forced to walk over the torch or flare. It may still get scared and run away when it gets right up to it. I've had that happen many times where I've thrown one and had to guide them over it to make them run, and even then, sometimes they ignore it and keep stalking you.

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Smellyfries Pathfinder

Smellyfries

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Do not try to scare bears during an aurora (except for on Pilgrim) due to how aggressive they become.

Bears in the aurora attack as soon as they come in range. I'm not sure if they are scared by flare guns during the aurora but either way it's a good idea to avoid bear territory in an aurora, wolves don't seem to react any differently to wolves.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Wintermut Prepper

Wintermut

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On 8/29/2018 at 9:35 AM, Spakerman said:

also, if you have some accelerant, you can use the flare to start a fire quickly if you have backed away a bit.  With the flare and accelerant the fire is almost instant and you will then be safe from wolves.  Of course this is weather dependent and takes a bit of skill.

The accelerant is optional. If a wolf gets close enough to be scared by a fire, the act of trying to start the fire will scare it away. You don't need to succeed or complete the fire. However if you fail and the wolf wasn't scared yet because it was too far away, quickly start lighting the fire again...lol. I learned this while trying to light a fire to scare away a wolf...

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