The Survivalists: Monkey Guide – Training, Recruiting, Monkey Jobs!

Living on a waterlocked island alone would be extremely lonely; it might be nice to have peace and quiet for a while, but eventually, you'd get sick of it. In situations like this, why not do the only thing you can do, explore the island, and become friends with the island's denizens! In other words, recruit an army of Monkeys that you can train to help you in your everyday life. We've created a Monkey guide for you to get the most beneficial help out of your Monkeys in The Survivalist!

How to train a Monkey

When exploring the island, there's one of two ways you can find a Monkey. The first is that you'll eventually come across a Monkey in a cage, give this cage a good old whack with your Hand Axe, and it'll eventually break, freeing the Monkey inside. No other items are needed to recruit this Monkey; they will immediately join you upon freeing them.

The second time you encounter a Monkey will be out in the wild, and to recruit this Monkey, you have to feed it a Monkey Meal. It's very doubtful you'll have cooked a Monkey Meal on the Campfire before this encounter, let alone remember to bring it with you if you have. Alas, don't worry if you haven't; just open up your map and place a custom marker on where the Monkey is located so that you can come back later.

To create a Monkey Meal, you will need to either make a campfire or get access to a fire. You can then enter the cooking menu, where you will need the following ingredients:

• Monkey Meal - Petal x1, Berries x1, and a Makeshift Bowl x1

For more on cooking in The Survivalists, check out our guide.

What is Mimic Mode

Mimic Mode is how to train your Monkeys; on PC, you press the Q key. Within this Mode, click on a Monkey and select Teach; you should then see a banana icon above their heads. This means they'll mimic whatever you are doing; this is how you train them to do certain jobs. If Mimic Mode is not used, then Monkeys cannot be trained.

The key for your particular platform will be displayed in the top left corner on the monkey icon!

What jobs can a Monkey do

There's a load of jobs that you can train a Monkey to do, and we'll be going through them one by one. However, there is something important to take note of here. Monkeys can only remember one job; if you keep changing a Monkey's profession, they will completely forget their previous job and will have to be retrained once again. It's always advised to keep Monkeys on the same job, as they will become extremely experienced in that one job.

Gathering

Gathering Monkeys are handy to have depending on the size of the house/base you have. Normally, one Gathering Monkey will be enough. All Gathering Monkeys do is collect items from the ground and store them in chests. No equipment is needed for this job.

Mimic Mode Training: Pick something off the ground and store it in a chest.

Harvesting

In this job, Harvesting Monkeys will cut down trees or any resources that can be harvested. This job having an item is better than not having one, you can just give them a hitting weapon, but it's most useful to equip them with an Axe or a Pickaxe.

Mimic Mode Training: Chop down a tree or any harvestable resource.

Delivery

A Delivery Monkey is trained to carry materials to unfinished blueprints. For example, if you have the blueprints down to create a new room or structure, but it hasn't been built yet, the Delivery Monkeys will bring the required items to finish these off, so you don't have to. No item is required for this job.

Mimic Mode Training: Deliver any resource to an unfinished blueprint.

Combat

Is giving a weapon to a Monkey such a good idea? If they help defend you, of course it is! Combat Monkeys will attack monsters with any weapon you choose to give them; they can use anything you can use. If you don't give them a weapon, they will not attack enemies.

Mimic Mode Training: Hit any enemy.

Building and Crafting

Technically two different jobs, but they are both two sides of the same coin. Building Monkeys will finish off structures for you once the materials have been delivered/loaded. And Crafting Monkeys will finish work on Crafting Stations, such as Campfires, Forges, and the like. Both jobs need to have a Multitool equipped.

Mimic Mode Training: Start building or crafting something.