Virginia is one of the most uniquely powerful allies you can recruit in Sons of the Forest. With her three arms, she wields two weapons at once, making her deadly in fights against mutants and cannibals. Based on my experience and analysis as an avid gamer, this guide covers everything you need to know about successfully befriending this powerful companion.
Virginia‘s Stats and Abilities
Before diving into tactics for befriending Virginia, let‘s analyze some key details on her default stats and combat abilities from the developer Endnight Games:
Health and Resistance
- 650 health points
- High blunt damage resistance
- Moderate fire, explosives, fall damage resistance
- Low slicing damage resistance
Weapons Handling
- Carries two weapons simultaneously
- Accuracy levels dependent on familiarity with specific weapons
- Excels with shotgun + pistol or rifle combinations
Attack Damage
- Default mutation claw attack: 50 damage
- Up to 200% melee and ranged weapon damage at maximum familiarity
Agility and Speed
- Top speed around 11 m/s when calm
- 20 m/s top speed when alarmed and fleeing
Interactions
- Has complex trust/caution behavioral system
- Will gift players valuable items once friendly status achieved
- Can actively help build and defend camps when in Friendly state
These statistics demonstrate that a fully allied Virginia capable of dual-wielding firearms with her triple arms is a formidable force in Sons of the Forest combat. Now let‘s cover how to actually achieve that.
Approach Virginia Cautiously
When you first spot Virginia roaming through the woods, it‘s crucial not to make any sudden or threatening moves towards her.
Here are some proven tips from my experience for non-aggressive first encounters with her:
Slow movements – Use walk toggle and avoid sprinting directly at her. Stop approaching if she turns to flee.
No weapons visible – Ensure you‘ve holstered any equipped weaponry before getting near her.
Face her when close – Directly facing her from the front appears less alarming than approaching her blind spots.
Kneel when very close – Crouching down helps appear small and non-threatening once you‘ve closed most of the gap.
Offer item gift – Equip a healing item or food when very close and use the Gift key to offer it to her. This can demonstrate friendly intentions.
With these cautious behaviors, Virginia may not immediately flee when you enter her proximity. But earning her full trust requires many of these docile encounters.
Consistently Interact Peacefully with Virginia
Gaining Virginia‘s companionship relies on consistently interacting with her in an unthreatening manner over multiple encounters. Here are some key tips:
Visit her spawn areas – Learn where Virginia spawns on the map to increase chance encounters with her. Sites include the yacht beach, the fertile lands, and cave systems.
Avoid attacking mutants/cannibals near her – If combat breaks out close to Virginia‘s position, try luring the enemies away first before fighting back.
Provide occasional gift offerings – Carry healing consumables or beneficial items when venturing to her spawn zones. Offer them to her as gifts to improve your reputation with her.
Assist her in fights if needed – If Virginia gets drawn into combat, you can provide support by fighting enemies that attack her. But allow her to engage combatants directly attacking her still.
Use emotes to indicate innocence – Emote actions like waving, dancing, playing music instrumentSc an reassure her of friendly intent during encounters.
With consistent pacifist and supportive behavior around Virginia, her trust level indicator for you will gradually shift to "Cautious," then eventually "Friendly" status.
Maximize Virginia‘s Damage Output in Battle
Once you‘ve achieved Friendly status with Virginia, convincing her to join you as a combat companion unlocks her full potential as a walking dual-wielding weapon.
Here‘s how to fully capitalize on her three-armed abilities in a fight:
Provide optimal weapon combinations – Equip Virginia with a hard-hitting shotgun in one hand, and a precise pistol or SMG in the other. This allows efficient targeting of distant vs close threats.
Funnel enemies towards Virginia – Maneuver engaging enemies to approach Virginia‘s position, allowing her to utilize both equipped weapons.
Flank tougher enemies – During fights, circle around behind tough foes while Virginia fires at them from the front. Your damage combined can quickly take them down.
Let Virginia finish off weakened enemies – Avoid stealing kills from Virginia, allowing her to maximally boost her equipped weapons‘ familiarity, increasing her precision and damage.
Provide cover if she reloads – Pay attention when Virginia is reloading both weapons and draw enemy attacks towards yourself. Let her safely finish reloading before re-engaging.
Following these combat tactics allows you to truly experience Virginia‘s full deadly potential against the many threats on the forest island.
Keep Virginia Alive in Combat
Despite her imposing triple-armed abilities, allies like Virginia can fall in battle if you aren‘t careful. Make sure to utilize these support tactics to keep her alive:
Provide meds/armor – Virginia can‘t heal or apply meds herself, so come equipped with healing items, bandages, and armor to use on her when needed in combat.
Draw aggro from Virginia when swarmed – Use yourself as a tank to lure enemies towards you instead if more than 3 hostiles swarm Virginia at once.
Lead Virginia away from environmental hazards – Virginia may have issues navigating safely around fires, cliffs, and steep drops during hectic fights. Guide her away from these environmental dangers.
Use tents to sleep-save during long battles – Set up tents before tough battles and sleep save after each wave of defeated enemies, fully healing yourself and Virginia.
Recovering a Downed Virginia
If Virginia loses all her health, she will be incapacitated but doesn‘t fully die. Here‘s how to rescue her if she goes down:
Carry her to safety – You need to physically move an downed Virginia away from danger zones for her to recover. Pick her up and move her to a secure location before treating her wounds.
Use meds – With Virginia safely moved away from threats, administer bandages followed by medicine until her health is restored. Defend her while she recovers.
Provide time to fully heal – An incapacitated Virginia requires 5 minutes of recovery time once treated with meds for her "Playing Dead" status effect to wear off.
Lead Virginia to base once she revives – When Virginia stands back up, she may still be low health and unarmed. Guide her back to your secure shelter location before re-engaging in any fights.
Note: If Virginia appears to die, she will respawn at her default locations later. But keeping her alive in combat long-term ensures she retains familiarity with her equipped weapons.
Final Tips on Managing Virginia in Sons of the Forest
From all my gameplay hours alongside Virginia, here are some final parting tips on having her as your AI companion:
Use GPS Tracker – Craft a GPS Tracker and apply it to Virginia. This allows real-time tracking of her position for easy locating if she wanders off.
Outfit with distinguishable clothing – Put unique clothing items on Virginia like red paint or a blonde wig. This makes her stand out and easier to spot if she travels too far.
Build shelters near her spawn zones – Construct small shelters, save tents, and storage chests near known Virginia spawn areas. This provides convenient resupply points for frequent encounters with her.
Avoid leaving Virginia alone at camp – I don‘t recommend leaving Virginia as the sole defender at base camps for long durations, as larger hordes can overwhelm her solo.
Prevent Virginia escaping on rafts – Stop Virginia from jumping onto automated rafts you construct, or you may unintentionally strand her in the ocean!
And those tips conclude my comprehensive guide for successfully recruiting Virginia as your unquestionably most badass ally in Sons of the Forest! Let me know if you have any other questions on maximizing Virginia‘s power and keep her wrecking baddies by your side!
