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Far Cry 5’s for hire system lets you find people and animals to fight alongside you. But it’s not always clear what the distinction is between specialists, fighters, guns for hire and fangs for hire. In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about the people in your team.
The difference between guns for hire, fangs for hire and fighters
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Far Cry 5’s roster menu shows the people you’ve hired (though you’re not actually paying any money, so “recruited” might be a better word here). If they’re human, they’re guns for hire. If they’re an animal, they’re fangs for hire.
There are two categories on the left side of the roster menu: specialists and fighters. Here’s the difference:
- Specialists are guns and fangs for hire with a class and an associated story mission. For example, Jess Back is a hunter. That’s her class. Both of her abilities are hunter-themed — she’s good at hiding, and animals like her. You need to complete the “A Dish Served Cold” mission to add her to your Far Cry 5 roster.
- Fighters are random people you hire to fight with you. You don’t have to go out of your way to find them. They don’t have story missions. They’ll just show up around outposts you’ve liberated, fall out of the back of peggie kidnap-vans, or a cultist will literally drag them past you. Just walk up to them, press a button, and they become your partner. You can find them the fighters section of the roster menu. (They’re hiding behind the three gun icons at the bottom left.)
Everyone you hire has two abilities, which you can see when you highlight a character in the roster menu. Specialists’ abilities are available as soon as you recruit them, but fighters have to kill five enemies to unlock their first and 12 enemies to unlock their second.
There are three animal companions (fangs for hire) available to you. They are all specialists — you’re not going to find any animal fighters.
Far Cry 5 specialists, locations, missions and classes
Specialists are the more elite type of companion in Far Cry 5. They each have two unique abilities that tend to be a bit more powerful than the fighter abilities below. There are nine specialists — three in each of the Seed clan’s areas. You can view their details in the specialists area of the roster menu, but you won’t be able to recruit them to fight alongside you until you’ve finished their story mission. Some specialists also have an associated perk in your perks menu that will allow them to come back to a fight more quickly after being injured.
Far Cry 5 specialists
| Name | Class/Specialty | Ability 1 | Ability 2 | Use case |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Class/Specialty | Ability 1 | Ability 2 | Use case |
| Boomer | Scout | Pointer: Tags all nearby enemies. | Retriever: Sometimes fetches a weapon after an attack. | Scouting outposts and other locations to tag enemies. Not a great fighter. |
| Cheeseburger | Heavy | Bear Arms: Exercises his right to attack. | Cross to Bear: Draws focus during combat. | Great fighter, lots of health, attracts enemies' attention. |
| Peaches | Stealth | Pounce: Takes down enemies silently. | Stalk: Stays hidden when moving through tall grass. | Great for stealth takedowns anywhere, including outposts. She's weak, though, so be careful when she's spotted. |
| Nick Rye | Pilot | Bomb’s Away: You want a bomb? He’ll drop it. | Light ’Em Up: You want a strafing run? Look out. | Nick attacks from the air, so he's not a stealthy or fast option. Bombs are great against vehicles. |
| Hurk Drubman Jr. | RPG | Heat Seeker: RPGs will track air and land vehicles. | Junk It: RPGs on vehicles are more destructive. | His RPG is deadly against vehicles, which is great for blowing them up but less great for keeping hostages alive. |
| Sharky Boshaw | Heavy Flamer | Fire It Up: Attacks have an extra spark to them. | Shatterproof: Resistance to most explosions and impacts. | Close-range fighter who prefers flamethrowers and shotguns. He tends to catch everything on fire, though. |
| Grace Armstrong | Sniper | Boom Boom: Her sniper shots scare enemies. | Friend Sight: Her laser sight is easier to distinguish. | A slow-firing sniper for enemies out of your normal attack range. |
| Jess Black | Hunter | Concealment: Enemies have a harder time detecting her. | Feral Friendly: Wild animals see her as one of their own. | Stealthy, great for silently taking down outposts and hunting with her bow. |
| Adelaide Drubman | Pilot | Call a Chopper: When called on, will deliver a helicopter. | Less Reload: Gun + big magazine = more shooting. | Flies a helicopter in for support. Not for stealth. On the ground, her big magazines mean more shooting and less reloading. |
Far Cry 5 fighters
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The non-specialist guns for hire that you’ll find around Hope County are kind of generic and random resistance fighters. They don’t have a specialty (beyond soldier), and their two abilities are drawn from the list below. Unlike specialists, their abilities will be locked at first. The first will unlock once a fighter has five kills, and the second will unlock when they have 12.
Fighters will have two abilities from the list below:
Far Cry 5 fighter abilities
| Ability | Description |
|---|---|
| Ability | Description |
| Back Up | Will revive themselves when downed. |
| Field Surgeon | Will fully revive your health when downed. |
| Fortitude | Will draw attention and take more damage. |
| Herbalist | Will grab plant life when not in combat. |
| Hoarder | Will allow you to carry more ammo. |
| Hot Buckshot | Shotgun blasts might start a fire. |
| Intimidator | Will lay down fire that scares the enemy. |
| Mechanic | Will repair the vehicle you drive. |
| No Tracks | Will make you untrackable in tall grass. |
| Power Hitter | Melee attacks might send enemies flying. |
| Quick Recovery | Will take less time to recover health. |
| Recycler | Will hand over recovered ammo after some kills. |
| Sharpshooter | Will snipe less often but be deadlier. |
| Spotter | Will tag enemies at the start of combat. |
| Thick Skin | Will be more resilient to damage. |
| Veterinarian | Will revive fangs for hire. |
| Vulture | Will find extra stuff when looting a body. |
You can only recruit three fighters at a time. If you want to swap any of them out, you have to remove them from your roster. That will free up a spot to recruit someone new. Just know that you’ll have to let them get their 12 kills in before you know what their abilities are.
How to bring two friends
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At first, you will be limited to bringing along only one gun or fang for hire. After you’ve recruited three specialists, the very last perk in the leader section of your perks menu will be unlocked. It is called leadership and costs six points. This perk will let you bring along two companions in solo play.
How to decide who to bring along
Choosing which gun or fang to bring along with you on a mission (or even just wandering around) is really just a question of what you want to accomplish.
- Look at your guns’ abilities. Try to match the companion you bring along’s abilities to both what you’re trying to accomplish and the way you play. If you’re going hunting or gathering, take Jess or Peaches or look for a fighter with abilities like herbalist or no tracks.
- Specialists aren’t always the best. Yes, they’re cooler, and yes, they’re stronger, but if their abilities don’t match up with what you’re trying to do, leave them behind. Cheeseburger is not going to help you on a stealth mission, for example, but a fighter with the spotter ability will be indispensable.
