Red Dead Redemption 2: How to Complete All 10 Survivalist Challenges (2024)

This guide will show players how to complete all of the survivalist challenges in Red Dead Redemption 2. Challenges are something that can be incredibly useful to complete during the game but they are often seen as a tedious grind. The rewards for completing these challenges are often worth the time as they unlock exclusive gear upgrades.

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The survivalist challenges tend to focus mainly on hunting and the equipment that goes along with it. These challenges seem to test how a player would do if they were asked to survive alone in the woods at all times. This experience is a good time for players to take advantage of the robust hunting mechanics that the game has if they have not done so already.

Survivalist Challenges in Red Dead Redemption 2

Challenge One

The first challenge in this series is a fairly easy one as the player only has to catch three bluegill fish. These fish can be found throughout the map and are one of the most common fish in the game. The easiest way to attract the bluegills is to use cheese as bait.

Challenge Two

The second challenge is to give five animal carcasses to the camp or a trapper. The easiest way to complete this is to turn in fish rather than bigger game. Many fish in the game can be kept in a player's inventory meaning that this challenge could potentially be completed in one trip.

Challenge Three

The third challenge is to kill five animals using a varmint rifle. A varmint rifle can be purchased in Valentine along with the ammo that it needs. It is recommended to try and kill weaker animals for this challenge as the varmint rifle is not very powerful. One good option is to tryto kill birds as they can often be found in groups and are usually killed in one shot.

Challenge Four

To complete challenge four, the player will have to craft afire arrow, a dynamite arrow, an improved arrow, a small game arrow, and apoisonarrow. Some of these arrows are locked and their recipes have to be purchased. One early-game location where they can be found is the fence at Emerald Ranch. players will also need the recipes for the homing tomahawk, the improved tomahawk, the volatile dynamite, and the volatile fire bottle for a later challenge so it is advised to go ahead and get those while you are there if you have the money. Most of these arrows are fairly easy to craft as their ingredients are found throughout the game. One of the harder recipes to complete is the poison arrow as it requires a piece of theOleander Plant. The Oleander plant can be found on the banks of many of the marshy rivers in Lemoyne.

Challenge Five

This challenge requires players to catch a fish from a boat and from the train tracks. This challenge must also be complete in the swamps of Lemoyne. This section of the map is filled with boats so players can either find one on the shore or steal one from a person heading down the river. The train tracks are a bit more tricky as players need to be fairly close to the water in order to cast out their line. The easiest way to do this is to choose a section of track that is low to the ground as most of the higher tracks do not work.

Challenge Six

This challenge is to kill five animals while they are scavenging on other animal corpses. This challenge can require some patience as animals don't always show up to scavenge after an animal is killed. The best way to complete this challenge is to move locations in between each kill. Moving seems tocreate a higher chance of scavengers showing up following a kill.

Challenge Seven

This challenge can be a bit tricky as it requires players to kill eight small game animals in a row without missing a shot. Players must also be using small game arrows to complete this challenge. It is important to note that there is no time limit to this sequence so players can take their time as long as they are using the right equipment.

Challenge Eight

This challenge has players crafting a homing tomahawk, an improved tomahawk, volatile dynamite, and a volatile fire bottle. These recipes can all be bought at Emerald Ranch with the earlier recipes.

Challenge Nine

This challenge requires players to catch a fish that weighs at least nineteen pounds. One of the best ways to accomplish this is toobtain the special lures (which can be acquired after the player has met up with gill) and head to one of the legendary fish locations.

Challenge Ten

The final challenge is quite difficult as it has players catch every type of fish in the game including the legendary ones. To get a good idea of where all these fish can be found and how to catch them, players can check out this guide which goes over each type in the game.

Next: Red Dead Redemption 2: Weapons Expert Challenges Guide

Red Dead Redemption 2 is available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC