Nothing is more important to a hunter than the element of surprise. On Icarus, situational awareness is a prized commodity. Hunters are masters of their surroundings and use the natural resources in a biome to ward off the dangers of weather, predators, and scarcity. A Hunter Talent Build will help you or your prospecting team thrive on Icarus better than any of its natural denizens.
Best Hunting Talents
Those brave enough to hunt the mutated fauna on Icarus pride themselves on their talents for stealth, awareness, and resourcefulness. The key talents for the Hunter Build will require 14 Talent points. The optional talents increase the total to 27 Talent Points to further improve character stats and unlock additional useful recipes. Some optional talents require investing in prerequisites. You can save some points for other specialties if you choose not to max out certain talents. The brackets next to each talent show the [Tree – Tab] where the talent is found.
Note: This is a partial list from the beta version of ICARUS when the talent trees were not fully established. It will be expanded in future updates.
Key Talents
Swift Stalker [Survival – Hunting]: 3 points- +3/5/10% to movement speed while crouched. Knife takedowns are easier when you can stalk targets faster than they can walk. This is very helpful early in missions.
Leather Breakdown [Survival – Hunting]: 1 point- Make
rope from 
leather without the 
Textiles Bench. Lots of armor and tech takes rope, and skinning tends to produce much more leather than necessary. This is very helpful in the Desert biome, and the only way to produce rope in the Arctic biome.
Without a Sound [Survival – Hunting]: 3 points- -5/10/15% perceived threat while in stealth. Reduces the chance of confrontation when encountering predators in the field.
Chase ’em Down [Survival – Hunting]: 3 points- +10/25/40 Maximum Stamina. More Stamina lets you use your bow and knife more often, and run more, making animal hunts and confrontations easier and safer.
- Strong Shoulders [Survival – Hunting]: 1 point
- +5% Movement Speed while Carrying an Animal. This is nice, but we take it mainly to progress down the tree.
Sense Small Animals [Survival – Hunting]: 1 point- Highlight small animals while aiming. Rabbits are very difficult to see in the brush, let alone target. They are easier to kill as little light bulbs.
Sense Medium Animals [Survival – Hunting]: 1 point- Highlight medium animals while aiming. Predators like the lioness love to stalk in the brush, and wolves and snow leopards can be concealed by rocks. Highlights strip away the advantage of camouflage and cover.
Sense Megafauna [Survival – Hunting]: 1 point- Highlight large animals while aiming. While wolves, bears, and polar bears advertise their presence with sound, it is easy to miss when the comm is filled with the jibber-jabber of fellow prospectors. An early warning can be life-saving, and enables safer travel.
Stone Hauling [Construction – Building]: 3 points- -10/20/40% carry weight of stone buildables. It is very helpful to have something solid between you and your enemy. With a portable stone enclosure, your best offense is an impenetrable defense.
Optional Talents
- Blueprint: Ghillie Armor [Survival – Hunting]: 1 point
- Unlock the
ghillie armor blueprints. While it provides minimal armor, it greatly reduces threat perception and requires no leather, fur, or advanced materials to craft.
Blueprint: Polar Bear Armor [Survival – Hunting]: 1 point- Unlock the
polar bear armor blueprints. The ultimate in Arctic protection from weather and damage, and it gives you something to do with a pile of polar bear pelts.
Dense Packing [Survival – Resources]: 3 points- +5/10/20% carry weight capacity. The more equipment and resources you can carry, the safer and easier traveling becomes, and the more you can bring back from a hunt.
Wood Breakdown [Survival – Resources]: 1 point- Make
sticks from wood without a 
Carpentry Bench. Sticks are just young arrows to a hunter, and they are hard to come by when traveling in the Desert or Arctic. Wood is a bit easier to find.
Robust Explorer [Survival – Exploration]: 3 points- +10/25/50 to base health. Go after big game more confidently with the equivalent of another food perk in base health.
Running With Knives [Combat – Blades]: 3 points- +2/5/10% to movement speed with knife equipped. One should never travel in the open without a knife out, and some prospector once said the slowest is the first eaten. The speed bonus from Running With Knives is greater than Swift Survivor.
Health Bars [Survival – Hunting]: 1 point- See animal health bars. While not striclty necessary, it’s convenient, and lets you make somewhat better decisions in the heat of the hunt.
Talent Trees
Click the button below to see a visual representation of the above-mentioned Talents.
We hope you are enjoying ICARUS and find this hunter build useful. Please leave your comments and questions below, and then go back down to Icarus and track your next bounty.
How do you unlock the polar bear blueprint
Hi Short_Steve! Thanks much for your question. Once you have put a point into the BLUEPRINT: POLAR BEAR ARMOR talent in the Combat–Hunting tree, you need to go to Tier 2 in the Blueprints Menu. On the branch with the Textiles Bench you should see several armor sets. The furthest right is the Polar Bear Armor. If you have not unlocked the Textiles Bench, all the armor will be grayed out and locked. First put a point into the Textiles Bench. Next, you need to be at least Level 20 to unlock the five blueprints in the set, and you will need 5 Blueprint Points to unlock the set. Put one point in each piece to be able to build them. Then on your prospect in ICARUS, build a Textiles Bench from the Crafting Bench menu (if you haven’t already) and look at the recipes in the bench. You should see the 5 Polar Bear Armor pieces there ready to be built (if you can get your hands on enough polar bear pelts). Thanks again for checking out our Hunter Build guide, and happy hunting!
What is the best weapon for the hunting talent tree and what would u upgrade in that/those weapons?
Hi Bobby. Thanks for your question! In my opinion, ranged weapons and in particular the longbow are the best weapons for talents in the Survival–Hunting tree. Many of these talents reduce detection, boost stamina, and add new sight abilities. The Health Bar and highlight abilities make night hunts and sneak attacks much easier. A bow is great for sneak attacks and is safer for big game. If you add in talents from the bow tree, you can make higher tier bows like the recurve bow more affordable. If you prefer throwing knives or spears, the hunting talents will help with these weapons, as well. These talents do not improve the utility of guns as much as the other weapons. Enjoy hunting on Icarus!