Permafrost: How to Stay Warm and Survive the Cold
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Quick answer: watch the body warmth meter (300 points). Your clothing has a combined temperature rating — when the air is colder than your gear, warmth drains; at zero you gain hypothermia and lose health. The fix is always the same: get to a fire, a roof, or better clothes.
How the cold system works
- The HUD shows the ambient temperature and your body warmth alongside health, hunger, energy and stamina — all on a 300-point scale. There is no thirst meter; drinks fold into hunger.
- Clothing adds cold resistance (a separate attribute from armor); your gear shows a combined rating, for example −29 °C. Above that number you slowly recover warmth; below it you drain.
- Warnings escalate: Low Temperature → Bone-Chilling Cold → Hypothermia, and the damage scales with the gap between air temperature and your rating. The negative-effects panel tells you the remedy: get warm.
- Indoors you warm slowly even without fire; a lit fire under a roof warms much faster.
Campfires and shelter
- A campfire costs 2 stone, can be placed almost anywhere, grants the Warmed status and cooks food. Carry stone and wood at all times so you can pitch camp on demand.
- A lit campfire offers a "Warm Hands" radial interaction for a quick top-up.
- At night or in a blizzard, an open fire may not be enough — throw up four walls and a roof, or drop a tent/sleeping bag.
- Sleeping in a claimed bed skips to morning (~8 AM) without burning fuel — but not with enemies nearby.
The numbers (from the game files, build 0.44.2)
- Biome base temperatures: tiers run from −23 °C (tier 1) down to −55 °C (tier 8); outside named biomes the default is −25 °C.
- Cold multipliers: cold zone ×1.6 · blizzard ×1.3 · snowfall ×1.3 · fog ×1.1 · night (19:00–07:00) ×1.25
- Protection multipliers: sheltered ×0.7 · safehouse ×0.4 · high altitude ×0.8 (milder!)
- Heat sources: braziers +60 °C, torches +10 °C; standing near one grants the Warmed status for 30 s — warmth gain ×2, warmth loss ×0.5. That's the same effect profile heaters give while equipped.
Cold zones
The deep-blue foggy cold zones are extreme (players report around −60 °C), drain warmth, energy and stamina within seconds, block building — and hold the best loot in the region. Map data counts over a hundred of them, including named spots like the Renegade Camp, the Shattered Convoy and the Crater's military convoy.
The safe pattern:
- Build a campfire just outside the zone boundary.
- Drink an improvised tea or eat a warming dish.
- Make a short run in, loot, return before warmth hits zero.
- Remember: a campfire inside a cold zone will not save you — the cold overwhelms an open flame.
Spending 300+ seconds in a cold zone earns the hidden "Frozen body" achievement, for what that's worth.
Heaters and warming items
- Portable heaters (makeshift, chemical, electric) and hot-water bottles roughly double warmth gain and halve warmth loss while equipped — but they break quickly and are repaired with plastic. Save them for cold-zone runs. The Skinwalker sells heaters, and one main quest revolves around finding a better heater.
- Improvised tea and coffee warm you; a warming dish (meat + potato, stove) raises body warmth directly.
- Alcohol is a poor anti-cold strategy — its documented medical use is treating parasites and infected wounds, and vodka blurs your vision.
- Candles give light with no fuel and no heat; torches consume wood.
Blizzards
Storms drop temperature and visibility hard. Wait them out indoors (a foundation, walls and a bed can be thrown up almost anywhere outside no-build zones) or daisy-chain campfires along your route. Fast travel is blocked during severe storms.
FAQ
Why am I freezing next to my campfire? You're probably in a cold zone (blue fog) where open fires lose, or the fire is unlit/out of fuel — check for the Warmed status.
What's the fastest warmth recovery? Lit fire under a roof + a heater equipped + a warming drink.
Do clothes really show a temperature rating? Yes — check the gear tooltip; the combined rating is what the weather tests against.
Related: Food and cooking · Clothing and cold resistance · Base building
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Related guides
- Permafrost Food Guide: Cooking, Healing and HuntingCooked food heals. Get the kitchen stove from Anna's quest, combine meat with edible roots for a 50-HP healthy dish, and never eat raw meat.
- Permafrost Base Building: Shelters, Beds and RenovationPress B, snap foundation → walls → door → roof, claim a bed, and avoid no-build zones. Plus material tiers, renovation zones, decay and known placement bugs.
- Permafrost Beginner Guide: Survive Your First DaysA practical opening route: pick a background, craft stone tools, master campfire discipline, rescue your dog, build a first cabin, and learn how blueprint points and saving actually work.
- Permafrost Clothing: Cold Resistance and Armor SetsClothes carry your temperature rating. The set ladder runs animal hats → tribal → hybrid → insulated mountain → military → the lunar Permafrost set.