The rebreather is an essential item inSons of the Forestfor those who want to explore underwater for an extended time. Players can spend hours running around the island’s forest and beaches, but sometimes, the inaccessible areas hold the best secrets. Finding the rebreather is the first step in continuing the story campaign, and it gives players access to some of the best weapons and key items.
Depending on the spawn point, getting to the rebreather can be a quick trip or a slow, cannibal-filled trek across the forest. Luckily, everyone starts their playthrough with an emergency pack with a GPS, lighter, and axe, so you’re able to grab the rebreather early on. It is inside one of the marked caves on the GPS, and this guide covers where the cave is and how to get the rebreather inSons of the Forest.
Updated on July 20, 2025, by Taylor Pittman:After a year of updates and changes in early access, Sons of the Forest fully launched on PC in February 2024. The 1.0 update includes new mutants, more complex caves, and changes to the stamina and health systems. Players can also enjoy a fuller storyline that reveals some of the island’s craziest secrets as they search for the missing Puffton family. The rebreather is one of many key items players will need to access all corners of the cannibal-infested island, so this article has been updated with more tips and a video to help find it and to reflect changes included in the Sons of the Forest 1.0 release.
Rebreather Location in Sons of the Forest
The rebreather is inside a cave on the northmost beach on the west side of the mountain in the center. The game has three possible spawn locations: the north beach, the mountain, or deep in the forest to the southwest. The beach spawn point is right next to the rebreather cave, so players can go straight there to grab it after picking up all the resources at the crash site. Your health will be dangerously low, so make sure to use the medicine found in the tubs.
The forest spawn point is the furthest but is still less than a day’s trip away, while the mountain one is a little harder due to the cold conditions and the downward climb from the cliffs. Players canfind a Golf Cartor an EUC Bike to make the journey faster on land or one of the Foldable Hang Gliders to fly down the mountain. After going to the beach, the cave is hidden in some rocks off the shore near the yellow barrels, with the entrance boarded off with several wooden planks.
The wooden planks can be knocked down with the Tactical axe inside the emergency pack, and then players will hold down “E” to enter the cave. It will almost be pitch black within it, but there is also a tiny lighter in the emergency pack. However, taking adetour to grab the flashlightmakes things much easier. The flashlight is found at one of the purple exclamation points on the GPS locator.
Cave journeys can be long and dangerous because of all the mutants, so make sure to have necessities like food and beverages. Players will be able to pick up meal packs and energy drinks from most of the campsites around the island. Alternatively, you can hunt for food and boil fresh water in the cooking pot.
All the ponds and rivers are contaminated, so players will get sick if they drink it without boiling it first.
Players should make sure their energy, food, and thirst levels are full before entering the cave. It is also good to place a shelter outside to sleep and save progress in case things go south. It is also wiseto get a pistolor craft a bow and arrow to have a projectile weapon since the mutants are faster and more durable than the cannibals outside. Grenades are the most effective against them, but aren’t as common.
How to Find the Rebreather
Once inside the cave, search through all the crates and the two bodies at the entrance to pick up resources and some story hints. There’s also a laptop that players can activate to reveal a new location calledthe Entertainment Bunkeron the GPS.
Then, follow the tunnel deeper inside and keep moving forward until, eventually, there will be a light in the distance and a low wall that players must crouch to pass under. They can also pick up some raw meat. After that, the cave will start to funnel downwards, and there will be a small, flooded area past a small waterfall witha group of mutantsthat can be avoided by running away from them, but they will follow and attack players throughout the cave if left alone.
Continue past the flooded room and follow the tunnel to a fork in the road. The path on the right leads to the Stun Gun, so take the path to the left to get the rebreather. The way will be slightly flooded with many life jackets and tubes, leading to a larger open area with more mutants.
Players should go forward and to the right side of the room, and they will see a smaller entry that they must crouch again to pass through. This takes them to another room with a slight drop and agiant body of waterwith a bright light towards the back.
Go to the light, and the rebreather is on a rock near the water. Click “E” to pick it up and enter the inventory to equip it. There are also lots of containers and supplies lying around, so make sure to grab all of those. To escape the cave, with the rebreather equipped, jump into the large body of water and swim to the left.
Ashark in the watermay attack, so try to avoid it as much as possible and dive in when it is facing away. The rebreather will activate, and players can swim out of the cave by following the underwater tunnel back to the ocean. From there, they can go pick up the Rope Gun.
