Whether you’re in a randomly generated world or the classic Navezgane map, you’ll need to deal with a variety of dangerous biomes in7 Days To Die. You’re free to go wherever you want, but without proper preparation and a region’s Biome Badge, you’re likely to die a horrible death at the hands of zombies.

The Burnt Forest is the second biome you’re intended to visit, and this desolate, charred landscape is home to ruins, more deadly zombies, terrifying storms full of fiery embers, and even a bit of life trying to regrow. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about surviving the Burnt Forest and getting its Biome Badge.

Player character aiming a pistol at a flaming zombie in the Burnt Forest in 7 Days To Die.

What Is The Burnt Forest?

The Burnt Forest is thesecond biome you’re intended to visit, and it offers anoticeable increase in difficultycompared to The Forest due to theunique zombiesand theenvironmental effectsyou’ll need to deal with: Smoke, Ember Storms, Burnt Zombies, and Flaming Zombies.

If youaren’t under the effects of a Burnt Smoothieor youhaven’t acquired the area’s Biome Badge, you’ll be subject to the Black Smoke effect upon entering. This effectlasts for three minutesand bothprotects and warns you about the smokein the region.

Player character looking at the crafting recipe for a Burnt Smoothie in their inventory in 7 Days To Die.

You’ll want to at leasthave a Bicycle before going into the Burnt Forest in case you need to make a quick escape back to the Pine Forest or quickly reach a safe location in the event of a storm.

Once theeffect disappears, it will bereplaced with the Smoke debuff. You’ll start suffocating andtake damage over timeat a rate ofabout 10 health every two seconds, along with getting asmoke effect around the edges of your screen.

Player character standing next to a group of Mushrooms next to a pool of water in a cave in 7 Days To Die.

It’spossible to heal through the effectusing healing items like a First Aid Kit, but thedamage won’t stopuntil youget rid of the Smoke debuffby consuming aBurnt Smoothie, or youobtain the Burnt Forest Biome Badge.

How To Make A Burnt Smoothie

Unlocking therecipe for the Burnt Smoothierequires you tovisit the Burnt Forest at least once, and this can bedone safelyas you’llhavethree minutesbefore you lose the Black Smoke status andstart taking damage from the environment.

To make it, you’ll need a few ingredients, and it can becrafted at any time from your inventory:

Player character using an Iron Pickaxe to mine and break a Nitrate Crystal in the Burnt Forest in 7 Days To Die.

How To Obtain

Coal x4

Harvest from fireplaces and stoves with charred wood in them, found in lootables like ovens, or harvest from any charred trees in the Burnt Forest.

Player character walking up to the Pop-N-Pills building in the Burnt Forest in 7 Days To Die.

Plant Fiber x20

Harvest from grass, dead crops of any kind, or found in lootables like trash boxes.

Mushroom x5

Player character looking at the stats of a pair of Commando Gloves equipped on them in 7 Days To Die.

Harvest from Mushrooms growing in locations like caves or the Burnt Forest, or found in lootables like kitchen cabinets and trash boxes.

Water x1

Player character in the Burnt Forest while an Ember Storm is starting and being warned to leave in 7 Days To Die.

Find in containers such as Water Coolers, or process Murky Water in a Campfire with a Cooking Pot attached to it.

Once drunk, the Burnt Smoothie providesprotection from the smoke for seven minutes, as well asrestoring a small amount of Waterand giving you abonus ten percent running speed while in the Burnt Forest.

Player character talking shelter from an Ember Storm in a basement in the Burnt Forest in 7 Days To Die.

How To Get Mushrooms

Mushrooms can bea bit difficult to findprior to the Burnt Forest, but there areseveral ways to get them earlyon. Like with other vegetables, you have achance to find themand Mushroom Spores inlootables like Cabinets, Refrigerators,Trash Bags and Boxes, and Shamway Food Containers.

you may alsoget them by harvesting Mushrooms, and theeasiest and earliest locationfor them is thecave on the side of the hill southwest of Trader Rekt on the Navezgane map.

You canconvert Mushrooms into Mushroom Spores once you’ve reached Level 12 in the Seeds Skills, which is raised by reading Southern Livingskill magazines.

Inside is a series oftunnels that go down to a central cavernwith a Munitions Box lootable, andmushrooms spawn on the ground and walls throughoutthese tunnels.

You’llgenerally find at least four plants, which nets youaround ten to 12 Mushrooms on average, and there’s achance to find them in the other lootablesyou find as you go down.

If you’reon a randomized map, things will be different, butsimilar cave POIs can appear, and you may also justfind the Mushrooms via loot, make brief journeys into the Burnt Forest, orpurchase them or Mushroom Spores from a Trader.

How To Get The Burnt Forest Biome Badge

To get The Burnt Forest’s Biome Badge, you’ll need tocomplete the seven challengesthat make up theBurnt Survival categoryin the Biome Challenges section of your menu.

You can find thelist of all Biome Challenges by looking at the Challenges section of your menu, then navigating to the third tab in that section, marked by a small sun with an unhappy face.

How To Complete

Wear Any Non-Primitive Armor Set

Wearing afull set of any non-primitive armor set, such as the Commando Set or the Scavenger Set.

All three types of armor sets can beunlocked for crafting by reading Armor Up! Skill Magazinesuntil you reach at least level 15 in the Armor Crafting Skill.

Harvest Mushrooms

Harvest at least five Mushrooms that are specifically grown anywhere in the Burnt Forest region.

Mushrooms can be found all over, primarily inpatches of ground with green grass growing, and several areguaranteed to spawnin locations like thePrivate Cemetery and Digger’s Rest POIs outside of Trader Jen’scompound.

Craft A Burnt Smoothie

Craft a Burnt Smooth using four Coal, 20 Plant Fibers, five Mushrooms, and one Water.

All materials can be obtained outside the Burnt Forest, as Coal can be gathered from Fireplaces or found in loot randomly, Mushrooms can be found in trash, kitchens, or caves, and Murky Water can be converted to regular Water at a Campfire with a Cooking Pot attached.

Harvest Nitrate Powder

Use a Stone Axe, Iron Pickaxe, or another tool toharvest at least 600 Nitrate Powder from Nitrate Crystalsin the Burnt Forest.

Nitrate Crystals spawn randomly throughout the Burnt Forest and are most often found in the wildernessnear groups of trees or houses.

Kill Burnt Zombies

Kill any five Burnt Zombies while in the Burnt Forest.

Burnt Zombiesare anuncommon variant of zombieunique to the Burnt Forest, and can befound anywhere in the region, but will be more common in thewilderness and POIs with higher danger ratings.

Loot Any Containers

Loot any five containers while in the Burnt Forest.

Any lootable container counts towards this challenge, whether it’s a Truck or a Rotten Backpack, so going through a single house can complete this challenge.

Spend Time In The Burnt Forest

Spend a minimum of15 minutes in the Burnt Forest.

This can bedone in portionswithout a Burnt Smoothie, asleaving and reentering the biome doesn’t reset progress, or all at one time by drinking Burnt Smoothies. You’llneed at least three Burnt Smoothiesto last the 15 minutes.

Onceall seven challenges are completed, you may make your way toany Traderandredeem the badge from themlike you would a Quest Reward. Doing sorewards you with a massive amount of EXP, and once the badge is equipped, you’ll immediately gain its effects.

What You Can Find In The Burnt Forest

The Burnt Forest contains avariety of useful resources you’ll want to get, with its unique features beingNitrate Crystals, burnttrees that provide Coal when harvested, and you canfind Boar and Coyotes roamingthe land.

Nitrate Crystals are akey component in making Farm Plots, as well as being used tomake Gunpowder,Herbal Antibiotics, andregular Antibiotics, so it’s something you’ll want to stock up on.

TheBoars and Coyotesroaming will providelarge amounts of Raw Meat and Leather, which areimportant for cooking and crafting, and the Animal Fat they drop is also required for Candles and some recipes.

If youinvest at least two Skill Points in the Animal Tracker skill, you’re able to reveal nearby Boar tracks to find them more easily, and level three allows you to do the same with Coyotes.

The Burnt Forest is also home toseveral POIsthat tend to havevery lucrative containers, such as the Navezgane Creamery,O’Malley Oats, andPop-N-Pills, as well as largecities like Gravestowne, which havetons of locations to loot.

How To Survive In The Burnt Forest

Themost difficult partof the Burnt Forest to deal with at first will bethe environment, but that isn’t the only danger. You’ll seemore high-danger POIs, and they’ll also tend tospawn more dangerous zombies, such as Hazmat Suit Zombies, Bikers, and the Flaming Zombie.

You’ll want to haveat least a full set of Light, Medium, or Heavy Armor, depending on what sort of build you’re going for, and it’s important tocarry several basic resources and materialswith you at all times:

As long as you’resuitably preparedandavoid high-danger POIs until you have better gear, the Burnt Forestwon’t be a massive step-up in difficulty, especially if you’vestarted doing Tier Two missions from Trader Rektand have experience with more dangerous POIs.

How To Survive An Ember Storm

While Thunderstorms can also occur in the Burnt Forest, the region’s specific weather formation, theEmber Storm, is themain storm threatyou’ll be facing.

It doeshigh damage over timeunless you’re out of the biome or in a shelter,lasts for several minutes, andeven with medical items and food, it’s incrediblydifficult to survive if you’re caught in itfor an extended period, especially if zombies attack.

Depending on your game’s settings, theEmber Storm and other stormswill occur randomly, depending on thefrequency set in the world settings, with thedefault being 100 percent. Their frequency can be eitherdecreasedto 50 percent or zero percentif you want them rarer, orincreasedup to a maximum of 500 percentif you want them often.

Whenone is about to start, you’ll get awarning on your screenabout the approaching storm that willdiffer depending on whetheryou’veobtained the Burnt Forest’s Biome Badge or not.

Either type of warning will give you60 seconds to make preparations or leave, then you’llget a final warningto leave or find shelterbefore the storm starts, and then atimer that shows when you’ll start taking damagewill appear last.

If youdon’t have the Biome Badge, you’ll haveno additional protectionfrom the Ember Storm, and yourbest bet would be to leave the Burnt Forestas soon as possible andwait it out in a nearby region, such as the Pine Forest or the Wasteland, asstorms generally don’t occur in multiple biomes at once.

If youdo have the Biome Badge, you’ll have theadditional protection from the Ember Storm, and the situation won’t be as dire.

Make sure you’ve gotmedical items in your hot bar, and eitherlocate the nearest enclosed location, such asTrader Jen’s or X, or quicklybuild a sufficient shelter with a roof and doorout of material blocks, like Wood or Stone.

Locations with a basement or underground area, such as the Crypts or Phillipe Residence, also provide shelter from a storm, and can be less dangerous than a plain housesince zombies will need more pathfinding to get to you in them.

If the shelter is enough, you’llavoid the Ember Storm’s damage effectand be able towait it out until it passes, which usually takes a few minutes, then be free to explore afterward.