Specialists

Specialists are unique allies who also occupy the same slot of Guns for Hire allies but with their own set of exclusive skills already unlocked. Kills made by your specialists count towards their corresponding challenges which will award you with perk points. In order to hire specialists, you have to complete their respective side missions first.

Once hired, you can interchange them freely as needed though there’s a one minute cooldown after unassigning a specialist. You can even have two active specialists at once in your party after unlocking the second slot via the Perks menu. Each region has three available specialists, three of which are incredibly intelligent animals aptly called “Fangs for Hire”. The easiest one you can get (and one of the most useful) is the good boy named Boomer. He’s the closest specialist from your starting point early in the game and his side mission only requires you to pet him to complete. Such a good boy.

Your human allies can hop with you on almost any vehicle. If the vehicle has mounted weapons, your allies will take control of them and attack enemies automatically. Should you decide to take the gunner seat, you can still have your allies drive for you, as long as you activate the GPS by placing a marker to the location you want to go. Unfortunately for your animal friends, they’ll have to follow you on foot, regardless of the distance.

When trying to liberate an outpost stealthily, enemies will react if they see your allies (except Boomer until he attacks). Enemies will become immediately hostile if ever they spot wild animals, either lured by your baits or if you have Cheeseburger or Peaches with you. Even if you stay hidden but your ally attacks, you'll lose the undetected status and enemies will even attempt to sound the alarm. If you want to liberate an outpost stealthily, bringing Boomer with Grace or Jess will be your best option.

When injured, you can revive them and bring them back to the fight. If you weren’t able to revive them on time, they’ll become temporarily unavailable but can still be called after a cooldown period. Likewise, if you went down in battle, you can cling to life and wait for your allies to revive you. Your allies can also revive one another if they happen to be close together and within range. Unfortunately, airborne specialists like Nick and Adelaide won’t be able to revive you for obvious reasons.

There are specialists suited for different types of missions and depending on the approach you want. If you want to be sneaky for example, Boomer with Jess or Grace can help. If you want to do an Air Raid, hop on an attack chopper or bomber then call in Nick and Adelaide. If you want cause mayhem on the ground, Sharky and Hurk will be your guys. If want to feel wild, bring Cheeseburger and Peaches.