How to Use the Winch in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game

The expedition has begun in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game, but some players may quickly find themselves stuck in the mud. Luckily, you can use the winch attached to your vehicle to haul yourself free, but figuring out how isn’t always easy.

Luckily for you, our how-to-use-the-winch guide will have you back on the road in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game in no time at all.

Stranded in the field

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game features an evolving world as you drive around. This means the land deforms under the weight of your vehicle, with each tyre leaving treads on every surface.

This also means your wheels can dig into a hole if you don’t manage them carefully. More often or not, you can get yourself free easily when this happens. If, however, you get stuck, then you may need to use other means to haul yourself free.

Every vehicle in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is equipped with a winch automatically. This can be used to pull yourself out of sticky situations, draw yourself across a gap between rocks, or right yourself after an unfortunate tumble down a rock face.

The winch isn’t always the easiest tool to use in the game, but we have the perfect guide to get you back moving as quickly as possible.

How to use the winch in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game

Before we explain how to use the winch, we’ll first cover when to use it. The winch should only be used if you're stranded in mud or to pivot the vehicle so that the powered wheels can get more traction.

The winch in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game can be used to pull your vehicle out of tricky situations. It is mainly found on the front of the vehicle and can be attached to any medium to large tree in the game, including felled trees lying on the ground.

The winch can also be used to tow another vehicle free from hazards, but this should only be a last resort if the stranded vehicle can’t rescue itself.

There are two ways to use the winch in Expeditions: A MudRunner Game. The best way is to access the winch via the devices menu. This way, you can select which winch point on your vehicle to attach the winch to, before then selecting where to attach the other end to get the best result.

This gives much more control over how the winch operates, ensuring you pull the vehicle in the expected direction at the expected rate.

The other way to use the winch is to simply pressthe winch button (Y on Xbox and PC, Triangle on PlayStation). This simply attaches the winch to the nearest winch point to your vehicle, usually in front of the vehicle.

This can be useful if you need to use the winch quickly, but it is less preferable over using the more precise winch options. If there is only one external winch point available, then using the winch button does save time.

If no trees are nearby, for example, if you're stuck on a rocky outcrop, you can also attach the winch to anchors placed on the ground from your inventory. These anchors have a more limited radius, however, so you should always look for the nearest tree or fellow vehicle first.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game guides

If you found our winch guide helpful, you may find these other Expeditions: A MudRunner Game guides to your liking:

For players entering the wilderness for the first time, our complete beginner’s guide will help you survive the expedition.

If you’re finding the metal detector tricky to use, our metal detector guide will soon see you strike gold.

If you’re struggling with the pressure of leading a scientific expedition, perhaps you need to adjust your tyre pressure with this guide.

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