How to Equip Gear and Manage Your Hands Slot

The survival interface splits your character equipment and currently held item into dedicated panels so you can gear up quickly and see exactly what your character is carrying.

Equipping Armor on the Survivor Panel

1. Open your inventory with E and locate the Survivor panel in the center of the screen, which displays your character figure.

2. Grab a piece of armor or clothing from your inventory slots, an open container drawer, or straight off the ground in the left Vicinity column.

3. Drag the item over the center Survivor figure and drop it. The piece equips onto your character immediately without needing to hunt for individual helmet, chestplate, leggings, or boots slots.

Using the Hands Panel

The translucent Hands panel represents what your character is actively holding in the world.

1. Look at the Hands panel to see a double-scale preview of your held item along with an item name banner underneath the header.

2. Select different slots on your hotbar during gameplay; the Hands panel automatically mirrors whichever hotbar slot is currently active.

3. To swap your held tool or weapon while looting, drag any item directly into the Hands panel to assign it to your active hotbar choice.