State of Survival: Red Fox vs. Crawfish Pet Priority Guide

When deciding between the Red Fox and the Crawfish in State of Survival, upgrade the Red Fox first. The Red Fox provides offensive combat buffs that benefit active marches and rallies across daily play, while the Crawfish is restricted to situational defense. Investing your initial Pet Food and Skill Manuals entirely into the Red Fox produces a faster combat advantage than splitting resources between both companions.

Pet Comparison and Combat Roles

The Pet Sanctuary requires concentrated material investment. Upgrading one pet to its current cap yields better performance than dividing materials evenly.

The Red Fox scales offensive stats across all participating troops in a march, accelerating clear times against infected targets and increasing kill counts against player targets. By contrast, the Crawfish enhances damage reduction and squad durability. These defensive perks stabilize your settlement or fortified structures under siege, but they do not provide the offensive output needed to break enemy lines.

Deployment Strategy

Assign pets according to whether your march is initiating an attack or defending a stationary structure:

• Rally Leading and Offensive Attacks: Deploy the Red Fox with your primary rally or attack march. The boosts to attack and lethality maximize frontline enemy casualties in early combat rounds, helping crack defended settlements and facilities.
• Contested Objectives: Assign the Red Fox when fighting for Resource Facilities or Towers during alliance events. Offensive stat multipliers allow squads to clear rival marches before enemy reinforcements arrive.
• Settlement and Structure Defense: Switch to the Crawfish when expecting incoming rallies against your settlement or when assigned to hold bunkers. Its damage mitigation preserves troop numbers, giving alliance members time to reinforce your garrison.

Using the Crawfish on an offensive assault significantly lowers damage potential, dragging out engagements and increasing troop losses.

Skill Manual and Progression Order

Focus Skill Manuals and Pet Food on one pet at a time to avoid stalling your combat progression:

1. Max Red Fox Offensive Passives: Spend Skill Manuals on the Red Fox's universal troop attack and lethality traits until reaching the cap permitted by your current Pet Sanctuary level.
2. Hold Crawfish Upgrades: Do not distribute Skill Manuals to the Crawfish until the Red Fox reaches an upgrade ceiling or your alliance formally assigns you to a permanent defense post.
3. Develop Crawfish Durability: Once surplus or lower-grade materials become available, invest them into the Crawfish's damage mitigation and health passives to establish a defensive baseline.

For free-to-play players and low spenders, building the Red Fox provides a reliable, accessible combat foundation without requiring the heavy investment demanded by premium options like the Unicorn. Reserve all Pet Food, capture tokens, and Skill Manuals for the Red Fox until its offensive utility is fully established.