Bandage

Lore & Background

Before the bombs fell, a bandage was something you grabbed from a first-aid kit on a kitchen counter and forgot about. In the Wasteland, that same strip of gauze and adhesive tape is scavenged from the ruins of hospitals, pulled from the pockets of the dead, or painstakingly stitched together from whatever clean cloth a survivor can find. The Dead Walkers carry them not out of sentiment but out of necessity: a cut left untreated in the irradiated dust of the Mojave or the frozen wastelands of Minnesota can fester into a wound that no amount of later medicine can fully reverse. In Wasteland 2, the scarcity of functional medical infrastructure means that even the most basic wound care requires active scavenging. Bandages appear in containers, on fallen enemies, and at trader outposts, but they are finite. In Wasteland 3, the crafting system allows players to produce bandages from gathered cloth and basic adhesives, reflecting a world where even the simplest medical act must be manufactured by hand. The item's presence in both games underscores a recurring theme: the Wasteland strips medicine down to its most primitive form, and survival depends on how carefully you ration every scrap. For the characters who use them, a bandage is not a cure. It is a pause. A few minutes of breathing room before the next fight, the next mile of road, the next decision about whether to push on or dig in. In a franchise defined by the cost of every choice, the bandage is the smallest and most honest of those choices: spend a little, stay alive a little longer.

In Their Own Story

The wind off the salt flats carried grit into every open wound. Kowalski pressed his thumb against the gash on his forearm and felt the thread of blood warm and steady. He reached into his pack, fingers closing around the soft, slightly damp bundle he'd wrapped in waxed paper three days ago. He tore the adhesive strip, peeled the backing, and wound it tight. Not enough. Never enough. But the bleeding slowed, the sting dulled to a throb, and he could stand. He rolled the used strip back into the pack—cloth was cloth, and in the Wasteland, nothing was truly wasted. The road stretched ahead, pale and endless, and the next mile would ask for more.

Reader's Guide

Function & Stats The Bandage is a single-use consumable that restores a small amount of HP to the character who activates it. It is the lowest tier of healing item in both Wasteland 2 and Wasteland 3, below medkits, stims, and other advanced medical treatments. It has no cooldown, no class restriction, and no side effects. Obtaining In Wasteland 2, bandages can be found in loot containers, on the bodies of fallen enemies, purchased from trader NPCs at various outposts, and in some cases crafted if you have the required cloth and binding materials. In Wasteland 3, the crafting recipe for bandages is available early in the game and requires basic cloth and adhesive components gathered from the environment. Vendors in the Colorado and surrounding regions also stock them. Best Use All Dead Walkers benefit equally, but front-line characters who take frequent hits (e.g., those in heavy armor or melee roles) will cycle through bandages faster. Because the heal is modest, bandages are best reserved for minor damage or for topping off health between larger engagements rather than as a primary recovery tool. Version Notes The core function is consistent between Wasteland 2 and Wasteland 3. Wasteland 3's crafting system makes bandages more reproducible, slightly reducing their scarcity compared to Wasteland 2, where they were more dependent on finding or purchasing.

Did You Know?

• In Wasteland 3, bandages can be crafted from basic cloth and adhesive materials, reflecting the series' theme of improvised survival medicine.
• The Bandage is usable by every Dead Walker character regardless of class or specialization, making it one of the most universally accessible items in the series.
• In Wasteland 2, medical supplies of all tiers—including bandages—are finite and must be scavenged, purchased, or crafted, reinforcing the post-apocalyptic scarcity that defines the setting.
• The Wasteland franchise, originally created by Interplay in 1988 and later continued by inXile Entertainment, has consistently treated basic first-aid items as meaningful gameplay resources rather than trivial fillers.