Gather up The Last of Us Part 1 supplements to boost Joel's skills, which includes things like his maximum health, weapon accuracy, and even shiv use. Supplements take the form of pills, pill bottles, and plants, and you need to find them all over The Last of Us Part 1 to fund your skill upgrades for Joel. While there are there are 500 supplements to collect in a regular playthrough, some supplements are easy to find while others are even easier to miss. In fact, it's impossible to get all of Joel's skills in a single run of the story, so you'll need to check out New Game+ if you want a fully buffed Joel. It's still very important to get as many skills as possible for Joel, so we've laid out all the supplement locations in The Last of Us Part 1, listed chronologically, so you can get them as you play.
Where to find every Last of Us Part 1 supplement
By our measurements The Last of Us Part 1 has 500 supplements in total, found in every level from the Outskirts onwards. We've broken them up into chronological order below, as they appear by level.
- The Outskirts - 60 supplements
- Bill's Town - 90 supplements
- Pittsburgh - 120 supplements
- Suburbs - 55 supplements
- Tommy's Dam - 55 supplements
- University - 90 supplements
- Lakeside Resort - 10 supplements
- The Firefly Lab - 20 supplements
Click on any of the links at the side of the page to get to the section you need, or just scroll down to find them as you go. Supplements can take numerous forms as you explore, aside from the telltale "Pill" image that appears over them when you get close enough, look for the following:
- Pill bottles (of differing sizes and color)
- Small flowering purple plants (often in pots)
- Individual small white pills
Once you have enough of them, you can use them in the track pad menu to boost Joel's skills and stats accordingly. However, it's important to know that you can't get enough supplements in a single playthrough to max out all skills. You can get pretty close, but make sure you focus on the essential skills and forgo any that aren't that important to you. The good news is, if you play on New Game+, you can collect supplements again, so you'll have more than enough to max out Joel's skills in your second playthrough. First though, you need to find them.
The Last of Us Outskirts supplements
There's a total of 60 supplements in the Outskirts across ten locations. This area lasts from when you escape the military forces in the storm drains, all the way until you escape Washington after the Capitol Building.
- After the cutscene argument between Joel and Tess, head to the right and clamber over the ruined bridge. Rather than go up the slope into town, keep clambering right through a gap in the fence and drop into a small muddy area - under a dead tree on the left is a purple plant worth 5 supplements.
- In the slanted skyscraper, after pushing through the door stuck shut by a dead infected, immediately ahead and on the right is a bookshelf with 5 supplements resting on it.
- After Tess shoots a clicker in a cutscene, take the door immediately on the right into a kitchen, then turn left. There's a shiv door ahead - break in and turn left to see 10 supplements on a shelf.
- After getting the revolver and clearing all the infected, you'll start climbing down through the ruined side of the building. Once you reach a sign with "OLIVER LLF" on it, turn left, and take the slope going up. At the top there'll be a tiny ledge on the right Joel can shimmy across, his back to the wall - with some crafting materials and 5 supplements at the end.
- After Joel escapes the infected with a severed limb on his foot, you'll be inside a garage. Go round the back of the blue truck and inside to find 5 supplements sitting on a crate.
- After falling wood in the museum separates you from Tess and Ellie, creep around to the room you last saw them in, a large kitchen. There's a shiv door in there - break it open and you'll find 10 supplements, among other things.
- After leaving Tess behind in the Capitol Building, you'll run upstairs into an ornate conference room with a hole in the wall you're supposed to jump out of, in order to reach the next section of the building. Before you do, check the speaker's podium - there'll be 5 supplements on it.
- Once you get the hunting rifle, going down the main hallway ahead of you and turning left will lead you to a nondescript office, with 5 supplements on the desk.
- Once you've escaped the Capitol Building and are in the spore-flooded subway, Ellie will comment on her immunity in a cutscene. Deal with the two soldiers, then when looking at the tracks, jump down and turn right. There's 5 supplements on the back step of an abandoned subway train.
- When Ellie stops by a skeleton with the Smuggler's Note document next to it, turn left and swim down the flooded staircase. Break the surface on the other side and there's 5 supplements on top of the underwater storage room for you to grab.
The Last of Us Bill's Town supplements
Bill's Town is a long section, with 90 supplements in total to find. It begins from the section in the woods, lasting all the way until you leave in the car. This area is also a little more open-ended than the Outskirts, so prepare to do a bit more hunting around.
- When first in the woods, walk down the path until you see a heron fly away. Turn right where it was and walk around the boulder to find 5 supplements in the form of a purple plant.
- Once you've crossed the plank bridge and cleared the fence, go up the stairs into the office building. In the upstairs hallway on a chair is a pot of 5 supplements.
- Go back outside, and next to the stairs leading into the building is a shiv door. Break it open, and you'll get 15 supplements in two containers.
- After Ellie opens the gate and lets you into the main street, turn left and head up the road to the gnome garden. On the right hand side is a large potted plant worth 10 supplements.
- Back on main street, halfway down the road is an abandoned safe by a pickup truck. By heading down as far as you can go, you can find the Note to Bob caught on the barricade, which has the code written on it. Use that to crack the safe and you'll get 5 supplements, as well as parts and ammo. If you need clearer guidance or want to crack any other safes, check our The Last of Us safe codes page here!
- After seeing a clicker killed by a nail bomb trap, turn right and there'll be a white shiv door on your right. Break it open to find two jars of supplements worth 15 combined.
- After Joel tells Ellie to duck under the trap wire, immediately turn left and head down the alley to the door where Ellie thinks she can hear noises. Go inside and upstairs there'll be an infected. Kill it, then check the bathroom it came out of to find 5 supplements on the sink.
- After meeting Bill he'll take you to a hideout in a bar filled with loot and collectibles, including the first of The Last of Us Training Manuals. Once you leave and go up the stairs, immediately do a U-turn to the kitchen with a makeshift bed on the floor - there's 5 supplements on the countertop.
- Once in the church, head upstairs to the main room, and turn right into Bill's bedroom. There's 5 supplements on a side cabinet.
- After the church, you'll fight clickers through a cemetery. In the last section, with the fountain in the middle and the gate Bill unlocks, look in the lower left corner behind the tree to find a potted purple plant worth 5 supplements.
- The next area full of gardens actually doesn't have any supplements. Instead, keep going until you creep through the clicker-filled house, climb the truck and jump down from the treehouse. Immediately turn left after landing - in the corner of this garden is a purple plant worth 5 supplements.
- Go into the house and upstairs. In the master bedroom you'll see 5 supplements resting on a cabinet.
- You'll go through the whole school section without finding any supplements. Instead, once you reach Frank's house, there'll be 5 supplements on a counter in the kitchen. Make sure you grab them before starting up the car and triggering the next phase of the game.
The Last of Us Pittsburgh supplements
Pittsburgh is even bigger than Bill's Town, with a grand total of 120 supplements to find - more than in any other chapter of the game. This covers everything from the ambush by hunters right at the beginning, to jumping in the river to escape at the end.
- After escaping the ambush, Ellie will help you lift a metal door to a garage with The Last of Us Tools and a smoke bomb inside. Go upstairs and to the left to some sleeping quarters with a Training Manual. Inside an open suitcase between two mattresses will be 5 supplements.
- Leaving the building, Joel will comment on the distant bridge, then both of you jump down to the grassy highway. Directly ahead when you jump down is a purple plant of 5 supplements.
- In the bookshop full of hunters, head to the upstairs cafe. To the right is a shiv door that has several prizes behind it, including 5 supplements.
- After leaving the bookshop and seeing the soldiers who were murdered, continue through the alley until you jump down from a fire escape. Immediately turn 180 degrees - in the pile of trash next to the van is hidden 5 supplements, invisible until you're close enough for the icon to come up.
- Head out to the main road where you'll see hunters moving a plank over water. Head towards them, and watch the buildings on your left - you'll see a door under a blue awning with a big red X on it. It's a shiv door; break it open and there's 15 supplements across two jars sitting on a desk on your right hand side.
- Further down the street, swim into the flooded Rivers Cafe on the left by going through the submerged truck. Once in the cafe, go upstairs via the staircase at the back, then follow the mezzanine around to the right hand side. On a counter next to a laptop and a collectible artifact is a bottle of 5 pills.
- Completing the plank puzzle will gain you access to the hotel lobby on the opposite side. Once you drop in, immediately turn right and head to reception to see 5 supplements on the reception desk.
- Once out of the lobby, you'll hit the vertical maze of hotel rooms beyond, with hunters patrolling. To find the first supplements here, turn left in the rooftop garden you start in, climb through the window past the chattering guards, and go straight ahead to the other garden. Then turn left and climb up through the wreckage to floor 2. Directly ahead is a bathroom with a hole in it - go through and turn left to enter ANOTHER bathroom with two bodies in the bath - there's a drawer in here with 5 supplements. If you lose track or get lost, you're looking for the ensuite to room 304.
- Don't go up or down a floor from that point. Instead carry on to room 306 and check that bathroom too - there's another 5 supplements there.
- After falling down the elevator shaft to the basement, proceed until you hit the spores and see the rats running down the ramp. Head up from where they came, turn left, then right into the laundry room. On a high shelf on the dividing wall is a bottle of 10 supplements.
- Once you've escaped the basement and found The Last of Us keycard, head upstairs and look right for an office room with a workbench for weapon upgrades. On the central desk inside is a bottle of 5 supplements, as well as some Parts.
- After Ellie helps you by sniping all the hunters and the area is secure, you move on through a door she helps you lift. Once you use the cart to clamber through to the room with the workbench, opposite that is a bottle of 5 supplements.
- Proceed through the town until you reach a Rations Depot with a tank in front of it. At the back of the Depot is a shiv door - open it to get 10 supplements, among others.
- Later on, you'll be chased by an armored car, and eventually end up shuffling along the outside of a building and climbing into a bedroom window. Immediately go to the ensuite bathroom - there'll be 5 supplements in there.
- After meeting Henry and Sam for the first time, leave the apartment with them and go downstairs, where there'll be a shiv door. Open it and you'll see a bottle of 10 supplements on the kitchen cabinet, and 5 more supplements in the bedroom past it.
- Henry and Sam will lead you through a toy shop and past some goons to their safehouse, a converted office. Once you enter the big bullpen, comb the left wall to see the kitchen, where there's 5 supplements on the counter. Don't follow Henry through the door he's holding open or the cutscene will trigger and you'll be locked out of getting it.
- During the nighttime mission with Henry and Sam, there'll be a sequence where Joel and Ellie flee and work together to lift a metal door to escape the armored car's turret. Once in that building, follow it round until you see the little coffee cart called "Java Jak" in the lobby - it's got 10 supplements underneath it.
The Last of Us Suburbs supplements
The Suburbs chapter covers everything between Joel washing up on the beach, exploring the sewers, the actual suburbs themselves, and the sequence with the sniper and the armored car's return. There's 55 supplements to be found here.
- There's no supplements on the beach. Once you're in the sewer, follow the main pipe until the group suggests splitting up. Follow Ellie to the left and there'll be a fenced-off room she can open for you by crawling through a grate, with 5 supplements inside.
- Once Ellie activates the generator, allowing the rest of you to cross the water on a moving platform, head down the tunnel and take the first left into the boiler room with the "DANGER" sign outside. There's some tools in there, and a single pill on the shelf worth 5 supplements.
- After setting off the sound trap and finding the Shorty shotgun (one of the best of the The Last of Us weapons) turn right into the dead end with the soccer goal set up. In the lockers next to that are 5 supplements.
- In the sewers you'll get cut off from Ellie and Henry, with only Sam as a teammate. On entering a dark area full of stalkers and clickers, follow the right hand wall until you see a strange, boxy bedroom on your left you have to climb up into. There's a shelf in there with 10 supplements.
- After escaping the sewers and reaching the suburbs, find the first house you can enter on the right. In the ground floor bathroom, next to the kitchen, are 5 supplements.
- The white house down the street with the dogs fighting in front of it, just after the ice cream truck, has 10 supplements in the living room with a dart board, opposite the television between two chairs.
- Upstairs is a safe, and upstairs again is a matchbook with the safe code on it. Use the code to crack the safe and get 10 supplements more.
- While the sniper is shooting at you, use cover to reach the last house on the right side of the street. On the chest of drawers in the kid's bedroom upstairs are 5 supplements, the last in the chapter.
The Last of Us Tommy's Dam supplements
Tommy's Dam extends from the cutscene where you leave Henry and Sam, and lasts all the way until Ellie and Joel both get on horseback to head to the university after escaping the ranch. Like the Suburbs again, there's 55 supplements for players to find across this section.
- When approaching the dam and needing to lower the barrier to cross the water, there'll be a shiv door on the right hand side. Open it for a range of loot, including 10 supplements and a lot of Parts for The Last of Us weapon upgrades.
- Keep heading on until there's the big yellow bulldozer on your left. Go around that and you'll find a princely 20 supplements in the form of a growing purple plant.
- Once inside the dam, follow Tommy until he offers you the photo, then goes up the stairs. Follow him, but then turn left, rather than right. There's a dead end office/control room with 10 supplements on an armchair.
- Follow Tommy again, this time outside past Buckley the Dog. Once you go back in, you'll see two workmen looking at blueprints, with 5 supplements on the table next to them.
- The next ones aren't for a while - Ellie will flee on horseback, prompting you to follow her all the way to a ranch. When you reach it, open going in through the front door, immediately turn left into a small bathroom. There's 10 supplements on the sink.
The Last of Us University supplements
This chapter is bigger than the last two, and as any student can tell you, there's a lot of pills floating around campus. There's 90 supplements at the University of Eastern Colorado, and this whole section covers everything from your arrival, exploration, and escape with a serious injury.
- On entering the university gates, turn left and head to the dead end. Behind a huge dumpster and overturned car is a potted plant worth 10 supplements.
- Head further into UEC and stop before the first barrier you need the horse to clear. Turn right into the storage bay where the Flamethrower is kept. Against the back wall, on a crate, are 5 supplements.
- Carry on through the University until you reach the first gate that needs the generator powered up to open. With your back to the gate, take the stairs left of the stone bust and follow the path up to the mezzanine to see 5 supplements on a couch.
- Once the gate is powered up and open, keep going until you reach another horse-jumping barricade. Rather than vault it, climb onto the blue dumpster to the right of it and through the window. There's 5 supplements on the teacher's desk inside, as well as one of The Last of Us Firefly pendants.
- Once you vault the barrier and reach the big courtyard where you see the monkeys, head to the right and you'll see another blue dumpster leading to a low roof and more open windows. Climb up both and through the window, and there'll immediately be 10 supplements on a chair to the right. There used to be another 10 up here, but that seems to have been changed in the Part 1 Remake.
- Head on through UEC until you reach another depowered gate. After crouching under the gap to the right, you'll enter a reception office with 5 supplements on a coffee table to your left.
- Heading up the stairs, in the bathroom connected to Dormitory 200-A you'll find 5 supplements under the sink.
- After getting past the clickers and bloater and shoulder charging through the door, you'll come upstairs to room 205-B. Inside a drawer in the back right corner are 10 supplements.
- Eventually you'll enter the science building after smashing a gate by accident. Climb into the building through the broken window, turn left through the workbench room, then right into the classroom lab. On the left side are some drawers, one of which has 5 supplements in.
- Past the shiv door blocking room 205, at the end of the hall are tools, training manuals, and 15 supplements in two jars.
- After a cutscene where Ellie and Joel wonder where the Fireflies are, head over the balcony into room 301. Vault the window on the right and search the back row of cabinets - there's a drawer with 5 supplements in.
- Follow the left hand classrooms around until you reach a connecting storage room with 10 supplements on a shelf. With that, you've found them all in the University.
The Last of Us Lakeside Resort supplements
There's actually only 10 supplements in this entire long chapter, because you spend most of it playing as Ellie. You'll play most of it before you even find them, but here's where they are.
- After playing as Ellie, then Joel, then Ellie again, THEN Joel once more, you'll spawn in a snowstorm with a gas station on your right hand side. Walk past it, deal with the bandits, then clamber through the ruined motel on the left. Go through it and out the back window, and there'll be a shed with a shiv door - break in to find a training manual, Parts and 10 supplements.
The Last of Us Bus Depot supplements
The bus depot is another short chapter, though it's got more pills in it than the last one. This covers everything between the arrival in Salt Lake City on the highway, the bus depot itself, the triage, and all the underground tunnels until you reach the hospital.
- Once on the highway, immediately head into the grim RV just ahead. There's 5 supplements on a shelf.
- Further down the highway, walk down the offramp and turn right at the end, almost doing a 180 turn onto the green grass. VERY well concealed by the grass, left of the white tree ahead of you and against the bushes, is a purple plant worth 5 supplements.
- Once you're in the Bus Depot and Ellie's being quiet, there's storage lockers in the back right corner, under the overhanging mezzanine, that have 10 supplements inside.
- After the giraffe sequence, you'll enter the triage full of white tents. Explore the largest tent with the tools inside, one of the medical beds at the back has 10 supplements on it.
- Some time later, after all the clickers and bloaters in the tunnel, Ellie will open a door for you and you'll save her from a clicker. Go past the workbench here and beyond that, on the right, is a shiv door. Open it and just ahead are sprouting flowers worth 10 supplements.
The Last of Us Firefly Lab supplements
Being a hospital, the Firefly Lab does have a few supplements floating around: 20, to be exact. This technically isn't the last level of the game but this is the last place you can get supplements. Grab these and you'll have found every pill you can get in all of The Last of Us Part 1.
- When you start playing, head down the immediate right hand hallway, looking for the large X-Ray room. There's two tables in here - the nearest one to you will have 5 supplements on it.
- Heading down the West Wing corridor, Joel will have to hide or fight some Fireflies who come running. Just past them, when you see another one burst through the door, turn left and check the chairs - one has 5 supplements on it.
- Once you run upstairs, there'll be a reception counter with an audio recorder on it. Behind the counter is a shiv door. Break it open to get some final supplies, including the last 10 supplements in the game.
Phew! That's a lot of pills, but it'll go a long way to helping your survivability in The Last of Us Part 1, especially if you carry these upgrades into New Game+.
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