You’re standing in the ship. The terminal screen glows: “Quota: 310. Days remaining: 2.” Your crew of four has 137 credits in scrap and zero equipment. The last run ended with two players dead inside the facility, one snatched by a Forest Keeper on the walk back, and the last guy rage-quitting after the autopilot left without him.
Day 2. You land on March. You split up. You open every door. Nobody watches the radar. By 7 PM, all four of you are dead.
This is the standard Lethal Company beginner experience. It’s not bad luck. It’s a stack of small, fixable mistakes that compound into a wipe. Here are the 10 that kill crews the most — and exactly how to stop making them.
The 10 Mistakes That Wipe Your Crew
Mistake #1: Landing on a Paid Moon Before You’re Ready
Why it happens. You just met quota on day 1. The terminal shows Rend and Titan with fat scrap multipliers. Your brain whispers: “More scrap, faster quota, we’re good at this game now.” You spend 550 credits on Rend. You land. You’re dead in 90 seconds.
What actually happens. Paid moons don’t just cost credits — they crank up enemy spawn rates, add tougher monster variants, and introduce weather hazards that free moons don’t have. Rend has permanent blizzard conditions that drain your stamina. Titan has a 500-meter walk from ship to entrance through open terrain where Forest Keepers patrol. A crew that can’t consistently survive Assurance has no business being on Rend. Period.
The fix. Stick to free moons (Experimentation, Assurance, Vow, March) for your first 10 runs. The first paid moon you should touch is Offense — 40 credits, C-tier hazard, and the layout is straightforward enough to learn without dying every time. Our moon guide breaks down every moon’s hazard level and when you’re ready for it.
Frame it this way: every time you wipe on a paid moon, you lose the landing fee plus whatever scrap you would have collected on a free moon. A wipe on Rend costs you 550 credits minimum. That’s 2-3 runs worth of scrap you just threw away.
Mistake #2: Opening Every Door You See
Why it happens. Video games trained you to open doors. That’s how you find loot. That’s how you progress. Opening a door feels like the correct thing to do.
What actually happens. Every door in Lethal Company is a dice roll. Behind it could be a room with 3 pieces of scrap. Or a Bracken’s nest. Or a Coil-Head that locks onto the first person who walks through. The more doors you open, the more dice you roll, and the game’s dice are weighted against you.
Here’s a specific wipe. Your crew enters the facility. You see a corridor with 4 doors. You open all 4 in sequence. Door 1: empty. Door 2: a Thumper hears the door open and charges. Door 3: a Snare Flea drops from the ceiling. Door 4: you’re already dead. The correct play: the ship operator checks radar first. Radar shows yellow dots (scrap) and red dots (enemies). If a room has no yellow dots and has red dots, you skip it. If it has yellow dots and no red dots, you open it. If it has both, you decide whether the scrap is worth the fight.
The fix. Never open a door without a reason. The ship operator’s radar is your door filter — use it. If you’re inside without radar (because the ship operator died, or you’re solo), listen at every door. Growling, clicking, heavy footsteps, or that distinct Bracken breathing sound = walk away. One door unopened is one wipe avoided.
Mistake #3: Splitting Up Inside the Facility
Why it happens. It feels efficient. Four players in four rooms clear four times the scrap, right? You’ve played other co-op games where splitting up is the meta.
What actually happens. Lethal Company’s monsters are balanced around groups. A Bracken that pulls one solo player gets a free kill. The same Bracken facing two players can be spotted, called out, and avoided. A Thumper kills a solo player in 3 seconds. A Thumper against two players with a Shovel goes down in 4 hits. Every monster in the game is tuned to punish isolation.
Scene: the 4-room split. You and three friends enter the main hall of the facility. You each pick a different door. Within 30 seconds: player 1 walks into a Bracken room and gets neck-snapped. Player 2 opens a door, a Coil-Head locks on, and with no one to watch their back, they back into a dead end. Player 3 hears a Thumper, panics, sprints into a turret room, and dies. Player 4 is now alone, 200 meters from the ship, with no radar support and no backup. That’s not bad luck. That’s four solo players dying the way solo players die.
The fix. Minimum group size inside the facility is 2. One player loots, the other watches corridors and doorways. The ship operator stays on radar and calls out red dots: “Two enemies moving toward the room to your left. Back out now.” Our beginner guide covers the full crew role setup.
The only exception: if you’re playing solo by choice, you need a completely different approach — crouch-walking everywhere, never opening doors near red dots, and prioritizing the teleporter. That’s a separate playstyle entirely.
Mistake #4: Staying Past Dark
Why it happens. You’re 200 credits short of quota. You see one more corridor. “One more room, 30 seconds, then we leave.” It’s 5:30 PM. The outdoor enemies are spawning.
What actually happens. At 5 PM, Eyeless Dogs and Forest Keepers begin spawning outside the facility. At 6 PM, their spawn rate doubles. At 8 PM, the outdoor area between the facility and the ship is a death zone. A crew inside the facility at 6 PM who finds 80 credits of scrap still has to walk back through dogs and giants. The scrap doesn’t matter if nobody reaches the ship.
Scene: the “one more room” wipe. It’s 5:15 PM. Your crew has 280 credits in scrap against a 310 quota. You’re 30 short. Someone says “one more room.” You find a room with 45 credits of scrap. Great. It’s now 5:40 PM. On the walk back: two Eyeless Dogs are circling the ship. A Forest Keeper is patrolling the treeline. Your crew has no Shovels because you spent your credits on a Pro-Flashlight. One player gets eaten by the giant. Another runs from a dog, makes noise, attracts two more dogs, and dies. The remaining players are trapped inside the ship with the door open because the Forest Keeper is camping the door switch. Total wipe. You found the 30 credits. You lost everything.
The fix. Set a hard cutoff: 5 PM in-game time. At 5 PM, you stop exploring and start the return trip. No exceptions. If you’re 30 credits short, that’s tomorrow’s problem. A crew that survives to day 3 with 280 credits can make quota. A crew that wipes on day 2 with 310 credits makes nothing. If you’re still inside the facility past 5 PM and the ship operator sees red dots outside, drop non-essential scrap and sprint. Nighttime survival rates for beginners are under 20%.
Mistake #5: Ignoring the Terminal
Why it does. The terminal looks intimidating. You type commands wrong. It beeps at you. It feels like a chore, so you ignore it and just walk into the facility blind.
What actually happens. The terminal is the single most powerful tool in the game. It shows you: enemy positions (red dots), scrap locations (yellow dots), your crew’s HP, and the time of day. It lets you teleport players out of danger. It lets you open and close security doors to trap enemies. A crew without a terminal operator is a crew playing with half the information and zero emergency options.
Scene: the blind run. Your crew lands on March. Nobody touches the terminal. You all walk into the facility. You don’t know there’s a Bracken in the room to your left. You don’t know there’s a dead-end corridor with zero scrap to your right. You don’t know one of your crew members is at 20 HP from a fall. You open a door, the Bracken kills someone, and you have no idea what happened. You can’t teleport them out because you didn’t even know they were in danger. The terminal would have shown all of this.
The fix. One player operates the terminal every run. Period. They watch radar, call out threats, mark scrap, and teleport players when HP drops. The ship operator is not an AFK role — they’re the most engaged person on the team. Learn the essential commands: scan, switch [player], teleport [player], ping [item]. Our terminal commands guide covers every command you need.
Mistake #6: Carrying Too Much Scrap
Why it happens. You find a gold bar. Then a cash register. Then a large axle. Your inventory is full. Your weight is 87 pounds. You’re moving at half speed. You think: “I’ll just walk slower.”
What actually happens. Being over-encumbered in Lethal Company is a death sentence. You can’t sprint. You can’t dodge. A Thumper that would normally be a manageable fight becomes impossible because you can’t backpedal fast enough. An Eyeless Dog hears your slow, heavy footsteps from twice the normal distance. A Forest Keeper sees you and you physically cannot run fast enough to break line of sight before it grabs you.
Scene: the greedy carry. You find a cash register (36 lbs) and a large axle (42 lbs). You pick up both. You’re now at 78 lbs. Your movement speed is cut by roughly 40%. A Bracken spots you. You try to back away. You’re too slow. Neck snapped. You drop both items. The crew has to retrieve your body and the scrap, risking another death. If you’d dropped the axle and kept the register, you’d have sprinted out of the Bracken’s aggro range and kept half the value.
The fix. Drop heavy scrap at the facility entrance as you go. Make trips. A 30-second walk back to the entrance is worth it to stay mobile. Know the weight tiers: light items (under 10 lbs) you can carry several, medium items (10-25 lbs) carry two max, heavy items (25+ lbs) carry one and nothing else. If you’re holding a heavy item and see a threat, drop it immediately. You can come back for it. You can’t come back from dead.
Mistake #7: Entering the Facility With No Equipment
Why it happens. “We’ll find scrap first, then buy equipment once we have money.” Or: “I don’t want to waste credits, we might not need it.”
What actually happens. You walk into the facility with nothing but your bare hands. A Thumper charges. You have no Shovel. You die. A room is pitch black. You have no Flashlight. You walk into a pit. You die. A Bracken grabs your teammate. You have no Walkie-Talkie to coordinate a rescue. They die. You’ve now lost your entire crew and all the scrap you collected — over 60 credits worth of equipment you didn’t buy.
The counter-intuitive truth: spending credits on equipment is not a cost. It’s insurance. A Shovel costs 30 credits but saves a crew that would otherwise wipe and lose 200+ credits in scrap. Equipment pays for itself the first time it prevents a death.
The fix. Your first purchase every run should include: 1 Shovel (30 credits), 2 Flashlights (30 credits), 1 Walkie-Talkie (12 credits). Total: 72 credits. That’s less than the value of one medium scrap item. Skip the Pro-Flashlight, Stun Grenade, and Zap Gun until you’ve survived 5+ runs — they’re specialist tools that require game knowledge to use effectively. A beginner with a Pro-Flashlight is still a beginner, just with less money.
Mistake #8: Making Noise in the Facility
Why it happens. You’re talking to your friends. You’re sprinting everywhere. You’re jumping off ledges. You’re just… playing the game normally. In most games, noise doesn’t matter. In Lethal Company, it’s a beacon.
What actually happens. Most enemies in Lethal Company use sound to detect players. Eyeless Dogs are entirely sound-based — they track you through walls by your footsteps. Thumpers hear you from two rooms away and charge your position. Even Brackens are more likely to aggro on noisy players. Sprinting, jumping, talking loudly, and throwing items all generate noise that pulls enemies toward you.
Scene: the loud run. Four players enter the facility. Everyone is talking over each other. Two players are sprinting. One player jumps off a catwalk for a shortcut. The sound travels through three rooms. A Thumper in the adjacent corridor hears the commotion and charges. A Bracken in the ceiling shaft above hears the footsteps and starts tracking. Within 30 seconds, the crew is fighting two enemies from different directions with no warning. The wipe takes less than a minute.
The fix. Crouch-walk in unknown areas. Crouching reduces your noise radius by roughly 80%. Use push-to-talk to control comms — you don’t need to narrate every step. When you spot an enemy, go silent. Don’t say “THERE’S A THUMPER” at full volume. Whisper it. The enemy is not deaf. Sprint only when you know the area is clear or when you’re actively running from a threat. In the hallways, walk. The 2 seconds of speed you gain by sprinting everywhere isn’t worth the 3 enemies you pull.
Mistake #9: Not Using the Environment to Evade
Why it happens. When a monster appears, your brain goes to two options: fight or run. You forget there’s a third option: hide. Stairs, lockers, catwalks, railings, and doorways are all part of the evasion toolkit, and beginners ignore all of them.
What actually happens. Most enemies in Lethal Company have specific movement limitations. Thumpers are fast on flat ground but can’t climb stairs or navigate vertical spaces well. Brackens patrol specific rooms and lose interest if you break line of sight for long enough. Coil-Heads freeze when you look at them but can’t open doors. Eyeless Dogs track by sound — if you stop moving, they lose you. Every enemy has a counter. Running is rarely the best one.
Scene: the stair escape. You’re in a facility with a multi-level room. A Thumper charges you from the far end of a corridor. Instead of turning and sprinting (which it will catch), you run up a flight of stairs. The Thumper reaches the bottom of the stairs and stops. It can’t path vertically. You now have 10 seconds to reposition, check your surroundings, and plan your next move. If you’d run in a straight line, you’d be dead.
The fix. Learn the terrain counters for each enemy. Thumper = stairs or elevated platforms. Bracken = break line of sight and wait 15 seconds. Coil-Head = stare at it while backing through a door, then close the door. Eyeless Dog = crouch and stop moving. Forest Keeper = break line of sight using rocks, the ship, or facility walls — they can’t fit through doors. Our entity counter playbook covers every enemy’s weakness in detail.
The most overlooked tool: the security door. The terminal operator can close doors remotely to trap or block enemies. If a Thumper is chasing you through a hallway, tell the ship operator “close the door behind me.” The door slams shut, the Thumper is trapped, and you walk away.
Mistake #10: Saving Credits Instead of Buying Equipment
Why it happens. You see the quota number. It’s 250. You have 60 credits. Your brain does the math: “If I spend 60 credits now, I have to find 310 credits worth of scrap. If I don’t spend anything, I only need 250.” This logic is correct in a vacuum. It’s deadly in Lethal Company.
What actually happens. You hoard your 60 credits. You enter the facility with no Shovel, no Flashlight, no Walkie-Talkie. You find a dark room with 45 credits worth of scrap. You can’t see. You fall into a pit. You die. The 45 credits you found are lost. The 60 credits you saved are meaningless because you’re dead. You didn’t save 60 credits. You lost 60 credits plus the 45 you could have collected, plus the 100+ you would have collected on the rest of the run.
The counter-intuitive truth: the most expensive thing in Lethal Company is a dead crew member. A dead player drops all their scrap and can’t collect more. Every piece of equipment that prevents a death is an investment with a guaranteed return — because the alternative is losing everything.
The fix. Spend your starting credits. Every run. No exceptions. The minimum loadout (Shovel + 2 Flashlights + Walkie-Talkie) costs 72 credits and gives your crew: self-defense, visibility, and coordination. A crew with this loadout survives 3-4 times longer than a crew with nothing. The scrap you collect in the extra time you stay alive will more than cover the equipment cost.
The “Broke Crew” Decision: What to Buy When You Have 60 Credits
You’ve just survived a wipe. Your quota is 280. You have 60 credits. You can buy exactly one useful thing. What do you pick?
The options:
| Item | Cost | What It Does | When to Pick It |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shovel | 30 | 4-hit kills Thumpers, fights back against most enemies | Pick this if you’re going to a moon with aggressive indoor enemies (March, Offense) |
| Flashlight | 15 | Lights up dark interiors, prevents pit falls | Pick this if you’re going to Experimentation or Assurance (darker interiors) |
| Walkie-Talkie | 12 | Ship operator can guide you via radar | Pick this if you have a dedicated ship operator who knows the terminal |
| Stun Grenade | 30 | 5-second stun, stops most enemies | Don’t pick this. You need to know enemy timing to use it. Beginners waste it. |
The decision framework:
If you have 60 credits and a full crew of 4: buy 1 Shovel (30) + 1 Walkie-Talkie (12) + 1 Flashlight (15). Total: 57 credits. One person has the Shovel, one person has the Walkie-Talkie, one person has the Flashlight. The fourth person stays on the ship. This gives you defense, coordination, and visibility for under 60 credits.
If you’re playing solo with 60 credits: buy 1 Shovel (30) + 1 Flashlight (15). Skip the Walkie-Talkie — there’s no one to talk to. The remaining 15 credits stay in the bank for the quota. Solo play is about survival, not optimization.
If you have 30 credits and nothing else: buy the Shovel. Every time. A Shovel turns a Thumper from “run and die” into “fight and live.” A Flashlight without a Shovel means you can see the enemy killing you. A Walkie-Talkie without a Shovel means you can describe the enemy killing you. The Shovel is the only item that directly prevents death.
This is the counter-intuitive part: new players tend to prioritize the Pro-Flashlight (60 credits) because it sounds premium. The Pro-Flashlight has a wider beam and longer battery. It does not kill enemies. It does not stun them. It lights up the room while you die. A regular Flashlight (15 credits) + Shovel (30 credits) costs 45 credits total and gives you visibility AND the ability to fight. That’s 15 credits cheaper than a Pro-Flashlight and infinitely more useful. Don’t buy the Pro-Flashlight until you’ve survived 10+ runs.
Quick-Reference: All 10 Mistakes at a Glance
| # | Mistake | One-Sentence Fix |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Landing on paid moons too early | Stick to free moons (Assurance, March) for your first 10 runs |
| 2 | Opening every door | Check radar first — skip rooms with red dots and no yellow dots |
| 3 | Splitting up inside | Minimum 2 players per group, one loots, one watches |
| 4 | Staying past 5 PM | Hard cutoff at 5 PM — drop scrap and sprint if you’re late |
| 5 | Ignoring the terminal | One player on radar every run, no exceptions |
| 6 | Carrying too much scrap | Drop heavy items at the entrance, make trips |
| 7 | Entering with no equipment | Buy Shovel + 2 Flashlights + Walkie-Talkie before every run |
| 8 | Making noise everywhere | Crouch-walk in unknown areas, use push-to-talk |
| 9 | Not using terrain to hide | Stairs stop Thumpers, doors trap Coil-Heads, lockers hide you |
| 10 | Hoarding credits instead of buying gear | Spend starting credits — dead crew members earn nothing |