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LCBeginner survival

Lethal Company Beginner Survival Guide: 10 Tips to Stop Dying

You drop in feeling confident, take five steps into the facility, and then—nothing. Your screen goes dark. A Bracken just deleted you before you even learned where the fire exit is. Welcome.

The cruel part is it often doesn’t feel like you made a mistake. It feels like the game is chaos. But once you learn what chaos *means*—time pressure, roles, audio cues, and clean exits—you start living longer. These 10 tips are the fastest path to “we make quota” instead of “we wipe on day one.”

The 10-tip mindset

  • Survival is a system: time budget + roles + exits.
  • Information beats bravery: monitor + sound cues + early calls.
  • Bank value early: scrap in ship is points you can’t lose.

10 Tips

tip 01#terminal

Tip 1: Learn the Terminal Before You Land

The terminal is your squad’s best defensive tool—if you can use it under pressure.

remember
Terminal = speed + info.

Most new crews treat the terminal like a weird minigame. Veterans treat it like the team’s air traffic control.

If nobody can quickly route, check weather, or pull basic info, you waste time and end up over-staying inside.

Before you drop, practice a tiny ‘ship routine’: check moon conditions, confirm the route, and know how to recover when someone gets lost.

You don’t need to be a speedrunner—you just need to be faster than the chaos.

Terminal Commands Reference →
tip 02#time-budget

Tip 2: Set a Time Budget and Stick to It

The most common cause of death is greed: ‘one more room’ becomes a wipe.

remember
Greed kills. Leave on schedule.

Lethal Company punishes late-game tunnel vision. The longer you stay, the more problems stack: stamina management gets sloppy, comms degrade, and threats snowball.

Set a simple budget before you enter: a hard ‘turnaround time’ and a ‘last call’ time. Make the call early, not when you’re already sprinting blind.

If your crew is new, leave with less scrap but more consistency. A small, safe haul beats a heroic wipe.

Rule of thumb: if two bad things happen back-to-back (lost teammate + new threat, or low stamina + confusing layout), you’re already in the danger zone—extract.

tip 03#roles

Tip 3: Assign Roles

Roles reduce panic. When everyone does everything, nobody does the important things.

remember
Roles reduce panic.

A simple role split makes your run feel 10x calmer:

Scout: moves light, checks rooms/paths, calls danger early. Doesn’t over-carry.

Hauler: focuses on scrap movement, consolidates piles, keeps extraction tidy.

Ship Operator: stays near ship when possible, monitors, relays info, coordinates exits.

Rotate roles between days so everyone learns. The goal isn’t perfection—it’s clarity.

tip 04#monsters

Tip 4: Know Your Monsters

You don’t die because monsters are unfair—you die because you didn’t recognize the pattern fast enough.

remember
Recognize pattern, not panic.

New players often react to the *moment* (a sound, a shadow, a scream). Good crews react to the *type* of problem.

Learn a few ‘instant recognition’ rules: what is silent and stalky, what is loud and charging, what is a timer, and what punishes being alone.

Don’t aim to memorize everything. Aim to remember one behavior cue and one survival rule per monster.

If you want one habit that saves runs: call threats early, even if you’re not 100% sure. False alarms cost seconds; late calls cost teammates.

Lethal Company Bestiary →
tip 05#moons

Tip 5: Pick the Right Moon for Your Skill Level

You don’t need the ‘best’ moon—you need the moon you can clear without panicking.

remember
Pick consistency over hype.

Beginners often chase high-value routes and then wonder why every day ends in a corpse pile.

Pick lower-variance moons while learning: fewer ‘surprise’ layouts, cleaner extraction, and less time lost to confusion.

Your moon choice should match your team’s current skill: if comms are messy, choose simpler runs. If hauling is slow, pick moons with safer returns.

The fastest way to improve is to repeat a plan until it becomes routine—then move up in risk.

Moons Guide →
tip 06#exit-plan

Tip 6: Always Have an Exit Plan

If you can’t describe your exit in one sentence, you don’t have one.

remember
Exit in one sentence.

The map becomes scarier when you’re carrying scrap. Make exits boring by planning them early.

When you enter a new area, quickly note: nearest door, nearest long corridor, and the ‘safe’ route back to your last known landmark.

Consolidate loot in a spot that’s on your return path, not deep in a dead-end. Your future self will thank you.

When things go wrong, do not improvise three new turns. Backtrack to a known landmark, then choose.

tip 07#monitor

Tip 7: Use the Ship Monitor

Someone on the ship turns chaos into information.

remember
Ship = information.

Ship play looks ‘boring’ until it saves your run. A ship operator can do three high-impact things:

Track teammate positions and call safe routes to the exit.

Notice when two people drift apart and fix it before it becomes a rescue mission.

Coordinate extraction timing so you’re not all sprinting outside at the worst moment.

If you’re only two players, you can still do ‘half ship’: one person stays near entrance for quick comms while the other scouts deeper.

tip 08#sell-early

Tip 8: Don’t Hoard – Sell Early, Sell Often

Scrap in your ship is points. Scrap in your hands is risk.

remember
Bank value early.

Beginners hoard because selling feels like ‘giving up.’ In reality, selling is how you stabilize quota and reduce pressure.

If you’re ahead of quota, you can play safer moons. If you’re behind, you can plan targeted runs instead of panic runs.

Treat scrap like fuel: convert it into certainty whenever you can. A clean sell day makes the next days easier.

The most painful wipe is dying while carrying a high-value item you could’ve banked earlier.

tip 09#sound-cues

Tip 9: Sound Cues Save Lives

The game warns you—quietly. Learn the language: footsteps, music, breathing.

remember
Listen like it’s a radar.

If you play like it’s a shooter, you’ll miss the real info stream.

Footsteps tell you distance and speed. Heavy, fast steps usually mean you should stop ‘looting’ and start ‘leaving.’

Music and ambient shifts often signal escalation. Treat them as timers.

Breathing, whispery cues, and sudden silence are not flavor. They’re the game telling you to regroup.

Pro tip: in tense zones, talk less. Clear callouts beat constant chatter.

tip 10#quota-plan

Tip 10: Plan Your Quota, Not Just Your Run

A single good run doesn’t matter if you don’t have a quota plan for the whole cycle.

remember
Plan quota, reduce risk.

New teams obsess over today’s loot and ignore tomorrow’s math. That leads to risky desperation runs.

Plan in chunks: what you want after Day 1, how much buffer you need, and when you’ll schedule a sell day.

Once you know your target, you can choose safer moons and leave earlier—because you’re not guessing.

Your goal isn’t ‘max scrap.’ Your goal is ‘hit quota with minimum wipe chance.’

Quota Calculator →

Quick Reference

When your brain goes blank mid-run, use this as a tiny decision engine: situation → action → why.

built for panic moments
situation
what to do
why it works
situation
You hear fast footsteps in a tight corridor
what to do
Stop looting. Group up. Move to a known landmark and pick an exit route.
why
Speed + narrow space usually means you can’t outplay—only out-position.
situation
Two teammates drift apart while carrying
what to do
Call ‘pause’ and regroup before entering another room.
why
Most wipes start as a rescue mission that snowballs.
situation
You find high-value scrap early
what to do
Consolidate it on the return path and bank it quickly.
why
Scrap in ship is safety; scrap in hands is a future death.
situation
Comms get messy and nobody knows where the exit is
what to do
Ship operator calls a single rally point; everyone returns there.
why
One clear instruction beats four conflicting plans.
situation
You’re tempted to go ‘one more room’
what to do
Check time budget. If you’re past it, leave—no debate.
why
Greed is the #1 beginner killer.
situation
Outdoor return feels unsafe
what to do
Move quieter, take shorter bursts, and commit as a group.
why
Outdoor threats punish noise, splitting, and long straight sprints.

FAQ

What is the #1 survival rule for beginners?

Leave earlier than you think you should. Most beginner deaths happen late, when stamina is low, comms are messy, and the building feels like a maze.

Should someone always stay on the ship?

If you have 3-4 players, yes—having a ship operator stabilizes runs. With 2 players, you can do a ‘soft ship’ approach where one person stays near the entrance and plays comms/monitor.

How do we stop wiping when we’re carrying good loot?

Consolidate on the return path, bank early, and avoid deep dead-ends while heavy. Treat extraction as a phase with its own plan, not an afterthought.

Do we need to memorize every monster?

No. Learn a few recognition patterns (stalker, charger, timer, sound-hunter) and one survival rule for each. You’ll improve faster than trying to memorize the whole bestiary.

How do we get better at the terminal without feeling overwhelmed?

Practice a tiny pre-drop routine: check conditions, confirm route, and keep a simple comms style. You’re not trying to be fast—you’re trying to be consistent under pressure.