Everspace 2: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

My First 30 Hours Were a Disaster. Let Me Save You the Pain.

Look, I'm not going to sit here and tell you Everspace 2 is easy. I died—a lot. I spent my first three runs trying to stack poison and corrosive damage like some kind of arcane alchemist, and the Ancient Ark boss in the Ceto system obliterated me in under forty seconds. Every. Single. Time. I was convinced the game was broken, or I was just bad at space shooters.

Turns out, it was both. But mostly it was me ignoring how the game actually wanted me to play. Everspace 2 is a looter-shooter with a space sim skin, but it's also a positional puzzle. You don't win by having the biggest gun. You win by understanding that every fight is a geometry problem where you're the variable. I've put about 400 hours into this thing across early access and full release, and I'm still finding stuff that makes me swear at my monitor. This guide is the stuff I wish someone had yelled at me through a headset on day one.

Why You're Getting Wrecked (And It's Not Your Fault)

Let's talk about the elephant in the cockpit. Everspace 2 has a serious tutorial problem. The game throws you into a gorgeous, seamless open world with zero context for how damage scales, what stats actually matter, or why your ship suddenly turns into a glass cannon that explodes if a space flea sneezes on it.

The three biggest pain points I see new players hit:

• Enemy damage spikes. You'll be cruising through normal enemies, feeling like a god, then a single Outlaw Wraith shows up and deletes 80% of your shield in one volley. This isn't skill—it's the game's way of telling you your gear is obsolete. If you're not upgrading regularly, enemies two levels above you will feel like raid bosses.
• Resource starvation. You need credits, but you also need crafting mats, and you also need to salvage, and you also need to not die. The game doesn't tell you that selling gear is a trap. You should be salvaging everything until you have a healthy stockpile of components. I blew all my early cash on a single gun and then couldn't afford to repair my hull for the next three systems.
• Ship builds are not optional. This isn't like Diablo where you can slap on any random legendary and be fine. If you try to run a long-range sniper build without the right gear and a Stinger or Interceptor hull, you will get eaten alive by anything that gets close. And everything gets close.

The worst part? The game's difficulty curve is a cliff, not a slope. Once you hit System 4 (Union), the training wheels come off and the game expects you to have a coherent build. If you've been spending gear points randomly, you're in for a rude awakening.

This mechanic is similar to how Diablo 4's world scaling punishes you for neglecting your build—except here, you're also trying to dodge homing missiles while doing math.

Your First 10 Hours: Surviving the Tutorial That Isn't

Here's what you actually need to do from the moment you leave Ceto Station. Forget everything the game sort of explains. Do this instead:

• Pick the Scout class. I know the Interceptor looks cool with its speed, and the Bomber sounds fun. Don't. The Scout's energy boost gives you a panic button that recharges your shields faster and lets you reposition. New players die from being out of position. The Scout fixes that. You can swap later once you understand the flow.
• Rush to Level 6 before you do any story mission. Seriously. Do the tutorial mission, then ignore the main story. Fly to Khait Nebula and clear every distress signal and optional POI you can find. You want to be at least level 6 before you touch the Ancient Ark fight. I went in at level 4 and got vaporized so hard I alt-F4'd and didn't play for three days.
• Salvage every piece of gear you aren't using. Do not sell it. Credits come fast from bounties and exploration, but crafting components like Carbon and Electronic Parts are a bottleneck for upgrades. You need 20 of each just to get a blue weapon to +3. Salvage is the only reliable source.
• Put your first 3 perk points into Toughness. I don't care if you want to be a glass cannon. At low levels, the extra hull HP is the difference between getting one-shot and having time to use a repair kit. Get Toughness to rank 2 minimum before you spend anything on weapon damage.
• Learn the boost + barrel roll combo. On PC, that's Shift + double-tap A/D. On controller, it's left bumper + double-tap left stick. This is the single most important defensive move in the game. You can dodge missiles, railgun shots, and boss charge attacks. If you aren't using this every three seconds, you're playing on hard mode.

The first ship upgrade you should buy? The Level 8 Pulse Laser from the equipment vendor in Khait. It does 52 base DPS with a 1.5x crit multiplier. That gun single-handedly carried me through the first two systems. Do not waste credits on a new hull before level 12. The starting Scout hull is totally fine until you have 40+ perk points to actually use a different ship's passives.

Advanced Techniques That Separate Survivors from Salvage

Once you have the basics down, here's where the game opens up and you start feeling like a proper space wizard.

Energy management is your primary resource, not just a laser meter. Every action—using boost, firing weapons, using abilities—drains your energy bar. But here's the trick most players miss: energy recharges faster when you're below 50% throttle. So you want to boost toward an enemy, get your kill, then coast at 0% throttle for two seconds to let energy snap back. I called this "breathing" and it's the difference between winning fights and being stranded with no boost while a missile paints your hull.

The Flamethrower is not a joke. Everyone ignores it because the range is short. But the Flamethrower does 45 base DPS but ramps to 120 DPS after 3 seconds of continuous fire. Pair it with a Thermal Upgrade catalyst that extends burn duration, and you can stack two burns on a heavy enemy for 200+ DPS without using energy. I used a Flamethrower + Shield Buster combo on a Vindicator hull and melted Ancient Ark minibosses in under 10 seconds. The trick is to use your boost to close distance, fire for the full ramp-up, then barrel roll away and let the burn do work while your energy recovers.

Exploit the AI's tunneling behavior. Enemy fighters in Everspace 2 have a bad habit of following you in a straight line if you boost away and then cut your engines. They'll overshoot every time. Use this to set up ambushes: boost past the group, cut thrust, spin 180 degrees, and unload your full secondary weapon salvo into their rear armor. Enemy ships take 30% more damage from behind. This works on all normal enemies, most big ships, and even some bosses. The Dreadnaught in System 6 is vulnerable to this if you can get past its escorts.

Crafting is not endgame content. I made this mistake. I hoarded materials like a dragon, waiting for some hypothetical "good gear." But you can craft level-appropriate blue weapons from Level 10 onward that are often better than random drops. The Titan Sword pulse laser blueprint is sold by the Union mechanic for 2,500 credits. Craft it at +3 and it out-damages most random purple drops until Level 15. Rush that blueprint and craft it as soon as you have the mats. It's that good.

Six Mistakes That Got Me Killed (Don't Repeat Them)

I have a graveyard of ships that died because I was stubborn or dumb. Here's the obituary:

1. Ignoring secondary weapons. For my first 15 hours, I basically ignored the secondary weapon slot. I thought it was a gimmick. Then I tried the Shield Breaker missile—it does 400 shield damage per shot and completely ignores armor. You know what? It deletes shielded enemies in one volley. Every single loadout should have a secondary that counters your primary's weakness. If you run kinetic weapons, carry an energy secondary. If you run lasers, carry a missile launcher for hull damage.
2. Not using consumables. The game gives you Repair Kits and Energy Cells constantly. I had a stash of 40+ by Level 20 because I thought "I'll save them for a boss." That's stockpile mentality from other looter-shooters, and it will get you killed here. Use a Repair Kit the moment your hull drops below 50%. Energy Cells are for when you're in a chase and need to boost continuously for 5+ seconds. Pop them. They're cheap to craft.
3. Overcommitting to a fight. You can run away from most fights. The game has a boost-to-hyperspace mechanic where if you hold boost away from enemies for 3 seconds, you escape combat. I lost count of how many times I tried to "finish" a fight while my hull was at 10% instead of bugging out. If the first volley drops your shields to zero, disengage and re-approach. There's no shame in living to fight smarter.
4. Ignoring the catalyst system. Catalysts are passive bonuses you slot into your ship. The Overdrive Catalyst gives +20% energy recharge rate. The Hardened Hull Catalyst adds +15% hull integrity. These are not optional. You can have up to three early on. If you're not running at least two catalysts, you are literally missing 30-40% effective power. I didn't use catalysts until Level 22 because I thought they were "endgame." I was wrong.
5. Treating all ships the same. Once you get a new hull, read the passive bonus. The Interceptor gives +25% energy recharge when below 30% speed. The Bomber gives +15% secondary weapon damage. If you're flying a Bomber but using pulse lasers as your primary, you're wasting the whole point of the ship. Build synergize with your hull. If your hull gives shield bonuses, stack shield modules. The game rewards specialization, not jack-of-all-trades.
6. Rushing the main story. The story missions have a recommended level. The game doesn't enforce it, but if you're 3+ levels below the recommendation, enemies will have scaling bonuses that make them sponges. I rushed into the Zark System story at Level 14 when it recommended Level 18. Every fight took three minutes of kiting. I had to do a full gear reset. Side content is not optional—it's the way the game feeds you levels and gear.

FAQ From People I've Coached Through This Game

Q: What's the best starting ship for a complete beginner?
A: Scout. I said it above and I'll say it again. The extra energy from the class ability saves you from low-energy panic states. The Interceptor is faster but has less hull, and the Bomber is too slow for reactive play. Graduate to the Vindicator at Level 15 if you want a tanky hybrid.

Q: Is crafting worth it before endgame?
A: Absolutely. Craft blue weapons at Level 10 and Level 15. The materials are easy to get if you salvage everything. The crafted gear has fixed stat ranges that are always higher than low-level random drops. Don't wait for "perfect gear"—craft a solid blue and then replace it later.

Q: How do I deal with the Dreadnaught boss?
A: That fight is a gear check. If you're going in with a mismatched build, you'll hit a wall. The trick is to bring a Shield Breaker secondary and a Kinetic primary. The boss has a shield phase and an armor phase. Burn the shield with missiles, then switch to kinetic for hull damage. Also, always save one Energy Cell for the third phase when it starts charging. You need to boost sideways for about 4 seconds straight to dodge its wipe attack.

Q: Should I sell or salvage legendary items?
A: Salvage them. They give Cores and Unique Components that are literally vendor-exclusive. I salvaged a legendary that was bad for my build and crafted a weapon that carried me for ten levels. You cannot buy these mats. Salvage is king.

Q: What's the best way to make credits?
A: Bounties and exploration. Don't sell gear. Do the Khait Nebula trade loop: buy Ore from one station, sell it at the next system over for 20% profit. But honestly, credits stop being a problem by Level 20 if you do side missions. Focus on salvaging for mats.

Q: The game is similar to some other looter-shooter structures. Are there comparisons?
A: Yeah, the loot scaling is reminiscent of Borderlands 3 in terms of how fast gear becomes obsolete, but the combat is closer to No Man's Sky's space combat if that game had proper builds. It's a hybrid, and that's why it works—but also why new players get confused.

Q: I can't beat the Ancient Ark. What am I doing wrong?
A: You're probably underleveled and not using your barrel roll. The Ark's missile barrage is dodgeable if you boost and roll perpendicular to the missiles. Also, bring a Repair Drone consumable. That fight is a marathon, not a sprint. If you go in with full energy and a plan to use cover, you'll win.