Lethal Company: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

I Got Eaten By a Giant Worm on My First Day. Here's What I Learned.

Let me set the scene. My first real run in Lethal Company lasted about four minutes. I spawned, looked at the desolate ship, walked inside the facility, and got my skull caved in by a Thumper before I even knew what the scrap was supposed to look like. Then I watched my two friends scream over VOIP while an Eyeless Dog sprinted across the map and turned us all into paste. We lost everything. 10/10, immediately hooked.

If you're here because you just bought the game and are already staring at the "You've been fired" screen wondering what the hell you're supposed to do, I get it. This game is brutal. It has a learning curve that feels less like a slope and more like a cliff. The tutorial is almost non-existent, the monster AI is aggressively unpredictable, and your quota is always breathing down your neck.

But here's the thing: Lethal Company becomes one of the most rewarding co-op experiences you'll ever touch once you understand its rhythm. It's not just a horror game; it's a game about risk management, communication, and knowing when to be a greedy scumbag vs. when to cut your losses and run. I've got over 300 hours in this game, survived runs on Rend and Titan, and I've compiled everything I know to make sure you don't get thrown out of the airlock by your own incompetence.

Let's talk about the actual game, not the trailer.

Why You're Dying, Dying, and Dying Again

Right off the bat, I know why you're struggling. You're playing this game like it's a standard survival shooter. You're trying to sprint through the halls, you're picking up every random thing you see, and you're shouting in the mic which basically summons monsters. Don't do that.

The biggest pain point is audio awareness. This game is played with your ears as much as your eyes. The Bracken (that weird plant-faced guy with the giraffe neck) sneaks up on you silently specifically to punish people who are yapping away. The Coil-Head only stops when you look at it, but if you're busy looking at your scanner to find loot, you're dead. The Jester is a trap for people who don't read the audio cue of the music box playing.

Another huge frustration is the Quota system. You get a goal, you go to a planet, you fail, you get fired. It puts immense pressure on you to grab EVERYTHING. This greed is what kills more crews than any monster. You see a Gold Bar on the other side of a room, but you don't see the turret on the floor. You try to run for it, the turret cuts you in half, and now your friends have to drag your corpse back to the ship to save your gear.

Finally, the game doesn't tell you anything. What scares away a Bunker Spider? Why is the Ghost Girl following me specifically? Why did the ship just say there's an "eclipse" and now the facility has zero power? The game leaves you to figure it out, which is cool for discovery, but brutal for a newcomer who just wants to survive the first hour. That's why I'm writing this guide. I'm giving you the answers I had to learn through death and scouring the wiki.

Day One: The Controls, The Loot, The Survival Loop

Okay, let's get you financially solvent. Here is the absolute breakdown of what you need to do to survive your first shift. You're a Pro, not a Looter. Your priority is staying alive to bank the scrap, not hoarding junk that will get you killed.

The Ship is Your Only Friend. The terminal in the ship is your lifeline. It's not just for buying gear. Type moons to see your route options. Type scan to check the current weather and if there are any special signals (like apparatus). And critically, use the ship monitor (the little TV) to watch your teammates. If you see their vitals spike or a red silhouette in the hall, tell them.

First Steps in the Facility:

• Use Your Scanner (Right Click): Do this constantly. It highlights scrap with a yellow border, shows you the value, and tells you the name of the monster you're looking at. It costs nothing. If you see a monster's name pop up, you know what you're dealing with instantly.
• Turn On Your Flashlight (Be careful): You need light, but the light also attracts the monster. On easier moons like Experimentation and Assurance, you can get away with it. On Vow and above, I often keep it off unless I'm looking for a specific doorway.
• Grab ONE Item and Go: Stop trying to two-hand a Stop Sign and a Toy Robot. When you hold two items, you can't sprint as effectively and you drop one when you panic-click. Early on, grab the most valuable single item you can find immediately and haul it back to the ship. Bank it. Go back in. That's the loop.
• The Scrap Value: It's not all about size. A big painting takes up two hands and is worth 80. A small V-Key in a corner is worth 60 and takes one hand. Pay attention to value, not bulk. You can't sell a Tea Kettle for much, so leave it if the entrance is hairy.

Buy Orders: Don't buy a Pro Flashlight on day one. It's overrated. Buy the Shovel (yes, it's a weapon) and a Walkie-Talkie if you have two players. The walkie is mandatory for communication when you split up. If you have leftover cash, grab the Laser Pointer for your friends. You can point at loot from a distance without having to walk into danger.

Remember: You are aiming to survive until 12:00 AM to leave the planet with your loot. If you are still inside the facility at 3:00 AM and the ship auto-pilots, you're dead. Set a mental timer: when you hear the airhorn sound, you have one exit opportunity left.

The Advanced Stuff: Clutching Runs With Brain, Not Guns

So you’re getting the hang of the loop. You're surviving the low-tier moons. Now how do you stop being a liability and start being the guy who carries the team on Titan?

Master the Monster Meta: Let’s talk about the threats you’ll actually face.

• Bracken: This is the guy who snaps your neck. To counter him, face him. If you see a Bracken, stand perfectly still and stare at him. Don't blink; just look at him. He’ll hiss and back away. Back up slowly to the door, then walk out. If you turn your back, he lunges. If you're carrying scrap and see him, drop the scrap and keep your eyes on him. Your life is worth more than the scrap.
• Coil-Head: The spring guy. He ONLY moves when he is not in your line of sight. If you're facing him, he's a statue. The trick is to walk backward while looking at him until you reach a door, then slam it. He can't open doors, but he'll wait. Use this to your advantage — have one person watch the coil-head while the other loots the room.
• Thumper: The blind guy with big ears. He can't see you, but he hears everything. Walk, don't run, when you hear his thumping. If he's already charging you, you cannot outrun him in a straight line. You need to dodge through a narrow doorway or around a corner. Break line-of-sight and freeze.
• Eyeless Dog: Completely blind, but hears footsteps from a mile away. If you have to cross the map while one is near, crouch and walk. Do not jump. Do not sprint. If it gets close, stand completely still—your sound is based on movement. If you have a walkie, tell your teammates to stfu.
• Turret: You will die to this more than any monster. It fires when you cross its laser. The bullets are slow, but they shred you. The trick? Crouch and crawl under the laser beam. You can crawl right past them. Also, there is a control panel on the wall usually near the turret that you can turn off with a key. If you find a key, it's often for those panels.

The "Ship Bait" Strategy: This is a veteran rule. If you have 4 players, one person stays on the ship. They’re monitoring the terminal, watching the camera, and calling out threats. More importantly, they can operate the ship’s radar to see monster silhouettes. I know it sounds boring, but the "Ship Bitch" role is the most important role in the game. Click the radar screen and you can navigate the person inside the building. "Go left at the next hallway. There's a Thumper past the door." That intel is worth 100 walkie-talkies.

Use the Terminal to your advantage: You can type pings in the terminal to highlight the location of the main entrance on everyone's HUD. Also, type bestiary to see what you have killed. But the real pro move is buying items from the store that arrive in a drop pod. You can call a drop pod to the main entrance by typing 1:00 (or whatever time you want) and the item name. This is perfect for delivering a Stun Grenade to the door when you're being chased by a Janitor (the giant worm) without having to walk all the way back to the ship.

The Bonehead Moves That End Runs Instantly

I fully admit I have done every single one of these things. Here is what you need to stop doing immediately to survive the higher difficulties.

• Healing in the Open: You only have one small medkit slot, and you use it instantly to heal. I see new players die because they stop to heal in the middle of a hallway while a Spore Lizard is hissing. Find a closet. Hide around a corner. Actually, just run to the extraction point and heal on the ship. The ship has infinite health, use it. If you are bleeding out, you are making too much noise. Let yourself die, save the medkit.
• Ignoring the Weather Forecast: If the moon says Flooded, the entrance will be underwater eventually. If it says Stormy, lightning strikes the facility and will arc to your metal scrap. You then become a lightning rod. Don't hold the metal in a storm; drop it and wait for the lightning to hit the ground and clear. Eclipse means no sunlight, meaning the facility is pitch black. Do NOT go to an Eclipse moon without a flashlight.
• Talking Too Much: I said this before, but I'll scream it now: STOP TALKING IN THE FACILITY. The microphone is not your friend in this game. Not only does the proximity chat trigger a bunch of monsters (like the Mouth and the Forest Keeper), but it also drowns out the audio cues you NEED to survive. The sound of the Jester popping open is a subtle ticking. The Snare Flea makes a whistling sound. If you're yapping about your dinner, you will miss the sound of death creeping up on you.
• Opening Every Door: Don't wander randomly. Look at the map layout. The facility is circular. The main entrance leads to a central room, and there are two side exits. If you go in the main door and immediately go left, you'll find a corridor. Don't just sprint down every dark hallway. Stick with your teammate, clear one room at a time, and always leave a path back to the exit. Knowing where the exits are is 80% of survival.
• Forgetting the "F" Key Toggle: Holding shift to sprint makes noise. If you press F on doors, you close them. But you can also press Ctrl to crouch walk silently. You should be crouch-walking 70% of the time. The other 30% is sprinting to the exit. Walking is the loudest thing you can do outside of sprinting, so pick a side.

Also, I see people bloat their inventory with too much junk. Yes, that Old Phone is worth 20, but you had to carry it across the entire map. That’s 20 credits to risk getting attacked by a Nutcracker for. It’s not worth it. Set a threshold. I don't pick up anything under 20 unless I'm right next to the ship entrance. It's economy of motion.

The Questions Everyone Asks Me in Chat

Q: How do I get more money?
A: You sell scrap at the company terminal in the ship on Gordion. You go to the terminal, type sell, and press max. You have to be holding the scrap when you do it. The server is closed on days that aren't quota day. So, if the deadline is day 3, you must sell on day 1 and day 2. Don't wait until day 3, because if you miss the deadline, you get fired instantly.

Q: My friend is dead. How do I revive him?
A: You can carry their body back to the ship. The ship has an Inverse Teleporter and a Teleporter that you can buy. To revive a dead player, you must deposit their corpse in the ship's tube-like structure. It costs space, but it revives them. You can also buy a Shovel and hit your friends' corpses to trigger the ragdoll — but that doesn't revive them.

Q: What's the best starter moon?
A: Experimentation is the tutorial. Assurance is the best money-maker early on. It has two entrances and simple monster spawns. Vow is a trap—it looks like a field but it's filled with verticality that gets you cornered by monsters. Avoid Vow until you have a Pro-Flashlight and confidence.

Q: Is the shovel really the best weapon?
A: Yes. It one-shots Snare Fleas, Thumpers (if you hit them on the head), and two-shots a Nutcracker. It costs under 30 credits and doubles as a tool. The Stun Gun is great for buying time, but the shovel is a guaranteed kill if you land the hit. Do not buy the Rake; it's a meme and it's garbage.

Q: How do I stop the Ghost Girl from targeting me?
A: You can't. The Ghost Girl is a rare monster that picks one player. You just have to keep moving and hope she disappears. If she starts her lunge, you need to break line of sight and get behind a door. I've had runs where she vanished after I died, but mostly you just have to survive the timer until it gets bored.

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The game shares a bit of the same tension as Payday 2 when you're trying to stealth — except here, failure means your character gets surgically removed from the map. And if you like the horror vibes, the claustrophobia is similar to Barotrauma, though you won't be dealing with submarines here. Just guns, ghosts, and greedy company quotas.

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