Thanks for volunteering to drop. Here's what you'll need to know.

• You and up to 3 teammates will progress through stages until one of three things happens:
  
  • You all die. (RIP in advance.)
    
  • You defeat the Final Boss and return to the ship.
    
  • You choose to obliterate at The Obelisk.
• To progress to the next stage, you'll have to activate a teleporter, charge it to 100% by staying within its sphere, and defeat one or more teleporter bosses.
  
• Each stage takes place in a different environment with a certain pool of enemies and a layout that changes slightly based on chance.
  
• Difficulty increases as time goes on, so make each second count! Progressing to the next stage also causes the difficulty to skip ahead a bit. Refer to the top-right HUD readout.
  
• Almost everything is up to chance down there—item locations, teleporter locations, etc.

• Pick up items to improve your chances of success. White items are common, green are uncommon, and red are legendary. Yellow items come from teleporter bosses.
  
• Orange items are equipment that you can (usually) activate manually.
  
• Blue (Lunar) items have both positive and negative effects.
  
• You can get items from chests and other interactibles, and as drops from bosses.
  
• Picking up more than one copy of an item generally improves its effectiveness.
  
• Many items have a chance to trigger an effect on each hit or kill. For instance, each Tri-Tip Dagger has a 15% chance to cause Bleeding on hit.
  
• The only persistent currency is Lunar Coins. These drop randomly off enemies or can be earned by beating the game or obliterating. Everything else stays planetside.
  
• You can ping items to check what/how much they are or to mark them for your teammates.

• You'll drop into Stage 1. Exit your pod and search for the teleporter. Recommend looking for the glowing particles that will surround it. Check this sat image.
  
  
• You'll need credits to buy items, repair drones, etc. To get some, you can murder wildlife, open barrels, or use Blood Shrines.
  
• Activate the teleporter to continue to the next stage.
  
  • Everyone should stay within the marked sphere to charge it.
    
  • Once you activate the teleporter, one or more bosses will spawn. Other enemies will also spawn continuously until the teleporter is charged, but once it hits 99%, they'll stop spawning, even if the boss is still alive.
    
  • Don't spend too long on each stage. 4-5 minutes each is a good guideline.
    
  • Shrines of Gold, Shrines of the Mountain, and the Newt Altar can only be activated before you activate the teleporter.
• Once it's charged, activate it again to progress to the next stage.
  
  • All credits will be converted to XP, but you can carry over some credits to the next stage if you activate a barrel or Blood Shrine immediately before teleporting.
    
  • If available, you can also activate portals near the teleporter to travel to hidden realms.
    
  • Any dead Survivors will be revived in the next stage, but if everyone's dead at any point, even after activating the teleporter to leave, the run will end.
• Rinse and repeat for Stages 2-4.
  
• In Stage 5, there are 3 paths for progression:
  
  • Activating the Primordial Teleporter in its default state will set the next stage to the Moon, which is the final stage. Defeating the Final Boss there and then returning to the ship will earn you 10 Lunar Coins and an approving nod.
    
    
  • Activating the outer spires of the Primordial Teleporter first and then activating the teleporter will allow you to continue the run and loop to a new version of Stage 1.
    
    
  • Activating the Compound Generator will send you to a hidden realm called Bulwark's Ambry. Completing that realm will cause you to loop as above.
    
• Each loop after the first progresses just like the first loop, except that the Celestial Portal will appear in each Stage 3 after the first loop. Activating the Celestial Portal will send you to a hidden realm that can be used to successfully end the run.

Good luck and safe travels
Cap

Hey, it's me. Cap is a man of few words, so I threw together everything I could find out from the crew and logs. Hope this helps.

Let's start with some notes on the Survivors.

Always the first to volunteer to drop. Carries his ukulele everywhere but only knows one song. You know, that Rainbow one.

• A standard soldier who's a jack-of-all-trades.
  
• Keep shooting, hopping, and moving! He does less damage the farther he is from his target.
  
• Recommend taking Phase Blast and Tactical Slide, both of which need to be unlocked.

The silent type. I get the impression that her arrows do most of the talking. Oh, and if you need to look her in the eye, just go for the bottom one. Don't like... rotate your head or anything.

• Fast and deadly, but fragile. (Don't tell her I said that.) Her primary attack is agile, meaning she can sprint while firing. Keep sprinting/hopping and use Phase Blink to fix mistakes.
  
• She locks onto targets and can turn away as soon as her firing motion starts.
  
• Phase Blink can be used to skip Laser Glaive's follow-through.
  
• Recommend Phase Blink (for flexibility) and Ballista (for single-target damage).

He is one creepy guy. Always creeping around creepily. Pretty sure he's actually a stowaway.

• Ranged-melee hybrid who can turn invisible and always crits when attacking from behind.
  
• Both his guns hold 4 rounds and they reload fastest when empty, so use two double-taps (with a tiny pause in between) to balance damage and accuracy.
  
• Use Smoke Bomb to Backstab enemies. It also causes AOE damage and a small hop at the start and end of the invisibility, so it can also be used against groups or to boost a jump.
  
• Serrated Dagger/Shiv can be used to break falls or extend jumps.
  
• Recommend Burst (since Lights Out handles long-range), Serrated Dagger (for close-range AOE) and Lights Out (a.k.a The Wisp Whacker). Note that Desperado resets per stage.
  
• Hemorrhage is different than Bleed, but Backstab crit and normal crit are the same.

What's the difference between a utility bot and a battle bot? Where he points the nailgun.

• Tough and well-armed, but slow except in Transport Mode.
  
• Can switch between two primary attacks. This also switches between two equipment items.
  
• Transport Mode significantly reduces the damage he takes, including from falling. It also can be used to run over small enemies or ram big enemies.
  
• Auto-Nailgun is strong but only effective within medium range.
  
• Continuously firing and Retooling with double Rebar Punchers can be very effective. It's especially overpowered in early stages.

Not sure how he sets up those turrets without carrying around a big toolbox or anything.

• Deploys two turrets that gain copies of his items, but he's slow and his primary attack can be hard to use. His turrets are either stationary with longer range or mobile with less range.
  
• Place Bubble Shields carefully since they block all incoming attacks regardless of source.
  
• When using Thermal Harpoons, hold LMB to target more than one missile at a time.
  
• Recommend Spider Mines and Thermal Harpoons. Bubble Shield loses a lot of value after the first few stages and Thermal Harpoons help proc bands and deal with air targets.

A mage with a jetpack. Steve calls her the "explodey floaty". Also tells me she's a klepto.

• She has massive damage potential, but she's fragile and slow.
  
• She can sprint while charging up her secondary attacks.
  
• Enemies frozen by Nano-Spear or Snapfreeze will instantly be executed at or below 30% HP.
  
• Ion Surge allows her to fly perpetually (when combined with the hover from ENV Suit), though she sacrifices the damage potential from Flamethrower.

The grasshopper samurai. Always going on about grasshoppers and always hopping around.

• Highly mobile with agile melee attacks, but flying enemies can be a chore.
  
• Use animation canceling to maximize the value of the Expose debuff from the third Laser Sword slash. To do this, use Blinding Assault either as he's performing the third swing (for more damage) or after (to apply Expose to more targets).
  
• Hitting an enemy with Blinding Assault allows him to dash again (up to 3 times). This is his main tool against air targets early on. Using Blinding Assault at any time counts as combat.
  
• Eviscerate makes him invulnerable and can also be used to dash forward a short distance.
  
• It's possible to stand on top of many bosses (e.g. Wandering Vagrants).
  
• Recommend Whirlwind, Blinding Assault, and Eviscerate.

Some kind of plant-robot hybrid. Still not sure if we're supposed to water it or not.

• Most of REX's abilities either hurt it or heal it.
  
• Bramble Volley and Tangling Growth heal more as you hit more targets.
  
• Both Utility skills can be used to launch REX in a given direction.
  
• Recommend Seed Barrage and Bramble Volley.

She suggested that we nuke the entire site from orbit. I had to remind her that this is supposed to be a rescue mission.

• Punches the bejeezus out of things and swings around on a grappling hook, but she can have trouble with spread-out air targets.
  
• Punching grants a barrier, so keep punching!
  
• Combine Gauntlet with Fist to swing around the map quickly.
  
• Recommend Spiked Fist and Thunder Gauntlet.

Steve told me that it's some kind of a dog.... That is a messed-up looking dog, Steve.

• Melee-ranged hybrid with poison attacks. Poison damages enemies over time but cannot kill them, so items that add lethal damage (e.g. Gasoline, Ukulele, or Tri-Tip Dagger) are critical.
  
• Early on, Neurotoxin is the best choice for finishing air targets, but he can spread Epidemic among air targets more reliably by aiming at nearby surfaces instead of directly at them.
  
• While poison ticks can't proc on-hit effects, each individual spread of Epidemic can.
  
• To reliably leap on bosses at melee range, look straight up first.
  
• Recommend Poison and Neurotoxin.

I know Cap told you that he has to stay back and command the ship, but come on. The guy has a shotgun for a hand. Of course he'll drop with you if you ask.

• Charging Vulcan Shotgun narrows its spread and increases knockback (but not damage). The shotgun does less damage at longer ranges.
  
• Defensive Microbots are effective against projectiles (e.g. Lemurian attacks) but do nothing against hitscans (e.g. Lesser Wisp attacks). The number of attacks per second that they can cancel scales with attack speed.
  
• Any drones he recruits will receive their own Defensive Microbots.
  
• Beacon: Hacking can dramatically reduce farming needs in earlier stages, but it becomes obsolete in later stages.

Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.

• Can be activated during a run by collecting all Heresy Lunar items.
  
• Hold Slicing Maelstrom before releasing to throw it farther. Jump during Shadowfade to fly.
  
• Use Slicing Maelstrom to build up Ruin effect stacks on enemies and then blast them by activating Ruin. Good Ruin timing is essential because Ruin has an 8s cooldown and the effect cannot be applied to enemies during it.
  
• They innately have three jumps, and each one benefits from Waxed Quail.

• Almost all items improve as you stack (i.e. collect more copies of) that item.
  
  • Most items stack linearly. Cautious Slug increases regen by 3 health/s. Three copies would increase regen by 9 health/s. Most on-hit items can stack to the point where there's a 100% chance for a proc (at which point 57 Leaf Clover and Purity will no longer affect the outcome).
    
  • Some items stack exponentially. Shaped Glass doubles your damage but halves your HP. Three copies would result in 8x damage and 1/8 HP.
    
  • A few items stack hyperbolically. Tougher Times increases your block chance by 15%, so three copies would give 31% block. It's impossible to reach 100%.
    
  • Some items have multiple effects that stack differently. Fuel Cells provide +1 equipment charge (linear) and +15% cooldown reduction (exponential) per stack.
• Use Scrappers, 3D Printers, and Cauldrons to swap out unwanted items.
  
  • Scrappers take up to 10 copies of a chosen item and convert them into scrap of the same color. Be careful! It will take all of a given item if you have 10 or less copies.
    
  • Each 3D Printer displays an image of the item it will print (you can ping it to check what it is). Activating the printer gives you one of that item in exchange for one of your existing items of the same color. 3D Printers always take scrap first, but if you have no scrap of the right color, it will take a random item of that color.
    
  • Cauldrons (in the Bazaar Between Time and before the Final Boss) give you the item shown in exchange for multiple lower-grade items. Green items cost 3 white items and red items cost 5 green items. Cauldrons take scrap first when possible.
• Status effects can appear above HP bars in your HUD for you and all other characters.
  
  • Most effects have some kind of duration, and many can stack. For instance, Bleeding is an effect that causes damage over time. More stacks increase this damage, but if Bleeding isn't reapplied for ~3s, it will stop.
    
  • Specific items or abilities can cause specific effects. For instance, Tri-Tip Dagger causes Bleed and Chronobauble causes Slow.
• All attacks have an innate Proc Coefficient (PC) that affects the chance for or effectiveness of on-hit procs. Faster attacks tend to have lower PCs to balance proc-related damage.
  
  • For instance, MUL-T's Rebar Puncher has a PC of 1, while his Auto-Nailgun has a PC of 0.6. This means that Auto-Nailgun has a 40% lower chance to proc on hit, but it hits more often.
    
  • Most attacks that come from procs have their own PCs and can trigger their own procs.
• There are two types of HP: health (green) and shields (blue).
  
  • Health and shields are effectively the same except that health can be regenerated by items and effects. Shields only regenerate after you take zero damage (of any type) for a continuous span of 7 seconds. The regeneration is rapid but stops if you take damage.
    
  • Generally, this means that shields are more viable on Survivors with higher mobility who can avoid all sources damage more reliably.
    
  • Fall damage is based on health only, so Transcendance (which replaces all but 1 health with shields) will effectively prevent fall damage.
    
  • You can also have a temporary barrier (yellow) up to your current HP, effectively doubling it. Certain abilities and items provide the barrier.
    
  • If your HP is at least 90% of your max HP (ignoring barrier), a single instance of damage cannot kill you. We call it one-shot protection (OSP). However, Shaped Glass and Artifact of Glass disable OSP, and attacks that do more than one instance of damage (e.g. those of Greater Wisps or burning attacks) may still be able to kill you in a single attack.
    
  • Thus, shields can be detrimental to OSP for Survivors who are less mobile and tend to take damage more often but are able to heal rapidly.
• Characters (including enemies) have a certain amount of armor that reduces all damage (including fall damage but excluding Blood Shrines). Items/abilities can grant more armor.
  
• Some weapons (e.g. Commando's Double Tap and MUL-T's Auto-Nailgun) do less damage beyond a certain range ("damage falloff").

Apart from the Teleporter and Portals, here are some other things you can activate down there:








Oh, and you may want to save up 10 Lunar Coins to pay for Artificer's shoplifting fine. The newts are using her as a mannequin in their shop. Poor thing.

• Time (and difficulty) do not progress in hidden realms.
  
• Entering a hidden realm will void all manufacturers' warranties.
  
• Activating a Newt Shrine will cause a Blue Portal to appear after the teleporter event. This leads to the Bazaar Between Time, where you can purchase Lunar Items, upcycle items in Cauldrons, save poor Artificer, or pick the next environment.
  
• A Celestial Portal will appear after the teleporter event in every Stage 3 after the first loop. Activating it will send you to the realm called "A Moment, Fractured".
  
  • Activating the Obelisk at the end will obliterate you and successfully end the run in exchange for 5 Lunar Coins.
    
  • Alternatively, if you approach the Obelisk and then drop down to the right, another portal will appear that continues the run.
    
  • If the party has Beads of Fealty, activating the Obelisk will send you to "A Moment, Whole". There, defeating a Scavenger boss will cause him to drop 10 Lunar Coins. However, note that the coins must be split between party members, so Beads yield fewer Lunar Coins total to parties. Also, dying to the Scavenger counts as a failed run (and not as an obliteration), even if the Scavenger dies before you do.
• There is a Null Portal below the Bazaar that leads to the Void Fields. You can use this once per run, and you can leave the Void Fields at any time by using the portal on the other side.
  
• Activating a Gold Shrine will cause a Gold Portal to appear after the teleporter event. This will take you to Gilded Coast, where you can fight and potentially recruit Aurelionite.
  
• Correctly activating the Compound Generator in Sky Meadow will open an Artifact Portal to Bulwark's Ambry, where you can complete an event to unlock a particular Artifact.
  
  • The Generator requires one of a set of 3x3 shape codes. These codes can be found in each environment, printed on a tablet like the one standing next to the code array.
    
  • After entering the code by interacting with each contraption in the array, activate the laptop nearby.

Certain items often provide exceptional value to specific Survivors. Use this to prioritize who gets what when you're in a team.

• Everything's pretty good on him, though he gets above-average value from on-hit items (like Ukulele) due to his high PC and fire rate.

• On-sprint items (Energy Drink, Rose Buckler, Wax Quail, Little Disciple) provide exceptional value. Same with Backup Mags and Crowbars, which are perfect for Glaive.
  
• Flurry needs at least 30% critical chance to match Strafe's primary damage output.
  
• Alien Head, Brainstalks, and Bandolier are valuable for reducing cooldowns.
  
• Transcendance, Shaped Glass, and Brittle Crown are viable since she's elusive.
  
• Let Survivors without agile attacks have Paul's Goat Hoof.

• Harvester's Scythe and Predatory Instincts are highly valuable due to his Backstab crit.
  
• Energy Drink is valuable for sprinting behind enemies while invisible. However, Paul's Goat Hoof has only normal value because enemies track too fast to stay behind them for long.
  
• Crowbars are valuable for boosting Lights Out and Desperado.
  
• A few Backup Mags can be valuable for spamming Serrated Dagger out of Smoke Bomb.
  
• On-hit items have better-than-average value when using Burst due to its high PC per burst.
  
• Shattering Justice provides excellent value with Burst since each burst fires 5 shots.
  
• Transcendance and Hardlight Afterburner synergize with Smoke Bomb.

• Crowbar works well with Rebar Puncher.
  
• MUL-T desperately needs mobility items, especially Paul's Goat Hoof.
  
• When using double Rebar Puncher, combining Blast Shower, Gesture of the Drowned, Fuel Cells, and Kjaro's/Runald's Bands is overpowered because Blast Shower clears the cooldown on band procs. However, attack speed items have no effect on Retool and should be forgone.
  
• Alien Head has below-average value.

• Dio's Best Friend is fantastic for keeping turrets up.
  
• With Gauss Turrets, stack Bustling Fungus with N'Kuhana's Opinion (and optionally Rejuvenation Rack and Aegis) and place the turrets next to each other. Then take a nap.
  
• Stacking Razorwire with a Hellfire Tincture, Gesture of the Drowned, a few Fuel Cells, and some Leeching Seeds can be effective with Carbonizer Turrets because it causes 3 times more Razorwire procs than with any other character.
  
• Brainstalks reset turret cooldowns, allowing him to freely drop turrets.
  
• Turrets don't gain copies of Rusted Key, Lepton Daisy, or Halcyon Seed. They hold a copy of any equipment but cannot activate it.
  
• He gets low value from Backup Mags (only 1 more mine each), Warhorn (turrets don't get equipment), and Alien Head.
  
• Avoid items that give shields (including Wake of Vultures).

• Backup Mags are essential for boosting her secondary attacks. Crowbar is valuable, too.
  
• Primordial Cube is a good choice for grouping up enemies to blast.
  
• Alien Head, Brainstalks, and Bandolier provide exceptional value for reducing cooldowns, especially when paired with Soldier's Syringe or Predatory Instincts to reduce her charge times. Purity can also be viable, though it severely reduces the value of on-hit items unless the proc is guaranteed (e.g. on bands) or she can offset the Luck with 53-Leaf Clovers.
  
• Hardlight Afterburner is nice, though others (e.g. Mercenary) get more value from it.
  
• Mobility items are valuable since Artificer is fragile but also slow.
  
• Leeching Seed and Harvester's Scythe are less valuable since they don't scale with damage.

• Gets more value out of Hardlight Afterburner than anyone else.
  
• Like Huntress, he gets great value out of on-sprint items since he has agile attacks. He gets max value out of Wax Quail because it applies to all his jumps, not just the first one.
  
• Backup Mags, Alien Head, Focus Crystal, Frost Relic, and Mired Urn are also valuable.
  
• Transcendance can be viable, especially when paired with Old War Stealthkit.
  
• Primordial Cube and Sentient Meat Hook can help bring enemies closer together.

• N'Kuhana's Opinion, Rejuvenation Rack, and Tougher Times are excellent because they boost healing and help negate HP costs. However, due to lack of overheals, forego Aegis.
  
• Shaped Glass has a lower downside on REX because OSP often isn't active anyway.
  
• Primordial Cube and Super Massive Leech are good equipment choices.
  
• Avoid Wake of Vultures, Corpsebloom, and shields (especially Transcendance) since they can negate healing. Also avoid Brittle Crown.

• Attack speed items are unusually valuable due to Scrap Barrier.
  
• Unsurprisingly, Focus Crystal, Frost Relic, and Mired Urn are also valuable.
  
• Having a couple Backup Mags can add flexibility and allow you to sucker-punch lots of airborne enemies into the oblivion they so richly deserve.
  
• Primordial Cube and Sentient Meat Hook can help keep enemies close.
  
• Mired Urn is viable even in teams.

• On-hit and on-kill damage items are essential. Even one Gasoline provides enormous utility.
  
• Ceremonial Dagger is unusually strong on Acrid due to its potential for chaining procs despite each dagger's low damage.
  
• Alien Head, Brainstalks, and Bandolier can be valuable for reducing Epidemic's cooldown.
  
• Offensive drones provide good value since they can help him finish enemies. Using The Back-up with Gesture of the Drowned and Fuel Cells or Soulbound Catalyst works well.
  
• A few Backup Mags can be helpful for taking out multiple air targets or applying poison to straggling enemies.
  
• Visions of Heresy is great on Acrid since melee becomes risky for him in later stages. Adding Transcendance and two Strides of Heresy can add synergy: his poisons continue to work; it allows shields to refill; and it lines up well with his Epidemic cooldown. When going this route, forego attack speed and melee-focused items.

• Hardlight Afterburner, Brainstalks, Bandolier, Alien Head, and Primordial Cube provide good value since they synergize well with Orbital Probes.
  
• Shattering Justice is superb because he can proc it in a single shotgun blast.
  
• Attack speed items are valuable because they also improve his Defensive Microbots.
  
• On-hit items have decent value due to his shotgun's high PC.
  
• The Back-up is a great choice on Captain because the Strike Drones receive their own Defensive Microbots. This also applies when he gives The Back-up to Equipment Drones.

• Transcendance is essential on Heretic because it removes their degen, provides them with incredible amounts of HP, and synergizes with Strides of Heresy. Stack as many as possible. Note that when using Transcendance, practically all healing items are useless.
  
• Backup Mag is extremely valuable for spamming Slicing Maelstrom.
  
• Alien Head and Brainstalks are excellent for managing cooldowns. Purity may also be viable, though it may significantly reduce DPS from on-hit effects unless offset by 57 Leaf Clovers or 100% chance stacks.
  
• 2 Strides of Heresy can almost guarantee shield recharge, but more will just reduce DPS since Shadowfade cannot be canceled. Don't pick up more than 1 Hooks of Heresy.

That's it. Please stay safe down there. And please come back to me in one piece, my love.