Loadout Guide — Turn Your Budget Into the Right Tools Before Every Departure#

First, Be Clear: What Are You Actually Building?#

In Lethal Company, the word “loadout” evokes the stat builds of other co-op shooters, but this game has no such system: gear has no perks, no stat bonuses, no set bonuses, and there is no hidden equipment gated behind quests. Tools like the shovel and walkie-talkie are sold in the Company store at fixed prices (with occasional random discounts, up to about 80% off), and what you buy is what you get. A loadout, at its core, answers one question: with a limited budget this round, which tools do you convert onto the ship.

Loadout thinking is dictated by this game’s survival rules, not by numbers:

• Players run on a one-hit-point system, and most monsters kill in one or two hits. There are no medkits, no healing items to buy, and health never regenerates. So there is no “stack defense” play — the goal of a loadout is making sure getting hit never happens.
• A dead employee’s body stays on the moon with all carried gear and must be recovered by the next day, or it’s all lost. Every tool you carry out is collateral on a life.
• There is no environmental survival mechanic like body heat or warmth between moons, and weather (rainy, stormy, foggy, flooded, eclipsed) never raises profits, only danger. There is no such thing — and no need — for a “bad-weather-specialized loadout.”
• The ship lands at 8 AM and must leave the moon before midnight; every loadout serves the one hard metric of “hauling the scrap back to the ship before dark.”

Store Price Quick Reference#

The table below is the current-version store price list (in credits) — the basis for every plan on this page:

Ship upgrades are one-time investments shared by the whole crew and take no one’s personal inventory slots:

Two prices have shifted with versions and deserve a separate note: the Jetpack sold for 700 credits before v50 and rose to 900 credits as of v55; and the Cruiser is the new vehicle added in v55. The full version history is in version updates.

Starter Loadout (Days One and Two)#

Days one and two run on a tight budget; the goal is everyone’s basic three-piece kit at 60 credits or under per person:

That is 57 credits per person. Don’t touch any advanced items at this stage: the shovel is your only self-defense, the flashlight secures indoor vision, and the walkie-talkie keeps you connected to the teammate minding the ship. The fourth slot stays empty forever — an empty slot is carrying capacity; a person with a full hand picks up almost no scrap.

Standard Four-Person Loadout#

The regular formation once the budget allows, assigned by role rather than everyone carrying the same thing:

The whole squad totals about 220-250 credits. A few notes:

• Buy shovels for weapon slots first; if the map yields a Stop sign or Yield sign, they can replace the shovel outright — they are high-damage melee weapons found indoors, not store goods, and finding one is pure profit.
• Not everyone needs a pro-flashlight; the regular 15-credit flashlight is enough, and the savings go to walkie-talkies first.
• The door guard holds between the ship and the main entrance, using stun grenades to break off chasing monsters and cover haulers boarding.

Advanced Loadout (Mid and Late Game)#

Only when quotas keep climbing and the crew starts taking frequent casualties is it worth completing this set of expensive items one at a time:

The full set comes to just over 900 credits — don’t buy it all in one round. Purchase priority: teleporter > radar-booster > zap gun > TZP-Inhalant. The teleporter’s life-saving value tops any weapon, so it is always the first expensive item you buy.

The Hauler#

The person who moves scrap from the main entrance back to the ship; the loadout core is carrying capacity:

• Belt bag at 45 credits: grants four extra storage slots and takes no personal inventory slot — small scrap and tools all fit
• TZP-Inhalant: the heavier the load, the slower you move; haulers rely on it to keep pace on heavy round trips
• Keep your hands’ slots for large scrap; weapons like the shovel can go into the belt bag

The Scout#

The scout doesn’t spend legs — they spend information:

• After landing, place the radar-booster (50-60 credits) at a fixed point near the main entrance
• Stay on the ship yourself, working the terminal and watching crew and monster movement on the radar
• Call positions live over the walkie-talkie: which direction, what monster, who’s closest

This seat suits teammates not yet fluent in monster behavior, or rounds where someone is in bad shape and would rather not land. One extra pair of eyes on the ship cuts the outdoor crew’s wasted wandering in half.

Escape and Movement Tools#

These items don’t directly raise income, but they fish people out at the critical moment:

• Extension ladder (60 credits): bridges gullies and cliffs — the cheapest way out of dangerous terrain
• Jetpack (900 credits): clears terrain and escapes surrounds fast, but carries inherent explosion risk — the v50 update shrank the blast radius from 7 to 6, and the risk remains, so plan your landing spot before takeoff

How Two- and Three-Person Squads Cut the Budget#

When there are fewer people, subtract in this order — cut duplicate items, never functions:

In a trio, the hauler doubles as door guard, and ship monitoring rotates to whoever stays aboard with a walkie-talkie that round — the point is that comms, lighting, and weapons must all be covered by someone. Saving budget is fine; saving functions is not.

The Three Loadout Questions#

“Loadouts” That Definitely Don’t Exist#

Some loadout tables circulating online contain things this game simply doesn’t have — listed here so newcomers don’t step in them:

• There is no “spade” store item dealing 50% more damage than the shovel — the shovel is the only melee weapon in the store; the Stop sign and Yield sign are high-damage map pickups. Power differences show up as “how many swings to down a target,” never as percentage damage bonuses
• There are no gear perks, stat bonuses, or movement-speed percentage builds of any kind — any loadout table claiming speed or damage buffs is fabricated
• There are no quest-unlocked golden shovels, infinite flares, invisibility cloaks, ship speed plugins, or frost resistance runes
• There is no body heat or warmth mechanic, and no thermal suit or antifreeze items
• There are no medkits or any purchasable healing items — lost health is lost, and no loadout saves someone who has already been hit

Pre-Departure Checklist#

Before the 8 AM landing each round, spend one minute on this:

1. Are the four personal slots assigned: at least one weapon, one light, and empty space for scrap
2. Does walkie-talkie coverage reach every two-person pair
3. Is the door guard’s stun grenade aboard
4. What’s today’s weather — weather grants no bonuses, only amplified danger; on bad weather days consider carrying less expensive gear

There is no standard answer to a loadout, but one bottom line always holds: your kit must get you back to the ship alive before midnight — not left on the moon with your body, waiting for teammates to collect you the next day.