Two choices decide most Lethal Company runs before anyone opens a door: which moon the autopilot flies to, and what the crew bought at the terminal. Pick a moon that cannot cover the quota, or pay for one the crew cannot survive, and the run is over regardless of how well people play inside.
This guide covers both in one place. Every number comes from the community wiki's moon, store and item pages and matches the current version, v80 ("The Blooming Update", April 2026), which reworked March, changed Adamance and Artifice and lowered some prices. Moon, item and monster names stay in English, as they appear in the game.
The short version
| Question | Answer | Why |
|---|---|---|
| First moons | Experimentation, then Assurance | Free, small, almost always a Factory; the lowest risk levels in the game |
| Best free moon for money | Offense (with an extension ladder) or Vow | Offense averages 802 per visit; Vow 622 with an easy fire exit |
| First paid moon | Rend (550) or Titan (700), staying all three days | The route fee is paid once per stay, so it shrinks per day |
| Best moon overall for money | Dine (600) | Average 2,773 per visit, more than any other moon |
| Moons to skip | Embrion; Artifice unless you want the challenge | Embrion averages the same as free Adamance; Artifice returns about Titan's money per day for twice the fee |
| First purchases | Walkie-talkies (10), flashlight (15) or pro-flashlight (28), shovel (30) | Light and communication decide whether the crew finds scrap and gets back |
| First big purchase | Teleporter (375) | Every body left on a moon costs an extra 12% of your credits |
Every moon at a glance
The terminal sorts moons into Easy, Intermediate and Hard, and gives each a risk level from D to S++. The average below is the wiki's estimate of scrap value per visit if you collect all regular scrap; it leaves out the Apparatus, bee hives and weapons dropped by monsters. Use it to compare moons, not as a promise.
| Moon | Route cost | Tier / risk | Wiki avg. per visit | Likely interior | Notable hazards | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 41-Experimentation | 0 | Easy / D | 301 | Factory (99%) | Bunker Spiders and Snare Fleas inside; outdoor monsters come out late | Learning moon; too little scrap after the first quota |
| 220-Assurance | 0 | Easy / C | 575 | Factory (87%) | Snare Fleas, Hoarding Bugs; Earth Leviathans and Eyeless Dogs outside | Safe default for early quotas |
| 56-Vow | 0 | Easy / C | 622 | Factory (61%), Mineshaft (39%) | Brackens and Maneaters inside; Forest Keepers and Feiopars outside; fragile bridge | Best easy moon once the crew handles a Bracken |
| 21-Offense | 0 | Intermediate / B | 802 | Mineshaft (82%) | Thumpers, highest Coil-Head odds; Eyeless Dogs and Baboon Hawks; awkward fire exit | Best free money; bring an extension ladder |
| 61-March | 0 | Intermediate / B | 567 | Factory (100%) | Swamp exterior since v80; Thumpers, Gunkfish, Brackens; Forest Keepers | Below average; go for its bee hives, not its scrap |
| 20-Adamance | 0 | Intermediate / B | 639 | Factory (84%) | Cadaver Growths inside; up to 35 spike traps; Baboon Hawks; breakable bridges | Good with Weed Killer; harder since v80 |
| 5-Embrion | 150 | Hard / S | 639 | Factory (85%) | Old Birds make up 87% of outdoor spawns; outdoor power 70 | Skip |
| 85-Rend | 550 | Hard / A | 1,228 | Mansion (mostly) | Blizzard; Nutcrackers and Jesters; Eyeless Dogs and Forest Keepers; no turrets | First paid step up |
| 7-Dine | 600 | Hard / S | 2,773 | Mansion (mostly) | 200-249 cheap items; Butlers and Cadaver Growths; Forest Keepers 76% of outdoor spawns | Highest yield; needs haulers |
| 8-Titan | 700 | Hard / S+ | 1,547 | Factory (64%), Mineshaft (24%) | Largest interior (2.2x); up to 35 turrets; Jesters, Nutcrackers, Brackens | Steady paid moon with a short walk outside |
| 68-Artifice | 1,500 | Hard / S++ | 1,811 | Mineshaft (50%), Mansion (35%) | Every indoor monster type; Old Birds outside; up to 60 landmines | Challenge moon, not a quota moon |
Embrion and Artifice are not listed in the MOONS catalogue. Embrion's name appears in the Old Bird's bestiary entry once you scan one; Artifice's is written on the wall of the locked cottage on Adamance ("68-ART"). 44-Liquidation exists only in the game files and cannot be played. 71-Gordion, the Company Building, is free and is where you sell.
Two numbers in that table are easy to misread. Dine's average comes from volume: an average item there is worth about 12 credits, against 50 to 58 on Titan, Rend and Artifice. And Titan's average is high, but its interior is so large that its scrap density is close to an easy moon's, so a crew rarely clears it.
When each moon turns dangerous, and what to pack
This is the part most moon lists skip. Outdoor monsters do not appear at the same time everywhere, and each moon has its own trap counts. The time column tells you when to have the scrap out; the last column is what we would add to the usual lights and walkie-talkies.
| Moon | Outdoor spawns begin | Avg. turrets / landmines / spike traps | Pack this |
|---|---|---|---|
| Experimentation | About 6-8 p.m. | 2 / 2 / 0 | Nothing special; the raised area by the entrance is safe from floods |
| Assurance | About 3 p.m. | 4 / 3 / 0 | A shovel for Snare Fleas and Hoarding Bugs |
| Vow | About 2 p.m. | 2 / 4 / 0 | Extension ladder to climb out of the ditch; cross the metal bridge one at a time |
| Offense | About 3 p.m. | 3 / 5 / 2 | Extension ladder for the fire exit; shovels for Thumpers |
| March | About 2-3 p.m. | 6 / 6 / 3 | Spray Paint or a radar booster to find your way in the large Factory |
| Adamance | About 11 a.m.-1 p.m. | 3 / 6 / 9 | Weed Killer for Cadaver Growths; lockpicker or key for the cottage |
| Embrion | About 11 a.m.-1 p.m. | 3 / 5 / 8 | Jetpack or Company Cruiser if you go at all |
| Rend | About 1 p.m. | 0 / 1 / 3 | Stun grenades for Forest Keepers and Eyeless Dogs; follow the lamps |
| Dine | About 1-3 p.m. | 3 / 8 / 3 | Weed Killer; radar booster (its flash makes a Forest Keeper drop the player it holds) |
| Titan | About 1-3 p.m. | 12 / 9 / 1 | An operator for turrets; Loud Horn or radar booster for Eyeless Dogs at the stairs |
| Artifice | About 11 a.m.-1 p.m. | 3 / 10 / 3 | Company Cruiser and Weed Killer, or Jetpacks; Teleporter |
The times come from the wiki's spawn curves and Time page. Titan's own page advises being off the stairs by about 3 p.m., because Eyeless Dogs climb them. Weather adds to all of this but never changes the amount or value of scrap; the Beginner Guide explains each weather type.
Every store item and whether to buy it early
Type STORE at the terminal to see the list; items can be ordered by their first three letters. Items are sometimes discounted, and decorations rotate each quota. Prices below are the regular ones.
| Item | Price | Weight | What it does | Buy early? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Walkie-talkie | 10 | 0 lb | Talk to the operator; battery about 13 min 40 s. Switching it on and talking draws nearby monsters | Yes, one per player |
| Flashlight | 15 | 0 lb | Basic light, about 140 seconds of battery | Yes |
| Pro-flashlight | 28 | 5 lb | Brighter and wider, about 300 seconds of battery | Yes, for whoever goes deepest |
| Shovel | 30 | 14 lb | Main weapon: 2-3 hits for a Snare Flea or Hoarding Bug, 4 for a Thumper. Conductive | Yes, after the first sale |
| Stun grenade | 30 | 5 lb | 5-second base stun, longer on Hygroderes and Coil-Heads, barely affects Brackens | Yes, one or two |
| Lockpicker | 20 | 11 lb | Opens a locked door in 30 seconds and can be reused; not secure doors | Cheap; useful in Mineshafts |
| Weed Killer | 20 | 0 lb | Kills Cadaver Growths and Vain Shrouds, cures Cadaver infection, repairs the Cruiser | Yes, before Adamance or Dine |
| Belt bag | 45 | 16 lb | Holds 15 store tools in one slot; no scrap | Mid run |
| Spray Paint | 50 | 0 lb | Marks routes and dead ends; 25 seconds of paint | Optional |
| Extension ladder | 60 | 0 lb | Reaches 9 m and folds away after 18 seconds. Conductive | Yes, before Offense |
| Radar booster | 60 | 19 lb | Extra map point; PING plays a sound, FLASH stuns many monsters. Conductive | Second purchase for crews with an operator |
| Boombox | 60 | 16 lb | Music that distracts monsters for a while | No |
| TZP-Inhalant | 80 | 0 lb | Cuts stamina drain and adds a little speed; 22 seconds of use | Situational, for heavy hauls |
| Survival Kit | 138 | - | 4 flashlights, 4 walkie-talkies, 2 shovels; 22 cheaper than separately | Yes, for a crew of four |
| Company Cruiser | 370 | - | A truck that carries the crew and unlimited scrap; replacement is free | Late; core of the Artifice route |
| Zap gun | 400 | 11 lb | Holds a monster in place while you keep the beam on target; about 60 seconds of charge | Late, if ever |
| Jetpack | 900 | 52.5 lb | Flight; explodes on hard impacts, long flights or too much height. Conductive | Late |
v80 added a utility slot that takes most store-bought tools, but not the shovel, so a light or walkie-talkie no longer costs one of your four regular slots. The Cruiser shows as 400 on some clients but is charged at 370.
Ship upgrades
| Upgrade | Price | What it does | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teleporter | 375 | Pulls the player shown on the ship monitor back to the ship, alive or dead; they drop everything. 10-second recharge | The first big purchase for any crew of two or more |
| Inverse Teleporter | 425 | Sends everyone on the pad to random spots inside the facility, empty-handed; 3.5-minute cooldown | A luxury for four-player crews on big moons |
| Loud Horn | 100 | A horn every player hears, indoors or out | Cheap and useful: a recall signal, and it pulls Eyeless Dogs to the front of the ship |
| Signal Translator | 255 | TRANSMIT sends a text of up to 9 characters to everyone | Optional; walkie-talkies do most of this |
The Teleporter cannot recover a body taken by a Forest Keeper, an Earth Leviathan, quicksand or the Company Monster. The Inverse Teleporter can drop people in front of turrets, on landmines or in locked rooms, and it has no way back out.
Which moon to farm at each quota stage
A quota cycle gives you three working days. Divide the quota by three for your daily target, then pick the cheapest moon whose average clears it with margin, because the averages assume you find everything. The Quota Guide covers selling and route costs per day in detail.
-
1
First quota (130): Experimentation, then Assurance
One normal day covers it. Use the other two days to learn the terminal and the walk to the entrance.
-
2
Small quotas: Assurance, Vow, Adamance
All free. Assurance is the safest; Vow pays a little more but brings Brackens and Forest Keepers. Adamance pays similar money, but since v80 it has a guaranteed Cadaver Growth spawn and many more spike traps, so take Weed Killer.
-
3
Mid quotas: Offense
The best free average at 802, but usually a Mineshaft with Thumpers and Coil-Heads, and its fire exit needs an extension ladder or a jump onto the pipes. Start saving for a route and the Teleporter here.
-
4
Large quotas: Rend or Titan for all three days
Spread over a three-day stay, Rend returns about 1,045 per day after its fee and Titan about 1,314. Rend's Mansion is smaller; Titan's walk outside is shorter. Do not route to Gordion mid-stay: coming back counts as a new route and costs the fee again.
-
5
Very large quotas: Dine
About 2,573 per day after the fee over three days. The scrap is mostly light body parts worth a few credits each, so the work is carrying, not searching.
March deserves a note. Since v80 it is a smaller swamp map with no flooded weather, but its average (567) is below Assurance. It has the highest Circuit Bee chance of any moon, so a crew that can carry bee hives home early in the day can make it pay.
The paid moons: worth the fee or not
No moon was added in v80. The update changed existing moons instead: March was rebuilt, Adamance gained Cadaver Growths and far more spike traps, Artifice's landmine cap rose from 35 to 60 and it can now be foggy, and Dine went back to being mostly a Mansion.
Interiors in one paragraph each
Factory. The common layout, with secure doors the operator can open, steam leaks and the only place the Apparatus spawns. Pulling the Apparatus wakes every Old Bird on the moon, so on Embrion and Titan take it last.
Mansion. Usual on Rend and Dine. No secure doors, no steam leaks and no Apparatus, but more open rooms, more household scrap and bookshelves that can block a doorway outright. Without the Apparatus, there is nothing here that wakes the Old Birds.
Mineshaft. Usual on Offense and often on Vow and Artifice. The main entrance leads to an elevator down to the rest of the map, while the fire exit drops you straight into the mines. Locked doors are more common than in other interiors and cave entrances may need a key, which is why a lockpicker is worth carrying. It always gets six extra scrap spawns to make up for the risk.
Buy order for one, two and four players
These follow the opening purchases in the Beginner Guide. The main difference is what a solo player can skip: with nobody on the ship, the walkie-talkie, the radar booster and the Teleporter do nothing for you.
| Stage | Solo | 2 players | 4 players |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting 60 credits | Pro-flashlight + shovel (58) | 2 walkie-talkies + pro-flashlight (48) | 4 walkie-talkies + flashlight (55) |
| After the first sale | Stun grenade, lockpicker | Shovel, flashlight, stun grenade | Survival Kit (138), then pro-flashlights for the scouts |
| Before Intermediate moons | Extension ladder, Weed Killer, TZP-Inhalant | Extension ladder, Weed Killer, radar booster | Radar booster, extension ladder, Weed Killer |
| First big purchase | Save for a paid route instead | Teleporter (375) | Teleporter (375) |
| Paid moons | Belt bag, more stun grenades | Loud Horn, belt bag | Loud Horn, Inverse Teleporter, belt bag |
| Late | Jetpack | Jetpack or Company Cruiser | Company Cruiser and Jetpacks for Artifice |
Decorations: mostly skip them
Decorations rotate in the store each quota and are permanent once bought. Their only practical effect is a small luck value that nudges the next quota increase lower; the effect counts from the quota after the one in which they were placed. The largest are the Disco Ball (150 credits, 0.06 luck) and the Television (130, 0.02). The Signal Translator has negative luck. None of this is worth credits the crew needs for lights, a route or the Teleporter, and both the Disco Ball and the Jack O' Lantern attract Eyeless Dogs.
Common mistakes
- Paying for a moon and leaving after one day. The fee is per trip; one day on Titan pays 700 for one day of scrap.
- Routing to Gordion in the middle of a paid stay. Going back to the paid moon costs the fee again. Shop from orbit instead; orders wait for you to land.
- Judging Dine by its average. It is 2,773 because there are over 200 items. A crew that does not carry steadily gets far less.
- Treating Titan as safe because the walk is short. The danger is inside: the largest interior, an average of 12 turrets and Jesters and Nutcrackers as the most common monsters.
- Landing on Adamance without Weed Killer. Since v80 the wiki lists a guaranteed Cadaver Growth spawn there, and Weed Killer costs 20.
- Buying the Jetpack before the Teleporter. The Jetpack is 900 and easy to crash; the Teleporter is 375 and saves bodies, which saves credits.
- Buying a Teleporter for a solo run. Somebody has to press the button on the ship.
- Trusting old price lists. Many guides still list a 12-credit walkie-talkie, a 60-credit pro-flashlight or a 700-credit Jetpack. Current prices are 10, 28 and 900.
Read next
The monsters on each moon are covered in the Monster Guide, selling and route costs in the Quota Guide, and your first shifts in the Beginner Guide. If your group is still deciding whether to play, read the Honest Review.
★Honest Take — fewer moons matter than the list suggests
Eleven moons sounds like a lot of choice, but in practice a crew uses about five: Assurance and Vow while the quota is small, Offense in the middle, then Rend or Titan and finally Dine. Embrion is a trap at any price, Artifice is for crews who want a harder game rather than more money, and March is mostly a detour. That is the honest weakness: the moon list is wider than it is deep. The store is similar. The cheap tools (walkie-talkies, lights, a shovel, Weed Killer) and one expensive one, the Teleporter, do most of the work, and the flashy purchases matter only once the basics are second nature. The strength is that every moon still feels distinct, and v80 made the free ones more interesting to learn.
