Complete Dead Sails Beginners Guide

You thought being a ship captain was easy? The new hit game Dead Sails proves otherwise. It turns out to be quite hard when you need to balance your own survival with maintaining the ship, selling valuables and, of course, fighting off various monsters. Here’s how to become a pro in Dead Sails and reach the 100k meters finish line in no time.

Beginner’s Guide for Dead Sails

If you’re not familiar with the game, no need to worry. Dead Sails, just like its predecessor Dead Rails, is quite straightforward – literally. You’re the captain of a ship that needs to sail in a straight line for 10 thousand meters between towns and ultimately reach the goal of 100k meters sailed. Keep moving, don’t run out of fuel and don’t die. Easy, right?

Before You Set Sail

The in-game lobby before you start a round can be very helpful, even though that help comes at a price. If you’re a new player, you start off with 15 Dabloons, the game currency. It’s not a lot of money, but it can be used for purchasing various things. Boats come at a steep price and are in no way necessary for a beginner player, and however tempting it may be to spend your money on items such as bandages and weapons, you’ll be finding heaps of them in-game.

How To Choose A Class

Our recommendation is to spend your 15 Dabloons on a class. They are in-game perks purchased in a loot box manner, where you don’t know which class you’re going to get. Every purchase costs 3 Dabloons, and if you’re lucky, you might get a class you like on your first try. The game offers great Common and Uncommon classes such as Pirate and Gunslinger, but what you choose ultimately depends on your style of play. Check out our Dead Sails Class Tierlist if you want to see a breakdown on every available class.

What To Do In Towns

Once you join a round, you’re spawned in a town where your ship is docked. These types of towns appear every 10 thousand meters sailed, and represent your safe spots. They have a number of amenities you can use:

• Trading Hut: Sell items you’ve collected along the way.
• General Store: Choose from a variety of items to help you on your journey.
• Hospital: Heal yourself.
• Gun Shop: Purchase guns and ammunition.
• Sheriff’s: Earn bounty money from bringing corpses of pirates and other lootable creatures.

Since you’re spawned in with a blunt weapon (i.e. pickaxe, hammer), there’s really no need to purchase a firearm right away. However, what you absolutely need to do is purchase coal, and we recommend spending all your money on as many as you can get. Fuel is of the essence in Dead Sails, considering the game ends when you can’t move your ship any further. 

Dead Sails Tips & Tricks

Once again, the gameplay is fairly simple. However, you’ll sail past various interesting buildings and structures, and also get attacked by undead creatures on the way. That’s where the dead part in Dead Sails comes to play. However, no need to worry, since there are only a few main things you need to know in order to master the game in its entirety.

Tips For Never Running Out Of Fuel

For a game that has “sails” in its title, it’s only logical that your ship runs on – coal. Each chunk of coal adds 20 percent more fuel to your tank, and you technically could finish the entire game with buying 5 coal pieces in every town you stop in. But where’s the fun in that? 

You’ll encounter various collectible items when you get off your ship, and a big part of them will have the marker “fuel” when you hover over them. However, they only bring a 5 percent increase in fuel, no matter the item. To make this ordeal as efficient as possible, the best way to fuel up your boat (other than coal, of course) is with the undead’s corpses. You need to kill everything that attacks you in order to survive yourself, and considering you can put their bodies in your inventory, it’d be a shame not to use them.

How To Survive The Night

Similar to Dead Rails, this game gets significantly harder during nighttime. With the visibility being expectedly lower than during daytime, you need to be extra careful not to get hurt by unwanted visitors. Remember, if you die, it’s game over.

An ideal scenario is to spend the night in town, since you’re protected there. If not, a good strategy for this is to purchase Barbed Wire in a shop beforehand. Mounting this item on your ship will prevent the mobs from approaching you. If you don’t have Barbed Wire, your best bet is to pause your journey and attack any creature that comes near you.

Which Weapon To Choose

Once again, this is a matter of personal preference. If you’re more of a melee person, you might be satisfied with the starting hammer or pickaxe you receive. However, as you sail more, you’ll encounter stronger enemies which require stronger weapons to kill them.

A shotgun is probably your best choice. Even though some think the rifle is better because of its cheaper ammo, the shotgun’s larger damage dealing helps resolve any situation, especially those when combat wasn’t expected. Another good, early-game choice is the revolver. Even though it’s weaker than the rest of the weapons, it’s a good first choice to get the hang of a firearm, and it can often be found in buildings.

Best Items To Collect

Every item you collect can be sold, starting with junk that costs 3 or 5 cash per item. However, since your sack inventory is limited to 10 items, it’s not the best plan to collect everything you find on your way. Here’s some items to pay attention to:

• Moyai and Bars: These come in diamond, gold and silver variations, and are one of the best ways to earn money in-game.
• Healing Packs: You can sell these, but it’s best to keep them so you can use them when needed.
• Crosses: Beside selling them for 35 cash, you can use them as a weapon against the undead.
• Weapons: You can use these or sell them if you don’t need them.
• Robot Head: Can be found in houses and banks. Sells for 45 cash.
• Holy Water: Usually found in churches, can be sold for 25 cash.
• Gold Llama: A large but rare collectible you might find along the way. As of right now it’s the most expensive item in-game, with a retail price of 150 cash.

You can stack as many items as you like on your boat, just keep in mind that they will fall off if you don’t weld them to the surface! Place an item and click the weld button (Z on the keyboard) to keep it in place.

And that’s the beginners guide to Dead Sails! Follow these tips and you’ll become the best captain that’s ever sailed the seas – or, in this case, the small, canal-like river. If you want a boost in your gameplay, take a look at our Dead Sails codes.