A tier list tells you which item is strongest. A buy order tells you which item to buy next, and the answer changes every time your quota ticks up. This page is the order, not the ranking — read it against your current quota, not against the shop window.
The structure below follows the three-stage progression that community guides use: budgets are tight at quotas 1–2, open up at 3–4, and let you buy the big toys at 5 and beyond.
Quota 1–2: under ~300 credits, buy survival first
At the first two quotas your budget is small and your risk is death-by-confusion, not monsters.
- Walkie-talkie for every diver. Communication prevents more deaths than any weapon. Two is the bare minimum; one per diver is the goal.
- Flashlight for every diver. The facility is dark by design. A blind diver misses scrap and walks into Hoarding Bugs.
- Lockpicker, then pro-flashlight (rounds 2–3). Once everyone can see and talk, open locked rooms and upgrade the beam.
Threshold: do not leave this stage until every diver has light and a way to talk. A shovel is the only weapon worth a slot this early, and only one — give it to the point diver.
Quota 3–4: mid-tier force multipliers
Your credits now cover items that change how a run plays, not just whether you survive it.
- Stun grenade. The best panic button for the price. Throw it to escape, not to fight.
- Extension ladder. Creates shortcuts and escape routes on larger facilities.
- Radar booster. Drop one on the way in; it is a breadcrumb trail out, exactly when you need it.
Exception that holds here: still skip the jetpack. Guides are explicit that you should skip the jetpack until quota 3 — and even at quota 3 it is a comfort buy, not a survival one. Buy it only when the quota is already comfortable.
Quota 5+: the big purchases
Once the quota is a solved problem, spend on the items that convert a lost run into a saved haul.
- Teleporter first. It is the first major purchase most guides recommend: a crew member on the ship pulls a downed diver home with their inventory.
- Zap gun next. The strongest defensive tool, but expensive and battery-hungry. It holds threats a shovel cannot touch.
- Company Cruiser (~370 credits). The only way to drive two-handed scrap to the ship. Worth it once you routinely find heavy loot on large moons. See the cruiser guide for the crew-size and moon math.
- Jetpack, last. Flying is the most entertaining way to lose a diver. Buy it with money you do not need.
Exceptions by crew size
The order above assumes a crew of three or four.
- Solo: one flashlight, one walkie-talkie (for the ship monitor), one shovel. Skip the Teleporter — there is no one on the ship to run it.
- Two divers: prioritise the two walkies and one shovel over any upgrade. You cannot afford a downed partner.
- Four divers: the Teleporter arrives earlier, because one player can stay on the ship to operate it.
How this differs from the tier list
The best equipment tier list ranks items by usefulness per credit. This page ranks them by when they matter. The shovel is S-tier and the jetpack is C-tier, but the jetpack is still wrong at quota 2 and right at quota 6 — the ranking alone will not tell you that.
Use the quota calculator to size what you can afford against the days you have left, then buy down this list to your budget.