Tips for Success in Rogue Waters: How to Stop Dying

Dying is a regular occurrence in Rogue Waters. During the tutorial, players are told not to worry if they die, because they’ll wake up back at their ship with all their crew and spoils intact. That said, it can get a bit tedious to continuously die in the early game, so here’s a guide on what to do if you keep dying in Rogue Waters.

Although dying is a part of Rogue Waters, there are things you can do to mitigate the damage to your crew during sea and ship battles. A full raid will include several battles of both types, and you’ll be lucky if you find a point on your route that will heal any of your crew’s wounds. If you do find one of these stops, you can usually only heal one random wound from your crew.

Because of this, it’s up to you to keep your crew healthy throughout a raid. There are various ways to add additional HP to your crew members, including items that can heal them during ship battles, and ship modules that add to your crew’s Max HP.

Below, you’ll find several sections that cover the various ways you can avoid dying in Rogue Waters. These include classes that have skills which add HP to a character, modules you can find/buy/plunder from ships that add to your crew’s Max HP, and items that need to be equipped to your specialists to heal them.

How to avoid dying in Rogue Waters

Be aware that this guide is geared towards new and struggling players, so it won’t cover modules and items that you will see later on in the game after you’ve spent a fair amount of hours raiding. These are modules and items that you will come across during your raids, so staying alive will feel more achievable.

Classes with health skills

Plenty of classes have at least one skill that you can unlock for extra health. Here is a list of classes that have such skills. This is not an exhaustive list, but it does include a large number of classes that you’ll see quite often in the Tavern.

Class	Skills that add HP
Assassin	Quick and Sturdy.
Brawler	Quick and Sturdy.
Bruiser	Tough II.
Combat Medic	Cure I, Cure II, Cure III, Tough II.
Commander	Get Yourself Together I, Get Yourself Together II, Get Yourself Together III.
Cutthroat	Quick and Sturdy.
Escapist	Tough II.
Fencer	Tough II.
Grappler	Tough II.
Heavy Arm	Bulky and Slow, Tough I.
Hunter	Quick and Sturdy.
Musketeer	Quick and Sturdy.
Reaver	Bite I, Bite II, Flesh Eatern, Tough I.
Shepherd	Shiv’s Presence I, Shiv’s Presence II, Shiv’s Presence III, Shiv’s Presence IV.
Spearmaiden	Quick and Sturdy.
Strongman	Bulky and Weak, Resilient I.
Sturdy	Bulky and Slow, Resilient II, Tough II.
Trick Shot	Resilient I.
Virulent	Quick and Sturdy.

Modules that add HP to your crew

You will have access to some modules before setting out on your journey and you can choose which ones go with you by going to the Shipyard. Other modules can be won from ships during sea battles or purchased from various ports during your journey. Here are some of the more common modules you’ll come across that can add HP to your crew:

Module Name	Effect
Fortified Cabins I	All crew members gain +1 Max HP.
Fortified Cantine	Mates gain +2 Max HP, but -1 Movement.
Fortified Quarterdeck	Captain Cutter gains +2 Max HP.
Fortified Spar Deck	Grapplers gain +1 Movement and +1 Max HP.
Pennant of Toughness	+1 Max HP to all Mates.
Rum Supply I	All crew members heal one point at the start of your turn.
Solid Colors	Mates are immune to bomb explosions and heal one point at the start of your turn.

Items with HP effects

Items can be purchased at some ports during your raiding journey, though some can be won from plundering ships. They must be equipped to one of your crew mates to be used. Some will require manual activation – which you can do during that unit’s turn in a ship battle. Here are some of the more common items you’ll come across that can add HP to your crew:

Item Name	Effect
Brew of Healing	Take a sip to heal one HP. Three uses.
Cleansing Water	Take a sip to heal one HP. Removes blight and bleeding. One use.
Fancy Buckle	+1 Max HP, +1 Movement
Leather Belt	+1 Max HP.
Ring of Molting	Unit heals three points at the start of their turn. +1 Max HP, -1 Armor.
Ring of Renewal	Unit healsfour points at the start of their turn.
Seaskin Ring	Unit heals one at the start of their turn.
Sturdy Belt	+3 Max HP, -1 Movement.

10 Tips to keep you alive in Rogue Waters

1. Even if you’re dying, keep raiding. It doesn’t matter if you don’t finish a raid, you’ll still keep your experience points, Glass, and Blueprints.
2. Have a full replacement crew available at all times. Instead of starting a new raid with specialist crew members that have wounds, switch them out with other specialists waiting in the Galley.
3. Let your crew heal. Similar to the point above, always let your crew heal where possible. This is harder in the early game when you don’t have enough money to hire more specialists.
4. Always raid with a full crew. There’s no benefit to raiding with fewer people. You’re almost always going to be outnumbered by the enemy, so take as many crew members on your raid as you can.
5. Avoid fighting with less than two cannons that can attack other cannons. During a sea battle, your enemy’s cannons are going to do all of the harm to your cannons, modules, and crew members. If you only have one cannon that can attack other cannons, you’re going to take a beating.
6. Get more Command Points. These allow you to fire more cannons during sea battles.
7. Have at least one dedicated healer in your crew. Though Captain Cutter has healing abilities, you may not want to use your captain as a combat medic at first; especially because there are specialists that are in the Combat Medic class. You can find a table in my Rogue Waters Crew guide that highlights specialists with healing skills, which you may be able to hire from the Tavern before a raid.
8. Use the ropes. Ropes can help your crew members get across the deck of a ship faster. If you have specialists with certain skills that do more damage, you can send these characters to fight by themselves. I’d recommend sending specialists who can use guns, have melee skills, or have unlocked skills that do more damage. They’re more likely to outlive an enemy than new specialists with no unlocked skills.
9. Grapple enemies into fire. Grapple class specialists are handy if you’re on a ship that has patches of fire burning. Use their wrestling skills to throw enemies into fire. Even if your Grapple specialist can’t do damage themselves, they can use their environment to cause it, instead.
10. Have specialists work together. It’s best to pair off certain specialists to work together. Take the Grapple class and the Spearmaiden class, for example. Grapplers need to unlock various skills to do damage while throwing enemies around, and Spearmaidens can hit up to two enemies in a well-positioned attack. Use your Grappler to get the enemies in position, and attack with your Spearmaiden.

Looking for more Rogue Waters content at Moyens I/O? Check out our Rogue Waters review and our guide to the Best modules and cannons for your ship in Rogue Waters.