Task Search
Checklists
Surviving in Saros is not easy. Every aspect of Carcosa is attempting to overwhelm you and send you back to the teleporter to try again. You can take everything you learn from the tutorials, but it might not be enough to survive. There are a handful of things that you always want to do, and are important to keep in mind whenever you start a run. Whether it's the perfect reload or unlocking second chance as soon as possible, here are 14 essential tips and tricks to help you get started in Saros.
13 Essential Tips and Tricks for Getting Started in Saros
Perfect Reload
Much like Returnal, Saros has a Perfect Reload mechanic for your weapons. Once your clip is empty, your weapon automatically begins to reload, and instead of waiting, you can press R3 or R2 to hit the perfect reload window and instantly refill ammo. We recommend getting used to pressing R3 to reload so that you never have to let go of R2, allowing you to maximize your damage output and kill enemies as fast as you can.
Failing to hit the Perfect Reload window will cause your weapon to jam. The key to the Perfect Reload is knowing when the mechanic is coming, so you don't have to react to it suddenly popping up. If you're using a Shotgun, get in the habit of counting your shots, and if you're using a Rifle, get a feel for how long you need to hold down the button until you run out of bullets.
Saros is a very fast gaming experience, and mastering the Perfect Reload will keep you matching its speed.
Alt-Fire
Alt-Fire is also a very important skill to learn early on. Every weapon you equip has an alt-fire with unique effects. To use alt-fire, hold L2 slightly so it’s halfway down and then press R2 to fire. It’s important to know what each Alt-Fire does so you can know when the best opportunity to use it is.
The alt-fire of the Horde Shotgun, as an example, has an Alt-Fire that reorients its bullet spread to be more vertical, which makes it much more adept at hitting skinnier targets. Other Alt-Fires might concentrate several bullets into a single shot, making it better for single-target damage. As the game data states: "Mastering a weapon’s Alt-Fire is the key to utilizing it to its full potential." Bigger, more challenging hostiles won’t know what hit them once you master this mechanic.
Don’t Grab Every Artifact
It’s tempting to pick up every Artifact you unlock from a container. These are made to benefit your run, giving you stacking bonuses that should make taking on the horde of monsters appearing on Carcosa that much easier, especially during an Eclipse. However, picking and choosing what Artifacts you want to equip is the best way to ensure every slot you have matters.
Choosing not to pick up an Artifact that lowers certain stats might be a good call, as you could find one that provides a health boost when your Integrity gets too low, or even one that rewards small heals whenever you kill an enemy if your health is low. You won’t know what’s ahead of you further in your run. It’s a good idea to reexamine your Artifacts every so often as you earn additional rewards. These slots are finite, and while you do unlock more as you progress the game, it’s easy to find yourself without any room left and being stuck with the ones you did pick. The only way to get rid of them is with the Acolyte’s Wager, but you can also use those to reroll your rewards at containers.
Plus, in this instance, you can return to previous areas of your current route to retrace your steps and grab them before heading forward to fight a boss.
Pick Up Guns that Match Your Stats
Every weapon in Saros has a list of three traits underneath it. These traits detail a weapon’s recoil compensation, weakpoint damage, reload speed, and much more. All of these traits have a small symbol to the left of them, which is associated with one of your three primary stats: Resilience, Command, and Drive. Depending on how you build for a run, one skill is likely higher than another. If you can, try to match more of these traits with your highest stats as you’re playing.
This way, your best stats contribute to a weapon’s efficiency, vastly improving them for you as you rush through the endless hordes on Carcosa. It is important to note that these traits are randomly generated, meaning it all comes down to luck, but comparing your current weapon with a new one is a good idea. The only time you want to use a weapon that might align with your current stats is if the weapon’s Proficiency level is at least five higher than the one you’re using. The damage difference is too much to ignore at this point!
Check Your Minimap Often
Another way to prevent enemy encounters from becoming too overwhelming is by paying attention to the minimap. It’s important to keep enemies in front of you, and the minimap can help you do precisely that. It will show where nearby enemies are and help you find an escape to avoid getting surrounded by them.
The minimap also shows when an audio or text log is nearby, as well as health and weapons, and even other survivors that can be found in the world. With the fast-paced action, it can be easy to run right past a valuable item, so be sure to check your minimap to make sure you don't miss anything.
Unlock Second Chance As Soon as Possible
An important skill you can unlock at the Armor Matrix, your Skill Tree, is the Second Chance. We recommend unlocking this talent as soon as possible so that you can instantly revive after being killed during a run.
Unlike the Astronaut in Returnal, who you find by chance and can only use once, Second Chance is a permanent upgrade that will revive you and restore full Integrity upon death.
Note that Second Chance will revive you once during a run, and if you’ve used it, you’ll have to complete a Nightmare Strand if you want to replenish it. These are areas with much more deadly and difficult hordes of enemies that you’ll have to eliminate in order to survive the strand and thus, get your Second Chance back.
Always Use Your Power Weapon
Like the weapons you find, your Power Weapon is a random drop that you can pick up during any run. However, unlike your weapon, your Power Weapon will have a limited number of attacks before you run out of Power. You’ll need to use your Shield to pick up and absorb the blue projectiles to get more, but whenever you have a Power Weapon charge, we highly recommend that you use it at every opportunity.
Your Power Weapon is a great way to make short work of enemies. It’s a bit over the top to use it against weaker foes, like the Guardians, Custodians, or Vessels, but it’s perfect to use against nearly everything else. Whenever you see that you have a Power Meter charged filled, line up your shot on a target and use it! These powerful shots have the potential to clear out multiple foes at once, and waiting to use them on a boss or an Alpha enemy could mean the difference between having a large health bar or being at low Integrity.
Dodge Over Using a Shield - If You’re Not Sure
You receive a lot of benefits when you correctly use your Shield against an enemy. Not only do you not take any damage, but if you block the blue projectiles, you gain power for your Shield and Power Weapon. The same goes for the Corrupted orbs during an Eclipse. Although you gain stacks of Corruption, you still don’t lose as much health, compared to taking the full hit. However, as tempting as it can be to use your Shield for everything, your dodge is a critical skill that you should use frequently and often.
It’s a good way to ensure you don’t take any damage whatsoever during a fight. Even if your Power reserves are low, it’s better to avoid taking any damage, repositioning, and then taking out an enemy. If you’re always relying on your Shield to take the brunt of the damage, there is a solid chance that you’ll at some point mess up your timing, which sees you risking the chance to take a full hit from your opponent. Dodging is a good way to avoid this mistake, and it’ll also mean that you can save your Shield for the upcoming blue projectile attack that you know for sure, you can absorb!
Alternatively, using the environment as cover is another great way to protect yourself. Hiding behind pillars or walls to give yourself a quick break mid-way during a fight is a great way to outlast hordes of enemies.
Grab Halycon Early
It can be tempting to grab a weapon, Artifact, or Power Weapon upgrade whenever you open a container, as these are the best direct ways to ensure you’re becoming stronger during a run and have a better chance of making it to the boss. Now, while this may be true, if Halcyon shows up, grabbing that pick up whenever it becomes a choice is better for you in the long run.
Every region in Saros has a limited number of Halcyon for you to pick up. Each time you pick one up, that means you’ll see fewer of them in that region in future runs, giving you the chance to find better pickups later on. Once they’re all gone, you can focus on picking up better weapons and other upgrades, rather than having to see them pop back up for you. Plus, Halcyon upgrades in the Armor Matrix Skill Tree provide some of the best upgrades you can get.
Grab Rewards Quickly - The Environment is Against You
Every so often, there are multiple upgrades available for you to pick up in an area. Because Saros is randomly generated, these areas don’t always appear every run, but when they do, you might see an Aether (a heal pickup), a Blue Container, and a Red Container all in the same area. However, as soon as you step towards them, the environment begins working against you. As soon as you enter these locations, walls begin to rise, or platforms begin to fall, giving you a brief moment to react and grab one of these upgrades as quickly as possible, before blocking them off to you entirely.
As you complete more runs in Saros, these locations become more obvious as they follow a set pattern. You’ll start to see sections that have gate doors at the ready to cut off routes, or you might see platforms in the middle of a route that descend immediately, preventing you from reaching high cliffs. It takes a good amount of practice, and ensuring you’re aware of every new room you enter. These rooms are tricky, and it’s easy to rush forward, immediately triggering these traps.
Regardless, you want to act quickly and pick the most important upgrades available to you at that moment. It might be an Aether heal, or it could be a weapon or Power Weapon upgrade container. Making this decision fast is important to ensure you don’t miss out on these benefits at the right time, and paying attention to the environment is just as important as well.
Keep Adrenaline Up
A passive upgrade you might not be too aware of while you play Saros is your Adrenaline meter. It appears at the bottom of your screen, where you’ll see a number at the center. The number shows you what benefit you currently have from your Adrenaline meter. Whenever you take a hit from an enemy or from something in the environment, it resets to zero, forcing you to start over and start building it again.
These passive benefits might not seem like much, but they stack up over time, offering considerable upgrades to every build. You can regain Adrenaline by obtaining Lucentine and hitting enemies during a fight. You might also find opportunities to increase your Adrenaline meter by a full bar when opening containers, and it pays to keep this going for as long as possible. Not taking a hit and sustaining damage takes a lot of practice as you play Saros. If your Adrenaline meter is high, this is another reason that choosing to dodge rather than use your Shield or Parry might be better; you don’t want to lose that meter!
Cleanse Corruption
During an Eclipse phase, you have to deal with Corrupted Projectiles, the yellow orbs. Coming into contact with Corrupted Projectiles, either by getting hit or absorbing them with your Shield, will cause Corruption to build up and reduce your max integrity.
It won’t kill you, but it will limit your max health, which can make enemy encounters more difficult. In order to cleanse this Corruption, you’ll have to fire your Power Weapon to get a portion of max health back. This can make enemy encounters even more interesting as you’ll have to balance both surviving and building up your meter to use your power weapon.
Carcosan Modifiers
If all else fails, and you are still having more trouble than you’d like, Saros provides further help by way of the aforementioned Carcosan Modifiers. These are modifiers that unlock after defeating the 2nd boss of the game, and this gives you the option to adjust difficulty to your liking, so long as you keep the modifier meter balanced.
We recommend selecting a trial that you feel won’t impact you much so that you can add protections that really help out. For example, during a run where I wanted to get further than I had before and cared less about the progression of future runs, I added a protection mod that increased damage dealt to hostiles, as well as one that made my Shield not consume power while active. Then I balanced it with a trial mod that reduced lucenite retained upon returning to the home base.
You can even adjust the level so that even more lucenite is reduced, so that you can add even more protections. As long as it's balanced, you’re ready to lock in.