The Last Caretaker is a game about crafting and survival, and treating it like an action game in its early hours is a recipe for confusion and frustration. Humanity is counting on you, and it does them no good if you’re adrift and out of fuel in the middle of the ocean—which can happen. Easily. Spending your early-game skill points wisely will turn being marooned into making progress. 

In this The Last Caretaker skills guide, I’ll focus on the first several hours with the game and help you pick the most important skills, explaining why and how they’re useful, so you can enjoy smooth sailing. 

 

How skills work in The Last Caretaker 

In the bottom-right corner of the menu, you'll see your current level, your current XP, and the XP remaining until you level up. Most actions in The Last Caretaker grant you XP. That includes big things like completing quests and small things like gathering and processing resources.

Early on in The Last Caretaker, sometimes the best way forward is to simply putter around and explore until you level up. Every level comes with Skill Points that you can spend on a horizontal list of possible upgrades.

The Last Caretaker is deceptively complex, though. Some upgrades are merely nice to have. Others are absolutely essential. Knowing the difference, especially in the early game, is next to impossible without trial and error—or our guide.
 

The best early-game skills in The Last Caretaker

You begin The Last Caretaker at Tier Level 1, with the Repair Tool and the Torch (flashlight) automatically unlocked. Your decisions begin at Tier Level 2. 

Skill Tier Level 2

Electric Cable: Electric Cables may be the single most important item at the beginning of The Last Caretaker. These blue cables transfer electrical power between devices, and (other than survival) that’ll be your focus in your first few hours. Unlock the blueprint, and you can craft Electrical Cables from either the Fabricator or wherever you are from the Build menu. Each Electric Cable requires Copper (1) and Plastic (1) to create. The more you build, the farther you can string cables between devices. 

Lumilite: You’ll have to unlock and create this item as you make your first ocean voyage, but that’s actually pretty great because you can connect it to your boat with an Electric Cable and recharge it whenever the sun’s out. Build a few of them and connect them to the ports on your boat, and you’ll be recharging for free as you do other things. Each Lumilite requires Solar Cell (1), Connector Ports (1), and an Alloy Frame (1) to build. 

Electric Cable Extender: This compact, four-port device both accepts and routes electricity. If, for example, you built three Lumilite devices, you could route all of them to an Electric Cable Extender, and then route that (via Electric Cable) to your boat, thereby tripling the amount of electricity you’re generating into a single port. To craft an Electric Cable Extender, you’ll need Plastic (1) and Iron (1).

Dismantle Tool: You’ll spend a lot of time collecting junk, tossing it into your Recycler, and (re)collecting the resources that it chews up and packages. But you’re rarely near your Recycler, and you can really only carry one item at a time, which makes hauling things a pain. It’s often far easier to take out your Dismantle Tool and turn, say, one of the ubiquitous small, yellow crates into some Metal Scraps and Plastic Scraps than it is to lug the crate back to your Recycler. Just be aware that using your Dismantle Tool drains your internal battery. 

Skill Tier Level 3

Electric Pistol: You begin The Last Caretaker with a Crowbar melee weapon. It’s fine at first, but it doesn't provide real defense. As soon as you reach Level 3, unlock the Electric Pistol, which zaps out little lightning bolts that are far, far more effective at killing early-game enemies than your Crowbar. Creating an Electric Pistol requires Battery Cell (1), Alloy Frame (1), Connector Ports (1), and Conduit Wiring (1). 

Small Battery: You are a robot. You run on electricity. Doing most physical things depletes your battery. A Small Battery recharges anything that runs on electricity, whether that means you, your Electric Pistol, or even your ship. Also, recharging from a Small Battery is way, way, way faster than recharging from other items like Lumilite. Building an Electric Battery requires a Battery Cell (1) and Connector Ports (1). 

Consumable Battery: Consumable Batteries give you a bit of a recharge. Their primary advantage is that you can holster them just like you can holster your Electric Pistol, making a quick recharge just a couple of button presses away. To build one, you’ll need Iron (1) and Fabric (1). 

Durapack: There’s only so much you can carry. Exceed your carry weight, and you’ll assume turtle-speed. Enter the Durapack, which is really just a box that lets you store items and retrieve them for later. It’s super-useful for offloading items that you want to keep but just can’t carry now. You’ll need an Alloy Frame (2) and a Display Screen (1) to build one. 

Whisper: You unlock Lumilite early in your adventure, unleashing the recharging power of the sun. But The Last Caretaker has a day/night cycle, which means you won’t be charging your Lumilite at night. Enter the Whisper, a double-helix-shaped fan that produces electricity whenever the wind’s blowing—and the wind’s always blowing on the high seas. Build some of these on the deck of your ship and connect them up with Electric Cables to generate a constant flow of electricity, no matter what time of day it is. 
Craft your own adventure 

I’ve played more than 25 hours of The Last Caretaker, starting from the beginning many times. There are many other items to unlock, both in these same tiers and after. Some of the items we haven't mentioned will make survival in The Last Caretaker more comfortable long-term—but I wouldn’t start a new game without unlocking the items above first.

The Last Caretaker is available now on the Epic Games Store.