Raft: How To Make Solo Survival Easier

Playing Raft solo can be a grueling experience. A shark is eating at your floating home on the sea, your hunger / third meters are ticking down, and you can’t even collect resources at your own pace. You’ll have to (try) to grab all the stuff floating by before it’s gone forever. All that monotony is fine if you’re running with a friend that can take some of the load off, but solo players have to do everything for themselves.

If you’re a solo player and want to actually enjoy yourself in Raft, we have some important recommendations.

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#1: Start A New Game On Easy Or Pacifist

For starting players planning on going solo, I recommend starting a new game on Easy. On Easy difficulty, your inventory will never disappear when you die. The shark (Bruce) appears less often, and your hunger / thirst meters don’t lower as fast. Pacifist makes it so Bruce never attacks unless you attack first. Easy gives you an authentic Raft experience but also gives you enough leeway to survive while removing some of the monotony of the early hours.

#2: Learn When To Attack Bruce

Naturally as you progress, you’ll unlock crafting recipes for Spears. No matter what Spear you get, you can learn how to defeat Bruce in the water. On Easy practicing becomes much easier. Wait for him to approach and swim away, poking his nose with your spear until he’s dead. If you attack just before his attack as you retreat, you’ll interrupt him. It takes a long time to kill Bruce with the Wooden Spear — so Metal Spears are a must. It only takes 12 Metal Spears to kill Bruce.

#3: Kill Bruce & Leave the Head

If you’re eager to kill Bruce, you can squeeze even more safety time if you don’t bother to look Bruce. Don’t loot the body and leave behind Bruce’s Head — that’s the Shark Head. If you leave it and don’t collect it, you’ll get an extra 5 minutes of peace. You can pull a total of 20 minutes without a shark attack.

#4: Start Armoring the Outer Edges of Your Raft

Construct a Smelter and prepare to armor your raft. You can find Metal Ore on the cliff walls on the sides of islands, deep underwater — I recommend killing Bruce before attempting to go underwater, or by using a method listed below. Once you’re free of Bruce for a while, swim down to the cliff walls of any island and look for metal ore nodes. You can collect the ore with your hook.

Place Metal Ore in the Smelter (with planks as fuel) to create Metal Ingots. Then you can start reinforcing your foundation with Foundation Armor. You’ll need a Research Table to research Metal Ingots and unlock Nails. Make both to create Foundation Armor — once the outer edges of your raft have been covered, Bruce won’t be able to attack the interior.

#5: Build Wings of Collection Nets

Building Collection Nets makes life so, so much easier. Let the nets collect up all the junk in the ocean for you. No more wasting hooks. Collection Nets don’t break after usage and they’re permanent fixtures to your Raft. To make them even better, build “wings” of Collection Nets extending to the left / right so you snatch up basically everything in your Raft’s path. Incredibly useful.

#6: Swim Far Away from Your Raft & Bruce Won’t Find You

And finally, one tip most players don’t know. If you swim far away from your Raft, the shark will stop chasing you — seriously! The shark stays near your raft, so if you anchor near an island, swim to the far side and it won’t bother you. Incredibly useful when you’re diving you Metal Ore in the early game. Don’t want to kill Bruce? You don’t (always) have to.

These simple tips make surviving on solo just a little more manageable.