Epic Raft is a brilliant survival and crafting game from Lightcore Ltd. Graphically, it’s one of the best 3D Android games available on the Google Play Store. The game follows the adventure of a survivor marooned on a small raft in the middle of the ocean. Help him stay alive by finding food, water and resources. You will also have to craft items and workstations so that he can make weapons, clothes and important items crucial for survival.
Use the navigation table to explore strange islands, fight zombies, killer mutant crabs and the deadly shark. Hunt for food or search the island for hints that might help him communicate with the authorities who will help him reach his home safe and sound. As you progress, you will have to upgrade your raft so that sharks don’t chomp it into pieces. There are so many things to do in Epic Raft and these tips, tricks and strategies will help you get started:
Table of Contents
How to Play
Your character is stranded on a small raft, in the middle of the ocean. All he has is a hook, with which he can grab materials/resources floating on the ocean.
The first thing you should do is gather as many materials as possible using the hook. When the border of the floating resource on water glows green, tap that resource. Using his hook, your character will pull it close to his raft and grab it.
Next, you will have to make your raft bigger because you will be building all sorts of workstations on them. These workstations will assist you in making new items for survival.
To expand your raft, you will have to build ramshackle hulls in the beginning. Tap on the wooden square on the right side of the screen to build one. To build a ramshackle hull, you will need 2 plastic and 2 logs. You will have to build a few hulls to make your raft bigger. As you progress, you will be able to build advanced hulls, such as sturdy/armored hull. These hulls can protect your raft from a sudden shark attack, but will require additional items, such as rope or steel bars along with wood logs.
Epic Raft’s tutorial mode explains all the bare basics, including building a few important workstations using basic raw materials. These materials can be seen floating on the ocean. Here are the first most important workstations to build:
Workbench: You can make ropes, nails, picklocks, empty bottles and other items. For certain items, you will need to research them at the research table, for others you may either have to find the blueprint/recipe of those items on a particular island and/or level up your current workstation (Tap on the “upgrade” button above “recipes” inside the workstation and check the items required for upgrade). You will need 4 logs, 2 plastic and 1 scrap to build a workbench.
Rain Catcher: Collects water when it rains. Used to quench your character’s thirst so that his water level increases and he does not die of dehydration.
Navigation Table: Shows the map and lets you explore the ocean. Using the navigation table, you will be able to move to an island in search of resources and other valuable items for survival. To build one, you will need – 6 logs, 6 plastic, 1 scrap and 6 ropes. To build a rope, move towards the workbench, tap on the hand icon on the right side of the screen to enter the workbench. You will need 2 palm leaves to produce rope in the workbench.
As you progress and gather/produce more materials and blueprints from islands, you will be building advanced workstations.
Once you build the navigation table, it’s time to explore islands. But before that, make sure you start catching fish to gather food. Check out our Epic Raft Fishing Guide to know more.
Go near the table and tap on the hand icon on the lower-right corner of the screen to access the map. Next, you will have to tap on an island and press the “dock” button. Moving to an island requires energy (lightning flash icon), so make sure you have enough energy before exploring islands. The amount of energy require to enter an island will be displayed when you tap on an island. You will have to tap on “Dock” after tapping on an island on the map. Energy is refilled over time.
Once you press “dock”, your character will be dropped in the ocean, but very close to the island shores. Noticed the white circle around him? Sharks cannot attack your character when he is in that white circle. After exploring the island, you will again have to move your character in that circle in the ocean and then press the home button on the right side of the screen to get back to your raft.
Once you know the basics, it’s time to start thinking about survival. With the help of this beginner-level Epic Raft guide, you will be able to stay alive for more number of days, build the most important workstations, craft crucial items and explore islands.
Know Your Character’s Stats
Your character has three vital stats. These stats are displayed on the top-left corner of the screen:
Water Droplet (Thirst): Indicates how thirsty your character is. The circular gauge behind the water droplet icon indicates the current thirst level. Once the thirst level is zero, it will start affecting your character’s health (HP, Heart icon) and his health gauge will start decreasing rapidly unless you quench his thirst. Build the rain catcher and empty bottles and fill water in them.
Chicken Drumstick (Food): Indicates your character’s hunger level. When the circular gauge behind the chicken drumstick icon is zero, tour character will starve and his health will decrease rapidly. Eat fish, snack bars, raw veggies such as carrots and potatoes, cooked claw scavenged from dead crabs to increase the hunger gauge and satisfy your hunger.
Heart (Health): Shows your character’s current health. Your character’s health decreases when enemies attack him or when his vital stats gauge (thirst/hunger) reaches zero. If your character is starving or thirsty, his health decreases very rapidly. Your character dies if his health is zero. Pay attention to the circular gauge behind the heart icon.
In case he is injured during combat, you can restore some of his health using bandages. You can craft a bandage using palm leaves. Go to “produce” and tap on the medic box on the left to craft palm bandages. You will need two palm bandages to craft one. You can also produce palm bandages on the go, i.e. while exploring islands. Tap on produce at the tap on the medic box to craft palm bandages.
In our next few sections, you will learn how to avoid starvation, thirst and health loss.
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Wear Clothing that Protects From Harsh Climate
Your character’s health will also be affected by harsh climate. Extreme climate conditions, such as heat due to direct sunlight and cold climate will be displayed on the bottom of the screen. The cold climate icon will be in blue and the direct sunlight icon will be in orange/red color.
When cold climate is displayed on the bottom of the screen, it shows extreme calorie intake and so your character will feel hungry. His hunger levels will be affected and decrease faster. If hot climate or the direct sunlight icon is displayed on the bottom of the screen, then your character will feel thirstier and his thirst level will decrease faster.
You should craft warm clothes to protect your character against cold climate and also equip necessary clothing to protect him from direct sunlight.
To craft clothes, tap on “Produce” on the bottom-right corner of the screen.
Next tap on the shirt/t-shirt icon on the left to access clothes:
The first four clothes made from palm leaves are easier to craft. You will need palm leaves and rope to make them.
For advanced clothes, make sure you have the blueprint or recipe of them. You will get the recipe from certain islands. The name of the island will be mentioned on the right side of the screen when you tap on the portrait of a cloth/accessory.
Example: Plastic Helmet can be found in Bones Island. It not only protects against light enemy attacks but also protects you from direct sunlight. You will have to find its blueprint in the “Bones Island” and only then you can craft it.
For crafting advanced clothes, you will also have to build the “Loom”. The materials required to craft the loom is displayed in produce > workstation > loom.
Build 2 Rain Catchers
As the name suggests the rain catcher stores some water every time it rains. You will need the following resources to build one:
4 plastic, 6 logs, 1 scrap, 1 rope (To build a rope, go to the workbench. You will need 2 palm leaves to make one).
Build 2 rain catchers to ensure you are not short of water. Once it stops raining, move your character next to this workstation and tap on the water droplet to drink water from it.
Along with the rain catcher, make sure you craft empty bottles as well. You will need a blueprint of the empty bottle to craft one. You can get its blueprint from the “Waste Storage” island. Empty bottles can be used to fill water. A water bottle can be consumed any time during exploration and you don’t have to move back to your raft to drink water from the rain catcher.
Grab Floating Barrels to get Some Food
Big barrels can be seen floating on water along with logs, palm leaves, plastic and scrap. When you see one, quickly tap on it to grab it. Barrels not only contain scrap, logs/plastic, but also food items, such as carrots and potatoes. You can eat them raw to beat hunger. You will notice that your character’s food gauge fill up a bit every time you eat a potato or carrot. You can also cook these veggies and then eat them to fill the gauge a little bit more. Cooked food fills the hunger gauge more than raw food.
Retrieve Your Surviving Inventory
When your character dies, everything that has been equipped or collected so far is packed in a “surviving inventory”.
This crate with a skull symbol can be found at the location of his death.
If your character has died on the raft, then this box will be found on the raft when he is back to life. Just go near the box tap on the hand to take back items.
If your character died on an island, then the surviving inventory will be found on the spot he died.
However, in some islands there will be a black pouch marked on them, just like the screenshot below, suggesting that no inventory can be restored or saved on such locations.
On other islands, there will be a white pouch marked below them as shown in the below screenshot:
It suggests that the all items collected and equipped so far will be saved in that crate and retrieved.
Build the Basic Storage Box ASAP
Once you have started accumulating raw materials (resources), crafting weapons and other equipment, it’s time to free up some space. There will be limited space in your inventory, plus there’s the fear of losing items in case your character dies on an island that won’t allow you to retrieve your items from the “surviving inventory” (orange box). In such circumstances, it’s important to craft a small “storage box to keep the most important items or backup items.
To build a basic storage box, you will need:
8 plastic, 4 scrap and 1 rope.
Go to the “Produce” menu and tap on the last crate icon to build your box. The basic box can store up to 10 items. To add 10 more slots, you will need to “upgrade” your box.
Get all Important Blueprints from the Mutacrab Beach
Once you build the navigation table, you will start exploring islands using this workstation. Your first destination will be the Mutacrab beach, an island that has a few deadly crabs and zombies. In this island, you will get blueprints of some key equipment and also some very useful objects.
You can read on to know how to explore this island or watch our Epic Raft video walkthrough below:
Make sure your character is equipped with a weapon. He will be equipped with a golf club, but you should also craft one basic weapon, such as the wooden spear, as backup. Tap on the “Produce” button and then tap on the weapon tab (third tab on the left). Tap on the wooden spear’s portrait to know what materials will be needed to craft one. You will need at least 4 logs and 1 rope to craft a wooden spear.
A weapon gets damaged a bit every time you use it to attack enemies. Tap on your inventory to check your weapon’s condition. The green bar on a weapon/equipment’s portrait indicates its condition. A weapon is unusable once the green bar diminishes to zero. You should always have another weapon as a backup.
On the Mutacrab beach, find the “corpse”. You will find the dead man’s body near the shores. Go near him and tap on “search”. You will get two colas and a backpack that will free up more space in your inventory, allowing you to store more items. The small backpack will add 5 slots in your inventory.
Look for objects that have a yellow exclamation mark. You will find such objects scattered throughout an island. Big islands usually have such exclamation marks. In most occasions objects with exclamation mark provide blueprints or items crucial for your survival.
Explore the Mutacrab Island to find such exclamation marks. The tool rack and the axe stuck on the tree trunk have such exclamation marks on the island.
Go near the tool rack to get the pickaxe and its blueprint. Once you can get blueprint of an item, you can start crafting it from the “produce” menu. But for certain items, you will have to “research” first even if you get its blueprint. More on “research” later.
Because you will get a free pickaxe along with its blueprint, you don’t have to craft another one unless it’s necessary. You will also get the stone axe and its blueprint from the tree trunk located next to the big “dead tree”.
Use the axe to cut the large tree it will fall, creating a bridge between two land masses on the island. Walk over the fallen tree to move to an abandoned shack.
You can’t enter the shack if you don’t have the picklock. You will get the picklock from the “post Box” placed next to the fence. Go near the post box until you see a magnifying glass icon on the lower-right corner of the screen. Tap to search the post box. You will get a snack bar and a picklock. Use the picklock to unlock the fence door. Defeat the approaching zombie. He will be on the other side of the fence.
Search the zombie and you will receive delicious cooked claw and a cola.
There will be more exclamation marks on the other side of the fence. They can be found near the abandoned shack. Go near each exclamation to search. These exclamation marks will be above the fireplace, stone shovel, and the scarecrow.
The fireplace contains the blueprint of the fireplace workstation. However, you will have to research it first before you can craft this workstation on your raft.
Search the stone shovel to acquire a shovel and its blueprint. This blueprint does not require research so you can craft it right away.
Search the scarecrow to get palm leaf, scrap, pants and a new blueprint to craft the “crop plot”. The crop plot is used for harvesting small plants. You will have to research it first before you can start crafting it on your raft.
Behind the dilapidated shack is something buried on the ground. There will be an exclamation mark above it. Move your character behind the shack and dig the ground using the shovel you just acquired.
You will find a storage box. The box contains a piece of map to unlock a new location and a wooden spear.
Build the Research Table to Research New Recipes
In Epic Raft, you will need blueprints of a piece of equipment or a workstation in order to craft them. These blueprints can be found scattered all over the island, especially on spots that have a yellow exclamation mark. Once you have the blueprint of that item, you can start crafting it from the “Produce” menu.
However, you will need to “research” recipes for certain items and workstations, even if you have their blueprints. For this you will have to build the “Research Table”.
To build a research table, you will need – 8 logs, 8 palm leaves, 1 rope and 3 scraps.
Once you build this, you start researching workstations and important items. Note that you will need a new item or a workstation’s blueprint before you can research it on the table. You may also have to fulfill additional requirements. Everything will be mentioned on the table.
How to Unlock Waste Storage and Other islands
You can access the island map from the navigation table. But you will notice that other islands are hidden behind a fog. To unlock islands, such as Waste Storage in Epic Raft, follow these steps:
You will have to explore accessible islands first to find a piece of map for unlocking more islands. In the beginning, only two islands could be accessed – Mutacrab Beach and Abandoned Hut.
Find a piece of map on Mutacrab Beach, it’s hidden behind the old dilapidated shack, buried deep in the ground. This will give you access to Waste Storage, Jellyfish Farm, Temple Ruins and Iron Mine islands.
Once the fog is removed from these small islands, it’s time to move you raft closer to them. Tap on the green map pin icon shown on the map and then tap on “Go to location”. But wait, you will have to build the “Oar” in your raft to get to the location near Waste Storage and other islands.
Go back to your raft and tap on the “Build” icon located on the right side of the screen. To build the oar, you will need 9 wood logs and 2 nails. To craft nails, build and go near the workbench. You will need 2 scraps to craft a nail.