100 Days at Sea Beginner Guide: Best Build Order, Islands, and Survival Tips

This 100 Days at Sea beginner guide covers resource farming, build order, island routes, mob counters, classes, and companions for a full 100-day run.

100 Days at Sea drops you onto a cramped raft with a harpoon, a fishing rod, and a growing list of problems. This 100 Days at Sea beginner guide breaks down every system that decides whether your run survives past Night 3 — resource farming, build order, island routes, mob counters, and class picks. The difficulty curve is unforgiving. Enemies scale up as the days tick by, and raid nights can flatten a base that skipped its early fundamentals. Read this 100 Days at Sea beginner guide before you craft a single plank, and you'll dodge the mistakes that end most first runs long before the good loot shows up.

Farm Resources and Food Before Anything Else

The first rule of any 100 Days at Sea beginner guide: every craft in the game runs on two core materials, Wood and Metal. Until you have a steady supply of both, nothing else on the open ocean matters. Here's the full economy at a glance:

Resource	How You Get It	What It Unlocks
Wood	Harpoon planks and furniture from the water; Sawmill at Bonfire Level 3	Nearly every early building and Bonfire upgrades
Metal	Harpoon fishing and island scavenging; Magnet at Bonfire Level 4	Higher-tier builds, including the Sawmill and Magnet
Green Gum	Ghost Pirate corpses placed into the crafting machine	Select mid-game recipes
Doubloons	Chests and island loot	Travelling Merchant purchases, like the Auto Turret for around 150 Doubloons
Pearls	Achievements, daily quests, codes, late-game crafting	Classes in the lobby

How to Farm Wood

Open by harpooning floating planks and furniture out of the sea. Deposit them straight into the crafting machine for building, or feed them into the Bonfire to raise its level. Your first milestone is Bonfire Level 3, which unlocks the Sawmill — the permanent answer to Wood scarcity. Each cycle takes a few seconds and produces 3 planks, and it never runs dry. Community-reported costs sit at just 10 Wood and 2 Metal, trivial once you've been harvesting. Place at least two Sawmills on your raft, and add more if you're playing co-op.

How to Farm Metal

Metal is the early game's bottleneck. You'll scrape it together by fishing debris from the water and hauling it back from islands in your sack. Once the Bonfire hits Level 4, build the Magnet. It works like a slower Sawmill for Metal — a passive, infinite source placed right on your raft. Player experience puts the price at 30 Metal and 10 Wood, which stings at first but pays for itself the moment higher-tier crafting starts draining your stockpile.

How to Farm Green Gum

One more material matters early: a green, gum-like substance used in certain recipes. You obtain it by feeding Ghost Pirate corpses into the crafting machine, so build the habit of collecting bodies after every fight instead of leaving them on the deck.

How to Keep Yourself Fed

Starvation shuts down health regeneration first and kills you outright soon after, so food matters nearly as much as Wood. Community-tested strategies converge on three methods, each covering a different phase of the run:

Method	Effort Required	Best For
Fishing rod	Minimal	Days 1–3; free to use, but scales poorly later
Harpoon birds and potatoes	Medium	Bird hits drop Cooked Bird, restoring a large chunk of satiety in one use
Crab Trap or Pizza Oven	One-time build	Passive food on a short cooldown; the long-term answer

Keep spare food in your inventory at all times. The Fisherman NPC on Fisherman Island trades food for high-tier gear, so your snacks double as currency.

The Best Build Order for Your Raft

Buildings carry a long run, and the order you place them matters more than the total you own. Nearly every 100 Days at Sea beginner guide lands on roughly the same priority list:

Priority	Building	Requirement	Why It Comes First
1	Sawmill	Bonfire Level 3	Ends Wood scarcity permanently; run two, more in co-op
2	Crab Trap	Early Bonfire levels	Passive food removes the biggest early-game stressor
3	Map Radar	Early game	Unlocks the full map so you stop sailing blind
4	Auto Turret	Higher tier; ~150 Doubloons from the Travelling Merchant	Automates raid defense — a solo player's best friend
5	Magnet	Bonfire Level 4	Infinite passive Metal before shortages stall your crafting
6	Radio	Mid-game	Marks Survivor locations directly on your map

Two notes from player experience: the Auto Turret looks expensive, but if the Travelling Merchant offers it early, buy it — solo runs live or die on automated night defense. And don't sleep on the Radio. Rescued Survivors act like passive teammates, so knowing where they wash up early pays dividends for the rest of the run.

Island Priorities: Where to Sail First

Several islands spawn within reach of your starting raft. Some are free loot; others will end your run without high-tier gear. The route below is the one this 100 Days at Sea beginner guide recommends for the opening days:

Island	Risk	When to Visit	What You Get
Fisherman Island	None	Immediately	Two chests, usually including a Dinghy; food-for-loot NPC
Mini Islands	None	While sailing	One or two chests plus loose loot on the ground
Survivor Islands	High	With decent weapons	Rescued Survivors who function as passive teammates
Alien Island	Medium	After repelling the Night 6–7 invasion	High-tier loot, found via the Transponder item
Tower / Fortress	Very high	Co-op or fully geared	Key-locked treasure; solo players should skip it

Hit Fisherman Island before anything else. It's the closest landmass, both chests are nearly guaranteed, and the Dinghy inside one of them speeds up every future trip. When the alien invasion hits around Night 6–7, repel it — community reports describe it as surprisingly manageable once you're prepared — then use the Transponder to reveal Alien Island's location. Tower and Fortress islands, the key-guarded ones, are death traps for solo players; save them for co-op or a late-run gear check.

Mob Threats and How to Counter Them

No 100 Days at Sea beginner guide is complete without a threat table, because the ocean doesn't forgive sloppy nights. Four regular mob types plus one event-exclusive crew will test your raft:

Mob	When It Appears	Danger Level	Counter
Angler Fish	At night, off your raft, or if the Bonfire goes out	Extreme	Keep the Bonfire lit; a Flare Gun redirects it
Sharks	Patrolling near islands	High	Leave their range — never fight in the water
Tribal Mobs	Certain islands and raid nights	Moderate	Standard melee or ranged weapons
Ghost Pirates	Raid nights and Survivor Islands	Moderate	Kill them, then recycle corpses for Green Gum
Aliens	Night 6–7 invasion event	Low	A few melee hits each

The Angler Fish deserves special mention as the single deadliest threat in the game. This enormous fish hunts at night when you stray from your raft or let the Bonfire die, and once it locks on, it never stops chasing. Treat your Bonfire as a life support system: never let it go out, and stay near it after dark. If one catches you in open water, a Flare Gun temporarily pulls its attention elsewhere — worth keeping equipped at all times.

Sharks, by contrast, punish greed. They circle islands and hit hard and fast. The correct answer is retreat, not bravery — get back to your raft and let the encounter end.

Classes, Pearls, and Companions Worth Your Time

Meta choices round out any 100 Days at Sea beginner guide, and they start in the lobby — the pre-run hub on the official Roblox platform. Classes cost Pearls and use a one-to-six star rating, with five and six-star options defining a run:

Class	Stars	Cost	Why It's Worth Buying
Alien Overlord	6 ★	750 Pearls	Starts with a Raygun and a UFO; max level brings a faster ship and 50% weapon cooldown reduction
Raider	6 ★	750 Pearls	Dual Pistols plus bonus speed; ammo generates from kills and magazine size grows every 5 kills — the strongest offense in the game
Ancient Squid	6 ★	750 Pearls	Squid Laser Gun from the start; max level adds +15% sprint speed, +10% HP, +20% laser damage, and no overheating
Treasure Hunter	5 ★	500 Pearls	Up to 6 extra sack slots, 150 starting Doubloons, and a permanent +25% Doubloon bonus that snowballs

For a first run, player consensus favors Treasure Hunter — the economic head start compounds faster than raw damage helps — while Raider is the pick once you've internalized the combat rhythm.

How to Earn Pearls for Free

You never need real money for Pearls:

Achievements and badges reward Pearls for hitting in-game milestones.
Daily quests provide a steady trickle for consistent players.
Active codes are the fastest early injection — redeem them the moment you start.
Crafting at max Bonfire level also generates Pearls, but it's the slowest route by far.

Best Companions

Companions work like passive pets. Buy chests from the Companion Shop — higher rarity tiers improve your odds — and prioritize these drops:

Companion	Passive Bonus
Salamander	Automatically collects nearby loot
Penguin	Spawns a Bandage every 220 seconds
Crow / Seagull	Drops food every 120 seconds, ending food worries
Swordfish / Magma Golem	+10% melee damage

FAQ

What should I do first in 100 Days at Sea? Harpoon Wood immediately, push the Bonfire to Level 3, then craft a Sawmill and a Crab Trap. That combination solves your two survival pillars — building materials and food — before the first serious raid night arrives.

What's the best beginner class? Treasure Hunter is the community favorite for new players thanks to its extra sack slots, starting Doubloons, and permanent +25% Doubloon bonus. Its 500 Pearl price is also cheaper than the 750-Pearl six-star options.

How do you survive the Angler Fish? Keep the Bonfire lit at all times and stay near your raft after dark. If the fish catches you away from base, fire a Flare Gun to redirect it and sprint back to safety.

Does this 100 Days at Sea beginner guide apply to co-op runs? Mostly yes, with one adjustment: build more Sawmills and divide roles. One player farms Wood, another handles food and island trips, and the shared resource income scales far faster than any solo run could manage.