Void War is a tough strategy roguelite that only gets harder as you increase the torment difficulties. If you’re familiar with FTL: Faster Than Light, you have an idea of how challenging this game can be. I’ve put together this tips and tricks list to help you regardless of whether you’re a new player or have played a bit already.
Tip 1 – Time Your Attacks Together
Learning to time your ship’s weapons to fire simultaneously can play a big role in winning. This can be difficult if you have weapons with significantly different charge times. However, if you fire sporadically, you may not breach an enemy’s shield. Or in some situations, you may want one weapon to hit the shield while another hits the ship.
This is why I’m not a fan of autofiring unless I have a certain plan in mind. Such as using a missile to bombard a certain room. Since those will ignore shields anyway. Similarly, you can also plan your psyker abilities around your ship weapons too.
Tip 2 – Target Certain Systems First
Hitting an enemy ship is key to winning, but deciding which rooms you should focus on first is important. For example, I love to target a ship’s shields or weapons first. If I destroy their shields, it makes it easier for more attacks to get through. Otherwise, I’ll focus on their weapons so they can’t deal damage.
If you have missiles or psykers that can attack through shields, these are great for targeting weapons first. As you reach higher difficulties, you’ll come across new systems that may change your mindset. In the meantime, those two are often your best bet.
Tip 3 – Psykers Are Powerful and Versatile
I almost always prioritize psykers because of how useful they are in every Void War run. They’re great for healing, dealing damage to enemy crew, damaging ships, summoning units to loot crates, debuffing enemies, and more. It keeps going because there are so many benefits to psykers if you can get the right abilities.
One of my favorite early ships is the Imperial Cruiser B since it starts with two psykers. Going a step further, I like to combine that with the Witch commander, which you can also get early on. This gives you a strong start for clearing enemy crews, even though you won’t have a Launch Bay.
Tip 4 – Boarding Ships Efficiently in Void War
While I’m a sucker for psykers, I love boarding ships too. Whether I’m trying to destroy a system or wipe them out to win. However, you have to be careful if you send your commander over, since losing them is game over. It’s easy for this to happen in Void War because an enemy ship can unpredictably explode.
This is why I recommend doing little attacks, such as sending your crew to deal and take minor damage before returning. By doing so, they can easily recover in-between jumps. You can do longer attacks, but you have to be especially careful and/or use healing spells.
Tip 5 – Tailor Your Playstyle
As you start to get the hang of Void War, you’ll notice there are a few different ways to play. For example, our preview talks about leaning heavily into psykers, ship weapons, or breaching. This is a broad way of describing those strategies, but it helps to focus on creating a build.
A big part of making a strong build is getting the right modules. I had one run that revolved around buffing demons I’d summon that would explode on death because of a module I had.
Tip 6 – Plan Your Route in Advance
Similar to focusing on a playstyle, you should plan your route through each sector. The goal is to make sure you reach certain merchants that may be more beneficial to how you’re playing. Such as going to a Shaman to get psykers or psychomancy abilities. Or perhaps you’re still early in a Void War run and want to get a Husk from a shipyard.
While planning your path doesn’t require much strategy, it does help prevent missing the special nodes you want to reach. The reality is, most of the nodes you’ll pass are unknown until you’re near them. So you’re often in for a surprise aside from visiting shops or mini bosses.
Tip 7 – Defeating Enemy Crews is a Valid Strategy
You don’t always have to destroy an enemy ship to win a fight. Sometimes it’s easier to take out its crew and win that way. Aside from situations I won’t spoil, this can be a strong and fun strategy. A trick I like is shooting a system to attract enemies to that room.
This forces a good portion of their crew to run there to repair it. And in doing so, it gives you an opportunity for psyker abilities and ship weapons to hit them. While it isn’t always possible, hitting a large room with a system provides more space for enemies to get into. Which means you can hit even more of them.
Tip 8 – Don’t Underestimate Consumables
Consumable items are surprisingly strong and easy to overlook if you don’t understand them. Two of my favorite types are the ones that summon creatures and one for repairing your hull. I love summoning a barrage of demons to wreak havoc on a ship. This is often a big part of my strategy going into the final fight of a Void War run.
While not every character in your crew is likely to have a tool slot, Husks are a good way to accomplish this. Just make sure they use their consumables before dying because they typically have low health. The only way around this is modules because you can’t equip a tool to give them health if they have a consumable.
Tip 9 – Take Advantage of Shrines
Shrines are often an opportunity to push your run in the right direction if you’re trying to get certain crew types. For example, pledging allegiance to raiders at a Listening Station will make them appear more at shops and as rewards.
Alongside influencing which crew are available, shrines can have other benefits like healing your crew, giving scrap, or repairing your ship. Just make sure if you go to a shrine for those benefits, that you’re okay with it limiting your crew choices. With that said, you can replace your shrine affiliation by visiting a different one.
Tip 10 – You’ll Need Strong Ship Weapons
As I reach higher difficulties in Void War, I’ve noticed I can rarely win without strong ship weapons. While there are psyker abilities to damage ships, you’ll still need something that can pack a punch. The late game and final boss of each run becomes a pain if you can’t destroy their ship. That doesn’t mean eliminating an enemy crew isn’t still useful, but it’s not the only thing you can rely on.
I recommend having a strategy to destroy an enemy’s shield and then something to deal high hull damage. For example, you could use an ion weapon for their shield, breach to destroy that system, or hit it with psyker damage. Once you get through the shield, you’ll need a strong weapon to pummel their ship. I’m a fan of weapons that deal extra damage to rooms without systems.
Tip 11 – Changing Projectile Direction
This is a small tip that I didn’t pick up on immediately. When aiming at an enemy ship, two red arrows will appear at the corner of the enemy ship’s panel. This indicates which direction your projectiles will come from. At first, you may not realize the significance of this, but it’s occasionally important to know.
When an enemy psyker uses an ability to block incoming projectiles, you’ll need to know where you’re shots are coming from. If you wait a moment, the red arrows will shift to a different corner, simulating your ship moving. Since time is important in Void War, you may not want to wait unless it’s a weapon or ability that takes a while to charge.
Jeff is a journalist with over 10 years of experience writing, streaming, and making content about video games. With an associate degree in journalism, he’s a sucker for RPGs, survival games, roguelikes, and more.