Permadeath and Rescue Beacon Guide

Read risk by difficulty and mission stage

Beginner and Normal add staged opportunities to return in the current Road to 1.0 description. That recovery boundary is more forgiving than immediate loss, but it is not a promise that the Responder always survives. A team wipe before a return point or a death after extraction is called can still end the character under the record used by this guide.

Hard and Nightmare restore immediate permadeath pressure from deployment. The risk decision therefore begins on the roster screen, before the squad reaches a map objective. Confirm which Responder is selected, what individual progression belongs to that slot, and whether the possible loss is accepted for the intended lesson.

Account Level is not a substitute for this check. It represents broader access to gear and Skills, while the Responder carries an individual background, starting Skill, experience path, and loss risk. A replacement roster slot should not be treated as though it automatically inherits the former character's progression.

This page does not publish death probabilities, respawn timings, or difficulty reward multipliers. The source supports the stated consequence boundaries, not numeric forecasts.

What the Rescue Beacon does

When equipped, the Rescue Beacon prevents the next eligible loss in a situation where permadeath applies. It works across difficulties, occupies a loadout slot, and is consumable rather than permanent insurance. The protection belongs to the prepared loadout decision, not to every character on the account.

Check that the Beacon is actually equipped before deployment. Owning access, seeing the item elsewhere, or remembering a previous loadout is not evidence that the selected Responder carries protection now. If the slot is needed for another mission item, state that tradeoff rather than assuming both benefits are present.

The current record does not authorize a claim that the Beacon reverses every possible result, triggers repeatedly, or remains after protection is used. This guide uses the narrower "next eligible loss" boundary and requires a roster-and-loadout confirmation after the event.

Decide whether the slot fits the run

Use the Beacon when a developed Responder is entering a map or difficulty where losing that roster slot would materially change the plan. Name what makes the run exceptional: immediate Hard or Nightmare exposure, unresolved route knowledge, a high-consequence extraction plan, or individual progression the roster is not prepared to replace.

Skip it when the run is explicitly low-cost practice and another loadout item addresses the visible objective more directly. That is a planning example, not a universal best-Build claim. The attached source does not rank loadouts or calculate the value of one slot against another.

Ask four pre-run questions: Which Responder is selected? At what difficulty does loss begin? Is the Beacon visible in this character's loadout? What condition will trigger early-extraction consideration? If any answer is unknown, resolve it on the roster, difficulty, loadout, or mission screen before deployment.

Reduce risk before relying on protection

A Rescue Beacon does not replace route reading, regrouping, treatment allocation, or an extraction call. Read the selected map and mode, identify the active task sequence, and make sure the squad knows whether it is practicing, pursuing final extraction, or protecting a developed roster slot.

Use proximity voice to state mission-item ownership, visible infection, and the retreat threshold. If the run stops supporting a deliberate finish, early extraction can preserve the Responder without character progression and with only a small portion of Credits under the current source. Protection against one eligible loss does not make continuing automatically correct.

For a new control or route problem, use Training Grounds, Solo, or a lower-consequence setting first. The guide does not prescribe a number of successful rehearsals. The readiness check is whether the unresolved decision has been identified and whether the selected roster risk matches it.

Respond to a protected or unprotected loss

After a death where protection was expected, return to the roster before planning another run. Confirm that the Responder remains, then inspect the exact loadout and verify whether the Beacon is still available. Do not assume a second protected loss is possible without that check.

If the Responder is absent, keep the report bounded to observable fields: selected character, difficulty, mission stage, whether the Beacon was visibly equipped, and the post-run roster state. This page cannot inspect the account or diagnose a live-service error from a description alone. Compare the behavior with newer official notes when the visible result conflicts with the dated rule.

If no Beacon was equipped, separate account-wide access from the lost character's individual progression before preparing a replacement. Review the remaining roster slots rather than assigning the former character's role or experience by assumption.

Confirm the result

Use a short recovery checklist: confirm the named Responder, confirm the individual progression visible on that slot, inspect the Beacon state, review the account-wide options separately, and choose whether the next run is recovery practice or another high-consequence attempt. Each check belongs to a visible screen.

If early extraction preserved the character instead of the Beacon triggering, verify that result separately. Preservation does not establish full character progression or complete Credit value. Use the extraction guide for those post-run fields.

Apply the Road to 1.0 source boundary

The official Road to 1.0 permadeath article supports staged return opportunities on Beginner and Normal, immediate permadeath pressure on Hard and Nightmare, the extraction-stage loss boundary stated above, and the Rescue Beacon's next-loss, loadout-slot, and consumable behavior.

It does not support exact trigger probabilities, every exceptional death state, repeated protection, a best difficulty, or a guaranteed recovery outcome. The guide also makes no first-hand claim about your roster. When a later patch or visible result conflicts with this boundary, retain the observed state and consult newer official evidence before changing the rule.

Use the related difficulty page to choose consequence deliberately and the early-extraction page when preservation becomes more important than the remaining mission result. Those routes keep risk selection, retreat, and post-run verification separate instead of turning the Beacon into general insurance.