Try To Reach The Abyss Combat Guide: Surviving Sea Monsters While Diving Deeper

Try To Reach The Abyss rewards a few specific investments before you push into monster-filled waters. The quick answer below names the tools; the sections after it explain where each one comes from and when it matters.

Quick answer

Hull upgrades raise your max health, torpedo damage upgrades make each hit count, and the Crystal Cuttlefish pet fights sea monsters alongside you. Check the location badge's danger level before pushing into a new region, and use the return-to-outpost recovery prompt when a deep trip goes wrong.

• HULL upgrade at the outpost store: more health for your submarine
• TORPEDO DAMAGE upgrade: each torpedo hits harder
• Crystal Cuttlefish (EPIC): +14% submarine speed, also attacks sea monsters
• Danger badges show whether a region is Safe or High
• A deep-travel recovery prompt offers E to return to an outpost

Two of these come from the outpost upgrade store, one from a regional pet collection, and two are habits to keep while travelling. The rest of this guide walks through each in turn.

Upgrade points: the backbone of survivability

The upgrade store sits at outpost stalls — for example, the Mesa Outpost 9 store panel. Upgrades there cost upgrade points, and two entries matter most for combat:

• HULL — described as "More health for your submarine." The store previews the result directly: an observed panel showed MAX HEALTH going from 225 to 250 for one point. More max health means you can absorb more punishment before a monster encounter ends your dive.
• TORPEDO DAMAGE — described as "Each torpedo hits harder." Killing monsters faster is itself a form of defense: less time in a fight means less damage taken.

Because both upgrades consume the same supply of upgrade points, they compete with other store entries like UPGRADE RATE (which makes you earn Speed more often). If survival while diving deeper is your current goal, hull health and torpedo damage are the entries to prioritize first.

The Crystal Cuttlefish: a pet that fights with you

Pets come from regional collections, and the one designed for combat support is the Crystal Cuttlefish, an EPIC pet from the Luminous Caverns collection. Its card lists two benefits:

1. +14% submarine speed — useful both for chasing and, just as importantly, for pulling away from threats.
2. "Also attacks sea monsters." — it deals damage to hostile creatures on its own, complementing your torpedoes.

Note that these labels describe the Crystal Cuttlefish specifically, not every pet in the game. You equip it from the PETS collection panel with the EQUIP button, so make sure your combat pet is actually equipped before a deep dive.

Read the danger before you dive

Danger is not uniform across the map. Location badges show a danger level for each area: Glowcap Forest is labelled Danger: Safe, while Forgotten Valley — part of the Living Depths region strip — is labelled Danger: High. As you travel between outposts, check the badge so you know whether you are entering waters where monster encounters are a serious threat. If you are heading toward a High-danger area like Forgotten Valley, going in with upgraded hull health and the Crystal Cuttlefish equipped is far safer than pushing there early.

Know your escape option

During deep travel, a recovery prompt reading "E RETURN TO OUTPOST" can appear, giving you a way back to an outpost if a trip turns dangerous. Treat it as your bail-out: when your hull is running low in a High-danger zone, returning to an outpost — where the upgrade store is — is often better than pressing deeper with no health buffer.

Putting it together

A deep dive into dangerous waters works best as a cycle: spend upgrade points on hull and torpedo damage at an outpost store, equip the Crystal Cuttlefish, check the location badge's danger rating as you travel, and use the return-to-outpost prompt if the dive goes badly. Each run earns Speed as you travel, feeding your progression; spend the upgrade points you accumulate at the outpost store before your next, deeper attempt.

For the broader systems behind these tools, see the upgrade points guide, the torpedoes guide and the sea monsters guide.