10 The Last of Us 2 tips to help you survive the end of the world

If you're looking for The Last of Us 2 tips then you have come to the right place. Ellie's adventure into the heart of Seattle isn't for the faint of heart, with no shortage of clickers, bandits, and hazards standing between her and revenge trip. Developer Naughty Dog has put a pretty harrowing – not to mention lengthy – video game together here, and there are some key The Last of Us: Part 2 trips that can help you get settled from the start.

We have plenty of in-depth The Last of Us 2 guides to help you survive this experience, but these 10 Last of Us 2 tips will help you get to speed with the basics, and teach you how to conserve key ammo and materials until you really need them. Like we said in our The Last of Us 2 review, this one isn't for the faint of heart – so you should take all the help you can get! So keep on reading to find our pick of the best The Last of Us 2 tips for PC, PS5, and PS4.

1. Avoid crafting until you need to

You never know what’s around the corner in The Last of Us 2, so try to avoid crafting anything until you know what you actually need. Resources are scarce and often shared between recipes, so you don't want to use up everything making petrol bombs and then suddenly find you need a health pack after a brutal encounter with a clicker. You'll nearly always get plenty of warning about what's ahead, or have time to hide and assess the situation, so only make things when you know what you need.

2. Always explore open areas thoroughly or you’ll miss something 

There’s a lot of open space and corners to poke into here, so try not to rush ahead or move on until you’re sure you’ve searched everywhere. The scrap and supplements you need to upgrade both Ellie and her gear can be hidden anywhere in The Last of Us 2 map, and the more you find, the more of a chance you stand. Even the workbenches you need to improve guns can be hidden away. So never just leave an area, or worse trigger a one-way moment, before you're sure you've got everything you need.

3. Don't forget you can smash glass – even fridges have stuff inside

Don’t forget you can break almost any glass you see. That could be a door into an otherwise locked shop, a fridge with supplies inside, or even a high window that you can then climb through. Anything will do the job from bullets to bricks, even a melee weapon or the handle of your knife. For all the puzzles and challenges you can find, sometimes the solution is just to break stuff – who knows, you may even stumble across one of the The Last of Us 2 Trading Card locations.

4. If someone doesn't say you cleared a place out there's still stuff to find

Both Ellie and Abby can be quite vocal about saying when you’ve cleared an area, both of supplies and enemies. So listen to what people are saying and they'll let you know if it’s time to move on because you've done all you can, both in terms of objectives or resource collecting. Companions will also say when you've dealt with all the enemies around and it's safe to stop hiding, which is typically your best opportunity to go out in search of The Last of Us 2 safe codes and combinations.

5. Always take a damage upgrade to your weapon if you can, with stability a close second

You'll rarely have more than a handful of bullets to hand in The Last of Us 2, so you'll want to spend any scrap – an exceptionally limited resource – you have collected on upgrading your damage output. You'll need to go looking for key The Last of Us 2 weapons and gear but, once located and upgraded, guns like the Hunting Rifle can become a one shot kill on most enemies. Stability is another recommended value to upgrade as it almost completely removes gun wobble which is a huge help, especially when fighting at range. Remember, you can only upgrade weapons in key spots, so use our The Last of Us 2 workbench locations guide if you need a hand.

6. Save your Supplements until you’ve unlocked some later upgrade paths

You can enhance Ellies abilities through ‘spending’ supplements you find. Initially, you only have a single upgrade path – 'Survival' – which will let you move faster in Listening mode, craft health kits faster, and increase your health. However, don't use up all your supplements maxing that path out until you unlock other options by finding The Last of Us 2 training manuals you can find in the world. The Stealth Branch, for example, will let you craft silencers for your gun, while Precision will let you do things like increase aiming stability or improve Listening Mode range. Obviously, it's up to you how you upgrade Ellie but be aware that there are some useful or essential skills available later on you might want to save your supplements for.

7. You can switch aiming sides and fast turn in combat

The Last of Us 2 has a few neat combat tricks that are easy to miss. Don't forget that you can shoulder swap in shootouts, which can be triggered by pressing the melee button while aiming [Square on PS4 and PS5]. This is incredibly useful when creeping around environments, letting you get a better sense of what's ahead. You can also perform a quick-turn by pulling the character backwards and tapping the jump button [cross on PS4 and PS5] to spin 180 on the spot.

8. If you get knocked down it’s sometimes safer to stay down

Occasionally Ellie and Abby can be thrown to the floor when they get shot. Don't always rush to get up though, as the ground is usually a safer place to be in a gun fight – it nearly always breaks the line of sight from the person who shot you, for example. You'll still be free to fire back from the ground and, often, you’ll actually have a better position while you're lower to the floor and harder to hit. And who knows, maybe you'll find one of The Last of Us 2 coins while you're down there.

9. The noise cue when someone sees you lets you know how long you'll stay hidden

An ominous whooshing noise building up means someone is noticing you but hasn't 'seen' you yet. The warning sound will build the closer you are to finally being seen, so listen to it carefully to get a sense of how much danger you're in – the faster it rises and increases in volume the more exposed you are. As long as you can get back into cover before it peaks and someone shouts, you should be okay. There's nothing worse than getting caught out and killed, so keep these stealth tips in mind if you want to reduce the how long it takes to beat The Last of Us 2.

10. You can rush people from a distance and still maintain stealth 

Ellie can be quite slow while creeping in stealth but to counter that you can actually run surprisingly far without alerting anyone. Time it right and you can creep in close and then dash the last few feet to grab a target. Just make sure no one else sees you do it and you can reach your victim before they make a noise or get a shot off. Even if they start to say anything, you can usually cut it off if you reach them in time and still get away with it.

These The Last of Us 2 tips will help you all throughout the game, and make getting to The Last of Us 2 ending a little less painful. Remember, once you're done with the main experience, there's always some The Last of Us 2 No Return tips to dive into too.