NO BACKUP items guide — batteries, meds, keys, and timing

A practical mental model

Item	What it buys you	Common misuse	Team habit
Flashlight / batteries	Information and safer movement	Sweeping every corner because anxiety	One “light owner” per stretch, rotate responsibility
Medkit	Recovering from a mistake you can afford the time to fix	Healing at full health “just in case”	Call “heal window” like you would call a door check
Keys / access	Route options and escape pressure relief	Using keys while the team is scattered	Regroup first, then commit the key
Ammo / special tools	Solving specific problems the map presents	Spending because it feels wasteful to carry it	Assign “who spends first” before the run starts

Item

What it buys you

Common misuse

Team habit

Flashlight / batteries

Information and safer movement

Sweeping every corner because anxiety

One “light owner” per stretch, rotate responsibility

Medkit

Recovering from a mistake you can afford the time to fix

Healing at full health “just in case”

Call “heal window” like you would call a door check

Keys / access

Route options and escape pressure relief

Using keys while the team is scattered

Regroup first, then commit the key

Ammo / special tools

Solving specific problems the map presents

Spending because it feels wasteful to carry it

Assign “who spends first” before the run starts

Battery discipline without turning the game into math homework

You do not need exact minute counts to play well. You need a shared instinct: when brightness drops, who swaps in, and when the team agrees to move in lower light. If your squad constantly runs out at the worst times, the fix is usually formation—someone always has reserve light—rather than “grind more batteries.”

Medkits: who gets healed first?

A simple priority ladder helps arguments disappear: heal the person who enables the escape plan (door holder, navigator) before the person who is down but replaceable in the moment. That sounds cold on paper, but in runs it is often the difference between one death and a chain wipe.

If you dislike priority ladders, flip it: agree on a “no heal shame” rule—anyone can call for a heal window, but the team chooses timing, not panic.

Keys: treat them like commitments

Using a key while one player is still looting two rooms back is how teams get split. If you treat a key as a commitment device—“we are choosing this route now”—you will waste fewer runs on preventable separation.