To find the source of the sea’s corruption in SteamWorld Heist 2, you’re gonna need a full crew of hearty Steambots. To help you on your SWH2 journey, this guide covers how to recruit all Crewmates and the best Jobs and Skills to use to make the most of their unique abilities.

Table of contents

• How to recruit all Crewmates in SteamWorld Heist 2
• Which characters should you recruit first in SteamWorld Heist 2?
• Wesley Hotchkiss
  • Best Job Skills for Wesley
• Daisy Clutch
  • Best Job Skills for Daisy
• Sola “Sol” Fathom
  • Best Job Skills for Sola
• Dame Judy Wrench
  • Best Job Skills for Judy
• Tristan Torque
  • Best Job Skills for Tristan
• Cornelius “Hightower” Column
  • Best Job Skills for Cornelius
• Beacon Potts
  • Best Job Skills for Beacon
• Poe Phroggi
  • Best Job Skills for Poe
• Rosa “Chimney” Rivet
  • Best Job Skills for Chimney
• Barbara “Crowbar” Crowe
  • Best Job Skills for Crowbar

How to recruit all Crewmates in SteamWorld Heist 2

There are ten Crewmates in SteamWorld Heist 2, and recruiting them all earns you the Gonna Need a Bigger Boat achievement. The first two characters — Daisy and Wesley — are given to you at the beginning of the game, while the other 8 are recruited from bars.

As you visit bars throughout the game, you’ll notice recruitable NPCs with the Gallon icon and a number above their heads. Talk to them and exchange your hard-earned Gallons to permanently recruit them as a Crewmate.

The crewmates who appear in bars are random on a daily basis, and their price is dependent on how many Crew members you have already. The number of Crewmates you can recruit increases as you progress the game, eventually allowing you to hire all ten.

Which characters should you recruit first in SteamWorld Heist 2?

I highly recommend recruiting Tristan, Sol, and Cornelius before most other Crewmates. Tristan is a fantastic healer and saved my robotic butt more times than I can count. Cornelius is a bonafide tank and can redirect enemies off squishier bots. Finally, Sol has (arguably) the best Personal Upgrades in the game with the Eldritch Beam that damages, heals, and replenishes.

Wesley Hotchkiss

• Role: Reaper
• Hat: Pickelhaube
• Personal Upgrade: Grenadier – Wesley can use one grenade item per turn as a free action.
• Ultimate Upgrade: Veteran Wardog – For each enemy scrapped, all attacks deal 1 damage for the rest of the turn. Stacks up to 3 times.

Wesley’s Personal Upgrades make him the perfect Boomer. With the right skills, Wesley can be built to deal considerable splash damage to weaker enemies, buffing himself for huge single target damage, perfect for boss stages.

Best Job Skills for Wesley

• Blast Shield (Brawler Lv.1)
• Payback (Brawler Lv.1)
• Momentum (Reaper Lv.3)

Boomers will hurt themselves when using a Rocket Launcher too close to an enemy. Blast Shield minimizes self-damage in this situation, while Payback increases damage when you’re a little too close to your own explosions. Wesley’s focus on splash and AoE damage makes Momentum an excellent passive damage increase.

Daisy Clutch

• Job: Sniper
• Hat: Flop Cap
• Personal Upgrade: Stun Gun – Daisy has patched together a Stun Gun that will Stun enemies for 1 turn.
• Ultimate Upgrade: Studious – Decreases cog costs of abilities by 1 (to a minimum of 1).

Daisy works well as a Flanker, focusing on high mobility to save the day with Stun Gun. Thanks to her Studious Upgrade, however, Daisy is the perfect blank slate to make various crazy combinations between all jobs due to a lower cog cost.

Best Job Skills for Daisy

• Shifty (Brawler Lv.4)
• Fortify (Boomer Lv.2)
• Amped Up (Engineer Lv. 2)
• Momentum (Reaper Lv. 3)

The best Skills for Daisy will depend on your chosen job, though the Skills listed above synergize best with improving her movement and utility with Stun Gun.

Sola “Sol” Fathom

• Role: Engineer
• Hat: A Simple Valve
• Personal Upgrade: Eldritch Beam – Fires a piercing projectile with full aimline. Reduce cooldown by 1 each time Sola scraps an enemy. 5 Shot Damage, 10 Turns.
• Ultimate Upgrade: Secrets of the Deep – Eldritch Beam becomes a free action, it deals 10 damage, and Sola is healed 1 for each enemy it scraps.

Sola has extremely powerful Personal Upgrades, with an Eldritch Beam that does huge damage, heals, reduces cooldown for each bot scrapped, and is a free action. Due to its sheer power and range, Sola is suitable for any job you like.

Best Job Skills for Sola

• Second Wind (Brawler Lv. 5)
• Surgical Strike (Sniper Lv. 3)
• Hunter’s Mark (Sniper Lv. 5)
• Cool (Flanker Lv. 2)

Surgical Strike and Hunter’s Mark help to improve Eldritch Beam’s damage, while Cool reduces its cooldown. Surgical Strike is a nice increase to healing, making Sola tankier.

Dame Judy Wrench

• Role: Boomer
• Hat: Leather Hat
• Personal Upgrade: Harsh Language – Shame any enemy on the map for 3 damage. Ignores armor. 3 explosive damage. Splash damage. 3 turns.
• Ultimate Upgrade: Sick Burn – Improve Judy’s Harsh Language. It deals 4 damage instead of 3, becomes a free action, the effect chains (Aura 2, from all targets) and it causes Burning. Splash damage.

Judy has an interesting Personal Upgrade that allows her to hit any enemy for splash damage every three turns from anywhere on the map. Like Sol, Judy is suitable for any job, though you may want to keep her as a Boomer for the “explosions” theme.

Best Job Skills for Judy

There are no Job Skills that directly benefit Judy’s abilities in a significant way. Tailor your extra abilities to the job you have chosen or your current level.

Tristan Torque

• Role: Engineer
• Hat:
• Personal Upgrade: Always Prepared – Repair items can be used as free actions. Whenever Tristan heals someone else, Tristan also heals 1 damage.
• Ultimate Upgrade: Believe It! – Attacks that normally would end Tristan’s turn won’t end it.

Tristan’s Always Prepared Upgrade makes him the perfect healer as an Engineer. Ultimate Upgrade also means he’s great at Breaking multiple enemies and setting up defenses for the rest of the team.

Best Job Skills for Tristan

• Slot Machine (Boomer Lv. 1)
• Smoke Bomb (Sniper Lv. 4)
• Nimble Feet (Flanker Lv. 1)
• Sidestep (Flanker Lv. 2)
• Squeeze (Boomer Lv. 4)

Tristan is best used to support the team, keeping them alive by healing them and keeping them out of danger. Slot Machine will allow him to equip an extra healing item, Squeeze gives them an extra use, and Smoke Bomb can keep both himself and others safe. Nimble Feet and Sidestep can be the difference between life and death, reaching Crewmates on the brink of being scrapped.

Cornelius “Hightower” Column

• Role: Brawler
• Hat: Fez
• Personal Upgrade: Abs of Steel – Cornelius can flex his powerful abs to become invulnerable to all damage for 1 turn and taunt all enemies to attack him. Ends the turn when used. 1 use per mission.
• Ultimate Upgrade: Body Butter – Abs of Steel become a free action, doesn’t end the turn, and gets 1 more use

Cornelius is born to be a tank, making him the perfect Brawler. Building up this bot to be as beefy as possible allows him to soak up hits and turn them into pure damage.

Best Job Skills for Cornelius

• Thick Plating (Boomer Lv. 2 3)
• Rage (Reaper Lv. 2)
• Light Step (Flanker Lv. 4)
• Maintenance Protocol (Engineer Lv. 3)

Thick Plating and Maintenace Protocol increases Cornelius’ survivability, which is essential for his role as a tank. Since he will be regularly taking damage, Rage is a nice passive bonus. Finally, Light Step means Cornelius can continue to be useful in stages with elemental hazards.

Beacon Potts

• Role: Sniper
• Hat: A Simple Beanie
• Personal Upgrade: Scram – Select a tile anywhere on the map where you’ve explored, and instantly teleport there. 5 turns.
• Ultimate Upgrade: Sneakstrike – Scram becomes a free action and Beacon turns invisible when he uses it.

With his ability to teleport to vantage points and become invisible, Beacon makes an ideal Sniper. Alternatively, Beacon can also be a great Flanker. I recommend leveling both jobs and switching them to suit your current mission.

Best Job Skills for Beacon

• Fortify (Boomer Lv. 2)
• Build Cover (Engineer Lv. 1)
• Cool (Flanker Lv. 2)

Fortify and Build Cover both ensure Beacon can be behind cover while sniping. Cool reduces the cooldown of Scram, which usually takes 5 turns to recharge.

Poe Phroggi

• Role: Flanker
• Hat: Roguish Antenna
• Personal Upgrade: Hasty – 2 Movement.
• Ultimate Upgrade: Slippery – Poe gets a 50% chance to evade each incoming projectile.

Poe‘s Personal Upgrades aren’t particularly exciting, but they do make her a solid Flanker or Aura-based Engineer

Best Job Skills for Poe

• Greased Up Wide Aura Amped Up (Engineer Lv. 1 2)
• Nimble Feet (Flanker Lv. 1 4)
• Shifty (Brawler Lv. 4)

Shifty and Nimble Feet build upon Poe’s movement to likely make her the furthest-moving bot in your Crew. Since she can get around to any teammate quickly, Greased Up, Wide Aura and Amped Up are great choices to buff your crew.

Rosa “Chimney” Rivet

• Role: Brawler
• Hat:
• Personal Upgrade: Tit for Tat – When Chimney is attacked, the attacker suffers 2 damage.
• Ultimate Upgrade: Double Down – For one turn, your primary attacks fire or hit twice.

Once you unlock her Ultimate Personal Upgrade, Chimney is a surprisingly good Reaper. Combined with skills like the Reaper’s signature Kill Shot and Harvest, Rosa will be able to attack multiple times throughout her turns. Tit for Tat also comes in handy to help her survivability and keep enemies out of her way.

Best Job Skills for Chimney

• Hard Shell (Brawler Lv. 1)
• Payback (Brawler Lv. 2)
• Second Wind (Brawler Lv. 3)

If you recruit Chimney later in the game, she’ll automatically be a Level 5 Brawler. Hard Shell and Second Wind both help with survivability as a Reaper and, combined with Payback, allows her to take advantage of Tit for Tat.

Barbara “Crowbar” Crowe

• Role: Flanker
• Hat: Soft Cloth Hat
• Personal Upgrade: Hollow Frame – Crowbar’s light build allows her to make very high jumps.
• Ultimate Upgrade: Bad Vibes – When Crowbar deals damage to an enemy, she also deals 4 damage to ground enemies within 2 Aura (excluding original targets). Ignores armor.

Crowbarhas a very powerful Personal Upgrade that deals passive damage to enemies standing near her after attacking. She makes a powerful Reaper or Flanker, depending on which Job you’re lacking in your Crew.

Best Job Skills for Crowbar

• Shifty (Brawler Lv. 4)
• Mines (Boomer Lv. 3)
• Momentum (Reaper Lv. 3)
• Light Step (Flanker Lv. 4)

Shifty and Momentum take advantage of Crowbar’s potential for scrapping multiple bots on her turns. Mines has good synergy with Bad Vibes, making it lethal for any bot to get close to her. Finally, Light Step prevents hazards from ruining multi-target potential from Bad Vibes.

With your Crew all decked out to do the most damage, don’t forget that they need to look the part, too. Check out our guide on every hat in SteamWorld Heist 2 and how to get them.