How to Beat Upiors

What Are Upiors?

Upiors are undead-style NPC enemies roaming towns, shipwrecks, and abandoned Tramplers. They share urban POIs with town zombies but behave differently — faster reactions, collision with players, and (since Update #2) the ability to operate mounted cannons.

Treat every wreck with a turret as potentially manned until you confirm the seat is empty. Full patch context on updates page.

Update #2 Cannon Operators

Update #2 (July 3, 2026) let Upiors enter gunner seats on 40mm and 80mm turrets — shotguns excluded. They abandon the cannon when a player approaches closely, but may fire until you close distance.

Approach wrecks from cover, listen for cannon audio, and clear the gunner before looting. Pair with cannon matchups for caliber awareness.

Movement and Collision

Upior movement is less twitchy after Update #2 but still unpredictable in tight corridors. They now collide with players — you cannot phase through them in doorways.

Use smokes from smoke guide to disengage if overwhelmed in town basements.

Personal Weapons

866/9 rifle handles most Upior encounters at town range. 1874 Petros shotgun for stairwells and boarding-adjacent fights. Headshots are not required — sustained center mass drops them reliably.

See weapon selection and weapons tier list.

40mm vs Upior Groups

Mounted 40mm clears clusters outside buildings before you enter. Overheat discipline matters — burst, cooldown, repeat. Do not sit in open dunes while 40mm overheats with Upiors flanking.

Wreck and Abandoned Trampler Clears

Park your Trampler 150m out, approach on foot with smokes ready. If an Upior mans an 80mm turret, flank from blind side or smoke the gun line before sprinting to the ladder.

After Update #2, shipwreck farming requires gunner checks identical to NPC Trampler clears.

Town POI Priority

Clear ground-floor Upiors before opening brown crates. Second-floor windows may spawn additional threats — listen before climbing town ladders.

Squad Roles

Assign one gunner to overwatch wreck turrets while looters work. Call "Upior on cannon" immediately — squadmates rotate to suppress before extract.

Extract Defense

Upiors rarely contest radio towers but can third-party wounded crews during green smoke. Keep one crew member on foot perimeter watch during the two-minute timer.

Known Issues (Update #2)

Melee invulnerability while interacting with turrets is a documented known issue — avoid boarding fights during Upior cannon clears until patched. Track patch notes.

How to Beat Upiors — Field Walkthrough

Fight Upior NPCs including Update #2 cannon operators on wrecks and towns. Apply this guide during live raids in SAND: Raiders of Sophie, not just in hangar theory. Every technique assumes you will extract with a Radio Beacon Box (~2000 crowns), green smoke at the radio tower, and roughly two minutes of active defense.

Carry backup fuel rods, secure Black Boxes (~500 crowns) and Mechanical Parts in internal storage bays, and review storage safety before high-value POIs. Switch between 40mm cannons for zombies and drones and 80mm cannons for enemy Tramplers, Ironclad robots, and fort red doors.

Cross-reference How to Beat sibling guides via related links at page bottom. Update strats after patch notes during Early Access from June 22, 2026.

Voyage and Storm Dive Context

Voyage mode is the safest environment to practice how to beat upiors techniques: lower rival density, flexible extract timing, forgiving fuel economy. Master the loop here before Storm Dive finals where Dreadnought and Sandworm Pit concentrate artifacts and red-tier crates.

Storm Dive adds shrinking map pressure — plan extract vector before entering hot zones. Squads should assign driver, gunner, boarder, and quartermaster per solo vs squad roles. Solos prioritize stealth, early tower calls, and Sand Runner mobility.

If your Trampler is destroyed, pivot to on-foot extraction with Beacon and highest-value items only. Rebuild later via blueprint rebuild plus Mechanical Parts.

Loadout, Crafting, and Tech Tree Links

Hangar tech tree unlocks directly enable or gate how to beat upiors strategies. Follow tech tree unlock order before selling Black Boxes for quick crowns. Research components from industrial POIs feed landmark crafting at landmark reactors.

Personal weapons: 866/9 rifle for general work, 1874 Petros shotgun for boarding, M82 for extraction overwatch — see weapon selection. Trampler cannons: cannon matchups explains 40mm versus 80mm.

Use tier lists for meta builds and map pages for POI navigation. Controls references cover tower F-key extraction and Trampler driving under fire.

Risk Management and PvP

Third-party squads contest profitable routes — audio discipline wins fights. Engine-off parking, ridge-line driving, and smoke disengages from smoke and stealth extend survival.

Boarding offense and defense decide vehicle fights: boarding offense versus boarding defense. NPC Tramplers and player walkers share 80mm weak-point doctrine from enemy Trampler combat.

Solo players avoid fort assaults and Storm finals until 80mm, parts stockpile, and insured blueprints are ready. Extract when bays are 70% full — greed causes death spirals.

Step-by-Step Raid Integration

Standard session: deploy with checklist → navigate using extraction point awareness → execute how to beat upiors objectives → consolidate inventory → drive to tower → Beacon and green smoke → defend two minutes → bank loot in hangar.

Failure recovery: die with parts and blueprint intact, rebuild Trampler, run efficient Voyage recovery per efficient loot run. Never repeat the same overextended route without learning.

Share this page with squadmates so roles align — one guide read prevents five conflicting calls during extract timer.

How to Beat Upiors — POI and Landmark Reference

Named landmarks anchor navigation: Segen and Kaiserplatz towns for mixed loot, Feste Königsmarck forts for 80mm doors, Archipel von Leopold shipwrecks for Black Boxes, Dreadnought and Sandworm Pit for Storm Dive finals — full list on landmarks map.

Town clears require zombie kills before crates unlock efficiently — town zombies. Fort pushes need minefield awareness and Ironclad clears — fort assault. NPC patrol farming between Hangar Citadel and open dunes feeds Black Box income.

Buried treasure and coastal wrecks supplement crown routes without max PvP — buried treasure, shipwrecks. High-tier red crates live in fort vaults and Dreadnought decks — high-tier crates.