PEAK is a co-op climbing survival game built around the tension of getting four people up a mountain together. Solo runs test individual skill; co-op runs test whether a team can function under pressure. Every mechanic in the game changes when you add people — weight distribution, stamina management, route choices, and the constant threat of the mountain itself. This guide covers everything you need to know to run a successful co-op squad, from getting friends into a lobby to reaching the summit together. See our PEAK beginner guide for the fundamentals before diving into team strategy.
How to Start a Co-op Run
PEAK supports 1–4 players per run. You can play with Steam friends or be matched with strangers. Coordinated friend groups have a significantly higher summit rate, but public lobbies work for practice.
Inviting Friends via Steam
From the main menu, open the lobby screen and select Invite Friends. Your Steam friends list appears and you can send direct invites to anyone online. Invited players join your private lobby and load into the same run start point. This is the most reliable co-op method — it keeps strangers out and lets you plan roles before the first biome.
Lobby Codes
If a friend is not in your Steam friends list, generate a Lobby Code from the lobby screen and share it via Discord or chat. Anyone who enters the code joins your session regardless of Steam relationship. Codes expire when the lobby closes or the run starts.
Public Lobbies
Public lobbies match you with other players looking for a group. Expect varying skill levels and no pre-planned roles. Public runs are good for practice but not reliable for serious summit attempts. If you join a public lobby, establish a basic role split in the first 60 seconds — whoever carries the Rope Cannon should say so immediately.
The Scoutmaster: Co-op's Most Dangerous Threat
The Scoutmaster is the most misunderstood threat in PEAK. New players assume it is a generic enemy. It is not. The Scoutmaster is a precision hunter with one specific trigger: separation from the group.
How the Distance Threshold Works
The Scoutmaster activates when a player moves beyond a certain distance from the rest of the team. Community testing on peak.wiki.gg puts the threshold at roughly two full rope-lengths from the nearest teammate. Once triggered, the Scoutmaster locks onto the isolated player and pursues with increasing speed. It ignores players who are close to the group entirely.
How to Spot It
Watch your screen edges. A warning pulse or distortion effect appears when the Scoutmaster is nearby and active. You will also hear a low environmental rumble that intensifies as the creature closes in. If any teammate calls out “Scoutmaster,” stop moving away from the group immediately.
How to Escape
The only reliable escape is returning to your team. The Scoutmaster disengages once you close the distance back to your teammates. Do not try to outrun it — it accelerates as the gap increases. Sprint toward the group, using a rope to cover distance fast if you are mid-climb. Teammates can place a piton to create a fast re-entry anchor on a cliff face while you return.
Why Staying Grouped Is Survival-Critical
The Scoutmaster is PEAK's mechanical enforcement of its core design philosophy: co-op means staying together. Every mechanic rewards proximity — shared ropes, item passing, rescue assists. The Scoutmaster punishes the opposite. A team that drifts apart is not just at risk from the terrain; it is actively spawning a lethal threat. Set a minimum distance rule before each run: if you cannot see at least one teammate, you are already too far.
Team Role Assignment for 4-Player Squads
Random item distribution across four players leads to duplicated gear and critical gaps. Full role specialisation before the run starts eliminates both problems. For loadout details by biome, see our PEAK items guide.
| Role | Carries | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|
| Rope Manager | All Rope Cannon ammo, 6–8 pitons total | Leads anchor placement, bridges every horizontal gap, sets the vertical line for the team to follow |
| Food & Stove Manager | Portable Stove, majority of food items | Handles all cooking, calls rest stops, ensures no player enters a biome transition below half stamina |
| Piton Specialist | Extra pitons, First Aid Kits, Hand Warmers | Pre-places pitons on difficult sections before the team attempts them; manages status effects and emergencies |
| Light Scout | Minimum weight — one food item, one utility maximum | Runs ahead to test routes, identifies dead ends before the team commits, reaches anchors first to pull teammates up |
This split eliminates the most common co-op failure: four players carrying rope and food simultaneously with nothing left for situational gear. A fully specialised team carries more total utility than any solo player and reaches the summit with resources to spare.
Rescue Mechanics: Saving a Fallen Teammate
Players can fall, run dry on stamina mid-wall, or get caught on an impassable section. PEAK has several rescue mechanisms — knowing all of them is the difference between a recovery and a failed run.
The Carry Mechanic
When a teammate is incapacitated or stamina-depleted on a traversable surface, stand next to them and hold the interact button to carry them. Carrying adds their weight to yours and drains your stamina faster, but it lets you move a depleted teammate to a rest point where they can recover. Best used on flat sections or at biome transitions, not mid-climb.
Rope Assist
If a teammate is stuck on a vertical surface with no stamina, fire a rope to them. They grab the line and use it to reach the nearest piton or ledge without expending their own stamina for the traverse. The Rope Manager role exists partly for this reason — having a dedicated rope carrier means rescue equipment is available when it matters most.
Piton Reach
A Piton Specialist who pre-places pitons gives any stranded teammate a static rest point to aim for. This requires no one to move into a dangerous position — the piton exists and can be grabbed. Pre-placing on difficult sections before the whole team commits is one of the highest-value plays in co-op PEAK.
Backpack Sharing and Weight Redistribution
In co-op, players pass items directly by standing adjacent and using the hand-off interaction. Treat inventory management as a team activity, not an individual problem. The optimal moment to redistribute is at biome transitions — when the whole team is in one place, rested, and about to face new hazards. For full per-biome loadout strategy, see our PEAK best items and loadout guide.
Key redistribution rules: The heaviest player should shed one item before any major vertical section. If the Food Manager has cooked and eaten well, they may now have empty slots — fill them with items from overloaded players. Before the Caldera, move everything non-essential to the player with the highest remaining stamina. They absorb the weight burden through the fast traversal while lighter players prioritise speed.
Communication Best Practices
Voice chat via Discord or Steam overlay is strongly recommended. Text chat in PEAK requires stopping to type, which is dangerous on any vertical surface. Voice communication dramatically reduces team casualties in these specific situations:
- Simultaneous rope moves: Call out “firing rope now” before anchoring — a teammate mid-climb on the same surface can be pulled off by an unexpected line.
- Tropics Bombshrooms: Call out position before triggering. A Bombshroom that destroys one path affects every player who planned to use it.
- Piton placements: The Piton Specialist announces each placement: “piton at the rock shelf, safe to climb.” This prevents the team from clustering at one anchor and speeds up the whole sequence.
- Scoutmaster warning: Any player who spots the warning indicator calls it immediately and names the separated player. The isolated scout needs to know where the group is — not just that the creature is active.
Co-op Specific Hazards
Several hazards behave differently in co-op or create problems that do not exist in solo.
Biome hazard chain reactions: One player triggering a Bombshroom, collapsing a bridge, or disturbing a hive affects every player in range. Communicate before interacting with any environmental element that can be destroyed or triggered.
Rope tangles: Two players firing ropes at the same anchor point can create crossing lines that limit both. Designate the Rope Manager as the sole person who fires anchors unless they explicitly ask for backup.
Narrow passage queuing: Cliff chimneys and tight vertical passages can only be climbed by one player at a time. Establish a queue order and hold it. Light Scout goes first to confirm the route; Rope Manager follows to secure lines; others follow in order. Do not crowd a narrow passage — players waiting on the wall below are burning stamina while they queue.
Team Stamina Considerations
The team moves at the pace of the slowest climber. A player with lower stamina capacity needs more rest stops, eats more frequently, and drains food supply faster. The team accommodates this rather than pulling ahead — separation activates the Scoutmaster. Practical rules: call a rest stop when any player reaches 30 percent stamina, not just your own. The Food and Stove Manager monitors the group and triggers cooking breaks proactively before anyone bottoms out.
In a four-player team, plan for at least one extra rest stop per biome compared to solo. The summit is a shared objective. A slower, coordinated team outperforms a fast, fragmented one every time.
The Summit: What Happens When All Four Make It
When all four players reach the top of the Kiln and the rescue helicopter arrives, the game delivers the payoff. The helicopter sequence plays out with every player present — there is no individual scoring, no ranking, no MVP announcement. You summited or you did not. For groups carrying a Flare, activate it at the summit to trigger the helicopter. Without one, the helicopter arrives automatically when all players reach the designated summit zone.
Stay grouped in those final moments. The Scoutmaster has no reason to activate when the whole team is together, and that is exactly where you want to be when the run ends.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many players can play PEAK co-op?
PEAK supports 1–4 players per run. The game is designed around 4-player squads but works in any configuration. 2-player runs require each player to carry more, compressing the role split significantly.
Can you join a PEAK run in progress?
Players must join before a run starts. Mid-run joins are not supported — wait for the current run to end and start fresh together.
What triggers the Scoutmaster in co-op?
Separating from the group beyond approximately two rope-lengths from your nearest teammate. The Scoutmaster only hunts the isolated player — it ignores players who stay grouped.
Is voice chat required?
Not required, but the survival rate difference between voice and text-only teams is substantial. If voice is not possible, agree on a text shorthand for Scoutmaster warnings and rope calls before the run starts.
Can you transfer items between players?
Yes. Stand adjacent to a teammate and use the hand-off interaction. Best done at biome transitions when the whole team is rested and stationary.
What role suits a new player in a co-op squad?
Light Scout. Minimal gear, follow the route the experienced players establish, focus on not falling rather than managing team resources. It keeps a newer player active in the run without placing food or rope responsibility on someone learning the game.