Your van is broken. A monster F5 tornado is minutes from wiping this entire town off the map. Your only goal is to find the parts, fix the engine, and get out before you’re swept into the sky. That’s the brutal, brilliant loop of Funnel Runners. Forget elaborate strategies for your first few drops. Your mission is simple: identify your objectives, grab only what’s necessary, and learn to respect the storm.
Success starts in the driver's seat. Before you even think about stepping outside, you need a plan. The game gives you everything you need to know inside the relative safety of your van. Your first 30 seconds will determine whether you escape with a full haul or become another piece of debris.
Your First Five Minutes: The Pre-Storm Checklist
Every run begins the same way. You’re in the van, the engine is dead, and a timer in the form of an approaching EF5 tornado is ticking down. Before you rush out into the eerie quiet, follow these three steps to build your action plan.
Step 1: Turn the Key
Hop into the driver's seat and turn the ignition key. This isn't going to start the engine, but it will run a diagnostic that flashes your primary objectives on the main screen. These are the non-negotiable repairs you must complete to escape. Common tasks include filling the fuel tank, topping up the coolant, replacing blown fuses, or changing a flat tire. These items are now your number one priority.
Step 2: Check the Mission Board
On the wall of the van is a mission board. Interact with it to reveal your secondary objectives. These are optional tasks that award bonus cash and experience if completed, but are not required for extraction. For a new player, these often involve collecting a certain number of 'Apex Coins', finding 'documents', or securing 'VHS tapes'. Our advice? Ignore these on your first few runs. The penalty for skipping them is small, and the time you waste hunting for a final document could be the difference between life and death. Focus on the main objectives first.
Step 3: Scour the Van for Starter Gear
Check the back of the van before you leave. The game often provides a random piece of starting equipment to help you out. You might find a crowbar (for prying open boarded doors), a defibrillator (for reviving teammates in co-op), a toolbox, or a scissor jack. Whatever is there, take note. Finding a crowbar here when you need one to get into the first building is a massive head start.
What to Loot (and What to Leave Behind)
Once you’re outside, the clock is ticking. Every inventory slot is precious, and knowing what to grab is critical. Your inventory is limited by both space and weight, so you can’t carry everything. Prioritize ruthlessly.
Mission-Critical Parts: These are the items your diagnostic scan told you to find. Coolant, motor oil, fuel cans, new tires, and boxes of fuses fall into this category. They are your ticket out. If you see one, grab it. Garages, gas stations, and the back of junked trucks are the most reliable places to find these automotive parts.
Essential Tools: Some repairs require more than just the part itself. A crowbar is needed for boarded-up doors and sheds. A toolbox is mandatory for replacing a battery or removing a flat tire. A scissor jack is the final piece of the tire-changing puzzle. These tools often take up multiple inventory slots, so only carry them when you have an immediate need.
Funnel Runners in-game screenshot
Consumables & Support Items: You'll find bandages, med kits, energy drinks, and granola bars scattered throughout houses. Use them immediately. They provide health, stamina, and speed buffs that make looting faster and safer. Do not waste inventory space carrying them around. Other situational items, like an umbrella for acid rain or a portable conductor to protect against lightning strikes, should only be picked up if that specific weather event is happening.
Secondary Junk: Apex Coins, documents, and tapes are for your secondary objectives. Pick them up if they're directly in your path, but don't go out of your way for them until you're comfortable with the core survival loop. Once you pick up a document or tape, you can press 'Q' (by default) to store it, freeing up your hands without taking up an inventory slot.
Reading the Weather: How to Survive Nature's Wrath
The F5 on the horizon isn't your only problem. Funnel Runners throws a host of meteorological horrors at you, and you need to know how to react to each one.
The Main Event: The EF5
You have a distance tracker for the main tornado. When it gets to about 0.3 miles away, a loud siren will blare. This is your final warning. You’ll begin to feel a physical pull on your character. If you haven't finished your objectives by then, it's likely too late.
Pop-Up Tornadoes
Far more common and unpredictable are the smaller tornadoes that can form with little warning. The key tell is the wind picking up dramatically. The sky will darken, and you'll hear a roar. Your goal is to break line of sight and get inside a sturdy structure immediately. Houses are good; interior rooms with no windows, like bathrooms, are even better. Once inside, crouch down and wait for it to pass. You'll see the camera feed flicker and take minor damage, but you'll survive. Do not get caught in the open. These smaller twisters will suck you up and end your run instantly.
Other Hazards
- Acid Rain: Your screen will get a strange tint, and you'll start taking ticking damage whenever you're outside. An umbrella completely negates this, so look for one at parks or on patios.
- Lightning: During thunderstorms, lightning can strike you, causing you to drop all your items and take heavy damage. Portable conductors will absorb a strike for you, but the best defense is to stay indoors.
- Downed Power Lines: After a tornado passes, it may knock down power lines. They will arc with electricity. Getting too close will shock you, sending you flying and forcing you to drop your items.
Funnel Runners in-game screenshot
The Great Escape: Fixing the Van
Once you've braved the storms and gathered the necessary parts, it's time for the final phase. Head back to the van to install everything. Most repairs are straightforward: open the hood, locate the corresponding reservoir or slot, and interact to fill or install it.
Changing a tire is the most involved process. It requires three separate items: a toolbox, a scissor jack, and a new tire. You'll need to use the toolbox to remove the old tire, use the scissor jack to lift the van, and then install the new tire. Because the tire itself takes up three inventory slots, this often requires multiple trips or careful inventory management.
Funnel Runners in-game screenshot
Once the last primary objective is completed, the screen in the van will read 'SUCCESS'. You don't need to complete the secondary objectives. Get in the driver's seat, interact with the ignition one last time, and select the option to leave. The van will start, and you'll drive off into the stormy skies, having survived another run.
Pro Tips for Your First Runs
- Stay Safe in the Van: If a tornado spawns on top of you, get inside the van and close the doors. It's an anchored safe zone where you can wait out the storm. You can monitor the chaos through the windows and cameras.
- Use the Portable Radar: This rare tool is a lifesaver. It pings the location of all lootable items nearby. Most importantly, it highlights mission-critical items in blue, guiding you directly to what you need.
- Avoid Parks and Playgrounds: These areas are often death traps with only one entrance and exit. Unless your radar shows a critical item is there, avoid them.
- Prioritize Garages: For any car-related part—fuel, oil, coolant, tools—houses with garages are your best bet. Loot them first.
- Learn to Let Go: Sometimes, a tornado will destroy a building that contained a part you needed. In other cases, you'll be pinned down by chain-spawning storms. Part of the game is recognizing when a run is unwinnable and learning from your mistakes for the next drop.
The Final Takeaway
Your first goal in Funnel Runners isn't to escape with a perfect score; it's just to escape. Focus entirely on the main objectives displayed on the van's screen. Learn the sounds of an approaching storm, respect its power by taking cover, and move with purpose. Once you can reliably escape the map, then you can start worrying about maximizing your profits with those secondary objectives.