A quick and dirty guide to help you get started. The first 6 or so hours are gonna be a struggle, but hopefully this guide will help alleviate some of that. Introduction That shadow drop, amirite? I got it as soon as I saw the release on Reddit. It didn't take long for me to love it, even with all of it's very, very frustrating flaws. Starting out was great, but you just hit a point when it comes to progressing to P3 that is just a rough and awful ride. So many times I wanted to rage quit this game. Running with vault core to set up a new lodestone and die a 10 minute walk away? Okay, fine. I'll run back. Getting raided, hunted, assaulted by dragon, chased by mobs while running back? *expletive deleted*. Learning these early game mechanics was a trial and error liken to playing Dark Souls for the first time. So, with the knowledge I've picked up, I'm hoping to ease your journey some. All in all, with going in fresh with no knowledge, it took me about 14 hours to beat Velgar. Knowing what I know now, I wish there was more. I can't wait for the future updates. I will try to leave certain things out to make it as spoiler free as possible, but sometimes that's hard to do. So, bear with me. Without further ado, let's actually get to the guide.... Starting out - The Tutorial It's far from the best, but still not the worst tutorial for a game. Just follow the introductions and I'll explain some things better than the tutorial does. I think the only one you don't meet in the tutorial is Doric, but I could honestly be mistaken. Make sure to finish the beginning quests for Wise Old Man, Vannaka and Zanik. Food and Drink Don't stress it too much. Get a campfire going, stock up on 3-400 dirty waters and let em cook. Food is easy enough as well. You can honestly just survive on the berries for a good while. Especially once you get the dwellberries. Until Cooking gets reworked, there's really no point in making actual food. Just stay up on your waters and berries, cook food when you got it and feel like it, and make those Stamina drinks! While they're barely more hydrating than the regular waters, the Stamina cost reduction is a nice bonus. Hyper Armor This ♥♥♥♥ made no sense to me at first. I did the quest, and was just like, "Okay. Cool." So, let me explain it in the way I wish I understood it. I played for probably 3 hours without ever using this. Hyper Armor can literally be the life or death of a fight. A quick breakdown... Armor - A percentage of damage reduction granted by equipped armors. Hyper Armor - A static number that will be damaged before you take damage. Yeah. Maybe I just didn't pay attention, but I missed that bit. You'll start out with minimal Hyper Armor, but, KEEP. IT. UP. The runestone things that I can't remember the name of are what give you Hyper Armor. Make a bunch. Like, a bunch. They can save your ass in a fight. They can make it significantly easier to recover your goodies after that desperate corpse run. As you level up and acquire better gear, your max Hyper Armor increases as well as the types of runestones you can make. Being able to negate 25, 50, 75 points of damage at a time in a fight will greatly increase your odds of survival. So, 100 health, with 50 Hyper Armor, means you essentially have 150 health. Hyper Armor gone? Runestone that ♥♥♥♥. Back on to the survival bit.... Raids, Hunted, Dragon Assault They're laughably easy. Later on... Starting out they can be rough. So, here's a few details that should help. Dragon Assault - Stays in the area. Attacks with Poison afflicting damage. If you have anti poison, you can just avoid the AoE blasts as they still deal actual damage, then just wonder about through the poison. The breath attack doesn't deal actual damage, just poison status. Alternatively, you can just.... Run. Yep. Just get on out of there for a couple minutes. It's roughly a 150m radius that the attacks stay in. Once your out of the radius, the dragon will just continue to attack that area and then leave. If you have a lodestone network set up, even better. Just tele out and gather some ingredients and swing on back. Raids - Can be a bit more difficult starting out, as they do pursue for a time. Sometimes, a zone shift or a good run will end it, but not always in my experience. The first wave will be 3-5 Melee. Second wave will be 3-5 Melee, 1-3 Rangers and/or 1-2 Casters, depending on zone. If you're in that zone, (you'll know the one), casters first, baby. Don't let 'em buff up the whole crowd. Hunted - Easy enough. Will be a random variety of enemies, usually numbering 3-5. Just focus, keep that armor up and you'll come out a-ok. Now then, all of these SUCK when you just died and get hit with them before you can even go to your spare equipment chest. You do have a spare equipment chest, right? Did I mention that....? Must've been a different guide... Oh, it's that time...? P3 Without a doubt, the most difficult part of the game for me. Granted, I stayed strictly Melee my entire play through, since there's no Magic or Ranged skills implemented yet. Getting that sweet, sweet ore will be a nightmare. This was 60% of my deaths, ghost runs and frustration. It is worth it. I'd put it up there with finally beating that boss that was kicking your ass, when you're finally able to get back to your base and start making bars. I almost rage quit probably every 10 to 15 minutes at this stage of the game. It's ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ rough. Just keep going. Make those runs. Back out to the main menu and grab a smoke if you got to, I know I had to. Several times. The reward makes all that pain and frustration worth it. Some things I picked up on while doing this Don't underestimate the harvest ore spell - This can save precious time that most definitely adds up when you're first getting into obtaining ores and even later on. Who sneaks? - I never did. Honestly didn't know it was a thing, since it never seemed to work anyway. Just keep a wide berth on enemies when you're P2. Navigate around, grab your ores and go. A 1 on 1 can go in your favor, but that's not usually the case. Don't get greedy - Just make that run back to base. Or teleport, if available. Dying with all those shiny rocks on you and trying to get back to them is frustrating. Don't be me. Dungeons? Vaults? Eh, it's instanced. I'll keep this brief for spoiler prevention and just provide ONE super handy tip. Vault Core - As soon as you get it, run out of the instance the same way you came and set up that lodestone. Oh, the many headaches I could've avoided... Caster or Melee - I said one tip. One. Weaponry Heavy is better, right? No. Melee needs a balance. The attack speed reduction for the minor damage increase is nowhere near a fair trade off. Just stick to a sword/dagger and shield. The shield is your friend. Speaking of, there's a quest you can do for a certain shield. I'd recommend doing that. I tried the varieties of weapons and the conclusion that I came to is... Faster is better - Especially in group encounters. That swing delay when you're flanked by 4 enemies is definitely enough to make you lose a fight. Stay fast. Stay nimble. Learn parry timings. Oh, since I'm losing track of what I'm even doing now, I'll just say this.... Abyssal Whip. That is all. Best weapon in the game. Hands down. Throw air enchant on it. Win. Ridiculous attack speed, bleed damage and that special attack.... It can be rough to make one, but, oh boy, when you do. Oh ♥♥♥♥, I said no spoilers, huh? I hope this helps, and I'm certain I'm forgetting things. Feel free to criticize, correct, compliment or whatever it is people do on guides like this, and enjoy your time in the Dragonwilds.