Beginner Tips & Controls
The opening hours are brutal: your weapons are bad, you have no armor, and a pack of molerats or giant birds is a real fight. The win is patience — punish enemy charges, fight one thing at a time, and grab a healing spell plus a mana ring early. Plan your build, find the right trainers, and pick a camp once you can survive outside it.
Top survival rules
- 1
Practice on a molerat first
Fight a single molerat until you take zero damage, reloading as needed. It teaches the combat timing safely.
💡 If a molerat is a struggle, you're not ready for wolves yet.
- 2
Punish the charge
As wolves, snappers or adult scavengers leap at you, stab or slam with Q/E to interrupt them mid-jump.
- 3
One enemy at a time
Never fight a pack head-on. Back off to a choke point and pull single targets — early packs of molerats or giant birds will kill you otherwise.
- 4
Give juvenile scavengers space
One swing, then dodge or step back to reset distance before the next hit.
- 5
Get armor and a heal early
Armor matters immediately — 5 armor turns an 8-damage hit into 3. Grab a Healing spell and a mana ring as soon as you can.
Put your back to a wall and slash left / right / left / right. The Shadowbeast can't reposition and gets locked in your hit cadence — one of the few ways to safely down it early.
Mastery beats raw stats, and most early deaths come from biting off more than your gear can handle. If a fight is going badly, run — there's no shame in coming back when you have a weapon mastery tier and a few more Strength points.
Controls (PC defaults)
These are the default PC bindings; the table is filterable if you're hunting for one specific key.
| Action | Key |
|---|---|
| Move | WASD |
| Sprint (toggle) | SHIFT |
| Jump / Climb | Space |
| Sneak | C |
| Draw melee weapon | 1 |
| Draw ranged weapon | 2 |
| Attack 1 | RMB |
| Attack 2 | LMB |
| Attack 3 | Q |
| Attack 4 | E |
| Block / Parry | CTRL |
| Dodge | ALT |
| Cast spell | LMB |
| Aim | RMB |
| Quick items | 4–8 |
| Inventory | I |
| Quests | J |
| Stats | K |
Frequently asked questions
Why am I dying so much at the start?
Your starting weapons are weak and you have no armor, so even molerats and giant birds are dangerous. Fight one enemy at a time, punish their charge with Q/E, and practice on a single molerat until you take no damage.
How much does armor actually help early?
A lot. Just 5 armor turns an 8-damage hit into 3, so the first set you can afford is a major survivability jump.
How do I beat a Shadowbeast early?
Back into a wall and slash left / right / left / right. It can't reposition and gets stun-locked in your hit rhythm.
Can I invert the camera?
Camera/look settings, including invert, are in the options menu — adjust them before your first real fight so the controls feel right.