Deepwoken Guide: Mastering Early Progression and Endgame Paths

Embarking on your Deepwoken journey can be challenging, but with the right guidance, you can navigate its treacherous waters and emerge as a formidable adventurer. This comprehensive Deepwoken Guide will walk you through efficient early game progression, character builds, and endgame strategies, ensuring you’re well-equipped to conquer the depths.

I. Character Build & Stat Allocation: Laying the Foundation

Before setting foot in the world, crafting a solid character build is paramount. This guide focuses on a versatile non-shrine build, suitable for both Player vs Player (PvP) and Player vs Environment (PvE) scenarios, utilizing Flame, Frost, or Gale attunements.

Base Run Stats:

• 25 Strength: Unlocks powerful cards like Spine and Bulldozer, enhancing physical damage and combat effectiveness. Strength cards are generally beneficial for melee builds.
• 50 Fortitude: Invest in survivability with Exoskeleton and To The Finish. Fortitude cards significantly boost your health pool and resilience, crucial for enduring tough encounters.
• 25 Agility: Prioritize mobility with Speed Demon and improved climb height. Agility cards enhance movement speed and parkour abilities, allowing for quicker traversal and escape.
• Spare Points into Intellect: While not heavily invested, spare points here can be useful. We won’t be using Intellect cards directly in this build, but it can offer minor utility.
• 25 Willpower: Gain access to Giantslayer and Disbelief. Willpower cards provide utility in combat, with Giantslayer boosting damage against larger foes.
• 25 Charisma: Unlock Tough Love and Charismatic Cast. Charisma cards can offer minor buffs and utility, though not central to this build.
• 75 Weapon (No Light Weapons): Focus on heavier weapon types for greater impact.
• 80 Attunement (No Thunder, Shadow, or Metal): Choose Flame, Frost, or Gale for elemental damage and diverse combat options.

Stat Priority: Attunement -> Agility -> Charisma/Fortitude -> Willpower

Leveling Guide – Step-by-Step:

1. Character Creation: Allocate initial points into Agility and Charisma for early mobility and social interactions.
2. Training: Train Weapon skills at any trainer. Train all other stats simultaneously, except for Willpower, which can be trained later.

II. Etris Preparation: Gearing Up for Adventure

Etris serves as your initial hub and preparation ground. Efficient preparation here will significantly streamline your early game experience.

1. Note Acquisition: Gather 25 Notes, the primary currency in Deepwoken.
2. Ring and Boulder: Obtain the starting Ring and Boulder (a basic weapon). Sell the Ring for additional Notes.
3. Armor Purchase: Buy base armor from the Etris vendors after getting a discount if possible (through dialogue options).
4. Essential Tools: Acquire an Axe, Pickaxe, and Flint. The Axe is for woodcutting, the Pickaxe for mining, and Flint for starting campfires.
5. Woodcutting and Note Farming: Cut down wood and sell it until you accumulate approximately 50 Notes. Alternatively, explore other methods within Etris to acquire Notes.
6. Charisma Training: Purchase the Charisma training book to further enhance your Charisma stat.
7. Glider Crafting: Craft a Glider for enhanced mobility and faster travel between islands.
8. Campfire Preparation: Gather 10 Campfires. Campfires are crucial for healing and resting during your explorations.
9. Food Crafting: Create 15 Mushroom Soups and Bread. Food is essential for sustaining your character and recovering health.
10. Canteen and Water: Craft a Canteen and collect 3 Calabashes. Fill the Canteen with water to maintain hydration.
11. Sailing to Lower Erisia: Prepare to set sail for Lower Erisia, your first major leveling zone.

III. Island Progression: From Lower Erisia to the Exterior Hive

This section outlines the optimal island progression path for efficient leveling and gear acquisition.

Island #1: Lower Erisia (Power 1-3)

• Initial Farming: Farm the island base, shore, and Mudskipper cave (everything below the stairs). Focus on acquiring your first Mantra (combat abilities). (Refer to a dedicated Deepwoken Mantra guide for detailed information on Mantras). Simultaneously, train Agility and Weapon skills until you reach Power 2, then commence training Attunement.

• Mid-Level Farming: Progress to farming Mudskippers on the stairs leading to the Sharko cave and the Bandits in Lower Erisia. If you have a strong Mantra or are playing with friends, venture into the Bandit Camp. Aim to acquire a good 1-star Mantra before leaving Lower Erisia.

Island #2 & 3: Upper Lower Erisia and Upper Erisia (Power 5-10)

• Lower Erisia Expansion: Farm all areas of Lower Erisia and concentrate your grinding near Erisia’s church. Engage Angels and special Mudskippers for increased experience and loot. Utilize Campfires to heal when your health drops below two bars, especially when facing Golems.

• Sharko Cave (Optional, Power 5-10 – Not Recommended for Solo Players initially): If you possess sufficient damage output (capable of soloing at least half of a Sharko’s health), consider farming the Sharko cave above the Mudskipper stairs at Viper’s Jaw. Position a Campfire at the back of the cave for healing. Bringing friends or having a powerful PvE Mantra is highly recommended for safety.

• Upper Erisia Farming (Power 8-15): Transition to Upper Erisia, primarily focusing on the Burning Stone gardens. Engage enemies one at a time, and exercise caution, avoiding Owls and Blood Crabs initially. Farm the Rats Den to practice combat against humanoid enemies, improving your skills.

Island #4 (Optional): Songseeker (Power 10-15 – Risk of Voidwalkers)

• High-Risk, High-Reward Farming: If you are confident in your PvP abilities to fend off potential Voidwalker encounters (player assassins), Songseeker offers lucrative farming opportunities. Farm the Songseeker NPCs located at the top of the main island (right of the Voidzone). There are 8 Songseeker NPCs and 3 chests available to farm before server hopping (switching to a new game server to reset enemy spawns and loot).

Island #4.5: Progression Break – Optimization and Preparation

This phase focuses on optimizing your character and gear before moving to higher-level zones.

1. Etris Gear Optimization: Return to Etris and sell most of your accumulated gear. Purchase essential supplies: Food, Armor (optional but recommended for increased defense), Prayer Beads (for minor buffs), Campfire, and any other desired gear. Craft Umbral Flint (used for crafting better campfires and tools later) and a Sharkscale Glider (more durable glider, if you can obtain Shark Scales from Sharkos in Lower Erisia). Consider purchasing a Sloop for faster travel between islands.
2. Talent Quests: Head back to Lower Erisia and complete both talent quests for Engage and Air Dash. Mastering Air Dash is crucial for mobility and traversal – practice using it consistently outside of combat.
3. Mantra Upgrades: Upgrade your primary Mantra as much as possible and enhance secondary Mantras if you have surplus Notes.

Island #5 (Final Island for Leveling): Exterior Hive (Starswept to Bluster Rift) (Power 15-20)

• Endgame Leveling and Loot: Farm in the Exterior Hive region, progressing from Starswept to Bluster Rift. Focus on completing your stat training here and searching for a decent weapon upgrade. Engage monsters individually and avoid King Threshers, which are significantly stronger. While farming, collect Thresher Scales from regular Threshers – these are valuable crafting materials.

Island #5.5: Progression Break – Endgame Preparation (Safest Endgame Path)

This is a crucial step to prepare for challenging endgame content and optimize your build.

1. Master Armor and Schematics: Farm schematics and Notes until you acquire Master Armor or armor pieces with at least 25% Physical damage reduction or other beneficial stats.
2. Endgame Weapon Acquisition: Equip an endgame-tier weapon appropriate for your build and playstyle.
3. Mantra Rerolling (Crypt of the Unbroken): Travel to the Crypt of the Unbroken (a challenging dungeon) and reroll any undesirable Mantras at the Mantra reroll altar. (Consult a Deepwoken Mantra tier list for guidance on optimal Mantras).
4. Enchantment Farming (Crypt of the Unbroken – Optional): If you are capable of defeating the NPCs within the Crypt, farm up to 6 armor or weapon enchants. Otherwise, skip this step. Use these enchants at Laplace (an NPC enchanter) to enhance your weapon. (Refer to a Deepwoken enchantment tier list for beginner-friendly options).
5. Bell Progress Check (Sibex): Check your Bell progress at Sibex (an NPC that tracks boss kills) to determine the number of bosses you need to defeat for your chosen endgame path.

Deepwoken Environment

A scenic view of the diverse landscapes in Deepwoken, showcasing the vast world players will explore during their adventure.

IV. Endgame Paths: Choosing Your Destiny

After reaching Power 20 and completing your stat and gear preparations, you can choose one of three primary endgame paths, each offering different levels of risk and reward:

#1 Base Path (Best for Heavy Builds)

• Preparation: 20 Campfires, Manor Key (obtained from Duke Erisia), 1 Friend (highly recommended), high Damage Per Second (DPS) build with guard breaks, and Umbral Flint.
• Progression: Farm Duke Erisia approximately 8 times with a “grip” (a coordinated group attack strategy). Heavy critical hits combined with guard breaks are the safest approach. Rotate players if you have a friend to maintain efficiency. If you acquire Chain of Perfection or Providence Thorns (rare boss drops, or if you have a group of 3 players), proceed to Monkey’s Paw and fight Primadon, a more challenging boss.

#2 East Path (Best for Medium Builds)

• Preparation: 40 Campfires, Umbral Flint, and ample Food supplies.
• Progression: Farm Ferryman (considered the easiest boss to learn to solo) and engage Kaido whenever possible, utilizing Ardour Manifestation (a buff Mantra) and the cliff cheese strategy (exploiting terrain for safer combat). Approximately 7 Ferryman runs should yield sufficient relics and a Bell (a key item for progression). You can attempt to solo Chain of Perfection at Ferryman as well for increased rewards.

#3 Risk Path (Riskiest, Fastest Progression)

• Preparation: Primary Master Armor set (examples: Prophet’s Cloak, Black Diver, Etrean Royal Guard), Sanity Potions (optional, for mitigating sanity drain in dangerous areas), maximum Food capacity, endgame-level enchantment for PvE, strong mobility Mantras, robust Health Point (HP) boosting kit, and optimized talents and Mantras (reroll if necessary to obtain 2 optimal Mantras).
• Progression: Travel to the Corrupt Bell area near the Slope Gate and farm Corrupt monsters to prepare for Layer 2. Once ready with a group, venture into Layer 2 (a high-risk, high-reward zone) and fight Chaser, a powerful boss. Defeat Chaser conventionally 5 times, then complete the Deepshore questline and defeat Chaser one final time to conclude this path.

Progression End:

• Oath Selection: Choose an Oath, a faction or allegiance that grants further progression and bonuses.
• Build Completion: Finalize your build’s gear, optimizing for your chosen Oath and playstyle.
• Ganking and Wiping: (Humorous, in-game player interaction suggestion) Engage in PvP combat and test your build against other players.

This Deepwoken guide provides a solid foundation for your journey. Remember to adapt these strategies to your playstyle and continuously explore the vast and challenging world of Deepwoken. Good luck, adventurer!