Basic Information 2020

Overview

For those that play the game for the first time and dont want to rush to the endcontent but enjoy and learn the gameplay.Tables and cheatsheets for intermediate and advanced players.

Intro

This guide is supposed to be a little cheat sheet for myself and help new players as well.

And my best advice is to play this game the first time solo or only with friends who are new to the game as well.
Do not play with friends (or online) that have played this game (lots) before, unless they are relaxed and good at explaining.
Also, for the first playthrough, do NOT play with mods that add more content, as only this will allow you to know the basics properly.

Creating a new game

Welcome to Conan Exiles, how sandy shall your desert be?

We can customize how ‘difficult’ our game should be, I for one prefer the more casual approach to the survival and crafting aspects, as I tend to be more the builder type of gamer.

So after clicking “Single Player” -> “Start new game”, we do NOT select any of the presets.
Instead we hit ‘Customize’.

Because the most important thing, how much resources we gather, can be set in there – as it wont be changed by any of the other presets.
This is done by:
* Server Options -> Resources -> Gather Multiplier -> Change from 1 to 3
–> If you aim for a pure survival game, leave this setting on 1, if you focus on building, and survial is just a ‘feature’ (as I play) I feel that 3 – 4 tops – are a good balance between survival and ‘too’ cheaty (5+).

Also, we do not want a purge too early, so lets disable this for now.
* Server Options -> Purge -> Disable -> Disable checkbox
–> You can enable the purge at any given time within a running game (though not sure if you have to re-log via main menu).

I regard my playstyle as casual, thus I would like to keep the loot in my inventory when I die.
* Server Options -> TODO

Basicly this is it.
You could change the XP recieved a bit, I’d advice to go for something like 1.2 – but I strongly advice to not exceed 3, as this would be way too fast to acclimate to all the new abilities after each level up.

Character Creation

Basicly it is irrelevant which race you choose, unless you do RP.

This said, here’s a short list of semi-mandatories when creating a character with RP in mind.
Shemite -> Archers / Bow Masters
Darfari -> Religion: Yog / Cannibals
Nordheimer -> Religion: Ymir
Zamorian -> Thiefes

Basicly this is irrelevant either, however, I would advice to choose Ymir as it is the most difficult to get to at earlier levels.
At the very least I would advice against taking Yog, as a Yog priest is very near the starting area and you’ll probably run into him anyway.
Obviously this does not apply if you want to RP.

Please see the ‘Race-List’ for ‘best chocies’ in regards of RP-story background.

First steps

You are new to these lands, and knowledge is power.
Click on all glimmering stones to learn new things, either story (most of the time) or skills.

On your way to the north, dont forget to pickup the water!

Or any bench, plant or stone you come along, because right now, you will need everything!

Furthermore, you always want to follow ghosts:

As they might teach you something:

Just never forget to pickup these books you find:

First tools

Once you have picked up some stone, benches and plant fibres, you do want to craft some clothing and tools.

This is done by accessing the inventory using the key “i”:

In this screen you can manage your armor, weapons and your new learned crafts.

Just press on the “Craft” button once you have selected the item you want to create.
Since we dont have enough resources to craft a 2nd tool, the required resources are ‘greyed out’.

Attributes

Attributes are a great way to customize your character and your gameplay.

They are:

• Strength
• Agility
• Vitality
• Precision
• Grit
• Encumburance
• Survival

For each attribute you have 5 tiers, each of which grants a new specialisation bonus.
Be aware that you can only max 1 attribute and then have a 2nd attribute ‘maxed out’ at T 2.5.

However, you can have up to 5 attributes at 3x T3 and each 1x T2 and T1 accordingly, of which I think gives the best ‘overall-usability’ without the need for potions to re-skills every now and then.

We were talking of level 60 while playing without mods of course.

Let me summarize your briefly what each tier per attributes means.

Strength
Basicly, this boosts all weapons but bow’s.
Best ‘middleground’ would be T3 for non-pure-fighter builds, in which case even T1 would be enough if you fight with a hammer / anything blunt.
RP: It should only be skilled as a pure warrior / berserker

• T1 is for blunt weapons
• T2 is great for weapons that grant debuffs such as bleeding or poision
• T3 improves overall damage done (light attacks, LM)
• T4 improves overall damage done (heavy attacks, RM)
• T5 Berserker mode when hp less 25%

Agility
Unlike other games, agility does not represent archers / bow users – nice, but strangly enough strength does not change the bow’s damage output either…
Anyway, basicly… well.. TF2 scout…
T2 is very nice for casual explorer, as you can jump/fall off higher grounds without dieing.

• T1 MUST HAVE -> longer sprinting
• T2 reduced fall damage
• T3 jumps no longer cost endurance
• T4 When you have 500 armor, while doing a roll, you have 1000 armor (thx @Singha Beer)
• T5 You can jump again – while in mid-air !

Vitality
Enjoy the good sides of life!
Every point spent will increase your HP by a bit (8 hp per skill-level).
T2 is nice to have to survive strong temperature, maybe even T3 if you miss soothing…

• T1 Dive longer
• T2 Less temperature impacts (heat / cold)
• T3 Passive hp regen (1hp/s)
• T4 Healing effects are increased
• T5 Food heals now (again)

Precision
Want to play an archer? This is it!
If not, ignore this alltogether (unless you want to RP-specialize in throw-axes in which case T3 is enough)

• T1 Meaner crippling shots
• T2 Shoot around corners
• T3 +10% dmg (+50% throw-axes)
• T4 Knockback
• T5 +50% dmg for headshots only

Grit
Dodging the Cliffhanger
This T5 combined with Agility T4 is what I would call a thief/dodge build.

• T1 Easer climbing
• T2 Improved endurance regen
• T3 +50 armor (worthless if wearing medium or heavy armor)
• T4 Attacks cost less endurance
• T5 Dodge costs less endurance

Encumburance
Carry Mule the Runner
Every single point spent will increase your total carry weight by a bit (7 enc per skill-level).
T2 is really a must have- A) for more carry weight and B) for reduced mal-effects.
T3 (SP) – or even T4 but only if you play with others and you are the main-farmer or the main-builder.

• T1 +10% dmg when, -10% endurace cost when not – overweight
• T2 Reduced cripling effects on you
• T3 +10% additional carry weight
• T4 Chance of 0 (zero/null) durability loss upon being hit
• T5 Normal walking when overweighted

Survival
Only the harden get into the garden.
Unless you planning to max this out to T5 (PvPvE), this is the most useless attribute.

• T1 Eat raw meat without getting infected (RP: Yog)
• T2 Get resources faster (NOT !!! more, you hit once instead of hitting twice for the same total amount of an ore node, tree, whatever)
• T3 This gets you double the resources per hit, result in the same per node/animal (but faster, less ‘drain’ on the pick / axe) (Farming)
• T4 -20% less impact from poison and illnesses (PvP, Farming (as you no longer need the mask, comfortable, but not required!))
• T5 -20% any kind of dmg (PvP)

When I was new, I did some math and I wanted to share this with you here.

Tier Cost Point Overview
At level 60 you will have 390 points to spend and with this table it is easier to prioritize which attribute you want to have at which tier – or better how many points you will need for these.

For an overall everyday purpose build, you might like my (Jack of all Trades, everything a bit, nothing perfect):
[link]

Talents / Feats

On the ‘Talents’ tab from the menu (i) you can select the skills you want to learn.

To learn everything you would need to increase the level cap by mods.
This means we do have to specialize in certain aspects – as one cannot learn all weapons and all building blocks and everything in survival.

As a new player this can be a little bit too many choices at once.
So with the following list, I aim to achieve a balance in regards of building (what I like) and self-sustained survival (what I need).

By that I mean that I can create, modify and repair my own crafted weapons and armor, as well as practice some required healing and place basic ‘living’ decorations.

At this point we can build a brick based home and insulated wooden variants, incl normal wooden roofs.
While we can build sandstone stair as early as level 6, but we still can not do basic wooden stairs at level 20 without mods… and I do not consider insulated stairs as basic!

By now, you know the most important essentials.
I will continue work here if this guide gets some positive attention – and IF requested.

Building – Basic Patterns

No, I’m not going to talk about squares or any rectangular based shape.

But what I will tell about squares, they are far more easier to build a roof above.
The structural integretiy streches among 4 blocks.
In case of the square blocks, this is far, but wedges are the BIG looser on this topic.

But judge for yourself:

The next image shows a basic ‘circle’ with an option how to expand it, visualized by the ‘cake piece’.
Note how the squares and wedges are in sequence to each other, this allows us to build stairs comfortably along the outter wall.
This circle (remove the cake-piece in your mind, expands 2 blocks from the central point) is the absolute minimum if you want to ‘live’ inside, or intent to place anything bigger than a sleeping-mat and a chest box inside.
The cake-piece could could be used as ‘front-yard’, for stairs and even give support (pillars) for a bigger balcony above it.

By increasing the central wedge ‘row’ number from 1 (previous) to 2, we also increase the outter length to 2, which then should be extended outwards by.. you guessed it… 2 for symetry purposes.
This will look like:

Lets go small again and do something crazy and something oval’ish…

But of course, you want to build castle like… well.. how about these two absolute minimal approaches?
For the front object, use walls an you will be able to use the towers for the different work stations (thralls).
For the rear object, you can add ‘rooms’ to each wall (dont forget a gate) and use the bailey as an outside recreation area and/or stable for your pets :p
Or put a roof over it and give support by the use of pillars… Either way, you will get something decent by default!

However, if you ever plan to place a maproom (you can get the recipe at the upper right corner of the undead city, behind the obelisk), it can get a little tricky.
As this ‘room’ requires a fair square of 7×7 space, plus walls to make a roof ontop results in a total area of 9×9 if you’re using foudations as walls for protection – near floor level.
A 9×9 with using walls (instead of foundations) will NOT give enough stability to build a roof over the maproom, you should use the minimal 7×7 or use support pillars.

Building – Your first home

As stated in the previous chapter, I would recomend sticking to a simple layout for a starter base (anything that is not supposed to be your home at level 60 – or maxlevel of your mods).

–> I love building, and (most of) these videos were made independantly prior to this guide. <–

Here a very little compact home:

Here’s an example how a level 10’ish base could look like: (one cannot learn elevators until levlel 17!)

A little later:
At level 20 you can learn Journey-Man Mason and with that come T2 building blocks.
You can either upgrade your existing base by just placing the T2 blocks over the T1 blocks, or build a new base.

Here is a 6 min tour for an idea:

And if you wonder how it was made, here are the full 4 hours.
[link]

Thralls

Thralls are the labor force of this game, either as bodyguards in combat or doing their job at the different working places.

You will need a wheel of pain, have some gruel ready and of course the according tools.
Those you can unlock at level 10 as described in the ‘Talents / Feat’ section of this guide.

Requirements:
You can craft a wheel of pain at the carpenters workbench.
The tools you need can be crafted at the “Taskmaster-Workbench”.
Obviously, the higher wheels of pain you unlock (dont have to build them though), the better tools you can craft at the Taskmaster-Workbench.

Enlist new recruits:
Equip yourself with the tools and search for exiles that are standing alone.
A good place is near E5 on the ‘half-island’ at the corner to F6 where the broken bridge is marked.
You’ll have to get rid of the crocodile first, but you’ll have a good chance to have a random named thrall.

Thralls can be equipt with ‘slaver’ tools too, so they’ll help you getting more thralls.

Leveling:
Early on, make sure your thrall fights only 1 enemy at a time, otherwise you’ll be very busy just replacing thralls that died in combat.
Issue is, they tend to attack whatever attacks you.

So the best practice to level thralls is to find a single enemy, 2-3 tops, hit one, and make the remaining enemies run after you while your thrall hits that one exile that you hit.
Now run in cricles to avoid beeing hit by those remaining exiles, while watching carefully to the healthbar of your thrall and the enemy.

Be sure to not attack elite enemies that have 1-3 skulls below their nameplate.
At least not until the thrall hit level 20 and has decent armor – and even then, be cautious!

Known issues:
* Do not take thralls to dungeons if they are not propery equiped (min: 400+), armed (min: 26-31 dmg) and leveled (20). (I know the videos… those mechanics have been fixed)
* USUALY: Thralls named ‘XXX-Archer’ are better at melee combat and thralls named ‘XXX-Fighter’ are better at ranged (bow) combat. (check their precision attribute)
* Bonus of thralls are complete random, it may take several “Thrall XY” until you get a good “Thrall XY”.
Basicly you want to go for Relic-Hunters (Undead City) as they tend to have a bigger HP pool and have a better chance to skill agility (+armor) rather than survival (what is that delay??).

Final note:
I’m currently looking for the Forgotton Tribe (Lianeele, Stargazers Crest) and ‘Heir’ (Oyvind Tall-Tree, New Asgard), heck even Lemurian (Varkin Fleetfoot, Pagoda of endless lusts) Dancers – at least they tend to have more of a focus towards Str, Agi and Vit stats.

Sources:
KhiaOnFire – Her problem with the thrall system:
Spreadsheet done by KhiaOnFire (Just linking to it here, as she mentioned to maybe remove the video): [link]

Pets & Mounts

Animals can be tamed too.. well.. the young ones!
Now, for ALL animals but horses – as they are the only ones that need the stables (3 * 5), you will be needing an animal shelter (9 * 8). (( Width * Depth ))

They both can be unlocked at:
Survival -> Thrall Taker -> Tamer (13) / Stables (15)

The animal shelter is pretty big granted, but you can raise up to 5 animals in it at the same time!

Now feeding the animals is different than thralls, as the animals need ‘raw’ food, unlike thralls who prefer their food to be prepared / cooked.
For vegetarians its quite easy, as bark, some plant fibres and highland berrys will cover most of their needs.
For meat eating animals, you want to make sure to have at least savory meat for them.
Exquisite meat might give an increased chance for ‘specials’ (they would get glowy eyes).

My personal favorites are the crocodile, as it will NEVER block your way, and an elephant is always nice to have early on, so they can carry ‘all your stuff’!
This is for example while moving form one base to another (its not ‘all at once’ but since they have the double amount of slots, it is very helpfull to have them).

Mods

I understand all purists that do not like mods.
Base game loads TONS faster without mods, and some mod items feel cheaty when used wrong.

This said, there are also a TON of great mods out there, that enhance your ingame life, increase immersion (with decorations/clothing), are just plain fun, convenient or sexy.

Others expand either the world or add so many new items and functionality that it might be too much for new players.
With that in mind, I have prepared a collection of mods for you to adapt – if you want – including the required load order!

Newcomer punch in the face:
[link]

Super high end gamer who does not care about loading times might want to dig into these as well:
[link]

Important Resources

Some later items require more than just wood, stone and fibres.
Iron is always nice, and at level 20 you’ll start apreciating brimstone.

The secret of steel:
… is Steelfire, crafted at the firebowl chauldron for 2 Tar and 1 brimstone (ger: Schwefel).
You get tar by tanning rawhide at the according crafting station.

-> You then simply put that into the furnace and refine those iron-bars.

The secret of hardend bricks:
… is hardned stone, crafted at the firebowl chauldron for 2 ichor (ger: Wundsekret) and 6 plant fibres.

You get ichor either by cooking unappetizing fish, for which you can use a “handfull of insects” to farm at the fish traps.
Also you you press spoiled food at the fluid press for ichor.
-> You then put it in the furnace and re-burn those bricks.

Here is a brief overview where to find your first ‘higher’ resources.
Later in the game, like level 40+, you can go above Sepermeru to those turkoise fields to farm those pointy rocks for brimstone – you will need a breather or pots.

Outro

Questions, suggestions?
Let me know!

Hope this helped to get you started.