How To Play Guide For Conan Exiles


 * See also: Guide.

Welcome to the How To Play Guide For !

This guide will cover everything you need to know to get started, including information on survival in the wilderness as well as enemies, weapons, resources, tools, religion, clans, building and more information as more content is released!

Basics
You start in the middle of the Exiled Lands being cut down from a cross by none other than Conan himself. Though Conan is free, you are trapped in the Exiled Lands and cannot escape. Your first needs will be food and water, so you should head north towards a big river delta and out of the barren desert where you had been crucified. The river lands are filled with the danger of various enemies though, so you will quite quickly need to build a shelter to protect yourself from aggressive creatures or the punishing sandstorms. Other players may even be the greatest threat, so you also need to arm yourself quickly and be ready to fight anyone who attacks.

As you begin to do things you'll earn experience points (XP) from playing the game and doing normal things, like crafting, harvesting resources, and killing enemies. When you've earned enough XP, you will level up, and for each level you will get points to spend on improving attributes and learning new recipes. The 'Level' button on your character sheet will be blinking when you have points to spend, so it is easy to see when you can improve your character.


 * Quick Note: Removing your Bracelet will cause you to commit suicide.

1. Food and water to survive
Thanks to Conan rescuing you you're pretty bare, and in the middle of the wasteland desert. You'll soon become hungry and thirsty, so much so that you'll die without any water. You'll need to head inland towards the life giving river. Along the way you'll want to grab some supplies, namely some basic materials like Plant Fiber, Stone and Branches so you can begin basic crafting with some recipes, as well as to gain a little bit of XP.

Once you hit the river, hop in and hit to drink. If you've happened to come across the Sealed Waterskin with the note you'll be able to refill it (by equipping it and using it) and keep yourself refreshed for a while.

In regards to food, if you're still down at the river and have come across Shalebacks, there will be a nearby nest that will have Eggs. Eating them will give you regen on both Water and Health. Additionally, the following will give you a head start to stave off the starving for a while until you can manage to kill larger animals.
 * Icon fat grub.png Fat Grub - For the strong of stomach, these grubs offer both food and moisture in the midst of the desert.
 * Icon_handful_of_insects.png Handful Of Insects - To the starving, a handful of insects can be enough to stave off hunger for a while.
 * Icon_feral_flesh.png Feral Flesh - Raw meat is a dangerous temptation for the starving and desperate. Consuming it provides immediate relief from hunger, but at the risk of inheriting any disease or parasite that may have come along for the ride.

To establish a better and more stable food supply, you will first have to craft a few things, which brings us to our next point:

2. Collect...Collect...Collect
Collecting basic materials and resources will become your bread and butter. It is essential to put your focus on collecting Plant Fiber, Branches and Stone that are either on the ground or picked up by harvesting bushes.


 * Icon_plant_fiber.png Plant Fiber - The most basic materials that can be gathered by hand from plants. These fibers can be woven into rough clothing, but it will only provide a simple protection against the elements. Anything woven from such crude material cannot be expected to stop a swinging blade.

Plant fiber can be used for a variety of things, from light Armor to Twine to later on making things out of it from a basic bed to the base of your civilization. You'll really need a lot of it. Once you've managed to put together a Stone Hatchet (made from Stone and Branches), you can cut down and harvest the smaller trees, which will provide you with larger bunches of Plant Fiber.
 * Icon branch.png Branch - Branches can be used to create rudimentary weapons and tools, which can then be used to shape wood for more beneficial purposes.

You'll be able to find branches everywhere easily. First simply laying on the ground, but once you've put together a Stone Hatchet, you can cut down the larger trees which will give you both Wood and Branches. Use them in crafting Weapons and making Tools.
 * Icon stone-1.png Stone - Most humble of materials and most common, stone is the building block of civilization. From the primitive weapons of Picts to the marble sheathed palaces of Aquilonian Kings, stone is the foundation upon which all is predicated. Even the elder races, who vanished from the earth without a trace, left behind great ruined cities of brooding stone to mark their passing.

Stone is useful in a lot of things, and you'll need a lot of it if you ever plan on building anything. You can start collecting it by picking it up from the ground, and together with Branches you can then make a Stone Pick to harvest larger amounts from rock piles.

3. Recipes & crafting
The materials above are the base for crafting, and with the right combination can provide you with the basics for survival. Open up your inventory with to begin crafting on the right side. You'll start with a few recipes every exile starts with, basic Clothing and some tools. To have more crafting options you'll need to unlock them with the Recipes menu. The menu of all the Recipes will give you access to a lot more recipes - or a little more, depending on your Character's level. Just hit the "Unlock"-button below the Recipes. Note that not every recipe can be unlocked by the main recipe screen. The different icon buttons at the top right go much further in depth.

Wildlife: The creatures & beasts of the Exiled Lands
The Exiled Lands are filled with a variety of different creatures, animals and beasts both common and uncommon in Hyboria. They can be found, hunted and harvested for Resources and Food to aid you in your struggle against both the elements and other exiles. As you make your way out of the desert, you will eventually reach the river. This lush, green area is the home of mostly docile prey. Animals like Shalebacks and Rabbits are plentiful, yielding bone, meat and hide when harvested after killing them. Hide can be tanned to make leather, perfect for Crafting strong and tough Armor. See a few of the Creatures below.

Weapons, armor and shields
You'll need some survival gear and quick if you haven't already got it started. The basics are light clothing otherwise known as Coarse gear ( Coarse Tunic,  Coarse Handwraps,  Coarse Leggings and  Coarse Footwraps ), which you can make with some pretty basic gathered Resources. This will protect you a bit against aggressive creatures and NPCs. If you get in too much of a fight the armor will degrade through use and you'll be bare again, so keep your stuff repaired.

To Craft your first weapons, you'll need the Warrior recipe which will unlock handcrafting of a Stone Sword (A blunt, brittle sword.) and a Wooden Shield (A rudimentary shield of loosely bound branches.) They're pretty basic, but they'll make do until you can make something better. They'll keep you pretty protected and you'll be able to take down most of the Creatures near to the River, and hopefully with your negotiation skills you'll be able to passively survive any other players. Leveling up will bring the Archer option which will give you the ability to craft a Hunting Bow and some Flinthead Arrows. Combine the arrows by dragging the Arrows icon into the Bow icon once you've crafted them to load it and you're ready to be a Hunter, for the glory of the hunt!

Religion, gods & their avatars
Choose to worship one of the gods and gain their favor as Religion options. Throughout the game, you'll have the option to worship any, all or none of the gods as you see fit. By choosing one of the various gods, you will start the game with the basic knowledge as an acolyte of their religion. Knowledge granted by following the gods will give you certain advantages. Right from the start you will be able to build an altar to your god, and from the altar you can craft your religious artifact and get access to some helpful Recipes. You gain favor for the gods in different ways. When you kill other players or human NPCs you use your religious artifact on their dead bodies.

Once you've gained favor, the Avatar of your religion is the ultimate expression of your religious fervor in the game. These huge creatures are the physical embodiment of the gods which appear for a very brief period. The avatars are also the ultimate tool for crushing your enemies in . Their incredibly powerful attacks smash anything in their path. No building, castle or wall can stand before them. Although their power is immense, the effort needed to summon an avatar is massive. Not only do you need to have constructed a tier three Altar, but you also need to have enslaved the right Thrall for your religion. These are monumental tasks and all the effort which has gone into them is consumed to summon an avatar.

Death, status effects & corruption
The Death system in Conan is quite similar to most hardcore survival games. Be prepared to die, as you will die. It happens, and most likely a lot. If and "when" you die, you lose all equipped Weapons all Tools as well as anything you are carrying, dropping your entire inventory. This might be different on some servers due to settings, though.

Many of the dark places in  are filled with corrupting magic. When you explore deep caves or ancient ruins such as the Unnamed City, the magic which still lingers there slowly corrupts you. When you fight magical creatures, such as demons or undead, their very presence spreads Corruption.

Corruption permanently reduces your maximum Health, and the more you are exposed to the corruption, the worse it gets. When corrupted, you need to spend time in the presence of Entertainer Thralls to remove it. Once the corruption has been removed, your maximum health will return to normal. Even though it is dangerous to seek out such dark places, they are often filled with valuable treasures or mystical Lore.

Guilds, clans & growing friendships
The desert is harsh enough to have additional players as Enemies. Work with your neighbors or friends to create a Guild and live in harmony, while punishing your enemies. Once you have created a guild you can invite others, or join other people's creations. In Early Access the system didn't allow for guild alliances, but once it's implemented, you can feel free to have handshake deals and other agreements. You'll want to keep an eye on fighting with other guild members, as friendly fire is on and you will take damage from wide swings of friendlies. In regards to guild building, Foundations and other Buildings allow for ownership of a certain radius, and if you're not part of the guild you wont be able to build on or close to their foundations.


 * To invite someone into your guild, stand next to the person looking at them, and hold which will send an invite to your guild.

Building and expansion
Buildings in  have 3 different Tiers of building supplies and materials. Each Tier increases the player's survivability and gives added protection against the weather, Thralls, Creatures and other players.


 * Tier 1 Buildings - Sandstone (Stone and Wood to build) - Damaging such buildings requires steel weaponry.
 * Tier 2 Buildings - Stonebrick (Bricks and Shaped Wood to build) - Undamagable by Weapons, need explosive items.
 * Tier 3 Buildings - Reinforced (Hardened Brick, Shaped Wood and Steel Reinforcement) - Undamagable by Weapons, need explosive items.

Building notes

 * Buildings also have a Foundation requirement. Any building uses a support system that needs to be supported by pillars or connected to a foundation in some way.
 * Equipping a Repair Hammer will show you the quality of your buildings, and will give you a chance to see the materials needed to fix. You can craft a Repair Hammer with your first building.

Servers & advanced topics
If you're wanting to get started playing through the Exiled Lands on your own server feel free to swing over to the dedicated server system requirements page, where you can read up on the requirements and get technical with setting up your own personal server. If you'd rather check out the dedicated server providers, there's also an option for that.

Once installed, the Admin Panel can be accessed in the game by pressing -  -  which will give access to a great variety of functions that admins will use in the game, from spawning Items to setting times of day, to cloaking etc. There are several additional Admin commands that can be run from the command line ( or  to open) which will probably be useful for day-to-day activities.