Beginner Guide

Welcome to Of Ash and Steel

Of Ash and Steel is uncompromising in its difficulty, and your first several hours will likely be filled with deaths, setbacks, and harsh lessons. This guide aims to smooth out the steepest part of the learning curve by teaching you essential survival strategies, critical mechanics, and common mistakes to avoid. However, remember that discovery and experimentation are core to the experience—use this guide as a foundation, not a complete roadmap.

Immediate Priorities: First 30 Minutes

1. Find Basic Shelter

Your very first priority is locating or creating basic shelter before nightfall. Night in Of Ash and Steel is genuinely dangerous—visibility drops dramatically, temperatures plummet, and nocturnal predators become active. Spending your first night unprepared is almost certainly fatal.

Look for abandoned structures, caves, or overhangs where you can build a small campfire. The campfire serves multiple purposes: it provides warmth, light, a cooking station, and deters some weaker creatures. However, it also attracts attention from certain enemies, so choose your campsite location wisely—preferably somewhere with limited approach angles or natural barriers.

2. Gather Essential Resources

Before settling in for the night, spend daylight hours gathering critical materials. Your absolute essentials for the first night are:

• Firewood: Collect dry branches and logs. You'll need substantial fuel to keep your fire burning through the night.
• Tinder: Dried grass, bark, or cloth for starting fires reliably.
• Basic Weapon: Even a crude wooden club is better than your bare hands. Look for sturdy branches or craft a basic spear.
• Water Container: Find or craft a container for carrying water. Dehydration kills quickly.
• Food: Hunt small game, gather berries (carefully—some are poisonous), or loot abandoned camps.

3. Craft Basic Tools

Your starting inventory is minimal, so immediate crafting is essential. The crafting menu is accessible from your inventory, and early recipes require no special stations. Priority crafts for beginners:

• Stone Knife: Essential for harvesting animals, cutting rope, and crafting other items. Made from flint and a wooden handle.
• Wooden Spear: Your best early weapon, offering reach and decent damage. Can also be thrown in emergencies.
• Bandages: Craft from cloth scraps or plant fibers. Always carry several for emergency healing.
• Waterskin: Allows you to carry clean water for expeditions away from water sources.
• Torch: Absolutely critical for night exploration. Made from sticks, cloth, and animal fat or resin.

Understanding Core Mechanics

Survival Stats Explained

You must constantly monitor multiple vital statistics, each affecting your performance and survival:

• Health: Your life total. Damage from combat, falls, environmental hazards, or illness depletes health. Low health reduces maximum stamina. Restore health through rest, food, and medical items.
• Stamina: Consumed by physical actions—sprinting, jumping, attacking, blocking, dodging. Low stamina makes you vulnerable in combat and slows movement. Regenerates when resting, but regeneration rate is affected by hunger and fatigue.
• Hunger: Depletes constantly, faster when performing strenuous activities. Low hunger reduces stamina regeneration and eventually damages health. Different foods provide different satiation values.
• Thirst: Depletes faster than hunger. Critical thirst causes rapid health loss and severe debuffs. Only clean water is safe—drinking from contaminated sources risks dysentery.
• Temperature: Your body heat. Cold environments drain temperature, leading to hypothermia which slows movement and depletes stamina. Warmth comes from fires, warm clothing, and shelter.
• Fatigue: Increases the longer you stay awake. High fatigue reduces stamina, impairs vision, and slows stamina regeneration. Quality sleep in safe locations is essential for recovery.

Combat Fundamentals

Combat in Of Ash and Steel rewards caution and technique over aggression. Early in the game, you're fragile and weak—most enemies can kill you in just a few hits. Follow these principles:

• Manage Stamina First: Never deplete your stamina completely. Always reserve enough for defensive actions. Getting caught with zero stamina is the most common cause of death for beginners.
• Learn Attack Patterns: Every enemy has telegraphed attacks. Watch enemy movements before engaging. Notice their wind-ups, recovery times, and vulnerable moments after attacks.
• Use Terrain: Fight near chokepoints, use obstacles to separate multiple enemies, position enemies so you fight them one at a time. The environment is your greatest ally.
• Know When to Retreat: There's no shame in running. If you're outnumbered, low on health, or facing an enemy you're not ready for, retreat and return when better prepared.
• Block and Dodge Appropriately: Blocking drains stamina but protects you from damage and staggers some attackers. Dodging consumes more stamina but avoids damage entirely and repositions you. Learn which to use when.

Resource Management Philosophy

Resources are genuinely scarce in Of Ash and Steel. You cannot afford wasteful behavior, especially early in the game. Adopt these habits:

• Save healing items for emergencies. Minor injuries can often wait until you find a safe place to rest.
• Don't engage every enemy. Ask yourself if the fight is worth the resources—weapon durability, arrows, healing, stamina food.
• Loot systematically. Empty containers, search bodies thoroughly, check corners and hidden areas. Resources you miss now won't be there later.
• Carry only what you need for your current expedition. Encumbrance slows you down and drains stamina faster.
• Establish stash locations. You can't carry everything, so create hidden supply caches in areas you frequent.

Early Game Strategy

Establishing Your First Base

Once you survive the first night, your next priority is establishing a more permanent base of operations. An ideal base location has:

• Access to fresh water—a stream, lake, or well nearby
• Proximity to resource-rich areas—forests for wood, rocks for minerals, wildlife for hunting
• Defensible position—elevated ground, limited entry points, natural barriers
• Shelter from weather—solid roof, protection from wind
• Strategic location—central to areas you plan to explore

Don't build in the absolute center of the map. You want your base somewhat hidden and away from high-traffic enemy patrol routes. Abandoned buildings can be claimed and fortified, often easier than building from scratch.

Skill Development Priorities

Your character improves skills through use, so be intentional about which skills you develop early:

• Primary Weapon Skill: Choose one weapon type and stick with it initially. Specialization is more effective than being mediocre with multiple weapons.
• Crafting Skills: Focus on one or two crafting disciplines early. Leatherworking or tailoring for armor, blacksmithing for weapons, or alchemy for consumables.
• Survival: Improves efficiency of resource gathering, reduces food/water consumption, and unlocks advanced survival techniques.
• Perception: Helps spot hidden enemies, detect traps, find hidden loot, and gather higher quality materials.

Exploration Strategy

Exploration in Of Ash and Steel is dangerous but rewarding. Follow these guidelines:

• Explore During Daytime: Night exploration should only be attempted when well-equipped with light sources and in groups if playing multiplayer.
• Create Landmarks: Mark significant locations in your memory or keep notes. Place markers or remember distinctive terrain features to aid navigation.
• Systematic Coverage: Explore methodically rather than wandering randomly. Clear areas section by section, ensuring you don't miss valuable resources.
• Retreat Routes: Always know your escape route. When entering a new area, immediately identify how you'll retreat if overwhelmed.
• Listen Carefully: Audio cues warn of nearby dangers. Enemy sounds, environmental noises, and the ambient music all provide information about threats.

Common Beginner Mistakes

Progression Milestones

Track your progress through these early-game milestones:

Week One Goals

• Establish a secure base with storage and crafting stations
• Craft a full set of basic leather or cloth armor
• Upgrade to metal weapons (at least an iron dagger or sword)
• Stockpile food and water for at least three in-game days
• Explore the immediate surrounding area and mark resource locations
• Reach level 5 in your primary weapon skill

Week Two Goals

• Upgrade to better armor (hardened leather or light chainmail)
• Establish reliable food and water production (farming, fishing, or hunting routes)
• Complete your first dungeon or major combat challenge
• Unlock advanced crafting recipes in your chosen specialization
• Expand explored territory to include at least three major regions
• Accumulate wealth for purchasing rare materials or recipes from merchants

Additional Resources

This guide covers the essentials, but Of Ash and Steel has much more depth to discover. Continue your learning with these specialized guides: