This guide will show most important information for newbies.
Beginners Guide
Creating Your Character
Upon starting the game, players will be given the option to customize their character, from choosing the gender and various cosmetic options. And after that, players will get to choose their starting weapon from three options, a sword for melee combat, a bow for ranged attacks, and a staff for conjuring magical properties. Do not stress yourself out in this part and simply choose what you think is fit for your playstyle. Choosing your starting weapon simply means selecting your starting gear and skills, Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem does not have any classes and as you progress throughout the game, you'll have the freedom to build a character as you want it to be, from equipping of up to two different types of Weapons, discovering and equipping various Active Skills, and eventually choosing the path you want to take via the Gates of Fate (Passive Skills).
Aspects of Apocalypse
Aspects is a special combat mechanic of the game, during the prologue, you'll get to feel how this mechanic works in combat. Once you reach the end of Chapter 1, you'll be given the chance to unlock and choose your first Aspect. Activating an Aspect of Apocalypse transforms the player's character into a Primordial Being and allows the manifestation of both the being's form and abilities. So when you get to the point of selecting which Aspect you'll want, take your time, read the information on the four different aspects and its abilities to better understand which fits your playstyle. Press [F] to open the Aspects interface to learn more about it or to unlock a new Aspect, this can be switched at any time. Players will need to collect Primordial Essence and fill the PE meter by killing enemies, once it is full, press [R] to transform, the meter will start to deplete over time when you use Aspect Abilities or when you take damage. When it's fully depleted, you'll transform back into your human form - remember, use your Aspect wisely.
Learning Active Skills
In Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem, learning an Active Skill is quite different. Normally, in an ARPG, you choose a class, level up your character to obtain a Skill Point and spend it on unlocking the skill you want. But in this game, Active Skills that are mainly used in battle are unlocked or learned through using an Enneract. There are two ways to obtain an Enneract, it can be looted from killed enemies, found inside chests, while the other option is by purchasing it from a merchant named Demetra who can be found in Stormfall. It is a good practice that you always check in on Demetra's inventory since the items refresh daily, who knows, you might find a skill worth buying. Now, for an Active Skill to level up, it needs to be equipped and used OR spend Primordial Affinity and manually force it to level up. Primordial Affinity is an in-game currency that can be used to level up your Active Skills and to respec your Passive Skills. In order to obtain Primordial Affinity, if you're in Stormfall, you can sell it to Demtra and you'll be provided with PA, but if you're out in the field and you need to get rid of an Enneract that you've already learned, right-click on it to consume it, and it will instead provide you with Primordial Affinity.
The Gate of Fates
The Gate of Fates is the character progression of the game where players will be able to unlock various Passive Skills that will fully mold their character's overall effectiveness in combat and playstyle. Press [P] on your keyboard to open up The Gate of Fates, now, do not feel overwhelmed when you see the interface, you'll immediately notice that there seem to be three different colors, Red, Green, and Blue. To understand what that means, the blue nodes represent a path that focuses on strengthening magical properties, the red nodes focus on melee damage, while the green nodes are for range attacks and outputs. So, if you want to build your character's archetype as a mage, focus on unlocking Blue nodes. If you want to be a Rogue and specialize in long-range attacks, follow the path of the green nodes, and if you prefer to be a fighter who specializes in close-quarter combat or if you want to build a tank-type character, invest on unlocking the red nodes. Next, you'll also notice that there's a wheel at the left side of the interface, this means that your character can become a hybrid who specializes in different areas and have the complete freedom and control of which path you want your character to take. Once you start to choose your first passive skill, you'll start off with the inner circle, and eventually make your way to the second and third-tier (provided that you've met certain prerequisites) and you can rotate the wheels to change its path. Apart from that, you'll also notice that there are two types of nodes, the smaller nodes provide smaller buffs, while the larger nodes grant higher properties. So always look at the path of each node and read its properties to better understand and familiarize yourself with what path you want your character to take. If you make a mistake, you can respec your skill points with a price, and that is by using Primordial Affinity.
Farming Gold
Farming gold or money is easy in Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem. There is a chance that gold can be found inside barrels, boxes, coffins, vases, monster sacs, and more, all you have to do is break it. So make sure to break as much as things you want whenever you are exploring, it'll save you time to return to Stomrfall and sell any unwanted items. Another thing is to look out for an icon that has a golden ladybug on the mini-map. These are "Wealth Omens" that will appear from time to time, you'll need to constantly attack them for it to drop a significant amount of gold and make sure you follow it or it'll disappear when it is far away from you, successfully killing these critters will drop more gold along with some bonus item or equipment.
Fast Travel
If you need to return to Stormfall, you can use the Town Portal to travel back instead of opening your map and using a waypoint. Using a Town Portal will allow players to return back to the previous location, just make sure that you are in a safe spot and position since activating a Town Portal has a 4-5 second cast time. On the other hand, a Waypoint is considered a checkpoint that is usually found and unlocked for Fast Travel purposes. If you've unlocked a Waypoint, enter the World Map and click on the Waypoint you wish to go to and this will transport you to that location - using a Waypoint does not leave a portal.
Wolcen Builds for Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem are an arrangement of a character Skills and Equipment that define a specific set of playstyle or highlight a certain natural strength of character. Builds are created by users and as such their performance is varied, and should not be taken as a requirement or objective of the game.