Okay first make your character and complete the little intro section, there's nothing much to this section and you don't need to worry about the 'legacy' option in the character creation screen.Just make whoever, accept that your bloodline is dishonoured and wake up from your ship crash. Just grab a torch and some clothing and then follow the coastline until you reach a small camp with Yzan. Chat with the colourful guy and then get some well deserved sleep to wake up in Cierzo! Here is your house and, if you went outside by now, you'll know you're 5 days away from losing it. But don't worry, despite it being your first mission its not too hard to complete.

Either way first step is to gear up, you start with 27 silver in your pocket and that will be needed for something soon. Your house is full of a decent amount of food and some essentials; like the flint and steel, improvised bedroll and the old lantern. In each player home there is also a stash and a kitchen, the stash allowing you to store gear and the kitchen allowing you to cook food using up to 4 ingredients. Don't worry about your blood tax payments right now as you'll need to get adventure ready. Using your map (M or D-Pad Right) in town you can see all of Cierzo including stores and key people. Get used to using maps without player markers as most of this game is travelling and understanding where you are based off the landmarks around you and the roads you've travelled, just like an actual map! You may want to have a little look around town first and speak to the people you find on the map, but I'll be skipping right to the gatekeeper Burac.
Burac says that before he will let us out we need at least a weapon, a waterskin and a proper backpack. Yeah your primitive satchel just wont cut it so thank Elatt you started with that smidge of silver. You'll want to go to Shopkeeper Doran and buy yourself a Nomad Backpack.If you equipped the other satchel you'll want to drop it (B or D-Pad Up) and then open it on the floor to loot the Nomad Backpack out of it, then go into your inventory (I or Select Button) and equip the Nomad Backpack. When that good backpack is equipped you can quick loot everything out of your Primitive Satchel to have it go right into your new one!


Next is a weapon, now there are plenty of weapon types in outward and there is almost one of every type laying around in Cierzo. For this guide I'm going to be using a One Handed sword.
The sword I'm going to use is the Machete that can be found stuck in a fish drying rack on the beach, around near where Yzan can be found. Right now these starting weapons are basically useless as the first enemies we find will be way more powerful than what the farming weapons can deal with. Now that you have a way to defend yourself grab the waterskin and a drink of fresh water from the purifier (also found North of where Yzan stands) and head back to the gate to have Burac let you into Chersonese. Now you're into it!

Now you're into the open world of Chersonese the best piece of advice I could give is don't run until you need to. Running / using stamina and getting hurt will leave your two stamina and health bars all burnt. Burned stamina and health reduce how much max of each stat you can have. So running about will leave you all tired and with little stamina for when you need to fight or run away from the random group of bandits that noticed you. Having the patience for this game is the biggest barrier for actually getting deep into the world and exploring everything there is to offer here.

I would also straight up recommend just not fighting anything, right now you have no armour and weaker weapons than the brigands who roam around the area. Its not worth the risk to fight anything when you are completely unprepared. So you'll want to go right back into Cierzo and look for a door poking out of the mountain under where your lighthouse is located.Through here is Cierzo storage, and its where you can find a few more basic supplies if you're playing multiplayer. With the Nomad Backpack you may have also noticed that your lantern is hanging from the back, you can turn it on or off (V or D-Pad Left) and that also applies to your torch if you still have it in your hand. Your weapon can also be sheathed and prepared (Z or D-Pad Down).

Here in the storage room you can find, as well as another full set of essentials, a recipe and what's called a 'junk pile'. These piles are found in most dungeons and act as a random loot spawner, giving you some random items based on a loot table for your location.
This one contained some linen scrap that can be crafted into bandages to be used for slow health regeneration and to stop bleeding, IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY BANDAGES GO AND BUY SOME FROM THE HELMI THE ALCHEMIST IN CIERZO. To craft you can press O or open the inventory and use the bumper buttons on a controller to find the crafting menu. Now looking to the left of the junk pile you can see an opening in the wall with a pickaxe lodged in a rock, this is another very important item you should keep on you. However not only does this lead to a small cave but also two Troglodytes or 'Trogs' that will be our first enemies. Before heading in test how your weapon swings a bit, every main hand weapon having two different attacks that can combo into each other and a block. Light attack (Left Mouse or A) a heavy attack (Scrollwheel Press or X) and a quick weapon block (Right Mouse or Right Bumper). Note when blocking the white bar at the bottom of screen turns an orange colour, this bar is your impact resistance.
Every enemy attack does flat impact damage and enough damage to your white bar will knock you over but you can also do this to every enemy and sometimes higher impact is better than doing higher flat damage. When blocking the orange bar is how much impact you can block, shields of course blocking a lot more impact than just holding up a weapon. However if your orange bar is broken you'll drop your guard and be staggered but not completely knocked over. Blocking also completely negates all physical damage no matter what you're blocking with however only shields will block magic and ranged attacks. There is also a dodge (Space or Left Bumper) that uses a lot of stamina but gets you out of the face of danger. However your dodge will be hampered by having a large backpack, like your Nomad Backpack, dropping the backpack will remove this effect. Also don't worry about losing your backpack, falling in battle brings you back to life later with your backpack at your feet and when it's dropped you can see a small indicator on your compass to where your dropped backpack is. Finally you can also lock-on to enemies (Tab or Left Stick) to keep them in your sights.

But that's a lot to remember, just playing and understanding will be better than reading any guide, the Trogs in the cave are extremely slow but do hit hard for how early they are in the game. Just be careful and try and take on one at a time.

Whether the Trogs are dead or not you're looking for a ramp down in that cave, if the Trogs are defeated you can take your time but if not just have a look around for the ramp down with a sign at the bottom. Then go down the small drop and head out the exit. Now you're back in Chersonese or the open world!




































You've been kicked out at this red circle and the large ornate symbol on the map is Cierzo, the same symbol being used in every open world location to indicate a main town. While here we want to get a 'Tribal Favour' from a man who's incapacitated on the beach, the whole time avoiding the big Mantis Shrimp, use sneaking (Ctrl or B). Follow the coast on the right until you find Michael and give him one of the bandages you bought or crafted to receive a Tribal Favour, this is used to pay off your blood debt.

Now head back towards the exit to the Trog cave, but instead of going in, take a right and go up the mountain path. If you're confident in your own ability to get back to Cierzo head back there but I'll help in this guide right now. Here on this path I found a Pearlbird, a neutral enemy that only attacks when close. Most enemies right now should really be avoided until better weapons are obtained. Going up this path, there will also be a hollowed out tree.
Similar to junk piles these trees appear in the open world and give random loot based on the location you are in. Here I got a plank shield and some different teas that I will explain the use of later. Either way just follow the path left and everntually you will make it back to Cierzo.

When back you'll want to go and show the tribal favour to Rissa in the town hall, to the left and up a hill to where you come in from the gate. Offer her the Tribal Favour and then bang, debt paid, house saved and everyone is leaving... Chat with Oliele and Yzan (Don't mug Yzan, seriously), then back to Rissa and you'll have the entire game laid out for you. Factions to join, places to go and Rissa gave you the travel supplies to head to your first location.

So now that you're not on a timer and have the whole world open to you there's a few things you should get to thinking about. That being; What classes do you want? Do you want mana? And what equipment do you want?

First I'll describe how the classes work, in Cierzo you may have found Eto the Kazite Spellblade trainer. If you ask to train with him a menu will appear with a bunch of options showing skills and passives that you can buy.
The class menu has a lot of little icons, the few at the bottom are skills and passives that can just be bought. They usually are fairly cheap and can be used even if you don't go further into the class. Then there is the point in the middle with the chains on either side, this is the breakthrough and is what defines you as picking that class. To unlock this you need to use a breakthrough point (The broken chain link currency in the top right of the image) everyone gets 3, you can't take them back after spending but they unlock the advanced class skills above the breakthrough passive. Now as said the skills above the breakthrough can only be bought after the class has been chosen and this is where you choose your speciality. If two skills are on the same vertical level then you can only pick one. For example in the Kazite Spellblade tree the two skills right above the breakthrough are called Infuse Fire and Infuse Frost.
Because these skills are on the same vertical level and after the breakthrough point only one or the other can be picked. Its also important here to look at the skill cost before buying them, as you can see from the Infuse Frost skill it requires 15 Mana and the Cool Boon active before it can be used. So even if you had the money right now we have no way to apply the Cool Boon buff or have the Mana to even cast the spell.
I watched this SheenShots video to help me decide my classes the first playthrough https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0yEFFhVnh4 It goes through all the classes and explains them a lot better than I could.

Now I'll talk about Mana, you don't have it yet. If you plan on using any kind of magic or even some of just the specific weapon skills you're going to need it. To get Mana you're going to need to go to a Ley Line and sacrifice some health and stamina for some of the special magic blue bar. I'll show you how to get there. First get your prep all sorted, you'll want plenty of bandages and healing potions. Possibly better weapons and armour from Loud-Hammer Blacksmith and some food and a full waterskin (Maybe 2). If you need some money and don't want to part with your looted junk, find Helen in Cierzo and she'll have a quest for you that's fairly easy and full of loot to pickup. If you've got burnt stamina and health be sure to sleep in your house in Cierzo too, your beds here not only fill your hunger and thirst but also recover a lot of burned basic stats. If you drop your backpack before sleeping for some reason it also prevents foods and ingredients from rotting. Your sleeping bag can also be put down anywhere but doesn't protect from weather neither does restore hunger and thirst. Also sleeping in the open leaves you open to attack so be sure to guard for a few hours or put your sleeping bag in a group of butterflies, just trust me there it prevents ambush.

Now we're going to head towards this mountain!
We need to head for this blue marked entrance to the mountain, any of them will work but this one is my favourite because its the fastest. You're looking for The Holy Mission's Conflux Path, a door in the mountain with yellow flags either side of it. This is a dangerous dungeon so absolutely do not try and fight anything here. Chat to Zephyrien and he'll offer to help you reach the Ley Line, he's just cannon fodder while you hit each of the levers in this dungeon. Going through the door Zephyrien is next to, directly right in an alcove is lever one. Then running back out and going the opposite side you ran (Left i you're coming out of the Zephyrien door) there is a room with some Trogs and another lever. Coming back up you will want to go left and look for another alcove left of the big statue thing. In there is where the last lever is. Come back out, go to the right side of the big statue and through the door into the Conflux Chamber. This is difficult I wont lie but really no worries if you don't get it first time.

Now just loot whatever and go right into the room with the big crystal thing (Ignoring the ramp down). that's the Ley Line!
Head up here to the first watcher and waltz right past him to interact with the Ley Line and get your mana. You can't go back on how much mana you give yourself but you can always add more by coming back or using another Ley Line. I gave myself a fair 60 mana, sacrificing 15 health and stamina. When gaining any mana you get the spell Spark, a fairly weak spell on its own but as with most spells in this game, when combined with other spells allows for high damage combos! If you gained mana, when walking away from the Ley Line the first watcher will offer you one of two spells; Fire Sigil or Reveal Soul. I prefer Fire Sigil as it allows for you to cast fireballs when the using spark within the placed sigil, however Reveal soul allows you to regenerate mana when used on a body and then sparked. If you need to make some fire stones for the Fire Sigil spell you can craft them with a mana stone and oil you can loot from the Trogs. Also be sure to chat with everyone here, some Watchers offer boons and more spells and there is even a store for decent items and ingredients. I'd recommend getting the Scholar Circlet for the 10% mana cost reduction and cooldown reduction.

Now before moving on there is a very useful item at the top of the mountain, it's just a rusted sword but it inflicts magical vulnerability and deals a fair amount of damage for early game. I grabbed that before heading onto the Enmerkar Forest travel point. You can see this by looking for the arrows on the Chersonese map. Near this location is a crashed ship with a chest.
When interacting with the chest make sure to look for secret panels and then push in the Moon, and then the Star. Just nets you a small bit of loot and a dagger if you need a decent one. Now moving on to the next area costs 3 Travel Rations. You should have got them from Rissa so if you didn't eat or sell them you can travel to Enmerkar Forest.

Now welcome to the grind, Burg and Enmerkar Forest will be where you make the most of your money. Now I will mention that you shouldn't join any of the faction just yet, you should get yourself horror weapons and some armour and then head back to Chersonese to deal with the people in Vendavel Fortress. So that's the plan right now!

You start in the top left of the Enmerkar map and want to head to Burg, so just follow the road to the Abandoned Docks and head into the city. Watch out for ghosts and deer, they don't seem the strongest but without good armour, or proper ways to defend yourself you'll get messed up bad. So now you're in Burg, sell stuff and explore a bit. There are more traders here and more trainers. Before heading out I would recommend getting as many Endurance, Health and Sanctifier potions as you can.

These restore stamina and health but the Sanctifier potions remove some corruption. Corruption builds up when standing in the green smog areas and after a while will put effects on you that will reduce your lightning resistance and increase how fast your hunger depletes. It's not good, especially when the wiki doesn't say merchants sell the potions that remove it and you spend the next 12 real life days trying to get to a random location and kill an end game enemy because that's how you make the potions... Yeah, you can just buy the potions at most alchemists... Anywhoo grab all you can and also get a bigger backpack, like the Prospector Backpack from Shopkeeper Pleel in Burg. While you're still in town I'd recommend having a nap too, you can setup your sleeping bag in town as well as a campfire if you need to cook anything. Campfires are made from wood that you can collect from trees everywhere, and then crafted into a campfire kit. However campfires only have a single cooking slot, from most general shopkeepers you can buy cooking pots and from most alchemists you can buy an alchemy kit. These can be put over your setup campfire to have a portable kitchen and the ability to craft potions and varnishes. Also speaking of varnishes, there are weapon buffs that can be applied to every main hand weapon! These include rags and varnishes, as far as I'm aware there are rags for only fire, ice and electric damage however varnishes cover every kind of non-physical damage such as ethereal and decay. Before leaving Burg check if anyone is selling fire rags or just make your own with some thick oil and linen cloth, you'll be needing these for the long run we are about to do.

Finally make sure you have around 30-60 weight free in your backpack and a pickaxe at the ready (there is a free one in Burg near the wall behind where the alchemist stands). We need a whole list of items; horror chitin, palladium scrap, occult remains, predator bones and linen cloth. I'll go over how we get all these things so I hope you're good with maps.
So you want to make your way to the Forest Hives at the yellow arrow, you don't want to go into it but we're looking for the enemy called the Hive Men around the location. I should also mention all the blue arrows, these are Palladium ore veins. Go to all of these blue arrows on your way to the locations and pickup the ore here with your pickaxe. Back to the Forest Hives, you will want to use your fire rags when fighting the Hive Men and completely avoid the hulking Hive Lords. These enemies drop occult scrap and you will want to get 4 of them. If you catch the Hive Infestation you can cook and eat Crabeye seeds you can forage and then take an antidote so your health doesn't get demolished. Now that you have all the occult scrap you could need head to The Cabal of Wind Temple, I'd recommend avoiding the the little horror dog things as their decay damage ranged attacks will hurt a lot if you don't have the proper defence. Also when heading up the stairs watch out for the Immaculate (The tall wood robot) its fairly fast but if you just run past it and enter through the big hole in the floor you'll be fine.

Now you're in this place, get used to it. You'll immediately notice a lever on the balcony, pulling this causes a big light explosion down in the main room. Not only does this instantly kill all enemies in it but also doesn't harm you / anyone with you. So if you're with a friend this is even easier but what you have to do is lure all the big guys into that main room and blow them to pieces, the big guys you're looking for look like the one that is already down there. Absolutely do not get hit by them, your first ever death in this location doesn't matter and it even starts a new quest line but its not worth the risk right now. So send your unfortunate friend through the right side (from the entrance) of green corruption smog (or go through yourself), head down the ramp and then go right of that door. Plenty of enemies will be chasing you but luring them into the main chamber and then circling around them to close the gate with them in the room will allow you to go back up the stairs and pull the lever. One of the Shell Horrors are down that corridor and then the other two are through the gate that is opposite the lever balcony (One on the ground floor, another on the upper floor). After they are dealt with be sure to loot their Horror Chitin, Ammolite and Ghost Eyes. The little horror dogs also drop Predator Bones so be sure to grab around 8 of them. Finally in this location there is whats called a mini-boss, it looks like a much larger version of the horror dogs. Kill that with the light blast and it will drop an extremely rare crafting material that you can identify by the red background of the item.

Anyways with all of the Shell Horrors and mini-boss dead the mystery light door will open right up, revealing your maybe first Ornate Chest and a legendary weapon, The Thrice-Wrought Halberd!
These Ornate Chests will be your life blood, they restock every 7 days you're not in that specific location and give you very rare items depending on your area. I got myself a nice Marble Morningstar (A one handed mace) and the rest of the stuff I will sell. And now that we're stocked up, and probably over carry capacity, head straight back to Burg with the goodies!

Now its crafting time!
With all these materials you can make 4 two-handed horror weapons, to do this also go to Quikiza the blacksmith and buy those two-handed weapons. If the weapon you are using is one-handed you only need one Predator Bone in the first recipe I'll show you, however the one-handed and off-hand weapons sell for a lot less than the two-handed. Buy the Iron Claymore, Iron Greataxe, Iron Halberd and the Iron Spear from Quikiza. Then go to your crafting menu and put them into the slots like this with the Predator Bones and Linen Cloth, do that for all the Iron weapons to turn them into Fang Weapons!
Don't forget if its one-handed or off-handed its only one predator bone and then the linen scrap. Now that you have four Fang Weapons you can put them into the crafting menu with your Horror Chitin, Occult Remains and Palladium Scrap.















Even if this weapon is one-handed or off-handed its still the same recipe here. These weapons will most likely carry you into mid-faction quests or until you get a nice legendary but they also sell for an absolute truckload of silver. Here in Burg they should sell for 750s a piece!

So now I'm sure you can defend yourself you may want to get to looking towards getting a few class skills and travelling to the different regions. Right now I'd still avoid the Antique Plateau and Caldera, there is some great loot here but they are more end to mid game regions that need a lot more preparation for. Personally I would recommend the Abrassar desert where Yzan has gone, if you haven't sold your Horror Weapons yet they are sold for an extra 1.2x more in Levant!

However it will be hard to get to the city, the entire desert is very hot so you will need good heat resistant gear that is kind of only sold actually in Levant... So if you're going there be sure to stock up on Cool Potions or use your a Cool Boon spell. Travelling at night also nullifies the heat but then you need to deal with the colder temperatures. You can also see temperature resistances on the gear screen that appears in your inventory, some heavier armours are more receptive to heat so you will overheat quicker. I'm going to head here to get the Entomber set from Smooth the Tailor, its fairly light and has decent resistances. Not the best if you're going to be tanking hits from most enemies but it increases movement speed and reduces stamina cost form running and attacks. Also in Levant are multiple specific backpacks, a protection backpack, a backpack that reduces the decay of foods / ingredients and a Trader Backpack that can hold a lot but slows the wearer down. As a food and ingredient hoarder I prefer the Alchemist Backpack. Using the remains of my Horror Weapon money I'm also going to buy some skills from the Mercenary and Rogue Engineer trainers here. Those being Fast Maintenance and Armour Training from Jaimon, (I also used one of my breakthrough points here for Swift Foot but you don't have to). And I bought Pressure Plate Training, Backstab and Oppourtunist Stab from Styx in the slums. Of course buy whatever skills fit your playstyle, don't be buying knife skills if you don't plan on using a dagger. Finally make sure to buy at least the Desert Tunic from Suul because its light enough to keep in your backpack and protects against a lot of heat.

You could also go to The Hallowed Marsh, this is where Monsoon the Holy City is located and where Oliele went to. This area is a bit of a step up from others due to its more violent wildlife and introduction to a lot of different ways to get damaged but if you made a stop for actual armour with decent physical and decay resistance you should be alright. In Monsoon you can get a lot of higher power items, for example Palladium armour and weapons that have an extreme amount of decay resistance but also provide electric damage that is extremely effective against the Jade and Scourge enemies. You could also get a lot of alchemy items here, health potions are just a Gravel Beetle and a Blood Mushroom combined with water in your alchemy bench.

Now you may be wondering about the other areas that I mentioned, the Antique Plateau and Caldera. Caldera is a endgame volcanic area with not much you can really do with at the stage we're at right now so it's best left alone unless you want the Primal Ritualist skills (That I honestly couldn't recommend more when playing multiplayer). However the Antique Plateau is a mid-game difficulty area where Harmattan is located. Harmattan is the city with the best merchants, best trainers and a secret 4th faction you could join (But don't do that yet). You can only get here by giving 200s and 3 travel rations to any of the Soroborean Caravanners you can find in every city. You also need that same stuff to leave the area so come here with plenty of silver. You have armour and weapon merchants that sell the stuff you could only get from Ornate Chests and blacksmiths that sell special Virgin Weapons, used for enchanting that I haven't even explained yet. Ella Lockwell in the College sells some very good magic skills and passives and the Hex Mage breakthrough of Bloodlust is a must have even if you are not planning a magic heavy build! Plus the merchant in the Collage's own Ley Line room sells health potions by the literal dozen!

Now that you've maybe explored a bit and built up somewhat pf a build, it's time for the real test. Joining any faction starts a 40 day timer in where the destruction of Cierzo will happen, so what you have to do is head to Vendavel Fortress in Chersonese before joining a faction and take down the 3 Warlords. This sounds like a very difficult task but with Horror Weapons and few skills and buffs it shouldn't be too hard!

So you wanna save Cierzo! Good for ya, head back to Chersonese and make sure you are stocked up. This is probably your first test of preparation, combat and endurance. I went in with around 10 heath potions, 12 bandages, 2 endurance potions and 3 discipline potions (These improve physical damage you deal). I kept the health potions and endurance potions in my pocket and on my hotbar so that when I dropped my backpack I could still use them quickly. I also came in with 5 pressure plates and the ghost eyes I kept from the Cabal of Wind Temple, putting the eyes in the pressure plates causes an ethereal explosion that the enemies here have no resistance to. Finally leave your silver, and non-combat essentials in your Cierzo chest and head to Vendavel Fortress that is south on your map.

Walking in nobody is hostile and to your left is the first warlord, Crock.
I setup my first pressure plate in the middle of this little room and then put a ghost eye in it. Chat with him and then say you're "Just passing by" and then when he offers to let you stay, say "I'll pass". This teleports you to tho side of the room opposite the door and makes Crock hostile, lure him into the mine and then lay into him with your Horror Weapon. Doing the same with the two guards who come to investigate after Crock is dead. Crock drops an extra 2 healing potions, and two keys. Grab them and then you can head deeper into the fortress. Make sure you are on full health after every fight and if you go below about 40% of your max health take a step back and setup your sleeping bag / tent in the fortress, it isn't safe s be sure to guard but you'll get back most of that max health and stamina.

Head directly south of the Crock room and you'll see a room with a bunch of pulleys, pull just the south-east one and the door to the Ornate Chest will open! Head out and right, down the stairs, and you'll be greeted by a lot of guards and some lightly armoured bandits. You most likely wont need to use a pressure plate here but don't worry if you have to. Opposite the stairs is the prison, there are two more guards in here. Heading down the corridor there will be an armoury left and more stairs up to the right. I put down 3 pressure plates at the bottom of the stairs as here is the second warlord Rospa. Go up the stairs to aggro the guards and lure them down the stairs, blow them up and finish off the stragglers.
Watch out for Rospa with the shield and the assassins with the bows, all hit like a truck and have a decent amount of health but with traps and your weapon you'll have them down in no time.

Going back to the ground floor (The level with the entrance and Crock), head up the stairs. There is an elevator here that when going up will reveal the final warlord, Balira. Neither her or her two guards will be aggressive yet so that gives you time to put the rest of your traps right in the middle of the room and use whatever varnishes / rags you have to buff your weapon.
Chat with Balira and start the fight, beware because she is a mage and will use very powerful ice spells to inflict slow on you. You can use the elevator to escape as nobody will follow you down, but just beat the mage with your powerful weapon and lure everyone into whatever traps you put in the room. With Balira dead you did it, seriously good job! Heading back to Cierzo nets you some higher level potions and a special key, unlocking a basement door to an Ornate Chest in the town hall and the large door in the Cierzo Storage room. While I'm on about that door, go to it and open it. Behind it should be whats called a 'Legacy Chest'. These give you the opportunity to leave an item for your next of kin, that's what the 'Legacy' option was in the character creation menu. Some items change when going to another character but that's nothing you need to worry about right now!

Now that Cierzo is safe you're free to go and join a faction! There are 4 factions, each with their own missions and rewards. Those being; The Holy Mission, The Heroic Kingdom, The Blue Chamber and Sorobor Academy. The factions in each region have most of their quests take place mainly in that region so you'll need to take into account how that might affect your build or the length of preparation you might need to do before taking on a questline.

The Holy Mission:
This is my favourite questline by far, you get to go to some of the coolest locations and spend most of your time in the swamp and the lovely city Monsoon. Its not a hard questline by a long shot and because of how much money you make just searching the swamp you're likely to always be stocked up on health potions and everything else you need. The Hallowed Marsh, I would say, is slightly more difficult enemy-wise compared to some other locations but with all the nice armours and damage resistance buffs you get from this questline its more than worth it! On top of all of that you get to make friends with all the other factions and get to help Oliele on quests! I would say this questline has the most 'content', not that the others don't, just there is more story and quest importance to this one. You learn plenty about the world and the corruption, and everything from why the desert is actually a desert to why God exists.

The Heroic Kingdom:
This questline is straight up the most difficult base-game faction... You join Yzan in Levant and pledge yourself to helping the city win the war against the Blue Chamber. You're pretty much solo for this questline, dealing with spies and saving Levant from starvation. Its not my favourite solely because it becomes a chore to travel, you need multiple armour sets so that you can actually move around the desert but also a decent set of armour so that fighting isn't just as much of a chore. With the right build I'm sure it would be fine but as anything in more than medium armour it's not going to be fun. The rewards however are pretty decent, attack damage up and removing the price surge in Levant. Plus some pretty nice armour (If you don't want to play in the desert anymore).

The Blue Chamber:
I've never actually completed The Blue Chamber questline, supposedly its alright. Nothing super special but by no account bad. I've just never been fully sold on joining Rissa to fight The Heroic Kingdom. The rewards look non-specific but alright, cool armour decent passives that give you more health and mana. But best of all is a lantern that gives you lots of damage resistances.
*(Now that I have completed this questline I've gotta say it's pretty good, if you're on a second playthrough or aint a fan of any of the Monsoon area then I'd reccomend checking this questline out.)

Sorobor Academy:
This questline came with the Sorobor DLC, however with Definative Edition you'll already have it. This questline is also just incredibly, incredibly difficult. There's no way around it, the enemies are extremely tanky and deal insanely high damage and you can barely go anywhere without a handful of Beast Golems trying to shred your ankles. I would absolutely NOT recommend this questline for your first one. If you need an example for how hard the actual quests are, one of the first (maybe second) quest involves you possibly facing off against the final boss of the other 3 questlines. *Ontop of all that the boss of the side quest is nearly impossible single player and if you don't have a perfect build you'll struggle and "fail" a lot of the main quests. I found a magic build with a focus on ethereal damage works pretty well but I was still finding myself struggling with resources and particularly enemy heavy dungeons, running out of varnish for my weapons and astral potions many times despite all my prep. I can say that if you are thinking of trying this questline it's really good, it has some of the best locations and quest rewards and the town of Harmattan is brilliant. The town has a lot of unique merchants that sell the rarest of goods, and if you play right by your silver, you can makeup for the harder enemies and more difficult dungeons by preparing better and having more tools on your toolbelt.

I'd say that's a full guide for everything a new player could need to know. I was going to go into enchanting and other mechanics like that but there are way better guides for that kind of stuff. So get out, go do some faction quests.

If you actually read through this full guide, thank you. It's my first time trying anything like this and I just compiled everything I learned from my like 120 hours of this game into a big text thingy. If there are any questions, idk... Message me or just like search it or something! There is a wiki but its a Fandom wiki so its about as useful as trying to learn enchanting in this game by smashing ♥♥♥♥ together.

*I've also added more information after completing the Blue Chamber and Soroborean factions quests for myself