Avowed Guide | Beginner Tips and Tricks

This Avowed Guide will teach you the basics of the game, explain the HUD, and give you a walkthrough for the first hour of your journey in The Living Lands. We'll help you create your character and survive Forth Northreach, but first, let's go over the HUD!

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Avowed HUD Explanation

1. Tracked Quest Objective: This shows the current objective for the Quest you're tracking in Avowed.
2. Objective Marker: Your current tracked Quest objective will always be shown on screen. This marker will either lead you to the objective itself or the doorway to the next zone toward your objective.
3. Companion Status: The status of your Companions is shown on the left side of the screen, just above your Health and Essence bars.
4. Potion Counters: This shows you how many Health Potions (top) and Essence Potions (bottom) you currently have in your inventory.
5. Buffs/Debuffs: Any buffs or debuffs you have (such as from cooked food) are shown above your health bar as circles with timers around them.
6. Health Bar: The standard representation of your health. To the right is a circle showing how much excess Health Regeneration you have saved up from food or other effects. If this drops to 0, you will get auto-revived with the "Second Wind" effect; a second depletion of the Health Bar means death.
7. Essence Bar: Essence fuels your magical spells, Godlike Abilities, and other special abilities. If it drops to 0, you will be unable to cast abilities dependent on Essence. As with the Health Bar, any overflow Essence Regeneration from food or other effects is shown in a circle to the right.
8. Stamina: Unlike some other games, Stamina is only really consumed when using melee attacks, blocking, or parrying. If your Stamina depletes to 0, you will be unable to use melee attacks or blocks. This bar disappears if your Stamina is full.
9. Throwable: Your currently equipped throwable and how much you have of that throwable is shown in the square to the left of the hotbar.
10. Hotbar: The Hotbar shows your currently-equipped Abilities as well as any Companion Abilities you have equipped.
11. Grimoire Spells: If you have a Grimoire equipped in your offhand, the available spells will be shown above your Hotbar. This will come to the foreground when you press the appropriate button (right-click, in this case), allowing you to select between them with 1–4 as long as you have enough Essence.
12. Ability Radial: The Ability Radial shows your abilities and those of your Companions. You can press 1–6 to assign Abilities to your hotbar from this menu.
13. Weapon Loadout: Switching between weapon loadouts will make this indicator appear on the bottom right of the screen for a short time.

Avowed Guide | Starter Guide Walkthrough

Now that we've explained the HUD, it's time to get moving on the Starter Guide Walkthrough portion of our Avowed Guide! As always, we'll help you get started with character creation and hold your hand through the first hour or so of the game.

Creating Your Character

There are three key parts to creating your character, but only one of them really matters. First, you'll have to choose your character's appearance. Keep in mind that you won't be able to change any of this later, so make sure you pick a style that you like!

Your next step is to pick your Background. This is a sort of archetype for your character. Your Background will give you a basic setup for your Attribute Points and some special dialogue, but it ultimately has no real tangible effect on the game as far as I can tell; it's mainly just for flavor and to give you a template for a build.

Finally, we get to the most important part: your Attribute Points. You will get 10 Attribute Points to spend in total, and you can put no more than 3 Attribute Points in each category.

The Attribute Points screen is fairly straightforward, so we won't rehash everything here. That said, you'll want to think about how you're going to play the game. For example, a spellcaster is going to want higher Intellect and a melee-focused fighter will want good Constitution in order to survive close combat.

Regardless of what you choose, you'll get additional Attribute Points naturally — a total of 15 additional Attribute Points by Level 25. You can get 2 additional permanent Attribute Points from training with each of your Companions, and you can get temporary Attribute Points through God Totems and buff foods.

When you're ready to go, finish your character and you'll enter the world of The Living Lands — although you won't be quite where you expected.

Arriving at Fort Northreach

Unfortunately, your trip did not go well — your ship ends up wrecked on the beaches of Fort Northreach. Speak with Garryck and he'll join you as a temporary Companion. Scour the beach for weapons, supplies, and healing potions, then equip a weapon and smash through the boarded-up wall.

You'll travel a short distance before you reach a small cliff with Xaurips below. Xaurips are basically lizard creatures, and every single one of them on this island is hostile. Get ready for your first fight!

Dive into battle and kill each of the Xaurips one at a time. Don't forget to dodge — you can avoid much more damage than blocking simply by getting out of the way.

Just past the first band of Xaurips is Fort Northreach proper. Head inside and you'll see a large number of dead soldiers. One of them has your first shield and the Fort Northreach Storage Key. Equip the shield, then backtrack to the Fort Northreach Storage to get some additional supplies for the fights ahead.

A note: Avowed is a game that rewards exploration. Loot can be found inside crates and tucked around corners. Any major loot will emit a constant, crystalline humming sound. Keep your eyes and ears open and you can get a lot of useful items that you might have otherwise missed if you simply sped through an area.

Exit the first section of the fort and you'll have another fight with a tougher group of Xaurips outside. Then, continue following the quest objective marker and head back inside Fort Northreach.

Meeting Ilora

The next section of Fort Northreach includes its prison, and these jail cells have one person still trapped inside. Ilora is a smuggler who was captured by the fort's garrison prior to the events that killed everyone.

It's up to you whether or not you decide to free Ilora, but it's a much better idea to let her out of her cell than leave her there — you can find out more about each of these choices in our "On Strange Shores" Quest Choice Guide. I strongly recommend that you free Ilora.

Climb up the rafters above the jail and you'll find a bow. Equip it as your secondary weapon, switch to it, and shoot the orange pod above the branches blocking the door. Then, break through the floor and you'll find the key to the jail. Let Ilora out and continue onward.

Fight or Flight

After freeing Ilora, the next outdoor section will have a large group of Xaurips. You can choose to crouch and use stealth to get past them, but it's better to fight them and get some extra XP.

This group of Xaurips is going to use more ranged attacks, so this is a good opportunity to learn how to use your bow and fight from a distance. You can pretty easily avoid their incoming attacks as long as you're paying attention.

Defeat the Xaurips, and you'll likely reach Level 2 — now it's time to make some more choices.

Leveling Up

Reaching Level 2 will give you an Attribute Point and an Ability Point. We already know about Attribute Points from character creation, so let's move on to talking about Ability Points.

As you might expect, Ability Points can be spent on Abilities in three trees: Fighter, Ranger, and Wizard. Each tree has level requirements for certain Abilities, and most Abilities require investment in earlier Abilities. Choose an Ability that best fits the style of play you're going for.

Later on, you'll be able to earn special Godlike Abilities depending on the choices you make. You'll also be able to select and upgrade Abilities for your Companions, but that won't apply until you make it out of Fort Northreach.

Don't worry too much about making the "wrong" decision — you can reset both your Attribute Points and your Ability Points at any time in the game for a small amount of money. This cost grows as you level up, but it's a relatively cheap 100 Skeyt at Level 2.

Burning More Brambles

Proceed ahead and you'll find a dead mage with a Grimoire. Grimoires let you cast spells while holding them in your Off-Hand. Equip it and cast Fan of Flames (the first spell) to burn away the brambles.

Another group of Xaurips is ahead. Don't engage them just yet — this is a good place to make a decision about how you want to play.

With all of the loot you've picked up, you essentially have four options for your Weapon Loadout (and, consequently, your playstyle):

1. Melee Weapon and a Shield
2. Melee Weapon and a Grimoire
3. Dual-Wield Melee Weapons
4. Bow and Arrow

You can equip two Weapon Loadouts at any one time. Generally speaking, it's good to have one melee Weapon Loadout and one ranged Weapon Loadout.

Decide what you'd like to use, then forge ahead and fight the next group of Xaurips.

Stopping Steadman Ralke

Some Godless Ruins are just ahead. A long-gone people called the Godless left mysterious ruins all over the Living Lands, and you'll have to pass through a small ancient structure. On the other side is your first true boss fight: Steadman Ralke.

Make sure to save your game, then talk to Steadman Ralke.

Unfortunately, it seems that it's not possible to talk your way out of this particular fight. In the future, though, you can potentially avoid fights through choices you make in quests or through skill checks against your Attribute Points.

Defeat Steadman Ralke, then explore the surrounding area. You can grab some loot in a nearby sarcophagus and a backpack up on a nearby ledge.

Voices in the Adra

Just past Steadman Ralke is a large green crystal called Adra. It calls out to you. Interact with it and you'll have a short conversation with The Voice, a mysterious entity that speaks to you.

Head past the Adra and you'll find Ilora's boat up ahead. Finish your conversation with Garryck and Ilora and you'll be able to head to the mainland.

Arriving at Dawnshore

The boat trip takes you to Dawnshore, the first major zone of Avowed. Upon arrival, you find that the Ambassador has disappeared into the wilderness with the "Claviger," a sort of local magistrate.

Garryck and Ilora will leave you here, but you'll get your first real Companion — Kai. Kai is a brawler with a strong focus on melee combat and he's searching for the Claviger.

From here, you are truly able to go wherever you want except for Paradis Hightown, the core of the city. You'll have to rescue the Ambassador before they let you into this section of the town.

Immediately to your left is a warehouse guarded by some thugs — you can find an item for a Side Quest in here. There are also a few small shops nearby. You can choose to speak with a woman named Dehengen to the right who is in need of some help. Finally, you can find a Unique Item in the Lighthouse to the west of Claviger's Landing.

Before you do any of these things, though, you should head directly north until you find your first Party Camp. This is represented by a large piece of Adra with a purple glow on it.

Setting Up Camp

Interact with the Adra and you'll set up your Party Camp. The Party Camp has eight core functions:

1. Companion Conversations: You can speak with your Companions and learn about the world of the Living Lands. After you've known them for a while, your Companions will offer you training that will permanently increase certain Attributes.
2. Equipment Upgrades: You can upgrade the quality of your equipment to higher levels and, eventually, higher tiers. You should save your Upgrade Materials for Unique Items.
3. Unique Weapon Enchanting: Unique Weapons have two Enchantments, and you can choose to augment one of those Enchantments or replace it with an alternate Enchantment.
4. Cooking: You can cook food into more complex meals, some of which can give you buffs.
5. Storage: You can access your stash at every Party Camp. You can only carry so much weight in the field, but you effectively have infinite storage in your Party Camp.
6. God Totems: You can collect one God Totem per zone and select one of the four to give you buffs, including bonuses to your Attribute Points as long as it's active. Each God Totem has 6 pieces in the world that you have to find — check out our guide for the Dawnshore God Totem to get started!
7. Change Companion Outfits: Premium Edition owners can select from several alternate outfits for each of their Companions.
8. Rest: Finally, you can sleep through the night to remove all debuffs and fully restore your Health and Essence.

You can fast-travel to a Party Camp from anywhere in the world as long as you're not in combat or otherwise blocked from fast-traveling. However, you can only fast-travel to a Party Camp once you've interacted with it manually one time. Now that we've done that, you can return to this particular Party Camp at any time if you need a break.

Once you're ready, exit the Party Camp. You'll exit right outside of this location, but in the future, you can return to wherever you fast-traveled from.

And that's the basics of Avowed! You have a clue to a new Unique Item in the Lighthouse, two potential Side Quests right at the dock, and an intriguing Main Story quest that will lead you deep into the woods. You're now equipped with the basic knowledge you need to begin your adventure — have fun, and check out our other guides below!

Is Avowed Multiplayer?

No, Avowed is not a multiplayer game.

What Happens When You Die in Avowed?

If you die in Avowed, you will rise again thanks to the "Second Wind" ability. This gives you a fighting chance if a battle doesn't quite go your way, but it also gives you a debuff for a few minutes. If you die while the Second Wind debuff is active, you're dead for good and you'll have to reload an older save.

Where is the Avowed Save File Location?

The Avowed Save File is located in:

C:\Users\USERNAME\Saved Games\Avowed

Where "USERNAME" is your Windows username.

What is the Maximum Level in Avowed?

We don't yet know the maximum level in Avowed, but we have had a character reach Level 28 after robust exploration of the core game. We estimate that the maximum Level will be around Level 30.

How Many Companions Can You Have in Avowed?

There are a total of 4 Companions in Avowed (Kai, Marius, Gianna, and Yatzli), but you can only bring 2 of these Companions with you at any one time.

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Thanks for checking out our Avowed Guide. Check out our other guides below!