The content of this guide is a consolidation of all other guides and videos that I found useful. The main purpose of the guide is to make the beginning of the game less difficult. I have tried not to spoil any of the plot. If this guide makes things too easy for you then you can always handicap yourself by only using melee weapons or turning up the difficulty.

You are extremely weak at the start of the game, so having a companion will make your life a lot easier. Companions become stronger as you complete the main story, but by the end of the game they don't help very much.

Companions start with random weapons. You can pick their weapons by reading the comments section in this guide (see Light's comments). Elemental damage on a companion is very important because damage over time is very powerful. Caja is generally the best companion because she has elemental damage on both attacks. Falk or Arx are also good if they have flamethrowers. They can stun enemies and prevent trolls from throwing rocks.

Money is the only limiting factor in becoming powerful. You can use it to buy ingredients for Elex Drinks (explained later) and weapon upgrades. Sunglasses will highlight items through walls which ensures you don't miss any loot. The Adventurer's Amulet and Thief's Amulet will also help you make money.

Steal everything from cities. Pickpocket citizens, but don't bother pickpocketing worthless junk like cups and ammo. Wait until midnight when people are sleeping use CAPS LOCK to sneak. Do this in all major cities to make a lot of money. Later on you will need the Animal Trophies 3 ability to make tons of money from kills.

Sell everything labeled 'Junk', 'Valuable' and 'Trophy'. Some trophies are used in crafting, but you can always buy them if you need them. Some guides tell you to keep Old Coins to buy items from vending machines, but that's pointless.

Elex Drinks permanently increase your Attributes and Abilities. They also increase your Cold stat (explained later). Small Elex Drinks give experience points, but you should always combine them to make larger Elex drinks. Only use Small Elex Drinks if you want to quickly raise your Cold value for achievements/endings.

The recipes for Elex Drinks can be purchased from the Separatists in Abessa. The recipes require Natural Elex and Liquor. You can purchase an unlimited amount of these ingredients the Trader in the Camp in the Center in Abessa after you've unlocked him. He restocks his wares after every trade. Spend all of your money on Elex Drinks as soon as possible.

Your Cold stat is based on how logical or emotional you are during conversations. It determines which ending you get and 5 achievements you can earn. Try to lower your Cold as much as possible because you can always raise it by drinking Elex. You can reach 'purely emotional' even if you spend everything on Elex drinks as long as you choose Warm dialogue options.

I highly recommend installing Cold Dialogue Warnings[www.nexusmods.com]. This mod will help with Cold dialogue choices and earning achievements.

You begin the game with 50 Cold and cannot go below 0.
All Elex Drinks raise it by 0.1
Cold dialogue options raise it by 1.
Warm dialogue options lower it by 1.

Your Cold stat can be viewed from the character screen.

0: Purely Emotional
1-10: Expressive
11-20: Irrational
21-30: Spontaneous
31-40: Intuitive
41-59: Neutral
60-69: Dispassionate
70-79: Mellow
80-89: Logical
90-99: Ice Cold
100+: Synthetic

EMOTIONAL: 0-30 Cold
NEUTRAL: 31-69 Cold
LOGICAL: 70+ Cold

Most Legendary Weapons are useless. This is because they have higher attribute requirements than normal/crafted weapons. The only Legendary weapons worth using are: The Redeemer, The Mortal Beam, The Widowmaker, and Calaan's Bulwark. Sell the rest because they're worth a lot of money.

Legendary Locations Map[game-maps.com]

Elixers will permanently increase your Health, Stamina, and Mana/PSI/Stim capacity. The most important ones are Health/Stamina. You can craft them using King's Sorrels and Golden Whispers. These are unique plants that emit light during the night. The recipes for elixirs can be purchased from the Camp in the Center in Abessa after you've hired a Trader from Annie. However, they're pretty expensive so you can also find the recipes in the world.

Plant Locations Map

You should beat the game by level 40.
Health starts at 50 points and increases by 5 per level.
Health elixirs increase your health by 20. You can craft 6 health elixirs and find at least 1.
Stamina starts at 100 points.
Stamina elixirs increase your stamina by 20.
Each point of armor reduces damage taken by 1.

Gemstones are rare items that can be socketed into your weapons for bonuses. You need the Gemstone Socket ability in order to socket gems. There are 16 Small Gemstones of each color scattered across the world: red, blue, green, yellow, white. Small Gemstones can be combined to make larger ones that give better bonuses. Gemstones aren't very powerful, so I don't recommend hunting for them.

Locked safes can be opened with 4 digit codes. At least half of the codes can be found in notes or painted on walls near each safe. The rest can be obtained by using the Hack ability. You can also look up the codes in the image below.

Safe Code Map

Poison and Radiation environments often contain unique loot. The best way to traverse these areas is by boosting your resistances with Stims and equipment. Most of the equipment can be purchased from the Goods Trader at The Fort in Tavar. Increasing your maximum health with elixirs also helps.


Conversations will often have skill checks. These usually give you 25 XP and save you money. You can temporarily improve these skills with Amulets (+2 to skill) and Chems (+5 to skill).


You can earn all of the achievements in a single playthrough. Reduce your Cold as much as possible throughout the game until you get the 'Human' achievement and then raise your Cold back up to Spontaneous. This will save you time and money for the ending achivements. Complete most of the side missions and save before joining a faction. Make sure to have a stockpile of Natural Elex and Elexit. You need enough to unlock every ability. See this guide for achievement requirements.

You can also download these save files for most of the achievements:
(1)[www.nexusmods.com]
(2)[www.nexusmods.com]

You can use the Interactive Map[guides4gamers.com] to help find any items in this guide. Make sure to pick up the Adventurer's Amulet just after the first cutscene. You can also loot the Ring of Vigor by climbing the the building near the beginning of the game. Keep going until you get the Jetpack and reach Goliet with Duras.

Your first goal should be to reach The Domed City and Separatists in Abessa. This gives you access to Elex drinks, most of the world, and the main story. You will also pick up a companion and some extremely important items along the way. Follow the path in the image below by creating waypoints on your map. Make sure to avoid enemies by running (SHIFT) and using your jetpack.

This is a recommended early game build. Read the 'Making Money' section to understand why I picked these skills. Elex Drinks are how you level up in this game. Money is required to craft them. To make money you need to lockpick and pickpocket everything in cities at the start of the game. Let your companion do most of the fighting for you. Use the Adventurer's Amulet, Thief's Amulet, and Sunglasses to make sure you loot everything. After this you will need Animal Trophies for money from kills. Finally, get some combat skills when you've leveled up enough to do damage.

STR 43
CON 30
DEX 50
INT 55
CUN 10-15

The skills are listed in the order that you want to obtain them, so level up your attributes accordingly. See this guide for more details.

Skills:

Lock Picking 2
Chemistry
Attribute
Pickpocket 1 (optional)
Hack 1 (optional)
Animal Trophies 3
Melee Weapons 1
Ranged Weapons 2
Armor 1
Extra Hit Points
Stamina 1
Attack Strength 1
Modify Weapons

I recommend obtaining the Dualskill Amulet (1) (2) and the Dualskill Ring. These will allow you to wear stronger weapons much earlier.

Once you join a faction you can craft equal or better melee weapons than those listed below. One-handed weapons are preferred because they deal more damage quicker. Two-handed weapons are mainly useful for stunning larger enemies that have slow attacks.


I recommend bows as your primary ranged weapon. Bows use cheap ammo and deal high damage, but they're inaccurate and have a slow firing rate. Only upgrade the War Bow because upgrades are expensive and the other ranged weapons have a better Legendary variant.

Your mid game gear should consist of Faction armor and upgraded Faction melee weapons. Faction weapons can be upgraded into elemental weapons using High-Tech Weaponsmith, Low-Tech Weaponsmith, and Enchanting skills.

Weapons are listed in descending order from best to worst.

Skills:

*PSI Amplifier
*Black Hole PSI Emitter
One with the Weapon
High-Tech Weaponsmith
One Man Army
Power Shield

Skills:

*Magical Fist of Fire
Scatter Shot
Aspect of the Warrior Spell
Enchant Weapon
Leather Skin Spell
Blood Transfer Spell

Skills:

Low-Tech Weaponsmith
Chem Capacity
Mind Changer Stim
Pick-me-up Stim

The achievements require 85-90 in each attribute and all abilities.

STR 85
CON 60
DEX 85
INT 65
CUN 60

Skills:

Lock Picking 3
Chemistry
Attribute
Attribute Points 2
Animal Trophies 3
Melee Weapons 3
Ranged Weapons 3
Armor 2
Extra Hit Points
Stamina 2
Attack Strength 2
Modify Weapons
Haggler 2
Mutant Killer
Machine Killer
Goldsmith
Hack 3
Heavy Punch 2
Poison Resistance 2
Radiation Resistance 2

Sunglasses
Faction Armor (Regent/Paladin/Captain)
There are two other armors in the game that can be obtained at the last boss.