Necesse: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

Introduction – Why I'm Still Playing This Thing

Look, I've been playing games since I had to blow into cartridges to make them work. Necesse wasn't on my radar. I picked it up on a Steam sale because it was cheap and looked like a Terraria clone with extra steps. I was wrong, but not in the way you think. It is a Terraria clone. But it's also a top-down action RPG, a colony sim, a base defense game, and somehow a crafting grind that doesn't make me want to uninstall. I've got 400 hours in it. I've seen the early access grow from "janky mess" to "janky mess I can't stop playing." I've lost three separate runs to the Pirate Captain because I didn't respect the cannonballs. I've built a village that produces 2,000 gold per day and still gets eaten by wolves because I forgot to close the gate.

What makes Necesse special? It's the freedom. You can go full murderhobo, clear every dungeon, and ignore your settlers. Or you can play "Stardew Valley with shotguns" and farm carrots while your NPCs do all the fighting. Or you can min-max production lines like it's Factorio with swords. The game lets you do all of it, and it never holds your hand. The tutorial is basically "hit tree, don't die." Everything else you learn by getting killed. Sometimes ten times in a row. I love that. If you want a game that explains every mechanic with a popup, go play something else. If you want to figure out why your iron farm isn't working because the range on the crafting station is 12 tiles, not 15, welcome home.

I hate that the inventory system still makes me want to punch my monitor after 400 hours. I hate that you can't stack different quality levels of the same item in one slot. I hate that the Ancient Temple biome has enemies that can two-shot you even with post-dungeon gear. But I keep coming back. The dopamine hit of upgrading a sword from +4 to +5 and watching the numbers spike is real. So is the rage when it breaks at 97% success rate. This guide is me telling you everything I learned so you don't have to reload saves as much as I did.

Getting Started / First Steps – What I Wish I Knew

You spawn. You have a wooden pickaxe, a wooden sword, and a dream. Don't get attached to that dream because the first night will kill you if you're not careful. Here's the stuff the game doesn't tell you, that I had to learn by dying:

• Build a shelter before nightfall on Day 1. Not a house. A wooden box. 4 walls. A door. A torch. Enemies spawn at night and they WILL pathfind to you. I spent my first night hiding in a tree like a coward. That works, barely. Building a box takes 30 seconds. Do it.
• The workbench is your first priority. Chop 12 wood, build a workbench. Then build a furnace (8 stone, 4 wood). Smelt copper ore. You need 3 copper bars for a copper anvil. Now you can make actual weapons. I spent my first two hours with a wooden sword because I thought iron was next. Copper is step 1. Skip copper gear? Fine. But don't skip the anvil.
• Food is not optional. You have a hunger bar. When it's empty, you stop regenerating health. When it's been empty for a while, you start taking damage. I died to starvation while fighting a slime once. Embarrassing. Kill animals (deer, rabbits, boar) for raw meat. Cook it on a campfire. One campfire, 8 wood. Cook everything. Always carry 10+ cooked meat. I use boar meat (heals 30 health for 3 food) because it's efficient early game.
• Don't dig straight down. Yes, this is a Terraria-like. There are underground biomes with enemies that hit for 20+ damage when you have 40 HP. You will fall into a pit and get swarmed by cave spiders. Dig at a 45-degree angle. Or spiral staircases. I learned this when I fell into a Granite Cave and the enemies ate my inventory.
• The horse is a trap. You can buy a horse from the merchant for 50 gold. It feels like a fast travel cheat. It is. But the horse has 25 HP and dies in two hits from a bat. Then you're out 50 gold, walking home. Don't buy the horse until you have a stable and can breed them. I bought three horses before I built a stable. Two died. The third is still fast.

One more thing: talk to every NPC you find. The Merchant sells the Bed recipe. Beds set your spawn point. I didn't know that until I died a 10-minute walk from my base and had to jog back. That's 20 minutes I'll never get back.

Core Mechanics & Progression – How It Actually Works

Necesse has a weird progression curve. It's not linear. You don't go "forest, desert, ice." You go "forest, die, desert with forest gear, die again, ice with desert gear, somehow survive." The game is about tiers and biomes. Each biome has a tier of ore, a tier of enemy, and a boss. Here's the actual order, not the one I cobbled together from wiki pages:

• Tier 1: Forest & Underground. Copper, tin, iron. Boss: Pink Slime King. This guy has 500 HP and spawns smaller slimes. You can beat him with iron gear and a bow. Dodge the big slimes when they split. I tried to face-tank him and got overwhelmed. Use fire arrows (crafted with 8 arrows + 1 coal) for 20% more damage.
• Tier 2: Swamp & Desert. Silver, gold, platinum. Boss: Swamp Guardian (poison) or Sand Spirit (ranged). The Swamp Guardian is a pain because poison ignores armor. Bring antidotes (crafted with 3 mushrooms + 1 bottle). I didn't bring antidotes my first time and died with 200 HP because the poison ticked for 8 damage per second for 15 seconds. That's 120 total damage from one hit.
• Tier 3: Snow & Dungeon. Mythril, orichalcum. Boss: Ice Queen. She has 2,500 HP and summons ice spikes. Fire weapons are crucial. The Flamethrower (if you find it in the dungeon) does 45 base DPS but ramps to 120 after 3 seconds of continuous fire. I used a mythril sword the first time and got frozen solid. She hits for 40 damage per ice shard. You need 500+ HP and 30+ defense.
• Tier 4: Ancient Temple & Endgame. Luminite, evil shards. Boss: Ancient Guardian. This is where the game says "you should have built a village by now." He has 5,000 HP and a laser that does 100 damage. I've only beaten him twice. Use potion stacking (health, mana, regeneration, resistance) and minions from your settlers. Solo is possible but stupid.

The real progression isn't just gear. It's your village. As you recruit settlers (bring them beds and food, they join), you can assign them to jobs. Warriors follow you. Archers provide ranged support. Farmers grow food. Crafters produce gear. I ignored this my first playthrough. I thought "I'm a solo player, I don't need NPCs." Then I hit the Ice Queen and realized I couldn't heal fast enough because my food supply was garbage. A village of 5 farmers produces 100 food per day. A crafter with a mythril anvil gives you 10% better gear quality for free. That's the difference between dying in three hits and dying in four.

Gear quality is a hidden stat. Every weapon and armor has a modifier: Broken, Normal, Fine, Masterful. Masterful gear has 20% more damage and 15% more durability. You can reroll quality with the Enchanter NPC (requires 5 gold per roll). I rerolled my Titan Sword twelve times before I got Masterful. It hurt my wallet. It was worth it.

Expert Tips & Tricks – The Good Stuff

You've got your iron gear. You've built a wooden box. Congratulations, you're ready for the real game. Here are the things I wish I knew at hour 50, not hour 400:

• Rush the Titan Sword to +5 before you even touch side quests. The Titan Sword (crafted with 30 titanite bars from the desert) has 65 base damage and a 3-tile swing. At +5, it's 98 damage. It will carry you through the ice biome. Side quests give you gold and reputation, but gold is useless if you're dead. Weapon upgrades come from the Smithy (requires 5 iron bars, 3 coal, and 2 gold per +1). Don't stop at +3. Stop at +5 or when you run out of money.
• Build a mob farm early. Enemies drop gold, potions, and gear. A simple farm: dig a 10x10 room underground, put down spawner traps (crafted with 10 stone, 5 iron), and surround it with torches to prevent spawns outside. I built one near my base and I get 500 gold per hour from just walking near it. The Dark Bat spawners are the best for early gold because they drop 2-5 gold each.
• Potions stack, but only if you use them smartly. You can have one health, one mana, one regeneration, and one resistance potion active at once. Health and mana stack up to 3 uses if you drink them consecutively. But regeneration and resistance are timed buffs, not stacks. I used to chug five health potions in a fight and wonder why I ran out. Now I use regeneration potion before a boss, then health potions as needed. Saves inventory space and lives.
• The Mechanic NPC is your best friend. She sells conveyor belts, item sorters, and crafting stations that auto-process items. I've got a system where ore goes in one chest, bars come out the other. This saves me from manually crafting 500 bars. Set up conveyor belts from a furnace to a chest with an item sorter (filters by item type). It's a game-changer for production.
• Don't sleep on the boat. The boat costs 100 gold and requires 10 planks to build. It lets you explore islands. I ignored it for 200 hours because I thought "I can swim." You can swim for 5 seconds before you drown. The boat gives you access to palm trees (coconuts heal 40 food), sandstone (better building material), and pirate ships (endgame loot). The first time I crossed the ocean, I found a Mythril node on a small island. I was in iron gear. That skip saved me 10 hours.

One more thing about minions. You can have up to 5 from gear and 3 from the Summoner's Staff (crafted from 20 spider eyes and 10 gold bars). Minions are garbage early game (they do 5 damage and die to a breeze). But once you get Shadow Hounds (from the dungeon, 35 base damage), they become a wall of DPS. I've beaten the Ice Queen with just minions and running in circles. Don't ignore summons. They scale with summoner damage from rings and amulets.

Common Mistakes to Avoid – Don't Be Me

I've made every mistake in this game. Some of them multiple times. Here's what will kill you, frustrate you, or waste your time:

• Not upgrading your Armor. I wore iron armor through the swamp biome. Iron armor has 12 defense. Swamp enemies hit for 18 damage. That's 6 damage per hit after armor. I thought "I'm dodging, I'm fine." No. I died to the Swamp Guardian because poison ignores armor and the physical hits add up. Upgrade to Silver armor (defense 24) before the swamp. It takes 30 silver bars. It's worth the grind.
• Building a base too close to water. I built my first base next to a river. Looked nice. Then a flood event happened (rare, but happens). It destroyed my furnaces, my chests, and my morale. The game has events (flood, fire, tornado) that target your base. Build on high ground. Don't build near water. Also, walls don't stop floods. Only draining the area with moats and pumps works. I learned this when my iron farm became a swimming pool.
• Selling rare materials. I sold titanite dust early game because it was "worth 10 gold." Titanite dust is used to upgrade the Titan Sword to +5 and beyond. I had to farm the desert for 3 hours to get it back. Never sell materials unless you have 200+ in storage. Gold is easy to get later (mob farms, dungeons). Materials are not.
• Not protecting your settlers. Settlers can die permanently. If a warrior dies, you lose that gear and their skills. I lost a Master Crafter (who had 90% crafting speed) because I left the gate open and wolves got in. Build stone walls (minimum 3 blocks high). Place traps (spike traps do 35 damage) at entrance points. And never leave your settlers alone while exploring. They die in 3 hits to a swamp spider.
• Ignoring the map. The game has a map. Press M. I didn't use it for my first 50 hours. I got lost in the underground and spent an hour digging back up. The map shows you biome names, chest locations, and enemy spawns. Mark important spots (boss altars, ore veins). I now place waypoint flags (crafted with 5 wood) near every dungeon entrance. Saves so much time.
• Fighting bosses in the dark. Most bosses spawn in arenas with no light. I fought the Sand Spirit in pitch black and couldn't see its projectiles. It killed me in 20 seconds. Place torches or campfires around the arena before the fight. Light increases your movement speed by 5% (hidden bonus) and helps with dodging. I always bring 20 torches to a boss arena. Health potions are secondary to visibility.

FAQ – The Questions You'll Ask at 3 AM

• Q: How do I get more settlers?
  A: Build beds (recipe from Merchant). Place them in a room with a door and a torch. Then go explore. NPCs like Farmers, Merchants, and Explorers spawn in random locations. Talk to them and they'll ask to join if you have a free bed. I found my Master Crafter in the desert at a campsite. Check every house you see. Some are hostile, but most are neutral.
• Q: Why can't I upgrade my sword past +3?
  A: You need a higher-tier workbench. The Smithy only goes to +3. For +4 to +5, you need the Advanced Smithy (requires 10 iron, 5 silver, and a Mechanic). For +6 and above, you need the Mythril Anvil and enchantment scrolls (rare drops from the dungeon). I got my first scroll from the Ice Queen. They're not guaranteed, so farm her multiple times.
• Q: Is there a way to teleport?
  A: Yes. The Recall Potion (crafted with 5 gold, 3 mushrooms, and 1 bottle) teleports you to your bed. It has a 30-second cooldown. Late game, you can craft Waypoint Stones (requires 20 gold, 10 iron) that let you fast travel between places. I have 4 Waypoint Stones in different biomes. It cuts travel time by 80%.
• Q: What's the best early game weapon?
  A: The Iron Bow with fire arrows. You can craft it with 10 iron ingots and 5 wood. Fire arrows add 20% damage and a burn effect (3 DPS for 5 seconds). It outdamages the Iron Sword (base 18 vs 15) and keeps you at range. I used it until the Silver Crossbow (more damage, slower fire) in the swamp. Don't sleep on ranged damage early on.
• Q: Why do my crops keep dying?
  A: Crops need water within 4 tiles and sunlight (no roofs). They also get eaten by rabbits if you don't build a fence. I built a 10x10 farm with no fence and woke up to zero carrots. Build a wooden fence (1 block high) around your farm. And use fertilizer (crafted with 10 rot and 5 sand) to increase crop yield by 25%. Otherwise, you'll starve in winter.
• Q: Is the game easier with friends?
  A: Yes and no. Co-op means more enemies spawn (scaling to player count). But you can revive each other. I've done a duo run where one person tanks and the other DPS. It's faster for bosses. But the inventory management gets worse because now there's two people with hoarding habits. We once spent 20 minutes organizing chests. So it's a trade-off.

That's it. That's everything I wish I knew. Go build a box, kill some slimes, and don't die to the Ice Queen like I did three times. If you have more questions, hit me up in the community forums. Or check the Necesse Discord – those people have spreadsheets for everything. I'm still learning new tricks every run. That's why I play. See you in the Swamp.