If you're too lazy to read the rest, take note of AT LEAST the following:

1. Get the hookshot ASAP
   As soon as possible you wanna get the grappling hook, as it'll allow you to go up in buildings and mountains and whatnot. It is an absolute game changer. You can get it as part of the Trooper Class' starter inventory.
   
   
2. Start with a class that’s annoying to unlock later
   But, here's the kicker: DO NOT pick Trooper as your starting class. I'll talk about classes in a bit, but long story short you can unlock it and change to it pretty, PRETTY early on at the game (with Ghavouri, at the Griffin's Reach Tradepost in Hagga Basin South). Instead, start with a Mentat or Bene Gesserit, as their trainers are found way, way further on, behind some nasty difficulty spikes.
   
   
3. You can test both Houses before choosing
   At some point you'll have to pick a faction in the game. But both Atreides and Harkonnen let you run their early quest chains (up to mission 2) without locking you in. You’re free to dip your toes before picking a side.
   
   
4. Don't overdesign your first base
   More on Bases and Building in a bit, but for now... Just make it a 4x4 cube and go on with the game. You'll thank me later.
   
   And last, but not least...
   
   
5. Do the damn quests
   Especially early on. Doesn’t matter if it’s a fetch job, lore dump, or some dude asking you to recalibrate probes for the ffifth time. I know, we all wanna go out exploring and doing side hustles... But hear me out... These early campaign quests give you gear, spice, and a better grasp of what the game actually wants from you -which, frankly, isn’t always obvious. Treat them like training wheels. They fall off FAST.

Now, onto the bulk of the guide.

1. 2 easy ways down
   Don’t waste time looking for a safe slope every time you want to go down.
   - If you're mounted, feel free to yeet yourself off cliffs with your bike, it absorbs all fall damage.
   - If you're on foot, can jump and grab the slope wall to cancel fall damage, no matter the height.
   
   
2. Become the Tarzan of the canyons
   Speaking of grabbing slopes, consider unlocking and equipping both the Bene Gesserit airdash ability to reattach to walls while midair, and the Trooper's hookshot to reach them from a distance.
   
   
3. Probes get wiped by sandstorms
   No one tells you this, but sandstorms can and will erase your probe coverage. Expect to re-scan. It’s part of the loop. Don’t cry when your 98% zone drops to 60% overnight. Patched?
   
   
4. Hit the bar
   Almost every settlement or tradepost has a bar, and the barkeep sells 100ml shots of water for pocket change. It’s faster and cheaper than fiddling with purifiers.
   
   
5. Blood Sacks are your daily canteens
   Speaking of water... Until midgame~lategame, blood purifiers will be your main water source. Build at least 2 or 3 early on and keep a stash of Blood Sacks (4 or 5 minimum) (yup you can do that) to stay hydrated. Later, you’ll unlock Medium Blood Sacks, which hold more and save space. But in the early game? Blood Sacks are basically your water bottles.
   
   
6. Park your vehicle under cover
   There's no need to build a whole fortress at every corner just to protect you buggy. Just wedge it under a rock shelf or natural overhang and call it a day. Worms and griefers will still be a threat, but at least it won’t be nuked by a random event while you’re off looting and farming. Press "T" to check if your status is either sheltered or enclosed. Or...
   
   
7. Store your sand bike with the Vehicle Backup Tool
   Use the backup tool to store your vehicle whenever you dismount.
   
   
8. Research facilities are worth the detour
   These not just map clutter. Differently from other games (cough starfield cough cough) These places are actually pretty well designed and useful. They're gold mines for rare loot and unlocks, especially early game. If you find one near your base, congratulations - you’ve basically got a passive loot faucet.
   
   
9. Biomes can roast you
   Each biome has a heat level, and hydration loss scales fast. Heat Level 2 or 3 zones can kill you just for going AFK, especially if you don’t have proper gear. Don’t treat the environment like it’s just cosmetic... it’s not.
   
   
10. Solaris can be banked
    You can deposit your money at Harko Village or Arakeen. Just speak to the Ornithopter pilot at any Tradepost. Once in town, you can spend banked money with most vendors.
    
    
11. The Exchange lets players auction stuff
    The acution house on this game is at these same 2 towns, it's called "The Exchange".
    
    
12. How to pay for fast travel with banked money without withdrawing
    If you’re paying for a pilot trip, you can drop your money on the floor before paying, then pick it back up. Otherwise, the game drains your wallet before using your bank balance. But BE CAAAAAAAAAAAREFUL, on public servers floor-cash is public cash.
    
    
13. Shipwrecks are PvP hot zones
    If you see a crashed ship, don’t sprint in willy nilly. These areas flagged and swarming with PvP. On public servers, always scan the site first with binoculars. Dead NPCs = someone’s already there. Look up.

1. Area 2+ means you have to pay taxes
   Welcome to the grown-up part of Arrakis. Once you progress in your jorney to the point of Area 2 and beyond, your base will be subject to imperial taxation. If you don’t pay, your base shield goes down... and you know what happens next lmao. Here's what it triggers it:
   
   
2. You don’t need a large base right away
   LIIIIIIISTEN UP!!!!!!!!!! At the aforementioned point the game will nudge you towards upgrading to a larger base. More specifically, it'll ask you to research and deploy an advanced sub fief. But it turns out you can perfectly stick with your small one for a while longer. Doing so skips the tax system entirely.
   
   
3. You pay taxes oldschool style
   I can't stress the above tip enough. To make matters worse, taxes aren't just debited from your account. Hahahaha noooo no no no no. You have to go to a place that requires either a taxi from a trade post or a thopter to get to. So, if you don't have a thopter yet, you'll end up paying a $2500 taxi fare just to get to the cashier and pay your $190 tax.
   
   Whoever thought it was a good idea to subtly nudge the player to build an advanced base that early in the game is an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
   
   
4. But how many can I build?
   You are limited to three bases in the game in total, with a maximum of two basic consoles. All three can be advanced consoles.
   
   
5. You can't merge them
   There will always be a slight gap between sub-fief build areas. So no you can't line up multiple bases and make a single building out of them. You can, theoretically, however, make it so that the gap is a courtyard or something. Be creative!
   
   
   
   
6. Don’t get emotionally attached to your first base
   As soon as you push into the next zone, your starter base will be just too far away to be practical, thus 99% of players will just abandon it. You can either salvage what you can and move on, or let it rot in the desert. That also goes for whatever you're storing inside those eleven Small Containers I know you built...So, don't be a hoarder. Recycle whatever you're not willing to use or carry. Either way, don't overbuild. Or...
   
   
7. Help out a fellow newbie
   You can just leave your stuff for a new player, just remember to change the containers' permissions to public and leave the sub fief active. My first time playing I found this house with an open door with tons of materials inside. Saved an hour of granite and cooper farming on foot. Thank you kind stranger!
   
   
8. Don’t block pathways on public servers
   Seriously. Don’t be that guy. A 2x2 gap in canyons and chokepoints ensures people and vehicles can pass. Grief-building is a fast way to get hated, raided, bullied or even have your base reported and removed. Don't do it.
   
   Instead, make beautiful passageways!
   
   
   
   
9. Same goes for resources
   If you see something like this ♥♥♥♥, report it (Esc -> Request Help -> Bug Report)
   (yes, as "Bug Report". Funcom themselves have been telling players to do so).
   
   
   
10. No need to run back and forth between your storage and buggy Thanks @defiant!
    You don't need to shuttle between your storage chests and vehicle storage. When you open a base storage chest up in the upper left you'll see Backpack with a drop down, click that and you can choose the vehicle storage and empty it directly to the storage chest you have open. No need to run back and forth.
    
    
11. Turn off idle machines
    In your base’s general settings, disable any machines you’re not actively using. Stuff like the recycler and repair station are major power hogs and don’t need to run 24/7.
    
    
12. Don’t nuke your own base by accident
    This is not like most survival games where you can have floating stuff. Buildings need structural support. Remove a floor or wall and anything attached to it will collapse.
    
    
13. Machines can pull fuel from storage
    Fuel Cells, Lubricants, etc. don’t have to be in your inventory. As long as they’re in a nearby storage chest, machines will use them.
    
    
14. Fabricators treat your refinery like a storage box
    They’ll auto-pull the materials when needed. No need to drag things back and forth between stations like a logistics mule.
    
    
15. Protect your water bud
    Lastly, this is a good one I've seen many people caught by surprise: Unlike power, water flows through your base as a limited, single shared resource. So if you open public access to something like a cistern, someone could drain your entire supply. Be smart about permissions... hydration theft is real.

There were some untold tips regarding the game menus and systems in general, I felt they deserved their own section.

1. Complete tutorial journals for easy XP
   Check your Journal for area-specific tutorial objectives. Each one you finish nets you 200 XP, and they usually take 2–5 minutes. Great for pushing you to explore systems you’d otherwise ignore.
   
   
2. Use the Social Menu for friends and base access
   You can assign permissions for your base, vehicles, or machines directly from the social menu. No need to run halfway across the map to hand your friends a key.
   
   
3. The CommNet has actual radio stations
   Also in the Social Menu: CommNet. It’s not just filler. Think of it as the game's soundtrack, like GTA's or Fallout's radios.
   
   
4. Press t to pay respects
   Your character UI hides a ton of useful info, and pressing T reveals all kinds of useful stuff, like environmental stats, temperature, radiation, and wind. There's also a paperdoll panel showing your current resistances and protection levels, look it up before planning excursions.
   
   
5. Know the time and harvest dew like a pro
   Also inside the T menu is a time-of-day wheel: black means night, blue is dawn, and gold is day. Dew harvesting is best during the blue phase, that’s early morning. Hit a field at the right time and you’ll fill several Litrjons from just one patch.
   
   
6. Shelter status matters, and you can see it live
   Your HUD shows your current shelter level: Unsheltered, Sheltered, Enclosed, or Watersealed. To survive sandstorms, you need at least Sheltered. Only Watersealed areas (typically inside your base) prevent hydration drain entirely. Oh, also note vehicles also need shelter during storms, or they’ll get wrecked.
   
   
7. You’re not locked into your first class
   I said I'd get into classes soon enough. So, here goes... This is not a make-a-new-character-for-a-new-class kind of game. As you progress, you’ll eventually unlock all class trees. You’re free to respec every 48 hours, so don’t stress too much about your first build. Experiment and respec every now and then once you know what you're doing.
   
   
8. Class trainers are spread out
   There are 5 basic class trainers: 2 at Tradeposts, and 1 each at the Atreides and Harkonnen bases. Advanced trainers? You’ll find those in Harko Village or Arakeen. The Planetologist line starts in the tutorial zone and always circles back to the first NPC you met there.
   
   
9. Skip the intro movie
   Don’t want to sit through the splash screen every time you launch? Backup and delete the file named InitialIntro4k.bk2 within the game files. Patched! Intro can be easily skipped by pressing space now. Thanks @RunForRest
   
   
   
10. Skip the Funcom 3rd party launcher
    Add the game's exe directory, followed by -nosplash -BattlEye -continuesession %command% to the Launch Options in the game's properties (steam library -> right click on game -> properties).
    
    This is how it ended up looking like on mine, it might differ on yours:
    
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\DuneAwakening\DuneSandbox.exe" -nosplash -BattlEye -continuesession %command%

The worm and the deserts it roams is the reason we're all playing this game. Let's be honest. So, it's appropriate you know it's ins and outs.

1. Watch the mouses
   Tiny desert mice (Muad’Dibs) are nature’s worm alert. If you see one burrow itself into the sand, RUN.
   
   
   
   
2. Don’t get swallowed. Seriously
   You’ve been warned. Getting eaten by a sandworm deletes everything you were carrying... gear, loot, and even money. And no, none of it is recoverable. So unless you're actively roleplaying as fremen-flavored protein, >>>>>>>>>>>>> stay off the deep sand and don’t do dumb stuff with your bike in open zones <<<<<<<<<<<<<<.
   
   
3. Got robbed? Feed 'em to a worm
   Ffs this game has a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ community sometimes. Griefers will sometimes swoop in just to harvest spice you just processed. If someone’s being a parasite, put a thumper in their vehicle and let the worm handle it. Carry a thumper at all times... It’s not just for travel, it’s justice.
   
   
4. Plan your route across the sand
   Crossing the desert isn’t about guts, it’s about prep. Yup, this is the second STRAND TYPE GAME *lmao*. Choose the shortest, flattest, and straightest path between islands. Avoid terrain that forces turns or slows you down. If your destination’s far, consider hopping between closer safe zones first.
   
   
5. Check for Drum and Quicksand on the map
   These are death traps disguised as terrain. Mark any sketchy areas where you’ll need to veer or slow down. In a worm chase, you won’t have time to think (more on that in a bit), so, plan ahead.
   
   
6. Know the signs of an incoming breach
   Look for wormsign: rippling sand, collapsing rock, and rising dust clouds. Listen for crunches or deep rumbles, but don’t rely on sound alone. Worms can breach silent. If you see or hear anything, wait 30–60 seconds before moving. If the breach is close (under 1 km), just wait it out.
   
   
7. Don’t inch into open sand
   Line up your bike and hit full speed before entering danger zones. Slower starts = slower escapes.
   
   
8. Don't try stealth against the Worm
   Kachow this ♥♥♥♥♥♥, don't even bother trying to stealth by it. Standing still or crossing slowly doesn’t fool shai-hulud.
   
   
9. Vibration Alert
   If your vibration alert jumps from orange to red the moment it appears, stop. You’re already on the worm’s radar. Don’t chance it, back off, regroup, and try a different route.
   
   
10. Breach Alert
    If the breach animation starts, just GO. Full throttle. No time for map-checking or bike turns. You probably won’t outrun it, but you definitely won’t if you hesitate.
    
    
11. Don’t hover low
    Seriously. This ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ worm has aerial reach that doesn’t make sense. If you're flying low on a thopter during a breach, you're basically dangling bait.
    
    
12. The worm eats everything
    Wrecks, corpses, abandoned bikes, even concrete... if it’s on open sand, it’s fair game. If you wipe out mid-run and you’re not instantly dead, sometimes the smartest move is to ditch the bike and run for cover. Better to lose gear than lose everything.
    
    

1. You can cliff-dive with your sand bike
   I already mentioned this, but in case you missed it, feel free to yeet yourself off cliffs while mounted. It’s a great way to drop altitude without wasting suspensor energy. Belt’s about to run dry? Send it.
   
   
2. Armor and stillsuits are separate categories
   You can mix looks as long as you don't break gear type.
   
   
3. Want passive water retention? Wear the stillsuit chestpiece
   Head and foot pieces boost water collection quantity, but aren’t required. For pure function, chest is all you need.
   
   
4. Armor for defense, Stillsuit for enviromental protection
   Light armor usually has enviromental protection. Heavy armor? Often zero. Don’t walk into a Level 3 biome in full plate unless you enjoy evaporating. You should always have a favorite set for each, one for when you'll go out looking for a fight, and another for exploration.
   
   
5. Press U on equipped items to use another one's looks
   Equip the piece, then press U to open the appearance menu to transmog. PS: If you bought the Deluxe Edition, this is also where your Sardaukar armor lives.
   
   
6. The Static Compactor isn’t just for crafting
   It doubles as a utility tool: you can use it to put out fires and clear poison gas. First time I played I skipped the tutorial and missed this, as it's mentioned there lol. Thus why I bothered putting it here.
   
   
7. You can hand-harvest Spice and Flour Sand
   It's slower (way ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ slower) but doing it manually causes fewer vibrations. Less noise = less chance of calling in a worm while trying to be subtle. Good in solo or PvP contexts where stealth > speed.
   
   
8. Human bodies show up on scanners as water sources
   Yup... That’s a thing. Even through walls. So if your scanner pings “water” indoors and there’s no purifier, guess what: someone died in there.
   
   
9. The Buggy-Cutarray is better than it looks
   Ignore the “bad efficiency” warning... the Cutarray still hauls in way more per swing than manual mining. It may not be pretty, but it gets the job done. Save your arms and use the damn thing.

1. Dodging gets you out of stagger
   If you’re staggered and stuck in that slow recovery state, dodge. It cancels the stagger and gets you back in action faster. The game mentions this early, but if you’re like me, it took hours before it actually clicked.
   
   
2. Burrow Darts can be dodged
   When you see those telltale burrowing lines heading toward you, don’t wait for the hit. Dodge while they’re still underground and they’ll miss entirely.
   
   
3. Get close to shielded enemies Thanks @kamikaze [SWE]!
   Early-game wise, shielded heavy machine-gunners are easier to take down with a blade rather than wasting 500 darts to the head.
   
   
4. Shields drop when enemies shoot
   If an enemy has a shield up, bait them into firing their weapon. As soon as they shoot, their shield drops and stays off during the reload animation. Use that window to rush or return fire. This applies to you too, by the way.
   
   
5. You can break shields without shieldbreaking gear
   Enough raw damage will pop an enemy’s shield, even without specialized weapons. It’s slower, but doable, so don’t panic if you left your shock blade back at base.
   
   
6. Melee enemies with shields will pull a gun if ignored
   If a melee unit can’t close the gap, it’ll eventually switch to a ranged weapon. And as you just learned, they’ll drop their shield while firing.
   
   
7. Grenades still hurt shielded enemies
   Not a lot, but enough to matter. Even if they don’t break the shield, the splash damage and pressure will often make the enemy reposition, duck behind cover, or stop firing. Worth throwing just to break their flow.

Any other PVE tips I missed? Comment below! Let's improve this!

1. Rapier is clowning
   The rapier is the current (as of june 2025) meta. Better damage cadence, better initiative, better everything.
   
   
2. Air combat gets boring. Fast
   Rocket thopter PvP? Fun for an hour, maybe two. Then it’s just flying in circles. Specially since...
   
   
3. Thopter duels almost always end in ground combat
   Here’s how 95% of rocket thopter fights go: both players bail and VBT their way into a knife fight. The other 5% are fresh spawns running Tier 2 disticombs without even activating their shield. Pro tip: you’re often better off in a 1v2 air skirmish than trying to duel a lone suspensor belt spammer with a lock-on T6 launcher.
   
   
4. Ground PvP is better than you’ve heard
   Despite all the doomposting during closed beta, ground combat is in surprisingly decent shape. Desync isn’t frequent enough to ruin fights... just annoying when it happens. Melee dominates, hybrids with a melee skew feel strongest, and ranged builds aren’t useless... just... not meta. Yet.
   
   
5. Buggies need protection
   Currently, vehicles = glorified paperweights. A couple rocket hits and the entire squad’s dead. Don't count on it.
   
   
6. Suspensor Blast is busted
   Between its weird animation cancels and infinite edge potential, Suspensor Blast is both broken and abusable. Either lock its animation or give it proper vulnerability during edge abuse. Right now, it’s a floaty cheese-fest.
   
   
7. Control points are a joke
   They’re either locked for too long or unlocked for 10 seconds before being completed. Miss this.

Any other PVP tips I missed? Comment below! Let's improve this!

Head to Keyhole Rock, southeast of Mihna Cavern. Inside the top room (right side), there’s a chest that can drop one of two blueprints: either Old Sparky Mk1 or the superior Mohandis Sandbike Engine Mk1. If you get the wrong one, wait 45 minutes and try again.

The Mohandis Engine Mk1 is faster than anything else early on and only needs basic resources to craft.

Next, do the Scrap Mettle contract chain to unlock:

• Sandbike Booster Mk2 (better speed/acceleration)
  
• Sandbike Inventory Mk2 (15 storage slots)
  
• Plus a decent cutter

Combine the engine with both upgrades and you’re set for the entire early game.

Way of the Fallen (Sidearm)

• Fast, reliable, and deadly at mid-range. Great fire rate, solid damage, not ideal for long-distance but perfect for aggressive skirmishes. Find the blueprint in the chest room at Old Griffin Hideaway, just west of Griffin’s Reach Tradepost.

Aren’s Vengeance (Rifle)

• Fires in three-round bursts with great stability and accuracy. Strong at longer ranges and perfect for picking off targets before they get close. The blueprint is in the chest room at Broken Stone Station, south of Mihna Cavern (you'll go there naturally during the story).

Kaleff’s Drinker (Blade)

• A short blade that deals solid melee damage and harvests blood with every hit, perfect for staying hydrated in the early game. You’ll find the blueprint at the end of the Wreck of Alcyon.

These are mostly my personal yappings regarding how you should tackle the gameplay. These represent how I would’ve wanted to have played it back then, at least. Feel free to suggest counterpoints or suggestions in the comments!

1. It’s fine to change your mind
   Pick the wrong class? Hate your build? Reroll your skills, swap classes, or just start a new character. You’re not locked into anything.
   
   
2. Play the aspects of the game you most enjoy, ignore the rest
   PvE, PvP, crafting, base-building, blood-farming, lore-chasing, whatever. It’s all valid. You paid for the game, not for internet points. Arguing with randos about the “correct” way to play is just wasted time you could spend doing literally anything else. These ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ did enough damage on the soulsborne community (hurrr you can't summon, durrr if you use summons ur bad), don't listen to them here.
   
   
3. Don’t base your expectations on the Steam Boards
   Know that the Steam discussion board (same goes for Facebook groups' and reddit subs') troll isn’t the average player. Most of what you’ll find here are extreme takes from people who grind the game nonstop or treat it like a second job. If you base your class or build decisions on Reddit meta-chatter, prepare for disappointment. Do your own thing! And have fun! This game is absolutely phenomenal! Enjoy the good that it has to offer!
   
   
4. This game’s not “done”
   Know that what you’re playing is an evolving live service. Betas aren’t the final word, and even release isn’t either. Expect meaningful changes over time. Think a year out, not a weekend in. Dune Awakening is being built in motion, like most modern MMOs. It sometimes sucks, but that’s the industry now.
   
   
5. Don’t chase meta
   The meta will shift. Guides will age. Skills will get buffed, nerfed, or replaced. This is a survival game!!! You're meant to make bad choices, learn from them, and improvise. Play how you want, mess things up, and enjoy the chaos. That's the point.

Between the time I publish this and the time you read it, the game will probably have been patched dozens of times. So it's only natural that some inaccuracies might show up.

• If that's the case, feel free to leave your own tips or corrections in the comments! I'll gladly update the contents with them. Let's make this the definitive D:A guide!!!