First steps on the server Settings tweaks 1. What do I do, exactly? 2. How do I write to someone/resize chat? 3. Which items should I craft? 4. How do I repair my gear? 5. How do I set up my skills/hotbar? 6. How do I add friends? 7. How do I add money while trading? 8. Is there fast travel? 9. Is there a player stash? [!] The mobs are too strong for me! [!] I see mouse cursor and I can't play! [!] I can't heal effectively! [!] I can't find lava caves!

IF YOU PREFER TO DISCOVER THE GAME ON YOUR OWN, REFRAIN FROM READING THIS GUIDE!

ABOUT

I often help out noobs during their first days with the game on the official Veloren multiplayer server, so I thought creating a written guide might aid in my quest. I do not play that often anymore and I am having increasingly less time to do so. As such, this guide is being made. This is an unofficial guide for Veloren dedicated to new players playing on the official server.veloren.net server. The first section contains mostly matters pertaining to the official server, while the other two sections offer tips applicable both in singleplayer and on other multiplayer servers. It is based on version 0.18 and I started writing it on 25.01.2026. As such, certain elements might be out of date. The main advice should stay sound, however. It consists mainly of stuff I wish someone had told me when I started or that I learned from other players during my stay. It is in no way a definitive nor a complete guide for the game.

I tried to write it in simple words and provide lots of screenshots. Some things might be very obvious, but I wanted to write them down just in case. I want to make it a compendium of all the questions I've been asked by new players throughout the years.

FIRST STEPS ON THE SERVER

Starting location

Map showcasing the starting locations

When creating a new character, you can choose your starting location. The best locations to choose are the capitals chosen by players. They are usually located near the center of the map or in an area with particularly easy access to dungeons/caves.

One way to find out which town is the current capital is to create a test character. Then log onto the server and ask in the chat something like "Which city has the most players?" or "Which city is the capital?". After that, create your actual character and spawn there.

At the time of writing, the player capital is Gbitaka (traders and oldheads hang around there), but Grelen is the town where a lot of newer players are. You should spawn in one of those towns, or if you haven't spawned there, make your way there. You can travel from Gbitaka to Grelen and from Grelen do Gbitaka with an airship, so either one works.

Making your character

Screenshot showcasing starting weapon selection

On the character creation screen you are choosing the starting weapon and NOT THE CHARACTER CLASS. A starting weapon is a Tier 0 weapon (utter garbage). You are able to use all weapons and unlock all skill trees on any character.

Multiplayer ettiquete

Don't always use Firestaffs or Ignite Arrow skill on Bow in large lobbies. If a burning enemy hits a player, that player will start burning. Furthermore, firestaff explosions might limit visibility of others.

When going on dungeon raids, the unwritten rule is that whoever grabs the loot first, gets it. Talk to players in a group beforehand if you want to get a particular piece of loot from. After the raid is over, it is sometimes customary to share loot, so that everybody gets their fair share.

Avoid using global chat if you don't need it. More in the Chat section.

Most people are genuinely helpful, even if you ask the dumbest of questions. If you want to learn stuff about the game yourself, visit The Veloren Wiki. You can also open a specific page on the wiki by typing /wiki <name> in the in-game chat. The wiki is not always up-to-date, so it might have some mistakes.

PVP

SETTINGS TWEAKS

These are the settings I consider changing myself whenever I decide to reinstall the game or I've heard players complain about being turned on by default.

Interface

Screenshot containing the relevant settings from the Interface tab

Tick these two boxes to have the health, stamina and poise bar be always visible on the screen.

Chat

Increase the Background Opacity of the chat window for readibility.

Screenshot containing the relevant settings from the Chat tab

Tick Character Names in Chat to identify players quicker. Some players name their character differently to their account name. When you have it ticked on, whenever a player types in the chat, you will see their [playername] in brackets and Character Name afterwards.

[playername] Character Name: chat message
[Arglebargle] Argle Bargle: this is how chat messages
[Arglebargle] Argle Bargle: look like in-game

Graphics

Screenshot containing the relevant settings from the Graphics tab

Don't go above 500-600 LoD Detail. There is not much visual difference.

Turn all three brightness sliders up if you plan on frequently going caving or travelling at night.

Try out FSR or HQX AntiAliasing Mode together with a lower Internal Resolution. You might be leaving free performance on the table (even if you have a beefy PC).

Adjust Bloom and Point Glow. If you don't like glowing lights, turn to the minimum or slightly above.

You can lose a lot of performance with high Cloud Rendering Mode setting. Lower settings don't look very bad. Set Cloud Rendering Mode to None to remove clouds and fog, so that you can see better.

Sound

Screenshot containing the relevant settings from the Sound tab

Choose a lower SFX Channel Capacity if you're experiencing audio crackling issues. These are supposedly fixed, but if the bug rears its ugly head once again, you know what to do.

Gameplay

Screenshot containing the relevant settings from the Gameplay tab

Tick Show All Recipes to make searching for crafting materials easier for yourself. More on that in the Items section.

Untick Zoom in when charging bow if zooming in while charging a bow annoys you.

Tick Auto camera if you prefer your camera to always be behind your character.

Networking

Screenshot containing the relevant settings from the Networking tab

Tick Lossy terrain compression if you're experiencing lag or problems with loading the world.

FAQ for the beginners

What do I do, exactly?

There are three main types of activities you do as a player:

  1. Mining
  2. Dungeons
  3. Exploration

Mining is done in Caves placed around the world. To mine ores and gems, you need to craft a Stone Pickaxe. The Steel Pickaxe is just faster than the stone one. At time of writing, all types of ores and gems can be mined with either type. Be careful - caves contain very strong enemies that even experienced players have troubles with. You can avoid them by running past them (and hoping they stop attacking you) or sneaking around when having a high enough Stealth stat (or just being lucky). Gem spawns depend on how much below the surface you get as well as somewhat on the cave biome you are in. For example, you will find way more Diamonds in Ice Caves. Gold and Bloodore can only be found in Lava caves, which can be quite difficult to find.

Dungeons are the bread and butter of every Veloren player. There are five tiers of dungeons. The tier is signified with the amount and color of the dots above the icon. There are three ways to call out dungeons in the chat:

[Arglebargle] Argle Bargle: anybody doing gnarling dungeon? DUNGEON TYPE
[Arglebargle] Argle Bargle: is someone going to glibtrok? DUNGEON NAME
[Arglebargle] Argle Bargle: I'm up for a T1 DUNGEON TIER
The exception is the Cultist dungeon, which can also be reffered to as:
[Arglebargle] Argle Bargle: is there a party for mf MF is the abbreviation for Mindflayer

Exploration, or more accurately travelling through the world, is what you'll spend most of your time doing in the game. You can find sites scattered around the world. Consider those "enemy outposts" or "cool places to find". They can contain loot chests or foes to fight. To learn about more effective means of traveling, click here.

You can also engage in PVP battles with other players. To learn how to turn on PVP, click here.

How do I write to someone/resize chat?

You only need to type the shortcut in chat once for the chat mode to change. Any message you write afterwards will be sent in that chat mode. There are several chat modes in the game:

To resize the chat window, you right-click it and drag up or to the right.

Which items should I craft?

Screenshot containing the tree on which apple and honey grow

Crafting in the game requires Recipes. You can see how to get any recipe by going to this wiki site or by typing /wiki Recipes in the in-game chat. TL;DR - you get them by killing enemies and opening chests in dungeons and caves. The first recipes you should get are Basic Equipment Recipe, Moderate Equipment Recipe, Utility Recipe and Potions Recipe.

If you turned on "Show All Recipes" in the "Gameplay" settings, you can more easily search for what ingredients are required for each recipe. In the crafting search field type input:<name> to find in which recipes a given ingredient is used for. So, for example, typing input:Diamond will show you which recipes need diamonds.

First items you should craft (or be gifted by a helpful player) are bags. More about them in the bags section. Afterwards, craft yourself a couple of Minor Potions. Honey and Apples are sold by NPCs or grow on trees found in the overworld.

You should also craft yourself some better weapons. The game features a modular crafting system, which you can learn about on the official wiki. These are the subtypes of weapons I personally prefer:

Do not bother getting the gold-tier weapons. The tier multiplier difference between the highest and one-less-than-highest tier is just 0.05x. This translates to +0.8 power (yes, that's less than one point). Save those Orichalcum ingots for the armor, although getting the Eldwood Bow, Firestaff or Sceptre isn't that bad of an idea if you have tons of Eldwood lying around. The other type of gold-tier weapons, the legendary weapons, are purely for looking cool, you can craft weapons with better stats yourself. Buy only when you don't know what to do with those 200,000 coins in your inventory. You will do absolutely fine with Frostwood/Bloodsteel weaponry.

There are several types of armor sets, which cover the broad three stat-types:


Armor mixing between the different types is doable. There are also some special armor sets in the game that fall in-between the three above-mentioned categories.

The recipe for Cobalt Weapons & Armor might prove difficult to find. It might be worth it to buy it from a player.

BE CAREFUL WHEN WEARING CULTIST ARMOR! If you have more than three pieces on you, NPCs in towns will attack you.

How do I repair my gear?

Screenshot containing the tree on which apple and honey grow

To repair your gear, you will need to find a Repair Bench in a town. The basic ingredient for repair are Velorite fragments. You can choose from one of three options:

DO NOT LET YOUR GEAR GO BELOW 9/12 DURABILITY. Repair below that will require you to have the material with which the item was crafted. This gets more problematic the more expensive gear you have.

How do I set up my skills/hotbar?

How do I add friends?

There is currently no friend list in the game. You just have to remember people the old-fashioned way.
You can make a temporary group that will last until everyone leaves it or the leader quits the game.

How do I add money while trading?

Is there fast travel?

There is no fast travel in the game. However, there are some faster methods than walking everywhere:

  1. Airship travel
  2. Quick Draw + Agility Potion
  3. Antelope
  4. Gliding
  5. Bunnyhopping

Screenshot containing the airship captain announcing the travel direction

Airship travel is the most efficient way to travel to far-away towns. If the town you are in has an airship tower, climb it, and wait for an airship to your desired direction. An airship captain says out loud three times in which direction he is travelling before disembarking. Be careful when getting on - you need to jump to the airship, otherwise you might fall down. Go on the deck and sit on the seats behind him to avoid falling from the airplane during the travel. There is an airship map on the official wiki. You can reach it in-game by typing /wiki travel in the chat. A browser window will open with the site - you scroll to the very bottom.

Screenshot containing the tree on which apple and honey grow

Quick Draw + Agility Potion is a combination of item and a weapon skill that allows you to outrun most things in the game. You need to unlock the Quick Draw skill from the Sword Skill Tree. It is in the Agile branch. After drinking an Agility Potion, you spam Quick Draw until you run out of stamina.

Antelope is the fastest mount in the game. They are found in Savannah biomes, but you can very rarely come across them in Jungles and Forests. To tame it, you need to craft a Collar (you need to learn the Utility Recipe first) and right click it in your inventory when you are close to an Antelope.

Gliding is usually done from mountain tops or from airships. If an airship doesn't go exactly to the place you want to get to, you can travel in a direction parallel to it and glide off the airship. Holding W, A, S , D during gliding allows you to tilt your glider, but you will lose height faster.

Bunnyhopping allows you to travel slightly faster than walking. You hold Space while walking.

Is there a player stash?

There is currently no way to store your items. The only way of increasing your inventory space from the default 18 slots is by crafting bags. To craft them you are going to need to find all three tiers of equipment recipes (Basic, Moderate and Advanced). The maximum inventory space you can technically achieve is 146 slots.

There are two main sets of bags - Woven ones (utilising Red Linen, Silk, Soft Wool and Amethyst) and Leather ones (utilising Leather, Thick Leather, Trollhide and Diamonds):

You need each tier of the Woven bags to craft the next one. With the Leather bags there is no 10 slot one and the highest tier is a separate recipe. Another bag type you can find is a Liana kit (+15 Slots) and you get it by killing Saurons.
You can also craft a Traveler's Backpack (+20 slots) which you wear in your Cape slot. This backpack is unique in that it requires to be repaired. The highest bag tier is the Mindflayer's Spellbag (+27 slots). It requires a rare drop from the Cultist Dungeon's boss. As such, it is a quite rare and sought after item.