8 Things Conan Exiles Doesn't Tell You - Conan Exiles Guide - IGN (2024)

Conan Exiles is a big game, with a lot going on, so it's easy to find yourself in a position where you're just not sure what's happening. We're here to fix that, as we have listed some of the biggest things Conan Exiles forgets to tell you.

Repairing Happens A Lot

Although it might seem like second nature to a survival game veteran, Conan Exiles never mentions that your gear is going to break, and that it's going to happen fast.

In order to fix stuff, you need to keep resources in your inventory. This can be a risky endeavour though, as if you die, you'll lose not only your gear, but the items you had to fix that gear.

Due to the frequency of needing to fix things, it's good to just store some materials in a chest that you can quickly grab, repair, and then throw back into a chest.

The Map Never Changes

This is something that can be easily overlooked, as many other open world survival games have randomized maps. In Conan Exiles, the map never changes. This means you can study and learn it and before long, know exactly where things are or where you're heading without having to look it up.

Knowing the map is particularly useful when starting up a new character. If you've previously found a nice cave or secret area in other worlds, you can quickly run there to claim it again in this new one. Not to mention map knowledge makes finding your dead body much easier!

Raw Food Spoils, Cooked Food Won't

This is pretty straight forward, but can be overlooked easily enough. Any raw food you have will spoil rather quickly. However, if you cook the food, it will stay edible almost indefinitely. The moral of the story? Cook your food as soon as you get it, then store it away for later!

The Map is Split into Different Difficulty Zones

Something that you might not realize for a long time, is that the world of Conan Exiles has a clear difficulty curve that you are meant to progress through. The lowest level area is in the South-East. This is filled with weak creatures and also the area that new players spawn. From here, the difficulty of enemies will ramp up as you head North-West. There are several distinct areas, such as the dunes filled with Spiders, or the ruins filled with skeletal corpses.

As you level up, acquire new gear and more allies, it will be up to you to push further and further inland. Try to set up new bases in these hostile areas, and you'll be able to reap the rewards as resources are more plentiful. Also, you're far less likely to die to other players, when the other players are constantly dying to random monsters!

There are Rare Loot Drops

Another easy to gloss over fact, some resources have rare loot drops that are triggered randomly, or when mined by a specific tool. For instance, rocks will occasionally drop iron, while trees can drop Bark, but only if you hit them with something other than an axe.

There is quite a bit of randomness to these kinds of items, so make sure to be diligent when hunting for them as it might take a few extra swings before you get one to drop.

Those Hostile NPCs Can Be Enslaved

As you explore, you'll surely find the many hostile NPCs who want nothing more than to kill you. When you meet them, you likely kill them back. Did you know, you can actually make them work for you though?

You can! The first step is unlocking the Thrall Taker technology. Once you have it, build the three items it unlocked, the Fiber Bindings, Truncheon and Lesser Wheel of Pain.

Equip the Truncheon and Fiber Binding then go look for some NPCs. Beat them up with the Truncheon and they will fall unconscious. Use the Fiber Bindings on the person and you can now drag them back to base. Drag them to the Lesser wheel of Pain, and they should automatically be assigned to it.

Next, you will need to feed them. At a Campfire, put in Seeds and Plant Fiber. This will cook into a soup substance called Gruel. This will activate the Wheel of Pain and begin turning the NPC into a slave (thrall). You can also use normal food during this process, but that is considerably more costly due to how much harder it is to obtain quality meat over seeds.

Once the Thrall is ready, you can carry them in your inventory and place them anywhere in your camp. There are multiple kinds, so be mindful of what one you have. The warrior and archers will defend your base from anyone not in your clan, while some thralls are crafters who need to be set up on Blacksmith tables and so on, aiding in your crafting.

There's a Level Cap

It's true! Level 50 is the max level. This means that there is a max to how many stat points and research points you will unlock.

Currently, this means one character can't have all research. You can reset your research, but that's not always a fun or convenient want to unlock what you want. If you're playing with some friends, have everyone spread out their research unlocks, that way you can access to more recipes without constantly needing to respec your character.

Raiding Takes Time, Levels

One of the draws of these open world games is raiding your enemies, knocking down their buildings and taking their stockpiles of items.

Although you can still do it, you'll need to wait and be very prepared before beginning. Knocking down even the simplest of walls will require weapons from late in the game, such as the Longsword.

Not only will you need late game gear, but you have to prepare for a fight. Even the weakest weapons in Conan Exiles can still be threatening, so make sure you have good armor and maybe even some extra healing. Also, you can't just rush a base without scouting it out first. Knock down a wall and suddenly you get attacked by 5 Thralls and die?

There are a lot of considerations when raiding in Conan Exiles, so make sure to plan, prepare and scout out your target before rushing in!