Elex 2: The beginning of the game - how to survive the beginning? Elex 2 guide, walkthrough

This page of the Elex 2 guide contains advice on how to survive in the first few hours of the game, as well as what to do and what things to avoid in order to die less often.

Last update: 16 March 2022

On this page of the guide to Elex 2 you'll find tips on how to survive the early game, that is, the first few hours. With our tips you'll learn how to recruit your first companion, how to obtain basic gear and how to avoid making common mistakes in order to die less.

• Jax's health and healing him
• Stamina consumption and regeneration
• Fighting groups of enemies
• Enemies with skull icons
• Basic gear
• First companion
• Jetpack and fuel supply
• The first locations to visit
• Most important skill trainers
• Saving the game

Jax's health and healing him

The most important advice on keeping the protagonist alive is to keep an eye on Jax's health bar so you can quickly react when his health drops. Starting the game try to collect as many health potions and as much food as possible - they can often be found as loot so you don't necessarily have to buy them.

You should always have these items ready in order to heal during combat. You should put some of them in active slots so you can quickly select them from your inventory. The game doesn't pause when you're browsing the menu, which means digging through your inventory to find a healing item can easily get Jax killed.

Stamina consumption and regeneration

In addition to looking at your health bar you must also pay attention to your yellow stamina bar. You use stamina by:

1. executing melee strikes,
2. blocking and dodging,
3. sprinting.

React before you completely run out of stamina, otherwise you'll exhaust yourself becoming a very easy target. When your stamina gets low move away from the enemies and wait for it to regenerate. You can also use your jetpack to make a quick escape. Later on in the campaign you can increase your max stamina and your stamina regeneration rate.

Fighting groups of enemies

Just like in other games by Piranha Bytes, Elex 2 is challenging and even common enemies can easily kill you. Fighting groups of hostiles is even more daunting. You must be careful during every single battle. First of all, try to lure singular enemies away from the group. This is easier to do when fighting monsters rather than humans - enter the enemy's field of view and start backing off as soon as they move towards Jax.

Fighting more than a single enemy at once is dangerous - you can get flanked or shot from a distance by the enemy you're not attacking right now. Attacks like these are also harder to spot when you're focused on fighting the foe closest to you.

Enemies with skull icons

Bows and other ranged weapons are great for scouting the enemy's threat level - aiming at them from a distance will display information about them (as pictured above).

Opponents marked with a skull icon or icons are much stronger than Jax, that is, their level is higher. You should avoid them early on, as they can kill you easily with even a single hit. Skull-marked enemies are also more resilient and even attacking at range won't be enough to kill them. Return to the areas hosting difficult enemies once you become stronger and, preferably, after recruiting a companion.

Basic gear

You should find some basic equipment that will carry you through the beginning of the game as loot. You don't need to spend elexit on trading - you should instead save your funds until you can buy some skills from trainers. Try to carefully search all the visited locations as well as loot corpses, as they can sometimes be holding their weapons.

At first Jax is equipped with a starting melee weapon, although you can look for better ones. Unfortunately many of them require higher attributes.

Soon after completing the prologue and meeting Adam for the first time you'll start travelling north. In this area you should find the first bow you can use without upgrading your stats. It will let you safely fight from a distance, but you'll need to constantly collect arrows too.

The same applies to clothes. Look for them in the visited locations - you have the best chance of finding them when searching chests (especially locked ones) and residential buildings (you may have to steal them - save the game first in case you get caught).

Try to at least provide Jax with some torso protection. As an example, the chest pictured above can be found near a small body of water in western Carakis, soon after completing the prologue.

Your chances of survival also grow if you manage to find some unique legendary weapons, to which we've devoted a separate chapter of the guide. Unfortunately, many of them require high stats, although there are exceptions. The Fang Crossbow can be found in the observation tower at the northern entrance to the Fort and can be used even with low stats. Its only limitation is the necessity of finding bolts (they can be looted).

In case you want to purchase some useful items, the first merchant encountered will be Smith from Western Carakis, who sells basic clothes or ammo for ranged weapons.

There are many different traders in the Fort, but to access them you must make progress in the main storyline.

First companion

Traveling solo is much more difficult than with a companion - enemies will always focus on Jax and he has to win battles all by himself. You should add a companion to your party as soon as possible.

Caja, the protagonist's wife, is easy to recruit. You'll meet her soon after completing the prologue - she can be found near the West Carakis World Heart teleporter. You must first complete the Only a Dead Morkon quest which involves eliminating a group of thugs from a camp. It shouldn't be too challenging after levelling up a few times and finding a ranged weapon. After returning to Caja you can recruit her.

Another easily recruitable companion is Nasty, found in Morkon Grotto to the east of where the prologue ended. After entering the Grotto head straight and you'll meet Nasty during a cutscene. You can recruit her without playing through other quests first, although you may be forced to return to the Bastion (and wait for her to come too) before you can add her to your party.

Jetpack and fuel supply

From the very beginning of the game you have access to a jetpack. You must use it with caution though, as incorrect use can, and will kill you. The jetpack has a very small fuel tank and turns off after a few seconds. This means you can very easily end up falling to your death. You can mitigate this in two different ways:

1. Make sure you never fly for long - if you're using the jetpack to climb to higher places (for example, the roof of a building) try flying in short bursts, stopping on lower ledges whenever you can.
2. If you use the jetpack when jumping from a high altitude (like off a roof or off a cliff edge) activate the thrusters only when close to the ground. Don't turn them on too soon, otherwise you may run out of fuel long before your planned landing.

The first locations to visit

Your first hours in Magalan should be spent in three main areas and their surroundings. These locations can be found near where you finished the prologue. The enemies you'll encounter on your way to them will be mostly weak, although from time to time you may have to hide or run away from some singular powerful monsters.

The first location you should visit is the Bastion, found north of where the prologue ended. This place will serve as a base of sorts for Jax and his allies. You'll visit the Bastion for the first time during the Infected main quest.

Adam will be the only person present at first, but other characters may also come here later. In addition to talking to NPCs you can search the Bastion for loot and use different workbenches related to different crafting categories.

The second location you should visit in the early game is the Fort, found west to where the prologue ended. The fort is initially inaccessible and we've described how to access it on the Fort - how to enter? page. This serves as a good opportunity to obtain XP by completing some easy quest related to gaining access to the Fort.

After unlocking the Fort you can play through many main quests and side quests, which, once again, let you earn experience and valuable rewards. The Fort also holds many traders and trainers you can buy gear from and train Jax at.

It's also the headquarters of the Berserkers you can get to know better, although you should postpone the decision as to which faction to join until you get to know them and complete their initial quests.

The third recommended location to visit in the early game is the Grotto, located east to where the prologue ended. In this case focus not on the ruins on the surface but on the underground entrance pictured above. Dimitri will stop you before you enter the Grotto, but unlike the Fort you won't need to complete any additional quests. Jax will be shown around the Grotto which can be explored right away.

After unlocking the Grotto you can play through many main quests and side quests, which, once again, let you earn experience and valuable rewards. The Grotto also holds many traders and trainers you can buy gear from and train Jax at.

It's also the headquarters of the Morkons you can get to know better, although you should postpone the decision as to which faction to join until you get to know them and complete their initial quests.

Most important skill trainers

Purchasing good starting skills can make the early game easier. You can find the full list of recommended skills on the Best starting skills page. The trainers are listed on the Skill trainers page. Here are some of the most important skill groups:

1. If you want to focus on melee combat you should visit the Doorman found in the Fort (Picture 1). He'll help you improve your melee capabilities.
2. If you prefer ranged combat you should visit Astrid, found in a hut northwest of the Fort (Picture 2). She'll help you improve your ranged capabilities.

Regardless of your preferred playstyle you should also visit Gardok - at first he can be found in a hut slightly to the east of the Bastion, then at the Bastion itself. He can teach you to open locks, which is an exceedingly useful ability as closed containers can store weapons, elexit or other valuable items. We've discussed lockpicking on a separate page Locks - how to open?.

Saving the game

We left an obvious yet very important tip for last - save often, don't rely on autosaves as you may end up losing quite a lot of progress after dying.

You should save the game every time you spot enemies, as each battle can easily go south. Do the same when climbing with your jetpack or during quests/conversations which can lead to combat or an undesired outcome.