Beginner's Guide to Elex - Tips and Advice

Elex is a surprisingly good open-world action-RPG, but unfortunately it has a lot of rough edges and weird idiosyncrasies that can be difficult for new players to figure out. This video is a guide with tips and tricks to help new and prospective players understand some of the game's more obscure mechanics so that you can hopefully have a better time with the game's rough and sometimes daunting beginning. This video is based on my original written article from November 2017, with updated sections added based on my recent replay.

00:00 Introduction
02:27 Elex has a very steep difficulty curve. It is intentional.
03:29 Save now, save often.
04:08 Avoid combat early on, level up by completing quests.
05:26 Focus early skill points on combat and money-making.
07:45 Learn the "Animal Trophies" skill as soon as possible.
08:39 Attributes don't give the benefits they suggest.
09:30 Attribute costs increase as your attributes increase.
10:14 You can increase attributes and skills with jewelry, but there's a catch.
11:30 Get a companion as soon as possible.
12:48 Time your attacks to take advantage of the combo system.
14:50 Consider putting a skill point into Stamina.
15:37 Make sure "Close Combat Focus" is set to "Manual."
16:57 If you don't like melee combat, use ranged options.
18:21 Join a faction sooner, rather than later.
19:16 Periodically advance the main quest. Don't put it off.
20:28 Understand how the "Cold" meter works.
21:41 You have a jetpack. Use it.
22:52 Consider exploring at night.
24:20 Plan to learn and use crafting skills.
25:51 Pick up everything you find.
26:19 Junk items have no use. Sell them.
27:16 Don't automatically sell "weaker" weapons.
28:26 Basically every attribute is useful.
29:41 Personality skills aren't really worth it.
31:06 Conclusion

Read this beginner's guide in text format on my blog:

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[skalapunk]

These kinds of guides/tips - based on heavy experience - are exactly what I appreciate.

[RakusTalent]

this is something i hope Piranha bytes never loses, the fact that you are so weak at the start is a rarety nowdays, everyone expects to log into a game and slay everything in an instant. i hope they never change from that path.

[Ace-zbxr]

I miss that trainers would have dialogue for everything they taught you like in Gothic.

[bloodrunsclear]

This game has been my pandemic hideaway and I’m very thankful for it. Beautiful, challenging, continually entertaining

[GEBIRGE]

Just as I'm about to start my very first Elex playthrough, this video pops up in my feed. Thanks a lot :)

[TheInnerPigdog]

Thanks for the video! You covered a lot. Some more Tips: 1) Handgranades doesn't have requirements. Jax can use them at the beginning. That was my way to defeat Big Jim in the arena. Just make your way to the Fort and look for an outlaw merchant. 2) Join a faction to get the stamina potion receipt from the local healer, or make your way to the hangars in Ignadon to find the receipt. You can sneak through the entrance of the building, without being spotted, by the mutants. Gather many gold whisper and wolf leaf, to make lots of stamina potions. Each increases Jaxs stamina at 20 points permanently. You can make up to 18, due to the amount of gold whisper in the game. You can do approx. 20 hit combos with that much stamina.

[keldor]

I'd like to add to this with the suggestion that your first time play-thru involves pumping Constitution to 30 using your first couple levels. And then buying the Survival skills Extra Hitpoints (grants bonus hitpoints each level and is retroactive), Good Eater (extra healing from food), and Armor (will require five points into Strength but does what you think it does). All of these make combat a little more forgiving for your first play-thru earlier in the game. Many people will tell you to rush intellect or cunning for crafting and pickpocket for money and powerful upgrades and such. But those are best rushed when you have a better handle on the combat and nuances of the game. The ones I mentioned (and the video mentioning Stamina) may make the difference between adapting and making it through the learning experience of playing a Piranha Bites game. Or just rage quitting because you keep dying to the weakest mobs because you're struggling to grasp the combat and aren't equipped well.

[oxmcginnes]

I love the difficulty design in Piranha bites games. Kicking butt in Skyrim feels pointless, because it is always the same difficulty. But outsmarting tough enemies and or coming back later to pay them back is super rewarding.

[Scalpaxos]

Well done. I'd add something regarding melee combat, there's a timed parry you can use against humanoid enemies, I don't remember the game ever explaining this, you have to basically click on the attack button while blocking, if timed correctly (when the enemy attacks you) you perform a counter that staggers the enemy,

[Corristo]

Use the environment to your advantage. Lure enemies into choke points where they can't use their massively powerful weapons (i.e. rocket launchers). Sometimes enemies will get stuck behind in enclosed spaces, making it possible to rush in, swing a few attacks and then retreat or just wear them down from range. That's sort of exploiting, but in a game which doesn't go easy on you this should be alright.

[TheCherry]

Gothic 1 & 2 prepare you very well for this game. I grew up with these two games and find very little satisfaction in other RPGs because of that. There will never be a third game like those two masterpieces ever again.
While Elex is a good game, these two are even more masochistic than Elex but the most rewarding in my opinion.

[BanXxX]

Great guide without spoilers or taking things away! BEST KIND OF GUIDE, thank you so much!!!😍❤️👍🏽

[Mousse]

I was a bit daunted to start this game but this video was exactly what I was looking for. I don't want my hand held through a rare experience like this, but knowing a bit about how the systems work and some of the quirks that aren't explained is the perfect amount of help. Great work!

[Apollofish_games]

I appreciate that you don't want to tell others how to play!! You just guide them in a way where they can learn to play how they want!

I love your video!<3

[MiguelXisto]

I'm starting Elex today so I'm really thankfull for your great video. It helped a lot to get to know the game a little better.
Let's see how it goes.
Cheers mate.

[RonaldovincenzoPBozzi]

Really fantastic video! I just got this for like $5-$6 on my Xbox, and was having fun, but had a bunch of questions. Well not anymore thanks to your video! You hit all the things that I was wondering and cleared up a few confusing things, like what I should and shouldn't sell! So I really wanted to say thank you for explaining everything you did, I really feel like I will enjoy this game so much more now!

[kethhh]

Your videos are so well done for someone with a smaller subscriber base! You've earned yourself another sub!

[server]

great video!
just started my first run and i‘m about 20h in and your tips really match with my experience so far

[oberon]

Thank you! I'm about 30 hours in and juts hit level 20 and I still learned a lot here. Great game, rough around the edges sure, but the world is so fun to explore and I love how reactive the characters and story is to your choices. One of the best RPG's I've played in a while.

[Rebel]

What a great guide, I liked the relevant footage in the background. I gotta make one of these myself someday.