Avowed is finally here with an action-packed adventure across the Living Lands of Eora, filled with danger, opportunity, and adventure.
While Avowed does a good job of getting you up to speed with what’s going on, there are lessons I have learned along the way that would have saved me a lot of trouble had I known them at the start. My loss is your gain though, as you can learn from my mistakes.
10 Avowed tips you need to know
Mix up your skill tree
One of the best things about Avowed is you’re not tied to a specific class. Instead, you can pick and choose the abilities you want. You can choose what you want, whether it’s increased power attacks from the Fighter tree or boosting the effectiveness of food items consumed from the Ranger tree.
This is particularly useful for passive abilities that won’t clog up your casting slots, and they provide some huge boosts that can really change the course of battle, even if you’re not directly using active skills from that tree, so experiment and have fun!
Loot everything
Plenty of games offer an abundance of loot to collect, though many fall into the junk category. In Avowed, however, everything has a use and is clearly marked—whether to sell to Merchants for a high price or to consume to restore Health or Essence.
Quest items are marked accordingly and stored safely, so nothing important is accidentally lost. Collectibles are treated the same way. If you can pick one up, I highly recommend doing so, as there will be a use for it.
Break down excess gear
Gear in Avowed is vital, but once you find the right gear for you and start to upgrade it, the gear you loot from enemies is surplus. While you can sell excess gear to Merchants, the best practice is to break it down into crafting materials.
You can use the materials you receive to improve your own gear and, in some cases, provide extremely valuable materials that can be hard to come by. You can never have enough wood or metals, so get into the habit of regularly going through the breakdown process.
Pay attention to companion’s dialogue
Dialogue from companions is not just filler while you’re playing, as those in your company provide crucial advice—the biggest of which is to make it abundantly clear when your current weapon or armor is not suited for the fight you are currently in.
Companions will also make it clear when they don’t agree with your dialogue choices or the decisions you have made, which may sway how they act with you. Pay close attention to what those around you say, or you may miss some key moments.
Use consumables before big fights
How many times in a game have you accidentally wasted a consumable by selecting the wrong one? Fortunately, a lot of this is alleviated in Avowed as you can stack the benefits—so it’s worth using consumables before every big fight.
Health regeneration from food is the best to take, as it provides passive healing after any damage you receive. You can become near invincible when combined with your own healing abilities or skills from your Companions.
Find the right approach for you
My plan for Avowed was to utilize the Wizard route, but it quickly became apparent that it didn’t suit my playstyle. Instead, I’ve opted for a Fighter-Ranger hybrid using a shield in one hand and an axe in the other—but you may find that approach isn’t the best for you.
Early in the game, respeccing your abilities isn’t too costly, so you can experiment freely to find the right approach. Don’t lean into the first Unique item you find just because of its rarity; instead, focus on how you want to play.
Use camps regularly
Avowed’s camp system really shines for one big reason—you can use a camp you’ve found on the map to restore health, tweak your gear, and speak to your companions before returning to the exact spot you were at.
If you’re a long way from civilization on a grand adventure, you can teleport back to a camp you’ve found and benefit from it without having to start your journey all over again. This is a real time saver and should be utilized as much as possible.
Don’t neglect side quests
In many RPG games, you can largely ignore side quests. But that isn’t really the case in Avowed, as you will need the experience and loot to upgrade your gear to tackle the main missions. Your focus should be on side quests whenever you enter a new zone.
More often than not, side quests also provide some of the best loot in the game. My favorite weapons and armor have all come from completing side quests and exploring every hidden nook and cranny, so don’t rush through the main story.
Break into people’s homes
The NPCs in Avowed will notice you rooting through their stuff and will inform you of this with dialogue, but unlike in games like Skyrim and Fallout, there’s no punishment for filling your bag with someone else’s possessions—so go wild.
Houses often contain potions, food, gold, and more, all of which are ripe for the taking, and you can rob the dead freely even if they didn’t fall to your sword. This all goes back to the first tip: grab it if you can loot it.
Boost your element resistance
Avowed has four elements: lightning, poison, fire, and ice. In the first area of the game, Dawnshore, you’re unlikely to notice this too much as you can easily negate the damage taken—but that all changes when you reach advanced areas.
Poison attacks from enemies quickly deplete your health, ice attacks slow you down, fire burns, and lightning shocks. If you don’t deal with these effects or have a counter to them, you will quickly begin to find that the odds are stacked against you in fights.
