DragonSword Awakening Steam Walkthrough: Essential

Welcome, adventurer, to the vibrant world of DragonSword: Awakening on Steam! This Unreal Engine 5 anime-style action RPG offers a rich open world and deep combat mechanics, but its complexity can be daunting for newcomers. This guide will provide a clear path through your initial hours and beyond, ensuring you progress efficiently and avoid common pitfalls. Whether you're just starting your DragonSword Awakening Steam walkthrough or looking to optimize your gameplay, we'll cover everything from character acquisition to endgame preparation.

Story Progression and Character Unlocks

Your journey in DragonSword: Awakening begins with the main story, which isn't just for narrative enjoyment. Clearing each chapter is crucial, as it unlocks almost every important progression system in the game. As you complete story chapters, you'll earn tickets. These tickets are your primary currency for unlocking new characters in the exchange shop.

Beyond the main story, you can also acquire more character tickets by completing exclusive Hero Quest lines. These quests offer unique cinematics and, more importantly, reward you with the specific hero's exclusive Karma. Karma is a vital component for enhancing your characters, and completing these quests is a reliable way to obtain specific ones. If you happen to acquire an exclusive Karma for a character you don't plan to use, you can dismantle it. This returns currency that allows you to exchange for another exclusive Karma more suited to your preferred hero.

Exploration and Mount Acquisition

The world of DragonSword: Awakening is vast and encourages thorough exploration. While the story guides you, taking detours to discover hidden areas and materials is highly rewarding. This includes underwater exploration, which requires a specific mount.

Mounts are essential for navigating the expansive maps and come with unique skills. You can unlock mounts through mercenary leveling and story progression. While some of the best mounts, like a free air-dashing dragon, are tied to the deluxe edition or very late-game story progression, you can still acquire excellent early-game alternatives. For instance, reaching "novice mercenary" status can unlock a bird mount that provides an air-dash ability similar to the deluxe dragon. You can also unlock additional mount variations and their skills by completing mini-games. Crucially, one specific mount, obtainable early by focusing on the story, allows you to dive and explore underwater content. Don't neglect these early narrative beats if you want to uncover all the game's secrets.

Combat Fundamentals and Team Building

Combat in DragonSword: Awakening is more intricate than it initially appears. Each character possesses unique basic attacks, jump attacks, and dodge attacks. For example, Charlotte, a hyper-mobile ninja, performs a unique mid-air backflip dodge, while Raina has distinct sprint and dodge skills that can be linked into combos.

Skills have cooldowns, but these can be reduced by consistently hitting enemies. A key combat mechanic involves breaking enemies, which allows you to call in teammates for support and extend combos. Mastering these interactions transforms seemingly simple combat into a complex, satisfying dance.

When it comes to team building, you have flexibility, but certain synergies excel. For an aggressive, action-oriented playstyle, characters like Charlotte, Johnny, and Raina form a potent team, excelling in high-damage, flashy combos. If you prefer a more relaxed, ranged approach, Sice, Otellio, and Dana are highly effective. This team allows you to keep your distance, use spells, and send enemies into the air for easier takedowns, making endgame content more manageable. The main character, Lute, provides healing utility but isn't a top-tier damage dealer, so invest in other characters first. Remember, switching characters grants brief invulnerability frames, a useful defensive tool in tough encounters. Experiment with different combinations to find a team that suits your playstyle.

Gear, Crafting, and Efficient Farming

Optimizing your gear is paramount for tackling DragonSword: Awakening's tougher challenges. Each character benefits from specific elemental gear (e.g., Charlotte thrives with venomous/poison gear). You'll craft gear at the blacksmith, and a crucial tip is to select a main stat. For many DPS characters, critical damage or critical chance is ideal. When choosing, note that your chest piece and leg armor typically offer the highest values for main stats.

Farming materials for crafting and upgrading is a continuous process. You'll earn "medals" from completing missions, which can be exchanged for almost any material, including skill scrolls to upgrade abilities to max level. Daily activities are also vital:

• Regional Bosses: These mini-bosses appear daily, rewarding you with "Fragment of Sacred Light" (a key currency) and other valuable items like skill scrolls and forging molds (used to guarantee main stats when crafting endgame gear).
• World Bosses: These offer basic Karmas. Target world bosses that drop Karmas benefiting your character's element (e.g., airborne Karma for Raina) before you acquire their exclusive ones. You can ascend basic Karmas by acquiring duplicates, making them significantly stronger.

Gear sets offer powerful bonuses, but be aware that you only benefit from having three pieces of a specific set. Equipping five pieces provides no additional benefit. Instead, consider mixing three pieces of your primary set with two pieces from another set that offers a useful secondary bonus, such as stun damage or airborne damage.

Master Skills and Awakening

Unlocking your character's Master Skill, often called a "Grimoire," significantly boosts their power. This skill becomes available once a character reaches level 30. To unlock it, you need to find specific treasure maps. These maps are typically found after solving environmental puzzles, like pushing crystal walls, and opening the resulting chest.

Once you have a map, it marks a location on your world map. The challenge then is to find the hidden chest, which can be cleverly concealed in caves, underwater, or within dense foliage. These chests not only provide the Grimoire needed for your master skill but also grant awakening points, which can unlock new move sets and further enhance your character's abilities. The Fragment of Sacred Light, a crucial currency for various upgrades, is also found in chests and dropped by regional mini-bosses throughout the world.

For more information on the game and community guides, visit the official Steam page: DragonSword : Awakening on Steam

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I unlock new characters in DragonSword: Awakening?

You unlock new characters by clearing main story chapters, which reward you with tickets. These tickets can then be exchanged for characters in the game's shop. Additionally, completing specific Hero Quest lines can also grant you character tickets.

What's the most efficient way to farm materials in DragonSword: Awakening?

The most efficient way to farm materials is by completing daily activities, including regional bosses and world bosses. Missions also provide medals that can be exchanged for a wide variety of materials and skill scrolls.

How do I acquire master skills in my DragonSword Awakening Steam walkthrough?

Master skills, also known as Grimoires, are unlocked once a character reaches level 30. You must find treasure maps from in-game puzzles, locate the marked hidden chests, and obtain the Grimoire from them.

Is the Deluxe Edition mount necessary for optimal exploration?

While the Deluxe Edition's baby dragon offers immediate free air-dashing, it's not strictly necessary. You can unlock a similar free air-dash ability by reaching "novice mercenary" status and acquiring a specific bird mount, allowing for effective aerial traversal without the deluxe purchase.