The Dune Awakening world can be unforgiving to the new player; it’s all about resource management, or getting out in the sun can bring you down to your knees. If you are just starting out in the game and looking for a perfect early build, you have come to the right place. In this guide, we will take a look at all the best early builds in Dune Awakening.
Early Build Guide in Dune Awakening
Here is the list of topics we will burn through to create an optimal build for the early phase of the game.
- Selecting a Proper Class
- Best Active Skill List
- Best Passive Skill List
- Best Loadout Selection
- Equipment Loadout Selection
Selecting a Proper Class
- Swordmaster
- Bene Gesserit Acolyte
- Mentat
- Planetologist
- Trooper
For the best early build, we will move forward with Trooper. The reason why we went with Trooper compared to the rest is the Trooper Class Trainer, which can be found right in the starting location, Hagga Basin. While Swordmaster, Mentat, and Bene Gesserit Acolyte trainers are all located in later areas of the game. The other highlight of Trooper is its skill tree, which can be unlocked right away
Note: Don’t worry, if you want to change to another class, you can in the game. Dune Awakening allows you to switch between different classes. You can unlock the rest by their respective class trainer in the game. You will have unlocked all the classes, and the more you play the game.
Best Active Skill List
Active skill lists need to be added to the ability shortcut to use them. You can only have three of the abilities in the shortcut menu. Here we will focus on one active skill on mobility and two offensive ability skills. A perfect backup active skill list when you want to conserve or run out of ammo in the game.
Shigawire Claw – (Stamina Cost: 15)
Basically, a grappling hook that will help you find mobility in the game. So, no need to find a flight of stairs to get to the rooftop of the building, just use the claw to get to the area quickly. You can cover large distances on foot by simply using the claw to fly around.
Explosive Grenade- (Stamina Cost: 30/Damage: 240, Lv 2 Upgrade)
A bomb that also launches a spray of shrapnel. If you throw the grenade around shielded enemies, the shrapnel from the bomb will stagger them. The best thing about this ability is its free grenades with a 15-second cooldown, you are getting an unlimited amount of grenades without crafting anything.
Assault Seeker – (Stamina Cost: 30/Damage: 250, Lv 2 Upgrade)
If the target is at a distance, where an Explosive Grenade might not reach it, then you can use Assault Seeker to release a single guided missile flying in the direction of enemies. Perfect for a distant enemy and a tough one that doesn’t go down quickly. The aiming here is precise, which makes it perfect for long-range combat.
Best Passive Skill List
The passive skill should complement our active skill list. Here we will focus on the Passive skill list that benefits our ability skill list.
Battle Hardened: Ability Cooldown by 20%
Since we are playing as a Trooper, most of our offensive kills are going to be on the active skill list. Here, having an ability cooldown of 20% will dramatically make Trooper’s gameplay more action-packed than before.
Suspensor Dash: Allows mid-air dashing
Adds more to the mobility part of your character building, as you will be able to pull off mid-air dashing to quickly get control over your movement, while falling in the air.
Underslung Agility: Heavy weapon adaptation
Use the heavy weapon, such as Vulcan GAU-92 or Flamethrower, at a faster pace than before.
We highly recommend you to Unlock Planetologist in the game to gain access to its list of useful passives. While troopers’ passives focus on boosting the offensive abilities, Planetologist will help you master the resource management side of the game.
Cutterray Mining: More Resource Yield (Planetologist)
This passive will increase the Cutteray yield by 15%. This can be merged with Deep Analysis passive to further increase the yield by 15%. In total, you are gaining 30% Cutteray Yield by adding both passives.
Dew Gathering: 15% Dew Reaper Yield (Planetologist)
Most of the actions on your initial playthrough will be focused on the Dew Gathering, having the passive on the back will help you gain more in a shorter amount of time.
Mountaineer: 20% less Climbing Stamina Drain (Planetologist)
Now you can climb without worrying too much about the stamina bar. Get to the peak faster with more stamina in the bar for exploration.
Alternatives would be the “Center of Mass” (Trooper), passive, perfect for anyone who likes to land tons of body shots and ignores headshots. It will grant the player a 25% body damage bonus with 15% less headshot damage reduction. Sacrificing on the headshot damage to gain bodyshot damage. Another great handful of alternatives are: Vehicle Repair / Rerouting passives found under Planetologist,
Best Loadout Selection
Weapon: Blade: Kaleff’s Drinker
A melee weapon is a must for dealing with enemies with Holtzman Shield that can’t be damaged with guns. Here, switching to melee weapons is the only way to make it out of combat alive. Any standard melee weapon will deal a good amount of damage early on.
Note: The schematic for Kaleff’s Drinker can be found inside Wreck of the Alcyon; you will get to the location during the events of the main quest.
Weapon: Rifle/ Pistol: Aren’s Vengeance
For weapons, we highly recommend a ranged rifle; don’t focus too much on the details. Having a long-range weapon around will be a lifesaver. You can find Aren’s Vengeance pulse rifle inside Broken Stone Station, located in Hagga Basin. Great alternatives for Aren’s Vengeance would be Way of the Fallen; the schematic for this weapon is located in the Old Griffin Hideaway.
Utility (Gathering Tools): Cutteray
It helps you mine the carbon needed for refining steel. If you have passive skills focused on mining bonus, then cutterray will help you gather materials at a faster rate.
Utility (Consumables): Healkit
Just a standard heal kit for healing in combat. Dune’s world is unforgiving; taking damage is just like breathing air. So, having HealKit will save you from dying an unimaginable death. Just get Plant Fibre to craft x1 Healkit via the Crafting section.
Utility (Utility Tool): Vehicle Backup Tool
Allows you to summon Sandbike or Scout Ornithopter and unsummon them at any location. The latter part is more crucial, as if unsummoning will remove the vehicle from the battlefield, where no other player or NPCs would damage it.
Utility (Hydration Tool): Blood Extractor
Suck out the blood from the dead corpses. Which can then turn into water via the Blood Purifier in your base.
Utility (Hydration Tool): Dew Reaper
Dew Reaper will allow you to keep a balanced water level. The hydration meter is crucial in the game if you are planning to do a lot of running around in the daytime under the scorching sun.
Utility (Hydration Tool): Literjon
Once you extract the water, you will keep it in a container, which is a Literjon. It’s a container that can be used to store water.
Equipment Loadout Selection
Armour – Kirab Heavy Jerkin set: It provides 100 Armour value along with plenty of useful perks.
- Dash Stamina Cost to +15%
- Light Dart Mitigation +6%
- Blade Mitigation -12%
- Concussive Mitigation – +6%
- Heavy Dart Mitigation +6%
One downside to this heavy armour set is its heat protection, which sits at 0.2 to none. If you are having trouble surviving in the wild, we recommend switching to the Scout Armour for better environmental protection. Kirab Heavy will help you combat scenarios to soak up plenty of damage. Another great alternative will be the Stillsuit, perfect for environmental protection, especially managing water.
Utility Tool – Holtzman Shield: Perfect for deflecting projectiles in combat, but you will take melee damage up close.
Utility Tool – Passive suspensor Belt: Reduce fall damage.
Utility Tool – Power Pack: Store and regenerate power. It will power most of your loadout items, shield, and Passive Suspensor Belt. Focus on upgrading this item to a better Power Pack to conserve more power.
