Wayfinder: 5 Best Tips for Beginners

The journey to becoming a great Wayfinder isn’t an easy one. But every great Wayfinder started somewhere, right? Wayfinder is an MMO currently in Early Access on PlayStation and PC. It’s unclear when the full game will launch. However, the early access version hosts a good amount of fun with friends, albeit with a few server issues that hopefully get fixed soon. So, what are you waiting for? Here are Wayfinder: best tips for beginners to give you a glorious head start. 

5. Choose Your Character Wisely

There are three characters to choose from: Wingrave the Seeker, Niss the Shadow Dancer, and Silo the Tactician. In other games, you’re free to just pick any character you want and then change them later on if they don’t please you. Some games may even allow you to change characters on the fly while playing. 

Wayfinder is a different case altogether. 

When you pick a character in Wayfinder, you’re going to stick with your chosen character for a pretty long time before you can unlock more Wayfinders. You’re kind of just stuck with them, regardless of whether you like them or not. You are also stuck with the weapons of those characters, unless you want to spend 4,500 gold coins to buy a new weapon in Market Row.

Character Types

To give you a rough idea of which character to pick, each one has unique strengths and weaknesses. They also have unique abilities, combat tactics, gameplay, play styles, equipment, and more. 

Wingrave is your tanker and healer. He’s perfect for those who like to get up close and personal with the enemy. In addition to close-range combat, he can support allies by healing them and can further summon shields of light to take down the forces of evil.  

Niss is a silent assassin who likes to strike down enemies from the shadows. You can call her a hit-and-run character, often using fast strikes and evasive techniques to win. She’s at her best when she’s in motion, always dancing around her enemies to strike them down using her spectral blades and defend herself using her cloak of shadows. 

Silo, on the other hand, is a versatile character who specializes in long-range combat thanks to his longshot rifle and crowd control. For now, you can only unlock the above three. However, Wingrave will launch three more, totaling six playable characters, so keep an eye out for those.

4. Take the Time to Learn the Mechanics

Hack-and-slash games almost seem straightforward. It’s in the name. You, well, “hack” and “slash” until the enemy pleads mercy. Effectively, mindlessly smashing those attack buttons and bleeding the ground red. In Wayfinder, though, combat is a little different. You’ll find the mechanics a little slower and more methodical, perhaps more akin to Dark Souls.

A quick tip is to learn your character’s moves and weapons. Particularly learning the opportune times to use the special skill sets to your advantage. Also, learn the basics of blocking, parrying, and dodging. You can block incoming attacks using your shield and two-handed weapons. Or parry using daggers. But you can also dodge attacks using Wayfinder’s special short-distance fast travel through enemies.

The trick here is to learn the timing properly because it can cost you heavily if you don’t execute dodges or parries at the perfect time. A quick tip is to look out for the purple icon pop-up above an enemy when they’re about to attack.

3. You Guessed it, Explore the World

One of the main ways Wayfinders keep busy playing the game, stacking up hours upon hours of playthrough time, is by exploring the world. It’s a pretty vast world full of secrets to uncover, hidden treasures for finder keepers, quests to pick up, mysteries to solve, useful items to craft, world events to win extra XP and items, and many more. 

However, the pleasures of this world shouldn’t make you rush through to tick as many checkboxes in as little time as possible. Take the time to enjoy this neon-filled weird fantasy delight that’s incredibly polished, comforting, and inviting.

2. Unlock Echoes and Level Them Up

After playing Wayfinder for a while, you’ll unlock Echoes, which is the upgrade system for this game. You can even take a step further to unlock Artifacts, which you can store echoes in later on. 

Unlocking Echoes allows you to gain extra buffs on the gear you currently have by either scaling an accessory's or character’s critical ratings and powers or increasing your defense stats. Either way, they give you a boost in combat that you’ll definitely need down the road.

The trick, though, is to learn which echoes work well in your favor so you can upgrade them. The best way to do so is to experiment with Echoes. There are so many Echoes available, especially later on, that it won’t really make a difference to use trial-and-error. Once you find your go-to Echoes, work on getting those bonuses to progress easily and unlock even more gameplay faster.

1. Level Up Wisely

Besides Echoes, another way to progress in Wayfinder is by using the Affinity system. These are the character stats like discipline, focus, and instinct that, when upgraded, can make the difference between winning or losing battles. Upgrading comes at the cost of your points, so make sure to choose which stat to upgrade wisely.

Affinity doesn’t just end there. There’s an Affinity Perk menu that’s easy to miss, right at the very bottom of your screen. When you pull it up, it shows each stat’s perks or special, powerful skill modifiers. Some perks are already available to you. However, others are unlockables that only become available once you reach certain milestones on the main screen. 

If you’re worried about unlocking modifiers that don’t synergize well with our playstyle, you’ll be happy to know that you can reset them as much as you want. So, feel free to experiment with every active and passive buff to find what’s right for you.

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