Conan Exiles does not gently hold your hand.
It throws you into the Exiled Lands, leaves you under the blazing sun, and expects you to work out very quickly how not to die. For new players, that can be overwhelming. You start with almost nothing, you do not fully understand what resources matter, enemies can punish you early, and even something as simple as finding food, clothing, tools, or shelter can feel like a major achievement.
That is exactly why this beginner survival guide exists.
In my Getting Started in Conan Exiles video, I cover the essential early-game steps every new player should understand: clothing, material gathering, basic combat, crafting your first tools and weapons, and building a simple starter dwelling or house. These are the things I wish I had known when I first played Conan Exiles back in 2017, when the game first entered the survival scene and many of us were learning through trial, error, and a lot of painful deaths.
If you are new to Conan Exiles, this guide is designed to give you a fighting chance.
Watch the Conan Exiles Beginner Guide Video
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What Is Conan Exiles?
Conan Exiles is an open-world survival game set in the brutal world of Conan the Barbarian. The basic premise is simple but unforgiving: you are an exile, condemned for your crimes, crucified beneath the burning desert sun, and left to die. After being rescued, you are forced to survive in the fictional prehistoric Hyborian Age, a world filled with danger, hostile creatures, ancient ruins, rival factions, and harsh environments.
That opening tells you almost everything you need to know about the tone of the game.
You are not a chosen hero with a glowing sword and a helpful companion explaining every button. You are an unwanted prisoner dropped into a savage land. The game expects you to gather, craft, fight, build, and adapt. If you do not learn quickly, the Exiled Lands will punish you.
The good news is that once the basics click, Conan Exiles becomes one of the most rewarding survival games out there. You go from scrambling for stones and branches to building your own fortress, crafting better armour, taming thralls, exploring dangerous locations, and carving out a place for yourself in a hostile world.
But before all of that, you need to survive day one.
Your First Priority: Do Not Panic
The first mistake many new Conan Exiles players make is trying to run everywhere, fight everything, or build too big too early.
Do not do that.
Your first job is simple: stay alive.
Early survival is about managing the basics. You need to gather simple resources, craft basic tools, make basic clothing, understand where danger is, and avoid getting pulled into fights you cannot win. Conan Exiles rewards ambition later, but at the start it rewards patience.
When you first begin, focus on your immediate surroundings. Look for loose stones, branches, plant fibre, insects, and anything else you can gather by hand. These early materials are the foundation of your first few minutes in the game.
You do not need a castle straight away. You need tools, clothing, a weapon, food, water, and somewhere safe enough to stop the wildlife from turning you into breakfast.
Gathering Materials: The Foundation of Survival
Material gathering is the first real skill you need to learn in Conan Exiles.
At the start, you will be collecting basic resources by hand. Stones can usually be picked up from the ground. Branches can be found scattered around. Plant fibre comes from bushes and vegetation. These may seem like minor items, but they are the first step toward crafting tools, weapons, clothing, and eventually your starter base.
Once you craft your first tools, the game opens up properly.
A pickaxe lets you harvest stone and ore more effectively. A hatchet is useful for wood and other materials. A weapon gives you a better chance in combat. These early crafts do not just make gathering faster; they turn you from a desperate exile into someone who can begin to control their environment.
A good beginner routine is: gather stones, branches, and plant fibre; craft basic clothing; craft simple tools; craft a basic weapon; collect more wood, stone, and fibre; start looking for a safe place to build.
This might sound obvious, but in Conan Exiles, the obvious things are often what keep you alive.
Why Clothing Matters Early On
In many survival games, clothing is treated like decoration. In Conan Exiles, it is part of survival.
Your first clothing will not make you invincible, but it gives you a starting layer of protection and helps you feel less like a doomed prisoner wandering around in the desert. It is also one of the first crafting goals that teaches you how the game works.
Plant fibre is especially important here. Collect plenty of it early because it feeds directly into your first clothing options and other useful beginner crafting items. Do not ignore bushes. The humble bush is your first shop, tailor, snack cupboard, and crafting supplier all rolled into one.
Early clothing also helps set the rhythm of Conan Exiles. Gather, craft, improve, survive. Then repeat that cycle with better materials and better recipes.
That loop is the heart of the game.
Crafting Your First Tools and Weapons
Once you have gathered enough basic resources, crafting your first tools should be one of your main priorities.
Your early tools allow you to harvest more efficiently, which means you can gather larger quantities of stone, wood, and other materials. This is important because building even a basic shelter requires a decent amount of resources.
You will also want a weapon as soon as possible.
Combat in Conan Exiles can catch new players out. Even low-level enemies can be dangerous if you are careless, especially when you are under-equipped. Having a basic weapon gives you a better chance against wildlife and weaker enemies, but it does not mean you should suddenly charge into every camp you see.
That is a classic new-player trap.
The smarter approach is to pick your fights carefully. Fight weaker creatures first. Learn how stamina works. Pay attention to enemy attacks. Do not let yourself get surrounded. If a fight looks bad, run.
There is no shame in running away in Conan Exiles. In fact, running away is often the difference between survival and respawning.
Basic Combat: Learn Before You Get Brave
Combat in Conan Exiles is not just about swinging wildly until something falls over.
You need to learn timing, stamina management, movement, and positioning. New players often die because they overcommit. They attack too many times, run out of stamina, and then cannot dodge or move away when the enemy responds.
The basic rule is simple: do not spend all your stamina unless you are sure you are safe.
Keep moving. Watch enemy patterns. Strike when you have an opening. Back away when you need space. Use terrain where possible. If you are fighting near cliffs, water, rocks, or uneven ground, be careful not to trap yourself.
Early combat is not about being heroic. It is about learning what you can handle.
Start small. Fight creatures and enemies that seem manageable. Gather hide, meat, and other useful materials where possible. Over time, as you improve your gear, you can take bigger risks.
Conan Exiles is very good at tempting new players into bad decisions. That enemy camp in the distance might look interesting, but if you are barely clothed, holding a basic weapon, and carrying your entire life in your inventory, maybe leave it alone for now.
The Exiled Lands will still be there later.
Building Your First Shelter
Once you have basic tools, some clothing, and a weapon, it is time to think about building.
Your first house does not need to be impressive. It does not need towers, courtyards, decorative walls, or a throne room. It needs to be functional.
A simple starter dwelling gives you somewhere to organise yourself, store resources, craft safely, and begin planning your next steps. In a survival game, shelter is not just about appearance. It is about creating a foothold in the world.
When choosing a location, think carefully. Beginners should look for somewhere relatively safe, close to basic resources, and not too far from water. Water is essential, and building too far from it can turn simple survival into an unnecessary chore.
You also want to avoid building directly next to dangerous enemy camps or high-traffic hostile areas. It may look convenient at first, but constantly being attacked or ambushed while trying to craft is not ideal.
A good starter base should be close to water, near trees, stone, and plant fibre, away from strong enemies, easy to find again, and simple enough to build quickly.
Do not overbuild at the start. Build a small house, place essential crafting items, and use it as your launchpad. You can always expand later.
What Should Go Inside Your First Base?
Once your first dwelling is built, start thinking about function.
You need space to store materials, craft items, and recover between trips. Storage is especially useful because new players often carry too much. If you die while carrying everything important, that can set you back. Storing extra materials at your base gives you a safety net.
Your first base should support your next goals. That means keeping spare stone, wood, fibre, food, basic materials, and any useful drops you collect. As you progress, you will start adding crafting stations and improving your setup.
The early base is not the end goal. It is the beginning of your survival network.
Think of it as your first safe point in a world that really does not care whether you live or die.
Food, Water, and Not Dying Stupidly
One of the easiest ways to die early in Conan Exiles is by ignoring survival meters.
New players often get distracted by crafting, exploring, or fighting, then realise too late that they need water or food. Keep an eye on your basic needs. Stay near water while you are learning. Do not push too far into unknown areas unless you are prepared.
Food can come from different sources early on, including insects, eggs, and meat from hunted creatures. As you learn the game, you will get better at creating a more stable food supply, but in the opening hours, take what you can get.
The key is not to wander aimlessly without supplies. Before you leave your base, ask yourself: do I have food? Do I know where water is? Do I have a weapon? Do I have tools? Do I have enough inventory space? Can I get back safely?
That little mental checklist can save you a lot of frustration.
Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started Conan Exiles
Having played Conan Exiles since the early days, there are a few beginner lessons that stand out.
First, do not rush progression. Conan Exiles is much easier to enjoy when you let yourself learn the systems properly. If you try to sprint toward advanced gear without understanding the basics, you will make the game harder than it needs to be.
Second, your first base is probably temporary. Do not worry about making it perfect. Build something useful, learn the area, and move later if needed.
Third, stamina matters more than you think. Whether you are fighting, climbing, running, or escaping danger, poor stamina management will get you killed.
Fourth, avoid unnecessary fights. Just because you can attack something does not mean you should.
Fifth, gather more than you think you need. Conan Exiles is a crafting-heavy game, and resources disappear quickly when you start building.
Finally, death is part of the learning process. You will make mistakes. You will get ambushed. You will underestimate enemies. You will wander too far. That is normal. The important thing is to learn from each death and improve your next run.
Beginner Survival Checklist
If you are brand new to Conan Exiles, here is a simple starter checklist: gather stones, branches, and plant fibre; craft basic clothing; craft your first tools; craft a basic weapon; find water; gather food; avoid strong enemies and large camps; choose a safe starter base location; build a small shelter; create storage; keep spare materials at base; upgrade gear gradually; explore carefully.
This checklist will not make you unstoppable, but it will give you a solid foundation. And in Conan Exiles, a solid foundation is everything.
Final Thoughts
Conan Exiles can feel brutal when you first start, but that is also what makes it rewarding. You begin as a condemned exile with nothing, and every small improvement feels earned. Your first clothes, your first tool, your first weapon, your first successful fight, and your first basic house all matter because they represent progress.
This beginner survival guide is not about rushing to endgame. It is about giving new players the confidence to survive the opening hours and understand the core loop of the game.
Gather. Craft. Fight carefully. Build smart. Survive.
Once you understand those basics, Conan Exiles becomes far less intimidating and far more enjoyable.
If you are new to the game, start small, learn the systems, and do not be afraid to make mistakes. The Exiled Lands are harsh, but with the right early steps, you can survive them.
Watch the Full Beginner Guide
For more Conan Exiles beginner guides, survival game content, and gaming updates, subscribe to Ricardos Gaming on YouTube.
You can also visit ricardosgaming.com and ricardosgaming.co.uk.
