No Rest for the Wicked | 15 Beginner’s Tips All Players Should Know

Moon Studios’ new title, No Rest for the Wicked, is a promising new ARPG hoping to reinvent the genre with a grim but incredibly grand world, precise combat, and intriguing lore. However, as beautiful and enchanting as No Rest for the Wicked is, it isn’t particularly great at communicating certain aspects of the game, leading many newer players to feel lost for one reason or another. Whether it’s the strict healing system, the massive amount of things to spend your resources on, or what stats to level, there’s a lot of complexity in No Rest for the Wicked which could turn people off. Outside of that, there are also a lot of things experienced players could learn to better optimise their gameplay or improve their quality of life.

Here are 15 essential beginner’s tips and tricks that all players should know in No Rest for the Wicked, the new ARPG from Moon Studios.

If you’d like to see some more No Rest for the Wicked content and articles, check out our overview of the game’s first official hotfix here on KeenGamer.

Adjusting to Life in Sacra

Food and Recipes are the Most Important Items

First and foremost, you need to understand that food and recipes are some of the most important items in the entire game, arguably even more so than fancy swords or tanky armour. Food is your main, and often only, source of healing in No Rest for the Wicked, with cooked meals restoring a massive amount of additional health compared to raw ingredients. And it’s not like ingredients are hard to find, either, as Sacra is covered head-to-toe in horseshoe crabs, mushrooms, herbs, and more. 

There’s just one small problem, though. You cannot free-cook meals in No Rest for the Wicked: to make a meal, you need to know the recipe. This means that, in the early game, you’ll be stuck with a single option for cooked food, often with ingredients that will grow more scarce as you proceed further into the game. Horsecrabs are indeed plentiful in the Shallows, but they become far rarer in the Nameless Pass, severely limiting your opportunities for cooking, and thus limiting your healing, considerably. 

Cooking is Vital to Survival

To get around this, you need to make finding new recipes to expand your palette a top priority. Fortunately, Fillmore, the blacksmith you’ll find early on in Mariner’s Keep, sells two new recipes for fairly cheap and he’ll continue selling them once he makes it back to Sacrament. Other methods to obtain new recipes include doing specific Daily Bounties or Challenges for Captain Randolph or building up Gordon’s Pantry back in Sacrament, expanding his stock and allowing him to sell new recipes. 

While it certainly isn’t the most interesting thing in the world, ensuring that you can actually make something useful out of the stuff crammed in your inventory is vital to your success in No Rest for the Wicked. There’s no point hoarding quality meat if you can’t use it for anything: in that situation, it’s just a wasted inventory slot that you could be using for more mushrooms or Artemisia Herbs. In short, cook as many meals as you can and actively seek out new recipes to expand what you can cook. 

Purchase Recipes to Expand Your Cooking Repertoire

Cerim Whisper Teleportation Goes Both Ways

No Rest for the Wicked borrows a lot of its ARPG roots from Soulslikes: from the brutal difficulty to the scarce amount of healing to the monstrous enemies, there are a lot of Dark Souls or Bloodborne buried in Sacra’s twisted walls. One of the most prevalent comparisons is the Cerim Whispers, magical blue tears in reality that you can attune to, giving you a point to return to if you happen to die. There are a bunch of these Whispers hidden around the world, acting just like bonfires or lanterns in FROMSOFT’s games.

You can even teleport from any Whisper out in the wild straight to Sacrament. However, while most players will know about teleporting back to Sacrament, many more will not know that you can use the main Sacrament Whisper to teleport straight back to where you just came from. Simply interact with the Sacrament Whisper and then select Last Whisper to instantly hop back to where you just came from. 

This tip is incredibly handy and will make you feel like a bit of an idiot after you discover it, especially if you’ve been hoofing back and forth from the Glades or the Shallows every time you need to repair an item or purchase some more gear. Even if you’re only a short walk away, teleporting to and from Sacrament in this manner saves a ton of time and can cut down on No Rest for the Wicked’s repetitiveness significantly. 

Return Using the Sacrament Whisper

Most Important Places in Sacrament

Sacrament is a massive city with a lot of twisting corridors, plunging alleyways, and secrets hiding behind almost every corner. Paired with the game’s beautiful grim, but sometimes hard-to-read, art style, you have a city where players can easily get lost, for better or for worse. This can be tricky when it comes to finding key vendors and figuring out what they can do, especially when you’re just starting.

Below, you’ll find the five most important vendors in Sacrament as well as what they provide. These should be the most important people you check in on every time you come back from exploring the wilds of Sacra: 

• Danos: If you bring him the right amount of resources, he can upgrade various parts of Sacrament. He can improve traversal, increase the wares offered by each of Sacrament’s various vendors, and even sell important items for your house. 
• Filmore the Blacksmith: Sells resources used to upgrade your weapons and armour, allows you to upgrade equipment at his shop and, at later levels of investment, can smelt ore into ingots.
• Eleanore the Enchantress: Sells Runes and gems which can be slotted into your gear for additional bonuses or even new Focus abilities. To unlock access to Eleanore, you’ll need to invest in her shop at Danos. 
• Caroline the Innkeeper: Allows you to rest overnight in her inn for a full health recovery. To fix Caroline’s inn, you need to invest in it at Danos. 
• Captain Randolph: Gives out various Bounties and Challenges which offer direction if you’re feeling a bit aimless as well as plenty of useful items such as Silver Coins.

Most Important Vendors

Best Building Project Investments

In the previous tip, we mentioned a vendor called Danos. He’s in charge of Sacrament’s Building Projects and he’ll be one of the main NPCs you interact with. By giving him ore, wood, and other resources, Danos will create a wide variety of things, either improving your quality of life or granting you access to new equipment or materials. Once you’ve selected a Building Project and donated the requisite materials, you’ll need to wait a little bit before it gets completed. 

There are a lot of things that you can help rebuild, though, and it can be tricky to figure out what is best to invest in in the early game. Just like the last tip, below you’ll find the five best investments for when you start your journey in No Rest for the Wicked. Some of these projects will help you move around the city whereas others will give you access to new stock at important vendors:

• Lodgings Staircase: Very cheap to invest in (5 Pine Wood and 3 Copper Ore) and will grant you much easier access to the Rookery Lodgings, allowing you easier access to the Watcher or the communal chest for storage. 
• Eleanore’s Enchantment Shop: Investing in this project will allow Eleanor to open up her shop, allowing you to access enchanting, imbuing, and Runes.
• Caroline’s Inn: Investing unlocks The Dusty Loom Inn, allowing you to rest by the town gates for a full health recovery whenever you get back from town. 
• Filmore’s Smithy: Investing in the Smithy will increase Filmore’s selection of wares, allowing you to purchase better armour as well as higher quality ingots required for upgrading equipment. 
• Gordon’s Pantry: Investing will unlock more recipes for you to purchase, as well as allowing Gordon to stock more raw ingredients and cooked meals. You’ll also gain access to the Stove for cooking more advanced meals. 

Damos’ Building Projects

Buy a House to Help with Storage

Upon completing the main story quest Of Rats and Raiders, you’ll be welcomed in Sacrament with, well not so-welcoming, arms. As an honorary citizen of Sacrament, you can now purchase a house in the city, one which you can decorate with various furnishings. In the early access release of No Rest for the Wicked, there are three houses which you can purchase, all for varying amounts of Silver, with the cheapest costing 20 Silver Coins. 

Buying a house isn’t just for vanity’s sake, though, as you can stock it with various kinds of furniture which you can purchase from Whittaker or Danos. The former will offer more normal items such as chairs, beds, and the like, whereas the latter will allow you to purchase specialised items like Forges, Stoves, Spinning Wheels, and more, letting you craft items or smelt ore within the comfort of your own home. 

However, arguably the most important thing owning a home will allow you to do is purchase and place chests which can store your various resources. The inventory limit is a massive problem in No Rest for the Wicked and can make exploration a slog. By purchasing a house, though, you can have your own space filled with potential storage areas which aren’t shared with other players on the Realm (something that the communal chest in the Rookery is subject to). While it may take you a while to save up the Silver, it is an important goal which all players should strive towards as they explore Sacra. 

Buying Households in Sacrament

Use Your Ichor on Ring Slots

Torn Ichor is a rare and exceedingly useful resource in No Rest for the Wicked. It only drops from named bosses and is a vital part of progressing the Spilled Blood quest line. However, the most important thing about Ichor is that you can use it to expand your Inventory. From being able to outfit yourself with multiple main-hand weapons to being able to hold more equipment, Ichor is incredibly important, especially with how limited it is. With so many different options to send Ichor on, it can be hard to choose. 

For your first batch of Ichor, we highly recommend spending it all on unlocking the two additional Ring Slots. Rings are incredibly useful pieces of equipment which will grant your character a wide variety of boons and bonuses, just any piece of gear, without weighing a thing. However, at the beginning of the game, you’ll only be able to equip a single Ring, stifling your potential significantly. As such, focus on unlocking the Ring Slots with your first two bits of Ichor to greatly improve your performance and gameplay experience. 

Once you’re done unlocking Rings and need something else to spend your Ichor on, go for increasing your Resource Inventory next. Compared to Equipment or Items, your Resource Inventory will fill far quicker as you explore the world – whether it be mushrooms, meat, meals, wood, bones, gems, or otherwise, you’ll often lament how small your Resource Inventory is and how often you have to either sell or discard otherwise useful items. Investing Ichor in the Resource Inventory will at least cut back on that annoyance somewhat. 

Spend Dark Ichor on Ring Slots

Always Forage As You Travel

Alongside your usual slate of equipment – weapons, armour, accessories – all players have access to four tool slots. Here, you can outfit yourself with pickaxes, axes, shovels, or fishing rods, allowing you to partake in various activities around the world: pickaxes let you mine ore, axes let you cut down trees, shovels let you dig up disturbed bits of the ground, and fishing rods let you, well, fish. 

While it can feel like a bit of a chore to slow down and go out of your way to do these activities, you should always be on the lookout for them, especially early on. As we mentioned earlier, Danos requires a lot of copper ore and pine wood for the first series of Building Projects, materials which you can only get a hold of by farming the world. These resources do slowly regenerate over time but that window is pretty random. 

To avoid getting into a situation where you run out of a specific resource, always cut down every tree you see and mine every bit of ore you find, allowing them to respawn as you’re exploring the rest of the world or killing monsters. Your tools will eventually break but only after a long period of use, at which point you can visit Grennick or Fillmore in Sacrament to purchase more.

Look for Foraging Spots as You Explore

Good Resource Farming Spots

Speaking of resources, there are certain areas of Sacra which are excellent spots for farming resources. Whether it be food, herbs, wood, ore, or otherwise, these areas are great places to revisit when you’re running low on a specific resource. 

The first route we recommend is straight outside Sacrament’s doorstep. If you follow the path out of the main Sacrament gates to the south, you can find an isolated path by the water which, when followed, will eventually lead to an elevated grove covered in Yellow Mushrooms and Artemisa Herbs. Along this path, you’ll also find plenty of Pine Trees and Copper Ore, making it a great and easy path to travel in the early game, especially with how close it is to the main city.

If trees are your main aim, there’s a path you can take from the Cerim Whisper outside of Sacrament which spans the majority of the Orban Glades. This grassy patch of highland has a lot more Pine Trees to farm, as well as several digging spots where you can find a variety of items and resources. To fully explore this path, you will need to strap on your climbing boots so be aware of that. 

Lastly, when it comes to ore, the main area of the Nameless Pass to the west of Sacrament is your best bet. At the bottom of a tall elevator is an entire quarry dedicated to mining where you can a large amount of ore deposits scattered across the land. In general, ore deposits are plentiful inside of caves, of which there are plenty in the quarry.

Area Difficulty Changes Regularly, Bringing New Enemies and Chests

As you’ve been exploring the open world and fighting monsters in No Rest for the Wicked, you’ve likely seen the Area Status pop-up appear a few times. Whenever you enter a new area you’ll be informed of the area name as well as its current Area Status, which is broken down into three types depending on how difficult the area currently is: the lowest threat level is Safe (green) then Moderate (yellow) then Dangerous (Red). 

As you’re playing through the main story, most of the areas will likely appear as Moderate or Safe. However, one of the coolest parts about No Rest for the Wicked’s world is that the threat level of areas you’ve already explored will often change. For example, after clearing the Risen out of Mariner’s Keep, I returned a few hours later to discover that it had been taken over by the Pestilence, with the area’s status level increasing to Dangerous. This happened again even later on where, instead of the Pestilence, I was met with dangerous Inquisiton Forces that were way tougher and dropped way better loot. Additionally, whenever these areas changed, all of the chests within them would also respawn.

The frequency of area changes is a bit nebulous as some of it seems tied to story and quest progression whereas other aspects seem to change randomly or according to the time of day. To quickly check the Area Status, go to your map and mouse over each of the areas. Furthermore, you’ll be able to tell when new enemies have moved into the area because the area on the map will be dim, despite you having cleared the fog of war. Just remember, the more difficult the area, the better the loot and rewards. 

Area Danger Levels Will Change

Sell Fallen Embers in the Early Game for Quick Cash

As you explore Sacra, you’ll end up accruing a large amount of a resource called Fallen Embers. These odd misty purple orbs will show in your Item Inventory and, in the early game, they’re essentially worthless. In fact, Fallen Embers do not become useful until after you’ve reached the quest Spoken and Unbroken, a relatively late quest which will only unlock after you’ve beaten both the Riven Twins and Falstead Darak.

However, Fallen Embers go for a decent amount of coin. You can sell a Fallen Ember for 24 Bronze Coins, a significant amount of money in the early hours of No Rest for the Wicked. As such, don’t be afraid to sell a few to Filmore or Grinnick for a bit of a cash injection in the early game: being able to afford upgrade resources or new equipment is going to be infinitely more useful than hoarding a batch of 20 pointless Fallen Embers. 

As for when you should stop selling them, I would recommend that you start hoarding again once you’ve beaten either the Servant of God or the Of Rats and Raiders quests. You need to complete both of these quests to progress the main story so, once you’ve completed one, start saving your Fallen Embers again as you’ll need them sooner rather than later. 

Fallen Embers in the Early Game Equals Quick Cash

Item Rarity and Tiers Explained

Like most ARPGs, equipment in No Rest for the Wicked drops in a variety of rarities which determine their stats and unique effects. In total, there are four kinds of item rarity in No Rest for the Wicked:

• Common (Grey): Regular items with multiple gem slots.
• Rare (Blue): Items with additional affixes and abilities, but fewer gem slots. 
• Plagued (Purple): Items with additional affixes and abilities that are often stronger than Rare equipment but with one negative effect.
• Unique (Gold): Special unique items which drop from bosses that came decked out with special affixes and Runes. 

The main items you’ll likely come across are going to be Rare and Plagued items. While similar in power, the negative affixes of Plagued equipment may have you thinking twice about what to use: is the increased Focus gain worth the tradeoff of losing XP or gold on death? Those are the kinds of questions you need to ask when outfitting yourself with gear in No Rest for the Wicked. Furthermore, you can take a Common or Rare item and enchant it at Eleanore’s to transform it into a Plagued version of the same item, improving its stats while giving it a drawback in return. 

Of course, the strongest, and rarest, items are the Unique pieces. The most important about these items is that they come fully stocked with four unique Runes which cannot be acquired elsewhere. Every player will get access to the Corpse Smeared Sword from the first Torn boss, an extremely powerful weapon which will only get better as you upgrade it. Meanwhile, other bosses, such as the Riven Twins, can drop additional Unique weapons such as the Laquered Bow. 

In addition to item rarity, all pieces of equipment also have a Tier system. When examining each item, you can check its Tier by looking at the number at the top right. Higher Tier items usually have pretty defensive or offensive stats but require you to have far greater stats or be at a higher level to equip them. You can manually increase the Tier of an item by upgrading it at Fillmore’s Smithy, with higher-tier items requiring more resources. 

Rare vs Plagued vs Unique

Don’t Forget About Items (Repair Powder, Oils, Bombs)

Alongside your suite of weapons and armour is a laundry list of incredibly useful items. From potions which restore Stamina or Poise instantly to bombs which explode and deal a variety of elemental effects, there’s a lot of utility hidden away that most players likely won’t touch. It’s a shame, too, as knowing when and how to use specific combat items can mean the difference between success and failure.

The main items you should be aware of are Focus Potions and Repair Powder. The former does exactly what you’d expect, granting you an instant surge of Focus depending on the level of the potion. These are excellent in boss fights, allowing you to quickly get back your most powerful moves in a pitch without needing to risk damage. Meanwhile, Repair Powder will immediately restore the durability of all your equipped items, saving you a trip back to Sacrament. Once again, this is great for both boss battles and general exploration, allowing you to stay out in the field for prolonged periods without needing to talk the walk of shame back to Fillmore.

To make things easier, switching between Items is relatively easy. By holding down the Item button shortcut (down on the d-pad for a controller), you’ll open up a small menu where you can reassign the shortcut to any of your available items. This makes switching between oils or potions an almost seamless process, somewhat which will prove invaluable in tough combat challenges: now, with this in mind, you can coat your weapon in Flamescale Oil before downing a Focus Potion to deliver a devastating Rune attack which also deals fire damage. 

Quick Swap Items in Battle

Identifying Bounty Targets

Captain Randolph is in charge of handing out bounties back in Sacrament. Daily bounties are usually smaller excursions which usually ask you to fend off a gathering of ordinary foes somewhere on Sacra, whereas Weekly bounties task you with defeating powerful boss enemies in specific locations. These bounties are well worth your time as they award money, blueprints, equipment, and more. 

However, knowing who your Bounty Targets are can be a bit of a struggle, especially if the area is quite dense or is already populated with enemies of that type. However, there is one easy tell and that has to do with their health bar. If you run into your Bounty Target while exploring Sacra, they will have a skull icon next to their health, marking them as your target. This should help you cut down on any aimless wandering as you can simply ignore any enemies you don’t want to deal with. 

Bounty Target Spotted

Best Stats to Level

Whenever you level up in No Rest for the Wicked, you will gain 3 Attribute Points which can be invested into eight different stats: Health, Stamina, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, Faith, Focus, or Equip Load. Each stat serves a different purpose and, early on in the game, it can be tricky to figure out which one you should focus on, especially when you’re still testing out which weapons you like. 

No matter what build you’re running, there are two stats which you should always consider investing in, no matter what, and that’s Stamina and Equip Load. You could also include Focus on that list but it isn’t as important:

• Stamina: Increases the number of attacks, dodges, or blocks you can perform. Every single build in the game will either be rolling out of danger or blocking it with a shield, requiring a high amount of Stamina to be effective. 
• Equip Load: Raises the limit for equipped gear weight before encumbrance sets in. Also increases the threshold for each dodge type. A higher Equip Load stat will allow you to equip weightier weapons and armour (which usually have higher offensive or defensive stats) while keeping a higher mobility dodge, a deadly combination against some of the game’s deadliest foes. 
• Focus: Increases your amount of focus bars. While not as vital as Stamina or Equip Load (especially because you can get a lot of free Focus with gear pieces), improving Focus will allow every single build in the game to pump out Rune attacks at a higher pace. 

Attributes and Stats

Aside from these stats, Attribute Points should invested based on your build. Each weapon in the game has an associated attribute which, when increased, will improve its damage. As such, you should put the remainder of your Skill Points towards making your favourite weapons better and more efficient. While there are certain exceptions, the general attribute and weapon class combinations are as follows:

• Strength increases the damage of Greatswords, One-Handed Swords, Hammers, and Maces.
• Dexterity increases the damage of Knives, Daggers, and Bows.
• Intelligence increases the damage of Staffs and Spells. 
• Faith increases the damage of Spears and Spells. 

Level Weapon Attributes for Bonus Damage

Best Weapons and Builds for Beginner Players

Finally, for our last tip, let’s go over what weapons and builds are best for players just starting their journey in No Rest for the Wicked. 

The best option for new players who may find combat too difficult is to pair a One-Handed Weapon with a Shield, both of which you will find very early in the game. From swords to knives to mauls to hammers, there are a lot of One-Handed Weapons to choose from, all of which you can with the defensive power of a shield. While blocking doesn’t completely negate damage like a parry would, it is far easier to execute and can stagger your enemy, allowing you to punish for high damage. For this kind of build, you should invest in Health and Equip Load alongside the stat which improves the damage of your One-Handed weapon of choice.

Another superb option that I would highly recommend is a Two-Handed Greatsword build, specifically one built around the Corpse Smeared Blade Unique weapon. All players will gain this piece of gear upon defeating the first major boss and, since the first hotfix, it only has a minimal Strength requirement of 11. As a Unique weapon, the Corpse Smeared Blade has access to four powerful Rune attacks which can make combat far easier. In addition, with investment into Strength, you can increase the power to the point where you can one-shot most enemies in a Moderate zone. If you’re willing to play into the Greatsword’s heavier playstyle, you can even forego levelling Equip Load and make use of the Heavy class’ unique charge attack (LB+RB) to easily break enemy poise.

Lastly, for players who prefer playing at range, your best option in the early game is to pick up a Staff and invest in Intelligence. All Staves come with the ability to cast magic using Focus, allowing you to fling fireballs at your enemies from a safe distance. You will need to duck into CQC now and again to regain Focus so a bit of investment into Health wouldn’t be unwelcome. 

Best Builds for New Players

Those were 15 beginner’s tips and tricks for No Rest for the Wicked.