Tips and Tricks for ELEX Game Guide

The first and most important note about ELEX is to save the game as often as possible. Save in every important in game moment. Keep savegames from the previous locations and events, do not overwrite one save game forever.

Show your skills. All are welcome to add your Tips, Tricks and Advices to comments on this page. Then I will add them to the main text for all users. Thanks a lot.

Permanent World

The ELEX game world is permanent. Items, NPCs, monsters and crates are always in the same place where the creators of the game have placed them. No random encounters, no random loot or chest content. You can always load old game, or even start new game and everything will be the same.

If you kill monster, it will be killed to the end of game. There is no respawn.

Correction by mouche621621
"There is no respawn" Incorrect. As in every PB game, some new mobs will spawn in previously visited location when starting a new chapter. AND, unlike any PB game, some mobs WILL respawn within chapters, at set locations and every 48 hours. Mostly small, unsignificant critters ; near the small camp, for example, creatures and raptors will respawn, but the Troll guarding the war bow will not. Though I've seen videos of players farming 400xp mutants in Tavar.

I do not write this as an accusation, I love the pre generated game worlds.

Video: Regions on map. In what order to visit locations and locations to avoid, the location of teleports.

You can get own house in Origin, Central Abessa near Camp in the Center Teleporter

Fractions and Advanced Abilities.

You can join only one faction in one game. In practice it looks like you can do missions (quests) for different factions but at the end you can join only one.

So you can be Berserker or Cleric or Outlaw.

You can join selected faction only after visiting all 3 faction capitals. So if you want to join Berserkers, you have to visit Outlaws and Clerics first.

by Ilucie
"There is a mistake: I never visited the Outlaws cause of reasons and I joined the Berserks. Its not necessary to visit all fractions. You just need to visit 2 cities, but Abessa and The Hort (dunno the english name) will do it."

by myhv
"Screwing up (choosing the options that will hurt the faction) too many initial faction quests may get you locked out of joining that faction (which is meh) and from trading in their capital (which is worse). Mending relations will cost a decent amount of shards;"

Questing

The number of quests you can have active in your Quest Journal is unlimited. You do not have to worry about leaving free spot for new Missions.

Quests do not have the required level for your character. At the beginning of the game you can find tasks that you will not be able to do. Do not worry about it. Perform other tasks and return later.

It does not matter in what order you run the quest. You can first find the quest giver and then find the quest item, or first find the quest item and then take it to the quest giver.

by myhv
" Early quests will deliberately send you in to vicinity of enemies you cannot kill. Just grab the quest items and run;
Focus on doing introduction quests for the faction you won't be joining if you want the extra xp, or simply join early. Having better armor helps a lot; "

Surviving & Fight

Best advice I can give you for monsters is run for your life...

Most monsters you encounter at the beginning of the game will be deadly for you.

For the first part of the game try to avoid the fight if possible, perform missions and gain experience.

If the monster has a skull near its name ... run away.

If there is more than one monster ... run away.

Over time, your character will be very strong, then the fight will be easier.

To regenerate health you can eat, sleep and drink potions.

Do not sell food or anything regenerating health.

Sleeping cures you. There is no limit to the amount of sleep and how much sleep you do not affect the plot of the game. You can sleep endlessly to heal yourself.

The Jet Pack, in addition to the ability to jump into high objects, is very useful during the fight as the last escape route.

Sneaking works well, as you want to slip unnoticed, do not run, do not just go sneak up.

by myhv
" Aiming with a ranged weapon (grenades, magic) while jetpacking will switch you in to hover mode, that uses a lot less fuel than manual bursts. Useful for crossing big gaps;
Jetpack allows you to instantly gain high ground. While most enemies do have ranged attacks, some don't. It will also often screw up enemy pathfinding, sometimes even making them freeze in place;
You can still doge while aiming, without lowering your weapon;
Armor is a flat damage reduction, so there will be enemies that you simply cannot damage at this point. Grenades are a good solution early on;
Shield makes 1v1 combat vs humanoids trivial due to it's heavy attack (knockdown+stamina drain). Beasts get up quicker and always have max stamina; "

by Hasimir Fenring
"Oil Barrels are your friend. They explode for a lot of area damage when hit with any projectile (even regular arrows). At first I didn't pay any attention to them. I thought they were just part of the scenery. Then I noticed that they are often scattered around areas with a lot of higher level mutants and what not. A good example of this is the house next to the Small Farm south of the Domed City. Pull and kite mobs through the barrels. Shoot barrels. Profit."

Traveling

In ELEX, there is a network of Teleporters.

Remember the power of Teleporters. At any time when you are not involved in battle you can Fast Travel to the one of previously visited Teleporters. This is the best way to travel.

Leveling & Character Development

There is no max character level in ELEX. However, as in other games, gaining another level of experience requires more EXP.

Character Attributes describe the quality of your character. These are the most important parameters.

You can't reset your Attribute and Abilities Points during the game, therefore carefully spend your points, there are a limited amount of them due to limited amount of EXP you can earn.

Raising an Attribute 1 point costs one Attribute Point. Above the attribute value of 31, the cost of raising increases to 2 Attribute Points, above value of 61 it will cost 5 AP, above 91 will cost 10 AP

by Overlord Cthulhu
"Raising an Attribute one point costs one Attribute Point. Above the attribute value of 30, the cost of raising increases to two Attribute Points, above value of 60 it will cost five AP."

Attribute Point earns +10 for every new level of character.

It is Charisma Ability named Attribute Points that adds +10 Attribute Points for every raise of its value. You can use it three times, and you can earn as much as +30 Attribute Points.

In the game you can also prepare a potion that will raise your chosen attribute.

by myhv
"Technically there is no limit on Attribute and Abilities Points, as you can craft elex potions, that would give you 2 and 1 points respectively. All you need is chemist skill, some natural elex and liquor. There are several merchants in the game that will replenish their suply of said ingredients, so as long as you have the shards, you can max everything out.
Invest some early ability points in to different trees (combat, survival, crafting etc.). It unlocks a lot of dialog options;
Survival skill that allows you to gather trophies from enemies is your main source of income;
All of the bonus xp earned skills are not worth the investment, even if you do it early on;
Choose a weapon type and focus on getting stats to use better versions of it. Having a 40+ damage weapon makes killing a lot faster, having a 70+ damage one makes a huge difference; "

Inventory

Your character has no limitations as to the weight and amount of equipment being carried, and there are no restrictions on the amount of items in one time in Inventory.

Collect all the items you will find. Absolutely all items. You will be able to sell, process or use them in the future.

Do not sell food, weapons, armor, potions and raw materials. Sell only junk items of everyday use from pass times.

You can't create new weapon using crafting skills but you can improve and upgrade weapon you got.

You can create new rings, potions and amulets at the workbench.

At the beginning of the game you will only have a sword and a bow. And this "beginning" will last a long time.

by myhv
" You can generally sell all legendary items you will find early on, they are inferior to upgraded common ones and have unreachable stat requirements. Possible exceptions are items with strange stat requirements, like 1h sword that needs a lot of DEX or a bow that mainly needs STR. They are meant as a "backup weapons" for ranged and melee builds respectively. All of the "good" legendaries come later, you should be able to make a judgement call at that point;
Keep hold of all alcohol you find, except beer, just keep a couple bottles of it on hand;
There is an amulet that gives +1 to lockpicking in the starting area, just take left in the courtyard, past the damaged fence;"

by Denis Khoroshev
" To get smoother progression in damage check out other factions weapons. For example, Broadsword available in Berserker's shop has stat requirements 22 17/17 (Dam Str / Dex). The next tier weapon for Berserkers is Horned Sword 28 28/28. There is no need to wait what long. An Acolyte sword is 24 21/21 and a Chainsword is 26 25/25 "

Companions

There are 7 possible companions in game, but you can have only one companion active at a time.

To join companion you have to complete special missions for him. When you join him and send him away, he will be waiting for you in Small Camp Location near Goliet.

Later in game when when you get to Origin (small village in central Abessa), your companions will move there when Origin will become your base.

Ray (Outlaw) he is quite easy to join. Meet him at Sandy Pines Motel then follow him to The Fort in Tavar. After short conversation he will join you.

C.R.O.N.Y. U4 (drone), you will meet him first time in The Pit in Goliet, but it takes time and not easy quest to join him.

Duras (Berserker) is first companion you will meet but you will have to finish long mission [Tooth for a Tooth] to join him.

by Denis Khoroshev
"Regarding Duras and him joining as a companion. I only questioned 2 maybe 3 characters and the option to team up became available. The 2 I'm sure about were Thorgal and Rock, both near Domed City. And I may or may not questioned Barin, a sleepy guy near the Lift. He is very easy to reach anyway."

Arx (Albs-Separatist) is easy to join. Just meet him on your way from Small Camp to The Domed City and talk to him.

Falk (Cleric) is quite close on the top of Converter in Edan but he is hard to join becouse you have to kill hard enemies around Converter to persuaded him to join.

Caja (Berserker Wizard), she is easy to join after you will be able to enter The Domed City, just talk to her and meet her near city entrance.

Nasty (Outlaw), she is in The Fort in Tavar but she is hard to join becouse you have to finish hard [Angry Girl].

by myhv
"It's worth running north to pick up Arx or Ray as a companion early on, making initial combat a non issue;"

More info about Companions

NPC interactions

If you want to steal something and there is an NPC in the room, talk to him and he should leave the room.

If the NPC is behind you and the ladder is in the room, go up the ladder and jump down. You will have a moment to look around the room before the NPC enters leader and goes down again.

Some NPCs move around the map depending on the time of day. If you can not find someone, return to this place at another time. This property is useful if you want to rob someone's house in his absence.

Sunglasses

Sunglasses look good in the game, but their real use is much more important. They allow you to see objects through walls, opponents on radar and machines.

Sunglasses - makes items easier to see outlined them, even through walls, very useful.

Modern Sunglasses - makes machines easier to see.

High-tech Sunglasses - Shows enemies on your radar.

You can only use one sunglasses at a time.

by myhv
"Sunglasses (except high tech ones) are the only items that give percentile damage reduction (30%, not stated anywhere in tooltips);"

by NagaKarat
"There is classic sunglasses which shows the outline of living things, mutants however are machines and will not showed up."

Housing

Your first "home location" is in Small Camp in Edan, here you can send your Companions.

Later in game after you will visit Origin, small settlement in Central Abessa and you gain the trust of residents, Origin will become your Home.

You will get your own apartment there. Home in Origin.

Once you have your apartment, you will be able to change its appearance.

Unlock Chests

To unlock locked chest you will need: Lock Picking Ability (from Crafting Abilities) and Lockpick (Item).

Each chest got his unlock difficulty level. In order to unlock chest, your skill must be higher than unlock difficulty level.

Lockpicking it is a mini game. You need to raise pins in a lock in the correct order.

Slowly move the picklock along the lock (from left to right and next from right to left) and try to find two adjacent pins which will stay in the upper position.

Next step is to check pin on the left side of two upper pins. If third pin will stay in upper position with first two, you are doing OK. If all pins fall down, repeat again first two, and then check pin right of them.

You have to remember the order of lifting the pins and repeat it every time you fail, to check the next left and right in their neighborhood.

That's the way to unlock the lock. If you break the picklock, use the next one.