Getting started

Getting started with the game is simple. Once you spawn, you will notice the quest in the top left corner of your screen. Completing these quests will gain you experience towards your next level and teach you some of the basic mechanics of the game. The first few quests will ask you to move, look around, and fight a few things. This shouldn't need much explanation.

After that, the game will ask you to complete the remaining quests on Squire's Knoll. Most quests are either given out by NPCs or started automatically when you enter an island(like your first few). You'll need to find NPCs yourself but once you get close enough, an icon will appear above their head that's visible across the entire island. The same goes for any Portals you haven't activated yet. NPCs that have quests for you have an orange circle around their icons while shopkeepers have a different icon altogether(you won't find those until a later area).

Squire's Knoll
Once you've learned the basic controls, you can start exploring the first island, Squire's Knoll. This is a simple tutorial island meant to ease you into the game without much in the way of danger. Make sure to read the signs and talk to everyone you can to learn more about the game. This guide will assume you're doing that. Every NPC in Squire's Knoll can be picked up, brought along with you, and placed down somewhere else. All you need to do is complete their quest(if they have one) then talk to them and ask about it. None of them are merchants so they're not the most useful bunch to have around but they're good if you want some company in your home(once you've built it). You'll get merchants you can do this with later on, though.

Unlike most islands, Squire's Knoll only has a small number of more or less fixed landmarks. While looking around, be sure to grab some plants, especially cotton(at least 18-24) and red berries(a lot), as well as killing any Green Slimes you come across. More on that as we go. Anyway, here are the landmarks:


 * The squat stone tower is a miniature dungeon. It has a basic quest to explore it, one enemy, one reward chest, a few signs, and, if you look carefully, your first pet. Real dungeons are much bigger, of course.
 * Note that the last room has a three-block drop. You can either put a block or two down to get back up or just open up the Map and click on "Return to the Landing Pad" in the bottom right. This button will be pretty useful in later islands.
 * The small hill with a wooden entryway is an example mine. It might be a little hard to find. Real mines are also much larger than this. The quest here will teach you how to make a stone pickaxe and, by extension, other tools.
 * Once you've made the pickaxe, don't forget to knock down the stone wall at the bottom for another reward chest. Most dungeon areas also have hidden chests such as this one. Look carefully instead of just knocking around random walls, though: there's always some sign of the chest being there and it's usually not that hard to figure out.
 * The small, fenced-in tree farm is pretty unimpressive. The sign there just reminds you to replant any trees you cut down, which is still good advice.
 * There's a stone platform with a targeting dummy called Harrold in the middle of it. He's good for seeing how much damage you're doing and technically even has a health bar . . . but with about thirty thousand health.
 * Obviously, we can't forget the slightly ominous-looking portal. Once you're ready to go, talk to Rupert and he'll explain how to activate it - but don't go until you've checked out the farm!
 * Note that you don't actually need to go through the portal: once it's up and running, you can access the next area from the map screen whenever you want.
 * Once it's open, more dangerous enemies will start spawning at night. It's still the starter area, though, so they're not too bad.

Anyway, the Farm is your real prize. It's a bit dinged up but this is where the game expects you to make your first home and it's a pretty good spot for it.


 * Robert out front will ask you to help fix the house and explain about the destructible crates lying around. This is a quest but it might be glitched at the moment. If you do what he says but can't complete it, no worries: the quest will finish on its own after awhile.
 * Crates and barrels like this are everywhere in structures and if you have the patience for it, they're a good way to get some extra building materials. The metal plates you get from later ones are good money if you sell them off, too.
 * Also out front is a mailbox. If there are any gifts for you(they're pretty common), just right click or press F on it to claim them. These gifts are usually cosmetic.. Feel free to steal this mailbox when you move on.
 * Janine in the garden will tell you a little bit about farming if you talk to her but she's not very useful right now. Long story short? The bare dirt there is fertile soil. Any seeds planted on it will grow three times faster than on normal dirt. You'll be able to till your own in another island or two(once you can make a hoe) but for now, this is all you've got.
 * All you need to do to farm is plant seeds and wait. Some seeds will only grow in the same type of environment you got them from but you don't need to worry about that quite yet.
 * Inside, there's some broken furniture you can destroy for spare wood and a broken Workbench you can upgrade to a normal one with Wood Logs. This is the same cost as making an entirely new workbench but since it's there, you may as well fix it anyway. This also shows you the upgrade tab of your crafting menu, which is something you'll definitely want to remember for later.
 * Speaking of crafting, now is probably a good time for a quick overview. In Portal Knights, you can see every crafting recipe you have unlocked from anywhere but you still need the right workstation to craft it(this is sometimes your bare hands, labeled "manual crafting").
 * Most recipes take time to create and either way, you'll need to click the finished product out of the crafting menu and into your inventory. You can cue up a bunch of the same recipe and go off to do other things if you want. Any crafting station currently working will have an animation and any that have something for you to claim will have an exclamation mark over them.
 * Anyway, once you've gotten your Workbench up, now is the time to craft your first set of armor. This is where the cotton comes in. Turn it into Cotton Cloth(second tab from the left: Ingredients) then use that to build armor from the armor tab. You'll need six cloth and eighteen raw cotton total. Note that even though not all armor is class-based, the first set is. Be sure to craft the set you can actually use.
 * If you don't mind a little bit of a spoiler, make two extra cloth. You'll need it in the next area and this way, you don't have to backtrack.
 * If you've taken a liking to the farm and feel like using it as your base longer-term, you can also gather up some Wheat, make Straw Blocks, and fix the roof.
 * Squire's Knoll isn't the best place for a permanent base but since it's the first area, it's by no means the worst. More on this in the next section.
 * Later on, you'll be able to make a Ward of Protection and smack it down to stop enemies from spawning nearby. The first island doesn't have the materials for that, though.

That's just about it for Squire's Knoll! If you haven't figured it out by poking around the crafting menu yet, the slimes and berries are for making Minor Healing Potions, which are cheap and very useful in the early game. Once you've crafted as many as you need to feel comfortable (some extra wood might be a good idea, too), pick up your workbench(optional but recommended), start up the portal if you haven't already, then either step through or use your map to head on to Dusty Junction!

Dusty Junction and beyond
Sadly, we're not quite done with the explanations. Dusty Junction is your first "real" island but there are still a few quirks. Ahead of you, you'll notice a ghostly figure who tells you stuff about the main storyline. There are some other NPCs scattered around, too, and two of them have quests for you! Completing those quests isn't required but they're simple and it's still a good source of experience.

The other big thing you'll notice would be the ores. Dusty Junction has copper and flame rubies. Copper is useful for all classes while flame rubies are most useful for mages but do have other uses so be sure to grab some either way. With copper ore and wood, you can upgrade your Workbench to Tier 2, which lets you make the more specialized crafting stations. If you make anything other than a furnace, you'll notice that a lot of the fun stuff needs copper bars. Check the furnace and you'll see that to make those, you need coal. There are two ways to get coal at this point.


 * 1) Head down into the randomly-generated mines and kill Bomb Gazers before they explode.
 * 2) ignore copper bars until you get to the next area, where coal spawns in big, obvious veins.

Either method is valid but if you are waiting until the next area, it might be a good idea to gather a lot of copper ore first so you can craft your upgrades immediately. Also note that you can make your first chests once you've gotten copper bars.

Other than that, there's not too much in Dusty Junction that needs to be covered in the basic guide:


 * The plants there drop useful stuff - especially Cactus, which is a great source of Water - but can only be grown in deserts.
 * The ruins give you ruinstone, which looks nice and can make useful things like Wards of Protection and Landing Pads to change your warp-in location.
 * The enemies are tougher. Sand Shells in particular are your big intro to dodging: dodge and they're easy. Don't and you'll probably die.
 * Even then, dying only makes you lose some money and at this point, you probably don't have much of that yet.

Much more interesting is the next area: Fort Finch. This is the main base for what's left of the Warrior Guild and it has a lot of cool stuff, including two merchant areas. Most importantly, it has Island Merchant Tori. She sells you deeds to the first set of Vacant Islands. Use one and it'll teleport you there, permanently unlocking that island as a map location. Vacant Islands are flat building areas that the game sets aside for you to build your permanent structures on.

The reason you should build your home on one is simple: if you go back to the menus and click the settings option for your world(gear symbol on the right), you'll notice an option called "Regenerate." Running this will reset and randomly recreate every island except for Vacant Islands and whichever island you have set as your home. You still have access to the same islands through the map but they're wiped clean and completely refreshed. This lets you do quests again, find more stuff, and get the latest changes from updates without starting a whole new world.

The last one's why you should use a Vacant Island for your home: if there's an update to an island you have your big, fancy house on, you'll need to either move your stuff somewhere else or start a new world and get to that same island as fast is possible if you want to see the changes. That's why Squire's Knoll in particular is still a decent choice: having to start a new world to see the first island isn't that big of a deal at all. The further along your chosen island, the bigger the hassle if you need to sprint for it on a new world. Luckily, there's an island merchant for every type of biome so as long as you don't mind building your own hills, you won't need to compromise on aesthetics.

Anyway, alongside Tori, the other things you'll want to know about immediately are Shelton and the second exit portal, both of which are hidden somewhere beneath the fort. Shelton sells bombs but more importantly, he's the first merchant you can pack up and bring home with you. The portal is important just to point out that they are hidden sometimes. To help with this, you'll be able to build an Arcane Compass after just a few more islands.

That should finally be everything you need to be on your way! The only last thing to note is that by the time you've hit Fort Finch, you'll most likely have started spawning Events so looking into those might be a good idea.

Portals
Portals are used to travel to other worlds. As you progress in the game, monsters will drop different colored Portal Shards based on the level of the area. The color of the Portal Shards dropped in the area will correspond to those required by the Portals on this level. You'll also occasionally find Portal Shards(and experience) while mining different types of stone and ore(but not dirt). This isn't always the most reliable method, though.

The number of Portal Shards required to make a Portal Stone will increase based on the color of the stone.


 * Blue Stones require 2 Shards
 * Yellow Stones require 3 Shards
 * Green Stones require 4 Shards
 * Red Stones require 5 Shards
 * Pink Stones are acquired directly from events with no shards required. They're generally awarded in groups of six at the end of quests so that you can access the next event island.

Bosses and mini-bosses
There are Mini-Bosses a few levels before each of the Bosses. Prepare for these battles with upgraded armor and weapons, spells, scrolls or totems and potions to keep you going.

You will find the Mini-Bosses on Port of Caul, Witchwater and Sea of Stalks.

You will find the Bosses on Worm Pit, Dragon's Lair and World's End.
 * Bosses tend to be immune to damage unless you do something to make them temporarily vulnerable first. See each individual boss' page if you can't figure out the trick.

Tips and tricks
See also: General tips


 * There are a few useful things that the game might not make immediately clear about the controls:
 * Hold Alt and scroll the mouse wheel to zoom in and out. Unlike switching to first person view(by clicking the mouse wheel), you're not knocked out of this when you enter combat, making it useful for seeing things a little closer up or if you just prefer the view.
 * There are three types of hotbar item. Items with a round border can be used instantly by pressing the corresponding key or via mouse click by using the scrollbar to select them. These are mostly potions and spells. The second type of items have a square border, can only be used with a mouse click, and will instead be switched to when pressing the key. These are mostly weapons and placable objects. The third type also have a square border and can't be used from the hotbar at all but will usually still let you use your fists when you select them.
 * If you can break an object at all, you can break it with any type of tool, weapon, or even just your fists. Using a dedicated tool is just faster. Likewise, you can also do small amounts of damage to monsters with tools and your bare hands but there's never really much of a reason to.
 * Don't forget about Squire's Knoll after you've moved on to other areas. It's an essentially risk-free source of Stone Blocks and the Green Slimes are a great source of Water(which you'll need for potions) once you can kill them a bit more quickly. Unless you were very stubborn, you'll also need to come back and kill Harrold at some point.
 * If you want to save space on tools, a Mining Drill and its upgrades are a good choice for anything you don't need to be 100% accurate on. It's not as fast as dedicated tools but the multiple-block digging makes up for that, especially at higher upgrade levels.