Welcome to the frontier, partner. Whether you’re fresh out of the tutorial or a seasoned shooter looking to squeeze every bit of efficiency out of your gear, this guide has got you covered. We’ll skip the basics—you already know how to move and shoot—and jump straight into the useful stuff: NPC services, magic elements, weapons, map secrets, and a few pro tips that’ll save you time and gold.
The Hub: Your Home Away from Home
Let’s start with the town—Cactus Town, or whatever you want to call it. Every NPC has a clear icon above their head showing what they do, and they’re all packed close together, so you won’t get lost. The hub is where you hang out with friends, gear up, and pick missions. Here are the two most important vendors you’ll visit:
The Gunsmith – This is your go-to guy for unlocking, equipping, upgrading, and customizing your weapons and gadgets. You’ll be seeing a lot of him.
The Magic Dealer – Tucked away in a small alcove, this vendor handles all things magic. Magic in this game is cast using cards, and each type levels up the more you use it in missions.
I’m not going to walk you through every single NPC or activity in the hub. Why? Because exploring it yourself is half the fun. Talk to everyone, poke around, and get familiar with the town. It’s not that big. And if you can’t find the NPC standing in front of the obvious train that says “Start a Mission here,” well… you might want to get your eyes checked.
Magic: The Elements of Chaos
Magic supports your gun damage, so you can’t just spam it. You start with two spell slots and unlock a third around level 4–5. There are five elements to play with:
Fire – Your big damage dealer. Lots of explosive goodness and heavy damage over time (4 per tick). The tradeoff? Longest cooldowns in the game. If you want to be a pyromancer, equip two fire spells—preferably Fireball or Surcharge for a shorter cooldown, and a high-cooldown spell of your choice. For your third slot, consider a voodoo spell for self-sustain or an acid spell for extra chaos.
Electric – A hybrid damage and utility kit. Great area-of-effect spells and a damage-over-time effect (1 per tick) that can trigger chain lightning, zapping nearby enemies. Electric is super versatile and fits into almost any build. In my opinion, it offers the best mobility and area tools in the game.
Acid – This one’s special. Acid spells create pools on the ground that slow enemies and deal 1 damage per tick. The fun part? Acid pools act as a catalyst for Fire and Electric spells. Hit an acid pool with fire or electricity, and it explodes with that element, dealing huge burst damage. The same works in reverse—fire and electric leave burnt ground, and hitting those with acid causes explosions too. If there’s a trail, the explosions follow it, creating absolute chaos. Every acid spell has unique effects, like tornadoes, so one acid spell can completely change your build for the better.
Voodoo – Your healer/summoner support kit. Voodoo and Cactus don’t react with Fire, Electricity, or Acid, but Voodoo can affect Cactus spells. I personally love running voodoo, especially with friends, because I’m a sucker for support roles. The self-sustain from tools like Drain is also great for solo players. Turning enemies is incredibly fun—converted enemies take heavily reduced damage, but when the duration ends, they die instantly. If you’re struggling with a tough enemy, converting them might be the tide-turner you need.
Cactus – Defensive support. Deployable gadgets like mines, turrets, and walls give you more defensive options. Great for holding objectives or defending during storms, but not ideal when you’re constantly on the move. The best part? Your emplacements adopt any element that hits them, including voodoo (but not cactus, obviously). Hit a mine with a voodoo spell, and it’ll convert enemies without killing them. Hit a turret with fire, and it deals extra damage and procs burn. If you enjoy playing Engineer in TF2 or spamming sentries in Helldivers 2, this is your jam.
Guns: Your Primary Source of Pain
Magic supports your damage, but your guns are your main source of hurt. Let’s break down the primaries and secondaries.
Primaries
Quad Cylinder – Your starting full-auto rifle. Decent fire rate, decent damage, okay spread. It’s reliable and can become scary with upgrades. Want other guns? Use the “Track Fragments” option under the weapon preview to make blueprint fragments appear during missions.
Minigun – Hold the button to rev up and fire faster, chewing through ammo and anything in your path. Right-click (or your aim button) spins up the gun without firing, so you can be ready for trouble without wasting ammo. Pro tip: If you’re firing at max rate, holding right-click tightens your aim slightly—your reticle will freak out, but you’ll be a bit more accurate.
Leveredge – One of two precision weapons. It trades longer range for faster firing. Great for when you don’t need the Minigun’s destructive power. Hip fire is perfectly accurate, so only aim down sights if you need to zoom in on distant targets.
Shotgun – Fast fire rate, large mag, and so much spread it could cover a loaf of bread. This is a pure close-range weapon. Without upgrades, the spread is awful, so don’t bother shooting anything farther than a sneeze away. But if you can position yourself well, it packs a hell of a punch. Perfect for mobile fighters who like darting in and out of combat.
Secondaries
Revolver – Your starting sidearm. Six shots of high-powered precision damage with a decent ammo pool. It’s always useful, no matter your stage of the game. You can also change its element between Fire, Electric, and Acid, which is handy if you’re running cactus spells and need elemental variety.
Boomerang – My personal favorite secondary. It has no ammo—instead, you throw it, and it keeps going until it hits a target (or scenery, or ground). Then it deals a big burst of damage, applies its element, and returns. Be careful where you throw it, because it’ll activate on any solid object. You can swap back to your primary while it’s returning.
Utility Gadgets: Your Grenades
Ammo Pack – Your starting utility. Press G to throw out a box of bullets that drops primary and secondary ammo. Simple, but incredibly helpful during tough objectives or boss fights, especially with a team.
Map Secrets and Points of Interest
Gold Nodes – Mine them by hand with the pickaxe. If you explode them with fire spells or dynamite, you get about 20 gold. Mine them by hand, and you get 39–41—nearly double. It adds up fast. Unless you’re extracting and in a hurry, always mine by hand.
Coyotes – Listen for jingling sacks and gremlin noises. Chase them down for a big pile of gold and a free weapon fragment. Ping them so you don’t lose track.
Music Discs and Graves – Discs are split into three fragments per map. Listen for scratchy audio tracks. Graves are hidden around the map—10 per map, glowing blue with ghostly moans. Finding 30 graves unlocks the Gravedigger skin. Finding them all? Well, that’s a secret. Both are collected individually, so your progress won’t affect your friends’. Check your map (TAB) to see what you’ve found.
Wishing Wells – Walk up and hold E to drop a coin (don’t worry, it’s free). Random effects happen—some good, some bad. Always fun to try, but maybe don’t stand right next to them.
Crafting Stations – Marked with an orange hammer and anvil icon. Activate one, and it’ll forge a weapon fragment over time, but you’ll get stormed during the process. Fight off the enemies, and you’ll get your fragment.
Wandering Trader – She wanders the map and sells random jokers. Prices increase sharply with each purchase, so only spam if you’re going for her achievement or really need the boost.
Danger Zones – Red areas on the map. Enter one, and a huge mob of cryptics spawns near you. It’s not a storm—it’s a one-time spawn. Once you clear the mob, the only effect is a red sky. Don’t enter if you’re expecting a storm, but don’t be afraid either.
Little Tidbits
- Boss sanctuaries are themed around the boss you’re fighting. Forgot which boss you signed up for? Take a quick trip to the arena for a reminder.
- Marauders will fight cryptics and coyotes if they aggro each other first. Let them sort it out, then swoop in. If a marauder kills a coyote, you lose the chase but also the loot.
- Walking bombs have horse legs. Yes, really.
- The “Pistolero” cactus spell is canonically a sheriff. Show some respect.
- Minecarts are fully functional. Jump on one in the direction you want to go, and it’ll start moving. If it hits another cart, it’ll bump it along.
- The extraction bell has physics. Hit it with explosions, spells, or barrels, and it’ll swing differently.
- Green mushrooms heal 20 HP but double your vision for a few seconds. If you need to use one in combat, remember: the left side of your screen is the “real” view. Use that to aim and run.
Multiplayer Etiquette
- Friendly fire is on. It’s not significant, but it can be enough to down a teammate. Practice trigger discipline, and apologize if you mess up.
- Don’t hoard jokers. If a joker doesn’t fit your build, leave it for someone who can use it.
- Share supplies. You’re not the only one low on ammo or health. If someone’s running healing voodoo, let them grab healing items first—they can heal you with a cooldown instead of wasting a consumable.
- Ready check before starting an objective or boss. A simple “r?” in chat goes a long way.
- Just be a decent person. Don’t flame your teammates for accidents, don’t hoard gold nodes, and don’t cry when someone rings the extraction bell before you. If you can’t help being toxic, don’t be surprised when you get kicked or banned.
Final Thoughts
That’s the whole shebang, partner. We’ve covered the hub, magic elements, weapons, map secrets, and a handful of pro tips to help you survive the Far Far West. Whether you’re a lone wolf or part of a posse, these tricks should give you an edge. Now get out there, explore every corner, and don’t forget to mine those gold nodes by hand. Got any tips of your own? Drop ’em in the comments—I’d love to hear what you’ve discovered. Happy hunting!