Necesse Beginner’s Guide: From Your First Steps to Your First Boss

You finish the Necesse tutorial, and then you freeze: “Okay… now what?” The map is huge, the crafting list is endless, and it’s not obvious where to start.

This guide turns everything from your first steps up to your first boss, Evil’s Protector, into a single straight-line roadmap. Every step lists the exact materials you need to craft. The common walls — “I keep running out of torch materials,” “how much iron does iron gear actually need?” — get knocked down one at a time, in order.

Early-Game Roadmap at a Glance

The big picture first. The Necesse early game breaks down into roughly these six stages.

Work through them top to bottom and you’ll reach the front door of the real game without getting lost. Let’s take each one.

Step 1: The Tutorial

When you start a game, instructions appear in the top-left corner one after another. That’s the tutorial. It runs in six steps.

On the sixth step, accepting the boss quest from the Elder completes the tutorial. First time through, budget around 30 minutes. By the end you’ll have a feel for gathering, crafting, mining, and base-building — plus your first goal (kill the boss). Below, here’s where each step tends to trip people up.

Basic Controls

• Move: W / A / S / D
• Gather / mine: get close and hold left-click. Use a Wood Axe to chop, a Wood Pickaxe to mine
• Pick up items: anything on the ground is collected automatically when you walk over it
• Open inventory: E
• Crafting menu: open the inventory and the craftable items line up on the right

Start by chopping trees with your Wood Axe. Trees drop Logs and Saplings. Your first torch uses both a Log and a Sapling (1 Log + 1 Sapling makes 4). Throw away your Saplings and you won’t be able to craft torches — always keep them.

The First Things You Craft

You start the game with a Wood Axe and a Wood Sword (starting gear). Chopping trees and fighting the enemies you bump into underground are both handled by this starting gear at first. You don’t need to craft new versions.

Two things to remember.

1. Torches can be hand-crafted without a workbench. 1 Log + 1 Sapling makes 4 at a time. You’ll want about 20 for cave exploration, so 5 Logs and 5 Saplings cover it.
2. The Wood Pickaxe needs the “Workstation.” The tutorial walks you into crafting it. Counting the torches, keep about 15 Logs on hand and you’re safe.

There’s no “wood” material in this game. Chopping a tree gives you “Logs,” and the replantable seed is a “Sapling.” That’s the wording on the recipe screen too.

About the Workstation

The Wood Pickaxe, the Forge, the Iron Anvil, the Carpenters Bench — these basic stations are all crafted at the Workstation. The Workstation itself is in the Elder’s house, so you don’t have to set one up. During the tutorial you’ll use the Elder’s Workstation to craft your Wood Pickaxe. It’s the starting point for early crafting, so keep it in mind.

Go Underground and Mine Ore

The prompt says “mine ore.” Follow the tutorial’s guidance underground and you’ll reach a spot with iron ore. Place torches as you go and dig the ore embedded in the walls with your Wood Pickaxe.

Just clearing the tutorial objective needs only a little mining, but don’t stop there — grab an extra 10–20 while you’re down there and crafting iron gear later gets much easier.

Place the Settlement Flag and Accept the Boss Quest

Back on the surface, it’s time to finish the tutorial. The Settlement Flag is inside the chest in the Elder’s house — grab it and place it. Setting up the flag turns that spot into a “settlement,” letting you open the settlement menu (the foundation for the base where you bring in villagers — more in Step 6).

Finally, talk to the Elder to accept the boss quest and the tutorial is complete. Your first goal — defeating the boss, Evil’s Protector — is set, and the real game begins here.

Step 2: Set Up a Base

Once the tutorial wraps up, build your first base. It doesn’t need to be fancy. The goal is just to gather your workbenches and storage and get to where you can smelt iron.

Things You Can Place Right Away (crafted at the Workstation)

Both are made from just Logs and Stone, so you can place them the moment you pick a spot. Stash items in a Storagebox and your inventory won’t overflow.

Things You Place After You Have Iron

Once you’ve smelted Iron Ore in the Forge into Iron Bars, craft these two. Both are made at the Workstation.

The Forge and Iron Anvil are a set: the Forge turns Iron Ore into Iron Bars, and the Iron Anvil works those into gear. The Carpenters Bench comes a little later since it needs iron, but without it you can’t make a bed.

Register a Respawn Point with a Bed

Beds come per wood type — Oak trees give you an “Oak Bed,” for example. They’re crafted at the Carpenters Bench from 10 Logs + 10 Wool (Wool comes from sheep).

Using a bed registers that spot as your respawn point (without one, dying sends you back to the original spawn point).

One catch, though: beds can’t be used outdoors. You have to place one in a room enclosed by Wood Walls (2 Logs each) and a Wood Door, or you can’t sleep or register a respawn point. If you want to use a bed, an enclosed room with walls and a door is mandatory.

Early On, Just Borrow the Elder’s House

Building a room, hunting down sheep for Wool, crafting a bed at the Carpenters Bench — doing all of that this early is a chore. So here’s the recommendation: use the Elder’s house as your base as-is. It’s already an enclosed room with walls, a door, and a bed, so registering a respawn point at the Elder’s bed lets you put off all your own construction and Wool-gathering. Just cluster your workbenches (Workstation, Forge, Iron Anvil) around the Elder’s house.

Building your own house from scratch can wait until you actually want to expand your base for real.

Step 3: Craft Iron Gear

This is the biggest hurdle of the early game, and the dividing line for whether you can beat your first boss.

First, Smelt Iron

Put Iron Ore in the Forge to make Iron Bars.

So each Iron Bar costs 4 Iron Ore. Keep that in mind and work backward to figure out how much you need.

Iron Gear Recipes and Quantities

All iron gear is crafted at the Iron Anvil. Here’s the Iron Bar cost for each.

A full three-piece armor set is 36 Iron Bars = 144 Iron Ore. Add the sword and pickaxe and you hit 216 Iron Ore. Doing it all at once is heavy, so realistically you prioritize.

The recommended order:

1. Iron Sword (without damage you can’t beat the boss or even the trash mobs)
2. Iron Pickaxe (mining gets faster, and your iron-gathering efficiency skyrockets)
3. Iron Chestplate (for armor, start with the chest — it cuts the most damage)
4. Iron Helmet and Iron Boots if you have the spare iron

If you only pick one armor piece, make it the chestplate. It’s the part with the biggest defense gain.

Want a finer breakdown of how much gear to build before each boss? The Equipment Progression Guide covers the optimal loadout for every stage of the game.

Step 4: Food Buffs and a Ranged Weapon

The finishing touches before a fight. Set up a stat boost from food and a way to chip away from a distance.

Add a Food Buff with the Roasting Station

The Roasting Station is crafted at the Workstation from 10 Logs. An easy early target is the “Roasted Rabbit Leg,” made from rabbits you find on the surface. Eat it and you get +5% to all damage for 8 minutes. Eat one right before you take on your first boss.

For a list of the meat you can cook on the Roasting Station and the dishes you can make early on, see the Food & Cooking Guide. At first, just grilling rabbit meat is plenty.

Craft a Wood Bow and Arrows

In a boss fight, going pure melee means taking more hits. Having the option to back off with the Wood Bow and chip away makes your first boss much easier. Stone Arrows are the easy ammo — 1 Log + 5 Stone makes 5, and they don’t even need a workbench. Stock up on Stone Arrows alongside the bow.

Step 5: Take On Your First Boss, Evil’s Protector

Once your iron gear is more or less ready, it’s finally boss time. The first opponent you fight in Necesse is Evil’s Protector.

Pre-fight checklist:

• An Iron Sword (or Wood Bow + arrows) for your attack
• An Iron Chestplate (at minimum, get the chest into iron)
• A combat food buff like a Roasted Rabbit Leg
• A flat, open space with room to fight

Summoning conditions, attack patterns, dodges, and drops are covered in detail in How to Beat Evil’s Protector. Reading up on the dodges and timing before you go in is the safe play.

Step 6: Bring In Villagers (the Settlement Flag)

Your first Settlement Flag is actually already in your hands from the tutorial. It’s in the chest in the Elder’s house, and placing it turns that spot into a “settlement.” Open the settlement menu and you can start welcoming villagers from here. Once villagers move in, traders and craftspeople help your base grow.

In other words, the foundation for bringing in villagers is already in place by the tutorial stage. Open the settlement menu and welcome your first settler.

That said, if you want to build a second settlement somewhere new, you’ll need to craft a Settlement Flag yourself.

This one needs Gold Bars and 1000 Coins, so it’s a goal for after you’ve cleared the early game.

How to recruit villagers, assign the 18 job roles, and design a base that raises happiness are all covered in the Settlement & Villager Guide.

Common Sticking Points and Fixes

“I’m short on torch materials”

Torches also need Saplings. If you only collect Logs and toss the Saplings, you’ll get stuck. Always keep the Saplings when you chop trees.

“I never have enough iron”

One Iron Bar costs 4 Iron Ore. Kitting out your gear takes hundreds. Crafting the Iron Pickaxe first to speed up mining ends up being the fastest route, every time.

“I can’t find iron”

• Iron Ore is scattered through the underground walls. If you can’t find any in one spot, dig your way broadly across the underground to look
• Don’t skimp on torches. Without light you’ll miss the ore in the walls
• If you lose track of the tutorial’s guidance, explore widely around you

“I got lost underground”

Place torches at regular intervals as breadcrumbs for the way back. Worst case, even if you die, you restart from your respawn point (your bed if you registered one, otherwise the original spawn point). Note that on the default setting you drop your materials on death, so head back to where you died to pick them up.

Full Controls Reference

Controls you’ll keep using well past the early game.

Keyboard / Mouse

Default bindings (you can change them anytime in the settings).

Note that some actions, like “Eat food,” are unbound by default. If you want to use them, assign a key yourself in the settings.

Gamepad

Necesse also supports a gamepad (Xbox layout). The default bindings are below.

There’s a lot of building and fiddly inventory work, so keyboard & mouse is the more comfortable option. That said, if you’re mostly moving and fighting, the gamepad plays just fine.

FAQ

Can I skip the tutorial?

You can. But it walks you through the basics of controls and crafting, so on a first playthrough it’s worth doing the whole thing.

What gear should I make first?

Iron gear. Lock in damage with the Iron Sword and mining speed with the Iron Pickaxe, then start armor with the Iron Chestplate. That gives you the foundation to take on your first boss.

How much Iron Ore should I gather?

The tutorial’s mining objective only needs 1, but kitting out iron gear changes the scale entirely. The sword, pickaxe, and chestplate alone come to 136 Iron Ore. Mine in bulk every time you head underground.

What happens when I die? Do I lose my items?

On the default setting, dying drops your materials (crafting items) on the spot. But they stay where you died, so you can go back after respawning and recover them. You don’t lose your equipped weapons, armor, or tools.

You respawn at your bed if you registered one, otherwise at the original spawn point.

How much you drop on death can be changed in the world settings. There are five options: “No penalty,” “Drop materials” (default), “Drop main inventory,” “Drop full inventory,” and “Hardcore.” If dying scares you, set it to “No penalty” and you’ll never drop a thing.

Wrap-Up

The Necesse early game, organized into a single straight path, looks like this:

1. Finish the tutorial (craft a torch and Wood Pickaxe, mine ore, place the Settlement Flag, and accept the boss quest)
2. Place a Storagebox, Forge, and Iron Anvil at your base (early on, just borrow the Elder’s house — you reuse its bed and walls and save a ton of time)
3. Smelt iron (4 Iron Ore → 1 Iron Bar) and craft the Iron Sword, Pickaxe, and Chestplate
4. Add a food buff at the Roasting Station and secure a ranged option with the Wood Bow
5. Take on your first boss, Evil’s Protector
6. Place the Settlement Flag to bring in villagers and grow your base

Get this far and you’ve graduated from the early game. Which boss to beat next and in what order, and how to upgrade your gear along the way, are all mapped out in the Complete Guide Index, with a roadmap of every article.

Tested on: Necesse v1.2.0 (PC / Steam BuildID 23522718, confirmed June 14, 2026)