Games

Which Starting Area to Pick in Caves of Qud

Published

3 weeks ago

December 5, 2024

Christoph Rediske

Quick Links

Table of Contents

All Starting Locations in Caves of Qud

Which Starting Area Should You Pick?

There are a ton of ways to play Caves of Qud, and if the plethora of character creation options aren’t enough, there’s also quite a few starting locations that players can choose from. Each area is fairly distinct, and with the game’s random generation affecting almost every aspect of it, no two playthroughs will feel the same.

Like in many other RPGs, the place you begin your Caves of Qud journey in can drastically affect your starting experience. If you’re wondering what each of these locations and what they can offer you, here’s a guide that briefly covers each of them.

8 Best JRPGs With No Job System

Several JRPGs feature job systems, but others opt out of the mechanic with their own, unique alternatives. Here are those games.

All Starting Locations in Caves of Qud

There are five different starting locations in Caves of Qud, and apart from one, all the rest are randomly generated. Still, your choice of starting location can drastically affect your experience, as some regions are harder than others in more ways than one. Don’t expect any futuristic cities in Qud, except for ones that are already destroyed. Your choices of starting areas are:

Location Advertisement	Description
Joppa	The most beginner-friendly starting location. The surroundings are relatively safe, and resources are somewhat plenty.
Salt Marsh	Region with dense greenery and plenty of saltwater. NPCs in the starting village can teach Harvestry, which is good for getting food. Advertisement
Salt Dunes	Desert region filled with strong monsters. Starting here gives you reputation with Issachari raiders, and you can learn the Fasting Way skill, which slows hunger.
Hill Village	Rocky region with lots of walls, trees, and waterways. Here, you gain increased reputation with Hermits and can learn Butchering for getting resources off corpses.
Desert Canyon Advertisement	Relatively tame region with many walls and deep pools, making navigation tricky. NPCs teach Wayfaring, and you get bonus reputation with equines, tortoises, and vines.

Apart from Joppa, every other starting area will send you to a randomized village in a specific region of the world map (which you can access by pressing the “-” button on your NumPad). Despite being randomized, villages tend to have a number of the following NPCs:

Village Mayor
Village Warden
Village Merchant
Village Apothecary
Village Tinker

Your starting village will have two quest givers, with one setting you on the path toward the game’s main questline. The other quest is typically there to help you get money, XP, and other rewards for the long journey ahead.

Which Starting Area Should You Pick?

For the most part, Joppa will be the best starting area for the majority of players. The village layout is simple, there’s usually a number of free items in and around the vicinity, and it’s close to some important locations like the Stilt. The monsters here are all fairly easy to deal with (apart from the ones that live underground), and the surrounding areas are fairly easy to traverse and explore.

Still, starting in Joppa every time you start a new character is bound to get repetitive, and if you want a different progression path, then starting in other areas can help spice things up. The Salt Dune, for example, is the closest you’ll get to a Kenshi-like starting experience. It has a lot of tough monsters, but from here, you can get an Issachar Rifle and some rifler companions, which can trivialize most early game combat encounters.