Warborne is a large-scale MMO that mixes the feel of a MOBA with open-world faction warfare. The entire game revolves around PvP conflict, whether you’re gathering resources, transporting goods, or clashing with rival warbands over territory.
While you can play solo, the game is designed around teamwork and shines brightest when you’re part of a group fighting for dominance.
Warborne: Above Ashes Beginner Guide
Factions and Warbands – Choosing Your Allegiance
Factions: At the start, you’ll pick one of several factions. This choice determines your spawn point, who your allies are, and which warbands you can join. Switching factions later is possible but limited.
Warbands: Think of them as guilds or clans. Warbands are essential for experiencing the full game. They provide protection, teamwork, and access to larger-scale battles.
Drifters & Roles
Drifters are your playable characters, and you’re not locked into just one. You can swap between them at will—even after dying—so flexibility is key. Each drifter has:
- Active Skill (a unique ability you trigger)
- Passive Skill (always active bonus)
- Stat Scaling (Strength, Agility, or Intelligence focus)
Here’s the basic breakdown:
- Strength → More HP and block chance (great for tanks or melee bruisers)
- Agility → More attack speed, crit chance, and evasion (ideal for DPS and assassins)
- Intelligence → More mana and faster cooldowns (perfect for healers, supports, and mages)
Beginner tip: Focus your stat points into your drifter’s main type (e.g., Strength on a tank) and you’ll be fine.
Gear & Weapons
Gear progression is tied to blueprints and data fragments. Early on, you’ll unlock common weapons, while rare and powerful ones require blueprint drops.
Two standout weapons from playtests were:
- Predator Split Bow – Melts enemies as ranged DPS, especially when paired with buffs.
- Wing Blade – A brutal axe that knocks enemies up, shreds defenses, and devastates groups.
Tip: Plan your unlocks carefully. Don’t waste resources on gear you won’t stick with.
Season System
Warborne is built on seasons. Each season lasts a set time where factions fight for land and glory. At the end, most progression resets—though some permanent unlocks carry over. If a season is nearly ending when you join, it might be worth waiting for the next reset to avoid falling behind.
Resources
Starfall Tokens – Used in the trading house to buy gear and essentials.
Exergy (XRG) – A mined mineral used for base upgrades and tech research.
Eclipsium – Premium currency earned through progression, lets you unlock new drifters.
Solarbite – Another premium currency for trading high-value items at the auction house.
Faction & Warband Medals – Earned through group play, used for specialized upgrades.
Your Driftmark Base
Your Driftmark is home base. From here, you:
- Craft consumables and gear
- Upgrade your facilities
- Access the Underground Bazaar for trading
- Use the Rift Scanner to open PvE/PvP challenges
- Invest in Research to unlock new technologies
Priority upgrades include:
- Drift Master Level (increases overall progression cap)
- Exergy Mining Bot (faster resource income)
- Drifter & Gear Upgrades
- Advanced Equipment and Inventory Expansions
Leveling Up
- Quests → Smoothest early XP.
- Rifts (solo/group) → Spawned at your Driftmark, group rifts are the fastest XP farms.
- Harvester Dungeons → Great for gear progression.
- Supply Chests & Mob Camps → Decent XP in smaller groups.
- Vein Hold Extractions → PvP-focused instance with big rewards.
Tip: Don’t zerg content with too many people—XP is split, so smaller groups are often more efficient.
PvP & Loot System
Warborne isn’t full-loot PvP, but it strikes a balance. When you die:
- You lose half of your inventory and one piece of gear
- Gear may sometimes return via mail
- Risk increases in deeper zones
This system encourages fights since you don’t lose everything. More people will fight back instead of running, making PvP more dynamic.
Land Control
The core of Warborne is conquering Harvesters and Strongholds:
- During wartime, factions and warbands fight over a Harvester.
- To claim it, you must defeat mobs, drop demolishers, and destroy the core.
- The warband that contributes most gains ownership.
- Owned Harvesters can be leveled up with cores, unlocking deeper zones and further expansion.
This loop—fight, capture, expand, defend—is the driving force of Warborne’s wars.
Best Early Picks
Based on playtests:
- Tanks → Varnax (offensive) and Cerakos (defensive lifesaver)
- DPS → Overdrive (top pick across melee & ranged)
- Healer → Revelation (massive AoE healing & buffs)
- Weapons → Predator Split Bow & Wing Blade
Stormblade is currently considered weak, so avoid starting with him.
Warborne: Above Ashes is at its core a PvP-driven MMO where factions wage war over resources, land, and glory. As a new player, your best strategy is to find a group, specialize in a role, and learn the flow of seasonal warfare. From there, the game opens up into massive wars, high-stakes fights, and endless rivalry between factions.