Wasteland 3 Ultimate Beginner’s Guide: Tips, tricks, and mastering the apocalypse

Survive irradiated Colorado with our Wasteland 3 beginner’s tips.

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Wasteland 3is a truly vast RPG experience brimming with options and content. Getting to grips with it early on can be tough, which is why we’ve prepared this Wasteland 3 Beginner’s Guide to help you get to grips with its systems and mechanics.

Set in the snowy wastes of post-apocalyptic Colorado, Wasteland 3 follows the exploits of the Desert Rangers, descended from the remnants of the US Armed Forces of Arizona. The Rangers' goal is to bring some semblance of law and order to the United States, a couple of hundred years after nuclear war made the surface relatively inhospitable, filled with radioactive waste, mutant creatures, crazed robots, and insane raider militia.

As a CRPG, inspired by tabletop games like Dungeons and Dragons, Wasteland 3’s aim is to give you as much playstyle and narrative freedom as possible. Your character progression can affect every aspect of the game, from dialogue choices to combat. Building a balanced squad is key to success, especially as a newcomer to the genre, which is why we’ve prepared our Wasteland 3 beginner’s guide to help you get started.

If you’re having bugs or other issues, we have aWasteland 3 Known Issues Listover here.

Return to the apocalypse.

Wasteland 3 is the pinnacle of CRPG design and gameplay, and it’s available on Xbox Game Pass for PC and Xbox One.

Building Wasteland 3 characters

In Wasteland 3, your squad is made up of six characters. Initially, you create two or are given a few presets to work with. Generally, I’d recommend you craft your own since that’s the name of the game, but it’s all good to start with one of the premade characters as well. Choosing a preset doesn’t affect your story at all; it just gives you a quicker path into the game itself.

After the intro, you’re given the ability to create two more squaddies or pick from more presets. There has to be at least one player-made character in the squad at any one time, and you can fill the rest with characters you meet during the story, or “recruits” you design yourself inside your Ranger HQ base, which you get at the start of the game.

We have a deeperWasteland 3 Character Class Build Guideyou should check out to learn more about stats and skills, but here are some general tips and tricks to get you started as well.

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Wasteland 3 combat guide

Wasteland 3 combat is grid-based on a turn-by-turn basis. The game gives you a ton of playstyle options, but also a load of different ways you can gain an advantage over an enemy. Many times, you will get the choice to initiate combat, giving you the first turn.

Here are some tips and tricks for overcoming the game’s battle system, which for newcomers, can be a bit daunting.

More Wasteland 3 tips and tricks

Here are a few additional miscellaneous tips and tricks for exploring the wastes, and getting the most out of this epic game.

Wasteland 3 is a truly awesome game but can be overly complicated and daunting for newcomers. If you have any questions about the game, drop them in the comments below, and I shall try to answer them!

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Jez Corden is the Executive Editor at Windows Central, focusing primarily on all things Xbox and gaming. Jez is known for breaking exclusive news and analysis as relates to the Microsoft ecosystem while being powered by tea. Follow onTwitter (X)andThreads, and listen to hisXB2 Podcast, all about, you guessed it, Xbox!