Soulframe Beginner Tips — 10 Best Practices
A quick checklist you can scan in under a minute — ten habits that save hours in Preludes. For the full onboarding flow (why and when behind each step), see the Beginner's guide.
Quick Answer:
- This page is a habit checklist, not a tutorial — scan it in one minute.
- For the complete first-week progression, see the Beginner's guide.
- All tips assume Preludes 15 — systems and stats may change; verify in-client.
The 10 habits
- Summon your Sparrow (G) whenever you are lost — it paths to the active objective. Hold Spectral Sight (default Q) to highlight the Sparrow trail.
- Recruit Tuvalkane early via The Steelsinger — no crafting without the blacksmith (unlock steps).
- Craft often to reach Bond 3 — required for Pacts and higher recipes. Bond pacing: Envoy leveling.
- Hold Spectral Sight in every new zone — chests, History Motes, and weak points stay hidden otherwise.
- Match Virtue to your weapon before you invest points (Virtues overview). Re-speccing costs resources you need later.
- Pick a Pact that fits your weapon family, not just the trailer fantasy. Pacts scale off Virtue stats — a mismatch halves your damage output.
- Do Sparrow's Tales in each region — free pact and weapon XP plus materials. Tales also raise Enclave Standing, unlocking shop recipes.
- Save Gossamer Quartz for weapons — not cosmetic armour early. Six weapon recipes consume gossamer; early cosmetic spends starve your forge queue.
- Unlock a second weapon in Nightfold before Torment Stag. Weapon-swapping mid-fight is essential for the Stag's phase changes.
- Track Agari with our timer once world bosses are on your map (World Boss Agari guide). The 30-minute cycle is separate from siege timers.
First-hour priority order
If you want the fastest path to a functional build, follow this order in your first session:
| Priority | Action | Why |
|----------|--------|-----|
| 1 | Recruit Tuvalkane | Unlocks all crafting |
| 2 | Craft first weapon | Replaces starter gear |
| 3 | Run Sparrow's Tales x3 | Pact XP + standing |
| 4 | Spend Virtue points | Scale with your weapon |
| 5 | Unlock second weapon slot | Weapon-swapping |
| 6 | Farm Dermak Undercity | Scrap + Dracs for forge |
Common beginner mistakes
- Spending Gossamer Quartz on cosmetics before crafting all weapon recipes that need it.
- Ignoring Bond level — you cannot craft pacts until Bond 3, no matter how many materials you have.
- Skipping Spectral Sight in new zones — chests with weapon fragments and unique items are often invisible without it.
- Soloing Torment Stag without a second weapon — the Stag has phase immunity windows that require weapon-switching.
Related guides