RuneScape: Dragonwilds Getting Started on Ashenfall
Thirst, a roofed bed roll, Ash logs, and the First Steps quest before you touch a dragon.
You wash up on Ashenfall as an expedition member, not a chosen hero. RuneScape: Dragonwilds entered Steam Early Access on 15 April 2025, and the opening hour is a survival loop wrapped around RuneScape skills. Thirst and hunger tick before any dragon does. Learn the controls, then treat this page as the camp checklist that gets you to a roofed bed roll, a tannery, and a Bone Club.
Temple Woods is the landing zone. The Wise Old Man stands in the ruined temple and starts First Steps. Accept the lesson. He sends you to Doric just outside, who cares more about dirty water than destiny. Fill a vessel from the nearest pond with E, then boil it on a fire. Raw pond water will wreck you. Redberries on the path are a snack, not a meal plan.
Hunger and thirst drain stamina and, if you ignore them, health. Cooked food and clean water are the real first weapons. Keep a stack of clean water on the hotbar so you are not rummaging in Tab while a goblin winds up.
Ash logs, campfire, and crafting table
Doric wants a Stone Club, which means a Crafting Table. Pick up Ash logs from the ground and from small trees; stones litter the temple ruins. Four Ash logs place a Crafting Table. The Stone Club wants more logs plus stone. Once you have the club, talk to Doric again and the survival recipes stay unlocked for the rest of the run.
Build a Campfire with four stone and four Ash logs. Drag raw meat into the top slot and Ash logs into the fuel slot. Rat Roast from the mill rats is ugly, but it fills the hunger bar. Do not overcook. The same fire boils dirty water into something you can drink.
Vannaka near the windmill starts Ratcatcher: kill rats, cook two roasts, and take the Stone Logging Axe and Stone Dagger. Zanik on the path to Bramblemead starts Rune Mysteries: fifty Ash logs, Rune Essence, a Rune Altar, and your first Air and Astral runes. Run both in the first session.
First shelter: roof plus bed roll
The Wise Old Man meets you again in Bramblemead Village and tells you to plant an outpost. Goblins own the old streets, so pick a quiet patch of valley floor, not a patrol path. Press B to open the building menu. Drop a few square foundations, four walls, and a 45-degree roof. A bed roll only counts as a respawn if it sits under a roof. Without that roof you cannot sleep through the night, and a death in the swamp means a long walk back from Temple Woods.
Ghost Mode lets you blueprint the hut before you spend the last of your logs. Keep the campfire just outside or under a smoke gap; some stations hate being smothered. The Crafting Table can live inside. In co-op, agree on one house plot so a 1–4 player session is not two huts across the road.
Hunt deer, cows, and goblins
Bramblemead is the nursery. Deer drop antlers, animal hide, and bones. Cows drop hide and farm meat. Goblins drop bones, coarse fur, and goblin sacks packed with runes, including Law Runes you will want for lodestones later. An Ash Shortbow plus cheap arrows makes deer less of a melee circus. Keep the Stone Club for goblins; crush damage still matters when vault guardians show up.
Do not sprint into every camp. Shift sprint and Ctrl evade from the controls guide are the difference between a clean hide and a gravestone. Goblin packs are the cheapest Law Rune farm until Runecrafting 16.
Tannery, Reinforced leather, Bone Club
Deer antlers unlock the tannery recipe. Build a Spinning Wheel first if you still need Coarse Thread from flax or coarse fur, then place the Tannery under a roof. Feed it animal hide until you have leather. Combine leather with bones at the Crafting Table for the Reinforced armour set and a Bone Club. That pairing is Power Level 2 and it is enough for Bramblemead, Whispering Swamp, and the first Dragonkin vaults.
The Bone Club looks like a joke next to a bronze sword you have not smelted yet. Vault guardians in the South Temple Woods fold faster to crush than to a half-finished blade. Craft a leather shield if you intend to learn Parry at Attack 5; the skills guide lists that breakpoint and the rest of the early combat spells.
First vault, then stop overreaching
Once the hut sleeps you and the Reinforced set is on, walk the blue-flag vaults north or south of Temple Woods. Guardians drop Vault Shards. The end pedestal holds a Vault Core. That core is the lodestone ingredient, not vendor trash. The vaults guide has the 32 Stone / 20 Rune Essence / 1 Core recipe. Carry a spare core while you explore.
Do not wander into Fractured Plains in bone gear. The region walkthrough is the order: Bramblemead, Whispering Swamp for clay and the kiln, then bronze country. 1.0 is scheduled for 15 September 2026, but the first-hour loop will not change: water, roof, leather, club, core.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
Do I have to finish First Steps with the Wise Old Man?
Yes if you want the tutorial rewards and a clean journal. You can refuse the temple lesson, but you still need to find him again in Bramblemead Village to close First Steps and unlock the outpost objectives.
Why will my bed roll not let me sleep?
It needs a roof over it. Place foundations, walls, and a 45-degree roof, then put the bed roll inside. Unroofed rolls will not set a reliable respawn and will not skip the night.
Is the Bone Club worth crafting instead of rushing bronze?
Yes for the first vaults. Crush damage handles Temple Woods guardians better than a half-built bronze sword, and Reinforced leather plus the club is the Power Level 2 set the valley expects.
Where should I build the first base?
In Bramblemead Valley on quiet grass, not on a goblin patrol or in Whispering Swamp. The building guide explains roofs, Ghost Mode, and why the furnace later needs open sky.
What should I do after the tannery?
Clear a nearby Dragonkin vault for a Vault Core, plant a lodestone, then follow the region walkthrough into Whispering Swamp for clay and the kiln.