Stoneshard: Survival & Build Guide

A beginner-to-intermediate guide to Stoneshard's brutal turn-based mercenary life: surviving the first contracts, understanding the health and psyche systems, building a character from the classless ability trees, running your caravan, and what's changed recently in Early Access.

Researched September 2026 — current as of Early Access Hotfix 0.9.4.25 (August 17, 2026), with the next major update "Ancient Echoes" (wands) announced. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

1. It's turn-based. Nothing happens until you act. Take your time on every move. Most deaths come from rushing.
2. Saving is limited. You can only save in certain spots, so a bad fight can cost a lot of progress. Before a dungeon, make sure you've saved recently.
3. Treat every fight as optional. Retreating is a legitimate tactic. If three brigands spot you, fall back to a doorway or corridor so only one can reach you.
4. Bleeding kills slowly but surely. Carry bandages and stop bleeding right after a fight. Untreated bleeding and pain snowball quickly.
5. Pain and morale matter as much as HP. High pain slows your character down; low sanity causes panic attacks and paranoia.
6. Contracts are your income. Take contracts from settlements, clear them, and come back to collect. Start with the easiest ones.
7. Sell loot efficiently. Different merchants pay differently. Carry heavy loot back only if it's worth it.
8. Invest in one weapon tree first. There are no classes, but a focused build survives the early game far better than a spread-out one.
9. Eat, drink and sleep. Hunger, thirst and fatigue all build up. Keep food and water in your pack.
10. Try Ironman only once you're comfortable. Ironman mode makes every decision irreversible and death permanent.

How Stoneshard Works

Stoneshard is a turn-based open-world RPG set in the war-torn kingdom of Aldor. You're a mercenary taking contracts, exploring dungeons and ruins, trading, and slowly building up a caravan. There are no class or level restrictions: over 200 abilities and 400 pieces of equipment can be combined freely.

Turns and positioning

• Every action costs one turn. Moving, attacking, drinking a potion, even swapping weapons.
• Enemies move when you move. Waiting a turn in a doorway lets enemies come to you one at a time.
• Line of sight and darkness matter. Attacks against targets in darkness receive an extra fumble chance (added in 0.9.4.21), and many enemies won't see you if you stay out of their vision.
• Corridors and doorways are your best friend. Fight groups where only one can reach you.

Attributes

Stoneshard uses five core attributes:

Each level gives you points to spend in attributes and abilities. Match attributes to the trees you invest in; ability tooltips list which attributes they scale with.

Health, Pain and Psyche

The health system is simple once you know the pieces.

Other treatments exist too: bloodletting and various concoctions for maladies.

The golden rule: after every fight, check your status panel. Treat bleeding first, then pain, then injuries. Don't walk into the next room hurt.

Character Building

Ability trees

Abilities are grouped into trees. There are weapon trees, combat and utility trees, and magic schools. Common trees include:

• Weapons: Swords, Axes, Maces, Daggers, Spears, Bows, Crossbows, Staves, plus Shields and Dual Wielding.
• Combat/utility: Warfare, Athletics, Survival, Armored Combat.
• Magic: Pyromancy, Geomancy, Electromancy, Arcanistics and Magic Mastery.

Coming in the next major update, "Ancient Echoes", is a Wands tree. The developers describe wands as one-handed hybrid weapons: melee standard attacks, ranged options unlocked through the tree, and a focus on supporting spellcasting and mixed playstyles. The same devlog changed the staff crit effect to +50% Stagger Chance (from +50% Energy Drain).

What the Wands devlog (July 17, 2026) tells you to plan for:

• Wands can pair with anything one-handed: another wand, a shield, or any other one-handed weapon. A shield-and-wand battlemage is an intended build.
• Three wand families: one trades direct offense for bigger boosts to magical stats, one works best with the Wands tree itself, and one is meant mainly for melee.
• Charges are part of the design. The team kept the classic roguelike idea of wands running on charges while making them viable as a primary weapon.
• Designed to synergise with every magic school, so an existing caster or battlemage character should have a use for them.

Until "Ancient Echoes" is out, treat these as announced, not playable; exact abilities and numbers may change.

Starter build archetypes

Tips:

• Pick one weapon tree and one support tree early. Add a third tree once your core is working.
• Survival pays off. It helps with gathering, cooking and staying alive between fights.
• Test builds at the caravan. The Straw Dummies at the Caravan Camp can now be stunned, staggered and affected by most effects (except knockback), which makes them useful for testing damage and control (since 0.9.4.23).

Contracts, Dungeons and Money

• Contracts come from settlements. Early contracts send you to nearby dungeons, crypts, catacombs and camps. Clear the objective and return for payment and reputation.
• Reputation with a settlement unlocks better contracts and merchant stock.
• Loot selling: merchants specialise. Sell weapons and armor where they pay the most, and don't haul heavy junk.
• Repairs: equipment degrades and needs repair. Repair prices have a minimum of 1 crown.
• Crime: stealing from NPCs, fighting in towns and mixing stolen coins in front of NPCs are crimes. Getting caught can lead to fines, jail or being attacked on sight.
• Crowbars can pry open locked containers.

The Caravan

Your caravan is your mobile base.

• Verren runs the caravan. You can upgrade it with items bought from merchants.
• Stash your spare gear and loot.
• Rest at the camp to recover and hear stories.
• Followers can be recruited; their skills help along the way. Alda, for example, joins through her own recruitment quest.
• Training: you can gain experience by training with Leif at the camp.
• Appearance Collection (added June 2026): change the look of the main tent, Verren's tent and the cart with special appearance items. Banners also go into the Collection now. The Customs House at the Brynn Docks sells caravan appearances among its seized goods.

Enemies and Threats

• Brigands: common early threat, often in groups with mixed melee and ranged units.
• Undead: crypts and catacombs. Blunt weapons and fire are generally good choices.
• Cults: including Proselytes; some fight at range before switching to melee.
• Beasts: harpies (which now have a territorial state and don't attack immediately, since 0.9.4.23), deathstinger swarms and hives, rat swarms and more.

Plan your approach per faction: ranged foes want you to close distance behind cover; beasts often come in packs and should be fought at chokepoints.

Recent Patch Notes That Affect Play (2026)

Practical takeaways: carry a light source if you rely on accuracy, keep stolen coins in a separate pouch around NPCs, and don't count on countering right after a Forceful Slam.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Fighting in the open. Always pull enemies to a corridor or doorway.
• Ignoring bleeding. It will kill you between fights.
• Spreading ability points across five trees. Focus first.
• Carrying too much loot. Overweight characters are slow and vulnerable.
• Committing crimes in towns casually. Fines and jail can be crippling early.
• Going into dungeons without bandages, food and water.
• Not saving before a big contract. Remember saves are limited to certain spots.
• Starting Ironman on your first character.

Advanced Tips

• Pull and retreat. Hit an enemy, step back into a corridor, and let them come to you.
• Stack pain relief carefully. Painkillers and alcohol help, but intoxication has its own penalties.
• Use darkness. Enemies in darkness are harder to hit, but so are you. Carry a light source when you want accuracy.
• Combine magic and weapons. Battlemage builds can soften targets with spells, then finish with a weapon.
• Use the dummies to compare ability damage and control before committing points.
• Read patch notes. Early Access balance changes are frequent; abilities like Recharge, Stone Armor and Forceful Slam were adjusted in mid-2026 hotfixes.

FAQ

Is Stoneshard finished? No. It's still in Early Access. The latest build is 0.9.4.25 (August 2026), and the next major update, "Ancient Echoes", adds the Wands ability tree.

How do I save? Only in certain spots. Plan expeditions so you can save before risky fights.

What's the best beginner build? Shield plus a one-handed weapon with Armored Combat is the most forgiving. Archer and two-hander builds are strong once you understand positioning.

How do I stop bleeding? Bandages and cauterizing wounds. Treat it right after combat.

What's Ironman mode? A permadeath mode where every decision is irreversible and your character dies for good.

Can I change how my caravan looks? Yes, since the June 2026 update, through the Appearance Collection in the Caravan menu. Appearance items are sold by merchants, including the Customs House at the Brynn Docks.

Sources

• Steam store page: Stoneshard
• Steam news: Hotfixes 0.9.4.20 to 0.9.4.25 and the Wands devlog