Wolfenstein: Youngblood: Complete Guide

A co-op-focused guide to Wolfenstein: Youngblood: how the level, armor, and shared-lives systems work, what to upgrade first, how to approach the Brothers and Lab X, and how to play solo or with a Buddy Pass friend.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the final PC build (last patches: Update 1.0.7 content in November 2019, the DLSS 2.1 update in October 2020, and crash hotfixes in May and September 2023). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Levels matter more than in any other Wolfenstein. Enemies and districts have a level. If an enemy's level is much higher than yours, your bullets barely hurt it. Do side missions to level up before main story steps.
• Match your weapon to the armor. Enemy armor comes in two types, each shown with its own icon on the health bar. Each weapon shows which armor type it's best against. Using the right gun is a huge damage boost.
• Lives are shared. You and your partner share a pool of lives. When one of you goes down, the other has to revive them. If you both go down, the pool loses a life. When it's empty, you restart from the checkpoint.
• Use Pep Signals. Pep gestures give both twins a buff, like health, armor, or damage depending on the signal. Use them before big fights.
• The AI partner is fine. Solo play gives you an AI twin who revives you and fights. You don't need a human partner to finish the game.
• Spend Silver Coins on weapon upgrades, not cosmetics. Silver Coins are the in-game currency you earn by playing. Gold Bars are the premium currency and are only for cosmetics.
• Take the Brothers in any order. The three Brother towers are the main story goals. Scout them and do side missions until you're close to the recommended level.
• Play with enemy health bars on. Update 1.0.5 added a toggle for enemy health bars, and they help you read armor and level at a glance.

Core Systems

Levels and Scaling

System | How It Works | Tip

Player level | Earned from XP for kills, missions, and challenges | Daily and weekly challenges are efficient XP

Enemy level | Shown next to their health bar | Enemies well above your level are the reason missions feel "bullet spongy"

Ability points | Earned on level-up | Spend on the skill tree right away

Weapon upgrades | Bought with Silver Coins | Upgrade your main gun's damage parts first

Armor Types

Enemies have health and often armor. Armor comes in two types, each with its own icon. Weapons are labeled with the armor type they strip fastest. Carry at least one gun for each type and swap depending on the enemy. Update 1.0.5 made weapon swaps faster, which helps with this.

Shared Lives and Revives

• The team has a shared lives counter. Getting downed isn't death. Your partner revives you.
• If both twins go down, or you bleed out, you lose a life.
• Extra lives can be found as pickups during missions.
• Solo tip: The AI partner revives you reliably. Fight near them.

Pep Signals

Pep signals are team gestures that buff both twins. You unlock more of them as you progress (including through Update 1.0.7's new rewards). Good times to use them:

• Right before a Brother boss or a big arena
• When both of you are low on armor
• After a revive, to get the team stable again

Skill Tree

The skill tree has three branches: Mind, Muscle, and Power.

Branch | Focus | Signature Picks

Mind | Stealth and utility | Cloak (turn invisible for silent takedowns) and stealth damage bonuses

Muscle | Strength and toughness | Crush (a powerful ground slam), plus the option to carry and use heavy weapons

Power | Weapons and survivability | Bigger health and armor pools, faster reloads, more ammo capacity

Leveling order that works for most players:

• Early survivability (health and armor pools) in Power.
• Cloak if you like stealth openers, or Crush if you like to brawl.
• Heavy weapon carrying in Muscle, so you can keep big guns taken from Supersoldaten.
• Ammo capacity and reload upgrades before the late game.

Weapons

Weapons use the familiar Wolfenstein arsenal (pistols, submachine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, and the laser and diesel-powered heavy weapons). Upgrades are attachments bought with Silver Coins, and upgrading gun parts changes both damage and handling.

• Primary gun: Pick one reliable automatic and put your coins into it first.
• Armor-type coverage: Keep weapons for both armor types, and swap based on the enemy's icon.
• Heavy weapons: Taken from heavy enemies. They're huge damage for bosses and armored units.
• Melee and stealth: Silent takedowns from Cloak save ammo and lives on clearing missions.

Structure: Paris, the Brothers, and Lab X

The twins Jess and Soph Blazkowicz, with their friend Abby, travel to Nazi-occupied Paris to find their missing father, B.J. The French Resistance is led by Juju, and the villain is General Lothar, who is scheming toward a Fourth Reich.

Stage | What to Do

Opening | Tutorial and the Resistance base in the Paris catacombs

Districts | Open-ended hub areas of Paris with main and side missions, collectibles, and challenges

Brother 1, 2, and 3 | Three Nazi-controlled towers. Get into each and shut it down. They have recommended levels.

Lab X | The final push once the Brothers are done. It ends the story.

Treasure Hunt (Update 1.0.7) | Free post-launch quest through new areas: an underground reservoir, the streets and canals of Little Berlin, and a secret Nazi bunker

Why level first: Almost all complaints about Youngblood being "spongy" come from taking on a Brother while underleveled. Do Resistance side missions and district objectives until you're near the recommended level, then push.

Boss and Big-Fight Tips

• Scout first with Cloak. Take out the smaller enemies before triggering the big ones.
• Split roles in co-op. One twin draws aggro while the other flanks the armor weak spots.
• Swap to the right armor type before firing at a heavy. Wrong-type weapons waste ammo.
• Update 1.0.5 tuned down every boss fight and added more checkpoints. If you remember launch-era frustration, the current version is much easier.

Collectibles and Side Content

• Collectibles: Documents, cassette tapes, floppy disks, and similar items across the districts. Most show up on the map once you've found them nearby, or they're tied to Resistance missions.
• Daily and weekly challenges: Worth doing for XP and Silver Coins.
• Treasure Maps (Update 1.0.7): New missions around Paris that reward progress toward eleven new abilities, two new Pep Signals, and eight new skins.
• Community events: Past events like the 2019 Halloween event needed online play to count. Some challenges only track while you're online.

Co-op, Buddy Pass, and Online

• Buddy Pass: The Deluxe Edition includes a Buddy Pass, so a friend who doesn't own the game can play the whole campaign with you.
• Crossplay: A February 2020 compatibility patch let players on Steam, the Bethesda.net Launcher, and Xbox Game Pass for PC team up.
• Solo with online features: If you want solo play with online challenge tracking, set the game to "Friends Only" instead of offline, as the official community event note recommended.
• Friends list error: If you see "Could not retrieve your Steam Friends List," set your Steam profile's Friends List privacy to Public.

PC Performance Notes

• Built on id Tech 6, and runs well on most hardware.
• NVIDIA DLSS 2.1 (with an "ÜberPerformance" mode) arrived in October 2020, along with 8K support.
• Ray-traced reflections are supported on compatible GPUs. The May 2023 patch fixed a crash during the General Winkler fight with RT reflections on.
• Intel integrated and Arc GPUs: a September 2023 hotfix addressed crashes.

First Hours Checklist

• Finish the opening and settle into the catacombs base. It's where you take missions, upgrade gear and change cosmetics.
• Turn on enemy health bars in the options if they're off. Level and armor icons are the most important information on screen.
• Take every nearby side mission before the first Brother. Early districts are full of quick objectives that pay XP and Silver Coins.
• Put your first coins into one automatic weapon. A single upgraded gun carries the early game much better than several half-upgraded ones.
• Pick a direction on the skill tree. Survivability first, then either Cloak (stealth openers) or the Muscle branch (brawling and heavy weapons).
• Try one mission with the AI twin and one with a friend if you have the Buddy Pass. Co-op is where the shared-lives and Pep systems shine.
• Check daily and weekly challenges each session; they stack with normal mission rewards.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Rushing the Brothers. You'll run into enemies several levels above you. Level first.
• Using one gun for everything. The armor system punishes it hard.
• Spending Silver on skins. Early coins belong in weapon upgrades.
• Separating from your partner. Shared lives mean one careless push can wipe the team.
• Skipping side missions. They're the XP engine, not optional filler.
• Hoarding Pep Signals. They recharge. Use them.

Advanced Tips

• Co-op roles: A Cloak/stealth twin opens fights, and a heavy-weapon Muscle twin finishes them.
• Heavy weapon retention: Muscle skills let you keep heavy weapons longer. Pick them up from Supersoldaten and save them for bosses.
• Farming efficiently: Repeat district side missions and challenges to grind toward the level cap and more upgrades.
• Mind your ammo types: Update 1.0.5 refills basic weapon ammo on respawn and adds more special ammo in hard areas, but heavy fights still reward conserving it.
• Replayability: After Lab X you can keep playing in Paris to finish side missions, collectibles, and the Treasure Hunt.

FAQ

Can I play Wolfenstein: Youngblood solo? Yes. An AI twin fills in for your partner.

Is there split-screen? No. Co-op is online only.

What is the Buddy Pass? It comes with the Deluxe Edition and lets one friend play with you without owning the game.

Why do enemies feel so tanky? Almost always an enemy level gap or a weapon/armor mismatch. Level up with side missions and match your weapon's armor type.

Do I need to play Wolfenstein II first? It helps with the story context. Youngblood is set 19 years after The New Colossus, but it's a standalone adventure.

Are there achievements? Yes. Steam achievements cover story progress, the Brothers, collectibles and co-op; see the game's Steam achievements page for the current list.

Do I need to be online? For co-op and for community-event or challenge tracking, yes. Bethesda's own event note recommended setting the game to "Friends Only" rather than offline if you want to play solo with the AI and still have progress count.

Are there microtransactions? Yes. Gold Bars are a premium currency for cosmetics. Silver Coins, earned in play, cover everything that affects gameplay.

Sources

• Wolfenstein: Youngblood — Wikipedia
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood — Steam store page
• Wolfenstein: Youngblood Steam news (Update 1.0.5, 1.0.7, DLSS, hotfixes)