Windrose Guide: 15 Tips Every New Captain Should Know (2026)

Windrose doesn't explain itself, and its first few hours can be brutal. This Windrose guide collects the 15 things we wish every new captain knew, from surviving its punishing combat to getting your first ship and handling sea battles. It also covers what's coming next, because Kraken Express has confirmed the first major update, Ashlands, is due this winter.

Windrose has been in Early Access on Steam and the Epic Games Store since April 14, 2026, has sold more than 2 million copies, and costs $29.99 / £24.99 (10% off at the time of writing). The tips below are based on Kraken Express's official FAQ and patch notes, and on the most helpful Steam community guides, credited at the end.

Windrose guide: the essentials at a glance

1. Learn to dodge and parry from your first fight

You start weak and you stay fragile, so brute force gets you killed. Combat is a soulslite stamina system: fight in short bursts, back off, let your stamina recover, then go again. Dodge and parry are your best tools against both animals and pirates, so practise them on the first boars you meet, and put your early points into stamina.

2. Never sprint until your stamina runs out

Running on empty leaves you defenceless if a group of boars jumps you. Sprint to about half your stamina, walk for a moment, then sprint again. Stamina comes back quickly, so you lose almost no time and always keep a reserve for a fight. In the jungle, keep your weapon drawn so you can react straight away.

3. Treat guns as an opener, not your main weapon

Pistols and muskets hit hard but reload slowly, and ammunition is scarce early on. Fire one shot as an enemy closes in, then switch to melee. Later, with better guns, headshots become a real option. Keep an eye out for closed scallops on beaches, because they can contain pearls you can use as ammunition.

4. Eat before you head out, not while you're at home

Food gives powerful buffs, much stronger than in most survival games, and you won't starve to death while you're safe in your base. Save your cooked food for when you leave to explore, fight or take on a boss, and eat it close to the danger so the buff lasts. Coconuts are everywhere early on and stack up to 50.

5. How do you level up in Windrose?

Levelling is slow, and you don't earn XP for killing the same enemies over and over. XP comes mainly from quests and discoveries, such as looting the one-off chests at points of interest. The map shows how many you've found at each location (for example 0/2), so clear every discovery on an island before moving on. Each level gives points for your attributes and talents.

6. Build early, and build to fight

Plant fibres from bushes are enough to build your first small shelter, and you can recycle any building piece for its materials. Building isn't just for bases, either: put up a quick wall, platform or tower before a tough fight so enemies can't surround you, and funnel them towards you one or two at a time. Building pieces got cheaper in patch 0.10.0.4, so experiment.

7. Get the Rested buff by decorating

The Rested buff is one of the strongest in the game. You raise your comfort level by building at least one item from each decoration category in your home, so a cosy base with a bed, a chair, lighting and a few decorations is worth the effort.

8. Mark everything on your map

Resources and important spots on an island always spawn in the same places. Right-click your map to add markers for plants, dodo nests, clay near the shore, sulphur rocks, camps and ruins, and tick the option to show them outside the mini-map border. Farming an island becomes much quicker when you can see where everything is as you walk. Torches cost just two wood, so light up caves as you go.

9. Mines respawn, so clear them fully

You need copper from mines for early weapons and tools, and nearly every island has one. Ore respawns after a few in-game days, so empty your inventory before you go in and clear the whole mine. Sleeping in your bed passes time if you're waiting for it to refill.

10. Plant a fast travel point on every new island

Fast travel only takes seconds, which makes inventory space much less of a problem. Whenever you land on a new island, build a fast travel structure on the beach straight away, so carry the materials with you. A small hut with a bed you can set as your respawn point is worth building too.

11. Know what you lose when you die

When you die, you keep your equipped gear, but your inventory stays with your body, and you need to go back to collect it. Common items stay on your corpse, while rarer items in your inventory are kept. Fight a little away from where enemies spawn, so your body isn't sitting in the middle of them when you go back.

12. Recall your ship from anywhere

Getting your first ship takes a while, so don't rush it. Once you have one, you can recall it from almost anywhere, even after fast travelling, which makes it easy to haul cargo between islands. Choose your hull to suit your style: Windrose lets you sail anything from a nimble ketch to a brig or a heavy frigate.

13. Avoid sea battles until you're ready

Dying at sea is painful: you respawn on land and have to sail back to your body. Naval fights mix cannon fire at range with boarding actions, and one or two ship upgrades make a huge difference, so upgrade before you pick fights. Cannon fire works properly again after patches 0.10.0.8 and 0.10.0.9, which fixed hits not registering on hulls, sails and sterns. Expect plenty of enemy ships, which is one of players' most common complaints.

14. Play co-op in groups of four or fewer

Windrose supports up to 8 players, but Kraken Express recommends up to 4 for the best performance, especially late in the game, and says bosses aren't balanced for bigger groups. If you can't connect to friends, the official FAQ suggests everyone picks the same connection region, then trying Force Relay Connection in the settings, or a direct IP connection. Dedicated servers are supported, including Linux Docker images since patch 0.10.0.7.

15. Back up your saves

Early Access saves have had problems. Patch 0.10.0.5 added automatic backups every 10 minutes and on exit, and a recovery screen if a save breaks. Your saves live in %localappdata%R5SavedSaveProfiles, so copy that folder somewhere safe before big updates like Ashlands, and follow the official FAQ if a save won't load. Kraken Express also asks you to back up before using mods.

Windrose PC requirements

If you're on an AMD graphics card and crashing, the official FAQ notes stability problems with one Adrenalin driver version and suggests trying an earlier stable driver.

When is the Windrose Ashlands update?

Kraken Express revealed the release window in its trailer for the Triple-i Initiative on October 8: Ashlands is expected this winter. There's no exact date yet. It's Windrose's first major update since Early Access launch, and the studio says it includes:

• A fourth biome, the Ashlands: volcanic islands with new enemies, resources, recipes, points of interest and a new boss.
• More story: a bigger main quest and side quests, new factions, and the hunt for the next Obol fragment in the ruins of a Spanish colony.
• Reworked ship customisation: no more faction-specific ship versions. You pick a ship class and customise its figurehead, hull decor, stern, helm, sails, flags and colours separately, with a new customisation camera.
• New armour, weapon variants and faction outfits, plus attention for existing weapons like halberds and greatswords.
• Your progress carries over: the studio says it's working to make sure you keep everything you've achieved.

We'll update this Windrose guide when Ashlands gets a date.

Watch the Windrose Ashlands trailer

What players are saying about Windrose

Windrose is Very Positive overall on Steam, but recent reviews are split (about 55% positive in the past month), mostly because there's been no new content since April. A few views from the most helpful recent reviews:

• Yor (68 hours) calls it "a great foundation", praising the pirate setting, exploration, sailing and building, but wants more depth from almost every system.
• Rebrewed (49 hours) says building is great and combat decent, but the loop gets repetitive and no content has been added since Early Access launch.
• chrism_stm (172 hours) likes the game but says the number of enemy ships spawning at sea is the biggest frustration.
• SmelzphartOG (90 hours) finds the combat challenging but well balanced, and would like a better tutorial for boarding ships.

Ashlands is the studio's answer to the "no new content" complaints, so this winter's update is a big moment for the game.

Windrose guide credits and further reading

Several tips in this guide were confirmed in the community's most helpful Steam guides. Thanks to Hardcastle ("What I wanted to know BEFORE I started playing Windrose") and Dio Aloke ("Beginner's Guide"), both well worth reading for more detail. Technical tips come from the official Windrose FAQ.

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Windrose guide FAQ