▒ THE THORNMERE COMPENDIUM← Back to game

Getting Started

Grinweld is a grinding RPG: you fight the same kinds of monsters thousands of times, getting a little stronger each time, until you can fight bigger ones. There is no twitch reflex and no animation to wait on — every click instantly resolves a full combat round. The skill is in your build: which race, which stats, which gear, which gems.

This page gets you from "new account" to "comfortably grinding" in about an hour.

1. Make an account

Register with an email and password. Everything that matters happens on the server — the game is a "dumb renderer," so you can't cheat the math, and you can't lose progress to a crash mid-fight. Each combat round is one saved transaction.

2. Pick a race

At creation you choose one of six Races. A race is just three things: your starting stats, how much each stat grows when you level, and your mastery caps (how high your weapon/spell/armour skills can climb).

If you're unsure, pick Aelderkin — the all-rounder. It can go any direction later, so it's a forgiving first character. Want a clearer identity from the start?

  • Smash things with melee → Bramblyn (axes) or Mossgrim (maces, very tanky).
  • Shoot from range / dodge → Thistrel (bows, high DEX).
  • Sling spells → Glimmane (elemental caster) or Veilborn (drain/heal).

See Races for the full numbers.

3. Learn the loop

You start in Thornmere Verge (the level-1 starting zone) with one basic sword and one basic Fire spell, plus a little banked gold.

The core rhythm (full detail in The Game Loop):

  1. Move around the zone's grid one tile at a time (N/S/E/W).
  2. Pick a monster target and start Auto — your character fights it round after round on its own while the tab is open, looting and re-engaging as it goes (Idle Combat).
  3. Kill things → gain XP and gold on hand.
  4. Level up → choose a stat to raise.
  5. Spend gold on better Equipment → fight tougher monsters → repeat.

Auto is the default — set a safe target and a heal and the grind runs itself, even banking some progress for when you step away. Prefer to drive every swing yourself? At character creation you can choose manual combat instead (press Attack or Cast for each round). Manual pays a small reward bonus, but it's a permanent, one-way choice — pick it only if you mean it. See Combat.

4. Your first survival rules

These four habits will save your early characters:

  1. Bank your gold. Gold "on hand" is lost completely when you die. Gold in the Rootvault Bank is safe. Visit the bank, deposit, fight with little on hand. See Economy and Death & Penalties.
  2. Match your gear to your build. STR lets you equip better weapons; NTL better spells; VIT better armour. Don't pour points into a stat you won't use to wear things. See Equipment.
  3. Heal. Equip an Arcane (heal) spell in a spell slot, or a Drain spell (damage + lifesteal), or socket a Ruby/Bloodrock gem. A caster with a heal slot is nearly unkillable against same-level mobs.
  4. Fight things near your level. Monsters come in tiers within a zone. The damage curve is brutal in both directions — punching far above your weight means you barely scratch them; farming far below means tiny rewards.

5. What to do as you grow

  • ~Level 10: the Mossback Warrens (tank training) opens; good for training Armour mastery on slow, beefy mobs.
  • ~Level 15: you can reach Lanternwatch Cross, the hub that connects the world — and the first PvP zone. It has shops, a bank, the Trading Post, the Enchanter, and the Fusion Machine.
  • ~Level 30 / 60: caster training at The Sunken Stairs and the loot-rich Gallowfen Deep open up.
  • ~Level 100: you can join a clan and visit the capital, Lanternreach.
  • ~Level 150+: start climbing Ranks for permanent bonuses.

Next: The Game Loop → Races → Stats → Combat