The new co-op roguelite Tribes of Midgard was released on July 27 for PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. Although the gameplay is designed for co-op, Tribes of Midgard also offers a solo mode. It’s quite challenging. MeinMMO gives you 5 tips on how to survive alone.
What tips are these? We will tell you how to best build your base and the tricks to survive the first nights in Tribes of Midgard. This way, you will get better into the “midgame” and have more breathing room later on when the game increases in difficulty.
Tribes of Midgard runs in rounds. You start fresh in each round, needing to gather equipment, weapons, and upgrades again. You will be (almost) attacked every night by monsters that want to destroy your village. Alone and as a newcomer, you can quickly fall victim to the overwhelming number of enemies.
In the first reactions to Tribes of Midgard, one of the biggest criticisms is that the game is extremely difficult. It is therefore important to have the right foundation to build upon later in the game. With our tips, you can achieve that.
Is it worth playing solo at all? Yes, absolutely. While playing with friends allows for better task distribution and probably a bit less stress, the game also scales with the number of players in a round.
So, playing alone makes it slightly easier against wildlife and monsters, as the health points of the attacking giants are also significantly lower. Nevertheless, playing Tribes of Midgard solo is a great challenge and is only advisable for players who can also accept a defeat.
1. Ignore the first night
When you start a new round in saga mode, the first night will be quite short. You will still receive a warning that monsters will attack you. Simply ignore this message on the first night.
The NPCs of the settlement will actively defend against the intruders on their own. Most monsters will be eliminated this way before they reach your tree. And even if they get through, they will hardly deal any damage in that short time. Instead, use the time to:
- Gather resources needed for upgrades and equipment
- Find teleport points (“shrines”) to move quickly through the world
- Stockpile materials for later upgrade levels or discover important points like camps or treasures
The time at the beginning is extremely valuable since you are hardly punished for not being in the village, allowing you to prepare better for later. Speed and mobility become particularly important as winter approaches, as the days get shorter.
If you are too far from the village or haven’t found a shrine, you can even safely ignore the second night. If towers are already built, you don’t even need to return for the third or fourth night.
2. Upgrade the tinkerer and tools
The first thing you should do with your souls is to upgrade the tinkerer. She can provide you with better tools at higher ranks and enhance materials. You will need the materials later for upgrading your base.
With the tools, you collect more resources from the environment, the higher your pickaxe or axe is upgraded. So, you should build rank-2 tools immediately and aim for rank 4 as quickly as possible. You should upgrade the tinkerer directly to rank 3. For the upgrade, you need:
- 250 souls for rank 2
- 500 souls for rank 3
- 1,000 souls for rank 4
- 1,500 souls for rank 5 (not strictly necessary)
You can collect souls all over the world. The easiest way to get them is:
- from NPC camps with chests
- from powerful enemies like trolls
- or from repeatedly occurring events.
The dangerous Jötnar also yield a large amount of souls.
Additional tip: Take a few ramps and floors from the tinkerer with you. You can place the building parts in the world to cross rivers or climb hills.
3. Choose the right class
At the beginning of Tribes of Midgard, you only have two classes to choose from: Scout and Warrior. Both classes are well-suited for beginners, but for solo play, the Scout is slightly better:
- thanks to “Swift Foot” (two ranks), you move faster and speed is extremely important when you are alone. This way, you get across the map quicker to gather resources or reach shrines
- the focus on bows is somewhat “safer” from a distance. After all, you don’t have anyone to revive you
- with “Piercing Arrows” and “Deep Quiver”, you hit multiple targets with one shot and get your more powerful ammunition back when you use it
- “Durable Weapons” increases the durability of weapons, meaning you have to return for repairs less frequently
- “Raven’s Eye” grants an additional zoom level, giving you significantly better visibility of your surroundings
The Warrior focuses on melee combat, which doesn’t mean that you can’t carry bows. However, the Scout is simply better and more effective, making it a better choice for the beginning.
Once you have a bit more experience with Tribes of Midgard and are more confident in melee combat, the Warrior will become significantly stronger – so strong that he becomes the absolute best class for solo players.
Regardless of your choice of class initially, you should absolutely avoid playing Guardians or Shieldbearers after unlocking them. They are tanks designed purely for group play.
In our special, we present all 8 classes of Tribes of Midgard and explain what they can do.
4. Build Towers and Buildings Outside the Village
If you survived the first nights, you should quickly start to upgrade buildings. At each entrance of your village, you have a wall and two towers. Especially the towers are important at the beginning as they can hold off several waves of enemies on their own. Therefore, upgrade them early to rank 1. For this, you need:
- 1x wrought iron
- 2x hewn stone
- 3x wooden planks
- 100 souls
You can upgrade the towers later, but for now, rank 1 is sufficient. Once you progress further, you should also upgrade the walls. Just remember to keep opening the gates when monsters get stuck in front of them.
With the towers, you have the option to stock them with arrows. It’s best to give them thunder arrows or explosive thunder arrows. These inflict light damage, to which the Hel monsters are particularly vulnerable.
Around your village, you will also find a quarry, a logging site, and a farm. These will supply you with resources every 10 minutes that you need for further upgrades. Upgrade these as early as possible. For each building, you will need:
- 6x wrought iron
- 9x hewn stone
- 12x wooden planks
- 600 souls
You should upgrade the quarry first as it provides both iron and stones, which can speed up the upgrades of other buildings. After that, the farm is good for better armors or the logging site for building materials and alchemical ingredients.
5. Craft a Light Weapon Early and Watch the Titans
The Hel creatures that attack you at night have the “darkness” element. In Tribes of Midgard, there are four elements, each of which are strong against one another:
- Light (thunder/paralysis) against darkness (void) and vice versa
- Cold (ice) against fire and vice versa
Since you will spend some time holding off the enemies at night, you should craft a light or thunder weapon early on. You will need a blacksmith at least at rank 2 for this. Your options are:
- Norn bow
- Alvíss’ hammer
- Norn axe (requires rank 3)
- Baldr’s blade (requires rank 4)
The advantage of a light weapon is that you have no penalty against any of the Jötnar except for Járnsaxa, who is one of the easier opponents. However, you have a damage bonus against Angrboða, who is considered the toughest of the four giants.
Each of the giants initially only appears once. So, you can always pinpoint who you’re dealing with, and by the fourth giant, you will need an elemental weapon that counters the element of the Jötun. They can appear as:
- Járnsaxa – light element (weak against darkness)
- Angrboða – dark element (weak against light)
- Geirröðr – ice element (weak against fire)
- Hálogi – fire element (weak against ice)
In our special, you can learn more about the 4 giants of Tribes of Midgard and how to defeat them.
Bonus Tip for PC: Change the Loot Button
As you may have noticed by now, speed is an extremely important factor when playing solo. Therefore, you should also optimize your controls.
At least on PC with the keyboard, the default keys for upgrading (G) and looting or interacting (F) are extremely impractically placed. Since you move with WASD, you can hardly reach the two buttons without twisting or letting go of the mouse.
Therefore, assign the two functions to more easily reachable keys. Additional mouse buttons, like thumb buttons, are best suited for this, as they are quick to reach. Many MMO mice offer such buttons.
If you are considering getting a new mouse or additional peripherals, you’ll find practical hardware tips here on MeinMMO:
With these tips, we have managed to survive up to the 14th night, and the round is still ongoing – so there is indeed more to achieve. Did our tips help you? How do you tackle Tribes of Midgard solo? Do you like the game, or is it more fun in co-op? Let us know in the comments!
If you want to know more about the game, you can find all the information about the new Viking MMO Tribes of Midgard in our special all info .
