JUSTPLAYBETTER

Dune: Awakening

Funcom's open-world survival MMO on Arrakis: manage heat, water, and sandworms while you climb a material tech tree into Deep Desert PvP and Landsraad politics.

Progression at a glance

# Zone Key material Unlocks
1 Hagga Basin South Copper Sandbike, early trainers, first base
2 Vermillius Gap Iron Iron tier, PvE wrecks, contract boards
3 Jabal Eifrit Al-junab / Hagga Rift Carbon Ore (Steel), Erythrite (Cobalt Paste) Steel tier, the Buggy
4 Eastern Shield Wall Aluminum Ore, Basalt Scout Ornithopter (flight and fast travel)
5 Mysa Tarill / Sheol Jasmium Crystals (Duraluminum), advanced components Duraluminum tier, Assault Ornithopter
6 Deep Desert Plastanium (Tier 6), spice reserves Endgame PvPvE, Sand Crawler, weekly reset
7 Landsraad and guilds Faction and guild membership Weekly House tasks, decrees, spice economy

PC live service as of patch 1.4.10.0 (June 2026); PS5 and Xbox versions are announced for September 22, 2026 but not yet shipped.

Top tips

  1. Follow the main quest in Hagga Basin. It routes you through trainers and crafting and gets you a Sandbike fast.
  2. Do not build your base at spawn. Build near a trade post, and do not over-invest early because you will relocate.
  3. Hoard water. It is a crafting input for Iron and Steel, not just a survival meter.
  4. Learn the shield rule: shielded enemies resist firearms, so headshot the unshielded first and melee the rest.
  5. Respect worms and storms. A sandworm kill deletes your backpack, so stay on rock, and power a base shield against storms.
  6. Sandworms are invincible and drawn to vibration. Being caught is instant death, and it deletes everything you carry, including vehicles.
  7. Use traversal tech: drop-grappling cancels fall damage and suspensor belts prevent gravity and fall damage.
  8. Travel at night on long trips to slow dehydration, but watch for Sardaukar patrols.
  9. Pick your mentor deliberately (Mentat is a common first pick); homeworld and caste are mostly flavor.
  10. Grab the Hagga Basin South uniques early: Aren's Vengeance, Hollower Stillsuit, Kaleff's Drinker, Emperor's Wings Mk1.

Guides

builds

  • Combat Archetypes quick

    The five Great Schools, the endgame meta builds players commit to, and the material gear tiers that back them. You are not locked into one school.

  • Base and Vehicles quick

    Base-building rules and the full vehicle ladder from Sandbike to ornithopter, tied to the material tier that unlocks each one.

progression

  • Full Run Cheatsheet quick

    The whole gated path on one page. Zones, the material tier they hold, and what each tier unlocks, from character creation to the Landsraad endgame.

regions

  • Hagga Basin deep

    The persistent starter region where every player begins. How its sub-zones gate the material tech tree from Copper up to Duraluminum.

  • Deep Desert deep

    The endgame PvPvE zone. How its weekly Coriolis reset, Tier 6 materials, and richest spice patches make it a rolling race rather than a place you settle.

systems

  • Survival and Crafting deep

    The two systems that run the whole game. How heat, water, and the worm keep you alive, and how the material tech tree turns what you gather into everything you build.

  • Landsraad and Guilds deep

    The political endgame. How guilds push their House up weekly leaderboards to enact server-wide decrees, and how the spice economy underpins all of it.