Core Keeper drops you into a dark cave with a wooden pickaxe and almost no instructions. The game never tells you where to go next, which is exactly why so many new players stall out after the first hour. This guide lays out the whole journey in order: what to do at the start, which bosses gate which biomes, and how your gear should scale from copper all the way to the endgame. Stick to this sequence and you will never be stuck wondering what the game expects of you next.
Phase 1: Survive the first night and find copper
You spawn beside The Core, the glowing central structure that everything in the game revolves around. Your first jobs are practical: chop the roots and mushrooms for wood and fibre, craft a Wood Workbench, then make torches to light up the darkness around your base. Visibility matters because enemies spawn in unlit tiles.
Next, hunt for sparkling tiles in the surrounding walls. Those are Copper Ore deposits in The Undergrounds, the starting biome. Smelt copper into bars at a Furnace, build a Copper Workbench, and craft a copper pickaxe, sword (or bow), and a set of copper armour. A Cooking Pot is one of the most valuable early builds because cooked food restores health and grants buffs. By the end of this phase you should have a lit base, a chest or two, copper gear, and a steady food supply.
Phase 2: The three statue bosses and powering the Core
The core mechanic that drives early progression is reactivating The Core. Around the central structure sit three boss statues, and each one needs an essence dropped by a specific boss before The Core will switch on. The statues and their required items are Glurch (Glurch Eye), Ghorm (Ghorm’s Horn), and Malugaz (Stolen Crystal Heart).
- Glurch the Abominous Mass is the intended first boss, a giant slime that lurks in the slime-infested patches of The Undergrounds. Copper armour and a copper weapon are enough to take it down.
- Ghorm the Devourer is a huge worm that endlessly circles the world in a fixed ring, roaming around the Clay Caves region. You fight it by digging into its path and hitting its body as it passes.
- Malugaz the Corrupted is found in the Forgotten Ruins and is summoned at its altar. It drops the Stolen Crystal Heart needed for the third statue.
These three can be tackled in any order once you have located them, but Glurch is the gentlest introduction. Place each essence into its statue, then talk to The Core. Activating it lowers the magical wall that has been sealing off the larger world, opening up the next ring of biomes. This is the single most important milestone in the early game.
Phase 3: The outer biomes and the Titans
With the wall down, three new biomes become reachable: Azeos’ Wilderness, the Sunken Sea, and the Desert of Beginnings. Although the wall opens all at once, the recommended order is Wilderness, then Sunken Sea, then Desert, because each step provides the gear you need for the next.
Each of these biomes contains a Titan boss. You generally summon a Titan by crafting and using a special scanner or summoning item rather than simply walking into it. Azeos the Sky Titan in the Wilderness is spawned by placing a Large Shiny Glimmering Object in its arena. Omoroth the Sea Titan in the Sunken Sea is fished up by using an Expert Lure over a whirlpool. Ra-Akar the Sand Titan in the Desert is summoned with a Thumper. Other major bosses such as Ivy the Poisonous Mass and Igneous the Molten Mass live in their own zones (the Forgotten Ruins and Molten Quarry respectively) and are part of the wider boss roster you can read about in our Core Keeper bosses guide.
Gear and ore tiers, stage by stage
Progression in Core Keeper is tied directly to ore tiers. You need tools made from the previous tier to mine the walls of the next biome, so the ore ladder is effectively your power ladder. The ore progression runs Copper, Tin, Iron, Scarlet, Octarine, Galaxite, and then later Solarite. Smelting also gates you: a basic Furnace handles copper and tin, the Smelter Kiln is required for iron, scarlet, and octarine, and galaxite needs the Fury Forge to become ingots.
| Stage | Main biome | Key ore | Goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | The Undergrounds | Copper | Light base, copper gear, beat Glurch |
| Early | Clay Caves | Tin | Better tools, beat Ghorm |
| Mid | Forgotten Ruins | Iron | Beat Malugaz, power the Core |
| Outer | Azeos’ Wilderness | Scarlet | Beat Azeos the Sky Titan |
| Deep | Sunken Sea | Octarine | Beat Omoroth the Sea Titan |
| Late | Desert of Beginnings | Galaxite | Beat Ra-Akar the Sand Titan |
Always upgrade your pickaxe before you push into a tougher biome. If your tool cannot break the local walls, you are not meant to be there yet. For weapon and armour choices at each tier, see our best weapons and builds breakdown, and for exactly where every deposit hides, the mining and ores guide maps it out.
Phase 4: Endgame and the Core Commander
The six Titan souls are the final progression key. Once you have collected all six, you interact with and shatter the Crystal Meteorite to summon the Core Commander, the climactic boss. The fight revolves around destroying the Core Spheres in the arena to leave the Commander vulnerable. Beyond this lie further endgame areas and bosses that extend the game well past the main story, so reaching the Commander is the goal that ties the whole run together rather than the literal end of content.
Throughout all of this, keep two supporting systems running. A solid food rotation from your farm and crops keeps your health buffs topped up for boss fights, and your fishing setup is not optional flavour. Fishing is literally how you summon Omoroth, so a good rod and lure are part of the critical path.
Frequently asked questions
Which boss should I fight first in Core Keeper?
Glurch the Abominous Mass is the intended first boss. It is found in the slime-covered areas of The Undergrounds and can be beaten with copper armour and a copper weapon, making it the natural starting point before Ghorm and Malugaz.
How do I open the wall around the starting area?
Defeat Glurch, Ghorm, and Malugaz, place each boss’s essence (Glurch Eye, Ghorm’s Horn, and Stolen Crystal Heart) into its matching statue, then talk to The Core. Reactivating The Core removes the magical wall and opens the outer biomes.
Do I have to beat the bosses in a strict order?
The three statue bosses can be fought in any order once you find them. For the outer Titans the order is more flexible too, but Azeos’ Wilderness then Sunken Sea then Desert is recommended because each biome supplies the ore and gear you need for the next.
Progression is far smoother with company, and Core Keeper is built for co-op. If you want a persistent world that stays online so your group can chip away at the Titans whenever they log in, you can spin up a Core Keeper server to explore with friends. For step-by-step setup and admin tips, the Core Keeper server documentation walks you through it.
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