Dune: Awakening Guide | Best Early-Game Items

A guide on how to get the best early-game items in Dune: Awakening.

Game Guide by Groot on Jun 30, 2025

Surviving the harsh desert of Arrakis requires more than just determination—you need the right equipment. This comprehensive guide will help you acquire the most powerful early-game gear that can carry you well into the mid and late-game stages. You'll discover that many Mark 1 unique items outperform standard MK2 versions, and some even rival MK3 equipment that becomes available much later in your journey.

Mohandis Sandbike Engine Mk1

You'll want to prioritize obtaining the Muendis Sandbike Engine Mark 1, which provides an impressive sandbike top speed of 90 km per hour. In comparison, not even the MK2 of the regular sandbike engine gives you more than 78, which represents a massive difference in performance. This engine will serve you exceptionally well for an extended period, and you can literally obtain it right from the very beginning of the game.

Head to the Keyhole Rock location, which is conveniently close to the very first story trial you complete in the area. Once there, go up the stairs and locate the room in the back on the second floor. You'll find a container that has a very strong chance of dropping the engine for you. Keep in mind that it's not guaranteed, so if you don't get it on your first visit, return it every 45 minutes or so, as you'll eventually obtain it.

Extra Bike Thruster

If you want to fully deck out your starting ride, you can also acquire the Night Rider Sand Bike Boost MK2. This becomes available just a little bit later, the moment you reach Vermillius Gap East. You'll find yourself pretty close to the trading post in the area anyway, and nearby, you'll discover the Gana Cavern.

Enter the cavern and follow the path to the left side, then drop down once. You should see a very small gap opening that you can enter through. Inside, you'll often encounter the Night Rider Sandbike Boost MK2. While this isn't guaranteed either, it spawns frequently, especially in the full version of the game.

The best part is that you can always disassemble either of these components and install them on different bikes. For example, when you eventually move on to Mark 2 and Mark III bikes, you can still use these superior components until you find much better variants later down the line.

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Amazing Early Weapon

While you're still in the area, the Broken Stone Station is just a short distance away. Head a bit further south to reach it. Even though this area has been somewhat nerfed, and you can no longer take a free sandbike from this location, you can still obtain Aaron's Vengeance rifle, which is an exceptionally strong weapon option.

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Go up the stairs all the way to the back of the room, where you should find its schematic inside the chest. This rifle remains effective even at level 50, making it an excellent long-range option. It's quite precise and delivers respectable damage per shot, making it very easy to aim headshots from far away while remaining behind cover.

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Best Literjon Early and Free Variant

You can purchase one of the best little Johns that will serve you until at least level 40 to 50 the moment you reach the Griffin Trade Post and speak with the merchant. He'll sell it to you for 500 solar. However, if you prefer not to spend any money and want to obtain it for free, you can find its schematic a bit further east, though it requires climbing to the top of a platform. The chest there has a very strong chance of dropping the schematic.

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This variant has a capacity of 1,500 compared to only 1,000 that you get from the little John you unlock normally. The only better options are other variants that come later, but even those only reach 1,750 capacity. This literjon will literally carry you through level 50 and beyond. Remember that you'll need a literjon in your inventory when using the dew ripper, as the collected water needs to be deposited somewhere.

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Legion Tattoo Anti-Shield SMG

Eventually, you'll move on to the Vanelius Gap, and when you do, immediately head to the Vanelius Gap West to a place called the Rag of Palace. This location has PvP enabled while you're there, but it provides access to one of the best anti-shield weapons available early in the game: the Legion Tattoo.

To obtain it, drop inside and follow the path up the rails to your right side. Eventually, you'll reach the middle section, where you need to pay attention to a locked door that you can cut down to your right. Once inside, grab the green ID band that will allow you to open one of the final areas. From this point, take the middle path all the way towards the main deck.

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You'll need to defeat a bunch of enemies in the room before the main deck. Once you've done so, you can go inside, where the only thing remaining is the major chest in the area. This chest consistently provides the Legion Tattoo, making it one of the best guns in the game at this stage because it breaks shields so easily.

At this point in the game, you don't have many options for taking down enemy shields from range—it's mostly just melee combat. You can use this as a sidearm by shooting at enemies until you destroy their shields, then switching to another weapon that deals more damage at close range, like a shotgun.

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Scipio's Drinker

You'll also need to collect a lot of blood at this stage of the game. Early on, you probably obtained Kaleff's Drinker during your first visit to the Rag of the Elion in that Haga base in the south, likely from the last chest in that area. This is an excellent weapon because it automatically fills the blood bags you have with blood obtained from hitting enemies.

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However, an even better combination follows after obtaining the Legion Tattoo. Head to the Northwest Iron Works on the map and climb to the top of the facility. You can do this rather easily if you already have a suspenser belt and chigawar claw, which you should have at this stage. Once at the top, go inside the room one level down, where you'll see a chest that has a very good chance of giving you Scipio's Drinker.

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Just like the previous case, this weapon extracts blood from enemies as you hit them, except that being a sword means it deals significantly more damage. Here's a useful trick: when you hit an enemy with one of these drinkers, it counts as a separate version of drinking the enemy's blood. You can double-dip on blood extraction by starting to defeat an enemy with one of the drinkers, which extracts all of that blood. Once the enemy is down, you can then use a regular blood extractor to fill your bags even more, essentially getting double the blood from the same enemy.

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Scipio's Bag Location

You can combine this technique with a very special blood pack that has a capacity of 13,000, which is significantly higher than any other blood bag you have at that stage. You can obtain this not too far from the center part of the Vanelius Gap, pretty much where the fourth trial is located, so you'll be in the area anyway.

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Once you complete the fourth trial, progress from the same path normally all the way to the very top of the mountain platform. Once there, you should see a crashed ornithopter that you can salvage. Behind it, you'll find a container that has a very strong chance of giving you Scipio's Blood Bag. This bag will be much better, even compared to the MK2 versions or the medium versions that you get later, lasting quite a bit until at least level 50.

Also, check our Dune Awakening Review and other guides below:

Rubaiyat Shihab

Editor, NoobFeed

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