ENDLESS Legend 2 Beginner Guide (1.0)

What this guide covers

This is the 1.0-era quickstart: what to research first, how to pace your first region, and which early technologies pay for themselves. All technology effects below are from the official wiki.

Opening research (Era 1)

Pick by win direction, not by order on the tree:

You want	Research	Why
Faster expansion	Keystones (Discovery)	Unlocks Bridge district + Build Farm action
Early army edge	Scavenging (Defense)	+15 Health, +5 Damage on all units, +25% battle spoils
Dust economy	Currency (Economy)	Merchant’s House district, +8 Dust on Capital
Approval buffer	Civil Order (Society)	Traveler’s Shrine, +12 Approval on Capitals

Choosing your first research by situation

This framing is our editorial read of the captured effects above — not an official recommendation, a best route, or a fixed opening that fits every faction:

• If a close rival is already hostile or you expect early fighting, start from the only row above carrying army-wide combat stats — Scavenging (+15 Health, +5 Damage on all units) — and search the full research table for further rows with Health or Damage effects before committing to an economy pick.
• If nothing is pressing you, pick by what your starting region actually lacks: open farmland and no Build Farm action yet → Keystones (Build Farm action, Bridge district); Dust income as the bottleneck → Currency (Merchant’s House, +8 Dust on Capital); Capital Approval needing a buffer → Civil Order (Traveler’s Shrine, +12 Approval on Capitals). For exploration income, Scientific Charter — in the full research table, not this one — improves the rewards from Curiosities.
• Re-check the plan when the situation changes: a new neighbor appears, an army is lost, or a curiosity reveals a faster goal. Finishing a research order you set earlier is not itself a goal.

First region pacing

• Clear curiosities before claiming a second territory; Scientific Charter improves curiosity rewards.
• Keep an eye on the city cap — it is raised through specific technologies and empire tools, not automatically. Which technologies raise it is not captured in this site’s research data yet, so check the in-game tooltip or the official wiki’s City page.
• The captured research table names two separate expansion actions: Found Camp and Attach Camp. One recorded discount exists per action — Geology (Discovery) carries “-25% Influence Cost for Found Camp action” and Digs (Discovery) carries “-25% Influence cost for Attach Camp Action”. These are official wiki tech effects this site captured on 2026-09-19, not mechanics tested in a 1.0 client; the base Influence costs, the exact in-game steps, and how defense works after attaching are not captured here. Use the two rows in the full research table as lookup anchors, not as an expansion timetable.
• Minor factions: pacification quests unlock assimilation benefits; each quest offers A/B/C branches. The full branch list is on the quests page.

What to check when your opening stalls

Four checks, each tied to something visible in your own game and to effects captured on this site:

• Armies losing fights — confirm whether any army-wide combat bonus is researched yet (in the captured data, Scavenging’s +15 Health and +5 Damage is the all-faction Era 1 example), then compare your units’ raw stats with the units table to see where the gap sits.
• Approval slipping — the captured early option is Civil Order’s line: Traveler’s Shrine, +12 Approval on Capitals. That captured bonus is capital-only, so it is not a general answer for Approval in every city; check whether that improvement is researched and built before looking elsewhere.
• Dust running dry — Currency (+8 Dust on Capital, Merchant’s House district) is the captured Era 1 Dust source; for later Dust effects, search the full research table.
• Research falling behind — in the captured data, Scientific Charter improves the rewards from Curiosities and unlocks the Laboratory; the Era 2 Science effect is Materials Science (Beacon of Science, +4 Science on Capital).

Era 2 priorities

Materials Science (Beacon of Science, +4 Science) and Markets (Trading Post, Traders’ Trails) are the standard economy spikes; Shock Tactics garrisons your cities if you spawned near warmongers.

Next steps

• Faction-specific openings: start from the factions overview for each roster and research line.
• Minor faction pacification: every A/B/C branch the wiki documents is in the full quest table.
• Late-game research order: the victory research routes guide maps technologies to each finish.
• Phase-by-phase unlocks: the build order guide lists every district and its enabling technology.

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Data source: official Hooded Horse wiki (ENDLESS Legend 2), observed 2026-09-19, game version 1.0.

Editorial framing — suggested build phases, research routes and faction-fit notes — is this site’s recommendation, not official wiki text.