Kingdom Come: Deliverance II guide: how make money, master combat early, and more
2.3.2025
By Alan Wen, Contributor
With a much larger game world than before, this time split between two regions, there's plenty to discover in Bohemia. Following its lengthy prologue, our guide will go over five things you should do first to give you the best start in this medieval life, from making money and improving your combat skills to reuniting with both your horse and dog.
How to make money early on
Groschen is the currency used in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, and you'll be needing plenty of it, whether that's paying for a bed to rest in, buying items or equipment, or learning new skills from specific characters. While taking on certain quests will sometimes reward you with groschen, as well as looting the corpses of any hostile enemies you encounter, here are some other ways to make money early on.
Gambling
In many towns, usually at an inn or tavern, you'll find someone sitting at a table where you can challenge them to a game of dice. Your first opportunity to play dice for money will be at Zhelejov Wagoners' Inn to the west of Troskowitz, at a table just outside the inn's entrance. For any wager you will need to have the money for it, so as you start penniless, you can do some menial manual labour for the innkeeper until you have enough. Wagers can be as low as 3 groschen and all the way up to 130.
Smithing weapons
As part of the main quest "Wedding Crashers," one of the ways of getting into the Semine wedding is by speaking to Radovan, the blacksmith in Tachov, located northwest of Troskowitz. After speaking to him, you acquire a few basic smithing recipes including the Work Axe and Farmer's Horseshoes. Since you only require scrap metal to make either, you can make some of these at a blacksmith's forge and then sell them for groschen to another blacksmith.
You can also haggle to get a better deal, though the success rate and how much better a price you can get will also depend on your speech stats and perks. At the very least, you should learn the "Artisan" perk, which automatically gives you a better price for selling any weapons, armor, or clothing by 10%.
Selling stolen horses
Just on the southern edge of the Nomad's Camp, located to the far west of the Trosky map, you'll find horse handler Mikolai, who trades stolen horses. In Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, you cannot just sell any ill-gotten goods, as these are usually marked in red on the menu and traders will not buy anything they suspect has been stolen. That said, Mikolai has no qualms over buying horses from you however you may come about procuring them.
The best place to steal horses from is in Semine. To the east of the town is a horse trader who keeps his stock in the field. You can mount and steal any horse there, but it will be easier to do this after dark. There's a road that you can ride from Semine over to the Nomad's Camp pretty swiftly. If you've stolen a horse during the night, then you'll have to advance time to daytime for Mikolai to appear.
How to master combat
As a realistic RPG, using speech is preferable to violence, but sometimes there will be situations where you need to fight. It's also a skill you need to develop over the course of the game. The best way to do this early on is by completing two combat training side quests. As soon as you're freed from the pillory in Trosokowitz, speak to a woman nearby called Bara. She will tell you about Tomcat, a master swordsman who you can find in the Nomad's Camp.
It costs 100 groschen to learn two of Tomcat's techniques, a very high price so early in the game. Fortunately, the Nomad's Camp is also where you can trade stolen horses, so if you want to master combat early on, stealing some horses will be the quickest way to acquire the funds.
After paying to learn two swordfighting combos, you can learn the Master Strike from Tomcat. This is not only an important counterattack that requires you to swing your weapon at the same time your opponent swings theirs from the opposite direction, but can be used for any weapon type you wield.
You will need to defeat Tomcat in a duel, which can be challenging early on. Make sure to get hold of some armor, including a helmet, chest plate, and underclothing so that you can withstand at least a few strikes. But if you fail, don't be afraid to reload a save and try again. This brings us to the next tip.
How to save your progress
Saving progress in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is more peculiar than most RPGs. On one hand, the game will automatically save after reaching key points in the story, and not just at the end of a quest. However, if you wish to make a manual save, this can only be done when sleeping in a bed at the inn, after taking a bath at a bathhouse, or by consuming Saviour's Schnapps, a drink that you can find or brew using an alchemy bench.
Technically, only Saviour's Schnapps allows you to save anywhere, but you have a limited supply. However, it's possible to save whenever you quit the game through the main menu screen brought up with Esc. This method doesn't cost any in-game resource and can be done at any time where saving is allowed. Bear in mind that you can only have one exit save any one time, so saving and quitting will erase the previous one.
How to get your horse back
While you have the option to fast-travel to towns you have previously visited, if you want to traverse faster, then you want to get a horse quickly. Fortunately, you can reunite with your horse Pebbles fairly early on.
Travel from southwest of Troskowitz to reach Semine and you'll find Pebbles in the horse trader's field among the other horses. Speak to the trader Groom Ballatay during the day and choose "Pebbles!" to explain that the horse belongs to you. He will claim that the horse isn't branded and that he bought it, even though he admits it was from someone suspicious near the pond you were ambushed at. If your speech stat is at least 7 then you should be able to persuade him to return the horse to you by selecting "Be reasonable."
How to find your dog
One of your first available side quests is to get your dog Mutt back. It's a lengthy quest but worthwhile, as Mutt can help you with finding resources, hunting animals, and even in combat. It's also a must for dog lovers.
Following the quest markers, first return to the location where you fell. After nothing turns up, go and ask herbwoman Bozhena and she will advise you to speak to the innkeeper at Zhelejov Wagoners' Inn. He will tell you about a shepherd in Kopanina further north who has been having trouble with wolves and there are rumors that a stray dog has been running with the pack.
Visit the shepherd and he'll tell you about his wolf problem and even offer one of his sheep as bait for you to lure them out. Whether or not you dispose of the wolves here, you won't find Mutt among them, so your next hint is to find a gamekeeper further north. Unfortunately, you'll find he's gone missing, which starts another side quest, "Lackey."
You need to find and rescue the huntsman Vostatek, who's climbed up a tree to escape a pack of hungry wolves. Kill the wolves and you can help the drunken huntsman back home. This also requires getting his horse back from a poachers' camp. When you finally bring him back to his family, he'll tell you of a wolf pack sighting near Semine, right back where you started.
When you find this wolf pack, Mutt will be among them and will help you fight the rest of the wolves. Once the pack has been killed, you'll finish the quest reunited with your best boy.
There's a whole lot more to discover in Kingdom Come: Deliverance II, but this guide should have you prepared for its early hours. But from there, the adventure and the paths you choose are yours.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is available Feb 4 on Epic Games Store.