Witchspire Beginner’s Guide: 6 Covens, the Level 4 Hearth Gate, and What to Build First

Every Witchspire beginner’s guide agrees you should chop wood, mine ore, and clear monster camps. Almost none of them tell you the one thing that actually removes the pressure from your first decision: your coven choice — the six-way pick the game puts in front of you before you’ve even built a Workbench — does not lock in a lasting combat bonus. It sets your starting weapon and element and nothing that persists. That single fact should change how much time you spend agonizing over Cloudpiercers versus Wildroots.

This guide covers the decision that matters more: the build order that actually unlocks your broom, the shrines worth a detour, and which of the six covens fits four different ways of playing Envar Games’ Early Access witch-survival title, which launched June 10, 2026[1][3]. If you’ve played Palworld, the loop of befriending creatures and building a base will feel familiar — our Palworld beginner’s guide covers the closest genre comparison, though Witchspire replaces capture-and-labor with bonding and magic[2]. Everything below is verified against the current Early Access build (Steam list price $22.99[8]) — Envar Games has said it plans at least a year in Early Access, so treat exact numbers here as a snapshot, not a permanent spec, and verify in-game if a value looks off.

Quick Start: Your First Hour

Do these in order and you’ll skip the two mistakes almost every new player makes — under-building storage and ignoring shrines.

1. Pick a coven by weapon feel (Spellblade vs. Wand) or aesthetic, not by a min-max calculation — see below for why that doesn’t matter yet.
2. Chop the nearest trees and mine the first ore vein you find. Don’t skip anything that looks like junk.
3. Build a Workbench, then storage chests, before anything decorative.
4. Clear the monster camp closest to your landing point — camps hide treasure chests with gold, materials, and gear[5].
5. Place your Hearth immediately and start upgrading it — it gates your broom later.
6. Activate every Luminary Shrine you pass, even ones whose reward you don’t need yet[4].
7. Defeat familiar-type enemies and interact with their spirit form afterward to start bonding[4][5].

Choosing a Coven: Why “Best Coven” Is the Wrong Question

Witchspire has six covens, and each one locks you into one of two weapon families — Spellblade or Wand — plus one of six elements. According to community testing that cross-checked all six against each other, coven choice sets your starting weapon and element and nothing else that carries forward as a combat advantage[6]. There’s no permanent stat bonus to protect, so the “best” coven is really just the one whose starting kit you’d rather hold for your first few hours.

In short: if you can’t decide, pick your weapon family first — Spellblade plays closer to melee, Wand plays as a ranged caster — then pick the element whose palette and theme you like. If familiar-catching is your priority from hour one, Wildroots is the one guide-tested recommendation worth following over aesthetics[6].

Since aesthetics are genuinely the deciding factor here, it’s worth knowing what each coven actually looks like before you commit: Cloudpiercers run a warm brown, orange, and gold palette; Starsmiths stand out with bright purple and lavender; Foretellers lean dark purple and light blue; Wildroots use green, brown, and maroon; Tomekeepers pair deep blue with bright pink; and Nightscribes sit between the earthy and dark themes with purple and pastel pink[6]. None of that changes your damage numbers — it’s the only part of the coven pick that’s actually permanent.

The Build Order That Actually Unlocks Your Broom

Flight isn’t available from the start, and it isn’t gated behind a single obvious quest marker either. Two independently-tested community guides agree on the same chain: progress the main questline, upgrade your Hearth to Level 4, and gather Spirit Dust and Fine Wood — the broom recipe unlocks once those conditions are met, and you activate broom travel at a Flight Pillar afterward[4][5]. There’s no shortcut around the Hearth-level requirement, so the fastest path to flight is the fastest path to Hearth Level 4, not the fastest path through the story alone.

Building itself uses free levitation — you float while placing walls, roofs, and decorations, so you never fight the terrain or need scaffolding the way you would in a game like Valheim[3]. Practical build order for your first base:

1. Workbench — unlocks your basic crafting tree immediately.
2. Storage chests — build before your inventory fills up, not after.
3. Hearth — place it early and feed it upgrades as materials allow; it’s the gate for flight, not a decoration.
4. Alder trees nearby — your main source of Shimmer Dust, which crafts into Shimmering Ink for ritual scrolls[4].
5. Flight Pillar — the last piece, activated once your broom is crafted.

The reason this order matters: Hearth upgrades and the Spirit Dust/Fine Wood requirement both draw from the same early-game resource pool as your first weapon and armor upgrades. If you rush combat gear instead, you’ll hit Level 4 later than a player who fed the Hearth first — and everything downstream of flight, including faster shrine-hopping and faster camp-clearing, gets delayed with it.

Familiars and Luminary Shrines: The Systems That Reward Patience

The current Early Access build has 22 confirmed familiars, per the two most up-to-date community trackers cross-checking each other[6][7]. Reviews written near the June 2026 launch cited roughly 30[3] — a gap best explained by roster tuning since launch rather than either source being wrong. Envar Games hasn’t published an official count, so if the exact number matters to your completionist run, verify in-game rather than trusting any single guide, including this one.

Bonding works the same way regardless of coven: defeat a familiar-type enemy until it drops into a catchable spirit form, then hold the bind key on that spirit to bring it home[4][7]. Spirit Incense raises your catch chance and improves the odds of a rare Celestial bond while it’s active, so save a stack for familiars you actually want rather than burning it on the first creature you meet[7]. You’ll also choose one of four starter familiars — Locto (Lux), Bril (Crystal), Quol (Ethereal), or Fien (Nox) — independent of your coven pick, and Quol is the one the community rates as the safest first choice[7]. The Spirit Charmer skill in the Luminary tree raises your bonding efficiency, and it’s worth taking early rather than banking Luminary Points for something else[5]. Bonding isn’t just combat flavor, either — the Spinner crafting station needs specific familiar types assigned to it to run at full capacity, so a thin familiar roster slows your crafting, not just your fights[4].

Luminary Shrines are the free half of this system: activating one grants Luminary Points even if you don’t spend them immediately, and banking points early gives you flexibility once you hit a wall later[4]. Treat every shrine as a mandatory detour, not an optional one.

Who Should Prioritize What

Common Early Mistakes to Avoid

• Treating “junk” materials as skippable. Nearly every plant, wood type, and ore has a later recipe use[5].
• Stopping at the first monster camp. Every camp hides a treasure chest, not just the ones near spawn[5].
• Manually farming gemstones. They accumulate naturally through mining, combat, and exploration — grinding for them wastes time you could spend on Hearth materials[4].
• Delaying storage chests. A full inventory stalls every other system — build chests before you need them, not after[5].
• Skipping shrines you don’t need yet. Banked Luminary Points are flexibility you can’t get back — activate on sight, spend later[4].

If you’re stacking your Early Access backlog alongside Witchspire, our Emberville beginner’s guide covers a similarly early-stage survival-crafting title worth comparing notes against.

Is Witchspire Worth Buying Right Now?

At $22.99 on Steam[8], Witchspire is priced like an Early Access title, not a finished one, and it plays like it. The core loop — bonding with familiars instead of capturing them, free-levitation building, a Hearth-gated progression path — is genuinely distinct from Palworld and other capture-survival games[2]. But go in knowing the rough edges reviewers flagged at launch: a vague quest log, no custom map markers, and a still-growing familiar and decoration roster[3]. If you’re the type of player who needs a fully-built content list before buying into Early Access, wait a patch or two; if the loop above sounds appealing on its own, the current build already delivers it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does your Witchspire coven choice lock you into one playstyle forever?

No. Per community testing across all six covens, your coven sets only your starting weapon family (Spellblade or Wand) and element — it isn’t a permanent combat bonus[6]. Pick based on weapon feel or aesthetic rather than a min-max calculation, since there’s currently no min-max advantage to protect.

How many familiars are actually in Witchspire right now?

The current build has 22 confirmed familiars[6][7], though reviews from the June 2026 launch window cited roughly 30[3]. The gap is most likely roster tuning since launch, not an error on either side — Envar Games hasn’t published an official number, so verify in-game if it matters for a completionist checklist.

What’s the fastest way to unlock the broom?

Progress the main questline, get your Hearth to Level 4, and gather Spirit Dust and Fine Wood — the broom recipe unlocks once those conditions are met, and the Flight Pillar activates broom travel afterward[4][5]. There’s no shortcut around the Hearth-level gate itself.

Sources

1. Envar Games. Witchspire — Official Store Page. Steam
2. PC Gamer. Witchspire is a charming Palworld-esque survival crafting game. Future Publishing
3. TheGamer. Witchspire Is The Cozy Witchy Valheim Alternative I’ve Been Waiting For. Valnet
4. Nerdschalk. Witchspire Beginner’s Guide: 10 Tips That Make Progression Easier
5. games.gg. Witchspire Beginner’s Guide: 10 Tips for Faster Progression
6. games.gg. Witchspire Covens Guide: All Six Classes and Which to Pick
7. Witchspire Wiki. All 22 Witchspire Familiars — Full List, Elements & Locations
8. AllKeyShop. Buy Witchspire CD Key Compare Prices

Michael R.

I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.