Welcome to Fellowship, a game built on a singular, focused premise: it delivers the dungeon-crawling experience of an MMORPG, stripped of the traditional open-world elements. The core activity is diving into dungeons, securing better gear, and tackling progressively harder challenges.
This guide offers a comprehensive look at its systems to help you jump in, understand the mechanics, and conquer the gauntlet.
In this guide, we’ll cover:
- Genre: 4-Player Online Co-op MODA set in an exciting fantasy setting.
- Core Loop: Clear endlessly scaling dungeon runs to earn gear and unlock higher difficulties.
- Gameplay: Fast-paced, action-combat centered on the “Holy Trinity” (Tank, Healer, 2 DPS).
- Progression: No character levels; power comes from gear, talents, and weapon unlocks.
- Modes: Features a casual Quick Play mode and a competitive Challenge mode with leaderboards.
- Economy: Account-wide currencies and materials make gearing alternate heroes easier.
- Customization: Flexible talent system, gear upgrades, and cosmetic-only purchases.
What Is Fellowship? 4-Player MODA MMO-Style Dungeon Crawler
Fellowship is a Multiplayer online dungeon adventure set in a vibrant fantasy world. A genre that distills the essence of MMO dungeon-running into a focused, replayable experience, it is a 4-player online co-op game where the experience is centered entirely within a city hub and the dungeons themselves. Developed by Chief Rebel and published by Arc Games, the gameplay loop is straightforward: gather your perfect team to conquer dungeons and collect loot.
The game is built around a four-player team structure, requiring the classic “Holy Trinity” to form the ultimate team of tanks, healers, and two DPS heroes.
Early Access Details: Date, Price, What Changes at Launch
Fellowship enters early access on October 16, 2025 (delayed from an earlier date for additional polish), with an expected price of $24.99 USD. A free-to-play Fellowship Open Beta will run from September 18-23, 2025. This event follows feedback from the Steam Next Fest, where the next fest demo gave many players their first look. Developer Chief Rebel has noted that next fest player feedback was crucial for implementing new visual element improvements in the early access version.
Fellowship Beginner’s Guide: First-Hour Setup & Fast Unlocks
A player’s first steps in Fellowship should be focused on setting up for success and understanding the rapid initial progression.
Set Up Interrupt Targeting (Keybinds & UI)
Before diving into a dungeon, there is a crucial setting to configure that will significantly improve group coordination.
- Press Escape to open the menu and navigate to Settings.
- Go to the Input tab and scroll to the bottom.
- Assign keybinds for “Select Interrupt Target” (default: V) and “Trigger Interrupt Target.”
This system functions like a “focus interrupt.” Once an enemy is marked, that character’s portrait appears next to the enemy’s health bar, and teammates can see the cooldown of your interrupt ability. This is the cornerstone of coordinating interrupts and stopping critical enemy casts.
Quickplay Adventures: Fast Ability Unlocks & Starter Gear
The quickest way to get a new hero up to speed is by using the “Quick Play” option. In this relaxed mode, existing gear doesn’t matter, making it perfect for experimenting. These are low-difficulty dungeons, often called Adventures, that can be cleared in minutes.
- Unlocking Your Toolkit: A fresh hero starts with only a few core abilities. Abilities and talents unlock rapidly through dungeon completions via the “Rewards” screen.
- Acquiring Starter Gear: Quickplay dungeons reward Quartermaster’s Tokens. This is a shared, account-wide currency, meaning tokens earned on one hero can be spent by another to purchase gear and fill any empty slots.
How Progression Works: Timers, Leagues & Unlocking Higher Difficulties
The core objective in any dungeon is to achieve a 100% enemy kill score and defeat the final boss. A strict timer that must be beaten to progress is enforced starting at Difficulty 4+. This forms an engaging progression system where each completed dungeon run provides a fresh experience. As players progress, they are constantly challenged to refine their strategies to defeat bosses, collect loot, and push forward.
- Clear the highest available dungeon difficulty. Successfully completing a dungeon within its time limit unlocks the next league.
- Acquire Gear and Abilities. Higher difficulties yield more powerful items and new talents.
- Push Higher Difficulties. Use the newly acquired power to take on the next level of challenge.
- Repeat. This cycle continues until a team hits a wall, at which point they can farm manageable difficulties to further optimize their gear.
Fellowship Heroes & Roles: Tanks, Healers, DPS (Difficulty Ratings)
The game is built around Fellowship’s diverse roster of distinct heroes, each with a pre-defined background and skillset.
Tank Heroes
Tanks are the frontline protectors, designed to absorb damage and control the flow of battle.
- Helena, the Warmaster (Difficulty: 2/5): A classic sword-and-board tank. Her core mechanic, “Veteran of War,” reduces her ability cooldowns, allowing for frequent use of attacks and her primary mitigation resource, Toughness.
- Meiko, the Twin Soul (Difficulty: 4/5): A more complex hero who utilizes an ability combo mechanic for powerful finishing moves. She is a self-sustaining tank who summons Wind/Earth “soul” guardians for extra mitigation and can mend her own wounds.
DPS Heroes
Damage dealers are focused on defeating enemies quickly through a variety of spell-casting and melee abilities.
- Rime, the Harbinger of Winter (Difficulty: 2/5): A ranged spellcaster specializing in ice and control. She uses a builder/spender mechanic, where her abilities generate Winter Orbs that are then consumed to cast her most powerful spells.
- Mara, the Hungering Blade (Difficulty: 4/5): A nimble new DPS hero archetype who builds combo points with her abilities and spends them on powerful finishing moves. She also utilizes various poisons to gain an upper hand.
- Ardeos, the Pyromancer (Difficulty: 3/5): A ranged spellcaster utilizing potent damage-over-time effects. His core mechanic involves building Embers with basic spells, which convert into Burning Embers that are then spent to “Detonate.”
Healer Heroes
Healers are the backbone of any team, responsible for restoring health and sustaining their allies.
- Sylvie, the Daughter of the Forest (Difficulty: 3/5): A versatile healer who relies on pet management, commanding “Flutterfly” spirits to heal allies and “Boomshroom” plants that explode for damage.
- Vigour, the Light Shaper (Difficulty: 2/5): A sturdy dwarf healer who accumulates “Radiant Runes” with his abilities. These runes are then spent to cast his most powerful spells, including AoE heals, shields, and damage-over-time effects.
Group Play Fundamentals: LOS Pulls, Interrupt Assignments, Kiting
Mastering group play is key to overcoming the greatest challenges, creating unbreakable bonds, and forging memorable moments.
- Use Line of Sight (LOS): Pull ranged enemies around corners to force them to group up for efficient AoE damage.
- Assign Interrupts: For critical, high-damage casts, pre-assign an interrupt order to avoid overlap.
- Use Forced Movement: Abilities that knock back or pull enemies are powerful tools for grouping scattered mobs.
- Kite When Necessary: When defensive abilities are on cooldown, tanks should move away from enemies to reduce incoming damage.
Talents, Gear & Economy: How Power Grows Between Runs
A hero’s power comes from a combination of flexible talents, upgradable gear, and powerful item effects that offer exciting rewards.
Talent System: Flexible Point Spend & Free Respecs
The talent system is not a restrictive tree. Players earn talent points and can spend them to select multiple talents from any unlocked row. Players can freely respec between dungeons, allowing them to experiment with new gameplay systems on the fly.
Gear Upgrades, Scrapping & Transmuting
Gear is a critical component of progression. The harder the dungeon, the better the rewards. Every player receives an item at the end of a run, even if the timer is failed. The systems designed by Chief Rebel ensure a steady path to power up and acquire epic loot.
- Upgrading: All gear can be upgraded at the Blacksmith using gold.
- Scrapping: Duplicate or unwanted items can be broken down at the Scrapper for gold.
- Transmuting: The Crafter offers a way to reroll an unwanted piece of gear into a random item for a different slot.
Weapons & Trinkets: Unique Actives and Epic Weapon Talent Trees
Beyond standard armor, weapons and trinkets provide powerful, often game-changing abilities.
- Weapons with Unique Abilities: Many signature abilities come directly from weapons. At epic quality, weapons unlock their own dedicated talent trees.
- Trinkets as Essential Utility: Many iconic utility spells are found on trinkets, such as group-wide stealth, a team-wide sprint, or a teleporting gateway.
Dungeons & Adventures: Objectives, Leagues, Ascensions & Curses
Success in Fellowship requires mastering dungeon mechanics and adapting to escalating challenges, from challenging enemies to imposing bosses.
Objectives & Dungeon Types (Adventures vs. Multi-Boss Dungeons)
Dungeons are divided into shorter Adventures (typically with a single boss) and longer multi-boss Dungeons. These longer dungeons serve as skill checks to advance between leagues and are the source of powerful set items.
Higher Leagues: New Boss Abilities, Time Pressure & Rewards
As players climb through the difficulty tiers (Contender → Adept → Champion), they must overcome ever present challenges. The enemy skills grow more complex, forcing teams to adapt to unique and varied mechanics and learn intricate complex boss mechanics to succeed. Each new league presents a brand new challenge.
Early Modifiers: Binding Ice, Carnage, Stoneskin, Ultimatum
Higher difficulties introduce dungeon modifiers that change the rules of engagement.
- Ascensions (Global Modifiers): These affect all dungeons at a certain difficulty level and may change seasonally.
- Curses (“Kiss/Curse” Modifiers): These are tied to specific dungeons, introducing a negative effect paired with a potential benefit.
| Modifier Name | Description |
| Binding Ice | Leaves slowing patches of ice on the ground. |
| Blood Shards | Enemies fire projectiles at players upon death. |
| Carnage | Killing an enemy grants a temporary, stacking damage buff. |
| Empowered Minions | Certain non-elite enemies are significantly more dangerous. |
| Meteors | Fiery projectiles periodically rain from the sky. |
| Shadow Lords Trial | Powerful apparitions periodically spawn and must be dealt with. |
| Stoneskin | Enemies periodically gain a temporary damage-absorbing shield. |
| Ultimatum | Failing to interrupt certain enemy spell casts has devastating consequences. |
Challenge Mode & Leaderboards: Ratings, Timing, Team Composition Rules
For players seeking to test their individual skills and perfect team play, Fellowship offers a competitive framework with immense endless scaling replayability.
Challenge Mode is the game’s ranked queue. This mode requires the standard 4-player composition and pits teams against the timer to achieve the best possible completion speeds, pushing them to attempt one final round better than the last.
Success in Challenge Mode is the primary way to climb the competitive leaderboards. These leaderboards track the fastest completion times for each dungeon, allowing teams to see where they stand regionally and globally.
Hub, Matchmaking & Social: Group Finder, Regions, Challenge Mode
The central hub is a functional space where players can prepare for their next run. It features a hero switching station, stables for mounts, specific vendors like the Blacksmith, Scrapper, and Crafter, training dummies, and a leaderboard pillar.
Matchmaking Tips: Quick Play vs. Host, Regions, Text Chat
During the Steam Open Beta, developers Chief Rebel and Arc Games will test multiplayer matchmaking improvements, but players should be aware of potential server and queue issues.
- Host vs. Find: When Quick Play queues are slow, hosting your own lobby via the “Find Game” menu can often fill faster than searching for an existing one.
- Region Choice: The game uses NA, EU, and Asia servers. Choose the one closest to your group for the best connection.
- Communication: The game supports in-game text chat. Built-in voice chat has not been confirmed.
Note: Matchmaking behavior is based on pre-release tests and is subject to change.
PC Requirements & Anti-Cheat (Reference)
- Anti-Cheat: The game uses Easy Anti-Cheat (kernel level).
- OS: Windows 10 64-bit
- Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K / AMD FX-8300
- Memory: 8 GB RAM
- Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super
- Storage: ~20 GB available space
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Fellowship in the Multiplayer Online Dungeon Adventure (MODA) genre?
Fellowship is a 4-player online co-op MODA focused entirely on team dungeon runs. Progression centers on clearing dungeons, improving gear, and moving up leagues instead of leveling via quests. The gameplay loop emphasizes role synergy, timed objectives, and repeatable instances for consistent build growth.
When is Fellowship’s Steam Early Access launch, and will details change at launch?
Fellowship is targeting a Steam Early Access launch, with pricing and some systems subject to iteration as development continues. Early Access often includes balance passes, new features, and tuning to difficulty tiers. Expect changes to hero talents, drop rates, and modifiers as feedback is incorporated.
How does progression work without character levels in an online dungeon adventure MODA?
Progress is tied to the highest dungeon difficulty cleared, not traditional XP. Teams earn stronger items and talent points through completions, then unlock higher leagues by meeting kill and time requirements. This structure keeps runs meaningful and reduces grind outside of dungeons.
What’s the difference between Quick Play and Challenge Mode with leaderboards?
Quick Play offers low-pressure runs ideal for unlocking abilities, earning starter gear, and practicing routes. Challenge Mode enforces the standard 1-tank/1-healer/2-DPS composition, adds strict timers, and records best clears for leaderboards. It’s the primary venue for competitive pushing and team optimization.
What are leagues, Ascensions, and Curses in Fellowship?
Leagues are difficulty tiers unlocked by timely clears; each step raises enemy power and complexity. Ascensions are global modifiers that apply at certain tiers and can reshape combat priorities. Curses are dungeon-specific “kiss/curse” effects that add risk with potential rewards, encouraging adaptive strategies.
What counts as a successful clear—do we need 100% kills and a timer?
Yes. Standard objectives require reaching 100% enemy kill score and defeating the dungeon boss. At higher leagues, finishing within the time limit is required to unlock the next tier and improve leaderboard positions, so route planning and interrupt assignments matter.
Which roles and heroes define perfect team play alongside the Holy Trinity?
Groups run one tank, one healer, and two DPS, with each hero supplying complementary tools. Tanks stabilize threat and damage intake, healers manage sustained and burst recovery, and DPS handle priority targets and AoE waves. Clear role execution reduces wipe risk on tight timers.
How do talents work—can builds be respecialized between runs?
Talents use a flexible point-spend model where stronger nodes cost more points. Respecs are free between dungeons, enabling quick swaps from defensive setups to faster farm builds. This flexibility supports experimenting with different hero synergies and dungeon modifiers.
How do gear upgrades, scrapping, and transmuting function?
Gear can be upgraded with gold to raise its effectiveness over time. Unwanted items can be scrapped to reclaim resources, creating a loop that funds future upgrades. Transmuting lets players reroll into a different slot, which helps plug gearing gaps without relying solely on drops.
Are currencies and materials account-wide for gearing alts?
Yes. Account-wide currencies and materials allow progress on one hero to benefit others. This reduces friction when starting a new role and supports swapping heroes to fit group needs. It also encourages experimenting with multiple builds without starting from zero.
What do weapons and trinkets add beyond raw stats?
Weapons can grant signature active effects and, at higher rarities, unlock mini talent paths tied to the item. Trinkets provide utility such as group stealth, movement boosts, or shortcuts that enable safer or faster routes. These effects often change a team’s approach more than raw stat gains.
How do interrupts work—what is “Select Interrupt Target” (default V)?
Assign keybinds for “Select Interrupt Target” and “Trigger Interrupt Target” to coordinate focus-interrupts. Marking a target centralizes attention and exposes interrupt cooldowns, preventing overlap on lethal casts. This system is foundational at higher leagues where missed stops can end runs.
Does Fellowship support solo or offline play?
Fellowship is designed around 4-player online co-op with matchmaking and shared objectives. Solo or offline modes have not been positioned as core features and may not reflect intended balance. The game’s mechanics, timers, and threat models assume a coordinated team.
Which regions and social features exist for matchmaking?
Common regions include NA, EU, and Asia, with players selecting what suits their ping and group location. Quick Play matchmaking is available, and hosting or joining lobbies helps form premade groups. In-game text chat is supported; built-in voice chat has not been confirmed.
What are the PC requirements and anti-cheat for Fellowship’s Early Access launch?
Minimum PC specs typically include a modern 64-bit OS, mid-range CPU/GPU, 8 GB RAM, and ~20 GB storage. Performance may vary by league tier and dungeon density. The game uses Easy Anti-Cheat; compliance is required to play online.
