Mid Game Zones Loot Guides & Map Locations

Mid Game Zones Loot Guides & Map Locations - Kenshi

This page contains a list of all the zones in Kenshi that I would consider to be mid game zones. If the zone requires you to have at least 10 characters with stats 35+ to survive there then I would consider it to be a mid game zone. Since there are no levels in this game the only way we can gauge our character's strength is through their stats; Toughness is arguably the most important one for gauging what you can handle.

You usually want at least the same amount of Toughness as your enemies if not more. It's a crude way of gauging your strength against an enemies and it's not always reliable but it's helpful if you have no other way of knowing what an enemy is capable of. Keep in mind too that enemies always travel in packs of at least 5 or more so you're going to need more than one or two powerful characters.

Swamp:

Swamped Lab: The Swamped Lab to the southwest of Shark is one of the best early locations to hit early on in the game for some Ancient Science Books and various other items. Blood Spiders are typically found guarding this base but they will often fight other enemies passing by giving you an opportunity to take them out while weakened. On my last play through I got a total of 8 Ancient Science Books here!

Infested Lab: Infested Lab typically does not have much notable loot, on a couple of my playthrough's all I found that is worth mentioning is 2 Guardless Katana a Skeleton Repair Kit & other random materials. However the wiki says it does have a chance to spawn Ancient Science Books so maybe you will get lucky!

Red Sabre Hideout: As the name Red Sabre Hideout suggests this is the home base of the Red Sabre Faction. There will not be much loot for you to scavenge from inside the base but you can find a Horse Chopper (Meitou Quality) that drops off of the Red Sabre Boss.

South Wetlands:

Swamp Ninja Hideout: The Swamp Ninja Hideout is home of the Swamp Ninjas Faction which patrols much of The Swamp. Shade, the leader of the Swamp Ninja Faction can also be found here - he has a 20,000 Bounty on his head and a Guardless Katana which is typically Edge Type 1 - 3. Clearing this will trigger a world event and cause less Swamp Ninjas to spawn

Slave Markets: The Slave Markets in South Wetlands is home to multiple unique recruits. Headshot and Ray are the 2 main unique recruits here but you can also find various other unique recruits which don't always have the same names. For more information about this check out the wiki page.

The Grid:

The only map location in The Grid is a Workshop Complex which has nothing in it. You'll find 2 more Workshop Complex's in the surrounding area though which contain both Engineering Research and Ancient Science Books.

Complex's throughout The Grid: 4 Engineering Research, 3 Ancient Science Books

The Crater:

In the 1 building with loot, the Ancient Labs, you'll find Security Spiders and multiple locked chests with loot. The hardest for me had a lock complexity of 80 and I could only open it with a Lockpicking skill of 40+

Ancient Lab: Ancient Labs often have a lot of different technology based loot for you to collect such as Ancient Science Books, AI Cores, CPU Units and more. When exploring this area on one of my playthroughs I got a total of 10 Ancient Science Books.

Floodlands:

Suspicious Lab: The Suspicious Lab is an ancient research facility at some point but now it is overrun by Cannibals. There is a trail of loot from the first floor that leads up to the second floor where a horde of cannibals is waiting for you. Often you have a chance of finding 1 or 2 Ancient Science Books as part of the "Trail of Breadcrumbs" or by searching inside a chest on the upper floors.

Burn's Tower: Burn's Tower is home to Burn one of the Unique Companions in the game. You can also find various loot throughout his tower which you're free to pillage once you have recruited him.

Leaning Tower: Leaning Tower is a location in the Floodlands which contains a wide variety of different loot. Typically you'll always find a few Ancient Science Books here.

Ancient Lab: Ancient Labs often have a lot of different technology based loot for you to collect such as Ancient Science Books, AI Cores, CPU Units and more.

Obedience:

Ancient Lab: Ancient Labs often have a lot of different technology based loot for you to collect such as Ancient Science Books, AI Cores, CPU Units and more. On my play through I found a total of 6 Ancient Science Books here but keep in mind it has a chance to vary greatly.

Vain:

Hive Villages: Hive Villages are villages filled with Western Hive drones and typically consist of 2 shops per village with numerous other buildings. You can buy a lot of niche items from the hives here including low level Economy Limbs, Lantern of Radiance and hive only undergarments.

Western Hive: Western Hive is the capital of the Western Hive... go figure... You'll find the Western Hive Queen here along with numerous buildings. This location can only be reached by swimming quite a distance off the western shore of Vain.

Lost Library: Lost Library is a dungeon that usually requires high lock picking to enter. As far as loot goes you'll find a lot of vendor trash and some maps that aren't sold at vendors which will mark new locations on your map.

Post-Ancient Workshop: Post-Ancient Workshop is a hangar type dungeon that typically contains Engineering Research and Ancient Science Books along with many different technology related tradeskill materials or vendor trash.

Tower of Fog: Tower of Fog is a single tower inhabited by Fogmen and a Fog Prince. When visiting this location I found 2 Ancient Science Books and of course the Fog Prince Head which sells for a decent amount.

Skimsands:

Tengu's Vault: Tengu's Vault is a United Cities maximum security prison. For the most detailed explanation of this location follow my link to the Kenshi wiki. This prison is well guarded and you'll need some high level characters to handle it. Inside of this prison you will find numerous prisoners who all have a backstory, some of them will join you when you free them and lead them away from the prison.

Shem:

Settled Nomads: Settled Nomads is a small settlement controlled by the Nomads faction. The only thing of note here is a vendor who sells animals and animal backpacks.

Smugglers Bar: Smuggler's Bar is a bar owned by the Grayflayers which is one of the Swamper factions in the game. There are many recruits which you can speak with inside of the Smugglers Bar that do not have unique names but have unique back stories and unique personalities. For more information about this check out the Kenshi wiki.

Venge:

Old Control Tower: Old Control Tower is the home of the Scavengers faction and their leader Gutterhead.

Tower of Abuse: Tower of Abuse is a dungeon which is home to 2 different Meitou weapons as well as the unique recruit Agnu. Each time I visit I also find many Ancient Science Books and Engineering Research here. Agnu Unique Recruit. This place is also the hideout for the Thrall Masters faction which is lead by 2 Skeletons, both of which drop Meitou quality weapons. Ponk (Meitou Holed Saber), Screamer the False (Meitou Heavy Polearm)

Howler's Maze:

Archive Town: Archive Town is an abandoned town in Howler's Maze which contains some intact buildings and some destroyed ones. Sometimes the intact buildings will have Crab Nests in them so be ready for a fight when you open them. I typically always find 2 Ancient Science Books or more here.

Lost Town: Lost Town is the home of Megacrab (Boss). Aside from this boss the town is pretty much identical to the Archive Town in the same zone. There will be a couple of intact and a couple of destroyed buildings, intact ones occasionally will have Crab Nests in them. When exploring this location I typically always find at least 1 Ancient Science Book.

Fishman Island:

Island Lab: Island Lab is the home of King Gurgler who carries a Meitou Combat Cleaver. He also controls the world state for almost all of the Fishmen spawns on Fishman Island. If you kill King Gurgler you'll make this entire place pretty much entirely safe. Be thorough when searching the building as you will have a good chance to find Ancient Science Books, Engineering Research and AI Cores.

Fish Isle: Fish Isle is a destroyed town which is overtaken by Fishmen. There's a variety of loot to find throughout the destroyed buildings but you'll have to be careful if you come here as the Fishmen are numerous throughout this whole area.

The Iron Trail:

Ancient Tech Lab: Ancient Tech Lab has a 100% chance to spawn at least 1 AI Core and typically has a variety of other technology based loot. You will often find some Ancient Science Books and Engineering Research at this location as well.

Purple Sands:

Post-Ancient Workshop: Post-Ancient Workshop is a giant hangar like structure and is often a good place to obtain Engineering Research. You will also typically find a wide variety of loot here mostly including items produced from metals.

Deadlands:

Black Desert City: Essentially Black Desert City is a town run by Skeletons who are self isolating away from the world. The Unique Recruit Sadneil can be found here along with the Scraphouse vendor which sells AI Cores, Ancient Science Books and Engineering Research along with the Falling Sun Blueprint and Fog Mask Blueprint. It also carries the best weapons of any vendor in the game.

Deadland Workshop: The Deadland Workshop is a large hangar structure which is guarded by Broken Skeleton NPCs. You can often find a lot of technology related loot here such as Ancient Science Books and Engineering Research.

Armoury Ruin: Armoury Ruins are lesser versions of the Lost Armoury; they have already been broken into and looted unlike the Lost Armoury. Various items scattered across the ground in the area - it's mostly all vendor trash and only some of it is worth looting.

Lost Armoury: Lost Armoury is a loot filled building which contains many different tradeskill materials as well as one or two Edge Type weapons and some [Specialist] or [Masterwork] quality armor. Typically these buildings are not heavily guarded but you will need high Lockpicking to open all the safes and the front door.

Reprogramming Workshop: Reprogramming Workshop contains 26 Error Code 0xFFFFFF Skeletons which will become friendly to the first unit in your Squad they come into contact with and protect you against any and all perceived threats. Even any Neutral units that come into contact with you will be attacked by these guys so be careful where you take them. Often new players will activate this workshop to get all the Skeletons to follow them then visit each of the other locations throughout Deadlands.

Cannibal Plains:

Cannibal Village: Cannibal Village is a small town under the control of... you guessed it! Cannibals. Usually each Cannibal Village will have some prisoners that you can free who have a chance of joining you once you lead them far enough away. Aside from this though there is not much loot or reward for clearing these towns aside from combat experience.

Cannibal Capital: Cannibal Capital is originally marked on your map as Deadcat but this is a lie. All that you will find here is a slightly larger version of a Cannibal Village with a Cannibal Grand Wizard as their leader. Much like with all of the other Cannibal Villages there is no notable loot here and your only reward is potential recruits that you save and combat EXP.

Darkfinger:

First Village: First Village is a unique Cannibal Village and home to Meat Lord, another Cannibal Leader. Much like every other village that is controlled by the Cannibals you won't find any extra loot here.

Lost Library: Lost Library is an area that usually requires high lock picking to enter. As far as loot goes you'll find a lot of vendor trash and some maps that aren't sold at vendors which will mark new locations on your map.

Sinkuun:

Tower of Goats: Tower of Goats is a tower of goats.... Did you expect something else? Aside from the goats (which attack you when you enter) you'll also find one Ancient Science Book here.

Fort Simion: Fort Simion is the head quarters of the Rebel Farmers faction which you can find roaming throughout the whole area. Boss Simion is their leader and he carries a decent weapon for lower level groups.

Distant Hive Village: Distant Hive Village is a small hive village (controlled by the Western Hive) which has a Robotics Shop and Trader, much like the Hive Villages in Vain.

The Bastion: The Bastion is the head quarters of the Cannibal Hunters Faction; their leader is Cannibal Hunter Robun who doesn't carry anything unique.

Gut:

Strange Camp: Strange Camp is a small camp which is home to No-Face. This NPC is the only human in the Gutters Faction and has high stats.

Eyesocket: Eyesocket is a slaver camp on the Gut/Stormgap Coast boarder which is controlled by Slave Master Grande. Multiple unique recruits can be found at this location including Ray, Headshot, Scarred Adventurer (Random Name), Soldier Drone Swordslinger (Random Name) and Wall Man (Random Name). You can tell these unique recruits apart from the other ones based on their dialogue.

Stormgap Coast:

Cult Village: Cult Village is home of the Preacher Cult and their leader The Preacher who carries a Meitou Moon Cleaver weapon. This is one of the easiest Meitou weapons for players to get in the game since The Preacher doesn't have high stats nor does his cult.

Farming Village: Farming Village is a small location owned by the United Cities that has a Bar, Farm Shop and Travel Gear merchants. No unique recruits can be found here but it is a decent place to offload loot if you're in the area.

Brink: Brink is a United Cities controlled town in this zone. You can find a couple of unique recruits in this town but they're not unique to this one town. They're the recruits that have a chance of spawning in any city controlled by UC. Names of these recruits are: Izumi, Jewel, Riddly, and Hamut.

The Outlands:

Black Scratch: Black Scratch is a town controlled by the Tech Hunters faction and home of The Great Library. The Great Library is essentially just a vendor that sells a ton of blueprints and lore books -- more than any other vendor in the game.

Fishing Village: Fishing Village is a small town controlled by the Deadcats Faction; the only vendor you can find here is a single bar. Unique Recruits that you can find here consist of Soman, Green Finger, Horse and Hobbs.

Reaver Camp: Reaver Camps are small outposts controlled by the Reavers Faction. They contain some basic loot and will typically have a couple of prisoners you can free who will potentially join you. If you defeat Valamon at Ark then any Reaver Camps will be overtaken by the Southern Hive (assuming the queen is alive).

Bonefields:

The Old Prison: The Old Prison is the head quarters of The Gorrillo Bandits and their leader Gorrillo who wields a Exile Plank Meitou Weapon. All in all this is a pretty easy location, none of the Gorrillo Bandits wear armor so they should be pretty easy for you to defeat.

Catun: Catun is a town controlled by the United Cities faction, the head honcho of this town is Lord Shiro and killing or kidnapping him will result in this town being overtaken by Fishmen. The unique recruits that have a chance of spawning in this town are: Izumi, Jewel, Riddly, and Hamut.

Mourn: Mourn is a small and mostly destroyed town under the control of the Tech Hunter faction. There is not much available or to do in this town, however, there are numerous buildings which you can purchase for yourself and rebuild. One of the more notable things in this town is the Great White Gorillo who is found in the large building in the center of town.

Shun:

Library Ruins: Library Ruins used to be a Lost Library but has since been destroyed and is nothing more than rubble.

Abandoned Town: Abandoned Town, much like the Library Ruins, used to be a town but is now destroyed. All buildings here are rubble and there is no available loot.

Spider Plains:

Last Stand: Last Stand is a minor Shek outpost which contains a couple of vendors along with a Bar. Many of the Shek unique recruits can be found here such as Kang, Ruka, Rane the Giant and Oron.

Berserker Village: Berserker Village is a hostile camp of Shek which are part of the Berserker Faction. There is a little bit of loot here but it will be mostly vendor trash.

Old Frontlines: Old Frontlines is a completely destroyed town which contains a bunch of basic tradeskill material which I consider vendor trash. There is not much to see or do here.

Stenn Desert:

Admag: Admag is the Shek capital city lead by Esata the Stone Golem who carries a Meitou quality Fragment Axe. The Five Invincibles will also be present in this town to guard Esata along with Seto who is a possible unique recruit. Many of the Shek unique recruits can be found here such as Kang, Ruka, Rane the Giant and Oron.

New Kralia: New Kralia is the head quarters of the Kral's Chosen faction and their leader Flying Bull. For the most part this fortress will not be difficult for you to take, there are about 20 enemies here and they aren't well armored.

The Great Fortress: The Great Fortress is a mostly destroyed outpost that contains a Police Station and Faction HQ. There is not much else of note to be found here.

Waystation: Waystation has a vendor and a bar. You can find numerous unique recruits here along with a general goods vendor which I frequently hit up when starting a new game in Squin.

The Burning Forest:

Farm Ruin: Farm Ruin is a destroyed town without much notable loot.

Iron Valley: