Ultimate guide to getting started with One Piece Odyssey for beginners

Before you set sail with Luffy and his crew in One Piece Odyssey, there are a few things that can make your adventure smoother-from understanding its unique RPG systems to mastering the Straw Hats’ exploration skills. Here are eight tips that might save you a lot of trial and error on the Grand Line.

Our One Piece Odyssey beginner’s guide will help you drop into the game with tips on leveling up, speeding up fights, exploring the world, earning money, and equipping your characters for success.

Leveling up is hands-off

Character progression in One Piece Odyssey happens mostly through the story rather than grind-heavy battles. Experience points are shared across the crew, so everyone levels up together without the need for repetitive fighting. Side quests and exploration offer bonuses, but the main plot provides enough growth to keep your team competitive. This design lets players focus more on adventure and strategy instead of constant level management.

The XP your crew earns from fights levels them up automatically – you don’t distribute upgrade points or anything, all of their stats just go up. Plus, your entire crew earns XP no matter who fights. Everyone won’t level up at quite the same rate, but they’ll all stay close to the same level.

And you level up pretty quickly, growing stronger with each level, which means.

You should turn on Auto Battle and Speed Up

Auto Battle and Speed Up can save a lot of time during routine encounters. Regular fights often don’t need complex strategies, so letting the system handle them keeps your focus on tougher battles and story moments. Turning on Speed Up makes combat animations run faster, helping you progress through areas without long pauses between fights. These options keep the gameplay steady while still letting you jump in manually whenever a tricky situation demands your input.

We’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but turning on Auto Battle and Speed Up will greatly improve your experience with One Piece Odyssey. These settings cut down on the time you’ll spend sorting through menus to pick how exactly to punch the baddie you’re facing.

Those choices rarely matter, though. You’re going to level up fast enough that you’ll outpace almost every enemy you face. Beyond that, the Auto Battle AI is pretty good at its job and will pick appropriate attacks, skills, or items for every fight. (We’ve had it on for hours – even for boss fights – and haven’t had any issues.)

Speeding up battles means you can get back to the story and exploration faster. But exploration comes with a caveat.

It’s only open world when it wants to be

One Piece Odyssey might look like a fully open-world RPG, but exploration is more controlled than it seems. Each island offers large areas to explore, yet progress is often limited by story triggers and character abilities. Some paths only become available once specific Straw Hat crew members join or regain their powers. This design keeps the pace focused while still giving players room to explore, gather materials, and enjoy the setting without feeling completely lost.

Especially when you’re on Main Episodes – critical path main story missions – you’re not allowed to explore much. If you go too far out of the way, you’ll actually get reset back to a more “appropriate” spot and reminded to follow the path.

Periodically, though, your main story path will open up a bit and you’ll be free to explore, seek out Side Stories (side missions), and use your crewmates’ abilities to find hidden items in the world. But.

You won’t be switching characters often

You’ll spend most fights using the same four main crew members, as One Piece Odyssey automatically swaps characters based on the battle situation and area type. While each Straw Hat has unique skills and attributes, switching between them mid-combat isn’t something you’ll do all the time. The game encourages focusing on strategy and exploiting enemy weaknesses rather than constantly rotating your lineup, so mastering your core team’s abilities pays off more than experimenting too often.

Most members of the Straw Hats have a special exploration ability – Usopp can shoot down items that are out of reach, Nami can find bells hidden around the world, Sanji finds buried cooking ingredients, and Chopper can squeeze through smaller spaces than anyone else.

The thing is, that’s just not going to come up often. And when it does, you’ll get a comment from a crewmate or a prompt to change to the appropriate character. It’s not really on you to be proactive about it.

For the most part, you’ll be sticking with Luffy – he’s got better navigation skills, and his stretchy arms make picking up objects easier.

Camps are rare, so stock up when you find them

Camps act as your main chance to rest, heal, and prepare before heading back into tough battles. They’re scattered sparsely across the adventure, so take full advantage of them when you spot one. Use the time to restore HP and TP, cook meals for buffs, and save your progress. Stocking up on supplies during these stops can make a huge difference, especially before bosses or long stretches without another campsite.

As you make your way through the world of One Piece Odyssey, you’ll occasionally come across Camps. These are places where your crew can set up a bonfire and recharge. Camps are where you’ll cook meals (usually healing items to use during battle) with Sanji, change outfits, craft Trick Balls with Usopp, or check the encyclopedia.

You’re not going to find Camps as often as, say, save points, though, so take advantage of them as you find them.

Don’t forget to turn in your Objectives

Objectives act as side missions that reward you with useful items and experience, making your crew stronger as you progress. They can be easy to overlook, but failing to hand them in means missing out on valuable bonuses. Visit the appropriate NPC or menu section after completing these tasks so your efforts don’t go to waste. Keeping up with your Objectives also helps pace your progress and ensures you stay prepared for tougher battles ahead.

Every Main Episode (main story mission) and Side Story (side mission) has a series of Objectives associated with it. You can find your current Objectives in the pause menu on the Objectives tab – second from the right.

Completing Objectives earns you rewards, but you don’t get the reward automatically. Instead, you have clear the Objectives manually through the menu. Any Objective with the “Reward Available” tag is ready to be turned in. You can even hit triangle/Y to turn in all available Objectives at once and collect all the rewards.

Money is no object

Money isn’t a major concern in One Piece Odyssey, as you’ll earn plenty of Berries through battles, exploration, and side quests. Most of your spending goes toward healing items, crafting materials, or upgrades, which are reasonably priced. Instead of hoarding cash, focus on managing your inventory and collecting useful resources during your adventures-these often prove more valuable than any currency.

As pirates, you’re obviously going to be interested in collecting money (bells). And you’ll spend it at various shops you’ll come across as you play. You’ll find bells in some chests, buried underground (with Nami’s Treasure Sensor ability), or by defeating enemies.

Each fight earns you a couple thousand bells – and you’ll be fighting a lot. We’ve earned well over 500,000 bells in about six or seven hours of playing. But with the rarity of shops and how quickly the crew gets stronger (see the first point above), we haven’t bought anything yet. Every item we’ve used has been found, picked up after battles, cooked, or crafted. All of that money is just piling up.

Revisit your equipment periodically

Check your equipment setup from time to time to ensure your characters stay strong as the story progresses. As new gear becomes available, older items can quickly fall behind in stats or abilities. Replacing outdated weapons or accessories can make a huge difference in battle performance, especially before tougher encounters. Take a few minutes between story chapters to upgrade or reassign items so your crew is always prepared for what’s ahead.

Aside from leveling up, the other way to improve your crew’s stats is with equipment. You’ll find or loot items like jewelry or rings quite often (or get them as rewards for completing Objectives).

On the Equipment tab of the pause menu, you can equip these items into each crew member. There’s a bit of Tetris-ing here – each character has a four-by-four grid where equipment goes, and each piece of equipment is a different shape and size.

How to unlock and use Bond Arts effectively

Bond Arts in One Piece Odyssey are powerful combo attacks that highlight the Straw Hats’ relationships, unlocked through specific side content. They require strategic party setup to maximize damage output and boss fight efficiency.

Unlocking Bond Arts

Complete Memory Links, which are optional “Frayed Memory” side quests found in the Memoria world during story chapters. These relive key crew bonds (e.g., Luffy-Zoro or Nami-Robin), and finishing one permanently unlocks its Bond Art for use anywhere, provided bond levels are met.

Activation Requirements

All involved Straw Hats must be in your active battle party (frontline or reserves accessible via switches). The initiator needs an action turn, and the group’s bond level-built by fighting together-must reach the required threshold (viewable in menus). Bonds charge naturally from shared battles, speeding up with frequent team rotations.​​

Effective Usage Tips

Prioritize high-damage Bonds like group-wide nukes for bosses, timing them after type advantages (Power > Speed > Technique) to chain into Dramatic Scenes for extra rewards. Experiment with lineups to maintain multiple bonds, swapping reserves to grind levels without benching anyone. Use them sparingly in regular fights to save for tough encounters, as they deliver massive AoE damage or status effects that turn tides.​

Best Bond Arts for each Straw Hat character

Bond Arts in One Piece Odyssey are tied to specific Straw Hat pairs or groups, with “best” ones often recommended for their high damage, area effects, or utility against bosses. Prioritize unlocking these via Memory Links for your core fighters, as they shine when bond levels are maxed and types align.

Luffy-Focused Arts

Gum-Gum Fire Fist & Elephant Gun (Luffy-Zoro/Sanji): Delivers massive single-target Power-type nukes, ideal for bosses weak to Power; chain after type exploits.
All-Out Assault (Luffy + full crew): Ultimate AoE nuke for clearing adds or Dramatic Scenes, but requires high crew bonds.

Zoro’s Top Picks

Oni Giri Slash (Zoro-Sanji): Technique-type burst with bleed, great vs. Speed foes; rivals Zoro’s solo skills in sustained fights.
Three-Sword Surprise (Zoro-Chopper): Adds debuffs and multi-hits, perfect for grouping enemies before swaps.​

Nami and Usopp Arts

Thunderbolt Tempo (Nami-Usopp): Speed-type AoE stun, excellent crowd control and paralysis setup for reserves.
Perfect Storm (Nami-Robin): Wide Technique damage with status, boosts navigator synergy in puzzles-turned-battles.​

Sanji and Franky Standouts

Anti-Manner Kick Course (Sanji-Zoro): High Power kicks with evasion down, counters tanky Speed enemies.​
Radical Beam (Franky-Robin): Piercing Technique beam for backline sniping, key in long dungeons.​

Chopper and Robin Utilities

Rumble Ball Boost (Chopper-Franky): Heals + buffs party, clutch for endurance bosses over raw damage.​
Mil Fleur Clutch (Robin-Nami): Technique restraint with damage amp, sets up Bond chains effectively.