Choosing your origins in Dune: Awakening means more than mere flavor-one key decision could transform your entire experience on Arrakis, while the others simply set the stage. Which mentor grants the sharpest early advantage, and do your caste and homeworld truly matter-or just shape your story? Dive in as we reveal the best class mentor, caste, and homeworld picks for a powerful start in the sands of Dune.
Below, we’ve explained which starting class mentor is best in Dune: Awakening and broken down what your homeworld and caste choices influence.
Best homeworld in Dune: Awakening
The choice of homeworld in Dune: Awakening primarily affects your character’s dialogue options and grants a unique emote, but offers no significant gameplay benefits or disadvantages. While some guides recommend selecting Caladan or Giedi Prime for early narrative alignment with the Atreides or Harkonnen factions, this is a minor advantage and does not meaningfully change progression or outcomes. Players should choose the homeworld that best fits their desired roleplay background or preferred dialogue trait-Honorable (Caladan), Deception (Giedi Prime), Cultured (Chusuk), Political (Kaitain), or Technologist (Ix). Ultimately, the “best” homeworld is a matter of personal preference and flavor, not power or progression.
Dune: Awakening’s homeworld choice is mostly a role-playing decision. While your choice of homeworld does influence certain dialogue options at specific points in the main quest and some side quests, in our experience, none of these options have an important bearing on how the story unfolds. You’ll miss out on some dialogue themed around your origin, but nothing of vital significance. That’s true even if you pick Caladan or Geidi Prime and start digging into the Harkonnen or Atreides factions.
You also get a unique emote. In other words, there is no best homeworld in Dune: Awakening. Pick whichever homeworld fits the background you have in mind for your character or whichever one has the emote you think sounds the most appealing.
- Ix – Technologist trait, Ixian Secret emote
- Kaitain – Political trait, Kaitan Bow emote
- Caladan – Honorable trait, Atreides Salute
- Chusuk – Cultured trait, Chusuk music
- Geidi Prime – Deception trait, Harkonnen curse
Best caste in Dune: Awakening
The best caste to pick in Dune: Awakening is generally considered to be Bondsman. This option sits between the working class and nobility, providing a relatable backstory that may unlock some unique dialogue options; however, caste choice has little to no impact on core gameplay, story progression, or available quests. Instead, it mainly offers minor flavor to conversations and role-playing, so players are encouraged to choose the caste that best fits their envisioned character. If you want a balanced experience with occasional interesting interactions, Bondsman is typically recommended.
What caste you choose in Dune: Awakening is another role-playing decision. It’ll throw up some background-specific dialogue options from time to time depending on the situation, but it has absolutely no influence on the main story or what quests are available to you.
The choices are:
- Bondsman, a civil servant between the working class and nobility
- Pyon, a worker
- Na-familia, a noble
Pick whichever fits the role you have in mind for your character.
Best mentor and starting class in Dune: Awakening
The best mentor and starting class to pick in Dune: Awakening is widely considered to be the Mentat. Starting with the Mentat grants immediate access to the Sentinel turret, a deployable that can efficiently clear enemy camps and provide strong support early in the game, especially when your character is still relatively weak. The Mentat’s skill tree also offers passive bonuses for ranged combat and item repairs, making it an extremely useful and flexible option. While you will eventually be able to unlock other class skill trees via trainers, picking Mentat first is recommended because its trainer appears later in the game compared to the Trooper, which can be unlocked early regardless of your initial choice. For alternative playstyles, classes like the Swordmaster and Trooper are solid but less optimal as starting picks since their trainers are encountered sooner, allowing you to learn their abilities without making them your primary mentor.
Your class choice isn’t tremendously important in the long-term, as you can find and learn from trainers who unlock skill trees for the three classes you didn’t pick. However, there are a couple of choices that make life easier as you’re getting used to Arrakis and one that’s kind of a waste.
Trooper
Trooper is a very good class for combat and exploration, one whose skill tree includes things like attack drones, anti-gravity fields, and passive traits that increase your damage. However, the first trainer you find in Dune: Awakening is the Trooper trainer. Unless you want to save your in-game money for other things – which you don’t really need to do early in the game – you might as well skip Trooper and pick something else.
Just make sure to visit the Trooper trainer when you can. The Trooper’s starting skill fires a wire that lets you cover ground quickly, and it makes climbing much easier.
Bene Gesserit
Bene Gesserit is an odd class choice. It blends a handful of Voice-themed abilities that are highly situational with some general buffs to health recovery and damage output. None of them are particularly game-changing, even if using Voice commands to influence battle has its uses. The most important skill is Bindu Sprint, a mobility skill that makes it easier to grab rare resources in dangerous locations or to outrun a sandworm. You can learn it from the basic Bene Gesserit trainer, though, so it’s not worth making this your default class just for Bindu Sprint.
Swordmaster
Swordmaster does what it says on the label and focuses on close-quarter combat, offering a range of passives that boost damage output, increase damage mitigation, and, more importantly, augment your water management. This is a strong pick for anyone, but especially if you’re playing solo or are part of your group’s combat unit.
Mentat
Mentat is a brilliant class with a broad range of universally useful skills. You get skills that create weak points on enemies, an assassination drone, a capsule that creates poison clouds, a knowledge of garment-making that lets you reinforce equipment so it doesn’t break – and that’s just the initial set of basic skills. The best skill, however, is the Mentat’s starting skill, The Sentinel, which lets you deploy a ranged turret that’s perfect for clearing out scavenger camps without actually getting your hands dirty.
Mentat is the best mentor in Dune: Awakening and offers the most useful, varied skills to keep you going until you find skill trainers to help broaden your ability set. Swordmaster is a close second, though has less to offer if you prefer long-range combat. Bene Gesserit is a skip. Meanwhile, Trooper is excellent, but one you can unlock within the game’s first three hours.
Which mentor provides the most versatile abilities for beginners in Dune Awakening
The Mentat mentor provides the most versatile abilities for beginners in Dune Awakening. Mentat grants a unique starting skill-the Sentinel turret-which offers strong offense and defense by automatically targeting enemies and aiding in both solo and group play. It also unlocks a diverse skill set, including detection, poison abilities, and equipment reinforcement, making early progression easier and more adaptable to different challenges, playstyles, and team roles.
Compared to other mentors, Mentat’s turret stands out for its universal utility in combat and base defense, especially valuable before you unlock more skills through trainers. While classes like Trooper (mobility) and Swordmaster (melee combat) have their strengths and are beginner-friendly, neither matches the broad utility and sustained early advantage of Mentat.
Which mentor offers the most balanced skills for new players in Dune Awakening
The Trooper mentor offers the most balanced skills for new players in Dune Awakening. Trooper provides a straightforward, versatile skill set centered around offense, mobility, and adaptability, with the initial Shigawire Claw ability (a grappling hook) giving both combat and exploration benefits. This class archetype aligns closely with traditional soldier gameplay, making it easier to pick up for beginners and able to adapt well to the wide range of challenges found early in the game.
While the Mentat mentor is praised for its utility and area control with the Sentinel turret, it tends to reward players who favor planning and slower, strategic play. Swordmaster and Bene Gesserit can be more specialized or require greater mastery for optimal use. Trooper’s balance between offense, utility, and ease of use makes it the most well-rounded starting mentor for those new to Dune Awakening.
