Once Human: How To Play With Friends And How PvP Works

TL;DR

  • Server choice is permanent – coordinate with friends before character creation to avoid restarting
  • Hives function as guilds with territory merging, while Warbands serve as 50-player clans for large-scale PvP
  • Chaos mode enables PvP with different rules on PvE vs PvP servers
  • Territory Purification events activate base defense PvP for valuable currency rewards
  • Level 10 requirement prevents griefing and ensures balanced PvP encounters

Launching your journey in Once Human requires careful server consideration, especially when planning to play with companions. The initial server selection represents one of the most critical decisions you’ll make, as it determines your entire multiplayer experience and cannot be changed later without significant consequences.

When coordinating with gaming partners, ensure everyone selects the identical server instance during character creation. The game offers two primary server categories—PvE (Player versus Environment) and PvP (Player versus Player)—each providing distinct gameplay philosophies. A common mistake new players make is assuming character transfers between servers are available, but currently no migration system exists. If your group members develop characters on different servers, the only solution involves creating entirely new characters and restarting progression from the beginning.

While the core gameplay experience remains consistent across server types, significant distinctions emerge in endgame content and seasonal narrative directions. The Manibus event chain represents the PvE-focused endgame, emphasizing cooperative boss encounters and team-based environmental challenges. Conversely, Evolution’s Call directs seasonal content toward competitive player-versus-player engagements and territory control warfare.

You can play PvP events on both kinds of servers, but there are a lot more opportunities, and a lot more chaos, in PvP servers.

Strategic server selection dramatically impacts your long-term gameplay experience, particularly regarding competitive content availability.

Both server categories technically support PvP engagements, but accessibility and frequency differ substantially. PvE servers impose strict limitations on hostile player interactions, requiring explicit opt-in for combat scenarios. This design creates a safer environment for players preferring cooperative gameplay or those still learning game mechanics. PvP servers, however, feature significantly more frequent player conflicts, especially around high-value resource locations and endgame reward opportunities.

Establishing social connections in Once Human occurs through the comprehensive Get United interface, accessible via the Escape key menu. This social hub contains four distinct organizational tabs—Friends, Team, Hive, and Warband—each serving specific multiplayer purposes with unique benefits and requirements.

The Friends tab displays your established connections, which you can create by interacting with player profiles during encounters or visiting their established territories. Alternative friending methods include direct name searches through the social directory system.

Use the Team Up menu to find players looking for groups, and potentially, new friends.

The Team functionality serves as Once Human’s equivalent to traditional looking-for-group systems, facilitating temporary collaborations for specific activities. When creating teams, utilize the gear icon to configure participation requirements, activity specifications, and access restrictions for optimal group composition.

For temporary cooperative ventures without long-term commitment obligations, the Team tab provides ideal matchmaking services. This system enables players to either browse existing recruitment listings or establish their own groups with customized parameters. Advanced team creation options include detailed activity descriptions, level requirements, and role specialization preferences.

Hives function similarly to guilds in conventional MMOs, creating persistent player associations with shared objectives. Membership benefits extend beyond social convenience to include practical gameplay advantages like territory consolidation capabilities and instant teleportation between member bases.

Warbands represent the pinnacle of social organization in Once Human, operating as clans with maximum capacities of 50 participants. These elite groups engage in high-level territory establishment, specialized endgame content, strategic location capture, and organized warfare against rival Warbands for territorial dominance and resource control.

Activate Chaos Mode

Engaging in player combat across both server types requires activating the specialized Chaos mode system. Initiate this combat state by pressing and holding the “P” key, which fundamentally alters your interaction permissions with other players. On PvP servers, Chaos mode activation—whether intentional or triggered by entering designated conflict zones like Strongholds—grants permission to attack any player regardless of their current combat status.

PvE servers implement Chaos mode as a strictly consensual system where participants must voluntarily enable PvP capabilities. While certain events automatically impose Chaos status, standard gameplay requires manual activation for competitive engagements. Crucially, PvE server Chaos mode restricts attacks exclusively to other Chaos-enabled players, unlike PvP servers where activated players can target anyone. Both server types enforce a minimum Level 10 requirement for PvP participation, effectively preventing experienced players from harassing newcomers.

Chaos mode operates on a diminishing timer mechanism that deactivates automatically upon expiration. Successfully damaging or eliminating opponents extends your Chaos duration, creating strategic incentives for aggressive playstyles. Your primary objectives involve surviving hostile encounters while maximizing damage output before eventual defeat.

Find PvP Events

Beyond manual Chaos activation, structured PvP activities exist on both server varieties. Cargo Scramble represents a public event where participants assault a Rosetta transport vehicle, triggering monster release that possesses one random participant. The possessed player’s mission involves eliminating other event participants to earn specialized currency rewards.

In Cargo Scramble, one player is possessed by a Deviant, pitting them against any other players in the public event.

Cargo Scramble mechanics feature possession timers that decrease naturally but extend through player eliminations. If the possessed character dies, the controlling entity transfers to another participant. Throughout this event, unlimited self-revives without penalty maintain continuous combat flow until conclusion, with final rewards scaling according to performance metrics.

Additional event types can be triggered on PvE servers to create controlled PvP scenarios. Warband membership dramatically expands competitive options, enabling large-scale base construction and territorial warfare. On PvP servers specifically, Warbands can capture resource-rich locations requiring defense against rival clan incursions.

High-level gameplay introduces challenging PvPvE hybrid zones containing premium loot resources. All entrants automatically receive Chaos mode activation upon zone entry, creating unpredictable encounters with both environmental threats and hostile players. These dangerous areas reportedly exist across server types but typically become accessible only during advanced progression stages due to their considerable difficulty.

Use the Stardust Resonant Filter

Both server categories support territory defense events activated through the Stardust Resonant Filter apparatus. This constructible base device converts dungeon-acquired Echo Stones and Cortexes into Starchrom, a scarce currency type. Activating the Resonant Filter simultaneously initiates Territory Purification events, attracting monster assaults against your fortified position.

Territory Purification automatically enables Chaos mode throughout your entire territory perimeter. Consequently, any Chaos-activated player can assault your base to disrupt the purification process and claim rewards. These defense scenarios require maintaining structural integrity until completion timers expire.

Using the Stardust Resonant Filter gets you some rare currency, but you have to defend your base from monsters and other players to earn it.

Strategic defense preparations and coordinated team play prove essential for successful Territory Purification completion and reward acquisition.

PvP servers occasionally spawn additional Echo Stones throughout the game world. Approaching these resources automatically activates Chaos mode, exposing you to attacks from other activated players attempting resource theft. Your objective involves rapidly transporting acquired Echo Stones to your base before possession timers deplete or hostile interception occurs. Successful transport requires depositing stones into your Stardust Resonant Filter, which then triggers another Territory Purification defense sequence.

Action Checklist

  • Coordinate server selection with all intended play partners before character creation
  • Access Get United menu via Escape key to explore social systems
  • Establish Hive membership for territory merging and teleportation benefits
  • Practice Chaos mode activation and understand server-specific rule variations
  • Participate in Cargo Scramble events to learn PvP mechanics
  • Construct Stardust Resonant Filter and prepare base defenses for Territory Purification

No reproduction without permission:SeeYouSoon Game Club » Once Human: How To Play With Friends And How PvP Works Master Once Human's social systems and PvP mechanics with essential server selection and group strategies