Hey, Slayers!
Welcome to the ninth installment of our Shattered Isles dev blog. It’s time to share information on Weapon Experience and Aetherite sources, Talent Crafting, Essences and other materials, and one reward for Reforge. Full steam ahead!
An exciting direction
Earlier in the development of The Shattered Isles, the blog about Weapon Progression and Talents was received with excitement by our community. On Discord and Reddit, we saw lots of conversation and speculation about how long it would take to bring a weapon to level 60 and how this leveling journey differs from Reforge.
Today, we aim to arm Slayers with the information needed to succeed.
Summer thirst
On The Shattered Isles, experience is expressed by infusing Aether into your weapons. Defeating Behemoths drains their essence to feed your two equipped Aether-thirsty weapons, and the more Aether your weapon absorbs, the stronger it gets.
Although Behemoths are a great source of Aether, that isn’t the only way of satiating your weapon’s thirst. Aethersmiths can infuse your weapon with Aetherite to quench their thirst, and this precious mineral can come in 3 different forms:
- Dull Aetherite: 100 EXP
- Shining Aetherite: 1000 EXP
- Peerless Aetherite: 5000 EXP
Aetherite-Rush
While Wils Bormen is more than happy to infuse Slayer’s weapons with Aetherite, it’s up to the Slayers to go far and wide to hunt for this precious resource.
- Weekly completion of Heroic Escalation and Dauntless Trials will award Slayers with some Shining and Peerless Aetherite.
- Daily and Weekly Challenges, Bounties, and Normal Trials will award Slayers plenty of Dull and some Shining Aetherite.
Slayers will also be able to find all sorts of Aetherite on Hunt Passes, with other sources still to be revealed.
A hoard of experience
As previously shared, our goal with the new weapon progression system is to have permanent progression without forcing Slayers to restart their journey through low-level hunts. When Slayers acquire a new weapon, they can choose between hunting through initial Hunts or using previously collected Aetherite, shaping their journey through their new weapon leveling and hunting however they prefer.
Total experience needed
- Level 10: ~3150
- Level 20: ~21700
- Level 30: ~68500
- Level 40: ~155000
- Level 50: ~295500
- Level 60: ~500000
As we mentioned previously, our goal is enabling all content to be playable with a weapon over level 50, and the journey to level 60 is the edge that some competitive Slayers look for, alongside Mastery and recognition.
Experienced Slayers will have meaningful choices on investing their Aetherite to amplify their arsenal, investing heavily on a preferred Loadout to play competitively on end-game Hunts, or progressing on an array of weapons until they are ready to be used on their Hunts of choice.
Let us take a single week’s Heroic Escalation reward as an example: it could boost a new weapon from level 1 to almost level 20, or it could provide nearly a whole level for a weapon 50+. What would you prefer, joining the race for World-first level 60 on The Skies of Ostia or expanding your arsenal with multiple elemental options?
Talent without working hard is nothing
Talents bring a brand new crafting option to Dauntless, requiring a variety of materials and unlocking more craftable options as you progress through your weapon-leveling journey.
New materials, like Essences, will be introduced as part of Talent Crafting alongside materials that Slayers are already familiar with.
Within lies your true essence
Aethersmiths developed a way of distilling the Aether extracted from multiple Behemoth parts into Essences aligned with the six primary Buffs (Eg. Essence of Endurance and Essence of Speed), combining several parts to create this valuable resource, paramount for crafting the ultimate power of Aether-weaponry, Talents.
Each weapon leverages two Essences to craft talents, The Hunger feeds on Essences of Critical and Vitality, while The Silver Sword needs Essences of Defense and Might.
To craft an Essence, Slayers will combine some parts from several Behemoths, distilling them into these powerful essences that can fuel the power of Weapon Talents. Let us take a look at some examples:
Essence of Critical
- Charrogg
- Boreus
- Skraev
- Stormclaw
- Kharabak
- Koshai
- Rezakiri
- Alyra
- Riftstalker
- Shrowd
- Malkarion
- Thrax
- Urska
Essence of Vitality
- Quillshot
- Shrike
- Embermane
- Pangar
- Drask
- Fenroar
- Koshai
- Valomyr
- Shrowd
- Malkarion
- Agarus
- Chronovore
Some parts from Koshai, Malkarion, and Shrowd can be used for the Essence of Vitality (eg. Koshai’s Aether Horn), while others for the Essence of Critical (Eg. Koshai’s Caudal Thorn). Hunting any Behemoths will always be valuable for crafting Essences, with higher rarity parts contributing more for Essence crafting.
Evolving Recipes
As mentioned previously, each weapon will have 25 Talents, split into 5 Categories (eg. Weapon Special and Weapon Passive) with 5 options each. Slayers can craft one talent in each Category when that weapon reaches level 10, and additional talents in each Category at levels 20, 30, 40, and 50.
Unlocking the ultimate power of your weapon gets more challenging based on how many talents you crafted in a Category, requiring more advanced materials and/or larger quantities of materials previously used.
First craft in a Category:
- Rams
- One Essence (eg. Essence of Defense, for The Silver Sword)
Second craft in a Category:
- Rams
- Multiple Essences of one type (eg. Essence of Defense, for The Silver Sword)
Third craft in a Category:
- Rams
- Multiple Essences of another type (eg. Essence of Might, for The Silver Sword)
- Escalation: Apex Glimmer - A new part dropped by Keystone Behemoths
- Trials: Steel Marks
Fourth craft in a Category:
- Rams
- Multiple Essences of another type (eg. Essence of Might, for The Silver Sword)
- Escalation: Apex Glimmers
- Trials: Steel Marks
- Gauntlet: Crests
Fifth craft in a Category:
- Rams
- Multiple Essences of one type (eg. Essence of Defense, for The Silver Sword)
- Escalation: Apex Glimmers
- Trials: Gilded Marks
- Gauntlet: Crests
- Legends: Living Aether - A part dropped by Legend Behemoths
Slayers will collect materials from several Hunts to amplify their arsenal and customize their build, but remember, while it’s possible to unlock every talent, only three talents can be active in each Category at a time.
History matters
In this blog, we’ve further shown what the future of our weapons looks like, but we still need to talk about the past. Reforge was a core part of Dauntless for years, and we want to reward Slayers who went above and beyond with their reforges. It’s time to share one of the rewards.
Slayers that reforged at least once in each of the 7 Weapon Categories will receive the Reforger Crown, a brand-new crown released alongside the removal of Reforge from Dauntless.
The Reforger Crown is a permanent reminder of Reforge and the Slayers who poured their effort into our game to have all weapon categories reforged at least once. It’s the last chance to fit the criteria for this crown, don’t miss your chance, Slayer.
Summer is here
It’s already summer and we are getting ready to announce the release date, and real title, of The Shattered Isles update! Stay tuned to our Dauntless Discord to share your feedback, engage with our community, and see our Weekly development updates of The Shattered Isles.
We are eager to hear your feedback on this blog and all the updates we share!
Clear skies, Slayers!
