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Endgame · v0.28.0
The Deep: the endgame
Everything that opens after the campaign, in the order you'll meet it: one short card per system, each with a link to its full page. The same cards are in the game under Help → The Deep.
Where it starts
The campaign ends with the Act V finale. That clear is the key to everything below.
Step 1
Clear Vhoruun's Pyre
The last boss of the campaign. Its first clear opens the endgame.
- The Cartographer has moved into the Lodge by the east wall.
- Your finale clear left 3 charts. Raise the Lodge (free) and read one.
- In the game, Help → The Deep has one card for each step on this page, and reaching level 20 shows where to begin.
Step 2
Level 20: Legend levels and Pyre Tiers
Every level past 20 is a Legend level, worth one rank for your Brand. Each Pyre Tier is guarded by one of the Crowned.
- Touching sigils of one colour form Bonds; 7 make a Great Bond.
- Chart bosses and Breach Wardens drop sigils; the odds are printed.
- Past 209 ranks, Legend levels bank as Surplus and light Flames.
- Crown Shards drop from Wardens, chart bosses, chests and Descent records.
- Set the sigil at the Effigy, then win the Audience.
- A loss costs nothing. Earned tiers are never taken away.
Charts and the Lodge
The daily loop: pick a dungeon, set its danger, run it, keep the map.
Step 3
Charts: dungeons you keep
A chart is one dungeon at a depth tier from 1 to 16: read it to run it.
- Read charts at the Lodge or the Adventure map's Charts card.
- No falls means Pristine: richer loot and a shot at deeper charts.
- Fall and the chart tears: run it again, minus Pristine.
- Chart bosses always drop a chart; Pristine adds a deeper one 45%.
Step 4
The Cartographer's Lodge
The Lodge is where you read, mark, scorch and tear up charts.
- Level 1: run charts and keep up to 40.
- Level 2: ink Marks. Level 3: pick one of 3.
- Level 4: the Survey. Level 5: Scorch and draw blank charts.
- Tear up spare charts for materials and 50% of their inks.
Step 5
Marks: your difficulty dial
Marks are up to 4 modifiers on a chart, and the chart prints what they pay.
- Perils make it harder, Boons make it richer, Twists reshape it.
- Each Danger point: +8% rarity, +6% materials, +5% XP.
- Ink a Mark at Lodge level 2; erase one for 1 ink.
Ember Breaches
The hourly world event, open to you since Grukk's Warcamp: the same dungeon burns for everyone.
Step 6
Ember Breaches: the hourly fire
Every hour one dungeon breaches for 55 minutes, the same one for everyone.
- One Pyre Tier harder; every kill drops Embers to pick up.
- Threat 100 calls the Warden: a sure Emberforged legendary or better.
- Guarded Ember Chests cost 75/150/300 Embers; you choose the pool.
- Falling scatters 50% of your Embers on the floor.
Step 7
Ember Chests and their guards
Each floor hides an Ember Chest that glows and shows as a key on your map.
- Every Ember Chest is guarded: the first by a heavy elite pack, the second by a pack led by a champion, later ones by a mini-boss. It opens once its last guard falls.
- Pay 75 / 150 / 300 Embers for 1 / 2 / 4 rolls in the pool you choose; the odds are printed first.
- The Breach Warden drops a sure Emberforged piece and a chart.
Gear and the Forge
Deep loot comes Emberforged, and the Smithy becomes a crafting bench where nothing ever breaks.
Step 8
Emberforged gear, a tier up
Emberforged items carry an extra line, top-quarter rolls and Forging Potential.
- They drop from tier 6+ chart bosses and Breach Wardens.
- Forging Potential (20–40) pays for the Forge; nothing ever breaks.
- Survey Shards at the Merchant roll one in a slot you pick.
- Only Deep uniques drop Emberforged.
Step 9
The Forge: craft, never break
At Smithy level 6 the Forge spends Forging Potential to improve Emberforged gear.
- Reforge: reroll a line's value and keep the higher.
- Temper: enchant a second line, choosing one of three.
- Hone: raise one line's ceiling, once per item.
- Each verb spends 3–8 potential, shown before you pay.
Step 10
Deep gear: endgame-only loot
Deep sets, legendaries and uniques drop only in the endgame, always Emberforged.
- Tier 6+ chart bosses drop Deep legendaries and set pieces.
- Deep uniques: tier 8+ chart bosses, Wardens and Survey Shards.
- Hone a Deep unique at the Forge to wake its third power.
Step 11
Masterwork and Emberglass
Masterwork climbs an Emberforged item through 12 ranks, paid in Emberglass.
- Each rank: +4% to every magic line.
- Ranks 4, 8, 12: a Great Work, your pick of three lines.
- Emberglass: tier 6+ chart bosses, Wardens, shards, torn deep charts.
- Unmake any time for 50% of the Emberglass back.
Step 12
Seals and line ceilings
Break an item's seals at the Smithy to enchant more than its one ✦ line.
- Smithy level 5 breaks a first seal, level 6 every one after.
- Each seal on the same item costs more; nothing is destroyed.
- Every line has a ceiling (⌃): no single line passes it.
- Resistances roll rarer, at most one per drop.
The Survey
The long build: every tier you chart Pristine steers what drops where.
Step 13
The Survey board
Every tier you chart Pristine earns a Survey point, and a high clear pays the tiers you skipped.
- Spend points on 31 nodes at Lodge level 4.
- Nodes shape loot and maps only, never your hero's stats.
- Respec at the Temple for 500 gold a point.
Step 14
Survey Shards
A Survey Shard buys one Emberforged roll in the slot you choose, at the Merchant.
- From Pristine chart clears at Tier 8+ and from Breach Wardens.
- Pick a set to roll one of its pieces.
- The odds are printed before you spend it.
Races, boards and friends
What the Deep gives back besides loot.
Step 15
The Deep races
3 new races are earned in the Deep, and all 12 races now have a heritage passive.
- Undead: Fall in battle 15 times, or lose a hardcore hero. Death stops being the end.
- Demon: Bring down a Breach Warden. Something in the pit takes note.
- Blood Elf: Clear a Deep Chart at Tier 4 or deeper.
Step 16
Boards and titles
The deepest chart tier you clear climbs the Deepest chart leaderboard.
- Tier 8: the Cartographer title.
- Tier 12: the Deep-Charted title.
- The Survey board tallies your Pristine clears at Tier 4, 8, 12+.
Step 17
Playing together
A party runs the leader's chart or breach.
- Pristine is each player's own: a friend's fall isn't yours.
- Every kill drops Embers for each player; each carries their own.
- For now Ember Chests and chart drops go to the leader.
Patch notes
All of this arrived in v0.19.0, The Deep Charts. The expanded notes have every rule and number: