Eli exhaled a long, deep breath. He centered himself, forcing all of the air from his diaphragm. Every Slayer had their way of shaking off the nerves that came before a hunt. Some paced. Some chattered. But Eli focused on the wide, endless, azure horizon — acknowledging his racing emotions, but not accepting them until he was ready. Fear. Anyone that said that they weren’t afraid to test themselves against a Behemoth was lying. Duty. The Slayer next to you, whether it was for one hunt or a life-long bond, was counting on you. And anticipation. There was no denying that thrilling prospect of what they would bring back with them. It seemed that every day the smiths were finding new deadly uses for the things that his fellow Slayers retrieved… Eli’s lungs burned. He let his breath, and excitement, come flooding in. It was time.

What defines the legend of a Slayer? What separates the vanguard of Ramsgate from the average adventurer? Every time that you embark upon a hunt, you should feel like you’re taking a step forward toward building your lasting legacy. This is your story; built one Behemoth, one adventure, one piece of gear at a time.

We’ve been listening to your feedback and analyzing the data generated during the Closed Beta. What we’ve heard loud and clear is that Dauntless players want improvements in the matchmaking process and better rewards and replayability around Behemoth encounters.

We’ve been hard at work on adjustments that will completely change the way you build your legend, and we are excited to share this preview of what’s to come.

New Horizons

A Slayer’s legend is forged day to day, moment to moment. There’s no predicting what new threat may come calling — and the champions of Ramsgate wouldn’t have it any other way. With the Sharpen Your Skills update, we’re working to better capture the thrill and excitement of being a Slayer in the way that you explore the Shattered Isles and hunt Behemoths.

Progressing forward in Dauntless currently consists of fighting one Behemoth after another, advancing through a linear quest line. While it can be satisfying to work your way upward from humble beginnings, we’re excited to introduce a new system that will make every fight rewarding and exciting to join.

We will be introducing a new progression system with the Sharpen Your Skills update. Slayers will now initially embark on patrols where they find targets of opportunity. For example, the first region that Slayers have access to is host to Gnasher, Embermane, Drask, Charrogg, and Shrike. When slayers patrol this region, they may encounter any of these Behemoths, chosen at random.

Loot tables and crafting requirements are also being reworked to complement these changes. Gear made from Behemoths in the same region will now share several ingredients which are found across those same Behemoths. This means that you can get most of what you need to craft or improve gear across a wider selection of Behemoths.

Call the Shot

It’s important that the new patrol system does not preclude Slayers from targeting specific Behemoths. Weapons and armour will still require items which are unique to certain creatures, so stalking specific Behemoths is still a big part of progressing.

Slayers will also gain intel about the locations of specific Behemoths as they complete patrol hunts. Once a Slayer has enough information, they can embark on a hunt after a specific creature of their choosing.

Both patrolling Slayers and players selecting specific hunts will go into matchmaking together. This means shorter queue times, more robust matchmaking, and more opportunities to meet new players. It also means that breaking parts will become more important than ever. We’ll be diving into how we’re improving systems related to breaking parts in an upcoming blog!

Fill ‘Er Up

Our goal is that every Slayer is eager and excited to see what’s inside of their aether cores. Big changes are coming to aether cores to make them more exciting and rewarding.

Currently, cores are rewarded at the end of every hunt and give Slayers the spoils of their hunt after they are cracked open in Ramsgate. Going forward, Behemoth parts and other loot will drop directly from Behemoths and no longer need to be retrieved from core breaking stations.

Aether cores will now have a new, exciting purpose that will better reward long-term play. They must be filled over the course of multiple hunts before they can be opened, resulting in an explosion of special items. We’ll have more details on what these cores may contain and how they work — so stay tuned!

Idle hands

While even the aethersmith doesn’t completely understand where Behemoths come from, we do know that they won’t stop coming any time soon. And while any Slayer would be happy to see their home permanently safe and sound, there’s nothing a warrior abhors more than boredom.

That’s why we’ll be rounding out progression in Sharpen Your Skills with the addition of daily, weekly, and other scheduled hunts. These are special hunts and tasks that will keep you hunting between quests and well after you’ve completed the goals you’ve set your sights on.

In the coming weeks, we’ll have more details about the nature of these hunts and the rewards that you will receive for completing them!

Big Changes

These updates are the result of the feedback that you have given us and the lessons we’ve learned throughout the Closed Beta. They are major alterations that will change the way you play Dauntless. It will impact hunts, quests, inventories — the entirety of progression.

To this end, we will be completely resetting progression, inventories (with the exception of promotional items like PAX or partner flares and Dark Harvest rewards), and all other character attributes for every Dauntless player when the Sharpen Your Skills update goes live. To thank everyone who has contributed to the Closed Beta, players will also receive a unique flare.

We will have more information about these account resets in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on this blog and the Dauntless forums.

From all of us at Phoenix Labs, thank you for your continued investment and interest in Dauntless. These changes are the first of many that are to come and which will reshape the destiny of the Shattered Isles. We look forward to your feedback and thoughts on progression and the other topics we will be discussing in the coming weeks.