Arenas
The Arenas (also called Alpha Arenas) are a repeatable endgame combat system. Once you have defeated a biome's guardian in the main story, that biome's Arena opens, letting you challenge the guardian again and again at rising difficulty for the game's most powerful rewards.
How Arenas Work
[edit | edit source]Each Arena is a timed combat action, just like an expedition — you start it, it runs on a timer, and it can be run offline like the rest of the game.
- An Arena for a biome only appears after you have defeated that biome's guardian in the story.
- Every attempt costs tribute (see below), which is spent whether you win or lose.
- Winning pays out guardian crests (an Amber-value reward) every time, and has a chance to drop pieces of the exclusive Primal set.
- Combat uses the normal expedition damage rules, so higher tiers demand serious food stocks. As with expeditions, a low-health safeguard stops the fight before it becomes fatal.
With ten guardians in the valley and three tiers each, there are thirty Arena bouts in total.
Tiers
[edit | edit source]Every Arena has three tiers of increasing difficulty and reward: Gamma, Beta, and Alpha. You must clear the lower tier before the next opens:
- Gamma is available as soon as the guardian is defeated.
- Beta unlocks after your first Gamma win in that biome.
- Alpha unlocks after your first Beta win in that biome.
| Tier | Difficulty (vs. guardian) | Tribute cost | Crests per win | Primal piece chance (each) | XP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gamma | ×1.25 | 1 Artifact + 1 Trophy | 2 | 2% | ×1.5 |
| Beta | ×2 | 1 Artifact + 3 Trophies | 4 | 5% | ×2.5 |
| Alpha | ×3 | 2 Artifacts + 5 Trophies | 7 | 12% | ×4 |
Difficulty and XP are shown relative to the underlying story guardian fight, so a tougher guardian makes for a tougher Arena at every tier.
Tribute
[edit | edit source]Tribute is the entry cost of each bout, consumed on every attempt — win or lose. Each Arena demands two things from its own biome:
- the biome's Artifact — a cave-only relic that drops from that biome's Delving runs; and
- the biome's Alpha Trophies — spoils earned from overcoming that biome's alpha predators.
Because tribute is spent even on a loss, a losing streak still costs materials, but the guaranteed crest payout on wins softens the grind.
Rewards
[edit | edit source]- Guardian crests — awarded on every win (2 / 4 / 7 by tier), the Arena's steady Amber income line.
- Primal set — a six-piece equipment set that drops only from Arenas, at the per-tier chances above (one roll per piece per win). It is the strongest gear in the game, meaningfully above the Sundered expedition set, with a large full-set bonus. Collecting the full Primal set is the intended way to make the toughest Alpha bouts winnable.
The very last climb — the Alpha Arena of the final biome — is balanced to be a genuine challenge even with a full Primal set and a top-tier party.
See Also
[edit | edit source]- Creatures — the guardians you rematch
- Items — Artifacts, Trophies, crests, and the Primal set
- Achievements — the Arena achievement track (Blooded Sands, Arena Veteran, Primal Champion)
- Mastery — Arenas earn per-action mastery like any other action