Editing Rifts (section)

== Rift Ranks ==

'''Since v0.49.0''', once you've completed your first '''Ascension''' (the late-game prestige reset), every rift boss gets two tougher, repeatable variants: '''Beta''' and '''Alpha'''. They're the same four fights — the Rift Warden, the Twin Sovereigns, the Riftheart Colossus, and the Riftheart Core — refought at higher difficulty for a richer payout. Below your first Ascension these rows don't exist at all: no listing, no cost, no drops.

=== Unlocking a rank ===

Each boss reveals its own Beta and Alpha tier independently, by lifetime win count on the tier below it:
* '''Beta''' reveals after '''8 wins''' on that boss's ordinary fight.
* '''Alpha''' reveals after '''8 wins''' on that boss's own Beta variant.

So the Rift Warden's Alpha rank only cares about Rift Warden wins — it says nothing about your Twin Sovereigns tally. All the normal gates from '''[[#Opening the Rifts|above]]''' still apply underneath: the zone has to be unlocked, its 25-patrol clear met, and (for the Core) the Riftheart Colossus dead.

Ascending resets the ladder — defeated-boss flags, patrol clears, and rank-reveal win counts all restart, so the zone-unlock chain and every Beta/Alpha tier have to be re-climbed each cycle. What carries over: any Rift Standard, Riftbound Trinket, or Riftheart Relic you already hold, and every one-off Bazaar purchase you've made (the Sigil Press included) — none of those ever need re-buying.

=== Rift Sigils ===

Every Beta or Alpha attempt costs '''1 Rift Sigil''', spent whether you win or lose. Sigils are never sold or dropped — they mint automatically off ordinary rift patrol wins: '''1 Sigil per 12 patrol wins''' across the three rift zones, or '''1 per 10''' once you've bought the '''Sigil Press''' from the Bazaar (1,800 Shards, one-off).

=== The fights ===

Difficulty climbs with rank, and so does the payout; incoming hits are softened by that same factor, so a Beta or Alpha blow lands no more dangerous, proportionally, than the ordinary fight's — you're just taking more, smaller hits for a longer fight. The level requirement doesn't change with rank; only the numbers below do.

{| class="wikitable sortable"
! Boss !! Rank !! Level req. !! Difficulty !! Time !! XP !! Rift Shards !! Extra rewards
|-
| Confront the Rift Warden || Beta || 72 || 960 || 156 s || 1,644 || 45 || —
|-
| Confront the Rift Warden || Alpha || 72 || 1,280 || 182 s || 1,859 || 75 || Riftheart Relic (6%), Quality Whetstone (8%)
|-
| Confront the Twin Sovereigns || Beta || 82 || 1,200 || 168 s || 2,128 || 45 || —
|-
| Confront the Twin Sovereigns || Alpha || 82 || 1,600 || 196 s || 2,405 || 75 || Riftheart Relic (6%), Quality Whetstone (8%)
|-
| Confront the Riftheart Colossus || Beta || 92 || 1,470 || 180 s || 2,760 || 45 || —
|-
| Confront the Riftheart Colossus || Alpha || 92 || 1,960 || 210 s || 3,120 || 75 || Riftheart Relic (6%), Quality Whetstone (8%)
|-
| Storm the Riftheart Core || Beta || 96 || 1,650 || 192 s || 3,450 || 45 || —
|-
| Storm the Riftheart Core || Alpha || 96 || 2,200 || 224 s || 3,900 || 75 || Riftheart Relic (6%), Quality Whetstone (8%)
|}

Every rank fight also still pays its boss's usual crest item (Warden's Sigil, Sovereign Twinshard, Riftheart Core, or Rift Prime Shard) and rolls that boss's Riftforged pieces at the usual 5% each — ranked wins are a legitimate way to farm the '''[[#The Riftforged set|Riftforged set]]''', not just shards. Only the Rift Shard payout and, at Alpha, the Relic/Whetstone rows change from the ordinary fight.

=== Riftheart Relic ===

Alpha-rank wins alone can drop the '''Riftheart Relic''' (6% per win). It's pitied: the chase is shared across all four Alpha fights, and if you're still empty-handed on your '''25th''' dry Alpha win, that win grants it outright. Holding at least one adds a flat '''+25 expedition score''' inside the three rift zones — on top of the Riftbound Trinket's +6% rift win chance and the Rift Standard's own +10, which applies everywhere. The chase ends the moment you hold one; further copies still roll at the base 6%, purely as sellable dupes (8,000 [[Amber]] each).

=== Quality Whetstone ===

Alpha-rank wins also carry an 8% chance at a '''Quality Whetstone'''. Nothing in the rift chain spends it — it's a crafting-quality ingredient used past the rift/Ascension gate. The Bazaar sells extra copies for 120 Shards (Ascension count 1+), and the separate, Ascension-gated Warden's Bounty Exchange sells it too, for 800 Marks.