One of the more critical aspects of PvPvE games like Dungeonborne is gearing up your characters. While gear isn't the end-all-be-all of winning fights and escaping the dungeon - unlocking Heirloom Gear in Dungeonborne can give you a competitive edge.
Explaining Heirloom Gear in Dungeonborne
You can find items as you delve dungeons by taking them from enemies, chests, and other players, as well as purchase some decent weapons and armor from the Merchant. Heirlooms, however, have to be unlocked.
Once an Heirloom item has been unlocked, you can craft it unlimited times using resources, giving you a lower cost way to gear up quickly should you not make it out of a dungeon.
Heirlooms can also be upgraded, increasing not only their base stats, but the slots that you can add additional enhancements (like damage or resistance) to, that will be added each time you craft that Heirloom.
You can only carry ONE type of Heirloom at a time: Weapon, Armor, Accessory. This limits players from maxing out stats with just Heirlooms.
Because Heirlooms have a +XXX% EXP Gain bonus, they can be great for helping you level up your characters quickly, too!
Dismantling Equipment
Before you can Unlock your first Heirloom, you're going to need to dismantle some equipment. The best way to do this, is to start dungeon diving - for early players focus on carrying out as much armor and weapons as you can.
Once you've escaped a dungeon with that gear - instead of selling it, head to the Blacksmith under the "Heirloom" tab, and hit the "Dismantle" button. Click the red hammer on the screen, and start dismantling everything you don't need.
Each rarity of gear gives different resources for unlocking and crafting:
- Grey Gear - Rough White Iron
- Can be purchased from Merchant for 100 Gold
- Green Gear - Ilmenite Ore
- Can be purchased from Merchant for 180 Gold
- Blue Gear - Refined Steel Ore
- Can be purchased from Merchant for 800 Gold
- Purple Gear - Star Fragment
- Can be purchased from Merchant for 2,700 Gold
Once you've dismantled enough to get 2-300 Rough White Iron, you'll be able to unlock your first Heirloom. Note: Heirlooms can be dismantled, but give extremely reduced resources for doing so.
Unlocking Heirloom Gear
To unlock an Heirloom in Dungeonborne, go to the "Heirloom" tab at the top of the menu. You're going to need the Rough White Iron you dismantled before to unlock access to your first Heirloom:
- One-Handed Weapons and Shields - 200 Rough White Iron OR 50 Ilmenite Ore
- Two Handed Weapons - 300 Rough White Iron needed per Heirloom OR 75 Ilmenite Ore
- Armor - 300 Rough White Iron needed per Heirloom OR 75 Ilmenite Ore
- Accessories - 200 Rough White Iron needed per Heirloom OR 50 Ilmenite Ore
I'd HIGHLY recommend saving any Ilmenite Ore you get from dismantling for things other than unlocking Heirlooms - you'll need it to upgrade later.
Once you select "Unlock" in the menu, the Heirloom will be unlocked for permanent re-crafting.
Crafting Heirloom Gear
Crafting Heirloom Gear is as simple as selecting your Heirloom and then choosing to craft it with either a Mithril Token, or with the required resource.
- Mithril Token - Acquired via Quests, or purchased from the Merchant for 1,000 Gold.
- Resources - Acquired via Dismantling Gear or purchased from the Merchant
Compared to the costs of purchasing gear from the Merchant, which can range from 1,600 - 36,000 Gold, crafting Heirlooms is significantly more cost effective, and can help you survive dungeons as well, if not better than some purchased gear.
Prioritize escaping with gear that will help you either unlock, craft, or upgrade your Heirlooms.
Upgrading Heirloom Gear
Once an Heirloom has been unlocked, it can be upgraded to be more powerful. Upgrading an Heirloom will give it additional Attack Levels, increasing the stats on them, as well as up to 3 Enchantment Slots to add additional stats to them.
To Upgrade an Heirloom, select it and choose "Upgrade":
- Green (Atk 2) to Blue (Atk 3) - 300 Ilmenite Ore
- Adds Enchantment 2 - Major Defense
- Cost to craft Becomes 2 Refined Steel Ore
- Blue (Atk 3) to Purple (Atk 4) - 300 Refined Steel Ore
- Adds Enchantment 3 - Major Utility
- Cost to craft becomes 2 Star Fragment
Once upgraded, you can click on one of the 3 available slots to unlock different Enchantments of that type, such as Physical Damage or Physical Resistance. These also cost either Ilmenite Ore or Refined Steel Ore.
Once unlocked they can be slotted into weapons, armor, and accessories.
Prioritize Unlocking and Upgrading Heirlooms
Now that you have the basics down, continue dismantling as much equipment as you can get your hands on. One of the most helpful things I learned before the game launched, was the value of Heirlooms.
At launch, I prioritized Heirlooms, and it's been immensely helpful at quickly leveling up my characters and gear. I'd highly recommend that both new and existing players put major focus on heirlooms as they will give you an edge without having to collect tons of gold.
