Guides

Every step carries a badge: LIVE seen working, TESTING built and tested but not yet played, PLANNED not built yet.

Getting in

Getting started

1. Ask Sloan for an invite code. Epoch Realms is a private, invite-only server: you register with a code, set up an authenticator app by scanning a QR code, and save your recovery codes. Sloan sends you the launcher too; there is no public download yet. TESTING
2. Install the launcher and press Play. Sign in once and it remembers you. Play opens the game client. LIVE
3. The title screen. Log in or register, then play. Log out lets someone else sign in on the same PC. LIVE
4. Pick a class. A new account opens on the class carousel: step through the classes with < and > (or the arrow keys), type a name if you have none, press Enter. LIVE
5. Your starting kit. Every new character gets a small kit for their class (about a tier 3 weapon, a tier 4 armor, a tier 1 ability and a tier 2 ring) and a few Health and Magic potions. TESTING

The first hour

Your first hour

1. The Nexus. You arrive in the Nexus, the safe hub. Its portals lead to the realm, to your Vault and to the Boss Hall. TESTING
2. Level up fast. Kill XP is boosted until level 20: about two and a quarter times up to level 10, three times from 11 to 20 (fame is not boosted). Follow your quest arrow to the next target (quest kills pay far more than anything else) and stay near your party, because everyone in range shares the XP. LIVE
3. Get a mercenary. You win mercenaries by clearing dungeons and they wait at the Barracks in your Vault; read Mercenaries for how. Until the two starters are built, a free first companion is still offered near where you appear in the Nexus. Type /party summon and they walk in. LIVE
4. The realm. Take the realm portal. Start on the beach and in the lowlands and move inward toward the godlands as you level. Realm events keep three big bosses and up to two small ones standing; every kill counts toward closing the realm. TESTING
5. Your first dungeon. Realm bosses and gods drop dungeon portals when they die, one portal per death. Pirate Cave (tier 1) and Forest Maze (tier 2) are the gentle ones; the Realm page lists every dungeon by tier and who drops its portal. Kill the boss and check every bag; white bags hold the rare drops. TESTING
6. Low health. Back off and drink a potion. If you are very low, return to the Nexus, which heals you. Your mercenaries do the same on their own, and bots back off tells them to retreat when a fight is too hot. TESTING

After the first dungeon

Bigger fights

1. The dungeon ladder. Dungeons are ranked by tier, 1 to 10. A higher tier is harder and drops better gear. The Realm page lists every dungeon. TESTING
2. The Boss Hall. A portal in the Nexus leads to a hall of altars. Carry Waking Shards to an altar, stand on it for three seconds and that boss wakes in its own arena. Shards drop from realm event bosses (35 % each), godlands gods (3 %) and the bosses of tier 5 and higher dungeons (10 %). Characters under level 20 get one free fight on the Trial altar. LIVE Shard drops and hall loot (a bonus Legendary roll, and a guaranteed white the first time you beat each boss) are tested but not played. TESTING
3. Heroic arenas. The Cavern of Septavius and Malphas' Hideout are harder versions of two bosses. The regular Septavius (Undead Lair) and Malphas (Abyss of Demons) always drop the heroic portal when they die, and so do the rare Elite Ghost God and Elite White Demon in the realm (about one god in a hundred is an Elite). Heroic clears can win the best mercenaries and drop white bags. TESTING
4. The Drift. A galaxy dungeon with four strata. Every galaxy boss from ROTF fights here, and the next boss arrives about a second after one falls. It needs an 8/8 character (eight stats maxed) and Fuel: 500, 2,000, 5,000 and 10,000 for strata I to IV, spent at the Drift Sanctum in your Vault. Fuel Cartridges drop from realm event bosses, tier 3 and higher dungeon bosses and the Drift itself. The Drift is the only place Galactic gear drops. LIVE

Your base

Your Vault

1. What is in it. Your chests, the Barracks where your mercenaries wait, a Rune Lectern, the Lattice Stone (skill tree), Potion Storage and the Drift Sanctum. Gear you leave in a chest is safe when a character dies. TESTING
2. Chests cost fame. A new account starts with one open chest. Walk up to a locked one and a small panel offers it: the next costs 750 fame, and each one after costs 250 more, up to 16 chests. TESTING
3. Potion storage. A stat potion for a stat you have already maxed goes into account storage automatically (up to 50 of each kind), ready for your next character. /potions sell turns stored potions into fame, 2 fame each. LIVE
4. Runes. Runes come only from nodestones. Use a Small Nodestone to learn a mini rune or a Big Nodestone to learn a big rune; each rune is yours for the whole account, and you slot them at the Rune Lectern and on the tree. Nodestones drop from godlands gods, realm events, dungeon bosses and the Drift. TESTING
5. The skill tree. The Lattice Stone opens it once a character has 8/8 maxed stats. You start with 5 points and light up the tree one connected node at a time; Galactic Essence from the Drift adds more, up to 82. A respec refunds everything. The first time you open it, it asks you to pick a sub-class. LIVE

More on the numbers on the Progression page.

Dying

Death and fame

1. Death is permanent. When a character dies it is gone with everything it carried, but whatever sits in your Vault stays. TESTING
2. Fame. A character's fame (a thousandth of its XP, and everything past level 20, plus bonuses for what it did) is paid to your account when it dies. Account fame shows as a small counter under the XP bar. TESTING
3. Death saves. A few rare items give a chance to survive a lethal hit (they need to be worn for ten seconds first, and then rest for a while). The game announces it when one fires. TESTING
4. Mercenaries. At zero HP a mercenary drops and you can revive them, and their gear is never lost. See Mercenaries. TESTING
5. Spending fame. Account fame carries across every character you make. It is what unlocks your Vault chests (see Your Vault). TESTING