In Dauntless, players take up the mantle of Slayers. These brave warriors fight for humanity’s survival against ferocious beasts known as Behemoths, whose savage hunger to drain the very essence, or aether, from the world puts every life at risk. Equipped with powerful armor and weapons, Slayers will join up with others and adventure across the Shattered Isles to battle Behemoths together. After each battle, Slayers bring their hard-earned spoils to the frontier city of Ramsgate to craft, enhance and customize their arsenal to take on the next challenging encounter.

The world of Dauntless has been shattered by a cataclysmic event, creating a vast array of uncharted and majestic floating islands. Behemoths, as cunning as they are vicious, consume the land, and it’s up to the Slayers to hunt them down before they destroy what remains of the world. Slayers will explore an ever-changing frontier, brimming with verdant flora and unique wildlife.

Slayers will also forge their legend through a robust Evergame experience that offers a multitude of challenges and activities once they complete the main campaign. From fiendish Dire Behemoths and heroic difficulties, to unique hunt modifiers encouraging Slayers to adapt their strategies, the Evergame offers a multitude of challenges and promises powerful rewards (including Exotic gear) to those who answer the call. The Dauntless experience will continue to offer players new and unique ways to engage with the world and community for years to come.

Phoenix Labs announced that Dauntless returns with its most transformative update ever, Awakening, on December 5, 2024.

Marking its debut on Steam, Dauntless: Awakening will be available on all platforms with cross progression, allowing players old and new to seamlessly continue their adventures across console, Epic Games, and Steam. The first season, Dauntless: Awakening, kicks off the new era, with a host of new content. Additional seasons are already in the works, bringing regular waves of fresh content, challenges, and rewards for Slayers to enjoy. 

Headlining the update is the newest Behemoth, Karkonos created in collaboration with the Dauntless community. This epic encounter takes place in the haunting Twilight’s Domain hunting ground, where players can earn parts to craft the coveted Brineguard Armour Set. 

Dauntless: Awakening introduces 18 new weapons, seven of which are unlocked through early quests, including the Silver Sword and Golden Claws. Plus an additional 11 weapons are earned via Weapon Tokens, which are earned in weekly challenges and both the free and paid tracks of the new Hunt Pass. Every weapon has a unique special ability, can be powered up to Level 60, and has 25 unlockable Talents including boosts to special, active, and passive abilities. To aid players in levelling up their weapons they will be able to equip both a weapon and subweapon, with both gaining equal XP. 

This update is the culmination of player feedback and innovation, shaped in part by insights gathered during the closed beta, bringing new challenges, rewards, and adventures to Slayers around the world. 

Hail, Slayers!

There’s one question you’ve been asking since we announced Dauntless: Awakening… “When?”

How does December 5th sound?

Celebrate the launch of Dauntless: Awakening with this all-new trailer and then read on for more details.

Steam

Not only is Dauntless: Awakening just around the corner, we’re also coming to a whole new platform - Steam.

Crossplay and cross-progression have been huge parts of Dauntless from the start, and we’re thrilled to be inviting a whole new group of Slayers to join you in the Hunt. Just like it’s always been, crossplay and cross-progression will be powered by Epic account.

We want you to play Dauntless on whatever platform you prefer. And, if you want to Wishlist on Steam, either to play over there, or just to boost us in the algorithms, we wouldn’t mind that either.

Wishlist on Steam

The Change-over

Now that we’ve answered the biggest question, there are a ton of other questions we’ve received around what the experience will be like for existing Slayers moving into a post- Awakening world.

First up - there will be some scheduled downtime starting on December 3 at 10am PT.

If you’ve got any unfinished business for the season, now’s the time to take care of it!

One major last chance is with regard to Reforges, as the Reforge system will be retiring at the end of this season.

To honour all of the Reforges that have happened, there are two exclusive crowns available:

• Crest of the Reforged for Slayers who Reforge each weapon type once
• Crest of the Committed for Slayers who have Reforged at least 70 times, across any weapon type

There’s an extended Gregario’s Treasure Hunt 2X XP event coming up this weekend (November 29 - December 3 10am PT) to help you finish those off!

For additional context on the changes that are coming, check out our recent dev blog detailing all the upcoming changes. For today’s blog, we’re focusing on what this means for your existing gameplay items and currencies.

Weapons

• The Godhand, Molten Edict, The Hunger, and Twins Suns will remain in the game and be immediately available for Slayers who already own them.
  • Slayers who have power surged these weapons will automatically have theirs levelled up to Level 10 (of 60), otherwise, they will start at Level 1.
• The Silver Sword and Golden Claws will remain and be immediately available for Slayers who already own them.
  • These weapons will be migrated to match your progress with them pre- Awakening. For example if you made it to Golden Claws IV, your Golden Claws will come over at Level 4 already.
• Any other previously-crafted weapons crafted will be available to the Slayers who owned them as Transmogs.
  • Any Transmog Stones spent on these weapons before the update will also be refunded.
  • All other gameplay weapons, including Legendaries, will be removed from your inventory and not usable.
• All players who have Reforged at least once will receive 60 Peerless Aetherite, containing enough XP to level any weapon right up to Level 50 in the new system.
• Players will also receive a number of Weapon Tokens for a head-start on obtaining the new gameplay weapons, based on their inventory before the migration:
  • For every 20 gameplay weapons you have crafted, you will receive 100 Weapon Tokens.
  • A weapon that has been Power Surged will count for double.
  • There is a maximum of 500 Weapon Tokens that will be granted (so for having 100 gameplay weapons, 50 Power Surged weapons, or a mix along the way).

Armour

• Players who already crafted the three Exotic helm armours - The Skullforge, Prismatic Grace, and Tragic Echo - will have them unlocked as Transmogs, and any Transmog Stones spent on these items will be refunded.
  • The armours themselves will be removed from the game and no longer equippable.
• All other gameplay armour will remain in the game and usable.
  • With armour changing to a levelling system up to Level 20, any armour that has been power surged will be automatically upgraded to Level 10, otherwise it will start at Level 1.

Lanterns

• Gameplay lanterns with unique effects have been removed from the game, as has lantern crafting, with many of the effects moved to be part of our new weapons.
• As a result, all players will now have the one “basic” lantern, and will customize it with Transmogs as before, but now from the Customize Slayer screen (alongside banners, emotes, etc.).
  • Any gameplay lanterns previously crafted will be available as Transmogs, and any Transmog Stones spent on these lanterns will be refunded.

Hunt Passes

• We’re returning to the world of “one true Hunt Pass” per season, that lasts only for the duration of the current season. For more on the future of Hunt Pass, check our recent dev blog.
• As a result, all Vault Passes and Event Passes (everything other than the Slayer Commission pass) will be retired and no longer offered in the future. Items from them may appear over time in other sources like the Store for folks who missed them.
• For anyone who still has a purchased but uncompleted Vault or Event Pass will have them auto-completed as part of the update rollout.
  • Please note that for technical reasons, you’ll still need to go into the Hunt Pass screen and claim the rewards manually, like you would for completing them yourself.
• This auto-completion does not apply to the currently-active Slayer Commission pass. At the end of the season, it will expire like any other and you will only receive the rewards up to where you’d reached.

Cells

• The following cells are being removed:
  • Aetheric Attunement, Aetheric Evasion, Bloodless, Conditioning, Fleet Footed, Impulse, Invigorated, Mender, Rage, Shellshock Resist, and Zeal.
  • For Slayers with any of these Cells, they will receive Cell Cores, which can drop any of the remaining or new cells:
    • +1 Cells will be replaced with a Cell Core containing 2 Cells
    • +2 Cells will be replaced with a Cell Core containing 3 Cells
    • +3 Cells will be replaced with a Cell Core containing 4 Cells
• In addition, all Cells are now +1 only, as they become more of a supporting part of the perk economy. As a result, for Cells that are remaining in the game players will receive:
  • Per +2 Cell, 2 of the base Cell
  • Per +3 Cell, 4 of the base Cell
• At launch, all Cells will be unequipped from your existing weapons, armour, and lanterns to allow you to implement them how you wish in the new armour system.

Quests

• With so many systems and features changing in the update, we’ve decided to have everyone start back at the beginning in terms of the main quest, so even legacy players can be introduced to these new systems in context.
  • Importantly, you will not be losing any items or other progress other than that which we’ve already detailed above. Consider this “quest reset” a tutorial on what’s changed. Legacy players who have Reforged will also be able to get through it fairly quickly due to the Aetherite you’ll receive in the migration process (mentioned above under Weapons).
• All existing Slayers will load into Ramsgate after the update to find Markus waiting for you with a welcome back and quest to head to the Training Grounds. From there, you’ll quickly learn about the new progression systems via the updated Main and Side quests.
• You will need to unlock access to islands, modes, Behemoths and gear crafting via this new progression rather than having them all available from the start.
• No progress on Rumours or other remaining Side Quests will be lost, although you may find objectives have been updated to make sense in the new world of the game.
• Any Slayer who has already completed the Rolling Thunder side quest, but hadn’t yet unlocked and crafted the Tempest omnicell will be granted one (as it now comes from that quest).
• Any Slayer who has already completed the Mother Knows Drask side quest, but does not have the rumours for the Field-Rigged Battlemask or Field-Rigged Battleplate will be granted the initial unlock for these Rumours (as they now come from this quest).

Middleman Cell Cooking Slots

• The Middleman is leaving Ramsgate and he’s taking his Cell cooking functionality with him.
• Any player who had purchased one or both of the premium cooking slots that were available will receive 25 Patrol Keys per slot owned, which will be useful for farming new Cells from the new targeted Patrol Chests on islands.

Weapon Trackers

• With the changes to weapons in this update, what are currently Weapon Trackers will also be changing.
• These will now become Trackers, now a one-time purchase from the Research Lab, but now equipped to your player in the Customize Slayer screen, where you’ll also be able to see your current stat.
• As before, other players will see your equipped stat above your head in the game world, but please note that for now only one stat can be equipped at once.
• A stat will now start tracking as soon as you purchase the relevant Tracker, rather than only when a specific weapon is equipped.
• For players with existing Tracker data, we will take the following to be your new starter value:
  • Biggest Hit, Longest Glide: highest set value across any existing tracker
  • Fastest Heroic Escalation Completion, Fastest Dauntless Trial Completion: lowest set value across any existing tracker
  • All others (wounds, parts, dogs pet etc.): all set values across existing trackers will be combined!

Slayer Links

• Slayer Links remain in the update, and existing links from before the update should remain, but please note that your reward pool will be re-rolled to match items and currencies in the new game world.

Cosmetic Items

• Just to be very clear: no premium cosmetic items will be removed as part of the update. All of your flares, banners, emotes, arrivals, titles, crowns etc. will be right where you left them - and now equippable per-loadout!

Currencies

• Aetherdust, Aethersparks, Aetherhearts, Chronostones, and Cache Coins will all be retired with this update, so don’t be afraid to use them in advance!

PHEW! That should cover everything!

We can’t wait to introduce you to this new phase of Dauntless on December 5th!

Clear skies!

 

In Dauntless, Slayers can go at it alone or join cooperative parties with up to four people to take on the Behemoth threat. No two encounters are alike - each brings its own unique challenges and rewards. To survive on the Shattered Isles, players collect rewards from their hunts to upgrade their arsenal of weapons and armor in a deep and robust crafting system.

Dauntless features an innovative and robust ever-game experience which includes live service expansions and endgame activities that bring the world to life through regular content updates, events and more.

The team at Phoenix Labs (created by a team of industry veterans from BioWare, Riot Games, and other acclaimed studios) is committed to building Dauntless as an evolving experience. Expect new expansions, adventures, deadly Behemoths and more - all on a regular basis and all free-to-play.

Key Features:

• Defy Extinction - ​Hone your skills and ​overcome ferocious Behemoths alone or with a group of up to four Slayers in gripping and fast paced battles for survival.
• Master the Hunt- Each Behemoth is unique and presents its own set of challenges. It’ll take the right combination of skill, gear, and tactics to survive in the Shattered Isles.
• Craft Your Legacy ​- Collect rewards from the hunt to forge and upgrade a massive arsenal of weapons and armor in a deep and robust crafting system.
• Reclaim Our Shattered World ​- Explore a vast, ever-changing frontier, brimming with verdant flora and unique wildlife where uncharted adventure await.
• An Ever-changing World -​ Embark on new adventures with regular updates for years to come - all free-to-play

Dauntless is available on Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC with true cross-play and cross-progression support.