Quickstart

1. The world

Press Play on the main menu, or M in game, to open the World Map and pick a level. In Town any party member can propose a map; everyone presses Ready (Y) to launch. Quests come from Binder in Town and show under the minimap.

After the Campaign, the Obelisk in Town opens Crusades: eleven Tiers of rising enemy level, health, damage and Magic Find, with new maps at each Tier. Crusade mods cost Crusadium and make a map harder and richer, and clearing your highest Tier with enough mods active unlocks the next. Crusades also bring Strongboxes, Treasure Goblins, mini-dungeons, the Sealed, the Forsworn and the Descent, and clearing Tier 8 or higher with all 8 mods drops the Shards of Ascension that unlock the Archives raids. Plan your route in the Crusade Planner.

2. Gear makes the class

There are no classes. Every piece of equipment carries a skill, so what you wear is what you can do. Weapons bring their attacks, armor and focuses bring spells and shouts, and two focuses with the same skill give you two copies with separate cooldowns. Press K to swap between two full weapon sets. Every quest reward includes a Skill Core: right-click it to shape a Dying Wish of any skill, then use it on an item to replace that item's skill.

Rarity is the number of mod slots: white 1, green 2, blue 3, purple 4. Every item also has an implicit mod on its top line; chest armor, helmets, shields, gloves and two-handed weapons roll it at double strength. Amulets and rings carry two implicits and nothing else. Legendaries carry a fixed effect plus four random affixes. Influenced items roll their Knight Order's mods more often and one tier higher.

3. Crafting

A Runestone rerolls an item's affixes at the lower of the rune's level and the item's level. Two Runestones of one level combine into one a level higher; two Endeavors make a Fool's Gamble, two Fool's Gambles a Twist of Fate and two Judgments a Tribunal. Double-click to combine, or use the Combine Runes buttons in your inventory. Endeavor, Fool's Gamble, Twist of Fate, Crescendo, Reprieve, Echo Shards, Spheres of Influence, Avarice, Judgment and Tribunal each do one thing to an item; Favored versions roll higher tiers. Right-click a crafting item to enter spam mode, and Ctrl + Shift click an item to lock it against crafting, selling and breaking. Break unwanted items for crafting materials, including some the merchant never sells. The crafting page has the rules and the crafting simulator lets you try any of it for free.

4. Loot is yours

Loot drops separately for every player; anything you can see is yours. Items fly to you when combat ends, or press Z at any time. The loot filter (L) hides what you do not want and is saved per character. Drag an item into the centre of the screen to drop it for a teammate. The stash in Town is shared across your characters.

5. Talents and Supers

You gain a talent point per level, up to fifty, and spend them across 11 Knight Order trees, all open to every character:

ZabaothEhtirasVerndariAlcaeusKirkiraCerridwenSendatuOriasValkyrionAstarothAetherion

Points go into a tree's passive stat bonuses. Five points in a tree open a Tier 1 talent, ten grant that tree's Super and open a Tier 2 talent. Spread points across as many trees as you like. Supers charge from kills and golden orbs and fire on 3 to 7: every tree with ten points gives one, up to five. Sister Remiel in Town sells Penance to refund a point and Absolution to reset everything.

6. Staying alive

Out of combat your resources and cooldowns recover quickly. Your Health Flask (1) restores 30% of your Maximum Health, the Utility Flask (2) applies the effects you chose at Binder's flask crafting, and both hold three uses refilled by kills and Flask Refill drops. Hold F beside a downed ally to revive them. If the whole party falls in a Crusade before the map boss, Respawn Nearby (Y) brings everyone back at the boss door once.

7. Combat

Every hit deals Resilience Damage, the gold bar under a health bar; empty it and the enemy staggers. Enemies flash red for Blockbreaker attacks, which deal double Resilience Damage and break blocks and temporary shields. Hold an attack key for a heavy attack at 1.875x weapon damage. Melee from behind deals 30% more, arrow headshots 50% more, and a bow shot released between 75% and 90% charge is a Perfect Shot. Critical Strike Chance above 100% starts to Supercrit. Hit a Shrine left by a cleared pack to bless the whole team for 30 seconds.

8. Co-op

A party holds four. Fill empty seats with up to three Companions from Vangela in Town: they wear real gear, use its skills, have the full talent tree and revive you when the fight is over. Right-click an ally's portrait to inspect, trade or kick. Tap the radial menu key to ping enemies, spots and items; minions and Companions go after pinged enemies.

9. Town

Binder: quests, enchants, flask crafting and Spheres of Influence. Braggus Ironjaw: equipment. Scarlett: Dying Wishes. Sister Remiel: Penance and Absolution. Cass the Gambler: items for Gamba. Vangela: Companions. Mystara: transmog, 100 gold a piece. Granny: Arena leaderboards (pick Arena maps at the War Table). Orra, the Cinderwife: spend Hellcinder from the Descent on broods of gear shaped by the Dark Pattern you weave in the Iron Womb. The Obelisk: Crusades and the Crusade Tree.

10. Default keys