Rifts — the endgame race 🌀
v0.32 adds Rifts: procedurally-generated dungeons behind natural portals that open across the new expansion zones. Every portal is a shared overworld race — multiple groups can enter the same rift, but each runs its own private instance, and only the first group to clear takes the full reward. It's the level-20 endgame chase for gear, mounts, and the two legendaries.
🌀 The basics: at level 20, step into an open C / B / A / S portal. Your group gets its own instance of a procedurally-built dungeon. Race every other group to the boss — win the first clear for the full loot, mounts and legendary rolls; lose it and you still finish, but keep only what dropped off the mobs.
Getting in
- Level 20 required — rifts are pure endgame (
RIFT_MIN_LEVEL20). - One portal per eligible zone, cycling hourly. Every expansion zone keeps a single open portal; when it expires (60-minute lifetime) that zone's next one opens a cycle later. Portals are deterministic — every client sees the same one.
- Solo or party. A solo player or a full party each enter as their own instance; no rift geometry is sent over the wire, only a compact descriptor, so everyone races the identical dungeon.
The four ranks
A portal's rank sets its difficulty and its loot table:
| Rank | Base level | Gear it pays out |
|---|---|---|
| C | 20 | Normal five-man loot (ilvl 23 rares) |
| B | 22 | Heroic five-man epics (ilvl 31) |
| A | 25 | Heroic five-man epics + better mount odds |
| S | 28 | Heroic five-man epics + the two legendary chase rolls |
Mob levels are capped at 22 even in S-rank — S is harder through tuning, not raw levels. A differs from B by its mount tier rather than its gear, and S is the only place the two legendary chase items can drop.
The race
This is the twist that makes rifts different from a dungeon:
- One portal, many instances. Everyone who enters a portal gets a separate, isolated run of the same generated dungeon.
- First clear wins. The first group to down the final boss claims the race rewards — the gear ladder, the sealed cache, and the first-clear extras.
- Losers still finish, but empty-handed on completion. Every other instance keeps running and completes as the race loser when its own boss falls: you get an exit but no completion loot — only whatever dropped off the mobs along the way.
- Instance binding. The moment your group lands its first mob kill, the instance is bound to its members (WoW-raid style). An untouched instance recycles when the party regroups, so a freshly-formed group always shares one clean run.
Speed matters. Because only the first clear pays out, a rift rewards knowing the route and pushing pace, not full-clearing every pull.
Rewards
- Gear — the rank's loot table (above), from normal-dungeon rares at C up to heroic epics at B/A/S.
- Mounts — higher ranks improve your mount odds; the two epic mounts (Aether-Jouster Hover-Cycle, Thunderstrut the Grand Gobbler) are rift-only. See [[mounts]].
- The legendary chase — S-rank only carries the two legendary rolls, the top prize of the whole system.
Tips
- Match the rank to your group. C is a gearing-up lap; push toward A/S once you're in heroic epics and want mounts or the legendaries.
- Scout the open portals. With one per zone on an hourly cycle, there's usually a rank you want open somewhere — hop zones to find it.
- Race, don't dawdle. Only the first clear pays completion loot. Learn the boss and cut the trash you can.
- Bind deliberately. Your first mob kill locks the instance to your group — form up fully before you start if you want a clean shared run.
See also: [[mounts]] for what rifts award, [[heroic-dungeons]] for the epic loot table rifts draw from, and [[heroic-nythraxis]] for the raid at the top of the PvE ladder.