A Grim Misadventure indeed. If last time was veritably giant, this time we’re ascending to the heavens! And then coming back down, because there is no sky in an ARPG. When we first announced Fangs of Asterkarn last year, we laid out our planned feature set:
At the top of the list was Ascendant Mode, the crowning system of the next expansion. Since this is central to today’s reveal, let us first go over what Ascendant Mode is going to be. After installing Fangs of Asterkarn, when you reach level 100 on a character (or let us be real, when you boot up the game and scroll down your list of level 100 characters!), you will find the option to toggle a new difficulty mode. Much like Veteran was for Normal difficulty, Ascendant Mode is applied on top of Ultimate difficulty, which means all your quest progress and decisions will immediately carry over and you will be able to switch between the two at any time without losing progress.
Ascendant Mode is intended to be challenging, with monsters posing a threat similar to what the Shattered Realm’s 60th Shard would be. But what it will also do is enable a number of new mechanics intended to spice up your campaign experience and make running through the world exciting again. In that sense, we want to make the campaign world the third pillar of endgame!
Note: as always, everything you are seeing today is in active development and subject to change. Nothing is set in stone until it is!
Table of Contents
Currently in Grim Dawn, when you get a rare item, unless it is a Monster Infrequent, you are probably not going to give it much thought unless you are really struggling in that gear slot. That is understandable, Monster Infrequents come with substantial baseline stats that common items simply cannot compete with.
For this reason, Ascendant Mode will grant all common items a chance to Ascend. Ascended items will roll a third affix that comes with many powerful and unusual bonuses. These will help you get some hard to find skill bonuses, and to fill in gaps in your stats. You may even find a damage conversion that cannot be found anywhere else.
We believe this will not only make these common drops more exciting again, but give you all new ways to deck out your builds! And, of course, this new affix will be compatible with the Affix Reroll system coming in Fangs of Asterkarn, but more on that in a future update. 
If you are a fan of Monster Totem hunting, then this feature is for you. In Ascendant Mode, all totems will have a chance to upgrade to a new challenging Tempest Totem. These accursed effigies will spit out powerful enemies and a mini-boss, which you will have to defeat to earn their loot. Tempest Totems will have a chance of dropping some unique items that you will struggle to find anywhere else in the game!
As every totem in Cairn will have a chance to upgrade in this manner, all of your favorite farming routes will continue to be a valid option.
Treasure Troves have fallen a bit out of favor over time, but we will be touching up their loot for all versions of the game in a future update. However, when playing in Ascendant Mode, you will find that the troves will have a chance of upgrading to a Resplendent Trove. Predictably, you will find vastly improved drops should you stumble upon one of these!
Explorers searching every nook of the world should be sure to carry some dynamite around. They are far more economical than a set of lockpicks!
For the next mechanic, we took a cue from one of Grim Dawn Community League’s popular features. In Ascendant Mode, virtually all treasure chests will have a chance to become marked by the void. When this occurs, opening the chest will attract fiends from the darkest depths of the Ch’thon’s domain to your location. Defeat them to earn additional loot and some of the new crafting materials from Fangs of Asterkarn.
Marked chests have a high likelihood of attracting the vile Heralds of Ch’thon. Do not lose your sanity to the void!
Lastly, as you progress in Ascendant Mode, you may find the unsettling feeling that you are being watched. As you slay enemies, you may attract the attention of the Dread, an unspeakable horror drawn to wanton slaughter and destruction. This mechanic might seem familiar to those that have been playing in the recently released v1.2.1 update, which overhauled Nemesis boss spawns.
This powerful foe is not something to be trifled with. Only the most prepared characters will have any hope of defeating it, ones that regularly tackle some of Grim Dawn’s mightiest enemies…
As development went on, we predictably found ourselves quickly returning to old habits…which is to say you are once again going to be getting MOAR. Ascendant Mode was always going to have all matter of new gameplay mechanics and challenges, but we were not satisfied with that. We started tinkering with the possibilities. What we came away with is the Ascension Altar.
When you reach the Kurn settlement in Asterkarn, you will gain access to this sacred site. The Ascension Altar enables you to take all the mechanics we described above (and more!) and to cater them to your playstyle. The altar is split into two sections: the center and the outer circles.
The Center
The middle of the altar channels the elements themselves, allowing you to manipulate all of your item drops. By inserting different crafting materials, you can bias loot to match your preferred damage type. Looking for Bleed damage items? Use a Ch’thonic Seal of Binding. Interested in pet gear? Insert a Manticore Eye.
And yes, doing so will override any inherent loot biases items such as Monster Infrequents already have. If you were looking for a niche prefix and suffix combination that did not match the inherent damage of a Monster Infrequent, this system will enable you to change the odds in your favor!
The Outer Circles
While the center manipulates your loot, the outer circles will aid you in acquiring it. Each material inserted in the outer circle improves your odds of encountering the new Ascendant Mode mechanics, or in improving drop rates.
If you are a fan of Monster Totems, the new Bloodbound Totem crafting material will increase your chances of encountering Tempest Totems! Likewise, Celestial Essence will make it more likely that you draw out the vicious Dread. If you want to level up faster, you can spend Aether Crystals to increase experience gains. Each mechanic is associated with a different crafting material, and you can combine them in any way you please.
But be aware: while the Ascension Altar will aid you in your endeavors, it will also empower your enemies. Every crafting material inserted into the altar will boost monsters differently. This way, you are not only catering the gameplay to your desires, but also scaling the challenge to meet your skill level.
Now, you may find yourself saying: Crate, I am a single parent of six with three jobs, pickleball lessons, and also I volunteer at a cat shelter across town to which I walk through six feet of snow every day both ways. I love Grim Dawn, but I simply do not have the time to play on a difficulty like Ascendant Mode! We hear you, average human! Thanks to the Ascension Altar being available on all difficulties, you will have the ability to enable any of the Ascendant mode’s mechanics even if you do not play in Ascendant Mode! This way, you are not missing out on any of the exciting new mechanics, but are not forced to play with them either if you do not want to.
As a not-so-small aside for modders: the Ascension Altar is incredibly modular and hooks into our Lua scripting system. The possibilities you can enable in your mods with the Ascension Altar are truly limited by your creativity. You could seal entire parts of your worlds away, or spawn characters and monsters exclusively based on what materials are inserted, all while adjusting the difficulty accordingly. Similarly, you can add new recipes to the altar using materials unique to your mod.
This system really elevates the massive Ascendant Mode feature set to another level and lets you play Grim Dawn your way, and we cannot wait to get it into your hands. But, unfortunately, you will have to wait a bit longer. At this time, we are certain that Grim Dawn: Fangs of Asterkarn will need to be pushed back to 2025. We sincerely believe the wait will be worth it and, after today’s reveal, we hope you will agree!
Like knowing what is coming up next for Grim Dawn? Check back on 08/19/2024 for the next Grim Misadventure!
