Ancient Power
Ancient Powers are obtained through the game's prestige system. In exchange for losing almost all progress in the game, you gain a passive bonus that applies to all players in your game session. It is intended for end-game players who've exhausted all other methods of improving their characters (eg. obtained maximum gear, all the shards they need for their heroes, etc.).
Obtaining Ancient Power for the very first time requires the following conditions to be met:
Each time you reset, the floor level requirement increases, but the ascension level requirement does not. If you do not have a minimum ascension level of at least 250, you may need have to spend extra time farming experience before you can do another reset. The more minimum ascension you can get before your first reset, the easier it will be to solo your way back up to your next target floor.
See the Ancient Power Calculations chart for more information about minimum starting floors, the minimum floor required to do your next reset, and how minimum ascension is calculated.
Once you are ready to do a reset, speak to Mananode in town.
Resets
The following things will happen each time you do a reset:
- You will receive 1 point to spend in an Ancient Power of your choice.
- You will receive a random Prestigious weapon. Its unique mod will have a minimum quality of 5/10.
- Your gold and EXP bonus will be raised by 5% (stacks with each reset).
- Your ascension talent caps will be increased up to a maximum of 999 for talents that originally capped at 140 (eg. The Hero Health talent cap will be raised, but Hero Crit Chance will not).
- All items in your store will be placed into your inventory, or scavenger if your inventory is full.
- The minimum floor you can start on will increase.
- The minimum floor you have to clear for your next reset will increase.
All progress related to equipment, ascension, and access to game modes will be lost:
- All of your equipment (armor, weapons, relics), excluding rings, will be set down to campaign level.
- All upgrades in all of your shards (including Hyper Shards) will be lost, unless the shard is gilded.
- All chaos difficulties above Chaos I (Expeditions, Incursions, and Mastery) will be locked until you meet the conditions to unlock them again.
- Your ascension will be reset down to the minimum ascension level, as indicated in the Powers menu.
This also means you can earn the following items on floors you've cleared in a previous reset:
- Prestigious weapons that are granted every floor that is a multiple of 10
- Mananode Gifts
- Defender packs
The following things will not be impacted by a reset:
- The quality of your items and MODs (perfectly rolled items will stay perfectly rolled)
- Rings
- Stars obtained in Mastery
- Weapon unlocks at the Wayfarer (what's unlocked stays unlocked)
- Pets (this was changed in the Isle of Dread update on 2018-09-23)
- Crafting items
- Currencies (gold, defender medals, gems, etc.)
- Cosmetics
Stacking & Caps
The maximum amount of points you can put into each ability is 5. However, since Ancient Powers are a global buff, it can be stacked up to a maximum of 10 when additional players join who have the same powers.
If Player 1 has 5 points and Player 2 has 5 points in Ancient Ability Power, it will combine to 10. However, if Player 3 joins and also has 1 point, it will be ignored because the cap has already been reached.
Powers
| Icon | Power | Description | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ? | Ancient Ability Power | Ability Power increased by x% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 10% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Heroic Power | Hero Damage increased by x% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 10% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Health | Hero Health increased by x% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 10% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Resistance | All resistances increased by x% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 10% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Life Steal | Primary/Secondary attacks heal for x% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Fortification | Defense Health increased by x% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 10% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Destruction | Defense Power increased by x% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 10% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Strikes | Defense Range increased by x% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Builder | Tower Build Time decreased by x% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 10% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Respawn | Hero Respawn Time is reduced by x% | 12% | 18% | 24% | 27% | 30% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Defense Critical Damage | Defense Critical Damage increased by x% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 10% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Defense Critical Chance | Defense Critical Chance increased by x% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Hero Critical Chance | Hero Critical Chance increased by x% | 1% | 2% | 3% | 4% | 5% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
| ? | Ancient Hero Critical Damage | Hero Critical Damage increased by x% | 4% | 6% | 8% | 9% | 10% | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |