Crucible of the Unbroken

The Crucible of the Unbroken is a series of solo roguelike combat challenges available for beastmasters, themed after a tabletop game. Initially unlocked at level 30, the crucible is the primary gameplay focus for beastmasters aside from capturing beasts.

In addition to being required for the beastmaster job quests past level 30, rewards include various cosmetic items, gear upgrades, beast glamours, and Kornago Gourds. This content can also be used for leveling both beastmaster and their pets.

There are both story-mode and optional high-end boards available to challenge. In addition, players will gain access to three difficulty multipliers and region-wide leaderboards once they have completed the final board.

To enter the crucible once it has been unlocked in Into the Crucible, players must speak to Lauda in Central Shroud (X:21.9, Y:22.8), nearby the Bentbranch Meadows aetheryte.

General Mechanics

Players may prepare a roster of 10-15 familiars prior to entering the duty, but only three can be taken into a given battle, and only one can be summoned at once. The maximum roster size varies depending on the board. The in-game UI provides an overview of all enemies encountered, their weaknesses, stats, and attacks, helping players compose their team. However, players can also choose an automatically selected team recommended by the game (which may not necessarily be optimal).

Combat

Each combat encounter within the crucible is a short battle against one or more enemies in an enclosed arena separate from the main map. Players will need to utilize the specific actions granted by their familiars to handle certain enemy attacks, along with dealing with standard encounter mechanics found elsewhere, such as avoiding AoEs based on an enemy's cast or animation.

Elemental weaknesses, physical damage types, and status effect resistances are relevant in the crucible. Each familiar differs in these characteristics.

Familiar attributes

Each familiar has its own level (rank) and attributes in the Crucible. Unlike in the overworld or other duties, familiars also have HP and can take damage. Leveling up familiars will increase their attributes (e.g. maximum HP, physical attack/defense, magical attack/defense). The maximum rank of each familiar is 25.

HP and regeneration

Automatic HP regeneration is disabled within the crucible for both the player and their familiars. HP can be restored from using certain ephemeral items (obtained within the duty) or recovering at a campsite space.

In addition, players are disallowed from using any consumable item within the crucible except for ephemeral items and meals. Using meals, especially on higher difficulties, is recommended to boost the player's HP and offense.

Familiars who are KO'd cannot be summoned again unless if they are revived at a campsite space or with a Blessed Horn. If the player is KO'd, they will fail the duty and need to restart from the beginning of the board, unless if the effects of a Ring of Sacrifice, G1 Beastmaster Reraiser, G2 Beastmaster Reraiser or Temporal Sand are triggered.

Duty actions

The player has access to two duty actions that determine whether they or their current beast has enmity on enemies, which can be used to divert enemy attacks:

Action	Acquired	Level	Type	Casting	Recast	Range Radius	Description
Challenge	BST	30	Ability	Instant	15s	25y 0y	Gesture threateningly, placing yourself at the top of a target's enmity list and increasing enmity generation. Duration: 30s Additional Effect: Nullifies familiar's Cover
Snarl	BST	30	Ability	Instant	15s	25y 0y	Orders your familiar to use Threaten, placing it at the top of a target's enmity list and increasing its enmity generation. Additional Effect: Takes all damage intended for the beastmaster Duration: 45s

Board layout

The goal of each crucible board is to traverse the map from the starting space until reaching the boss at the other end. A board consists of a series of spaces (also known as moves) with branching paths. Each space may have a battle, a rest area to restore HP, a shop to purchase ephemeral items, a treasure chest containing ephemeral items, or a random event. There are nearly 50 unique battle encounters.

Once the player chooses a branch in a path, all spaces in the other branch become inaccessible. Players may also not revisit previous spaces.

Each board has a fixed layout, so the locations of all space types and the battles in specific spaces are same each run. However, some boards have random event spaces.

Space	Icon	Description
Enemy		A battle against one or more enemies. Completing a combat encounter will reward ephemeral items and territory tokens. Players may use a Beastly Smokebomb to flee a normal enemy space, skipping the battle entirely, but not rewarding loot. Carrying a Coward's Knife will provide a 35% chance to flee.
Elite Enemy		A battle against stronger enemies that provide better rewards. Players cannot flee from these encounters.
Boss		The final space of the map containing the boss. Defeating it will complete the duty. Players cannot flee from these encounters.
Campsite		A space that allows players and their familiars to restore their HP. Although the player's HP will always be restored, each campsite only allows a certain number of familiars of the player's choosing to rest. The amount of HP restored will increase if the player rests fewer familiars. A familiar that has consumed a Lassi Simular will restore all HP at a campsite. Familiars who rest will lose all effects of Beast Feed unless if they have consumed a Lily Simular. Carrying a Chemist's Satchel will reward a random beast potion when resting at a campsite.
Shop		A space where the player can buy and sell ephemeral items for territory tokens. Each shop has its own inventory, and some items may occasionally be discounted.
Treasure		A space where the player can select one ephemeral item from a semi-fixed pool of items, depending on the space. If the player possesses a Thief's Knife, they can select two.
Random		A space that randomly contains any of the other space types except for a boss.

Boards

There are five boards currently available. The first three boards are required for the beastmaster job quests. The last two boards are optional.

Board	Level	IL Sync	Rec. Beast Rank (Sync)	Max Roster	Unlock
First Board of the Unbroken	30	-	1 (5)	10	Into the Crucible
Second Board of the Unbroken	40	-	6 (10)	12	Gobsmacked
Third Board of the Unbroken	50	100	11 (15)	14	A Beastmaster's Path
First Master's Board	50	120	16 (20)	12	Free for All
Second Master's Board	50	135	21 (25)	15	Mastery Rematch

Difficulties

Once the player clears the Second Master's Board and completes Blazing Trails, they will unlock additional difficulty options per board: First Degree, Second Degree, and Third Degree, in increasing difficulty. Playing on a higher difficulty will increase the HP and damage done by enemies, but will provide large score bonuses and are needed for certain achievements.

Each degree increases enemy HP and damage by 42% additive (so the Second Degree is an 84% increase and the Third Degree is 126%.)^[1]

Ephemeral Items

Players may obtain several types of items in the crucible as drops from encounters, treasure spaces, or purchased with Territory Tokens at a shop space. These items do not stack and will be lost after a run. Players can sell unwanted items (except for feed) at a shop space for Territory Tokens.

Beast Gear

These items give permanent passive bonuses during the run, when they are in the inventory. A Ring of Sacrifice is provided at the start of a board. Players may hold up to 10 beast gear total, but duplicate gear items are not allowed.

Crucible Items

Referred to as "Crucible Items" in the game, these items are consumable and have various effects. Most of the items can be used either on the player or their current summoned familiar and give supportive effects such as restoring HP/TP or buffs. Other items are offensive items that can be used on enemies during combat.

Depending on the item, some may only be used on the crucible board map or within a battleground.

A G3 Beast Potion is provided at the start of a board. Players may hold up to 10 consumables total. These can be used from the inventory popup or assigned to hotbars.

Feed

Players may use these items to give their familiars passive bonuses. Based on its class, each familiar has a different capacity (satiety) for how much feed can be used on them. In addition, duplicate feed items cannot be used on the same familiar. Some feed items can also only be used on certain familiar classes. Satiety is reset and feed bonuses are lost if the familiar is restored at a campsite space, unless if they have been fed a Lily Simular.

Unlike other types of ephemeral items, these items cannot be sold for Territory Tokens.

Gear Bonuses

Equipping level 50 beastmaster job gear gives strength and vitality bonuses within the crucible. Stronger gear provides greater bonuses.

These bonuses have their full effect regardless of level or item level sync, making them particularly potent in lower level boards.

Suspending and resuming progress

Players may leave the crucible before completing a board via either "Forfeit" or "Suspend Progress" in the duty popup window. Forfeiting will erase the run, and players will need to restart from the beginning of they re-enter the board. "Suspend Progress" is only available on a cleared space on the board. If players select this option, their current progress will be saved.

Players may resume their current progress by speaking to Lauda and selecting "Resume progress". Upon doing so, they will continue at the same point. If players challenge the same or a different map from the beginning, their save file will be deleted. Players may only have one save file.

Bonuses and Rank

Conclusion of a board (either through success or failure) will be accompanied by a "rank," which is influenced by how many moves (spaces) were complete, how many enemies, elite enemies, and bosses were killed, how much HP is remaining, and a variety of bonuses (similar to bonuses awarded in the Masked Carnivale for Blue Mage). The list of bonuses are as follows:

Name	Description	Points	Notes
Willing Sacrifice I	Clear the board with 3 incapacitated familiars.	250
Willing Sacrifice II	Clear the board with 2 incapacitated familiars.	500
Willing Sacrifice III	Clear the board with 1 incapacitated familiar.	750
No Beast Left Behind	Clear the board with no incapacitated familiars.	1000
Beast Squad I	Clear the board with a team of 6 or 7 familiars.	1250
Beast Squad II	Clear the board with a team of 4 or 5 familiars.	2500
Beast Squad III	Clear the board with a team of 1 to 3 familiars.	4250
Self-preservation	Clear the board with beastmaster HP at 100%.	250
Selfless	Clear the board with all familiar HP at 100%.	1000
Infinity and Beyond I	Perform Universality at least 5 times.	250	Only available in Second Master's Board
Infinity and Beyond II	Perform Universality at least 10 times.	500	Only available in Second Master's Board
Infinity and Beyond III	Perform Universality at least 15 times.	750	Only available in Second Master's Board
Unbeastable	Clear the board without being afflicted by Damage Down or Vulnerability Up	1250
Nameday Attire	Clear the board without acquiring any beast gear.	750
Walking Armory	Clear the board in possession of 10 pieces of beast gear.	500	Not available in First Board of the Unbroken
Economic Ethos	Clear the board without using crucible items.	750
Habitual Horder	Clear the board in possession of 10 crucible items.	1000	Not available in First Board of the Unbroken
Starve the Fever	Clear the board without feeding any familiars.	750
Feed the Bold	Clear the board having fed your familiars at least 20 times.	750	Not available in First Board of the Unbroken
Coin Clutcher	Clear the board without spending territory tokens.	500
Rolling in Riches	Clear the board in possession of at least 2,000 territory tokens.	500	Not available in First Board of the Unbroken
Sleepless Survival	Clear the board without resting at a campsite.	375
Beastkin Gambit	Clear the board with a team of only beastkin.	750
Vilekin Gambit	Clear the board with a team of only vilekin.	750
Cloudkin Gambit	Clear the board with a team of only cloudkin.	750
Seedkin Gambit	Clear the board with a team of only seedkin.	750
Wavekin Gambit	Clear the board with a team of only wavekin.	750
Scalekin Gambit	Clear the board with a team of only scalekin.	750
Soulkin Gambit	Clear the board with a team of only soulkin.	750
Ashkin Gambit	Clear the board with a team of only ashkin.	750
First Degree	Clear the board under the first degree.	4000
Second Degree	Clear the board under the second degree.	6250
Third Degree	Clear the board under the third degree.	9000

Clearing the board with sufficiently high score will grant one of nine ranks; in order from lowest-to-highest required scores, these are:

Apprentice
Novice
Journeyman
Adept
Exemplary
Renowned
Elite
Apex
Legendary

Score thresholds for each rank vary by board, so it is difficult to summarize exactly what's required for each. However, for the three Unbroken boards, a score of 17875 or higher will certainly result in a Legendary rank. For the Master's boards, a score of 18766 or higher will certainly result in a Legendary rank.

Competitive Rankings

The highest difficulty (Third Degree) contains a seasonal leaderboard where the top 300 players per region (North America, Japan, etc.) will obtain the exclusive Tourmaline Golem mount. The first ranking period will begin two weeks after the release of patch 7.56 and last until the release of patch 7.58. The mount is also obtainable from subsequent ranking periods after the first.^[2]

Ranking scores are compiled from the last three attempts of each board within the Crucible.

Rewards

Upon the conclusion of a board, players will earn beastmaster EXP, familiar EXP, and various rewards based on their score. The primary reward type are items that can be exchanged with the Kornago Merchant in Central Shroud (X:21.9, Y:22.6) for other rewards.

Faded Remnant of Resilience is rewarded from level 30 and 40 boards.
Bright Remnant of Resilience is rewarded from level 50 boards.

A higher score will yield more remnants.

Each board has a rare chance of dropping Modern Aesthetics - Loosened Locks.

Players may complete weekly Challenge Log objectives by clearing each board, earning additional remnants.

Music

Section	Theme
Map	Swiftest Wing
Battle	Starkest Scale
Boss	Fiercest Fang

Gallery

References

[1] ttps://youtu.be/f7fXwQWLpr0?si=QWT7HHV0eOrCihax&t=279

[2] ttps://www.famitsu.com/article/202609/86452

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[2]

Crucible of the Unbroken

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