Hunt Tiers & Boss Essence
Every kill in The Hunt drops boss essence, and the tier you're hunting at decides how strong that essence is. There's nothing to unlock — both shades and wraiths and caravans share one eight-tier ladder gated purely by your mining level. You just level up.
The tier ladder
Tier access is set by mining level, and the same breakpoints apply to shades, wraiths, and caravans:
| Tier | Mining level | Boss band |
|---|---|---|
| T1 | Lv 1 | Lamia |
| T2 | Lv 30 | Lamia |
| T3 | Lv 60 | Echidna |
| T4 | Lv 80 | Echidna |
| T5 | Lv 100 | Thanatos |
| T6 | Lv 101 | Thanatos |
| T7 | Lv 102 | Hephaestus |
| T8 | Lv 103 | Hephaestus |
The bands are deliberately aligned to boss progression so you stop banking essence you can't use: Lamia at T1–T2, Echidna at T3–T4 (~Lv 60), Thanatos at T5–T6 (~Lv 100), and Hephaestus at T7–T8 (~Lv 102/103, matching the phase-two Lv 102 Hephaestus summon).
Choosing your tier
You don't have to hunt at your max. Open /hunter (see Hunter Perks), click the Shade & Wraith Tiers button, and pick anywhere from Tier I up to your current max:
- Left-click to raise the tier.
- Right-click to lower it.
The choice is saved and applies to both shades and wraiths.
Why drop down? Climbing a tier means better essence, not a bigger pile — so a lower tier gives you more, but weaker, boss essence per kill, while staying at the top gives you the strongest essence. Farm low to stockpile for an early boss, or stay high for the essence you actually need.
Summoning the boss
Hunt tier no longer gates the boss summon itself. Summoning a boss now uses a player progression score — your prestige × 100 plus your level — with per-boss level gates listed on each boss's page. Tier sets the essence you collect; progression sets when you can call the boss.
Version history
v2.0.0
- Hunt tier access moved from Hunter rank to mining level (T1 Lv 1 / T2 Lv 30 / T3 Lv 60 / T4 Lv 80 / T5 Lv 100 / T6 Lv 101 / T7 Lv 102 / T8 Lv 103).
- Tiers re-aligned to boss progression — Lamia T1–2, Echidna T3–4, Thanatos T5–6, Hephaestus T7–8 (T7/T8 moved up to Lv 102/103).
- Added an interactive tier selector in
/hunter(left-click to raise, right-click to lower), shared by shades and wraiths. - Boss summons now gate on a player progression score instead of Hunter rank.
- Shades and wraiths drop about 50% more boss essence across all tiers.