Shades & Wraiths

Shades are hostile spirits that haunt the Forgotten Polis in large numbers — the late-game heart of the Hunt. They spawn in swarms and melt fast to bows and wands, so the payoff is clearing a lot of them once you're geared, not a jackpot every kill. For the early and mid game, caravans are the steadier farm.

Finding them

Reach the Polis through the /warp menu. Shades roam the whole region, so you won't have to look hard — but the Polis is a PvP area, so other hunters are as dangerous as the spirits. Shades unlock at Fund I; their elite cousins, Wraiths, unlock at Fund IV.

In Season 2 they spawn in packs of 5–10 — a mix of shades and wraiths — spread evenly across the region instead of swarming a single AFK player, and the overall population has been more than doubled. They also chase you down ledges now, walking off drops and falling with gravity rather than freezing at the edge.

Tiers and the first-hit lock

Shades and wraiths come in eight tiers, shown as [I]–[VIII] in front of the name once a fight begins — a tier isn't decided until someone hits it.

• Your first hit locks the target to you and sets its tier.
• While locked, only you can fight it — other players are told it's locked to you.
• The lock releases if you die or stop fighting it for a short while, freeing it for someone else.

Choosing your tier. Tier access now scales with your mining level (not Hunter rank), and you pick which tier to farm. The Shade & Wraith Tiers button in /hunter is interactive — left-click to raise, right-click to lower, up to your max. Your choice is saved and applies to both shades and wraiths. Drop to a lower tier for more (weaker) essence, or stay at the top for the strongest.

Tiers are aligned to boss progression, so you stop hoarding essence you can't use yet:

Wraiths

A Wraith is a far deadlier elite — double strength, enchanted diamond armour, and a netherite blade. They follow the same lock rules and drop more boss essence per kill. Wraiths are also the only source of the Wraithheart offhand below.

Loot

The drop pool was rebuilt around a clean core of boss essence + Motes + boss keys, all scaled to the locked tier:

• Boss essence is the main drop and is boss-progression-aligned. Higher tiers give fewer but stronger essences — lots of a weak boss's essence at low tiers, down to a trickle of a powerful boss's at the top — so climbing a tier means better essence, not a bigger pile. All tiers now drop ~50% more essence.
• Motes of the Ancients are a flat, uncommon bonus that no longer balloons at higher tiers.
• Enchant dust is a rare trickle.
• Trim Removers are a very rare utility drop, with tier-scaled Enchant Erasers showing up as a more common utility layer.
• The rare Spectral armour trim remains a chase drop here, and a scarce few of the rarest finds in Tartarus are left for the worthy to uncover for themselves.

Per-kill rewards are deliberately modest and don't balloon at higher tiers — high-tier swarm-farming can't flood boss keys. See Hunt Tiers & Boss Essence for how essence forges into summoning keys.

The Wraithheart offhand

The signature chase drop — a 3-tier PvE offhand torn from slain Wraiths, with a kit that grows each tier. All bonuses apply against shades, wraiths and caravans:

• Tier I — a modest PvE damage bonus.
• Tier II — a bigger PvE damage bonus plus Soul Siphon, healing a slice of the Hunt damage you deal so you can farm packs without stopping.
• Tier III — the largest PvE damage bonus, a stronger Soul Siphon, and Spectral Detonation: every Hunt kill explodes the corpse, chain-clearing whole packs.

All three tiers drop from Wraiths, rarer than the rest of the pool, with odds best at your max tier. Or tinker it up through the tiers in /offhand. Full details on the Wraithheart Offhand page.

Danger and progression

• T7/T8 shades and wraiths now hit 25% harder — the most dangerous hunts demand better gear and sharper play.
• Kills award Hunter Points, spent in the perk shop via /hunter.
• /shadetop ranks the server's top shade killers.
• Clue scrolls regularly ask you to kill or damage shades and wraiths, and many server events reward the same gear you'll farm here.
• The Olympian trim's second-roll perk now correctly fires on shade and wraith kills.

Version history

v2.0.0

• Shade and wraith tier access now scales with your mining level instead of Hunter rank, and you can pick which tier to farm in /hunter — left-click to raise, right-click to lower.
• Hunt tiers are now aligned to boss progression (Lamia / Echidna / Thanatos / Hephaestus), with Hephaestus tiers now starting at mining Lv 102/103.
• Shades and wraiths now spawn in packs of 5–10 spread evenly across the Polis, with a more-than-doubled population, and they chase you down ledges.
• Hunt loot was rebuilt around boss essence + Motes + boss keys (fewer-but-stronger essence at higher tiers), with ~50% more essence overall.
• Added the new Wraithheart offhand (3 tiers, drops from Wraiths), plus Trim Removers and tier-scaled Enchant Erasers; T7/T8 now hit 25% harder.
• Replaced Hunter ranks with the Hunter perk shop, and reduced the Defiler and Wanderer bonus-roll chances.