Skills & Raids Crafting System Guide

Crafting Overview

Since the Steam launch on July 27, 2026, crafting sits at the center of long-term progression in Skills & Raids. You extract materials from raids, transfer them to stash, and turn ore, shards, and enemy components into gear and craftable skills at camp. This guide reflects post-launch best practices as of July 28, 2026 — including UI improvements carried over from demo v1.4.8.1 and launch-week stash tools.

Skills & Raids Crafting and Combat Short

Crafting Tab and Modifier Button

Open the crafting tab from camp or between-run hubs (see the Controls Guide for navigation hotkeys). The tab lists recipes, required materials pulled from stash, and output previews for weapons, armor, accessories, and craftable skills.

Demo v1.4.8.1 added a modifier button visual indicator on the crafting tab: when a recipe accepts optional modifiers — rarity boosters, stat rerolls, or material substitutions — the button glows or highlights so you know alternate crafting paths exist before you commit mats. In the full 1.0 release, that indicator remains active. Always check the modifier slot before crafting Rare or Epic items; skipping an available modifier can waste hard-won extraction loot.

You cannot craft during active combat, but you can review recipes in pause if the menu is accessible. After a successful extract, route materials through stash before opening the crafting queue.

Stash Sort and Transfer Buttons

Launch-week patches added sort inventory and transfer to stash buttons that streamline post-run cleanup (detailed in the Extraction Guide). After every successful extract:

1. Sort — Organize raid inventory by rarity or type so crafting mats stand out from quest junk
2. Transfer to stash — Move everything you want to keep in one action instead of dragging item by item
3. Open crafting tab — Pull sorted materials into recipe input buffers without hunting scattered stacks

These quality-of-life tools reduce downtime between extractions. New players often lose Rare mats to inventory clutter — sort and transfer before you start your first craft session.

Five Rarity Tiers

Skills & Raids gear and craftable outputs use five rarity tiers from Common through Legendary. Each tier has distinct color coding, stat budgets, and material costs.

Common (White)

• Basic stat improvements for early campaign zones
• Drops frequently in The Sinking Graves and Cold Peaks after launch balance tuning
• Low crafting cost; ideal for your first weapon and armor upgrades
• Safe to bulk-craft without hoarding mats

Uncommon (Green)

• Moderate stat bumps that bridge early and mid-game
• Common drops from mid-tier packs; craft when Common gear feels insufficient
• Start appearing in quest rewards after the first extraction tutorial chain

Rare (Blue)

• Solid improvements for mid-campaign elites and zone transitions
• Higher material cost; save until you know your main hero focus
• Many craftable skills require Rare-tier components from specific enemy types

Epic (Purple)

• Excellent stats for late-campaign and repeat farming routes
• Rare drops and expensive recipes; do not craft Epics until your extraction routes are stable
• Move Epic materials to safe pocket during risky runs before you craft

Legendary (Orange)

• Best-in-slot potential for endgame farming and achievement chasing
• Extremely rare materials from high-difficulty zones and elite encounters
• Craft only when your build plan is locked — see Builds and Tier List

Crafting Skills from Extracted Materials

Beyond weapons and armor, the crafting system produces craftable skills — abilities you equip alongside Free Skills from your hero’s baseline pool. Enemy skill drops are irreplaceable until you farm duplicates, but crafted skills offer reliable alternatives built from extracted mats.

Material sources tie directly to the extraction loop:

• Common and Uncommon ore — Starter zones and trash packs
• Rare shards — Mid-zone elites and quest completion rewards
• Epic components — Deep pushes with sendback routes planned
• Legendary fragments — High-difficulty extractions; always safe-pocket before optional fights

To craft a skill, open the crafting tab, select the Skills category, and confirm mats plus any modifier shown by the v1.4.8.1 indicator. Equip crafted skills at camp between runs — each hero still slots two actives per raid. Combine crafted skills with looted enemy abilities for synergies described on the Skills page.

Mshard doubles as a crafting currency and combat resource. Do not spend every shard on crafts if your next run needs healing node recovery — balance crafting sessions with Extraction planning.

Post-Launch Crafting Priorities for New Players

Launch week rewards a focused crafting path instead of spreading mats across every recipe. Follow this order during your first ten extractions:

1. First Common weapon for your DPS — Clawrk damage spikes clear early packs faster than accessory min-maxing
2. Common armor for Shelldon — Tank survivability reduces wipe rates while you learn pause and targeting from the Controls Guide
3. One craftable support skill for Owlivia — Reliable heal or cleanse before chasing rare enemy drops
4. Uncommon upgrades for your weakest slot — Check which hero dies first and craft for that role
5. Hold Rare and Epic mats — Until you finish mid-campaign quests and know your preferred Builds

Avoid Legendary crafts until you can reliably extract from mid-tier zones without wipes. The launch balance pass improved Common drop rates in opening zones — farm those routes before gambling mats on endgame recipes.

Material Farming Routes

• Early game — The Sinking Graves for Common mats; launch tuning reduced difficulty here
• Mid game — Cold Peaks and quest-linked zones for Uncommon and Rare components
• Late game — High-difficulty areas with sendback points for Epic and Legendary fragments

Pair farming with extraction safety: sort inventory, transfer to stash, then craft in batches for efficiency.

Related Guides

• Controls Guide — Crafting tab navigation, stash UI, and hotkeys
• Extraction Guide — Safe pocket, sendbacks, sort and transfer buttons
• Skills Guide — Free Skills, enemy drops, and crafted ability synergies
• Builds — Which gear and skills to craft for each hero
• Tier List — Launch-week gear and skill rankings