The Depths are a three-level demon dungeon for parties of two or three, shared with other parties after the same vault. They arrived with the Abyssal Depths update in June 2025 and stayed one of the most played activities in the game, because the PvP rules are gentle: you keep the gear you wear. What you risk is your bag.
Orange Zone rules
The Depths use Orange PvP:
- If you die, you keep your equipped gear. It takes the same durability damage as a yellow-zone knockdown.
- You lose your inventory, with the same trash rate as a normal death.
- Kills count as real PvP kills, but PvP fame leaves out the value of the victim's equipped gear.
Two habits follow:
- Wear the best set you can afford to repair. You will not lose it.
- Enter with an empty bag. Everything you carry in is loot for the group that kills you.
Entry, IP and healing
- Entrances are in the Antiquarian's Den of every Royal City. The gate opens periodically and everyone enters in a wave, so arriving late means waiting for the next one.
- You can enter the duo or trio mode with fewer players than intended. Parties from different cities can meet inside, but your party must enter from the same city.
- You need 900 base IP. Above 1,200 IP you keep only 20% of the excess, so a 1,400 IP set fights at 1,240.
- Healing is reduced by 35% in duo and trio Depths (it was 30% at launch; Realm Divided Patch 3 raised it in January 2026).
- Once inside, you cannot leave for a while. Exits appear later.
The three levels
Each level is harder and pays more than the one above it.
- Level one. Clear rooms, open chests, collect your first Souls. Clearing every mob in a room unlocks a reward: loot, or a buff such as Gift of Wrath, Dominion or Cruelty that lasts 10 minutes. Opening a small room chest also gives every party member in range a Demonic Ferocity stack.
- Level two. Harder packs and better chests. Most fights between groups happen here.
- Level three. The Treasure Vault. After a while the vault appears on the map and keys spawn across the level. Carry them to the vault: a duo vault needs 3 keys, a trio vault 5. If nobody has opened it, an extra key spawns after 10 minutes and another every 3 minutes after that.
Abyssal Depths Patch 3 cut 3 minutes from each level's duration, so the pace is quicker than in launch-era videos.
Souls and the two altars
Every killed player drops a Soul; mobs drop one only sometimes. Enemy players drop Hostile Souls (red), your allies drop Friendly Souls (blue) and mobs drop Neutral Souls (white).
- Altar of Greed: offer any Soul for loot. Offering enemy Souls also raises your Antiquarian Standing.
- Altar of Awakening: offer a Friendly Soul to revive that ally.
While dead, you watch your own Soul. If you choose to leave the Depths, your Soul turns Neutral for everyone, so your partner can no longer revive you with it. Tell your partner before you leave. A fast pickup and a run to the Awakening altar saves more runs than any build choice.
Getting out
There are two ways out:
- Soulgates in some rooms. Spend a Soul to open one. It stays open for 30 seconds, so the whole party has to be ready.
- The exit that opens when the vault is unlocked, for 60 seconds.
Once exits appear, the level starts to collapse and deals more damage the longer you stay. You escape by leaving or by going down to a level that has not started collapsing. A countdown warns you before the final collapse. Anyone still inside at that point dies, and so does anyone knocked down during the collapse. On the last level, leave when the warning starts.
Changes to solo and short-handed runs
The developers have trimmed the solo farm twice:
- Abyssal Depths Patch 5 (September 2025): room chests, Altar of Greed chests, miniboss and boss chests and the level-three vaults give about 25% less loot when looted by a solo player. Altar of Greed chests lost about 9% for everyone.
- Radiant Wilds Patch 3 (June 2026): base fame rose 10%, but parties below the mode's size get less fame. Solo players in trio mode lose the most.
- Realm Divided (November 2025): Hover on Sandals of Purity dropped from 60% to 50% move speed, which was the standard solo escape.
Solo Depths still works for strong players, but a full duo or trio now earns more per hour.
Builds that work
The Depths reward burst and survivability over long PvE rotations.
- Duo: a burst damage dealer with a healer or a support who can peel. With healing cut by 35%, the support needs crowd control as well as heals.
- Solo: a self-sufficient melee build with strong escapes. See Solo Depths Greataxe and Solo Depths Phantom Twinblade. Phantom Twinblade lost its slow in Dragonfire Patch 3, so check the current spells before you copy an older build.
Filter Builds by activity to the Depths for more, then save your version with Create a build.
Mistakes to avoid
- Entering with loot from another activity in your bag.
- Splitting up on level two. Groups find lone players fast.
- Ignoring the collapse warning on the last level.
- Leaving as a ghost without telling your partner, which kills the revive.
- Picking fights you do not need. Your goal is the vault and the exit.
Depths runs earn Antiquarian Standing for the Den's spider mounts, Demon Cape crests and avatars. The Depths also count for the Conqueror's Challenge, though Realm Divided Patch 3 raised its Might requirement by 87.5%.
Game balance changes between patches. Check requirements, yields and costs in game.
