DragonSword: Awakening Materials Farming Guide for Heroes, Karma, and Gear

In this guide, we will explain where to farm materials for upgrading heroes, Karma, and gear in DragonSword: Awakening, how to unlock the required activities, and what to spend limited early-game resources on first.

There are many materials in DragonSword: Awakening, and almost every resource type is tied to a specific activity. Combat Texts are needed for levels, Records of Battle are used for skills, Fragments of Memory and Whirling Thoughts are tied to Karma, while ore, Trait Stones, and molds are used for gear. Below, we break down which resources to farm first and where to find each of them.

Combat Texts are used to level up heroes. You can get them by completing main and side quests, exploring the world, and opening chests.

It is best to spend Combat Texts primarily on the three characters in your main party. If you try to level every available hero evenly, you will quickly run out of resources, and your core team will not be strong enough for high-level Dungeons. However, you will not be able to keep leveling with Combat Texts alone forever: at certain levels, a character will need to complete a Breakthrough.

Breakthrough removes the level cap and allows the character to keep growing. The first cap is set at level 20, and after completing all five Breakthrough stages, a hero can be raised to the maximum level of 80. Each Breakthrough requires specific plants, monster parts, essences, and other items.

To see which items are required for a Breakthrough, open the hero menu and select the Breakthrough submenu. The game will show the Dungeon, open-world area, or shop where the required resource can be obtained. It is also worth checking the Merc Guide: it lists which gear sets and resources drop after completing each activity.

For example, Castella's second Breakthrough requires Leaf of Vigor and two types of monster essence. Leaves can be gathered in the forest northwest of Hill of Journey or obtained in the Rust Fang Bandits' Treasury. Essences are found in the Goblin Bandits' Cave on Normal and Hard difficulty. Completing the Breakthrough also requires Intermediate Mercenary Corps rank.

Do not buy every missing plant with Adventurer Medals. The exchange makes sense when you are only one or two items short of a Breakthrough. In other cases, it is more efficient to clear the relevant Dungeon or gather resources in the open world.

The main material for upgrading abilities is Record of Battle. These are obtained from Hunts, repeatable boss fights that unlock after the early part of the game. You will need a party of characters at level 20 or higher.

Hunts can be repeated many times, so the number of Records of Battle you can earn is effectively limited only by your time and your team's strength. Choose the boss that drops the material for the character you need, and set the highest difficulty you can handle.

Additional ability upgrade items are awarded from regional missions. These tasks refresh daily and provide Skill Scrolls, as well as Forging Molds for gear crafting. Because of the daily limit, regional missions are worth completing even if you do not currently need the scrolls.

Start by upgrading your main damage dealer's core and Signal abilities. Do not try to level every skill on every hero at the same time: the cost gradually increases, so spreading resources too thin will slow down the growth of your main team.

In DragonSword: Awakening, hero weapons are strengthened primarily through Karma. These cards are inserted into a character's signature weapon, increasing stats and adding special effects. General Karma works for several heroes, while Exclusive Karma is designed for a specific character and can significantly change their abilities.

One of the main sources of General Karma is world bosses. They let you regularly obtain new cards and duplicate copies. Duplicates are needed for Karma Ascension, so it is recommended to defeat world bosses every day.

Before upgrading, be sure to check the card's element. Karma must match the hero's element, otherwise some of its bonuses will not work. Do not spend rare materials on the first card you find just because it has high base stats.

Karma EXP materials also appear in special resource Dungeons. More efficient versions of these stages unlock after you clear new chapters, so progress through the story first, then farm the highest available level.

Fragments of Memory are used to obtain and upgrade General Karma, and they are also involved in crafting Fragments of Afterimage. They can be found in chests, earned from quests, first-time trial clears, Mercenary Corps rank increases, and climbing the Tower of Trials. In the later stages, the Tower becomes the main source of this resource.

Some Exclusive Karma cards are awarded from personal Hero Quests. The rest can be obtained through exchange with the alchemist Shanoa in Orbis Royal Castle. For this, you will need a Fragment of Afterimage.

One Fragment of Afterimage is crafted from the following resources:

Transmutation is performed at Shanoa, who can be found near the cathedral in Orbis Royal Castle. Since you will need additional copies to upgrade Exclusive Karma, prepare for repeated Tower of Trials runs in advance.

The Tower of Trials unlocks in Chapter 3 after talking to Cerese and completing her quest. There are three variants:

On each floor, you need to defeat enemies within a time limit, and to earn all stars, the fight must be finished in no more than 90 seconds.

Clearing floors rewards Whirling Thoughts and Fragments of Memory. The trials are designed for different team types: some floors favor Airborne attacks, while others are better suited for Knockdown, Stun, or quickly breaking the poise gauge. If your progress stalls, try changing your party instead of simply continuing to raise the stats of the same team.

You do not have to clear the entire tower right away. Push as far as your current team allows, then return for the remaining stars after upgrading your gear and skills.

Fragments of Sacred Light are needed to buy Stigma Awakened Stones. One stone costs 200 fragments and is used to unlock Hero Awakening stages. Each character has six such stages in total.

Fragments are awarded for sudden missions, exploring optional areas, opening hidden chests, and defeating mini-bosses. As you obtain new Familiars and movement options, return to regions you have already visited: previously inaccessible ledges, caves, and islands with extra rewards will open up there.

Awakening requires a large amount of resources, so do not try to upgrade the entire roster at the same time. First, unlock the most useful stages for your main attacking character, then move on to support heroes and your second damage source.

Most gear is crafted by the blacksmith Modan rather than dropped by regular enemies. Forging requires ore, monster materials, Trait Stones, and molds that let you choose the item's main stat in advance.

Ore can be gathered in the open world and obtained from the corresponding resource Dungeons. At first, mark large clusters of veins while exploring, then switch to Dungeon farming once you unlock a high-level stage.

Low-level ore and other materials can be converted into higher-quality ones at Shanoa. Transmutation is useful when you are missing a few components for crafting an item, but you should not constantly process all your stockpiles. Low-tier materials will still be needed for other heroes.

Trait Stones drop in Trait Dungeons. They are used to craft and upgrade high-level gear. New stages unlock as you progress through the story, so farm the highest level you can clear quickly and consistently.

Missing materials are also sold in the Exchange for Adventurer Medals or crafted by Shanoa. Medals are awarded for various quests and activities, but their supply is limited, so first check whether the item can be obtained directly from a Dungeon.

Forging Molds are awarded from daily regional missions. They let you choose the main stat of the crafted item instead of leaving it to a random result, which makes them especially important when crafting gear for your main team.

Do not spend good molds on temporary low-level gear. Save them until you unlock sets that you plan to use for a long time.

After an item reaches its maximum level, it can be reforged to change its secondary stats. This requires a Stat Grinder and Gold. One Stat Grinder is sold in the Exchange for 25 Adventurer Medals. The reforging result is random, so in the early game, this system can quickly consume Gold and medals without guaranteeing a real upgrade.

Only reforge high-level items with the right main stat and a useful set bonus. If the gear will soon be replaced, it is enough to raise its level without trying to roll perfect secondary stats.

Runes drop from co-op raids. Duplicate copies can be combined to create higher-quality items with stronger stats. This is a late-game progression system, so there is no need to farm Runes specifically until you have built a good gear set.

Unneeded gear should be dismantled to obtain rare crafting components, including Red Ember Stones and other materials. This is more useful than storing dozens of low-level items that your main team no longer uses.

Exclusive Karma for characters you do not plan to play can also be dismantled. The resources you receive will be useful for upgrading the cards used by your main team. However, before dismantling anything, make sure that the Karma will not be needed for a future lineup or Ascension.

Once the main activities are unlocked, your daily route can be built like this:

If you are short on time, complete activities with daily refreshes first: regional missions and world bosses. Regular Dungeons, Hunts, and world exploration will remain available later, while missed daily rewards cannot be recovered.