RIFT Game Guide & Walkthrough

This guide is designed for players who are just starting their adventure in RIFT. The main goal of this guide is to help newcomers make their first step in a big world of Telara.

This guide contains:

• Explanation of the character creation
• Explanations of both factions and all the classes
• Explanation of the player interface
• A list of currencies
• A list of Professions (Crafting)
• Detailed explanation of one of the main aspects in the game - Rifts
• A list of all Activities
• Before and after Free to Play - what changes have been made
• Maps of the first locations

Bartek "Snek" Duk

What class is the best to begin with?

It really depends on the way you like to play your games. Although if it's your first try at a MMO game and you want to play a class that will be the easiest to play, then the best choice for you will be a Mage DPS.

What Profession is the best for Crafting?

All professions and their properties are described in this guide. Your decision depends on whether you want to have a gathering profession, or a profession that will craft items.

How to "level up" quickly?

There are no specific ways of leveling up. There are of course guides that you could buy, that will show you a few ways on how to level up quicker, but some of those ways may not be legal, which in the end might result in a ban. The easiest way is to do main and side quests, meanwhile you can still sign up to Dungeons or PvP games while you're in the middle of doing quests, which will give you lots of additional experience.

What are backpacks for?

Backpacks are used to store items in. You can have 7 slots for backpacks, but 2 of them you have to buy through a RIFT Store. There are a few kinds of backpacks, some of them you can craft with an Outfitter profession. The better the backpack, the more items you can store in it.

Where can I buy gear?

Gear (equipment), potions or crafting materials - all of that you can get from Vendors that are in every smaller village and in both of the faction's main cities.

How do I create my own guild?

There is a Guild Master in both of the main cities (Meridian and Sanctum), you can create your own guild at a certain price through him.

What's the best way to get rich?

There is a lot of ways to gain money, by doing quests, selling stuff that you don't need, selling the items that you have gathered or crafted and by going to Dungeons.

After you have logged in, you will see an option to choose a Shard (Server).

Shard Name is the name of a server. You can see the whole list of Shards on the picture above.

Recommended is self-explanatory, those servers are recommended by the developers.

Next is Type, and that's the gameplay type of the Shard (PvP - Player versus Player, PvE - Player versus Environment, PvE RP - Player versus Environment Role Playing)

Characters shows the amount of characters you have on the server.

Population shows the population of the server.

Language shows the language that is meant to be used on the server.

Queue shows how long you will have to wait in a queue in order to join a server.

In order to create your character, you have to press the Create button in the main menu of the game.

CREATE button

Choosing a faction

The next step is to pick a faction. Both factions have different races and starting locations. Guardians and Defiants are the factions that you can play as. To each one of them there is added a short story explaining the faction's origins.

Both factions have the same classes.

Choosing a race

Now you have to pick a race. Both factions have three races, and each race has its own two special abilities.

Guardians:

• Mathosians - Special abilities: Motivational Roar (increase group movement by 30% for a short time) and Legacy of the Shade (+20 Death Resistance)
• Dwarves - Special abilities: Dwarven Breakfast (restore health and energy over time) and Miracle of Hammerknell (+20 Water Resistance)
• High Elves - Special abilities: Angelic Flight (soar briefly over medium distances) and Grace of the Forest (+20 Life Resistance)

Dwarf

Defiants:

• Bahmi - Special abilities: Mighty Leap (vault quickly over medium distances), Shalstir heritage (+20 Air Resistance)
• Eth - Special abilities: Agility (move 50% faster for short periods of time ), Desert Dweller's Birthright (+20 Earth Resistance)
• Kelari - Special abilities: Camouflage (elude enemy detection, as a fox), Legacy of the Fire Islands (+20 Fire Resistance)

Choosing a class

If you have never played an MMO game, then this section will be the most useful to you. Picking a class will define the way you play your character later in the game.

It's time for the most important part of creating a character and that's choosing a class or a so called Calling. To each of the Calling there is five additional sub-builds. Those sub-builds are skill trees made of Souls and are created by the developers. Each calling has 9 Souls, but you can only have 3 at the same time. It's worth mentioning that those sub-build were made only to help new players in their adventures in the world of Telara (you can easily change Souls and buy new ones later in the game. Each Soul has a certain role that the players will have to represent:

• Offensive (DPS) - responsible for eliminating enemies in every way possible, be it magic, melee, ranged or even pets
• Healing (Healer) - responsible for keeping the other players alive, healing them or cleansing negative spells that were cast by the enemy
• Defensive (Tank) - responsible for keeping the enemies attention on themselves and absorbing all their attacks in order to defend other members of the group
• Supportive (Support) - responsible for supporting the other players by giving them powerful enhancements or paralysing the enemies, making them easier to kill

Sub-builds and their roles:

• Warrior: Destroyer (DPS), Pathfinder (Support), Dark Thane (Tank), Hoplite (Tank), Shock Trooper (DPS, only available in the RIFT Store)
• Rogue: Huntsman (DPS), Shadow Stalker (DPS), Planar Sentry (Tank), Battle Bard (Support), Flame Trooper (DPS, only available in the RIFT Store)
• Cleric: Flame Keeper (Healer), Thunderer (DPS), Arbiter (DPS), Seraphic Guard (Tank), Deadwright (Healer, only available in the RIFT Store)
• Mage: Gravelord (DPS), Sage (Healer), Pyromentalist (DPS), Corruptor (DPS), Spellblade (DPS, only available in the RIFT Store)

Souls and their roles:

Warrior Offensive (DPS): Beastmaster, Champion, Paragon, Riftblade

Warrior Healer: none

Warrior Defensive (Tank): Paladin, Reaver, Void Knight

Warrior Support: Warlord

Rogue Offensive (DPS): Assassin, Blade Dancer, Marksman, Nightblade, Ranger, Saboteur

Rogue Healer: none

Rogue Defensive (Tank): Riftstalker

Rogue Support: Bard

Cleric Offensive (DPS): Cabalist, Druid, Inquisitor, Shaman

Cleric Healer: Purifier, Sentinel, Warden

Cleric Defensive (Tank): Justicar

Cleric Support: none

Mage Offensive (DPS): Elementalist, Necromancer, Pyromancer, Stormcaller, Warlock

Mage Healer: Chloromancer

Mage Defensive (Tank): none

Mage Support: Archon, Dominator

All Souls can be bought at a Trainer of your Calling (20g for each), you can find him in all the smaller villages and both of the main cities. The only exception are PvP Souls, which you can buy for Favor (2500). Each Calling has only one PvP Soul:

• Warrior: Vindicator
• Rogue: Infiltrator
• Cleric: Templar
• Mage: Archmage

RIFT's user interface is typical for that kind of games. You will find everything you need in it, and if you don't like the size or the arrangement of it, you can change it by going to the main menu (ESC), and then click Edit Layout.

1. Character's portrait with an HP, MP and Energy bar, and also with a visible name and level of the character. Below that there's a portrait of your Companion with its buffs and debuffs.

2. HP bar of the enemy that your character is currently attacking.

3. Chat window in which you can communicate on the global, direct or a private channel.

4. Quick menu bar

5. Character's abilities (lower bar) and Companion's abilities (upper bar). It's the most important and most used part of your interface. If you run out of space to put your abilities in, you can add more Action Bars by going to the main menu (ESC), and then Options -> Settings -> Interface -> Action Bars.

6. Backpack icons (Inventory).

7. A list of your quests, ongoing Events, Invasions and the process of elimination of the current Rifts.

8. Minimap with an actual time and the number of your friend and guild members online.

9. Buffs and debuffs of your character.

Coins

The basic currency in RIFT are silver, gold and platinum coins. This kind of currency is very useful in general since you can use it to buy all sorts of important things, starting with potions, armor and weapons, ending with crafting materials or even Mounts.

(Platinum,p)

(Gold,g), 100g = 1p

(Silver,s), 100s = 1g

There are a lot of sources where you can get coins from but it's usually from killed enemies or by completing your quests.

Favor - PvP

Next kind of currency is Favor. It's only used to by PvP Gear. You can gain Favor by killing players from the opposite faction in an open world (only if you're playing on a PvP server) or participating in Warfronts.

Marks - Crafting

The next on the list are Marks, a currency that you gain by doing quests that involve Crafting (Work Orders) or by Crafting Rifts (creating your Rifts all over the world). Marks are used to buy special recipes among a few different Vendors. There are only three kinds of Marks:

• Artisan's Mark

• Master Craftsman's Mark
• Grandmaster Craftsman's Mark

Planarite

You gain Planarite by closing Rifts or Invasions, and also by completing some quests. You use this currency to buy all sorts of items that are sold by Planar Merchants.

Sourcestones

Sourcestones, just like Planarite, is a reward for eliminating massive Invasions. You can trade them for a high grade items at specific Vendors.

There is a few different kinds of Sourcestones and it depends on your level on what kinds you can get.

Required level

Sourcestone name

Exchange: Location and Vendor Name (Defiants)

Exchange: Location and Vendor Name (Guardians)

Exchange: Location and Vendor Name (Both factions)

5-20

Corrupted Sourcestone

Quartermaster Fry in King's Retreat (Freemarch)

Quartermaster Gerand in Denegar's Stand (Freemarch)

Quartermaster Molira in Quicksilver College (Silverwood)

None

20-40

Cursed Sourcestone

Quartermaster Verdson in Granite Falls (Stonefield)

Sardon Kenrad in Gloamwood Pines (Gloamwood)

None

30-45

Vile Sourcestone

Lelani Ponlai in Perspice (Scarwood Reach)

Miron Ledino in Kain's Command (Scarwood Reach)

Quartermaster Balint in Reclaimer's Hold (Moonshade Highlands)

Quartermaster Uzan in Lantern Hook (Droughtlands)

40-50

Inscribed Sourcestone

Garad Nallam in College of Planar Studies (Meridian)

Quartermaster Melke in Sanctum of the Vigil (Sanctum)

Tananda Whitecoat in Whitefall (Iron Pine Peak)

Plague of Achievement

This kind of currency you can gain by doing End-Game content, for example Expert Dungeons. Also The Chronicles of Telara will reward with Plague of Achievement. Players can exchange Plague to all sorts of Epic grade equipment. Vendors who are responsible for the exchange are found in both of the main cities.

For Defiants: Catari Command Center in Meridian

For Guardians: Sanctum of the Vigil in Sanctum

Crafting is one of the most common aspects of MMO games. Crafting mechanics in RIFT are not much different from the other games, but for a newcomer it might be a bit overwhelming. In this section of the guide you will find a short explanation on how it all works and what to begin with.

The crucial part of Crafting is choosing a Profession. There are nine Professions in RIFT, and they split into two different kinds - gathering and crafting Professions. You can have three Professions at the same time and they don't have any effect on your Souls. Here's a list of all the available Professions:

Gathering:

• Butchery: gathering hides, bones or teeth from dead animals. Butchers can turn hide into leather by using Loom (a tool found in all the smaller villages and main cities)
• Foraging: gathering plants and wood, and then turning it into planks by using a Workbench (a tool found in all the smaller villages and main cities)
• Mining: gathering ore and turning into bars by using a Forge (a tool found in all the smaller villages and main cities)

Crafting:

• Apothecary: creates flask, potions, filters, tonics and vials
• Armorsmithing: creates all sorts of armor, as well as shields
• Artificing: creates jewelry and caster weapons
• Outfitting: creates cloth and leather items
• Runecrafting: creates runes used to enhancing weapons and
• Weaponsmithing: creates melee and ranged weapons

Professions can be bought at specific Trainers located in villages and cities. Each Profession has its own level, which you grow higher by gathering or crafting items. Each Profession also has Ranks. In order to advance to a new Rank, you need to gain a specific level of your Profession. The higher the Rank, the better and more valuable items you can craft.

Rank

Required Profession Level

Cost

Novice

0

10s

Skilled

75

50s

Expert

150

2g 50s

Master

225

10g 50s

RIFT is not very different from all the MMO games out there. Although it started something that later on has became really popular in MMO games - Global Events - in this case, Rifts.

Rifts appear randomly, there is no set time. You will see an icon on the map showing where there's a Rift at that time. There can be multiple Rifts in a region at the same time.

There's a few different kinds of Rifts that represent the primal elements: Air, Death, Earth, Fire, Life and Water.

Rifts usually have three regular and two bonus stages, although a Rift can go even up to 10 stages. The first and the second stage of a Rift requires players to eliminate a few minor mobs, but in the third stage (that has a timer) appears one or multiple bosses. If the players manage to kill all the enemies in time, then all the bonus stages will start. The first bonus stage also has a timer and gives players another wave of mobs to defeat. And again, if they manage to kill everything in time, then they will go into the second bonus stage. In this stage another boss appears, but this time it will be a lot harder to kill.

There is usually a lot of people in the area, so closing Rifts shouldn't be a problem. Sometimes though, people don't pay attention to Rifts. Even though Rifts disappear after 90 minutes, they can create something that is called Footholds, and these are small areas that are overrun by a small group of mobs.

There is also a few objects that appear in the area of a Rift. You can only use them once, and they are:

• Blue Crystals - gives a buff Source of Vigor, which increases energy regeneration for 30 seconds
• Green Crystals - gives a buff Source of Vitality, which increases health regeneration rate by 4% for 30 seconds
• Red Crystals - gives a buff Source of Power, which increases damage dealt by 25% for 30 seconds
• Tombstones - gives a Companion Pet that will attack the enemies around the Rift (only found at Death Rifts)

There are three kinds of Invasions: Faction, Single and Zone.

Faction Invasions are a group of mobs attacking an enemy faction. Defiant players will be attacked by raiders from Guardians and the other way around.

Single Invasions are small armies of enemies that come out of Rifts. There is also a boss with a lot of HP and four smaller mobs. These armies are headed towards Wardstones in order to destroy them, and players are meant to stop them reach that goal.

Zone Invasions are the most dangerous kind of Invasions, their goal is to completely destroy the whole region. The first part of that Invasions usually requires players to close a set amount of Rifts. After doing that, there will appear an Elite Boss Mob, with a massive amount of HP and special abilities, and defeating him requires a huge group of players. Stopping that Invasion may not be successful when there's not enough players.

A player will notified in the Journal and on the Quest List on the right of his UI when an Invasion like that will take place.

When it comes to gameplay, Rift has a lot to offer.

On the quick menu bar there is a button Activities. After clicking it you will see a list of things that you can do

Activities

Chronicles

Chronicles are instances made for one or two players. It can easily be completed by a one player if he has a decent gear.

Conquest

A PvP Match on a big scale. Players can pick from three different factions:

Nightfall - The Raven, Dominion - The Ram and Oathsworm - The Lion.

The main goal is to take control of Control Points and Sourcestone Extractors that are spread around the map. The match ends when one of the factions takes over 40% of the Control Points, or when 5,000 players will die. When that happens, a 10 minute timer will start and this will give players a last chance to grab a Control Point, after which they will earn their rewards.

Instant Adventure

Instant Adventure is another way to spend your free time. Clicking that button will automatically put you into a queue in order to find you a group. Then it teleports you to a region where you and your group will be faced with all sorts of quests. The amount of mobs required to kill will be higher when there's more players joining the group. With each completed quest you gain XP.

Looking for Group

Looking for Group is a built-in system that's meant to help players find their groups for Dungeons

Dungeons are special locations across the world of Telara. Those locations are instanced, and the look and interior of the Dungeons are different from one another. Some of them even change during the progress of a group.

There's a few different kinds of Dungeons and their difficulty levels, and they are:

• Chronicles of Telara - made for one or two players
• Normal Dungeons - made for 5-player groups. You can find them in every region. The difficulty level of the dungeon is appropriate to the level of the region.
• Expert Dungeons - are more difficult versions of Normal Dungeons. Made for 5-player groups and they are similar to their normal version but feature more difficult content and additional bosses. Only players on Level 50 can enter those Dungeons
• Raids - designed for 10 and 20-player groups. Raids offer very challenging fights and it will take a large group of well equipped players in order to progress

Expert Gear, that players gain in Expert Dungeons, Rifts or bought by Plague of Achievement introduces a new type of stats:

• Hit reduces the chance of physical abilities to be resisted (required for Rogues and Warriors)
• Focus reduces the chance of magical spells to be resisted (required for Mages and Clerics)
• Toughness reduces the amount of critical damage taken (required for any Tank)

Dungeons and Raids are split into different Tiers according to the amount of those stats. By going to Dungeons that are above your Tier, it will result in more difficult and challenging experience (attacks will be resisted, and Tanks will be getting critically hit by mobs)

Tiers

Value (Stats)

Dungeon - Tier 1

50

Dungeon - Tier 2

100

Expert Rift

100

Raid Rift

150

Raid - Tier 1

200

Raid - Tier 2

300

Normal/Expert Dungeons

Name

Required Level/Tier for Expert

Location

Realm of The Fae

15-22 / Dungeon Tier 1

Silverwood

Iron Tomb

17-24 / Dungeon Tier 1

Freemarch

Darkening Deeps

21-28 / Dungeon Tier 2

Gloamwood

Deepstrike Mines

24-31 / Dungeon Tier 2

Stonefield

Foul Cascade

28-37 / Dungeon Tier 1

Scarlet Gorge

King's Breach

33-42 / Dungeon Tier 1

Scarwood Reach

Runic Descent

38-47 / Dungeon Tier 2

Moonshade Highlands

Fall of Lantern Hook

42-47 / Dungeon Tier 1

Droughtlands

Charmer's Caldera

48-50 / Dungeon Tier 2

Shimmersand

Abyssal Precipice

48-50 / Dungeon Tier 2

Iron Pine Peak

Caduceus Rise

48-50 / None

Ember isle

Raids

Name

Required Tier

Location

Greenscale's Blight (20 people)

Raid - Tier 1

Stillmoor

The River of Souls (20 people)

Raid - Tier 1

Stillmoor

Gilded Prophecy (10 people)

Raid - Tier 1

Silver (Shimmersand)

The Drowned Halls (10 people)

Raid - Tier 1

Silver (Scarwood Reach)

Hammerkneil Fortress (20 people)

Raid - Tier 2

Moonshade Highlands

Warfronts

A second kind of PvP. There is a few different kinds of Warfronts, each one of them has a different goal that one of the teams has to achieve in order to win..

Black Garden: 10-player groups, minimum level 10, in order to win, a team has to gain 500 points (by holding position on Fang of Regulos or by killing enemy players) in 20 minutes time

The Codex: 15-player groups, minimum level 20, in order to win, a team must gain 1,000 points by holding important positions, or by having more points than the other team in 20 minutes time

Whitefall Steppers: 15-player groups, minimum level 30, in order to win, a team must gather 3 Sourcestones in 20 minutes time

The Battle for Port Scion: 20-player groups, minimum level 50, in order to win, a team must gain 1,000 points, or having more points by the end of the game, or by eliminating the enemy's Commander

Library of the Runemasters: 15-player groups, minimum level 10, in order to win, a team must gain 1,000 points by moving the Dwarven Rune or by killing enemy players

World Event

World Events are global events in which everyone can participate. Each one of them has a different them and in most of them you can gain a special currency that can be used at Vendors that are selling items somehow connected to the World Event.

RIFT switched to a Free-To-Play system on the 12th of June. A lot of people have been wondering what limitation have been set to players that have never played RIFT or those who don't want to spend any money on the game.

Free-To-Play

To everyone's surprise - RIFT offers access to every part of its world, be it Dungeons, PvP or even Raids. All of that with no restrictions. Developers also stated that they don't want to make RIFT "Pay-to-Win", and all the important items have to be gained in the world of Telara without spending any real money.

Although there is something called a RIFT Store now and a Loyalty system. Loyalty is a way of saying "thanks" to the players who have supported the game before it went FTP. So if you have been subscribed before, then the time of your subscription will be turned into your Loyalty points for which you gain all sorts of rewards (usually cosmetic items, Mounts or Potions that boost your gained XP).

Loyalty Rewards

It's worth mentioning that subscriptions are still available. If you decide on getting a subscription, then you will receive a Patron status and some benefits. For example:

• +15% gained Currency (always on)
• +10% Mount movement speed (always on)
• 10% discount on every item in the RIFT Store
• Priority in the queue, meaning that you will be always first

Subscriptions can be bought in the RIFT Store which you can access through an icon in the quick menu bar.

They have also added a currency called REX (RIFT Exchange). It can be bought with real money in the RIFT Store, and then it can be traded with another player, put into an auction or consumed in the game to get Credits (a currency that can be spent in the RIFT Store) or Loyalty.

The developers claim that the Free-to-Play model will still be updating, so the aspects of it may change as you play the game.

Every region and recommended levels:

• Silverwood 1-19
• Freemarch 1-19
• Stonefield 19-27
• Gloamwood 19-27
• Scarlet Gorge 27-30
• Scarwood Reach 30-35
• Moonshade Highlands 36-40
• Droughtlands 36-44
• Iron Pine Peaks 41-47
• Shimmersand 45-50
• Stillmoor 45-50

Recommended level for Dungeons:

• Realm of the Fae - minimum 15, recommended 17
• Iron Tombs - minimum 17, recommended 19
• Darkening Deeps - minimum y 21, recommended 23
• Deep Strike Mines - minimum 24, recommended 26
• Foul Cascade - minimum 28, recommended 30
• Kings Breach - minimum 33, recommended 35
• Runic Descent - minimum 38, recommended 40
• Fall of Lantern Hook - minimum 42, recommended 44
• Charmer's Caldera - minimum 48, recommended 50
• Abyssal Precipice - minimum 48, recommended 50

Silverwood - Guardians

1. Tavril Plaza

2. Rudi's Wagon

3. Marsh House

4. Kelgnaw's Den

5. Overwatch Cave

6. Cave of Seasons

7. Old Man Statue

8. Snarebrush Pit

9. Highglade's Lookout

10. Realm of The Fae (Dungeon)

11. Sanctum Watch

12. Silver Landing

13. Shipwreck

Freemarch - Defiants

1. Ark of The Ascended

2. Regent's Cove

3. King's Retreat

4. Eliam Fields

5. Kelari Refuge

6. Seastone Bluff

7. Fortune's End

8. Todrin Estate

9. The Rill Pond

10. Smith's Heaven

11. Denegar's Stand

12. The Iron Fortress

13. Scarred Mire

14. Savage Hill

15. Lakeside Outpost

16. Vestige

17. Meridian

18. The Iron Tomb (Dungeon)