Rifts and tiers
A Rift is a glowing portal you right-click to start an incursion. Every rift has a tier, shown by its color, that sets how many stages it has, how strong its bosses are, how many trainers can enter, and how generous the rewards are.
How rifts spawn
Rifts spawn on their own in the Overworld; you do not need to craft anything to find them. By default:
- Rifts appear between 512 and 6000 blocks from world spawn, inside the world border. They never appear in oceans, rivers or the Deep Dark.
- The server keeps up to 180 rifts alive at once and adds about 15 per hour until it reaches that number. Two live rifts are never closer than 128 blocks.
- A rift is only a hidden signal until its terrain loads. Walking toward it loads the area and the physical rift appears. A Resonator can already point at these hidden signals.
- The farther from spawn, the better the odds of a high tier.
- Chaotic rifts never spawn on their own. They are created from Volatile rifts (see Making a Chaotic rift).
Approximate tier odds for a new ambient rift:
| Tier | Close to spawn | About 6000 blocks out |
|---|---|---|
| Fading | 42% | 38% |
| Stable | 32% | 31% |
| Unstable | 16% | 17% |
| Volatile | 10% | 13% |
| Chaotic | 0% | 0% |
Rifts also expire. A rift closes by itself after a set time, shown on the rift as a "Closes" timer: 1 hour for Fading, 1.5 hours for Stable, 2 hours for Unstable, 3 hours for Volatile and 4 hours for Chaotic. Applying an Omen resets that timer. Once an incursion at a rift ends, the rift is spent and cannot be run again.
When you first come within 48 blocks of a rift, a message in the action bar tells you it is nearby. Right-click it to open the preview.
Tiers
| Tier | Stages | Boss level | Battle attempts per stage | Max party | Anomalies per stage | Apex Tokens |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fading | 1 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 0 | No |
| Stable | 1 | 32 | 3 | 2 | 1 | No |
| Unstable | 2 | 48 | 2 | 2 | 2 | No |
| Volatile | 3 | 68 | 1 | 4 | 3 | Yes |
| Chaotic | 5 | 85 | 1 | 4 | 4 | Yes |
Every boss of a tier is created at that tier's level. The anomaly count is the tier's normal number per stage; the Cursed anomaly and the risk Facets can add more. Higher tiers raise boss health, anomaly pressure and rewards while cutting each trainer's battle attempts. Combined with the party limits, this is why the high tiers are group content.
Bosses
Each stage has its own boss, picked when the rift is created. It stays the same for that rift.
- Fading and Stable: a single ordinary boss.
- Unstable: an ordinary boss in stage 1 and a stronger capstone boss in stage 2.
- Volatile: a standard boss, then an elite boss, then a capstone boss.
- Chaotic: four powerhouse escorts (non-legendary Pokémon from the strongest group), then a legendary for stage 5. The preview screen tells you which legendary waits at the end. Beating stage 5 leaves the Legendary Remnant you need for attunement.
Boss health and party size
Boss health grows by the same step for every extra trainer. With the default setting:
Boss HP = solo HP x (1 + 0.85 x (trainers - 1))
| Trainers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boss HP | 1.00x | 1.85x | 2.70x | 3.55x | 4.40x | 5.25x |
Rifts cap the party at four trainers (see the tier table), so the last two columns only apply to the Convergence. If someone joins or leaves, the boss keeps the same percentage of its health. Each extra trainer adds a whole battle lane, so groups keep a modest damage advantage over the solo balance.
Anomalies
Anomalies are modifiers that apply to a stage for everyone. Rolls are different on every stage, and the preview telegraphs the ones in stage 1. Later stages can bring more. Higher tiers roll more, and more severe, anomalies. Some anomalies add a bonus to that stage's Rift Dust.
| Anomaly | What it does |
|---|---|
| Scorching | Harsh sun for the battle. Weakens Water-type bosses. |
| Torrential | Heavy rain. Weakens Fire-type bosses. |
| Sandswept | A sandstorm. |
| Gravity Well | Gravity is in effect: no flying or levitating. |
| Skewed Time | Trick Room: slower Pokémon move first. |
| Enraged | The boss rages below 50% health (raising Attack and Special Attack). |
| Escalating | The boss powers up every 2 turns. |
| Second Wind | The boss heals once when it runs low. |
| Barbed | Contact with the boss causes recoil. |
| Null Priority | Priority moves cannot be used against the boss. |
| Tactician | A smarter boss AI. |
| Heirloom | The boss holds Leftovers. |
| Silenced | Cheers are blocked for the stage. |
| Time Pressure | The stage has a 10-minute limit. If the rift collapses before the boss falls, the run is lost. |
| Rich Vein | Bonus loot. |
| Cursed | Adds another anomaly. Chaotic rifts only. |
The weather and field anomalies (Scorching, Torrential, Sandswept, Gravity Well, Skewed Time), Enraged and Escalating depend on a server setting that is on by default. The server operator can switch it off, in which case they are not rolled.
Facets
Facets are group-wide bonuses. After each cleared stage of a multi-stage rift, the game offers three Facets. The party votes; the most-voted Facet is awarded, with the party leader breaking ties, and option 1 is taken if the 45-second draft timer runs out. Active Facets stay with the party for the rest of the rift. A Facet affects the whole party, and only one is awarded per stage.
| Type | Facets and effects |
|---|---|
| Healing | Second Breath: lead Pokémon restores 15% HP between stages. Renewal: lead restores 25%. Field Medic: whole party restores 8%. |
| Starting boosts | Honed Edge and Starting Edge (+50% Attack), Focused Mind (+50% Special Attack), Iron Guard, Bulwark and Starting Guard (+50% Defense), Warding Aura and Steady Hand (+50% Special Defense), Quickstep (+50% Speed). Your side begins every battle with the boost. |
| Strong boosts | Battle Fury (+100% Attack), Arcane Focus (+100% Special Attack), Swift Current (+100% Speed), Balanced Stance (+50% Attack and Defense). |
| Trade-offs | Reckless (+100% Attack, -33% Defense). Glass Cannon (+100% Special Attack, -33% Special Defense). |
| Damage | Giant Slayer: +15% damage to the boss. Type Advantage: +25% super-effective damage. Critical Focus: +1 critical-hit ratio, stacks twice. |
| Utility | Clean Slate: cures persistent status (does not revive). Rift Ward: blocks the boss's first major status each battle. Rallying Spirit: +1 Cheer per trainer per stage, stacks twice. Free Spirit: Cheers cost nothing. Thrifty: anomaly rerolls cost 5 Rift Dust instead of 10. |
| Loot | Prospector: 25% more bonus loot. Motherlode: 50%. Treasure Hunter: 75%. Flawless Fortune: +25% when nobody spends an attempt that stage, stacks twice. Dust, Apex Tokens and wipe consolation are never multiplied. |
| Risk | High Stakes (Unstable and up): +1 anomaly slot per stage. Overclock (Unstable and up): guarantees and strengthens a scalable anomaly. Double or Nothing (Volatile and up): +2 anomaly slots. Each adds extra reward allowance, and taking one stops the other two from being offered for that run. |
A "+50%" boost is one stage in the Cobblemon battle system.
Facets also combine. Three Combat Facets activate Combat Mastery (+50% Attack and Special Attack each battle). Three Sustain (healing) Facets activate Sustain Mastery (+8% party HP between stages). All Facet healing in one transition is capped at 40% of max HP.
After the Facet is locked in, any participant can spend 10 Rift Dust (5 with Thrifty) to reroll the upcoming stage's anomalies once. The boss, arena and future Facet choices never change.
Making a Chaotic rift
A Chaotic rift is the only source of a legendary Remnant, so you will want to build one. The steps:
- Complete Volatile rifts. A Volatile or Chaotic completion pays each participant an Apex Token.
- Craft a Chaotic Omen: 3 Rift Shards, 2 Apex Tokens, and one each of a Leaf Stone, Water Stone, Fire Stone and Thunder Stone. Two Apex Tokens means you need at least two Volatile completions first. See Items for the exact recipe layout.
- Right-click an unused Volatile rift (no incursion underway) while holding the Chaotic Omen. The rift upgrades to Chaotic and gets a new boss lineup and a fresh timer.
Omens raise a rift by exactly one tier, and they must match the rift's current tier: a Stable Omen on a Fading rift, an Unstable Omen on a Stable rift, a Volatile Omen on an Unstable rift, and a Chaotic Omen on a Volatile rift. Unstable Omens are crafted from Stable Omens, and Volatile Omens from Unstable Omens. You can chain several Omens on one rift as long as you apply them in order.
