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Arriving with a surprise announcement, Warriors: Abyss is here to offer another roguelike experience, taking heavy inspiration from the Hades series and even the beloved Vampire Survivors, creating a match made in heaven that we didn’t even know we needed. Regardless, it’s here, and it rips all the same.
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And, like in the titles mentioned above, there are pretty deep systems and mechanics at the core of this game, offering many ways to approach a run, which is thanks in part to its monstrous 100-character roster, allowing you to play the way you want, as someone is bound to match your playstyle. Still, while you won’t have a shortage of Heroes to choose from, you will struggle occasionally, as it is still a roguelike, after all!
What Are Karma Embers?
Before we toss you into the deep end of the many ways you can obtain Karma Embers, let’s first cover what they are used for, as that is another substantial aspect of Warriors: Abyss that will help make future runs less frustrating overall, allowing you to breeze past the earlier levels and get to the more challenging regions and boss encounters.
As you obtain Karma Embers, you can spend them in the Hall of Bonded Souls, accessed from the Main Menu, before you begin a new run. Within the Hall of Bonded Souls, you can acquire new Heroes, Formations, Enma’s Blessings, and even Unique Weapons, which will help you tremendously in future attempts.
While new Formations and Enma’s Blessings are instrumental, nothing compares to snagging a new Hero, as you not only get to play as them or recruit them as an Allied Hero, but they will unlock a permanent Stat increase for every character after you forge a Bond with them. Depending on the character, everyone will receive either a permanent Attack, Defense, or Max Health boost, which is what makes Karma Embers so valuable!
Even though we do strongly recommend targeting Heroes first, you should occasionally grab new Formations and Enma’s Blessings, as they can also be extremely beneficial for specific builds. Just make sure you know what benefits the Formations grant, as grabbing one that doesn’t fit your playstyle or mesh well with your favorite Heroes won’t do too much!
How To Obtain Karma Embers
Now that you know what the primary uses for Karma Embers are, it’s time to get into how to obtain them, as you will need to accrue tons of them to completely fill out your Hall of Bonded Souls index, especially if you want to obtain every Unique Weapon in the game.
It will be a bit of a slow burn in the early goings, but things will pick up drastically the further and further you progress through hell, giving you many opportunities to obtain a great deal of Karma Embers. There are five ways total you can acquire decent chunks of Karma Embers for your efforts, most of which happen as you naturally play the game!
Bonus State Heroes
The first method of acquiring additional Karma Embers in Warriors: Abyss is via Bonus State Heroes. When you’re at the Hero selection screen, look for a small blue icon on the top right of some of the portraits. Whichever Heroes have this icon on their portraits are the current Bonus State Heroes.
Bonus State Heroes will grant you more Karma Embers than usual, varying depending on several factors. Nonetheless, you can expect a hefty payout if you make a solid run with them. This also pushes you to try Heroes you otherwise wouldn’t touch, which we’re a fan of, as some Heroes are tremendously fun to play, but the sheer number of options may have you overlook them entirely!
Karma Ember Portals
Next up are Karma Embers Portals, which have the chance of appearing after you complete a Phase. Like the other portals, you will see a small Karma Embers icon next to the Portal, letting you know you will obtain a sizable amount of Karma Embers if you take that Portal.
Taking the Karma Embers Portal will have you clear the next Phase, which will then spawn a Chest next to the exit. Open the Chest to obtain 500 Embers (sometimes more), making this one of the best methods of gaining lots of Karma Embers. Unfortunately, you can’t guarantee one of these Portals will spawn in every run!
Reaching New Phases
Speaking of Phases, every time you reach a new Phase during your run, you will receive a decent chunk of Karma Embers, which will only add up the further into hell you make it. There are 33 Phases in total, so simply progressing through a run will net you lots of Karma Embers.
We mentioned earlier that it’s a bit of a slow burn at first, and this is why, as you won’t be making it tremendously far the first handful of attempts. But after you learn the game, unlock more Heroes, and begin understanding how to create builds, you will be raking them in by the pile!
Completing Missions
Similarly to the Karma Embers Portals, Mission Portals will also be a decent way to obtain Karma Embers, as completing a Mission will net you more Karma Embers than usual, which is on top of the ones you receive for clearing the Phase. When the Portals appear, look for one with a Treasure Chest icon and take it to the next Phase.
Once here, complete the Phase like normal to have Enma appear with a Mission, which will be a short challenge that has you dispatch a set number of enemies within a specific amount of time. Upon doing this, you will receive extra Karma Embers and a Treasure Chest, which can contain even more Embers!
Defeating Bosses
Our final method for obtaining many Karma Embers in Warriors: Abyss is defeating the area bosses. We know it’s easier said than done, but they reward A LOT of Embers upon defeat, and that number only increases the more challenging the encounter is.
Again, as you unlock more Heroes, you will become stronger, allowing you to progress substantially further and more consistently. So, in time, you should be steamrolling through the first two bosses at least, which will net you a decent amount of Karma Embers. Then it’s all about getting even stronger until the others become trivial, and then you have a steady flow of Embers.
Furthermore, once you reach this level of proficiency, we strongly recommend using a Bonus State Hero, as you can get tons of Karma Embers by simply making it to the third boss, and you don’t even have to defeat them. But, if you do, expect your payday to be even more massive than ever before. And, obviously, if you happen to clear the game with a Bonus State Hero, you will be sitting pretty!
