Difficulty

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Difficulty is an option to make dungeons progressively harder or easier.

• Each difficulty can be changed before the dungeon starts, but not during it.
• As you go up in difficulties, more monsters may spawn and in greater numbers.
• Completing higher difficulties increases your experience gained.
• Better items are obtained.

There are currently six difficulties in Dragon Nest. Chaos maps and Nests start at Abyss difficulty instead of Easy.

Easy Difficulty

Easy is the very first difficulty you will reach when starting out. Every dungeon has an easy mode, and doing this offers the least amount of experience and the worst quality items. In trade the dungeon's toughness is non existent and there are no hard monsters. The monsters also move slower. Bosses will have a very limited amount of health on this mode.

In the later parts of the game Easy is used to clear quests in a quick manner. It's also simpler for most of the speed Achievements which have to be cleared within a certain amount of time.

The health of bosses on Easy are quite low compared to higher difficulties, which makes them much easier to kill. If the bosses spawn with additional mobs these mobs tend to be pushovers.

Normal Difficulty

In Normal difficulty, creatures move a bit fast and have more health than in Easy. There are a few more monsters in each pack of monsters.

• The experience you gain from Normal is usually about twice what you can get on Easy.
• The items that drop in the dungeon are low grade; while better item drops are rare.
• Bosses get about double what they had on Easy.

Hard Difficulty

Hard is where the difficulty shows it's curve. Many more monsters may spawn in packs, and there is a chance to spawn an Elite Monster. Elite Monsters get a red extra "name" at the front of their nameplate signifying what they can do. For instance, monsters with "Regenerating" gain health back on a regular basis.

• The experience you gain from Hard is usually one and a half times what you can get on Normal.
• The items that drop in the dungeon are mid grade; while better item drops are uncommon.
• Bosses get about double what they had on Normal, and monsters that spawn with extra monsters may become Elite, and overall in greater number.

Master Difficulty

Master difficulty triples the toughness of Hard difficulty. Monsters will spawn in great numbers, and Elite Monsters will almost always spawn in each group. There are some dungeons where extra monsters will spawn that don't normally belong in that dungeon. The health of monsters in Master goes up by a ton as well, and can catch people off guard when coming from Hard difficulty the first time.

• The experience you gain from Master is usually one and a half times what you can get on Hard.
• The item drops become more common, and better item drops are common.
• Onyx Lustres drop most frequently on this difficulty and only one type of Powder, Extract or Crystal drops in each dungeon.
• Bosses may get double or double and a half of what they had on Hard, and if they spawn with extra monsters there will almost always be an Elite Monster.

Abyss Difficulty

Abyss, as the name hints, is the hardest regular difficulty. Abyss dungeons are covered in a thick fog that limits visibility. Enormous groups of monsters will spawn, with many Elite monsters. There are also Sub Bosses, which are named monsters who have a purple nameplate, and perform boss like abilities. Monsters are also faster, hit harder, and play "smarter" than in previous difficulties. In all instances of Abyss dungeons, it's recommended to bring four people.

• The experience you gain from Abyss is usually double what you can get in Master.
• The items here are the best, with better Lustres dropping. Equipment dropped here is much better than other difficulties. *The drop rate for Onyx Lustres is significantly lower than on Master difficulty but other varieties of Lustre drop more frequently due to the greater incidence of Elite Monsters and Sub Bosses. All types of Powder, Extract or Crystal can drop in the same map.
• Bosses become juggernauts. In most fights the boss will have a "partner" boss or bosses, which has the same name and health as the main boss does (for all intents and purposes they are the same). If A boss does not come with a partner, then it's health and damage go through the roof. Any extra monsters that spawn will be tough, and there will be a ton of them.

A special note with Abyss dungeons is that after every dungeon, a Dimensional Rabbit will appear. When clicked, they will drop various items. If in a group, wait until everyone get's their items before trying to continue to the next area.

Hell Difficulty

Hell difficulty is unique to Nests, since the 'Normal difficulty' for Nests corresponds to the Abyss difficulty in other maps. New monster spawns are added and the Nest Boss gains improved stats and powerful new abilities that can tax even characters who breezed through the Abyss Nest.

• There are fewer Boss material drops from the regular spawns.
• Final Reward Chest contents are greatly improved.
• The amount of Comet Dust rewarded in the reward lottery is vastly increased.

An advanced version of the regular entry ticket is required to access a Nest's Hell difficulty. This is obtained from the Reward Chest in the Abyss version.