Cores and pieces

What a corrupt core is, the four ways to get one, and bound against unbound.

Most of the higher craftable items take a corrupt core, and each core belongs to one boss: Shadow to the Shadow Golem, Aqua to Octo, Phoenix to the Phoenix Griffon, Death to the Death Reaper, Ninja to Ninja Supreme, Stallion to Stallion, Ice to the Ice Golem, Optica to Pupil Alpha, Swamp to El Frogo, Ancient to Schimmel, Proto to Super Proto, Nest to the Ant Queen, Bone to Bonehart the Wise, Air to the Bird Overlord, Frost to Bigfoot, Pain to the Puppet Overlord. The money guide lists every core with who drops it and its piece.

Four ways to a core

• The boss drops it, at about 1% (Pain 0.6%).
• Pieces (“minis”). A boss drops its piece at 20% (the Shadow Golem 30%) as a shared drop, and it lands in your gift box. At most 20 pieces a day. Mini bosses drop pieces that do not count toward the twenty: Big Bat (Shadow, 10%), the Sandfang Sting Duo in Josand (Nest, 5%), the Tin and Iron Golems in Ancient (Ancient, 5% each) and Snoute in the Jail Sewers (Bone, 1.5%).
• Core Rush, a weekly quest from level 30: kill 30 of the sixteen bosses, hand in at the core shop in Aeven, and take 20 pieces.
• The Lucky Charm: a core is a 30% drop at full charge, but it comes bound.

Bound and unbound

16 pieces make a bound core at the Core Master in Aeven; 160 make an unbound one at the Dark Core Master north of the haunted house. A bound core, and anything made with it, cannot be traded, sold or dropped; an unbound core, or one a boss dropped, can. Craft with the one that matches what you want to do with the item.

See also

• Lucky Charm, A weekly drop booster: charge it by fighting, spend it on one item.
• Drop, What a monster leaves behind, and how often.
• Shared loot, What a shared drop is.
• Bound item, An item tied to your character that cannot leave it.