Cores and pieces

A corrupt core goes into most of the higher craftable items, and each core belongs to one boss. The money guide lists every core with who drops it and its piece.

Cores

• Shadow: the Shadow Golem.
• Aqua: Octo.
• Phoenix: the Phoenix Griffon.
• Death: the Death Reaper.
• Ninja: Ninja Supreme.
• Stallion: Stallion.
• Ice: the Ice Golem.
• Optica: Pupil Alpha.
• Swamp: El Frogo.
• Ancient: Schimmel.
• Proto: Super Proto.
• Nest: the Ant Queen.
• Bone: Bonehart The Wise.
• Air: the Bird Overlord.
• Frost: Bigfoot.
• Pain: the Puppet Overlord.

Getting a core

• The boss drops it, at 1% on most bosses; the range runs from 0.6% (Pain) to 1.8% (Shadow).
• 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.^[1] 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 Pain piece is not among the rewards.^[2]
• The Lucky Charm: a core is a 30% drop at full charge^[3], 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^[4], cannot be traded, sold or dropped; an unbound core, or one a boss dropped, can.

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.
• Bound item: An item tied to your character that cannot leave it.

References

1. ↑ “keeping it limited to obtaining max 20minis / day (as-is)” Update 0.4.45: Item System Upgrades
2. ↑ “The weekly quest Core Rush, given by the Core Master, will remain available as another casual way to earn additional weekly cores.” Update 0.4.45: Item System Upgrades
3. ↑ “The new lucky charm could provide an optional personal third roll of 30% on any core of the player's choice” Update 0.4.45: Item System Upgrades
4. ↑ “the system will always prioritize bound items first. Since this also makes the crafted output bound” Update 0.4.45: Item System Upgrades