Drake

**Drakes** are the vegetable villagers who inhabit the Hollow, and whose survival the protagonist must ensure. Drakes can die of hunger, thirst, boredom, exhaustion, or attacks from the Feral, so the protagonist must build up the camp in order to provide for all their needs as well as keep them protected from attacks. In addition, as the seasons change, so too do the needs of your Drakes: In Summer, they will all need more water, while in Fall and Winter they will need more entertainment.

Drakes are found hibernating throughout The Hollow. Generally, there will be four available to you in each biome, although the two you begin with don't count against you in your first biome. Once you find them, either by searching carefully or revealing their locations using the Lighthouse, you must wake them up, at which point they will join your camp as an Infant.

Each Drake provides a renewable source of charms, which will be needed for building many of the camp improvements and curios in the game, as well as a source of healing while at the camp. Each Drake can also provide a buff for the player if they choose, using one of their buff slots, the strength of which depends on the Drake's age. A Drake's age can be advanced by giving them the appropriate type of crystal, determined by their buff and age.

There is a hard limit of 40 non-retired Drakes in your camp at one time. Once you have reached this limit, you will not be allowed to wake a new Drake until you have retired one.

## **Growth Stages**

As your Drakes advance through their growth stages, they will provide you with more EXP, Charms, and Healing, but will also need more resources to sustain their life. Luckily for you, the player is entirely in control of when their Drakes grow, as they will not advance without being given crystals of the appropriate type. It is encouraged to carefully consider the pros and cons of causing your Drakes to grow, and to make sure to only advance them when you are sure your camp can handle the extra strain on resources.

### **Infant**

Infant Drake Stats:

* EXP: 10
* Charms: 15
* Hunger, Thirst, and Boredom: 1
* Advancement: 5 Crystal Shards

Drakes begin in their Infant stage when they are woken from hibernation by the player and first join your camp. Their stats are at their lowest, but is the strain they put on your camp's resources. The main consideration that needs to be made when waking a new Drake is that every new addition to your camp means you need to have an extra bed for them to sleep in.

### **Adolescent**

Adolescent Drake Stats:

* EXP: 30
* Charms: 30
* Hunger, Thirst, and Boredom: 2
* Advancement: 5 Cut Crystals

After being given 5 Crystal Shards of the appropriate type, Drakes will grow into their Adolescent stage. They will give your camp an additional 20 EXP (totaling 30), and their needs will all increase by 1. This is the only stage which it is always beneficial to advance your Drakes to, because the extra strain on resources is the same as waking a new Drake, but you gain double the EXP.

### **Adult**

Adult Drake Stats:

* EXP: 50
* Charms: 50
* Hunger, Thirst, and Boredom: 5
* Advancement: 5 Polished Crystals

After being given 5 Cut Crystals of the appropriate type, your Adolescent Drakes will become Adults. This stage gives the camp another extra 20 EXP. However, the demand for resources from Adult Drakes increases by 3, making this stage the least efficient advancement you can make. It is strongly recommended to advance Adult Drakes further as quickly as you have the resources to handle them, as all the next stages give you more benefit for your resources than Adults do.

### **Mature**

Mature Drake Stats:

* EXP: 90
* Charms: 100
* Hunger, Thirst, and Boredom: 8
* Advancement: 5 Engraved Crystals

After being given 5 Polished Crystals of the appropriate type, your Adult Drake will advance to the Mature stage. This stage gives the camp an extra 40 EXP, but also increases demand on your resources by another 3. While this resource demand is the same increase we saw in the last stage, this growth is much more worthwhile because of the bonus to EXP.

### **Elder**

Elder Drake Stats:

* EXP: 130
* Charms: 200
* Hunger, Thirst, and Boredom: 12
* Advancement: 10 Runic Crystals

After being given 5 Engraved Crystals of the appropriate type, Drakes will grow to the Elder stage. This stage gives an extra 40 EXP again, and brings the demand for resources to a huge 12 each. In spite of all the advantages, it is advised to keep Drakes at the Elder stage for as short a time as possible, because the benefits of the final advancement really are too good to pass up.

### **Retired**

Retired Drake Stats:

* EXP: 170
* Charms: 0
* Hunger, Thirst, and Boredom: 0
* Advancement: None

Once you give your Elder Drake 10 Runic Crystals of the appropriate type, the Drake will retire. It will run off to a spot on the island connected to your camp and turn into a statue, and spawn in 2 hibernating Drakes near it. While any players with that Drake's buff will lose it when the Drake turns into a statue, the buff can be reclaimed at its highest level by interacting with the statue. Retired Drake statues can also be freely moved once they have been formed by interacting with them, and are indestructible. In addition to giving a total of 170 EXP and no longer requiring any resources, retired Drakes also don't need a bed, and don't count against the limit of 40 Drakes in your camp.

## **Buffs**

Each Drake can provide a buff to the player, using one of their available buff slots, when interacted with. The type of buff determines both the color of the Drake and the type of Crystal needed to advance it. The strength of each buff varies based on the Drake's age, with Infants providing the weakest version, and Retired Drake Statues providing the strongest version.

### **Aether Resistant**

The Aether Resistant buff allows the player to spend a longer period of time in the aether before dying. Taking this buff is not recommended, because being in the aether without an aether ward is not recommended to begin with and has no advantages, as aether wards are relatively cheap and easy to make.

* Crystal Type: Moonstone
* Infant: +1s
* Adolescent: +1.5s
* Adult: +2s
* Mature: +2.5s
* Elder: +3s
* Retired: +4s

### **Ammo Scrounger**

The Ammo Scrounger buff gives the player a chance to not consume ammo when using a ranged weapon. Given the scarcity and expense of obtaining ammo, this is one of the better perks in the game if you can get it early.

* Crystal Type: Tiger Eye
* Infant: 10%
* Adolescent: 15%
* Adult: 25%
* Mature: 30%
* Elder: 35%
* Retired: 50%

### **Attuned**

Attuned gives the player a chance to not consume crystals when they are used. It is recommended to use this buff whenever you are advancing a Drake's age, if you have it, as even at low levels it can save you lots of valuable crystals in the long run when used properly.

* Crystal Type: Moonstone
* Infant: 10%
* Adolescent: 15%
* Adult: 20%
* Mature: 30%
* Elder: 40%
* Retired: 50%

### **Beekeeper**

Beekeeper makes Feral hit with the player's melee weapon afraid of the player for a short period of time. I never found this one to be useful, as it doesn't seem to affect Terminers, and all other enemies died too quickly for me to notice the effect.

* Crystal Type: Malachite
* Infant: 2s
* Adolescent: 2.5s
* Adult: 3s
* Mature: 3.5s
* Elder: 4s
* Retired: 5s

### **Blazing**

Blazing gives the player's melee attacks extra fire damage, as well as the chance to light enemies on fire, dealing extra damage over time. In spite of how cool this sounds, it is the weakest of the damage increasing buffs, and enemies usually don't live long enough to make lighting them on fire a real perk.

* Crystal Type: Malachite
* Infant: 6 damage
* Adolescent: 15 damage
* Adult: 30 damage
* Mature: 60 damage
* Elder: 100 damage
* Retired: 160 damage

### **Brawler**

Brawler reduces the amount of damage you take from enemies. This can be useful if you're having trouble avoiding enemy attacks, especially during raids or ambushes.

* Crystal Type: Amber
* Infant: 5%
* Adolescent: 10%
* Adult: 15%
* Mature: 20%
* Elder: 25%
* Retired: 40%

### **Craftsman**

Craftsman gives the player a chance to make an extra item when crafting. Once you have this, you should use it whenever you craft something, as it can help some of your valuable resources go further.

* Crystal Type: Fluorite
* Infant: 10%
* Adolescent: 15%
* Adult: 20%
* Mature: 25%
* Elder: 30%
* Retired: 35%

### **Curio Master**

Curio Master gives the player reduced cooldowns on using curios. Most curio cooldowns are fairly short as it is, so this buff is often overshadowed by other buffs that give larger benefits.

* Crystal Type: Amber
* Infant: 10%
* Adolescent: 15%
* Adult: 20%
* Mature: 30%
* Elder: 40%
* Retired: 50%

### **Electric**

Electric gives the player's melee attacks extra electric damage, which will also arc out to nearby enemies and damage them as well. This is the best of the damage increasing buffs in the game, as even having one additional enemy nearby nets you more damage than Heavy Hitter will on any weapon.

* Crystal Type: Malachite
* Infant: 3 damage
* Adolescent: 6 damage
* Adult: 12 damage
* Mature: 24 damage
* Elder: 48 damage
* Retired: 96 damage

### **Explorer**

Explorer increases the player's sprint speed. If you feel like you're moving slowly, this buff can help, but it is by no means necessary.

* Crystal Type: Jade
* Infant: 5%
* Adolescent: 10%
* Adult: 15%
* Mature: 20%
* Elder: 25%
* Retired: 30%

### **Forceful Blows**

Forceful Blows increases the knockback of your melee weapons. More knockback means a higher chance of not being able to follow up with more melee hits, so this buff isn't exactly a strong contender for a buff slot.

* Crystal Type: Tiger Eye
* Infant: 30%
* Adolescent: 50%
* Adult: 75%
* Mature: 100%
* Elder: 150%
* Retired: 200%

### **Hasten**

Hasten increases the player's melee attack speed. This is the best offensive buff in the game, with the percentage of attack speed increase translating directly into a percentage DPS increase. Always be using this if you're in combat.

* Crystal Type: Kyanite
* Infant: 10%
* Adolescent: 15%
* Adult: 20%
* Mature: 25%
* Elder: 30%
* Retired: 40%

### **Heavy Hitter**

Heavy Hitter directly increases the player's melee damage. This is the second best damage increasing buff, falling short of electric in fights with more than one enemy, and outshining Blazing at all times. Pick it up if you don't have Electric available, otherwise skip this.

* Crystal Type: Bloodstone
* Infant: 5%
* Adolescent: 10%
* Adult: 15%
* Mature: 20%
* Elder: 25%
* Retired: 30%

### **Hunger Spirit**

Hunger Spirit increases the food production of camp improvements. It is very easy to build a camp that provides all the resources you need, so don't try to rely on these types of buffs.

* Crystal Type: Fluorite
* Infant: 5%
* Adolescent: 10%
* Adult: 15%
* Mature: 20%
* Elder: 25%
* Retired: 40%

### **Iron Walls**

Iron Walls reduces the damage dealt to ALL buildings in your camp, up to 100% at retired level, rendering defenses invincible.

* Crystal Type: Tiger Eye
* Infant: 20%
* Adolescent: 30%
* Adult: 40%
* Mature: 50%
* Elder: 75%
* Retired: 100%

### **Lucky**

Lucky gives the player increased item drops. Like in any game in which resources are scarce, getting more is a powerful tool, and should be used all the time.

* Crystal Type: Kyanite
* Infant: 20%
* Adolescent: 30%
* Adult: 40%
* Mature: 50%
* Elder: 75%
* Retired: 100%

### **Mechanic**

Mechanic increases the durability of your weapons. Your Drakes will pick them up and repair them for you for free, if you throw your weapons on the ground in your camp, so this buff does nothing new for you.

* Crystal Type: Quartz
* Infant: 10
* Adolescent: 20
* Adult: 30
* Mature: 40
* Elder: 50
* Retired: 75

### **Nimble**

Nimble gives you a chance not to take damage when you take a hit. As with Brawler, it can be useful if you're having trouble avoiding being hit, although the chance of this effect procing is rather low until Elder/Retired.

* Crystal Type: Quartz
* Infant: 2%
* Adolescent: 5%
* Adult: 8%
* Mature: 12%
* Elder: 16%
* Retired: 22%

### **Opportunist**

Opportunist increases the critical hit chance on your melee weapons. When paired with Precise Striker, this buff can offer a massive increase to your DPS, although still not as much as Hasten. This combo makes Guitar a better weapon than Ski Pole.

* Crystal Type: Jade
* Infant: 5%
* Adolescent: 10%
* Adult: 15%
* Mature: 20%
* Elder: 25%
* Retired: 30%

### **Playful Spirit**

Playful Spirit increases the entertainment produced by your camp improvements. It is very easy to build a camp that provides all the resources you need, so don't try to rely on these types of buffs.

* Crystal Type: Moonstone
* Infant: 5%
* Adolescent: 10%
* Adult: 15%
* Mature: 20%
* Elder: 25%
* Retired: 40%

### **Precise Striker**

Precise Striker increases the damage done by critical hits. When paired with Opportunist, this buff can offer a massive increase to your DPS, although still not as much as Hasten. This combo makes Guitar better than Ski Pole.

* Crystal Type: Bloodstone
* Infant: 20%
* Adolescent: 40%
* Adult: 60%
* Mature: 80%
* Elder: 100%
* Retired: 150%

### **Regeneration**

Regeneration gives the player a small amount of health over time when not in combat. With how easily available both Drake healing and Healing Salves are, this buff doesn't offer enough to be worth a buff slot.

* Crystal Type: Quartz
* Infant: 0.5
* Adolescent: 1
* Adult: 2
* Mature: 3
* Elder: 4
* Retired: 5

### **Tactician**

Tactician reduces the rate at which raids occur. Raids are an essential source of crystals, glowstones, and treasure chest loot, so it is not recommended to have them occur less frequently, as this will result in more resource scarcity over time.

* Crystal Type: Amber
* Infant: 5%
* Adolescent: 10%
* Adult: 15%
* Mature: 20%
* Elder: 25%
* Retired: 30%

### **Trader**

Trader gives you a discount when buying things at Magpie's shop. If you can remember to, you should use this whenever you buy from the shop, but Shiny Objects are incredibly easy to get as you progress, so you probably won't miss this buff if you forget, or just don't have it available. This used to be the only buff that didn't advance when your drake progressed to retired.

* Crystal Type: Kyanite
* Infant: 10%
* Adolescent: 20%
* Adult: 30%
* Mature: 40%
* Elder: 50%
* Retired: 75%

### **Vampiric**

Vampiric adds a lifesteal effect to your melee attacks. This is a preferred alternative to Brawler or Nimble, because at higher levels single strikes from your weapon can make up for most of the damage you take anyways.

* Crystal Type: Bloodstone
* Infant: 5%
* Adolescent: 10%
* Adult: 15%
* Mature: 20%
* Elder: 25%
* Retired: 35%

### **Water Spirit**

Water Spirit increases the amount of Drinking Water produced by your camp improvements. It is very easy to build a camp that provides all the resources you need, so don't try to rely on these types of buffs.

* Crystal Type: Fluorite
* Infant: 5%
* Adolescent: 10%
* Adult: 15%
* Mature: 20%
* Elder: 25%
* Retired: 40%

### **Woodcutter**

Woodcutter increases your chance to score a critical hit against trees and aether brambles. These objects pose no threat to you, so destroying them isn't a time-sensitive issue, so this buff can be ignored safely.

* Crystal Type: Jade
* Infant: 30%
* Adolescent: 40%
* Adult: 50%
* Mature: 60%
* Elder: 80%
* Retired: 100%