The Ancient Ruins — The Alters Walkthrough

Learn how to use Ancient Altars in The Alters to upgrade your Weapons and Modules up to Ascendant rarity. Find locations, understand the upgrade mechanic, and get tips for success.

Hey there! So, you've stumbled upon the Ancient Altars in The Alters, huh? These are super cool endgame spots introduced with the Wrath of the Ancients DLC that let you really push your gear to the next level, upgrading Weapons and Modules all the way up to Ascendant rarity. Think of them as a reliable way to craft some of the most powerful non-Legendary equipment out there, kind of like Ancient Rifts but with a more direct upgrade path. ### Locations You'll find these altars in three key places: * Chendar Barrier: This one's in the Khaït Dominion system. * Cloister of Kalesh: Located in the Rhak Homeworlds system. * Towers of Herat: You'll find this in the Ushak Sanctuary system. Keep an eye out for their distinct icon:  ### Upgrade Mechanic When you find an Ancient Altar, you can pick one Weapon or Module to upgrade. Just remember, it needs to be Superior or Ascendant rarity, and crucially, it can't be equipped. You'll place it right into the altar. Next, you'll choose an upgrade rank, from 1 to 8. Going for higher ranks means a stronger item, but it'll also cost you more Eshahar Fragments and crank up the difficulty. The difficulty is measured by Lunacy, which can range from 300 all the way up to 1000. Once you've set your item and rank, the upgrade process kicks off. Your job is to survive waves of Ancient Swarmer enemies until a progress bar fills up. It's split into two phases: * Phase 1: You'll face waves of Ancient Small Swarmers and Ancient Medium Swarmers. You need to take out all the green-marked enemies to move on. * Phase 2: This is the boss battle! A single Ancient Large Swarmer will appear. Defeat it, and you're golden. Watch out, though! During both phases, extra Ancient Drones and Ancient Small Swarmers might pop up. Only the green-marked ones count towards your progress, so focus on them. After you've dealt with the Ancient Large Swarmer, you can grab your upgraded item from the altar. You'll also find an Okkar Reliquary waiting for you. ### Ranks Every Ascendant rank you go up not only boosts your item's stats but also makes the enemies tougher and increases the Eshahar Fragment cost. The enemy damage and health modifiers here are similar to what you see in Ancient Rifts. Just to give you an idea, an Ascendant Rank 2 item is pretty comparable to a Superior item of the _Prototype_ grade. And a Rank 7 Ascendant item? That's like a Superior item of the _Starforged_ grade. Here's a quick look at the costs and difficulty: | Rank | Eshahar Fragments required | Lunacy | Enemy Damage | Enemy Hitpoints | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | 1 | 300 | +258% | +206% | | 2 | 3 | 400 | +360% | +288% | | 3 | 7 | 500 | +462% | +370% | | 4 | 14 | 600 | +565% | +452% | | 5 | 25 | 700 | +668% | +534% | | 6 | 41 | 800 | +770% | +616% | | 7 | 63 | 900 | +872% | +698% | | 8 | 92 | 1000 | +975% | +780% | ### Notes * All Ancient Swarmer enemies count as Ancients. This means universal weapon modifiers like "20% increased damage against Ancients" will apply to them. Special faction damage bonuses won't work here, though. * Heads up, Elek won't warp in to help you during these upgrade fights. * Other ships around might jump into the fray with the Ancient Swarmers if they spot them, so be aware of your surroundings. * Once you start an upgrade, there's no turning back – you can't jump away or abort. * Unlike Ancient Rifts, you won't find any mutators or blessings here. ### Tips and Tricks * Seriously, slap the Hexaspatial Catalyst on your Shield. It's a lifesaver against Kaion Radiation and stops those pesky Ancient Swarmers from regenerating when they go spectral. * Generally, if a ship build works well in Ancient Rifts, it'll do great here too. * Don't stress about a resolve meter; you don't have to defeat enemies super quickly. * The Ancient Large Swarmer has a ton of health, so bring your A-game damage-wise. * A tricky thing about the Ancient Swarmers is that they can teleport behind you. Cover isn't as reliable for dodging their fire. * The Front Shield Generator is your best friend when you just can't dodge out of the way.