You're all set for adventure! Now it's time to go hunting for Illuvials. In this second part of our beginner's guide, we'll teach you how to use the forge and master the art of catching. Get ready for epic encounters and adding all the Illuvials to your collection!

The Forge

• The Forge is where all weapons, equipment, capture shards (which work like a poke ball), resources and gems (which are used to create equipment) and drone upgrades are crafted, and skins will also be available soon.
• This is located in the central world, Sanctum Mesa, from where you go to the other areas.

Crafting for captures and drone upgrades:

To start in the world of Illuvium, the most important thing is to create a team with level 1 Illuvials, which can be captured with level 0 shards.

• Shards: The important thing is to break stones, specifically white ones for this initial level, to create cure shards, which have a 51% success rate in capture.
• It is ideal to craft at least 3 shards for each Illuvial you want to capture, because while it may work on the first try, sometimes you need more than two.
• After tier 0 shards, you can find the following respectively:
• common, uncommon, rare, epic, resplendent and the Master Shard The latter is the most important because it is the only one that ensures 100% capture, however, it is only obtained by defragmenting other shards. To do so, you must click on deconstruct, select the shard fragment and execute the action, that will give Shard Dust, of which 80 units are required to craft the Master, together with 6000 units of imperium.
• As for the drone, it is currently recommended to only look for this upgrade:

• Basic Atomic Conjurant: Provides a 4% chance to double the gold obtained from rocks, useful for crafting shards, essential for capturing Illuvials. To equip it, you must enter the inventory with I, use the letter E to see the equipment and put it in the absolute box.

Capturing Illuvials

• To capture an Illuvial, you must be stealthy to get as close as possible and once close to it, start firing a few bursts to start filling the charge bar, while looking for the best angle to hit more easily and start the capture race.
• The charge bar that appears at the top must be filled before the portal appears and the Illuvial disappears.
• Since the weapon has a reheating system, it is recommended to aim and shoot with a short pause in between. * Once the charge bar is complete, the Illuvial must be fought. To do this, the player must approach the orb that appears and interact with it. Here, two things can be done: either scan (with the letter E) to find out what Illuvials there are and see if they can be defeated, or directly fight if you trust that the Illuvial team you have is strong.
• In tier 0, it is best to capture as many as possible to form the combat team.

Illuvial Battlefield

• In the fight scenario, it is important to take into account the top bar, since it says what movements or Illuvials can be used, in the form of points. That will depend on the level of the Illuvial or how many you have to face.
• The points left over at the start of the game are the ones that can be used for capture with shard, each capture attempt takes away 25 points, if it remains at 0, the battle will be lost and the player returns to the exploration map.
• It is vital to know how many shards are taken to each expedition, because depending on the level of rarity, it will be the % of effectiveness, use the most appropriate to the rarity of the Illuvial.
• It is possible that even winning the battle, the capture of the Illuvials is not achieved, because it will depend on the energy bar that keeps that world stable. The most common is that you can try twice before the field is eliminated and the player returns to the normal world without the Illuvial.

But how do you catch up with the Illuvial?

Keep the following in mind:

• There are two abilities to give you a greater advantage or a greater chance of capture, these can be activated after starting the race with the Illuvial, which occurs after shooting it for the first time or scaring it away.
• There is the drone ability, which is activated with the letter F once you are close to the Illuvial (it is easy to get close by activating the speed run, more info in this guide) There are 3 types of Drone abilities: Bach Drone: Teleports to the Illuvial and shoots unstable energy at it, dealing 50 damage for 5 seconds Hilde Drone: Generates a stasis container around the Illuvial, locking them in place for 5 seconds and dealing more damage to the rifle. (This is the drone that is most recommended to carry) Chopin: A buff that allows you to have greater speed and prevent the weapon from overheating
• There is also the weapon skill, which is activated with the letter G and creates a "black hole" that stops the Iluvialls' progress while dealing damage to it.

Recommendations:

• Before going to each map, always check the equipment you carry: With I, L, Z, to know which Illuvials you have and take to the races or map, because once you enter the exploration map you cannot make changes, updates or crafting can only be done in the forge
• Remember that the Illuvials have their own statistics, which are found by clicking on them and seeing the interface that appears on the right side. Useful to know which of the ones you have is stronger and is useful for combat.
• Try to scan the Illuvials before entering combat with them, many times they come accompanied by more Illuvials or by a single Illuvial, but of a higher level. Find the companion guides here: Fuse your Illuvials and upgrade your battle gear in Illuvium Overworld! Dive into the Illuvium universe with the basic game mechanics guide

Look forward to joining the Illuvial hunter community!