The Rift

The Rift is a walled maze where the fabric of space is torn, left over from the Ringwrights' lock chambers: PvPvE. There are creatures and Sentinels inside, but the real danger is the other pilots. Whoever deals the most damage to the keeper in the middle gets the Grand Rift Chest. A run ends within 9 min, and at most 10 pilots share a Rift. Formerly called the Warren.

How to get in

• Level requirement: level 10. Entering the Rift needs it.
• Rift gates: the fabric of space tears at random on the maps. Every open gate stays open for a random time between 8 min and 15 min; when one closes, another opens on a different map. Many are always open at the same time (roughly one in every three maps) and nobody is told: you find them. It is the only way in to the Rift, and it is free (you cannot enter from a station). A gate never opens on any faction's X-1…X-4 safe maps, in Wormhole or on the Depth floors; it can open on every other map. When you get close, the shimmer shows on the minimap, after 1.5 min a zone ring appears, and after 3 min the exact spot; the Rift window and the small mark on the Map show which maps have a Rift gate. If you come next to it and press Cross (J), you go in within 2.5 seconds; meanwhile your ship holds still, cannot fire or use skills but can be hit; a hit does not cancel the crossing.
• The window: Menu → Combat → Rift (N) shows the capsule rules and the maps that have a Rift gate right now; you can only get in through a gate.
• The same room: whichever gate you enter from, on whichever map, everybody who goes in around the same time meets in the same Rift: the first one in forms the room, and those who come later join it until it holds 10 pilots or until 1.5 min into the fight; after that the next one in forms a new room. A party goes in together. There are no leagues to split rooms: the room's difficulty comes from the root mean square of the pilots' rank steps. Who is inside is not told before you enter.
• You must not be in combat: you cannot enter if you fired or were hit in the last 10 seconds. AI Commander does not enter the Rift and does not work inside.

Leagues: compete at your own level

You enter the Rift according to your Honor rank; every league has its own Rifts, so a beginner only meets pilots of their own level. The league is set the moment you enter; the Honor you earn inside does not change your league during that run. A party enters in the league of its highest-league member (a party has at most 3 people).

How a run goes

• Preparation: 45 seconds; everyone starts from a different point of the maze. Walls cut sight and fire, rockets hit the wall, and whatever is out of sight is dark. If you tap the map, your ship finds its own way through the corridors.
• Three Sentinels: every 75 seconds a Sentinel wakes up (Ember, Shell, Eye; the order changes with the run). The pilot who deals 20% of its health gets its 150-second buff; the three stack, and a colored ring shows around the ship.
• The carrier is the target: whoever brings down a buffed pilot takes half of that pilot's remaining buff time, and earns 25% more Honor (per buff, at most 75%) on that kill.
• Seal and keeper: when the three Sentinels fall, the seal in the center opens, and 10 seconds later your league's keeper wakes up (a relative of the Wormhole bosses: it draws its danger zones in advance).
• Silence and capsule: when the keeper dies, nobody can shoot anybody for 12 seconds. The Grand Rift Chest belongs to the pilot who dealt the most damage to the keeper (not whoever landed the last hit); it decrypts in 5 seconds. Silicite, Credits and XP are split by the damage dealt to the keeper.
• What is in the capsule: the same as the Grand Wormhole Chest of your league (Rookie I, Warrior II, Veteran III, Master IV or V): the same Silicite, ammo and materials; Antimatter only comes in the Rift capsule (the Grand Wormhole Chest no longer gives any). On top of that it holds 1 Data Core and 20 Ring Essence (a Grand Wormhole Chest has none): every Grand Rift Chest holds exactly that much, whatever the level, the deaths or Plus. The Ring Essence goes into your production inventory, not your cargo. Your Honor sets how many Tier 4 rolls the capsule makes, each at 8%: while the Honor board (pilots with Honor who played in the last 14 days) has 25 pilots or fewer, it is 1 roll plus one more for every 10,000 Honor (at most 10); on a bigger board it follows your rank: no Honor 1 roll, the rest with Honor 3, top 50% 4, top 35% 5, top 20% 6, top 10% 7, top 5% 8, top 3 9, first place 10. The rank is worked out the moment you open the capsule. Alone in the Rift you roll at most 5 times, with two independent pilots 7, with three or more there is no limit. Every pilot who dies inside makes the capsule's Silicite, ammo, materials and Antimatter 10% bigger (at most 100%); the rare-part chance does not grow. Deaths of your own account, network, party or Company group and kills that paid nothing do not count. The capsule's Antimatter never goes above the station entry cost (25% more with Vessarion Plus).
• Rift Honor: the Sentinels give 10 / 20 / 40 Honor in the order they fall (the living pilot who dealt the most damage to each takes it); the keeper gives 80 Honor (to whoever takes the capsule). The capsule itself gives no Honor. You earn all of this when you go in alone, too. There is no daily limit: the Rift is a PvP zone, enter as often as you like.
• Collapse: when 9 min are up, the Rift collapses and no capsule appears.

PvP rules

• Free-for-all: your own unit shoots you too; only the same party and the same Company do not fire on each other.
• 2 lives: the first time you die, you respawn after 12 seconds in your own pocket with a 4-second shield; your second death throws you out.
• Wreck rule: if you die in the Rift, half of your cargo drops as a wreck; the one who killed you, or anyone else, can take it; your modules are safe. It is wise to empty your hold before you enter. There is no repair cost.
• Power cap: inside, your ship fights with a Power cut down according to your league; the same goes for the creatures, the Sentinels and the keeper. Rookie is a hard cap: Power counts in full up to 100,000; anything above it does not count (hard cap). Warrior, Veteran and Master are soft caps: part of the Power above the cap still counts, so a very strong pilot has a noticeable edge but not an unlimited one. Power counts in full up to 140,000; 10% of the excess counts; at most 280,000 counts. Power counts in full up to 200,000; 20% of the excess counts; at most 400,000 counts. Power counts in full up to 320,000; 30% of the excess counts. In Warrior and Veteran the counted Power runs into a ceiling; Master has no such ceiling.
• Honor: every pilot you shoot down inside gives 3 times the Honor of a kill in open space (far more than the Sentinels give: a Rift with other pilots in it is the better run). The same pilot again pays in full, as in open space; 6 rewarded kills in all; the protection against alt accounts stays as it is.

For rank and Honor, see PvP; for the keepers' relatives, the Wormhole page.