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How much of the rewards and loot from clearing a soldier camp in The Blood of Dawnwalker is fixed, and how much is random?
I was curious, so I tested it. Here are the results.
TOC
Conclusion
- Rewards and drops from clearing the camp can be divided into three types of slots: “fixed slots,” “variable slots,” and “additional slots.”
- “Fixed slots” have no randomness and always contain the same placed items or drops. These include denarii (with the amount also fixed), junk, Recipes, Manuals, consumables, documents, and quest items. Some crafting materials also fall into this category.
- “Variable slots” contain equipment and crafting materials.
- “Additional slots” are added at a low probability (4% in this test). In this test, only Manuals appeared in these slots.
- If you save before fighting the soldiers at the camp, you can reroll the rewards.
Testing Method
I used a save file from immediately after defeating Ambrus and repeated the following procedure.
- Save at the Stuga Marshes Shrine in St. Tyna’s Grove.
- Load the save from Step 1 and use it as the starting point.
- Head to the soldier camp immediately south of the shrine, eliminate the enemies, and check their drops and the contents of the chest.
- After recording the results, return to Step 2.
Number of Trials
I repeated the above process 50 times.
On two occasions, one of the defeated Brencis’s soldiers became stuck inside the campfire, making it impossible to collect their drops.
For those two attempts, I stopped the test, discarded the notes, and did not include them in the 50-trial count.
In other words, all 50 trials listed below are runs in which I was able to collect every drop.
Characteristics of the Test Location and Sample Labels
This soldier camp contains one Uriashi soldier, two human soldiers serving Brencis, four interactable containers, and one chest.
For convenience, I refer to them in this test as “Uriashi,” “Soldier A,” “Soldier B,” “Container A,” “Container B,” “Container C,” “Container D,” and “Chest.”
Test Results
First, I will list the “fixed slots,” followed by the “variable slots” and “additional slots,” broken down by trial and loot source.
Fixed Slots
The following items were obtained in every single one of the 50 trials.
| Uriashi | Soldier A | Soldier B | Container A | Container B | Container C | Container D | Chest |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baked Bone Marrow ×1 | Aconite ×1 7 denarii | Canteen of Water ×1 20 denarii Recipe for Minor Balm of Fortitude | Wild Boar Hide ×1 Nails×1Parasol Mushroom ×1 | Letter of RefusalBoar Meat ×1 Canteen of Elderflower Juice ×1Torch ×1 | Broken Hammer ×1Bilberry ×1 | Mouldy Bread ×1Comfrey ×1 | Crossroads Inn Shrine’s Heart Brencis’s Orders – Old Shrines Must Be Destroyed Recipe for Fortitude Paste Walking Fortress Manual Fruit Juice ×1 |
None of these items changed even once across all 50 trials.
By item category, the fixed items consisted of:
- Denarii (the amount was also completely fixed across every trial)
- Junk
- Recipes
- Manuals
- Consumables
- Documents
- Quest items
- Crafting materials (some)
For crafting materials, I also confirmed that some materials other than those listed above appeared in variable slots.
As for Containers A–D, I confirmed that all of their contents belonged to fixed slots.
Variable Slots
Items that appear to belong to “variable slots” have the following characteristics:
- This category contains equipment and crafting materials whose appearance rates are weighted by rarity.
- In general, lower-rarity items appear more frequently, while higher-rarity items appear less frequently.
- The number of “variable slots” itself remained the same in every trial.
- Each individual variable slot appears to draw an item from its own weighted list.
- These weighted lists group together items with similar characteristics, such as “trousers and boots” for Soldier A, “trousers and bracers” for Soldier B, “rings and amulets” for the Uriashi and Chest, and “crafting materials” for the Chest.
- As shown by the armour that appeared from the Chest in Trial 24, items of a different type also appear to be included at an extremely low weight.
The following table shows the items I actually obtained. Containers A–D are omitted because all of their contents belonged to fixed slots.
| Trial | Uriashi | Soldier A | Soldier B | Chest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 2 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Green-Gilled Mushroom (Ingredient, Superior) |
| 3 | Ring of Frugality (Ring, Master) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Swordsman’s Amulet (Master)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 4 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 5 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 6 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Sturdy Leather Bracers (Bracers, Master) | Ring of Quick Strikes (Ring, Legendary)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 7 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 8 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 9 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Sturdy Leather Bracers (Bracers, Master) | Ring of Quick Strikes (Ring, Legendary)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 10 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 11 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Yellow-Shin Trousers (Trousers, Epic) | Blood-Knee Trousers (Trousers, Master) | Ring of Quick Strikes (Ring, Legendary)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 12 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 13 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 14 | Ring of Frugality (Ring, Master) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Swordsman’s Amulet (Master)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 15 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 16 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 17 | Ring of Frugality (Ring, Master) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Swordsman’s Amulet (Master)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 18 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 19 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 20 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Sturdy Leather Bracers (Bracers, Master) | Ring of Quick Strikes (Ring, Legendary)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 21 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 22 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 23 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Black-Shin Trousers (Trousers, Master) | Blood-Knee Trousers (Trousers, Master) | Ring of Quick Strikes (Ring, Legendary)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 24 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Azure Puresteel Plate (Chestpiece, Epic)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 25 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 26 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 27 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 28 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 29 | Ring of Frugality (Ring, Master) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Swordsman’s Amulet (Master)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 30 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 31 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 32 | Ring of Frugality (Ring, Master) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Swordsman’s Amulet (Master)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 33 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 34 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 35 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Sturdy Leather Bracers (Bracers, Master) | Ring of Quick Strikes (Ring, Legendary)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 36 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 37 | The Bulwark (Ring, Epic) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Swordsman’s Amulet (Master)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 38 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 39 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 40 | Ring of Frugality (Ring, Master) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Swordsman’s Amulet (Master)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 41 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 42 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 43 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Hunter’s Trousers (Trousers, Master) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Ring of Quick Strikes (Ring, Legendary)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 44 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 45 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 46 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 47 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 48 | Ring of Frugality (Ring, Master) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Swordsman’s Amulet (Master)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 49 | Corruption Ward (Amulet, Superior) | Simple Leather Shoes (Boots, Common) | Quilted Red Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Daylight Amulet (Amulet, Superior)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
| 50 | The Bulwark (Ring, Epic) | Courier’s Cured Shoes (Boots, Superior) | Chain Leggings (Trousers, Superior) | Swordsman’s Amulet (Master)Weak Spirits (Ingredient, Master) ×2 |
Additional Slots
An “additional slot” is applied at a low probability on top of the fixed and variable slots, adding an extra item to the loot.
I did not observe any case where an item from an existing slot disappeared when an additional slot was applied.
During this test, I observed the following two additional-slot drops:
- In Trial 15, Soldier B additionally dropped a Walking Fortress Manual.
- In Trial 41, Soldier A additionally dropped a Stinging Blade Manual.
Frequency Distribution of Variable Slots
As shown in the tables below, the results appear to be quite strongly weighted by rarity.
| Source | Item | Frequency | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uriashi | Corruption Ward (Superior) | 41 | 82% |
| Ring of Frugality (Master) | 7 | 14% | |
| The Bulwark (Epic) | 2 | 4% | |
| Soldier A | Simple Leather Shoes (Common) | 27 | 54% |
| Courier’s Cured Shoes (Superior) | 20 | 40% | |
| Hunter’s Trousers (Master) | 1 | 2% | |
| Black-Shin Trousers (Master) | 1 | 2% | |
| Yellow-Shin Trousers (Epic) | 1 | 2% | |
| Soldier B | Quilted Red Leggings (Superior) | 23 | 46% |
| Chain Leggings (Superior) | 21 | 42% | |
| Sturdy Leather Bracers (Master) | 4 | 8% | |
| Blood-Knee Trousers (Master) | 2 | 4% |
| Chest Contents | Frequency | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Daylight Amulet (Superior) + Weak Spirits ×2 | 32 | 64% |
| Swordsman’s Amulet (Master) + Weak Spirits ×2 | 9 | 18% |
| Ring of Quick Strikes (Legendary) + Weak Spirits ×2 | 7 | 14% |
| Daylight Amulet (Superior) + Green-Gilled Mushroom | 1 | 2% |
| Azure Puresteel Plate (Epic) + Weak Spirits ×2 | 1 | 2% |
Inferences
Why Reports of Manual and Recipe Drops Need Follow-Up Testing
When the community reports finding a Manual or Recipe, there is no issue if it comes from a reward or drop in a “fixed slot.”
However, if it came from a “variable slot” or “additional slot,” other players may have a much lower chance of reproducing the same result.
Because these two item types can have a major impact on progression and their acquisition opportunities are limited, actively conducting follow-up tests on such reports may be worthwhile.
Impact on Crafting and Healing-Item Supply
Because there appear to be relatively few random-draw slots such as “variable slots” and “additional slots,” the Canteen of Water required to craft Minor Mending Ointment is likely to be harder to obtain consistently than materials that can be gathered directly in the field.
I have personally felt chronically short of Canteens of Water, so this result is consistent with my own experience.
Untested Questions
- Besides level, do other explanatory variables such as day/night and the current Time Segment affect the contents of drops and rewards?
- Does changing the order in which soldier camps are cleared alter their loot?
- Can the “fixed slot,” “variable slot,” and “additional slot” model also be applied to rewards and drops from Ancient Circles, monster nests, and checkpoints?
