Normally I'd tell you all the wonderful things that Dune Awakening's Chapter 3 installment brings first, and yes, I'll cover those things, but I want to tackle one of the most important things first – returning to Arrakis. (If you need a refresher, here's our review of the base game) If you're a Dune Awakening player who has taken a break only to find your base eradicated by the storm, I there's only one thing you wish to news. Well, settle in seeker - This is the water, and this is the well. Drink full, and descend" - I bring good news.
In Dune Awakening, if you don't pay your taxes, the CHOAM organization would suspend power to your shields, letting the desert reclaim the foundations upon which your world stands. The blistering winds, sand, and oppressive heat destroys all, and only your pentashield will keep that from happening. CHOAM is no longer collecting taxes. No longer will you have to visit Arakeen or Harko Village to pay your taxes to keep your base intact. Better still, a spice blow from the Funcom team on the horizon might be your ticket back.
For players who want to come back to Dune Awakening, you may have lost most of what you'd built if you didn't deconstruct it and put it in a bank. The team at Funcom will offer a "Welcome back pack" that'll give you a bundle of resources to re-establish yourself. If you've been gone for 28 days or more, you'll get a bundle based on how far you've gone in the tech tree. It'll be enough for you to get back on your feet, re-establish your base, get a vehicle up and running, and more, meaning you aren't starting from scratch. The desert is rarely this forgiving. Combined with the ability to transfer to new servers thanks to the patch in mid-January, we should see the population return to Dune on a short timeline. Now let's talk about Chapter 3 and all the great things we can all play by the time you read this -- yes, it's out right now. While you patch, let's talk about specialties.
In Chapter 3 you'll find the most impactful changes we've seen to not only the endgame, but the game at its core – specializations. There are five in total - combat, crafting, exploration, gathering, and sabotage, with each one being able to be raised all the way up to level 100. Let's talk about how that happens before we get into the specializations themselves.
Each specialization is exactly as the name suggests, a furtherance of a specific discipline wherein you'll unlock more and better perks as a reward for your focus. Yes, you can unlock all of them, but a hard cap of 5 quests per day would mean it would take quite a while to reach max level on all of them –
about a year by my napkin math. You aren't barred from doing more, but you'll only advance your skillset with the first five, meaning you can't simply do all of the contracts at once as they reset every week. Let's deep-dive into the specializations.
Note: The numbers I'm citing were live on the test server ahead of launch and may be subject to change by the time you read this, but should be directionally correct for demonstrative purposes.
COMBAT
Combat specializations, as you'd expect, are about dealing and avoiding damage. The passive bonuses at level 100 is a cool +100% increase to damage output, with a 50% improvement to damage mitigation, which should result in some serious combat capability. Throughout the path from level 1 to 100 are individual skills that further your combat prowess, including stamina management, increasing your health pool, and more.
In addition to these combat improvements, a complete rework to Rapier combat will bring a bit more flair to the slim sword, allowing it to function more like its namesake rather than a reskinned broadsword. Emphasizing parrying attacks and precision, this sword looks like a shield destroyer if I've ever seen one.
Additionally, a new weapon platform – dual blades - will also become available. While it won't require being a combat specialist to use dual wield daggers, you'll obviously be more effective if you do as it emphasizes fast attacks, debuff stacking things like bleed and poison, rapid movement, and a constant flurry of shield-breaking strikes. The light attacks are heavy and wide arm swings with each arm, focusing on fluidity of movement. Heavy attacks are underhanded stabs to the gut, but holding down the attack button causes you to attack left, right, left, right with increasing speed and penetration, making it brutal in action. Blending the two attacks gives you a combination of the two - two light attacks followed by two heavy attacks, and a flourish jump spin downward strike to finish off your target. Parrying crosses the blades in front of you, and then snaps them back out to the side, breaking the incoming attack to unleash the combinations I've mentioned above.
In addition to the melee options, there is a new explosive weapon called a Pyrocket. This new gun lobs what looks like a pyroclastic explosive similar to a thermite grenade. We'll have to see how best to employ this weapon in the field, but it's good to see some new toys that are mechanically different than the others.
CRAFTING
Moving onto the Crafting discipline, you'll see similar buffs, but aimed at a very different topic – building. Here you'll find that items you craft have up to +100% durability, making them far more able to withstand the rigors of combat and the desert. Additionally there are a TON of additional perks including adjustments to repairs, a chance to craft additional items (e.g. craft a health kit, end up with two), additional perks for gear like allowing an additional augment, improvements to recycling like yielding more resources or the chance to recover additional rare items, reduced crafting costs and much more. One example, as a Swordmaster, was seeing the Level 30 option to add an additional augment into melee weapons. Similar things occur throughout the new specialization system, so it's worth spending some time planning your route.
Interestingly, there is a specialization item called "Fragmentation Mastery". Fragmentation will allow you to break down otherwise useless or outgrown blueprint permits into "fragments". These fragments can be used then to upgrade your Tier 6 equipment (the team recognizes that players won't want to "waste" important resources on Tiers 1-5 when the progression there is more obvious). These function similarly to existing recipes, granting a single-use Imperial permit to build one of these objects or augments.
You'll be able to transform these fragments into functional attachments at a new crafting station called an "Augmentation Station". RNG luck is a big part of your overall collection, so you'll be re-running dungeons to get exactly what you want. As I mentioned above, you'll also need to have the appropriate unlock under specializations to match the desired attachment, so you'll also need to plan ahead if you have a specific outcome in mind.
Augments can be slotted into all sorts of equipment, and they look to unlock a real land rush to find the new meta as they are varied and numerous. Some are obvious, like a "Blade Flexi-Coating" which adds 4% reduction to your block stamina cost, while others like Garment Reinforcement does what it says on the box - a 4% buff to armor. Each augment has five tiers, so you'll probably find a few you like and really hone in on those to maximize effect, but hey – it's your Dune, so you do you. These are permanently attached though, so be sure.
EXPLORATION
Next on the specialization track is Exploration. Exploration is interesting as it's about your efficiency in the desert. At level 100 you'll literally double your inventory volume, effectively making you a human Carryall. Even level 1 earns you an entirely row of additional inventory slots. This specialization is going to be critical to any team -- let's talk about some specifics.
As you work through this specialization, you'll find a number of important skills to augment a group or guild. Superior Fuel Efficiency is what you'd think - from 5 to 25% improvement on fuel expenditure, which helps greatly when you're making big hauls across the desert. Treasure Hunter increases the amount of loot gained from crashed ships and buried treasures, making the Exploration-focused nomad a lucky Muad'dib foot for your crew. Vehicle Recovery Cost Reduction...well, sometimes things go wrong, and the penalty for that would be reduced. Vehicle Speed Bonus, Boost Heat Reduction, Scanning Range, Expert Maneuvering, and more will help you with your sojourns into the world of Dune, as will Revealing the Fog and more. Without Rhythm reduces threat of attracting worms, and Suspensor Powerdrain Reduction will help you with softer landings. There is an embarrassment of riches in this discipline.
GATHERING
The Gathering specialization is precisely what it says on the tin – gobbling up resources. At level 100 you'll get a 50% improvement to mining yield, static compactor yield, and a mining outpost base multiplier of +50% as well. As you'd expect, it's improvements to yields from scrap and minerals, but also extends to plant water extraction, blood extraction, reduction of tool power costs, reduced threat when using the compactor, a chance at a "yield jackpot" to gain additional rare resources, and more. You even get double the resources from anything you pick up off the ground. Interestingly, at level 58 you can "Jellify" a corpse, making them take up 50% less volume in your inventory. I'm not sure how that works, and frankly, I don't think I'd like to imagine it, but I'll appreciate being able to haul back more water sources for squeezing. Combined with Exsanguination Mastery, you'll be able to transport more bodies and harvest 100% more water from their blood - there's a new phrase in the world!
SABOTAGE
The last specialization, Sabotage, is all over the place, providing various bonuses across a wide variety of disciplines. Soft Step means traps take longer to detonate, which can leave enemies unaware for longer during your approach. Discreet reduces the distance that NPCs can sense you. Bonus Loot from enemies...well, you can figure that one out. There are a number of improvements to Landsraad contributions, providing more support to your house when you participate in those activities. Greasing Palms reduces the cost of bribing Landsraad officials when honest contribution isn't getting the job done. What's Theirs is Mine gives a bonus to loot found on corpses, and Explosive helps you make new corpses to loot! There's even a bonus to headshot damage. At level 100, you'll get a 50% passive bonus damage to staggered targets, making this a bit of a stealth character that wants to contribute to the overall Landsraad progression.
HELMETS FOR EVERYONE
For all five disciplines, when you hit level 75 in specialization, you'll earn a special helmet that visually denotes your skill mastery. All of these helmets are cosmetic so you can apply them to your favorite gear visually, but it lets you easily spot that person who might be able to guide you on your own journey through the deep desert.
DUNGEONS / TESTING STATIONS
The five new testing stations might as well be five brand new biomes. Listed as "Dungeons" on the overworld map (a welcome addition as this was woefully empty), these testing stations have interesting descriptions that hint at what you'll find there. For example, Testing Station No. 89's description reads "High radiation readings are registered around the entrance", so bring a suit, and Testing Station No. 195 reads "Vines are covering the entrance and a faint smell of burnt elacca wood". If you've spent way too much time reading Dune books, you'll know that elacca wood is an odd thing given that it's not native to Arrakis, instead coming from the planet Ecaz. Why would that plant exist here? Could it be related to the Ecaz-based Corrino Duke Prad Vidal's attempt to destroy Duke Leto Atreides I in the year 10,100? Or am I just reading too much into a burnt plant? I'm eager to find out, but I'm bringing my Static Compactor in case those plants are poison...
The new dungeons now have a difficulty scaling system, addressing the repetitive nature of running dungeons over and over for loot. Now you can unlock a new difficulty scale by beating the previous, and with each tier you'll get additional bonuses to drop rates. For example, Rank 4 on a dungeon might give you an additional 40% bump to XP, +67% upgraded arms and armor drop rates, and +100% Grade 1 Augmentation drops, but you'll pay for it with a 44% bump to enemy health, 41% additional enemy damage, +10% shield regeneration, etc. Obviously, these numbers are subject to change based on testing going on right now, but it illustrates the point. These new dungeons scale up to level 999 (and that's not a typo), so there's plenty of challenge ahead. These difficulty sliders aren't going to affect existing dungeons and testing stations, but the team "has some ideas" on how to address those as well – stay tuned.
If you like the cherry on top of the sundae, you'll appreciate that these new dungeons not only have a proper boss to face, that boss will have a visible health bar, and phases to overcome. It's a page out of the MMO handbook, and a welcome one. Naturally, these can be run solo or in groups, but I'd suggest bringing friends. One example we saw was a boss in the electrical-based dungeon. During each phase he either deployed a different attack method, engaged various electrical shocking implements from the gear around him, or worse. Figuring out the approach to these dungeons and boss battles will be a welcome addition to the formula.
QUALITY OF LIFE AND COSMETICS
It's easy to gloss over these things, but I do want to point out that the general UI has gotten a pass as well. Things like selecting a mission now have a bit more visual flair, with an icon for each and some additional space for text -- likely an improvement to make it more readable for the 2026-slated eventual console launch.
This expansion is billed as "Chapter 3" but that is split into two parts – the free portion that everyone gets, and a number of cosmetic items. As you might infer, Chapter 3 continues the story of Dune Awakening. The Funcom team has kept this very much under wraps, though we can see that they're embracing these new melee skills with some sort of dueling ring on Neo Carthag. (Carthag was the capital city of Arrakis when House Harkonnen was ruling here, but this new city appears to be their current power base. ) In this story, our character continues to explore their own mysterious origins, and that's lead us to the trail of a Tleilaxu Face Dancer who appears to be a combatant in this Harkonnen arena. Given that Face Dancers can be anyone due to their extensive genetic engineering and shape shifting capabilities, (with the newest iterations of these tank-born spies being also able to absorb personalities and traits of their targets) we might have to take down this entire stable of warriors to find them. We got to see a bit of the arena, with a face off against Thrax the Flamer (you can guess what weapon he brought to the fight). These fights also have multiple phases, much like those in the Testing Stations. This particular arena battle took place on the sand, with multiple walls to provide protection and Shigawire opportunities.
The cosmetic portion of this expansion is underselling the value – this patch brings numerous quality of life improvements. You can now apply color swatches to your equipment and chests, aligned with Great and Minor houses, so if you're a House Varota superfan, that blue, gray, brown color is yours. True, you'll have to earn them through missions for those factions, but it will allow a better color match to the rest of your base decorations.
These base decorations are part of the Raiders of the Broken Land DLC. This entirely-cosmetic DLC will come with 74 Smuggler building pieces, 17 Smuggler decorations, 3 Smuggler Armors/Stillsuits, 2 Smuggler weapon skins, 2 new emotes (peering into the distance, and picking up sand from a kneeling position), a Smuggler swatch, and a new Raider Buggy variant. This Buggy is a cosmetic variant of the regular buggy, but it looks more cobbled together, with pieces strapped to the side - not unlike a camel with multiple packs on each side.
The Broken Land DLC pack is $9.99 separately, or included in the Season Pass, but the Funcom team heard our feedback on previous packs not being complete enough – this one is a total overhaul. The building pieces are unique, giving a rounded mix of structures with steel columns, louvered roofs, and a more rugged-native look than other building types. You'd imagine the Smuggler faction wants to blend into the desert, and this tile set does that nicely. Heading inside, the interiors are downright surprising. Rounded edges everywhere, and with lighting purpose built to capture indirect light and reflect it inward (as you'd expect from a desert-dwelling group). It's a fantastic juxtaposition to the exterior. Where the outside looks like it can blend into the landscape, the interiors are downright lush, with lots of rounded edges. If you were waiting on a chance to rebuild your base into a final mega-base, this might be your new home.
Hopping up to the top of the demo Smuggler base we also saw a number of new vehicle skins that are available in the game as items to earn or purchase for Solari. A rounded red rust-colored buggy in Harkonnen style, an Ornithopter with a more industrial look, a sandcrawler in several different styles (with Carryall to match), and much more. It's clear the team is putting a great deal of effort into allowing players to build precisely the look they want for their base and supporting equipment. You can even color your various construction and support devices, as well as storage equipment, based on the swatches you've earned or purchased. Even the Observer pieces that were once locked to Twitch drops are now available from vendors in the various social hubs.
I was very happy to see that the team is also granting everyone a large garage door for all factions. This will accommodate a Buggy with plenty of headroom to spare, so you won't be restricted to using the pentashield for your entrances.
The shield wall area has received some additional sculpting, based on player feedback, allowing a few more access points for ground vehicles. You'll find a handful of new ramps at the edges of the map to allow you to transition to the overland map more easily with your ground vehicles. When you do head to the overland map, you'll also see a direction indicator to help guide you to your quest target. Additionally, a new faction chat channel will be added to let you chat with your faction if you're on the same map, which should help with coordination in the Deep Desert.
THE LANDSRAAD AND A FEW SURPRISES
There are a number of additional changes beyond the new specialization adjustments to the Landsraad system. Foremost, much of what we've been doing to this point is handing over precious resources to curry favor, attempting to essentially "tic-tac-do" five in a row (the in-game name for which is "Sysselraad") to "win" the week for Atreides or Harkonnen. Now, it's more about ranking up your factions with mission completions. These are split up and sorted by combat, sabotage, crafting, gathering, and exploration - the exact same classifications as the new specializations, which I'm sure is not a coincidence.
There was a surprise and a hint at future content with a new instanced time trial racing system coming as part of this patch. There are a few areas on the map where you'll find gates that indicate a race track in the area. You'll be able to run these races for time, though we don't have specifics around what the winner gets quite yet. This hints at future potential content for PvP races against other players with ground vehicles, and perhaps someday, even Ornithopter races. We can dream...
WELCOME BACK, SEEKER
Time will tell if these massive reworks of the game will bring back launch window players or not, but seeing the efforts that Funcom has made here makes me think that it will. Removing the tax system is a welcome sight, paving the way for players to take breaks between chapters if they're inclined. The welcome back pack, the rework of endgame content, the Landsraad, and the fresh approach to both bosses and scalable dungeons showcase some of the ways the team is listening to and working with the community. This is easily the team's biggest rework of systems, as well as signaling the road ahead. It's an exciting time to be a Dune Awakening player. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a whole new Smuggler base to build...
Dune Awakening Chapter 3 is available right now, free for all players. See you on the sand!
