How The November 2020 Side Quest Works – Shadow Base Raids & Joe Fixit’s Fine Goods

Summoners!

My favorite meme-tier champion, Joe Fixit, has quite a Side Quest in store for us this month. As always, my full breakdown is below, and you can also DOWNLOAD THE REWARDS SPREADSHEET.

The goal for this month is to earn as much Gamma Radiation as possible during the event, so that you can trade it in at Joe Fixit’s Fine Goods Store for rewards. Gamma Radiation can be found in events throughout the Contest, including the monthly Event Quest, Solo Objectives, a 7-Day Calendar, Arenas, and Shadow Base Raids

EVENT SCHEDULE

The November Side Quest runs from Wednesday, November 4 at 1pm EST until Wednesday, December 2 at 1pm EST.

HOW TO PLAY

The Side Quest for this month is called Shadow Base Raids. You need a Gamma Gauntlet to enter a Shadow Base, and you’ll receive one Gamma Gauntlet per day from a login calendar for a total of 28 Gamma Gauntlets.

You can use a Gamma Gauntlet to open a Shadow Base Raid, and from that point you’ll have only 30 minutes to get as far as you can in the quest. The further you get, the more Gamma Radiation you earn!

There are a total of 10 defenders on the path in the Shadow Base Raid, and 7 different iterations of the map. The map will change to the next variant after 24 hours – similar to the Heralds of Galactus Side Quest.

There are 4 difficulty levels: Heroic, Master, Epic, and Legendary. Since you only get 28 Gauntlets, you can’t play them all. Instead, you need to focus on the difficulty level that earns you the most Gamma Radiation.

Because you earn Gamma Radiation each fight – not by completing the path – there is a cutoff point where it makes sense to move up to the next difficulty. For example, completing all 10 fights in Epic may not net you as much Gamma has completing 6 fights in Legendary. Once we have that information, I’ll update the post.

Like with past Side Quests, you can save up your Gamma Gauntlets and run Shadow Base Raids multiple times a day.

However, unlike the last few events, once you open the event you are committed to it, so do not back out or you will lose your Gamma Gauntlet!

GAMMA RADIATION

So at this point you’re wondering how much Gamma Radiation you can earn. The maximum amount of Gamma Radiation a player can earn during the event is 1.9 million.

Here’s where the Gamma Radiation is:

Event Quest (Completion Runs)
Normal- 6,000
Heroic- 50,000
Master – 150,000
Uncollected – 450,000

Solo Objectives – 130,000
7-Day Calendar – 112,000
Arenas – 152,000

Shadow Base Raids
Heroic – 20,000 *
Master – 110,000 *
Epic – 350,000 *
Legendary – 850,000 *

* – Remember, because Gauntlets are limited, you can’t earn all the Shadow Base Raid Gamma.

JOE FIXIT’S FINE GOODS

Once you have all that Gamma Radiation, head over to Fixit’s Fine Goods to buy catalysts, crystal shards, and signature stones. Rewards are offered by title, with the highest level being Cavalier, so don’t worry, there are no Thronebreaker only rewards, at least for this month.

Here’s the big question – can I buy everything in the store? Unfortunately, the answer is no.

There is 2,372,500 Gamma worth of items in the store, so you can’t get them all. Make sure to prioritize your most desired items!

GAMMA GALORE SPEND EVENT

The more Gamma you spend, the more rewards you earn! As you spend Gamma Radiation you will contribute to a special solo event. You need to spend at least 1.5m Gamma (remember you can earn up to 1.9m) to complete the event. This event includes a 5-Star Awakening Generic Gem and a 5-Star Featured Hero Crystal.

ROOT MECHANIC

Finally, there is a new game mechanic being introduced in this event called Root.

When Rooted, a champion can’t move. They can still attack, Dex, parry, and use specials, but there will be no lateral movement from those actions. Each day in Shadow Base Raids, Root will be paired with a Global Buff to test interactions. Legendary will be more difficult and has an extra layer added to the buff.

Share your thoughts on Root on the official forums.

FINAL THOUGHTS

We’ll have to see how difficult the Shadow Raids are for the rewards, and the impact of the Root Mechanic could be huge on how well the month goes. That being said, store-based events are usually very popular because players love to choose their own rewards. I’m also a big fan of putting the special currency in content we’re already doing like the EQ and Arenas, to give players more options to feel rewarded. The Solo Event adds a nice touch to the event, especially because the Generic Awakening Gem will be accessible to Uncollected players.

-Dano357