Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XCIII Digest (08/17/2026)

[Voltenyne]

We are pleased to present the full digest of the Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XCIII, streamed from Fan Festival 2026 in Berlin! If you missed the live stream, or if you just want to watch it again (and again), check it out below!

• New Limited Job: Beastmaster

• Beastmaster-exclusive Duty: The Crucible of the Unbroken

* Don't forget to select the 1080p option to watch the video in HD!

[Voltenyne]

Patch 7.56 Preview – Beastmaster Showcase




(07:46:41)

We began by recapping previous announcements about beastmaster. Beastmaster will have its own job quests, and you can expect it to be a different style of limited job compared to blue mage.

There will be up to 50 types of beasts that can be tamed; you can choose up to three at a time to join you in battle as "familiars." During combat, you'll tactically swap between familiars to make the most of their unique strengths.

Beastmaster Actions



(07:49:24)

We went into detail about the actions that beastmasters will use in battle.

• Parting Blow
  Orders your familiar to unleash a powerful magic attack called "Aetheric Burst" before leaving the field.
  
  
• Trick
  Orders your familiar to use a weaponskill when their TP gauge is at 100 or higher.
  
  
• Tempered Release
  Orders your familiar to use their beast-specific action.
  
  
• Borrow
  Gain access to a special action based on your current familiar.

The first three actions command your familiar to execute an action, whereas Borrow turns into an action for the beastmaster to use directly.

Actions Granted by "Borrow"



(07:52:10)

As the name implies, Borrow draws aether from your familiar and allows you to use one of eight different actions. Your familiar's classification will determine which action is granted; for example, using Borrow on a beastkin familiar grants access to Beastskin, an action that reduces physical damage taken.

Other actions include wavekin's Quelling Wave, a ranged single-target magic attack; and soulkin's Soul Crush, a single-target attack that can interrupt an enemy action.

(07:54:06)

Check out the timestamp above to see beastmaster in action!

The beasts you've tamed will be listed in the Master's Bestiary, where you can assign familiars to your battlehorns. Outside of combat, you can swap between familiars without triggering a cooldown. When Parting Blow is used, the familiar returns to its battlehorn and goes on cooldown. This is the core mechanic of beastmaster's fighting style—managing your battlehorn cooldowns to keep cycling through your familiars efficiently.

Each time you summon a familiar, you'll gain the "One with Nature" status, which is consumed to use either Tempered Release or Borrow; select whichever is more useful for your battle situation.

In the demonstration, we borrowed Quelling Wave, a ranged magic attack, from the Pugil familiar. We then switched to the Slime familiar and had it bind the enemy with its Tempered Release action. This allowed us to attack the enemy from a distance with Quelling Wave while they were bound in place.

We also borrowed Soul Crush from a Coblyn familiar to interrupt a Bomb that was casting Self-destruct.

Each tameable beast has a unique Tempered Release action, for a total of 50 actions. Combined with the eight acrions granted by Borrow, this allows for a wide variety of action combinations, which we hope you'll enjoy experimenting with!

Instinctual Skills and Combos



(08:02:08)

The beastmaster and their familiar each have their own TP gauges, which are consumed to execute weaponskills called "instinctual skills." When the beastmaster and familiar use instinctual skills within seven seconds of each other, this triggers an "instinctual combo" and deals additional damage to the enemy.

Instinctual skills are divided into four affinities, each associated with a different color: red, blue, brown, and green. (You can also tell them apart by the shapes depicted in their icons.) Comboing instinctual skills in clockwise order (as shown on the circular job gauge), will increase the additional damage at the end.

We recommend focusing on the colors of the weaponskills. For example, if you start with a green weaponskill, follow up with a red weaponskill, then blue, then brown, and so on. Beastmasters can use all four colors, but familiars can only use one color each, so swap to familiars with the right color to keep the combo going!

(08:04:31)

Check the timestamp above for gameplay footage of instinctual skills and combos!

As you level up, you'll eventually unlock the abilities "Rally" and "Rallying Cheer," which instantly increase the beastmaster and familiar's TP gauges, respectively. Clever use of these two abilities will enable you to go for longer combos—the longer the combo, the more bonus damage!

During the stream, we demonstrated a four-part combo, but even longer combos are possible if you meet special requirements using Tempered Release and Borrow actions!

With the Scenario team's help, we've designed beastmaster's job quests to carefully walk you through each job mechanic. Unlike other jobs where job quests are unlocked every five levels, beastmaster will have a new job quest whenever a new job mechanic is introduced.

[Voltenyne]

The Crucible of the Unbroken



(08:16:47)

Early beastmaster gameplay involves traveling throughout the realm to capture beasts. Then at level 30, your job quests will introduce a single-player duty called the Crucible of the Unbroken.

In this battle duty, you'll be magically transported to a board game-like map to undergo beastmaster training. Choose 10 to 15 beasts to accompany you, and make use of their various abilities to reach the boss at the end!



In the Crucible, both the beastmaster and their beasts can earn EXP. When a beast has earned enough EXP, its beast rank and attributes will increase, making them more powerful in the Crucible. Beasts will have HP in the Crucible, and will be unable to participate in battle if their HP reaches zero.

Check out the timestamp below for an in-game demonstration!

(08:20:06)

Before entering the Crucible, you can review stage information such as enemy and boss weaknesses. Bringing the right beasts based on this foreknowledge will be crucial in overcoming the Crucible's challenges!

Choosing a team of beasts might be daunting for some, so we included the "Recommended Team" button that automatically selects a team based on your needs. Give it a try when you're starting out!

In the Crucible, you'll be traversing across a board game-like map, advancing from space to space and making your way through various events that occur on the way. There will also be consumable items called "Crucible items"; they're similar to pomanders in Deep Dungeons.

• Beast Potion
  Restores a beast’s HP.
  
  
• Temporal Sand
  If you lose a battle, this lets you retry that battle from the beginning.
  
  
• Tome of the Impervious
  Grants an effect that nullifies physical attacks.

In addition to Crucible items, there is also "beast gear," which grant passive effects. For example, if you're incapacitated with the Ring of Sacrifice in your possession, your familiar will take your place and you will be revived.

HP will not recover automatically inside the Crucible, meaning you'll need to strategically select Crucible items and familiars to survive.

Additionally, each route will have different spaces, so be sure to choose your path carefully depending on your situation!

• Enemy Space
  The Flan icon (purple slime) indicates an enemy space, where you will choose three familiars from your team and head into battle. Before you begin the encounter, you can review the enemy's details, such as weaknesses, effective status effects, and actions. For example, if the enemy is vulnerable to blunt damage, you should strategize around using beasts that deal blunt damage.
  
  When battle begins, the beasts you chose are assigned to your three battlehorns. In addition, Crucible-exclusive duty actions include “Snarl,” which has your beast draw enmity; and “Challenge,” which draws enmity to you. Make use of these actions while considering who should be drawing the enemy's attention.
  
  Actions that you "Borrow" from your familiar will be retained even after switching to a different familiar. Using Borrow again on a different familiar will overwrite the available action.
  
  
• Campsite Space
  A tent icon indicates a rest area where the beastmaster and several beasts can recover HP. The number of beasts that can recover HP will vary depending on the campsite.
  
  
• Treasure Space
  Spaces with a treasure coffer icon allow you to obtain one item of your choice from four randomly offered items.
  
  
• Shop Space
  Shops offer various items in exchange for the “territory tokens” earned from clearing enemy encounters. Their selection includes Crucible items and beast gear, as well as feed for your beasts.

Beasts can be enhanced by giving them feed, but how much they can eat and what kinds of feed they can eat differ by beast classification. For example, vilekin tend to have low satiety and cannot eat very much, while beastkin have a higher satiety and can eat more. Certain types of feed are limited to specific beast classifications and tend to have stronger effects.

When you complete a run of the Crucible, the results screen will display your score based on your progress. You will also earn "remnants of resilience," which are used to enhance beastmaster-exclusive gear.

Furthermore, beasts that participated in the run will gain EXP. Getting beasts to rank 25 is possible by regularly running the Crucible, and won't require completing high-difficulty content.



When a beast reaches rank 25, you can change their appearance. This special form will be visible in the overworld, so when you take them for a stroll around town, onlookers will be able to tell it’s a max rank beast!



(09:12:22)

After clearing all stages, you will be able to challenge the higher difficulties.

There are three degrees of difficulty—we showcased the Second Degree during the broadcast. Enemies will have more HP and deal more damage, requiring players to think more deeply about beast and item combinations as they form their strategies. It's worth noting that the Degrees will be different from mechanics-intensive battles like Savage or Ultimate. They are designed around reviewing information and adjusting your lineup and tactics accordingly, so we hope that even players who have not challenged high-end duties before will give it a try.

For those who want an even greater challenge beyond the Third Degree, we have also prepared the Crucible Rankings. These rankings are based on scores achieved when clearing the Third Degree. Of course, special rewards will be available for high-ranking players!

The Crucible Rankings will use a seasonal format similar to PvP, with Season 1 planned to run from two weeks after Patch 7.56 until Patch 7.58. After ranking results are announced, scores and rankings will be reset, and rankings will generally continue to be held at patch timings thereafter.



We hope you'll tackle the Degrees and aim for the ranking reward mount!

A lot has been covered in this preview, but there's no need to remember all of this to get started. We recommend starting off by capturing beasts and following the beastmaster job quests, then making your way through the Crucible of the Unbroken.

Although beastmaster and its dedicated content are side content, they offer a substantial amount of depth and novelty. Since this content is centered on solo play, we hope you will progress through it at your own pace and in a way that suits your playstyle. It may also be fun to start casually by capturing all 50 monsters as beasts and bringing them along with you.

Lead Battle Content Designer Masaki Nakagawa handled essentially all of the data for beastmaster, with tremendous support from the UI team and programmers. This was his first project working on both a job system and content design at the same time, and it was a huge undertaking, but the two systems have come together very well as a result.

We hope you'll enjoy everything beastmaster has to offer!