Ancient Marks Guide
Ancient Marks are the primary source of equipment in Black Beacon, providing a significant portion of each character’s stats. Grinding for and optimizing these Marks will be key to your progression.
How to Get Ancient Marks
- Explore Mode (Tome of Fate): Random drops after clearing Chapter-3.
- Fate Store: Purchase with Seals of Fate, also obtained via Tome of Fate.
- Hard Mode (unlocked after clearing the first III normal difficulties): Offers the best time‑to‑Clarity efficiency for both Marks and Seals.
When you clear any difficulty in Tome of Fate, you receive 5 Chests of Fate, opened with a Key of Karma (40-Clarity each). Difficulty levels grant the following Seals of Fate and Mark types:
| Difficulty | Seals of Fate | Mark Type |
|---|---|---|
| Shallow Level Page Normal (I) | 150 | Ring Knot (△) |
| Secret Chapter Normal (II) | 150 | Thread Mark (―) |
| Deep & Mysterious Realm Normal (III) | 150 | Winding Path (∿) |
Hard Mode (currently only one stage available):
| Stage | Seals | Marks Obtained |
|---|---|---|
| Shallow Level Page Hard | 200 | Original Text (⬡), Ring Knot (△) |
Fate Store Prices:
- 10‑piece shape: 300-Sealed Fates
- 5‑piece shape: 160-Sealed Fates
- 3‑piece shape: 100-Sealed Fates
- 1‑piece shape: 35-Sealed Fates
Note: 10‑ and 5‑piece shapes come exclusively from the Fate Store and include special passives.
Equipping Ancient Marks
Each Ancient Mark can be equipped to one character. To equip:
Level your character to Breakthrough Level-2.
Open the Hexagon Map (a grid of hexagons).
Drag: Click and hold a Mark, then place it on the grid.
Rotate: Use the rotate handle to adjust orientation.
What Do Ancient Marks Do?
At Level-1, each Mark provides a single stat, scaled by its size:
| Stat | 10‑piece | 5‑piece | 3‑piece | 1‑piece |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HP | 17% | 8.5% | 5.1% | 1.7% |
| ATK | 13% | 6.5% | 3.9% | 1.3% |
| DEF | 20% | 10% | 6% | 2% |
| Critical Hit Rate | 16% | 8% | 4.8% | 1.6% |
| Critical Damage | 40% | 20% | 12% | 4% |
| Pierce | 19% | 9.5% | 5.7% | 1.9% |
| Elemental Mastery | 170 | 85 | 51 | 17 |
| Elemental Damage | 11% | 5.5% | 3.3% | 1.1% |
Maximum potential (full map, same stat on every hexagon):
- HP: 49.3%
- ATK: 37.7%
- DEF: 58%
- Crit Rate: 46.4%
- Crit Damage: 116%
- Pierce: 55.1%
- Mastery: 493
- Elemental Damage: 31.9%
Ancient Mark Effects
5‑Piece and 10‑Piece Marks include passive effects in addition to stats. These make them highly valuable but also more challenging to fit on the map.
5‑Piece Marks
| Mark Name | Passive Effect |
|---|---|
| Tiger’s Might | +3–5% Enhanced Damage |
| Dragon Essence | +3–5% Charged Damage |
| Phoenix Tail | +3–5% Derived Damage |
| Jade Crane | +3–5% Ultimate Damage |
| Terracotta General | +7.2–12% Chase Damage |
| Molten Hammer | +9–15% Damage Resistance |
| Sacred Goblet | +9–15% Healing |
| Vulcan’s Anvil | +9–15% Shield Strength |
| Shining Star | +12–20% Ultimate Charge Rate |
| Golden Branch | +6–10% Anomaly Status |
| River of Oblivion | +6–10% Anomaly Damage |
10‑Piece Marks
| Mark Name | Passive Effect |
|---|---|
| Locked Flood Dragon | After a Skill hit, next Basic Attack deals +7.2–12% Damage |
| Solar Corona | +3–5% Crit Rate after Basic Attack; stacks to +9–15%; resets on Skill use |
| Endless March | On Vigor use, +2.1–3.5% Pierce for 5s; stacks up to 5 times (10.5–17.5%) |
| Prophecy of the Tower | Charged Damage ↑ Enhanced Damage by 6–10% for 3s (and vice versa) |
| Nourishing Wings | When HP is lost, +3–5% Crit Rate; stacks to +9–15%; ends on swap |
| Sage’s Heart | +7.2–12% Elemental Damage of equipper’s element for 3s off‑field |
| Lurking Dragon | +9–15% Anomaly Damage of equipper’s element for 3s off‑field |
| Outstanding Herbalist | Teammates w/o full Vigor gain +7.2–12% ATK while equipper’s Vigor is full |
| Hippocratic Oath | Healed ally gains +12–20% Healing Received & +6–10% Damage for 5s |
| Hushforge Gleam | On Shield gain, deal 120–200% ATK as Damage to nearby enemies |
Levelling Ancient Marks
Level colors:
- Level-1: Blue
- Level-2: Purple
- Level-3: Gold
Marks can be leveled up (overlay up to 3 of the same type) to unlock additional stats.
To Level Up:
- In Warehouse or Character’s Ancient Mark page, select a Mark and choose Level Up.
- Pick a Level-1 Mark whose stats you wish to add.
- Confirm to upgrade to the next level.
Here we select the purple Original Text.
As you can see, we can select a Level 1 Original Text. Simply select the Mark whose stats you want then press Select.
By using the selected Level 1 Original Text, we can “level up” our level 2 to a level 3.
You’ll be able to preview your upgraded Ancient Mark. If you’re satisfied with it, confirm the Level Up.
Dismantling Ancient Marks
Let’s say you’ve levelled up your Ancient Marks but you get a new one with a better stat. However, you’ve already max levelled that Mark.
Don’t worry, you can freely Dismantle levelled Marks down to their base components.
Select Disassemble to enter the Disassembly menu.
Select a LEVELLED Ancient Mark. We’ll use a level 3 Locked Flood Dragon as an example.
As you can see, we can now select the Dismantle button. This will turn our level 3 Locked Flood Dragon back into the three Level 1 Locked Flood Dragon’s we used.
Even if the stats aren’t the best it’s generally recommended to level up your 5 and 10 piece Marks since levelling them up also improves their passive effects.
We’ll talk about changing your stats later, but the more common way to improve your Marks will be to dismantle them when you get a more ideal stat.
Batch Dismantling Ancient Marks
Eventually you’re going to have a ton of Ancient Marks with the same stats, and no characters to put them on.
In this situation, you’ll want to Dismantle them. Dismantling Ancient Marks give you Seals of Fate.
Repeat the steps above, but select Batch disassembly instead. The above menu will appear.
Simply select the Ancient Marks you wish to disassemble. You only get a small percentage of Seals back when you do this, but later on you’ll be swamped in mostly useless Ancient Marks and every bit helps when it comes to purchasing the larger Ancient Marks.
Re‑engraving Ancient Marks
If you’re having trouble getting the stats you want from your Ancient Marks, Black Beacon does allow you to change the stats on your Ancient Marks.
Simply select on the Ancient Mark whose stats you wish to change and select Re-engrave.
You can choose to replace any/as many stats as you like. Select Replace on the stat you wish to change.
As you can see, there’s no RNG here. Just select the one you want.
Each Re-engraving costs a certain amount of Etching, depending on the size of the Mark. 10 piece Marks cost 3 Etches per stat, 5 piece Marks cost 2, and 3 and 1 piece Marks cost 1.
You can choose to re-engrave multiple, for an additive cost increase.
Conclusion
Ancient Marks are crucial for maximizing your characters in Black Beacon. Regularly optimize, level up, and re‑engrave your Marks to stay ahead of the curve!
