Grim Dawn: Enable Ascendant Mode and Steer Loot at the Altar

First, check that your character has reached level 100 and is playing on Ultimate. Open the main menu and toggle Ascendant Mode there, as described in the official guide. If the option is unavailable, check the character’s level, difficulty and required expansions first.

To access the Ascension Altar, travel to the Kurn settlement in Asterkarn. The official guide also calls the Runekeeper’s nearby location Kurnhold. You can use the altar on lower difficulties and enable individual Ascendant mechanics without switching on Ascendant Mode itself. Altar access and the level 100 Ultimate toggle serve different purposes.

Bias Loot With the Altar’s Center

The center steers item drops toward a chosen damage type or pet gear. Insert a Ch’thonic Seal of Binding to favor Bleed items, or a Manticore Eye for pet equipment. This can override the inherent loot bias of Monster Infrequents, improving the odds of combinations that would otherwise conflict with an item’s usual damage type. It does not guarantee a named item or particular affixes.

Version 1.3.1.0 also fixed a problem that sometimes prevented the altar’s loot bias from applying correctly to unique drops. If you are hunting gear for a build, start by choosing the damage type or pet focus you want from the center.

Choose Outer Offerings for a Specific Goal

The outer circles target other rewards. A Bloodbound Totem increases the chance of Tempest Totems, while Celestial Essence makes the Dread more likely to appear. Aether Crystals increase experience gains. You may combine materials, but every offering empowers monsters in its own way. Select the mechanic you want rather than treating every slot as a general loot boost.

Ascendant Mode is already harder than ordinary Ultimate. A newly level 100 character may benefit from gathering better equipment before adding more altar effects. Because the altar works outside Ascendant Mode, you can also enable individual mechanics on a difficulty that suits your current build.

How Soul Fragments Work in Patch 1.3.1.0

Under the current rules, items of every quality have a small chance to drop with a random Ascension modifier in Ascendant Mode. Offering Soul Fragments at the altar raises that chance and enables random Ascended drops on lower difficulties. Since patch 1.3.1.0, Soul Fragments no longer increase monster equipment drop rates. Older advice to use them simply to farm more ordinary equipment is outdated.

For an item you already own, the Runekeeper near the altar in Kurnhold can ascend equipment. Once unlocked, the Inventor’s Alteration system can reroll Ascended affixes. That is a separate equipment path; when choosing altar offerings, focus on the drops or encounters you want and the extra monster strength you are prepared to face.