In Synduality: Echo of Ada, every Drifter knows the drill: mine AO Crystals, sell them, and get rich. But it’s not as simple as grabbing any old crystal you come across.
To reap the rewards, you must know what you’re looking for, how to find it, and when to look.
Here’s how to make every excavation count and turn those crystals into serious profits.
How Excavation Works
As a Drifter, your Magus is the AI that helps you hunt down AO Crystals everywhere.
To start digging, you'll need to activate the AO Search ability, which sends a signal across the map.
The pulse puts a temporary spotlight on nearby AO Crystals.
Once you locate a crystal, head over to it and hold down the excavation button to start digging.
After a short while, the crystal will break, and you can pick up the shards that drop.
However, the mechanics go deeper than just hitting a button.
As you play more, you’ll notice the size and purity of the crystals you mine affect how much you can earn.
Additionally, the Excavator tool you pick decides what kind of crystals you can mine and how efficiently you can do so.
The worth of an AO Crystal in Synduality: Echo of Ada boils down to size and purity.
Size is the easiest factor to judge since bigger crystals stand out more and offer greater rewards.
These larger crystals drop more shards, and the shards themselves are worth significantly more.
While you're roaming around, you'll notice bigger crystals are marked differently—either as a set of smaller ones or as one huge crystal.
Prioritizing these larger crystals is key, as they offer a better return without taking much longer to mine.
On the other hand, it’s harder to tell purity from a distance. If a crystal is dull, it’s probably low in purity.
But if it’s glowing and bright, you’re looking at a high-purity one.
High-purity crystals light up in bright orange or purple; mining them gives you the best return.
To get these high-purity crystals, you’ll want a higher-tier Excavator, especially as you keep going.
Knowing the role of size and purity will guide you in choosing the right crystals to mine for the best profit.
The Excavator is the one that does all the work. Right off the bat, you get a basic Excavator, limited to mining small, low-purity crystals.
As you get better gear, you'll unlock advanced Excavators that can dig up larger, higher-quality crystals.
The more advanced Excavators help you mine crystals faster, meaning you can collect more in a shorter time.
You can mine the smaller, low-purity crystals with any Excavator, but you’ll need the higher-tier ones for the bigger, more valuable crystals.
For better results, make sure upgrading your Excavator is on your list.