So you've discovered Day of Dragons and there's all this talk of exclusive in-game content. DLC dragons, cosmetics from Patreon; rewards for kickstarters - can new players access any of it? The short answer is YES, yes you can. This guide will detail where each content originates from, how to access species & skins without paying a cent, and what content is truly exclusive.

You may have many questions about this topic, but I hope to answer them all in this guide. To start with are some FAQs in the following section.

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Note: some info may change as future updates are released.

Up to date with game version 1.0.0

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1. I missed the Kickstarter. Is there a way for me to get the KS-exclusive dragon skins?
Yep! The Melanistic skin is unlockable and nestable, while the Leumelan and Leucistic skins are nestable only.

2. Do I have to pay to play a DLC species?
Nope! DLC & Exclusive dragons can nest in normal players. It's a great way to try before you buy.

3. Which dragons are only for Kickstarters?
Only one Kickstarter dragon, the Biolumin Dragon, is considered exclusive as it was a tier-specific reward. But any players can be nested as a Bio. The other dragons (Singe Crest, Brood Watcher, Dravern Hybrid, Icehorn Behemoth, Feathered Zygovo) on the kickstarter are all stretch goals, and can be unlocked by normal players.

4. Why are the Patreon Lifetime rewards so expensive?
The Patreon rewards are meant to be just that, rewards - bonuses for supporting development. While it is possible to pay a single lump sum to get the rewards instantly, many people sub to the Patreon for months or years and reach the Lifetime Reward goals over time while accessing all the content the Patreon has to offer.

5. Can my dragon be nested with the shiny Shimmer effect?
No, the Shimmer effect is not inheritable. Kickstarters and some Patreons have the ability to overlay Shimmer on skins.

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DLCs available for purchase in Day of Dragons include playable dragon species as well as cosmetic emote packs. Only one DLC, the Acid Spitter Drake, is currently in-game. Other DLCs are still in development and are available for preordering on the Day of Dragons website[store.dayofdragons.com]. If you preorder any DLC not yet in game, you'll be emailed your keys to redeem on Steam shortly before Update 1.0 releases on February 17th.

Emote packs are currently available for preordering on the DoD website[store.dayofdragons.com]. Each pack adds 4 emotes (Affection, Challenge, Distress, Mourn) per species in addition to the 5 free emotes accessible by everyone. Purchase of a playable creature DLC automatically includes the 4 extra emotes for that species.

All DLC species are nestable, meaning anyone can play the species without paying for the DLC. If nested into a DLC species without owning said DLC, a player unlocks the creature for ONE life and will need to be renested if their character dies. Only DLC owners have permanent access to that creature from the spawn menu.

PSA on web store discounts: The store on DoD's official website is currently running a discount on preorder items, and may have additional discounts on holidays or other specific times of the year. All preorder items set to release on February 17, 2023 in Update 1.0 have discounts available until February 16, 2023. Once preorder items are officially released, they will be available for purchase on both Steam and the website.

• Acid Spitter Drake
  
• Blitz Striker Amphithere - preorder[store.dayofdragons.com]
  
• Fireclaw Behemoth - preorder[store.dayofdragons.com]

Official concept art for the Blitz Striker. More images, including animation previews, can be found in the Steam Dev Blogs and Official Discord server.

Official Concept art for the Fireclaw Behemoth. It is scheduled to be added at a later time and does not yet have any animations.

• Shadow Scale Emote Pack
  
• Flame Stalker Emote Pack
  
• Inferno Ravager Emote Pack
  
• Brood Watcher Emote Pack - preorder[store.dayofdragons.com]

This DLC contains the Original Soundtrack for Day of Dragons, allowing players to listen to the full OST outside of the game. This DLC only includes the soundtrack and does not add any in-game content. 16 tracks, MP3 and WAV file formats, composed by Rey Fernández Jr. and recorded by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra.

• Day of Dragons Original Soundtrack

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Kickstarter (KS) rewards are no longer available for purchase, as the initial funding campaign ended way back in 2019. However, even new players can access most of the rewards. TLDR: the majority are available via nesting, and stretch goals can be unlocked.

All Kickstarters have the ability to overlay an iridescent 'Shimmer' over their dragon's skin. This Shimmer can be equipped and unequipped with an account-bound pearl item to apply or remove the overlay. Shimmer is not inheritable, cannot be passed down to other players, and cannot be unlocked in-game. As of right now, the only way for non-kickstarters to have the shimmer effect is by donating to the Patreon (more info in the Patreon section).

All Kickstarters have the option to enable a special title 'The Firstborne' to display alongside their in-game username.

Out of game rewards:

• A custom discord role for anyone who backed the Kickstarter in 2019. This role grants access to an exclusive channel in the Official DoD discord, and also gives Kickstarters access to the closed testing server. Any kickstarter backers who would like to receive these benefits will need to join the Official DoD discord server and message any moderator with proof that they donated to the original Day of Dragons Kickstarter campaign.

• Singe Crest Wyvern (aka Healer)
  
• Melanistic (solid black) Skin
  
• Brood Watcher Dragon (aka Nurse, aka Helga)
  
• Dravern Hybrid
  
• Icehorn Behemoth Drake
  
• Feathered Zygovo Dragon (aka Micro)

The stretch goals are automatically unlocked for Kickstarter Backers, but all stretch goals are unlockable for everyone else via two methods. You can nest into the species/skin to unlock them temporarily, or perform a quest to unlock them in the spawn menu. Unlocks are per server; you will need to re-unlock the stretch goals on each server you play.

Note that the Dravern Hybrid is sterile and cannot nest, and is only unlockable for ONE life by breeding a Flame Stalker dragon with an Inferno Ravager wyvern or Frostfel wyvern for a very rare chance at nesting a Hybrid. There may be other factors involved but they are unknown at this time. All other stretch goals are unlocked permanently in a server's spawn menu.

• Biolumin Dragon (aka Bio)
  
• Leumelan (solid grey) Skin
  
• Leucistic (solid white) Skin
  
• Dark Elemental Skin
  
• Beta Access Perk

Kickstarter Tier Rewards are NOT unlockable in the spawn menu.

Non-kickstarter players will be able to play the Biolumin Dragon, Leumelan Skin, and Leucistic Skin. Those three rewards are nestable and thus can be inherited by other players. Only Kickstarters with Biolumin, Leumelan, or Leucistic keys can spawn those rewards from the spawn menu. Anyone who is nested as a Biolumin will be able to play it until it dies, and anyone nested into the Leumelan or Leucistic skins will keep the skin until the dragon wearing it dies.

Elementals are not dragons and cannot nest, so only Kickstarters who purchased a Dark Elemental Skin key can use the skin.

Beta Access was a perk only purchasable in the KS, and is not available to normal players. Kickstarters with the Beta Access perk get a 3-day Headstart period to play newly released, non-DLC dragons. During this time they can nest other players in.

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The Day of Dragons Patreon[www.patreon.com] was created in order to help fund the game's development. Mainly it gives patrons early, behind-the-scenes looks at content still in development, but it also offers some unique in-game rewards to thank patrons for supporting the game.

There are 3 subscription tiers, two of which offer an immediate in-game reward after subbing just once. The other rewards are included in "Lifetime" rewards packages. Lifetime rewards can be earned over any amount of time, as it counts the total amount of money a patron has contributed towards the DoD Patreon.

Discord Roles:

• Patreon Role - A custom discord role given to patrons who are currently subscribed to the Day of Dragons Patreon. This role grants access to an exclusive channel in the Official DoD discord, and also gives patrons access to the closed testing server for as long as they are actively subscribing. Any patron who would like to receive these benefits will need to join the Official DoD discord and connect their discord account to their patreon account via Patreon's settings in order for the bot to automatically apply their role.
  
• Lifetime Patreon Role - A custom discord role given to patrons who have reached $300 total in Lifetime donations to the Day of Dragons Patreon. This role grants lifetime access to an exclusive channel in the Official DoD discord, and also gives lifetime access to the closed testing server. Any patron who has reached this goal will need to join the Official DoD discord to receive these benefits.

$5 Drake Tier

• Behind-the-scenes development posts
  
• Patreon Discord Role

$15 Dragon and $20 Ancient Dragon Tiers

• Behind-the-scenes development posts
  
• Patreon Discord Role
  
• Lore Blog or Comic Update post
  
• Crimson Skin

The Crimson skin is a one-time reward for subbing to the $15 Dragon tier or higher. Patrons only need to subscribe one time to get the skin, and it can be used on all dragon species. Only players who own the Crimson skin are able to use it from the spawn menu, but anyone can be nested into the skin; once nested they have the skin until the dragon wearing it dies.

The $20 Ancient Dragon Tier is identical to the $15 Dragon tier except that Ancient Dragon gets to see lore blogs and comic posts a week early. The Ancient Dragon tier also allows patrons to instantly reach the $200 Lifetime Rewards by selecting an annual subscription pledge.

• Skin Shimmer Pearl
  
• Sky Jelly Cosmetic Pearl
  
• Rage Emote

These rewards are given to patrons who have reached a total of $100 in donations to the DoD Patreon. This can be achieved gradually over multiple donations or all at once.

The Skin Shimmer reward allows the player to overlay an iridescent 'Shimmer' over their dragon's skin. This Shimmer can be equipped and unequipped with an account-bound pearl item to apply or remove the overlay; the shimmer effect is not inheritable.

The Sky Jellies are a cosmetic effect that summons tiny floating creatures above a dragon's head while laying down or sleeping. This effect can be equipped and unequipped with an account-bound pearl item to apply or remove the cosmetic.

The Rage emote is an additional emote able to be used by all dragon species.



The Shimmer effect adds an iridescent overlay to your dragon, shown here on a Flame Stalker. Note: this image is from Legacy DoD and needs to be replaced.

• Gold Skin
  
• Laughter Emote
  
• Limited Edition DoD Plush

These rewards are given to patrons who have reached a total of $200 in donations to the DoD Patreon. This can be achieved gradually over multiple donations or all at once. Subbing to the Ancient Dragon tier with an annual subscription allows patrons to instantly reach the $200 goal.

The Gold skin reward allows players to overlay metallic gold over their dragon's skin. This cosmetic effect can be equipped and unequipped with an account-bound pearl item to apply or remove the overlay; Gold is not inheritable. The effect may change depending on which skin your dragon is wearing underneath the overlay.
However, owners of the $200 LT rewards are able to spawn in as a non-metallic golden skin, often referred to as 'Firefly.' This version of gold can be inherited by other players, however others will not be able to equip the metallic effect unless they also own the $200 LT rewards.

The Laughter emote is an additional emote able to be used by all dragon species.

Patrons who have reached the $200 Lifetime Reward goal have the option to receive a free limited edition DoD plushie. The first run of plushies was a Baby Bio Plush, the second round features the Baby Flame Stalker Plush. Plushies may not always be in stock so be sure to check availability. Non-patrons are also able to purchase plushies.

• Mimikor Dragon
  
• Lifetime Patreon Role
  
• Exclusive In-game Title

This reward is given to patrons who have reached a total of $300 in donations to the DoD Patreon. This can be achieved gradually over multiple donations or all at once.

Similar to the Biolumin, the Mimikor will be a small cosmetic dragon with no attacks. It will only glide, but can ride on dragons and mimic the calls of other species. Only $300 lifetime patrons can spawn as one, but anyone can be nested in. If you are nested in without owning the $300 lifetime dlc, you will keep the dragon until it dies.

Lifetime Patreon Role - see 'Discord Roles' at the top of this section.

The Title reward gives players the option to enable the 'Ancient Bloodline' title to display alongside their in-game username.


There are no further Lifetime reward tiers, and no plans to add any more.

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A few exclusives do not quite fit in the previous categories. These are:

• Light Elemental Skin
  
• Content Creator Skin

The Light Elemental skin is a preorder bonus for everyone who buys Day of Dragons before it leaves early access. Currently the game is still in early access, so this skin is included for free with the base game. At the moment there is no other way to get it. Elementals do not breed, so they cannot give skins through nesting.

The Content Creator skin can only be won from giveaways hosted by content creators or DoD developers. This skin is largely purple and blue with a grey underbelly and magenta highlights, featuring brilliant cyan lightning patterns. The CC skin can be equipped and unequipped with an account-bound pearl item to apply or remove the overlay. It cannot be inherited by other dragons - with the CC skin equipped, a dragon's appearance will change but will still nest using its real skin. The only way to apply the Content Creator skin to your dragon is by owning the DLC.

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And finally, a handy chart! This gives a simple overview of all the content previously described, with notes on how to obtain if it is obtainable.

The Kickstarter Dark Elemental skin and Kickstarter Beta Access are no longer obtainable; they were tier-specific rewards and will never be sold again. The Content Creator Skin, while obtainable, will likely be exceedingly rare.