Almost every Gyldhunter already owns an Ashen Cipher in Mistfall Hunter, sitting untouched in the in-game mailbox. The question that matters is not where to find one. It is who to hand it to, because deciphering it with the wrong camp NPC quietly skips the bonus reward.
Quick answer: Give the Ashen Cipher to Sigrid in the Victory Wine area of camp, then choose Decipher. Only Sigrid pays the extra reward for an Ashen Cipher, a Ripple Gem used for equipment forging. You must be level 5 for the Decipher option to appear.
Claim the free Ashen Cipher from your mail
Bellring Games sent a second wave of launch rewards to every player on August 1, after the game passed 500,000 Gyldhunters and reached number one on Twitch. The package lands directly in your in-game mail and includes an Ashen Cipher x1, an Abyssal Cipher x1, a Pip’s Rare Pouch Voucher (3 days), and 500 Soul Coins.
You do not need to hunt for this cipher in a raid. Open your mailbox and collect the reward. One point of confusion worth clearing up: the earlier July 30 reward wave contained a Thumbs Up gesture and 500 Soul Coins only, so there is no cipher hiding in that batch.
Deadline: Log in and collect the reward before September 1, 2026 at 00:00 UTC. After that, the reward mail expires and the free Ashen Cipher is gone.
Reach level 5 before you can decipher
If no NPC will accept your cipher, it is not a bug. The Decipher option only unlocks on camp NPCs once you reach level 5. Below that level, the interaction simply is not available, so keep playing runs until you cross the threshold.
Give the Ashen Cipher to Sigrid
All seven camp NPCs can decipher the scroll. Soekja, Dew, Pip, Dramm, Cazarro, Sigrid, and Merimo each show the Decipher option. Only one of them, though, adds a bonus reward on top of the standard payout for an Ashen Cipher, and that is Sigrid.
Ashen Cipher decipher odds
Set your expectations before handing the cipher over. The payout is weighted heavily toward small amounts of Gyldenblod, with the headline prizes carrying tiny chances. Here are the official probabilities.
| Reward | Chance |
|---|---|
| Lifetime Season Pass | 0.0020% |
| Razer Basilisk V3 Pro Wireless Mouse | 0.0024% |
| Outfit: Enlightening Flame | 0.0100% |
| Steam CD Key (Deluxe Edition) | 0.0300% |
| Steam CD Key (Standard Edition) | 0.0600% |
| Gyldhunter Badge | 0.0976% |
| Golden Woodling – Head | 1.0000% |
| Emote: Strike It Rich | 1.0000% |
| Gyldenblod x1,000 | 4.8899% |
| Gyldenblod x450 | 90.7761% |
Look at that bottom row. There is a 90.8% chance the result is 450 Gyldenblod, and roughly 95.7% of deciphers return 1,000 Gyldenblod or less. A small payout is the designed outcome, not bad luck.
Where extra ciphers drop in raids
Ciphers are Legendary-quality scroll items and can appear almost anywhere in a raid. Locked chests are a strong bet, as are enemies carrying purple brands and the containers they guard. The general rule is that any Unidentified Item has a chance of being one, so identify everything before you toss it.
Brandrgarde has the highest reported cipher chance of the two maps. On Hallowgrove, the areas around the Einherjar Ship Grave and the Supreme Hall are worth checking, along with the harpies and abominations near the Divine Anchor.
Cipher drops stay active at every Gyldening Intensity. You do not need Chaos or Cataclysm to see them. Cheap gear, the lowest intensity you can queue, a dense route, and an early extraction is the safe approach. Pushing high tiers mainly means you lose more when a rival kills you, and greater difficulty is not proven to raise the cipher rate.
Event deadlines to track
Several cutoffs run alongside the cipher event. Miss one and the associated reward or eligibility closes for good.
| Milestone | Deadline (UTC) |
|---|---|
| Grand prize eligibility closes | August 10, 23:59:59 |
| General Golden Cipher drops end | August 12, 17:00 |
| Grand prize draw streams | August 13 |
| Free reward mail expires | September 1, 00:00 |
Common problems and quick fixes
The Decipher option is missing
You have not reached level 5 yet. Once you hit that level, Decipher unlocks on the camp NPCs and you can approach Sigrid to use it.
You deciphered with the wrong NPC
The cipher still resolves and pays the standard reward, usually 450 Gyldenblod. You just miss Sigrid’s bonus Ripple Gem. There is no way to reclaim that gem for a cipher already spent elsewhere.
Should you save the cipher or use it now
Decipher it. During the beta, the decipher function was switched off while ciphers were still dropping, leaving players holding items they could no longer use. Do not hoard them.
Note: An Ashen Cipher gives your best odds of a meaningful bonus only through Sigrid, so make her your first stop once the option appears. Collect the free mail before the September 1 cutoff, reach level 5, and forge whatever the Ripple Gem lets you build.
