Torches in Dragonwilds: 30 Minutes of Light, and the Spell That Replaces Them
Every Dragonwilds character starts with a Torch already in their inventory, and most players carry one for the rest of the game without checking the numbers. It has 1,800 durability, drains one point per second, and therefore lasts exactly thirty minutes of continuous use. It also occupies your off-hand — which is why the wiki says a single spell "largely obsoletes" it.
How the Torch Works
| Slot | Off-hand |
| Durability | 1,800 |
| Drain | 1 point per second while wielded |
| Which is | 1,800 seconds — thirty minutes |
| Repair cost | 1 Ash Log |
| Weight | 1.5 |
| Block | 5 |
| Recipe | Ash Logs ×1, Coarse Animal Fur ×1 at a Crafting Table |
Thirty minutes is less than it sounds. The drain runs while the torch is wielded, not while it is burning in a fight — so an hour of cave exploration is two torches, and a long Vault run will empty one without you noticing. Repairing costs a single Ash Log, so the fix is trivial; forgetting to do it before you set off is not.
You can still block with a torch equipped, but only badly. The wiki is specific: blocking "will only account for the blocking of the weapon in the player's main hand, and so the torch may be positioned awkwardly." Its own block value is 5 — nominal. A torch is not a shield substitute in any meaningful sense.
And that off-hand slot is the real cost. Carrying a torch means no shield and no two-handed weapon — no bow, no staff, no greatsword. For a melee-and-shield build that is a defence downgrade; for a ranged or magic build it means putting the torch away entirely to fight.
A torch spawns in every new character's inventory, which is why nobody crafts one and nobody reads its stats.
Fire Spirit Replaces It
The wiki does not hedge on this: the Fire Spirit spell "largely obsoletes the use of a torch, as it frees up the offhand for a shield or allows for the use of two-handed weaponry, like bows and staves. The spell also does not use up any inventory space or encumbrance."
Read the three advantages separately, because each one matters to a different build:
- It frees the off-hand. A shield-and-sword player gets their shield back — which, given the torch's block value of 5, is a straight upgrade.
- It enables two-handed weapons. A bow or battlestaff user simply cannot fight and hold a torch at once. Fire Spirit is what makes a ranged build viable underground.
- It costs no inventory space and no encumbrance. The torch's 1.5 weight is small, but the slot is not.
So the honest position on torches is that they are a starting tool. You are given one, it covers the early caves, and once Fire Spirit is available there is very little reason to keep burning Ash Logs.
The one thing the torch still does is work without a rune cost. A spell draws on your magic economy; a torch draws on a log. On a very long delve, that distinction may still matter — but it is a narrow case rather than the default.
Five Coloured Torches
Eye on Ashenfall 0.12.0 added five cosmetic torch colours, and each is unlocked the same way:
| Torch | Unlocked by studying |
|---|---|
| Blue Torch | Extinguished Blue Remnants |
| Green Torch | Extinguished Green Remnants |
| Purple Torch | Extinguished Purple Remnants |
| Red Torch | Extinguished Red Remnants |
| Yellow Torch | Extinguished Yellow Remnants |
All five are purely cosmetic — same weight, same behaviour, a different flame colour. Their descriptions say so with a straight face: "A trusty lightsource — now in blue."
The Extinguished Remnants are vestiges, the broken-junk items scattered through Ashenfall that unlock recipes when studied. That makes the coloured torches a complete five-item collection set hidden inside the vestige system — and one of the more findable ones, since the family is named consistently.
If you are collecting them, note that they arrived in 0.12.0, so any guide written before June 2026 will not mention them at all.
And they are Tools, not decorations. A coloured torch is a working torch with a working durability bar, not a display item — which means using one burns it exactly as fast as the plain version.
Practical tips
- A torch has 1,800 durability and drains 1 per second — thirty minutes of light.
- Repair costs one Ash Log. Do it before a Vault run, not during.
- It occupies the off-hand — no shield, no bow, no staff while it is out.
- Its own block value is 5. It is not a shield.
- The Fire Spirit spell "largely obsoletes" it, per the wiki, and costs no encumbrance.
- Every new character starts with a torch already in inventory.
- Five cosmetic colours, each unlocked by studying Extinguished [colour] Remnants.
Running your own Dragonwilds server
Vaults, spectral doors and night runs are all group content, and a group only explores together on a world that is up when everyone is. A gamever Dragonwilds server keeps Ashenfall live around the clock with automatic updates and one-click backups, so a delve is something you plan rather than something you catch.
Conclusion
The Dragonwilds Torch has 1,800 durability and burns 1 point per second, giving exactly thirty minutes of light for a repair cost of one Ash Log. It is crafted from Ash Logs ×1 and Coarse Animal Fur ×1, weighs 1.5, blocks for a nominal 5, and — most importantly — occupies your off-hand, which rules out a shield, a bow or a staff while it is lit. Every new character is given one. The reason it fades out of use is a spell: the wiki states plainly that Fire Spirit "largely obsoletes" the torch, freeing the off-hand, enabling two-handed weapons and costing no inventory space or encumbrance. Since 0.12.0 there are also five cosmetic colours — Blue, Green, Purple, Red and Yellow — each unlocked by studying the matching Extinguished Remnants vestige, making them a tidy collection set with no mechanical difference at all.
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