Cores are a named system in Tianji: Shadow of the Ancients, listed by the developer alongside skills and equipment as the three things a player combines to fight in their own style. The English materials call them simply Cores; the Chinese materials give 儲靈核 (Simplified 储灵核) and the Japanese materials 蓄霊核.
What Is Confirmed
Point | Detail | Source standing |
|---|---|---|
Role in combat | Core effects combine with skills and equipment when exploiting weaknesses, rendering enemies vulnerable and triggering Pursuit Skills. | Developer statement |
How they are obtained | Collected through battle. | Single hands-on account |
How they are used | Slotted as passive skills that synergise with specific skills and specific pieces of equipment. | Single hands-on account |
Upgrading | One companion's out-of-combat skill upgrades Cores, and that skill keeps developing as the character's personal side story unfolds. | Developer statement |
Camp function | Core enhancement is listed as one of the functions unlocked at the party camp. | Single hands-on account |
Both of those are between-fight activities, so Cores appear to be improved outside combat rather than only found at fixed strengths. No upgrade path, cost or ceiling has been described.
Not Playable in the Preview Build
Cores feature prominently in the game's own announcement materials, yet both independent hands-on accounts of the September 2026 preview build state that the Core system was not playable in what was shown. Everything above is therefore a description of an announced system rather than a report of one anybody outside the studio has used, and it should be read that way until a build with Cores in it is shown.
Not Yet Published
As of 12 September 2026, four days after the reveal, no individual Core had ever been shown or named, no Core appeared in any of the published screenshots, no slot count or rarity structure had been described, and no explanation had been given of how a Core synergises with a particular skill in practice. This entry should be revisited as soon as the developer shows the system in motion. For how Core effects would feed into a fight, see Combat.