The City of Montescail is Dragonkin: The Banished's hub, and it levels to 50 just like your heroes. City experience comes from almost everything you do, from quests and relics to crafting, and every character (and every player, in an online city) feeds the same city level. Services such as the Jeweler, Apothecary and Master of Fragments now unlock automatically as the city reaches set levels, while an upgrade tree lets you choose how each service improves. The fastest way to level it is simply to play a lot with several characters, ideally with friends.
This city upgrade guide draws on Eko Software's city rework devblog, the Multiplayer Update and Nurõrgartt patch notes, the city services devblog and the PS5 trophy list, checked in November 2026.
How City Progression Works Now
The current system arrived with the Multiplayer Update on 25 February 2026, which introduced what Eko called a more linear progression with an upgrade tree. Before it, almost every service could be unlocked in any order, and players who spent their points elsewhere could miss essential services for their first character. Now each service unlocks at a specific city level, timed to the point where it becomes useful for your character's power spikes, and the points you earn go into upgrading the services you care about most.
Eko's devblog gives two examples of that pacing: the Jeweler is accessible almost from the start, while the Ornamentalist appears later, once the city has reached a stage where its gear matters. The Apothecary unlocks without spending points, and its upgrade tree then asks whether you want new potion effects or better potion rarity. The city now caps at level 50 with a total of 50 upgrades, roughly ten more than before the rework. Eko noted at the time that point values were not final, so check the in-game tree for exact costs.
The same update raised experience gains by roughly 30 percent for characters, Wyrmlings and the city, which makes the early levels go noticeably faster than they did in Early Access.
City Services and What They Do
Montescail's services grew through Early Access, with five arriving in a single May 2025 update and two more in February 2026. The table lists the ones Eko has described in its patch notes and devblogs.
| Service | What it does |
|---|---|
| Jeweler | Jewelry service; one of the first to unlock |
| Apothecary | Potions; upgrades add effects or raise rarity |
| Ornamentalist | Ornament gear; unlocks later in city progression |
| Master of Fragments | Shows and sells every class and Wyrmling skill; more skills become purchasable as the city levels |
| Jailer | Swap Wyrmlings at any time |
| Enchanter | Rerolls one affix on gear or one modifier hexagon on a fragment; cost rises with each reroll |
| Memorialist | Inscribes a modifier from a sacrificed skill fragment onto equipment |
| Grand Benedictor | Codex of talents and modifiers built by sacrificing items and fragments |
| Arsenal | Saves up to 4 build presets, including your Ancestral Grid |
| Dark Merchant | Buys your items; sells common items and starter fragments |
| Divine Familiar | A city upgrade that auto-collects gold and resources around you |
A few rules make these services stronger than they first look. Rerolling a Divine affix at the Enchanter always keeps the affix, but Draconic affixes cannot be rerolled at all. The Memorialist picks one modifier at random if a fragment has several. And since May 2025, gold, dust and crafting ingredients are shared between all characters you create in the same city, so leveling a city service helps every alt you make there.
How to Level the City Fast
Eko's multiplayer devblog is explicit that everything gives experience to the city: quest completions, gathering relics and crafting all count, so players who prefer building gear to running hunts still contribute. That means the fastest route is not a single farm but steady, varied play.
- Play several characters in one city. City progress is shared across characters there, and so are gold, dust and ingredients, so an alt's quests level the same Montescail.
- Play online with friends. In an online city every member's activity feeds the shared city level, which is why Eko pitched co-op as a way to "upgrade the City of Montescail" together.
- Craft constantly. Crafting gives city experience, and the Master Artisan trophy asks you to create or improve 100 items in the city anyway.
- Keep hunting. Endgame hunts were shortened in the Multiplayer Update to 10 to 15 minutes, with final hunts capped at around 25, which makes them an efficient source of city experience between gear upgrades.
Our Dragonkin multiplayer guide explains how online cities, groups and invite codes work if you want to share the grind.
Key Places in Montescail
Beyond the service vendors, a few locations in the city matter for progression. The Steam description frames Montescail as the last bastion of humanity, nestled in the mountains and sheltered from the dragons, a city whose buildings, residents and services grow with your decisions. In practice you will spend most of your time in three areas.
- The Cathedral of Montescail: the Multiplayer Update added a location here where endgame hunts start and where the Tribute Wall lives. Placing Tributes on the wall activates affinities for the post-50 Ancestors system, so you will return to it constantly after level 50.
- The Hunting Maps: the old Hunting Board was overhauled into Hunting Maps in the same room, where each map asks you to hunt a set number of foes before facing the Dragon Lords in a final hunt.
- The War Room: since the July 2026 update, characters spawn here when playing in an endgame group, which keeps co-op groups together between runs.
Fast travel inside the city helps on PC, where the R key opens it by default, and in couch co-op both players teleport together. Learning where each of these places sits saves a surprising amount of walking over a long playthrough.
What to Prioritize in the Upgrade Tree
Because services now unlock on their own, your real choices are the upgrades. Eko's stated goal for the tree is that each upgrade should be fun and worthwhile rather than a small cost reduction, so there are fewer traps than before, but a few principles still help.
- Quality of life first. The Divine Familiar saves a surprising amount of time by picking up gold and materials for you; it can be skipped or disabled if you prefer collecting by hand.
- Skills before stats. The Master of Fragments offers more skills for purchase as the city levels, which matters most for new characters and for building toward Symbiosis in the Ancestral Grid.
- Potions for survival. Early Apothecary upgrades carry a new character through harder difficulties, especially solo.
- Itemization for endgame. Enchanter, Memorialist and Grand Benedictor upgrades pay off once you are farming Divine ingredients, which require Calamity III or higher.
If you are planning several heroes, think about which services every class uses. Our Dragonkin: The Banished classes guide shows how the Jailer and Master of Fragments shape each hero's build.
Online Cities, Transfers and Storage
An online city can hold up to 50 members, and its level, gold, resources and groups are shared by everyone in it. Since April 2026 the owner can transfer a city between online and offline at any time, and its level, gold, resources and groups all carry over. The shared chest is the one exception: it moves from offline to online, but not from online to offline. Characters can also move between cities, keeping their inventory, resources and gold but losing any bonuses the new city lacks.
Storage keeps improving. The Harrower update on 12 November 2026 raised the fragments stash from 72 to 110 slots per tab, 660 in total. Survival characters, added in the same update, still enjoy the city's usual advantages, but they cannot use shared stashes, their private stashes are bound to each character, and they cannot be transferred to another city.
Before you delete or move a city, remember that your PS5 save is the only copy of an offline city. Our explainer on PS5 cloud saves and backups walks through backing one up.
Common City Mistakes
Most city problems come from treating Montescail as a side activity. Players who rush the story on one character often reach the endgame with a low-level city, few purchasable skills and weak potions, then blame the difficulty. Spreading play across crafting, quests and hunts avoids that wall, and it also means your first alt starts in a city that already offers more skills, better potions and stronger crafting options than your main ever had at the same point.
- Do not create alts in a different city if you want them to share resources; the shared pool only covers characters in the same city.
- Do not ignore the Arsenal. Saving up to four build presets, including attributes and the full Ancestral Grid, lets you experiment without losing a working layout.
- Do not expect old guides to match. The February 2026 rework changed unlock order, point values and the level cap, so advice written during Early Access is often wrong.
Completing city goals also counts toward the platinum; our Dragonkin length and platinum guide lists the city-related trophies. If a crafting trophy such as Master Artisan does not pop when it should, our checklist for PS5 trophies that did not unlock covers the usual causes.
Starting With a Level 50 City
If you want every service and upgrade open from your first session, the PS5-only Dragonkin: The Banished modded save lists the city at Level 50 alongside all four original heroes at Level 50, both currencies at 999,999,999 and crafting materials at 999,999 each, which covers a lot of Enchanter rerolls and Jeweler crafts. You need your own copy of the game on PS5, the save replaces your current one, and the platinum is sold separately on the Dragonkin: The Banished page.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the max city level in Dragonkin?
Level 50, the same cap as characters and Wyrmlings, with 50 upgrades in total after the city rework.
How do you level the city fast in Dragonkin?
Do a bit of everything: quests, relics, crafting and hunts all give city experience. Playing several characters in the same city and playing online with friends speeds it up further.
Is city progress shared between characters?
Yes, within the same city. Gold, dust and crafting ingredients are also shared by every character created in that city.
How do I unlock new city services?
Since February 2026 services unlock automatically at set city levels. Your upgrade points decide how each service improves.
What does the Divine Familiar do?
It is a city upgrade that sends a helper to collect gold and resources around you. You can skip it or switch it off.
Can I move my city between online and offline?
Yes, if you own it. City level, gold, resources and groups carry over, but the shared chest only moves from offline to online.