Darkest Dungeon heirloom costs: what it takes to max the Hamlet

Checked against Darkest Dungeon (Steam build 25810065) · November 3, 2026

Heirlooms are the scarce currency of Darkest Dungeon: every building upgrade is paid in busts, portraits, deeds and crests, and a campaign rarely has enough of the right kind. Here is what the whole Hamlet costs, building by building, what the exchange gives you, and what a single hero’s gear and skills cost in gold. In your own single-player campaign the editor can set the amounts or the upgrade levels directly.

The four heirlooms

Busts, portraits, deeds and crests drop from dungeons. Gold pays for heroes’ equipment and skills, and heirlooms pay for the Hamlet’s buildings. Fully upgrading every building costs, in total:

  • Crests: 2,103
  • Busts: 516
  • Deeds: 421
  • Portraits: 241

Crests are needed by every building, so they run short first.

Cost of each building, all upgrades

  • Abbey: 240 busts and 303 crests
  • Sanitarium: 240 busts and 154 crests
  • Tavern: 123 portraits and 303 crests
  • Guild: 118 portraits and 302 crests
  • Blacksmith: 277 deeds and 301 crests
  • Stage Coach: 144 deeds, 36 busts and 198 crests
  • Survivalist: 268 crests
  • Nomad Wagon: 274 crests

In a Radiant campaign the Stage Coach has one more recruit-quality upgrade (18 busts and 24 crests). See Radiant or Darkest.

The heirloom exchange

When one kind is short, the Hamlet’s heirloom exchange converts it. The rates are not symmetrical:

  • Bust: 3 for 1 portrait, 3 for 2 deeds, 2 for 3 crests.
  • Portrait: 2 for 3 busts, 2 for 3 deeds, 1 for 3 crests.
  • Deed: 3 for 2 busts, 3 for 1 portrait, 2 for 3 crests.
  • Crest: 3 for 1 bust, 3 for 1 deed, 6 for 1 portrait.

Trading toward crests is cheap and trading away from them is expensive, so keep your crests for what needs them.

What a hero costs in gold

Per hero, before the discount upgrades of the Blacksmith and the Guild (up to half off with all five):

  • Weapon, four upgrades: 11,500 gold. Armour: another 11,500. In a Radiant campaign each costs 8,750 and in Stygian 14,750.
  • One combat skill: 1,000 to learn and 4,750 more to reach rank 5, so 5,750. All seven skills come to 40,250.

The top weapon and armour levels and the top skill rank also need a resolve level 5 hero, and the Guild’s four skill upgrades unlock ranks 2 to 5.

Set amounts or levels in the editor

  1. Copy your profile folder first (see the save and backup guide).
  2. Open the whole profile folder in the editor.
  3. On the Estate tab, set gold and the four heirlooms to the amounts you want.
  4. Or on the Hamlet tab set a building’s upgrade level directly: it counts as bought and nothing is charged.
  5. On the Heroes tab, weapon and armour levels and skill ranks can be set the same way.
  6. Download the changed files and put them back with the game closed.

This is for your own offline single-player campaign. Setting everything to the top removes the reason to raid for heirlooms, so a few upgrades at a time keeps the game paced as designed. The editor makes no backups and edits are at your own risk.

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