Deskrawl Minions and Reins: How Capturing Works
What a minion does
The store page describes two jobs:
- Hauling. The minion pulls the carriage that collects loot, so your hero keeps fighting. Each minion has a carriage capacity.
- Combat support. Some grant passive buffs, others have an ability.
The official minion panel screenshot shows what an entry looks like. The Defiled Wyrm is a Legendary [Dragon] from The Defiled Keep with carriage capacity 34 and two passives: Everliving Blood: +100% life regeneration; Sepulchral Scales: +50% magic resist. The panel can be filtered by rarity, species and attribute.
Reins
A rein is the item that unlocks a minion. Reins have rarities: players mention white, blue and yellow reins for normal enemies, and boss reins are legendary. Two things players learned on launch day:
- Drops are slow. It is an idle game and rein drops are spread over hours.
- Set the carriage rein filter carefully. Since patch 0.1.13c the rein filter only skips reins for minions you already own, but a player reported a missed rein overnight, so check the filter before a long session.
Minions players and guides name
There is no official minion list yet. These are the minions named in official material or by players, with where the information comes from.
| Minion | What it gives | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Grey Forest Wolf | Attack speed passive | Community guide; a wolf rein is one of the first drops players report |
| Bloodmoon Werewolf | Active attack speed howl | Community guide |
| Treant boss minion | Active heal for a share of max life | Community guide calls it Big Treant; the 0.1.12 patch notes mention the Treant boss minion heal |
| Ice Hound | Absorb shield that stuns nearby enemies when it breaks | Community guide |
| Redrock Lord | Temporary flat physical damage | Community guide |
| Lord of the Cinder | Critical damage multiplier | Community guide |
| Frost Dragon | Crowd control shard | Community guide, which calls it Glacial Dragon |
| Defiled Wyrm | +100% life regeneration, +50% magic resist, carriage capacity 34 | Official screenshot |
| Mutating Wolf | Rare (yellow) rein | Player report on the Steam forum |
| Dark Horse | Merchant purchase in the demo | 0.1.9 patch notes mention buying it back |
The official screenshot also lists Dark Elf Mage, Defiled Wyrm, Bone Reaper, Sandstorm Harpy Queen, Dread Sand Manticore, Flying Fish King in the panel. For the demo-era table of early minions, the demo shipped with 12 according to the June 8 announcement.
Legendary reins on the Steam Market
| Rein | Listings | Lowest price |
|---|---|---|
| Rein of the Flying Fish King | 1 | $222.41 |
| Rein of the Sandstorm Harpy Queen | 1 | $57.53 |
| Rein of the Ancient Oak Treant | 2 | $9.22 |
| Rein of the Raptor | 6 | $5.92 |
| Rein of the Venom Queen | 6 | $5.91 |
| Rein of the Ogre | 8 | $2.21 |
| Rein of the Dark Elf Mage | 4 | $2.03 |
Read on 2026-09-29. See the market page for how to buy and sell.
Which minion to use
The launch-day class guides agree on a simple path: an attack speed wolf or the healing Treant boss minion early, the Ice Hound in the middle of the game for its stunning shield, and the Lord of the Cinder for boss damage late. That is one author's view after a day. The builds page lists the pick per class.
Minion questions
How do I get a minion in Deskrawl?
Find a rein. Enemies and bosses can drop a rein for their own species, and using it unlocks that minion. A few minions are sold by the Merchant instead.
What is the rein drop rate?
The developers have not published one. On launch day one player found nothing in 6 hours, another had 4 rare reins by level 18, and several got a wolf or spider rein before level 10.
Do minion passives work if the minion is not summoned?
No, according to players who tested it: only the minion you have summoned applies its bonuses.
Can I summon a minion during a run?
A launch-day stream shows the summon button reporting that minions can only be summoned in town, so go back to town to swap.
Can I get the same rein twice?
Yes. A player at level 18 confirmed duplicate reins drop after you have learned a minion, which is where the reins on the Steam Market come from.
Minion notes checked:
Sources: Steam store page and screenshots; Steam achievement percentages; developer patch notes 0.1.9, 0.1.12 and 0.1.13c; Steam forum threads "Reins drop rate?" and "Disappointing aspects of the game"; Steam Community guides.