Extraction and Loot
Far Far West does not use traditional weapon loot drops. You will not find a "Legendary Shotgun" on the ground. Weapons are permanent unlocks earned through Weapon Fragments at the Saloon. The in-mission loot system revolves entirely around Joker cards, perk modifiers that stack between rounds to alter your loadout performance.
Understanding this distinction is the first step to not feeling lost when you open a chest and find a card instead of a gun.
The Joker Card System
Jokers are perk cards that modify your weapons, spells, and character stats. You collect them during missions and stack them between combat rounds to build increasingly powerful loadouts for that run.
There are exactly 94 distinct Joker cards distributed across six rarity tiers:
| Tier | Card Count | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | 12 | Basic stat boosts |
| Fine | 18 | Moderate enhancements |
| Prime | 17 | Specialized build-defining perks |
| Mythic | 17 | Second Wind (cheat-death on 180s cooldown) |
| Legendary | 10 | Major game-changing effects |
| Unique | 20 | One-of-a-kind perks from secrets and challenges |
Duplicate Jokers sell back to vendors for exactly 50% of their base purchase cost. You cannot sell weapons, only excess Joker cards.
For a full card database and build combos, read our Joker Cards guide.
In-Mission Economy
Three currencies drive the economy. Each one serves a different purpose and you collect them in different ways.
| Currency | Earned From | Spent On |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | Mining gold nodes (40 Gold via pickaxe, 20 Gold via explosives) | Mid-mission NPC purchases, weapon unlocks at the Saloon (300 Gold each) |
| Souls | Completing objectives, killing enemies | Permanent upgrades, Gamba Machine Joker rolls (250 Souls per roll) |
| Weapon Fragments | Completing objectives while tracking a specific weapon | Unlocking that weapon permanently once the threshold is reached |
Mining gold nodes with the pickaxe yields 40 Gold. Destroying them with weapons, explosives, or spells yields only 20 Gold. Always use the pickaxe. This single habit will double your income per run.
The Wandering Trader
The Wandering Trader is an NPC who sells vital Joker cards for 45 Gold each. She does not sit in the Saloon hub. She actively patrols the mission maps, and finding her during combat is difficult without help.
Equip the Chad Joker to force her icon onto your minimap. Late-game builds depend heavily on buying specific cards from the Trader, so slotting Chad is almost mandatory once you start pushing higher difficulties.
The Gamba Machine
Back at the Saloon, the Gamba Machine sells random Joker cards for 250 Souls per roll. This is a mathematically positive investment. The average base cost of a Joker across all tiers is 394 Souls, meaning you save roughly 144 Souls per roll on average. Spend your Souls here early and often to build up your card collection.
The Extraction Phase
The extraction timer does not start when you press a button. It triggers automatically after you kill the bounty boss. Once the boss dies, you have exactly 90 seconds to reach the extraction ship. The timer is rigid. It does not pause if you step outside the zone, and it does not extend for any reason.
The extraction timer is 90 seconds, not 3 minutes. During the tutorial run, it is only 30 seconds. Do not be surprised when the ship leaves faster than you expected.
Before You Fight the Boss
Because the 90-second timer starts immediately after the boss dies, you must finish all exploration before engaging the bounty target. This means:
- Mine every gold vein on the map
- Complete all side objectives and "?" map tasks
- Locate any secrets or hidden collectibles
- Buy what you need from the Wandering Trader
Once the boss fight begins, an infinite wave of escalating enemies spawns. You cannot go back to leisurely exploration.
Defending the Extraction
After the boss dies, enemies flood the extraction zone in increasingly dangerous waves. The final waves on higher difficulties include Elite enemy variants (introduced in Patch 0.1.1.10) that add serious unpredictability to the defense.
Use area-denial spells to lock down choke points. Fire Tornado (Firebeam + Bubble) and Thunderstorm (Strikes + Rain) are exceptionally effective at controlling the extraction zone. Read our Elemental Combos guide for a full combo reference.
What You Keep After Extraction
A successful extraction converts all collected Gold and Souls into permanent progression currency. A failed extraction (death) forfeits only Gold and Souls. You always keep Hero XP, Weapon XP, and Weapon Fragments regardless of outcome. For more on how this changes based on your squad size, read our Co-op vs Solo guide.