Sandstorm Event in Dune: Awakening - What Does It Mean?
A sandstorm in Dune: Awakening is a recurring weather hazard that sweeps across the Hagga Basin and the Deep Desert, damaging anyone and anything left in the open. It is separate from the much larger Coriolis storm, a weekly event that reshapes the Deep Desert. Knowing how each works decides whether you lose an afternoon of progress or ride it out safely.
How It Works
According to the community wiki, a sandstorm starts at a random edge of the map and travels in a straight line to the opposite side. Hagga Basin storms are usually wide enough to cover more than a whole region, and Deep Desert storms are far larger and more destructive. Inside the storm, visibility drops sharply, which makes finding cover hard if you wait too long.
Storms are announced by the in-game weather radio and a text notice on screen. How much warning you get depends on where the storm starts and how close you are to that edge.
Players, vehicles and unshielded buildings caught in the storm take damage over time. According to the wiki, NPCs are currently not affected: Sardaukar dropships over the Hagga Basin and the NPCs outside the Griffin's Reach Tradepost carry on as normal.
Shelter Levels
The HUD shows a shelter indicator with four states:
- Unsheltered: no storm protection, and hydration drains at a moderate pace.
- Sheltered: under a cliff, overhang or partial structure. Protected from the storm, with slightly slower hydration loss.
- Enclosed: inside a cave or a mostly finished building. Protected, with noticeably slower hydration loss.
- Watersealed: inside a fully closed structure. Protected, with the slowest hydration loss.
Damage to Bases and Vehicles
Unshielded player structures erode from the outer walls inward. In the Hagga Basin this is slow, and the wiki notes abandoned buildings take more than a week to fully degrade. A cave does not protect your base the way it protects your character: you still need building pieces to seal the base, and foundation pieces that stick out past your sub-fief limits count as unshielded and can collapse. Vehicles lose durability on individual components, faster in the Deep Desert than in the Hagga Basin; the wiki says a single Hagga Basin storm can strip up to a third of a component's durability, depending on the vehicle and component grade.
Coriolis Storms
The Coriolis storm is far larger than a regular sandstorm. Each week a message announces its apex time, which depends on your server region. At the apex the Deep Desert is reset and resource node locations in the Hagga Basin are shuffled. In the single-player mode added in version 1.5, the Coriolis storm is still dangerous but no longer kills instantly or wipes the Deep Desert, and sandstorm behavior can be adjusted in the settings.
Tips
- React to the radio warning right away; head for a building or cave rather than trying to outrun the storm.
- Park vehicles inside a structure or at least behind cover to limit component damage.
- Seal your base fully and keep every foundation inside the sub-fief area.
- Check damage with the Construction Tool's repair mode after a storm, and the Welding Torch for vehicles.
- Level the Exploration specialty: the wiki lists levels that reduce sandstorm damage taken.
- Before a Coriolis apex, move anything valuable out of the Deep Desert.
Official news and patch notes are on the official Dune: Awakening site.
FAQ
Are sandstorms and Coriolis storms the same?
No. Sandstorms are smaller, periodic hazards. The Coriolis storm is a weekly event that resets the Deep Desert.
Can a sandstorm destroy my base?
Unshielded or unsealed parts of a base take damage over time and can eventually collapse, especially if the base is abandoned.
How do I know a sandstorm is coming?
Listen to the in-game weather radio and watch for the text warning on the left of the screen. The closer you are to the storm's starting edge, the less time you have.
Do enemies take storm damage?
No. NPCs are currently unaffected, so do not count on the storm to weaken them.
