Dyeing · Game Mechanic Compendium

Definition

Dyeing changes the colour of an item the player already holds, using a dye item or a colour unlocked into a palette, and leaves the item’s stats and properties as they were. It works on the item’s own appearance: transmogrification puts another item’s look onto it, and imbuing adds a property. A cosmetic skin bought as a separate item is not an operation on a held item. Dyeing runs through item modification, with colours supplied by vendors, loot, or achievements.

Procedure

The player picks a colour and an item, or an area of one, and applies it: a tub set to a colour in Ultima Online, vials mixed in a preview window in Guild Wars, a dye combined with the item in Baldur’s Gate 3’s inventory, or a palette colour for each of up to three areas of an armour piece in Guild Wars 2 and The Elder Scrolls Online. The result is fixed: a given dye or colour always gives the same hue, and the attempt does not fail. What can go wrong is the look itself, as Baldur’s Gate 3 offers no preview, and a spent dye is gone even when the colour does not change.

Variations

Dye tub (Ultima Online): the colour is set on a reusable container, which then dyes each item it is used on.
Dye item (Guild Wars, Destiny 2, Baldur’s Gate 3): a carried dye or shader supplies the colour; in Destiny 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3 each application uses one up.
Mixing (Guild Wars): up to four vials of different colours combine into one result.
Unlocked palette (Guild Wars 2, The Elder Scrolls Online): a colour unlocked once is applied without limit; Guild Wars 2 moved unlocks from the character to the account in 2014.
Dye channels (Guild Wars 2, The Elder Scrolls Online): several areas of one piece take separate colours, where Guild Wars had one.
Collection redraw (Destiny 2): collections announced for Forsaken (2018) let a found shader be drawn again.

Requirements

The older form uses a dye item: dyes bought for Ultima Online’s tub, vials dropped or bought in Guild Wars, and the shaders and dyes of Destiny 2 and Baldur’s Gate 3, used up by each application. The palette form moves the cost to unlocking, by an unidentified dye in Guild Wars 2 and by achievements in The Elder Scrolls Online, which also asks for a dye station. No game cited ties dyeing to a skill rank or a recipe, and no tabletop or board form is cited.

History and provenance

Ultima Online (1997) is the earliest instance cited: its official guide lists the dye set and dyeing tub, and by 2000 the online guide gave the full tub procedure. Guild Wars (2005) kept dyes as items and let players mix them. ArenaNet announced in 2010 that Guild Wars 2 would drop items and mixing for unlocked colours, partly because carrying dyes strained inventories; at the 2012 launch colours were unlocked per character, and from 2014 per account. The Elder Scrolls Online (2014) unlocked colours through achievements, while Destiny 2 (2017) returned to single-use shaders. Baldur’s Gate 3 (2023) keeps the consumable form. Text MUDs and early graphical online games remain largely unsurveyed.

Notable examples

Notable examples, in chronological order. Notes describe how the operation works in each game; requirements are what it needs there; the latest reference is a widely played game from 2020 or later.
Game	Year	Medium	Requirements	How the operation works
Ultima Online Origin Systems	1997	Video	Materials	A dye set and dyeing tub are used with cloth to dye clothing, and the tailoring tables turn cloth and yarn into hued cloth and yarn. By 2000 the official guide says to buy a dye tub and dyes, set the tub to a chosen colour with the dyes, then target each item to dye.
Guild Wars ArenaNet	2005	Video	Materials	Dyes are vials dropped by enemies or bought from Dye Traders. Up to four vials of different colours, white and black among them, are mixed in a preview window and applied to armour or most weapons; each armour piece has one area to dye.
Guild Wars 2 ArenaNet	2012	Video	No cost	Dyes are colours unlocked into a palette rather than carried; an unidentified dye found as loot, bought or crafted unlocks one, and each armour section has three dye channels. Unlocks were per character until April 2014, when a colour unlocked once became available to every character on the account without limit.
The Elder Scrolls Online ZeniMax Online Studios	2014	Video	Station	Update 3 added dye stations where up to three colours can be applied to each armour piece. Colours are unlocked by completing achievements, about 40 of them added to spread dyes through the game, and changing colours at a station is free.
Destiny 2 Bungie	2017	Video	Materials	Shaders are consumables; applying one to a piece of armour or a weapon uses it up, so it cannot be applied again without a duplicate. Collections announced for Forsaken (2018) were to let a found shader be drawn again.
Baldur's Gate 3 Latest Larian Studios	2023	Video	Materials	Dyes are found during play or bought from vendors and applied from the inventory with no special tool or character. Combining a dye with clothing, armour or a shield in the Combine menu changes the item's colour and uses up the dye, with no preview beforehand.

Provenance

Earliest documented use: Ultima Online (1997), video. Confidence: low. Ultima Online (1997) is the earliest instance cited: Origin's official guide of 1997 lists the dye set and dyeing tub among usable items and hued cloth and yarn among tailoring products, and the official online guide by 2000 describes setting a tub's colour with dyes and dyeing items with it. No earlier dye operation is cited from text MUDs, from earlier graphical online games such as Meridian 59 and The Realm, or from single-player role-playing games, but those fields remain largely unsurveyed, and the dyes of EverQuest and The Lord of the Rings Online are undated, so the title is not defended as an origin.

Sources

Tuesday Frase and Melissa Tyler (Origin Systems). (1997). Origin's Official Guide to Ultima Online. Prima Publishing. Book Skill Descriptions, Tailoring, p. 94; Useable Items, Miscellaneous Items, p. 103. Accessed 2026-10-26. The dye set and dyeing tub used with cloth to dye clothing, and dye used on cloth and yarn to make hued cloth and hued yarn.
Origin Systems. (2000). Ultima Online Guide: Tailoring. Website Description. Accessed 2026-10-26. Buying a dye tub and dyes, setting the tub's colour with the dyes, and dyeing items by targeting them with the tub; Wayback snapshot of April 2000.
Guild Wars Wiki. Dye. Wiki Vials of dye dropped by enemies or sold by Dye Traders, up to four of different colours mixed in a preview window, and armour and most weapons as targets; snapshot of February 2007.
Kristen Perry (ArenaNet). (2010). Live and Let Dye, Kristen Perry on the GW2 Dye System. Website Accessed 2026-10-26. The Guild Wars dye system of carried dyes, mixing with white and black, and one dyeable area, and the Guild Wars 2 plan of unlocked colours with up to three dye areas per armour piece; Wayback snapshot of October 2010.
Michael Lummis, Kathleen Pleet, Edwin Kern and Kurt Ricketts. (2012). Guild Wars 2: Signature Series Guide. DK/BradyGames. Book Character Creation, Armor Dyes, p. 57; Game Mechanics chapter. Accessed 2026-10-26. Three armour sections with three dye channels each, dyes chosen from those the character has unlocked, and new dyes from Unidentified Dyes dropped in the world, the Gem Store, or crafting.
Guild Wars 2 Wiki. Dye. Wiki Dyes unlocked character by character rather than account-wide, an already unlocked dye not consumed, and unlocked colours replacing the vials of Guild Wars; snapshot of June 2013.
The Guild Wars 2 Team (ArenaNet). (2014). Dyes in the New Account Wardrobe. Website Accessed 2026-10-26. Dye unlocks moving from per character to per account in April 2014, with unlimited access to an unlocked colour for all characters, and the Dye tab of the Hero Panel.
UESP. General:Creating ESO: Identity and Update 3. Wiki Copy of the developers' article of 22 July 2014 on dye stations, achievement unlocks, about 40 new achievements, up to three colours per armour piece, and free dyeing.
Sven Galitzki (MeinMMO). (2018). Destiny 2: Forsaken löst endlich das nervige Einweg-Shader-Problem. Article Accessed 2026-10-26. German-language article; shaders as consumables used up when applied to armour or a weapon, and the collections planned for Forsaken from which found shaders could be drawn again.
Alex Wawro (Tom's Guide). (2023). Baldur's Gate 3: how to dye clothes and armor. Article Accessed 2026-10-26. Dyes found in play or bought from vendors, the Combine menu opened from the dye, clothing, armour and shields as targets, no tool or NPC needed, and no preview.
Sam Chandler (Shacknews). (2023). How to dye clothes - Baldur's Gate 3. Article Accessed 2026-10-26. The dye consumable combined with an item, and a dye used up even when it leaves the colour unchanged.

Cite this entry

Permalink: http://localhost:4321/crafting/dyeing
Updated: 2026-10-26
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Licence: CC BY 4.0

West, James, Jr. (2026). "Dyeing." Game Mechanic Compendium, updated 2026-10-26. http://localhost:4321/crafting/dyeing

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