How a level-up hand is dealt
Experience drops as orbs that you have to walk over. Each level-up pauses the fight and offers four cards. The first card in every hand is always one of your weapon's Signatures. The rest are drawn from your hero's Class cards and the shared Generic cards, with at most two Generics per hand and never two cards that raise the same stat.
| Card type | Pool | Levels | Limit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Signature | 8 families per weapon, unique to that weapon | 1 to 4 (4 is MAX) | 4 slots. The fourth family you take locks the build. |
| Class | 8 per hero, shared by its three weapons | I to III | No slot |
| Generic | 16 shared by everyone | I to III | At most 4 different Generics per run |
Timing gates keep the run paced. A level-up cannot offer a Signature at level 3 before room 2, or at MAX before room 3, and Class or Generic cards cannot reach tier III before room 3. Chests ignore these gates. Once all four Signature slots are filled, the build locks and you will only be offered more levels of the four families you hold. When everything is maxed, hands pay out a purse, a heal, a Time Shard or +4 flat damage instead.
Signature families and build directions
Each weapon's eight families fall into two to four directions; the Knight's Sword has Blade, Rhythm, Oath and Guard. Level 4 always adds a new effect: Crescent Arc at MAX makes every swing throw a light crescent.
Some families feed your spell instead: the Sword's Oath of Plates adds plates to the Oath of the Wall, and Long Vigil makes it last longer and return sooner.
Ascensions
Every weapon has four Ascensions, each tied to a curated pair of its Signature families. Bring both families of a pair to MAX and the Ascension forges on its own, with no chest needed. Examples:
- Knight, Sword: Judgement (Overhand + Long Vigil). Every Overhand calls down a holy greatsword for 200% in a wide ring, and during the Oath it stuns for 1s.
- Wizard, Fire: Fire Serpent (Fire Lance + Backdraft). Every fire lance becomes a weaving serpent of flame that ignites everything it touches and pierces all.
- Amazon, Venombow: Death Cloud (Miasma + Toxic Cloud). Venom deals double damage inside the cloud.
- Druid, Ice: Winter Wolf (Wolf Pack + Frost Bite). Wolf bites freeze on the second chill stack.
The four pairs never share a family, so with the usual four slots a full build can forge two Ascensions. The Omen of the Fifth Hand adds a fifth slot. Since MAX opens in room 3, the earliest Ascensions land in the middle of the run.
Class and Generic cards
Class cards are your hero's toolbox. The Knight's include Heavy Plate (no contact hit can deal more than 34); the Necromancer's include Grave Call (a skeleton rises every 14 kills) and Dark Pact (golem +30% health, and it detonates when it falls).
The sixteen Generics are Might, Whetstone, Quick Hands, Keen Eye, Brutal, Focus, Swift, Vitality, Renewal, Bulwark, Magnetism, Fortune, Wide Reach, Extra Projectile, Piercing and Lingering. Some only appear when your attack can use them: Extra Projectile needs a shooting weapon, Piercing needs bolts or arrows.
Evolutions: the once-per-run weapon upgrade
Every weapon has one evolution with a fixed recipe: one named Signature family at level 3 plus a Generic at tier II, either Swift or Vitality. The select screen shows the recipe. When the recipe is complete, the next ordinary chest that drops is promoted to an Epic chest, and opening it evolves the weapon. A Legendary chest can evolve it even without the recipe.
| Weapon | Recipe | Evolution |
|---|---|---|
| Knight Sword / Axe / Spear | Crescent Arc + Swift / Rend + Vitality / Long Reach + Swift | Blade of Dawn / Earthsplitter / Dragoon Lance |
| Wizard Lightning / Frost / Fire | Forked Volley + Swift / Shard Spray + Vitality / Cinder Blast + Swift | Storm Lord / Absolute Zero / Meteor |
| Shinobi Katars / Dagger / Crossbow | Flurry + Swift / Twin Fang + Vitality / Salvo + Swift | Thousand Cuts / Flame Fang / Repeater |
| Mummy Thorn / Sun / Deathray | Bramble Bolt + Swift / Solar Flare + Vitality / Wide Ray + Swift | Bramble Tyrant / Solar Disc / Anubis' Judgement |
| Archer Arrow / Ballista / Volley | Volley + Swift / Heavy Bolt + Vitality / Spread + Swift | Sky Piercer / Siege Bolt / Rain of Thorns |
| Gargoyle Gale / Squall / Cyclone | Wide Gale + Swift / Long Lance + Vitality / Eye of the Storm + Swift | Tempest Wing / Sky Lance / Maelstrom |
| Necromancer Frostbolt / Bramblebolt / Bloodbolt | Bone Spear + Swift / Bramble Swarm + Vitality / Blood Spray + Swift | Frozen Spine / Bramble Swarm / Blood Tithe |
| Amazon Sword+Shield / Twinblades / Venombow | Wide Guard + Swift / Tempo + Vitality / Twin Dart + Swift | Aegis Wall / Blade Dance / Plague Bow |
| Druid Earth / Wind / Ice | Splintering + Swift / Gale Orb + Vitality / Ice Lance + Swift | Stoneburst / Gale Orbs / Glacial Spike |
| Genie Firebrand / Gemstaff / Fists | Wide Brand + Swift / Twin Gem + Vitality / Cadence + Swift | Sunfire Scimitar / Prism / Thousand Palms |
| Ghost Helltrident / Quillstorm / Radiance | Long Throw + Swift / Barrage + Vitality / Wide Halo + Swift | Inferno Return / Feather Storm / Supernova |
| Demon Hellfire / Voidmace / Hexbolt | Cinder Bolt + Swift / Heavy Mace + Vitality / Hex Pool + Swift | Hellstorm / Black Hole / Grand Hex |
Chests and what each colour promises
A chest never introduces a new card. It deepens what you already hold, or pays in its own currency.
| Chest | From room | Pays |
|---|---|---|
| Supply (brown) | 1 | One reward drawn from any other chest's job |
| War (red) | 1 | Two battle rolls: a raw stat or a tier-up of a weapon card |
| Merchant (blue) | 1 | Two heavy purses of gold, sometimes Time Shards |
| Wild (green) | 2 | Two rolls of healing, regen, lifesteal or max health |
| Relic (stone) | 3 | Two Signature tier-ups, or spell power, cooldown, area or duration |
| Bulwark (iron) | 5 | Defence: armour, thorns, ward or health |
| Epic (purple) | Any | A purse plus three rolls; your evolution and Fates live here |
| Legendary (gold) | Any | A bigger purse plus four War or Relic rolls; evolves without a recipe |
Elites drop chests far more often than ordinary monsters, and every guardian drops one when it dies. Chest drops share a cooldown that grows in rooms 5 to 7, so late rooms give fewer.
Fates
Epic and Legendary chests can hand out a Fate instead of a card, each at most once per run: Treasure (gold, 3 shards, +6 flat damage), Eclipse Ascension (two extra level-up choices and a full heal), Midas Touch (+10% gold value and a purse), Phoenix Heart (+40 max health, full heal, +2 health per second), Time Dilation (+1 dash charge, −20% dash cooldown) and Blood Pact (+25% damage, −15% max health).
The Altar of Embers
The Altar is your in-run gold shop. Open it with Tab or the SHOP button at any time; the game pauses while it is open. It has three lines, each with four runes bought in order:
- Line A, Defence. Three rungs of your hero's defensive stat (the Knight's Bastion is +4, +4, +6 armour). Rune IV is your hero's Capstone, such as the Necromancer's Lich (minions never expire).
- Line B, Offence. Three rungs of your hero's offensive stat. Rune IV is your element's Ascension, such as Inferno for fire (burn stacks to eight and leaps from every corpse).
- Line C, The Weapon. Three rungs for your weapon's base, then a Mastery rule, such as the Spear's Skewer (thrusts reach further and stagger).
Runes I to IV cost 20, 40, 84 and 160 gold, plus 18% per room after the first, and need player level 0, 4, 8 and 12. You can own A-IV or B-IV, never both. Each line also sells small runes at 12, 18 and 26 gold, such as +6% damage or +1 reroll. Field Dressing is a full heal for 40 gold, up to five times per room, each one 1.6 times the price of the last.
Gold carries between rooms. Plans for specific heroes are in Strategy.