Dungeons & Lairs
Every place you go down into, who drops each one, and what is at the bottom. One dungeon is always open; 5 are dropped by named foes; the Sunken Citadel opens whenever a pinnacle dies; a rift can open beside you at any time.
Every way down
Where each one comes from, how often it appears, and whether it comes back.
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The Sunken Dungeon
Nothing drops it. One door in the ground near town, open from your first day, with no bottom.Never spent, never sealed.
always there
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the Broodmother's Lair
Dropped by The Broodmother, a mini-boss at the dark wood of the Eastern Wilds.Reopens 10 minutes after a party claims it.
33.33%1 in 3 kills
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the Hollow Colossus
Dropped by The Colossus, a mini-boss at the war-camp ruin of the Northeast Range.Reopens 10 minutes after a party claims it.
33.33%1 in 3 kills
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the Drowned Gullet
Dropped by The Tide Leviathan, a Great Hunt beast at a far isle in the deep south-west of the Sundered Sea (sail to reach it).Reopens 10 minutes after a party claims it.
33.33%1 in 3 kills
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the Quiet Fold
Dropped by The Pale Shepherd, a pinnacle terror at the Frozen Wastes, by night.Reopens 10 minutes after a party claims it.
33.33%1 in 3 kills
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the Sunless Trench
Dropped by The Mountain Kraken, the realm’s finale at the realm’s heart, once your Vigil is complete.Sealed for good once claimed. Only another fall of its master reopens it.
every time
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The Sunken Citadel
Dropped by either pinnacle, The Drowned King or The Pale Shepherd, at level 75.Reopens 10 minutes after a party claims it.
every time
- A rift Nothing drops it. One opens near a hero on its own, lasts about 30 seconds, and costs a Dungeon Key to breach.Another opens on its own, wherever the party is standing. opens on its own
Your run is your own
Every gate in the realm works this way. Worth reading once before the details.
| Rule | How it works |
|---|---|
| Claiming a gate | A gate is spent the moment a party walks through it. The dungeon behind it belongs to them, and the mouth seals. |
| Following a friend | A sealed gate still admits anyone while the run behind it is live. They land in your dungeon, not a copy of it. |
| A second kill | Killing the boss again breaks the seal early and puts a second, entirely separate dungeon in the world beside the run already going. |
| When a run ends | Once the last hero climbs out, that dungeon is gone. |
| Reopening | Every gate but one reopens 10 minutes after it is claimed. |
| The way out | However deep you went, the ladder comes up in the home town. |
The Sunken Dungeon
The realm’s one standing door: open from your first day and unlimited in depth.
One door, near town. No boss to fell first, and no floor it stops at.
| What a floor holds | How it works |
|---|---|
| Getting in the first time | Locked until you find the Dungeon Key the Elder speaks of. Opened once, it stays open for that hero. |
| How deep it goes | No bottom. Floors are generated as you descend. |
| Floor level | Floor 1 is a level 1 floor, floor 10 a level 10 floor. The number on the HUD is the level of what lives there. |
| The floor boss | Levelled as though the floor were twice as deep. Floor 5 holds level 5 foes and a level 10 boss. |
| What the boss pays | 2 times the experience its level already earns. The ordinary foes on the floor are unchanged. |
| Wardens | Every 5th floor promotes its boss to a Warden: more health, a harder swing, and its own name. |
| How many foes | 4 on the first floor, one more per floor down. An elite stalker joins from floor 3, another from floor 6, another from floor 10. |
| The way back up | A climb stands on floor 1 and every 3rd floor after it. It always comes up in the home town. |
| Loot on the floor | A chest on every floor, plus potions and a purse. Every 3rd floor rolls the richer chest, and so does a cursed one. |
| Underground pays more | 40% more experience and 25% more gold than the same fight on the surface. |
| Key vaults | A rune-sealed side room, from floor 2 down, on 40% of floors. One Dungeon Key opens it; inside is the premium chest. Keys drop off the boss standing on each floor, at about the rate the vaults turn up. |
How deep is deep
Floor level and boss level by depth, off the two curves the game spawns with.
| Floor | Where you are | What lives there | The boss at the end |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1The Catacombs | The Catacombs | Level 1 | Level 2 |
| 2The Catacombs | The Catacombs | Level 2 | Level 4 |
| 3The Catacombs | The Catacombs | Level 3 | Level 6 |
| 5Sunken Caverns | Sunken Caverns | Level 5 | Level 10 |
| 10The Abyss | The Abyss | Level 10 | Level 20 |
| 15The Catacombs | The Catacombs | Level 15 | Level 30 |
| 20The Inferno | The Inferno | Level 20 | Level 40 |
A floor is levelled on its depth; its boss is levelled as though you had gone twice as deep. The gap between the last two columns widens the further down you are.
What a floor looks like
The dungeon cycles through themed floor sets as you descend. Each has its own palette, hazard and regulars.
Floor twists
Every floor past the first rolls once for a twist.
- Cursed Floor mighty foes guard a richer prize 13.5%of floors
- Gilded Floor the very walls glitter, riches abound 13.5%of floors
- Swarming Floor a horde stirs, many foes, but frail 13.5%of floors
- Treasure Vault a hoard beyond counting 4.5%of floors
- No twist An ordinary floor of the depth you are standing on. 55%of floors
Rolled once as each floor is built, from floor 2 down. Floor 1 is always plain.
The boss trials
A gate that tears open where a named foe died, leading to a dungeon built for that foe. The deeper the trial, the better it pays.
the Broodmother's Lair
A 3-floor dungeon that opens where The Broodmother falls, ending on The Thousand-Eyed at level 70.
the Hollow Colossus
A 4-floor dungeon that opens where The Colossus falls, ending on The Quarry Heart at level 75.
the Drowned Gullet
A 5-floor dungeon that opens where The Tide Leviathan falls, ending on The Tide-Sired at level 90.
the Quiet Fold
A 6-floor dungeon that opens where The Pale Shepherd falls, ending on The Bellwether at level 110.
the Sunless Trenchalways opens
A 7-floor dungeon that opens where The Mountain Kraken falls, ending on The Trenchmaw at level 175.
The only source of permanent stats in the realm. Every hero who fought the boss rolls separately, from a pool of 6.
Clearing it remakes the realm. When the boss at the bottom falls the world is regenerated: new land, new lairs, every gate wiped and every foe back on its feet. Finish looting before you climb out.
The Sunken Citadel
The hardest dungeon in the realm.
The Sunken Citadel
Three drowned halls, then one arena. Every guard is stamped at level 200, its master's own, rather than at the tier you are standing on, so there is no gentle first floor.
At the bottom stands The Drowned Archivist, the highest-level foe in the realm, fighting in three stances. Odds on each of its relics are in the drop table.
Rifts
A hole in the world that opens by itself, lasts under a minute, and drops you onto a deep floor for the price of a key.
| A rift | How it works |
|---|---|
| Where it comes from | Nothing has to die. It opens on its own near a hero who is above ground, on ordinary walkable land. |
| How long you have | About 30 seconds before it closes. One is open in the realm at a time. |
| What it costs | One Dungeon Key, spent by whoever breaches it. Anyone following them in pays nothing. |
| How deep it drops you | Onto a floor between 3 and 16, scaled to the party's levels. It skips the climb, not the danger. |
| Purple and blue | About 40% are blue party rifts, which stay open their full window so a whole group can dive into the same run. A purple one closes behind the single hero who takes it and sits one floor shallower. |
| What is down there | An ordinary dungeon floor of that depth. Climb out the usual way. |
| Whose run it is | Its own, exactly as a gate’s is. Diving in never lands you in somebody else’s dungeon. |
Lairs and territory
Where each fixed foe stands, how much ground it owns, and which door its death opens.
A lair-bound boss hunts you anywhere inside its own ground and will not follow you a step beyond it. Leave and it walks home and heals, so chipping one from outside its territory does nothing.
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The Hierophant
the ruined shrine of the Western Marches, and the 12 tiles around it.Opens no gate. Its signature piece is the prize.
Level 25
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The Broodmother
the dark wood of the Eastern Wilds, and the 12 tiles around it.Opens the Broodmother's Lair.
Level 65
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The Emberkeg
the cinder crater of the Emberwaste, and the 12 tiles around it.Opens no gate. Its signature piece is the prize.
Level 45
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The Hexbinder
the frozen strip of the Northern Wastes, and the 12 tiles around it.Opens no gate. Its signature piece is the prize.
Level 55
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The Colossus
the war-camp ruin of the Northeast Range, and the 12 tiles around it.Opens the Hollow Colossus.
Level 60
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The Frost Titan
the Frozen Wastes (far north), and the 24 tiles around it.Opens no gate. Its signature piece is the prize.
Level 60
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The Storm Roc
the high wilds (northeast), and the 24 tiles around it.Opens no gate. Its signature piece is the prize.
Level 55
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Emberhorn the Scorched
the Emberwaste (far southeast), and the 24 tiles around it.Opens no gate. Its signature piece is the prize.
Level 65
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The Tide Leviathan
a far isle in the deep south-west of the Sundered Sea (sail to reach it), and the 24 tiles around it.Opens the Drowned Gullet.
Level 70
The two pinnacles keep no fixed lair. They rise where their own conditions are met, a shipwreck in the near reaches of the Sundered Sea and the Frozen Wastes, by night, in a ring that shrinks as the fight goes on. The Mountain Kraken wakes at the heart of the realm once your Vigil is complete.