Difficulties
A run is started at one of 7 difficulties, each unlocked by beating the one before. They work in two ways at once: some add a rule, and some raise the tier of every enemy in the act — and three of them do only the second.
The ladder
| Difficulty | What it changes | Stage tier |
|---|---|---|
| Base | Play without difficulty modifiers. | 1 |
| Difficulty: C | Heroes take 10% Max HP damage at the start of each combat. Heroes start each combat at 90% health. | 1 |
| Difficulty: B | Enemies are more durable. | 2 |
| Difficulty: A | Earn 1 fewer Shard per surviving Hero at the end of each combat. 1 fewer shard per surviving hero after a combat. | 2 |
| Difficulty: S | Heroes can only equip 1 item per rank. | 2 |
| Difficulty: SS | Enemies are deadlier. | 3 |
| Difficulty: SSS | Act Bosses influence combats in their act, making them more difficult. Each act boss hands its own act's enemies a relic — 5 of them, one per boss stage. | 3 |
What «stage tier» means
The act ships every one of its fights 3 times over, once per tier, with rising stats — that is what the run page counts when a fight has more stages than it has squads. The difficulty picks the tier — Base, C field tier 1; B, A, S field tier 2; SS, SSS field tier 3.
Which is why three difficulties carry no rule of their own. «Enemies are more durable» and «Enemies are deadlier» are not modifiers the game applies — they are the tier bump, stated in the reader's terms. Every enemy page already lists those tiers per variant, and the numbers are the game's own.
The Red Rift
- Complete all 6 challenges and defeat the final boss to seal the Red Rift and earn your spot on the Win Streak Leaderboard.
- Failing a challenge ends your run in defeat and resets your win streak.
- Enemies in the Red Rift have increased stats.
- Red Rift runs do not continue into Endless Mode.
- Shop tax, act 1
- 10, +2 per shop
- Shop tax, act 2
- 15, +3 per shop
- Hero death limit
- 10
The six missions
- Purchase the Act 1 Key Fragment
- Purchase the Act 2 Key Fragment
- Charge the Rift Seal ({0})
- Skip a Challenge Combat reward
- Skip a Campfire reward
- Hero death limit: {0}
A contract rather than a step on the ladder: it sets its own missions and its own run, and it is the only mode that taxes the shop. The tax is stored as a bare number with no label of its own, so it is printed as stored — whether it is a percentage or a flat cost per shop is not something the files say.