Dungeons & Lairs
Every place you go down into, who drops each one, and what is at the bottom. One dungeon is always open; 6 are dropped by named foes; the Sunken Citadel opens whenever a pinnacle dies; a rift can open beside you at any time.
A gate with a run already going admits anyone, and they land in your dungeon rather than a copy of it. Killing the boss again puts a second, separate dungeon behind the same gate. Once the last hero climbs out, that dungeon is gone.
Every way down
Where each one comes from, how often it appears, and whether it comes back.
| Dungeon | Who drops it | Odds | Stands |
|---|---|---|---|
 The Sunken Dungeon | Nothing drops it. One door in the ground near town, open from your first day, with no bottom. | always there | Never spent, never sealed. |
 the Stonegarden | Dropped by The Coilfather, a World Boss at the western sands of the Sunscour. | 1 in 3kills | Stands for 10 minutes, then it is gone. Anyone can walk in while it stands. |
 the Broodmother's Lair | Dropped by The Broodmother, a World Boss at the dark wood of the Eastern Wilds. | 1 in 3kills | Stands for 10 minutes, then it is gone. Anyone can walk in while it stands. |
 the Hollow Colossus | Dropped by The Colossus, a World Boss at the war-camp ruin of the Northeast Range. | 1 in 3kills | Stands for 10 minutes, then it is gone. Anyone can walk in while it stands. |
 the Drowned Gullet | Dropped by The Tide Leviathan, a World Boss at a far isle in the deep south-west of the Sundered Sea (sail to reach it). | 1 in 3kills | Stands for 10 minutes, then it is gone. Anyone can walk in while it stands. |
 the Quiet Fold | Dropped by The Pale Shepherd, a Pinnacle Boss at the Frozen Wastes, by night. | 1 in 3kills | Stands for 10 minutes, then it is gone. Anyone can walk in while it stands. |
 the Sunless Trench | Dropped by The Mountain Kraken, a Pinnacle Boss at the realm’s heart, once your Vigil is complete. | every time | Never closes. It stands until the realm is remade. |
 The Sunken Citadel | Dropped by either Pinnacle Boss, The Drowned King or The Pale Shepherd, at level 75. | every time | Stands for 10 minutes, then it is gone. Anyone can walk in while it stands. |
| A rift | Nothing drops it. One opens near a hero on its own, lasts about 30 seconds, and costs a Dungeon Key to breach. | opens on its own | Another opens on its own, wherever the party is standing. |
Your run is your own
Every gate in the realm works this way.
| Rule | How it works |
|---|---|
| Walking in | A gate never locks. While you can see it, you can step through it. |
| Following a friend | A gate with a run already going admits anyone. They land in your dungeon, not a copy of it. |
| A second kill | Killing the boss again puts a second, entirely separate dungeon behind the same gate, beside the run already going, and gives the gate its full time again. |
| When a run ends | Once the last hero climbs out, that dungeon is gone. |
| How long it stands | Every gate but one lasts 10 minutes and then vanishes. A party already inside finishes the delve and climbs out as normal. |
| 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.
- 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. New floors open as you go down.
- 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. Twice the floor's level. 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. Sunken Caverns floors are 2 times as wide and tall, and carry 2 times as many.
- 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
How strong each floor and its boss are, by depth.
| 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 as deep as its number, and its boss is twice that. The deeper you go, the wider the gap.
What a floor looks like
The dungeon changes face as you go down. Each one has its own look, its own hazard and its own regulars.
| The face | Floors | Pits | What lives there |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Catacombs | 1 to 3 | Plain shafts | SkeletonSlimeCave BatGrave RatTomb Beetle |
| Sunken Caverns | 4 to 6 | Plain shafts | Thicket SpiderWayside BanditBramble SnailRoot Shambler |
| The Inferno | 7 to 9 | Open lava | Cinder ImpObsidian SkittererAsh GhoulMagma Hulk |
| The Abyss | 10 to 12 | A lightless void | Dark CasterLegion PikemanGrave BruteLegion Torchbearer |
The four come round again every 12 floors down.
Floor twists
Every floor past the first rolls once for a twist.
| Twist | What it means | Share of floors |
|---|---|---|
| Cursed Floor | mighty foes guard a richer prize | 13.5% |
| Gilded Floor | the very walls glitter, riches abound | 13.5% |
| Swarming Floor | a horde stirs, many foes but frail | 13.5% |
| Treasure Vault | a hoard beyond counting | 4.5% |
| No twist | An ordinary floor of the depth you are standing on. | 55% |
Rolled once per floor, 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.
| Trial | Floors | Guards | Boss | Boss health | Clear pays |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| the Stonegarden | 2 | Level 20 | Medusalevel 62 | 54,000 | 900 gold |
| the Broodmother's Lair | 3 | Level 25 | The Thousand-Eyedlevel 70 | 66,000 | 1,200 gold |
| the Hollow Colossus | 4 | Level 65 | The Quarry Heartlevel 75 | 90,000 | 2,500 gold |
| the Drowned Gullet | 5 | Level 80 | The Tide-Siredlevel 90 | 138,000 | 4,000 gold |
| the Quiet Fold | 6 | Level 95 | The Bellwetherlevel 110 | 216,000 | 6,000 gold |
| the Sunless Trench | 7 | Level 150 | The Trenchmawlevel 300 | 1,200,000 | 12,000 gold |
The clear payout is flat, to every hero who was there. Boss health is the solo, first-kill baseline.
the Stonegarden
2 floors down, all of it The Coilfather's own ground, ending on Medusa.
All 3 of the boss's moves are telegraphed.
- Silencing Hexa pulse that pins everyone inside it where they stand and chips away at them
- Quaking Slama ground pound in a wide circle that stuns whoever it lands on
- Nova Bursta full circle of bolts leaves it at once. There is no gap in the ring, only distance
the Broodmother's Lair
3 floors down, all of it The Broodmother's own ground, ending on The Thousand-Eyed.
All 3 of the boss's moves are telegraphed.
- Web Volleya short fan of web bolts thrown at whoever it is facing
- Quaking Slama ground pound in a wide circle that stuns whoever it lands on
- Chargeit commits to a straight line at where you were standing, so step aside as it launches
the Hollow Colossus
4 floors down, all of it The Colossus's own ground, ending on The Quarry Heart.
All 3 of the boss's moves are telegraphed.
- Quaking Slama ground pound in a wide circle that stuns whoever it lands on
- Ground Slamtwo rings of shockwave burst outward, and they break on walls, so put a pillar between you and it
- Chargeit commits to a straight line at where you were standing, so step aside as it launches
the Drowned Gullet
5 floors down, all of it The Tide Leviathan's own ground, ending on The Tide-Sired.
All 4 of the boss's moves are telegraphed.
- Undertowa ring of freezing water bursts out, and anyone caught near the middle is left chilled and slow
- Nova Bursta full circle of bolts leaves it at once. There is no gap in the ring, only distance
- Bolt Volleya fanned wall of frost bolts aimed down the line to you
- Chargeit commits to a straight line at where you were standing, so step aside as it launches
the Quiet Fold
6 floors down, all of it The Pale Shepherd's own ground, ending on The Bellwether.
All 4 of the boss's moves are telegraphed.
- Raise Deada court of three rises to guard it, and no more will rise while any of them stands
- Silencing Hexa pulse that pins everyone inside it where they stand and chips away at them
- Nova Bursta full circle of bolts leaves it at once. There is no gap in the ring, only distance
- Radiant Smitea pillar of light drops on a marked spot and hits everyone standing in the circle
the Sunless Trenchalways opens
7 floors down, all of it The Mountain Kraken's own ground, ending on The Trenchmaw.
All 5 of the boss's moves are telegraphed.
- Undertowa ring of freezing water bursts out, and anyone caught near the middle is left chilled and slow
- Nova Bursta full circle of bolts leaves it at once. There is no gap in the ring, only distance
- Bolt Volleya fanned wall of frost bolts aimed down the line to you
- Leaping Strikeit jumps to a marked spot and lands in a burst of frost
- Ground Slamtwo rings of shockwave burst outward, and they break on walls, so put a pillar between you and it
The Sunken Citadel
The hardest dungeon in the realm.
The Sunken Citadel
3 drowned halls, then one arena. Every guard is level 200, its master's own, rather than the tier you are standing on, so there is no gentle first floor.
At the bottom stands The Drowned Archivist, fighting in 3 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 the whole 30 seconds 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.
| Who holds it | Its ground | The door its death opens | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
 The Hierophant | the ruined shrine of the Western Marches, and the 12 tiles around it. | None. Its signature piece is the prize. | 25 |
 The Broodmother | the dark wood of the Eastern Wilds, and the 12 tiles around it. | the Broodmother's Lair | 65 |
 The Emberkeg | the cinder crater of the Emberwaste, and the 12 tiles around it. | None. Its signature piece is the prize. | 45 |
 The Hexbinder | the frozen strip of the Northern Wastes, and the 12 tiles around it. | None. Its signature piece is the prize. | 55 |
 The Colossus | the war-camp ruin of the Northeast Range, and the 12 tiles around it. | the Hollow Colossus | 60 |
 The Coilfather | the western sands of the Sunscour, and the 12 tiles around it. | the Stonegarden | 35 |
| Who holds it | Its ground | The door its death opens | Level |
|---|---|---|---|
 The Frost Titan | the Frozen Wastes (far north), and the 24 tiles around it. | None. Its signature piece is the prize. | 60 |
 The Storm Roc | the high wilds (northeast), and the 24 tiles around it. | None. Its signature piece is the prize. | 55 |
 Emberhorn the Scorched | the Emberwaste (far southeast), and the 24 tiles around it. | None. Its signature piece is the prize. | 65 |
 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. | the Drowned Gullet | 70 |
The 2 opt-in Pinnacle Bosses keep no fixed lair. They rise in their own places, 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.