How the game's systems actually work, the numbers behind them, and calculators for planning your next upgrade.
Echo Dust and Sigils needed to attune an artifact to any level, including the expected cost of failed attempts.
How much of each hit gets through your Armor, damage reduction and Dodge Chance, and your effective Health.
Health, Attack Power and Armor of every enemy at any zone and wave, plus artifact drop odds at that depth.
About 8 taps per second. Faster tapping doesn't add damage.
After a tap strike, the next tap is ignored for 0.12 seconds. Any tap inside that window is simply dropped, so tapping faster than roughly 8 times per second gains nothing. Taps are also ignored while your hero is stunned.
The Tap Frenzy skill strikes on the same 0.12-second rhythm and shares the limit with your own taps, so tapping during Tap Frenzy doesn't add extra strikes.
Multiplicatively. Two 10% reductions give 19%, not 20%.
Each reduction applies to the damage that's left after the previous one, so stacking more of them has diminishing returns. Effects that increase Damage Taken multiply in the same way.
| 10% reductions | Damage taken | Total reduction |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 90% | 10% |
| 2 | 81% | 19% |
| 3 | 72.9% | 27.1% |
| 5 | 59% | 41% |
Exception — companions: damage reduction from your companions is added together first, so two companions with 10% each give 20%, not 19%. This counts companions in your party and companions working in a town building (except the Training Grounds). Their combined total can't go above 90%, and it then multiplies with your other sources as one source.
Order of a hit: Armor reduces it first, then a critical hit multiplies it, then Damage Taken applies, and finally shields absorb what's left.
Additively. Two 10% sources give 20%, up to a maximum of 95%.
All Dodge Chance bonuses are added together. A dodged attack is avoided completely: it never reaches Armor, Damage Taken or your shields. Dodge Chance above 95% has no extra effect.
Enemy strength depends on depth: how far you are across all zones combined.
Each zone continues where the previous zone's first 100 waves left off, so Zone 2 wave 1 is as strong as Zone 1 wave 101.
Reach wave 100 in a zone during your current run.
| Zone | World Boss |
|---|---|
| 1 · Meadow Road | Elderheart Warden |
| 2 · Bandit Pass | Sablefang Kingpin |
| 3 · Frozen Fen | Frostvein Oracle |
| 4 · Ash Dunes | Cinderstorm Regent |
| 5 · Titan Ruin | Auric Prime Conduit |
| 6 · Starfall Spire | Starseer Paragon |
Gather them at resource spots: each one is in a different zone.
| Resource | Zone | Zone unlocks at |
|---|---|---|
| Wood | 1 · Meadow Road | Start |
| Stone | 2 · Bandit Pass | Wave 100 in Meadow Road |
| Iron | 3 · Frozen Fen | Wave 100 in Bandit Pass |
If you close the game while gathering, gathering continues offline. Companions with Wood, Stone or Iron Gathering traits increase what you collect, and some produce resources passively.
No. Artifact rarity depends only on how deep you are.
Item Rarity bonuses (such as the Sanctum boon) only affect equipment. Artifacts drop from Loot Chests, a rare enemy that sometimes appears in regular waves, and can also come from Caravan deliveries. Higher rarities unlock as you go deeper (see depth). For Caravans, depth is the Caravan's own wave, which rises with the Shards you load, not the wave you're fighting on.
| Rarity | Unlocks at depth | For example | Chance at depth 1001+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Common | 1 | Zone 1 wave 1 | 80.2% |
| Rare | 401 | Zone 5 wave 1 | 14.4% |
| Epic | 601 | Zone 6 wave 101 | 4.0% |
| Unique | 801 | Zone 6 wave 301 | 1.0% |
| Legendary | 1001 | Zone 6 wave 501 | 0.32% |
Each attunement level makes the artifact's effects 2% stronger. A failed attempt lowers the level by 1.
