Dungeons
The third game mode: untimed indoor maps, step-by-step objectives, two dungeons and a record measured in time, in v0.9.16.
How a dungeon is played
Dungeons are picked on the third card of “New game”. Instead of 10, 8:30 and 6-minute phases, each phase is an untimed scene: the HUD clock counts up, and what moves you forward is a list of objectives shown in the HUD's missions window. Objectives come in steps: the ones in the same step are active at the same time, and the next step opens once you finish them all.
The things you have to use —a scroll, some remains, a horn, a tomb, a king's body— glow with a halo and show up as a ruby on the minimap when you are within 25 m (only on their own storey). You use them with Interact, from a couple of metres away. If you reach one too early, the game tells you why it can't be used yet.
The two dungeons
There are two today, and they play differently:
Leaving and finishing
The exit opens on demand: when the boss dies or, in the bossless phases, when the last objective is done. The portal is used with Interact —never walked through—. In the Dwarven Dungeon, the portal of phases 1 to 3 takes you to the next one with your whole run (score, gold, level, build, clock and difficulty floor), just like in Expedition.
The first time you use the final exit, the dungeon is finished: your time is saved and the “Dungeon cleared!” sign appears, letting you keep exploring or return to the menu. From then on, however you end —returning to the menu, abandoning or dying—, the run counts as “RUN FINISHED”. If you kill the boss but never use the exit, the dungeon isn't finished and there is no record.
Difficulty and loot inside
- Without a clock, while you work through objectives difficulty only grows the usual +3% per minute, but with no cap: a dungeon can't be farmed forever. In the Dwarven Dungeon the base goes up phase by phase, more slowly than in Survival (1 · 1.5 · 2 · 2.5).
- The horde uses a single pressure row per phase —the one that sets how many enemies are around at once and how often they arrive—: the Frozen Ghost Dungeon always row 1; the Dwarven Dungeon rows 1, 2 and 3 in its phases 1 to 3, and its phase 4 has no horde. Which enemies appear is a separate matter: each phase of the Dwarven Dungeon only spawns those of its tier (the toughest don’t show up until phase 3) and, since v0.9.12, the Frozen Ghost Dungeon spawns the whole roster at row-1 density. Among what appears, the tougher enemies gain weight as the difficulty rises; each dungeon’s page gives the breakdown.
- There are minibosses, chests (some with a fixed type, including the Dwarven Dungeon’s two artifact chests), altars, camps and NPCs on hand-placed spots. The merchant charges by the phase of the run: always ×1 in the Frozen Ghost; ×1, ×2, ×3 and ×4 in the Dwarven Dungeon’s phases (phase 4 has a single merchant).
- Every dungeon boss drops 2 Legendary chests and pays 25 Mithril, like the phase bosses. Their health follows the same math: base × difficulty × 20 for the Ghost of the Dwarf King, × 50 for the Dwarf King and × 100 for Azhakar.
The record: time
In dungeons the score doesn't count (the HUD doesn't even show it). The record is the clear time —the lowest wins—, on its own boards per mode and per race. In the Frozen Ghost the map clock counts; in the Dwarven Dungeon, the total time of the four phases. All the details in Dungeon time records.
Co-op, PvP and demo
- In co-op the host picks the dungeon in the lobby's “Dungeons” section. Each machine marks it as finished when it uses the exit itself: whoever never uses it records an abandon.
- Using the portal to the next phase of the Dwarven Dungeon stands downed teammates up with 30% health and mana, without spending their revive.
- Dungeons are never played in PvP and are not part of Expedition.
- In the demo, the Dungeons card is visible but locked (“Full game only”).
Checked against game v0.9.16.