Every run asks for a new answer

Run structure

How a run works

Each run takes place on one of the five levels and lasts 600 seconds (10 minutes). The level, enemy waves, and chest positions are generated fresh at the start of every run. Your goal is to survive long enough to kill the boss. If you die first, the run ends in defeat and no rewards are paid out.

Once the 10-minute limit is reached the run does not end — it enters Overtime. Hero regeneration, direct healing, and lifesteal stop immediately. After a 10-second grace period, Doom begins dealing increasing pure max-HP damage; if the boss is still alive after 120 seconds of overtime, the hero is killed. Enemy HP and damage also continue escalating every 30 seconds using the selected level's values:

Level generation

A new map every run

The map boundaries, chest positions, and decorative elements are procedurally generated at run start — no two runs look identical. Each level has its own boundary radius that defines the playable arena:

Stepping outside the arena boundary deals 5% of max HP per tick of Darkness damage to the hero, pushing players back toward the centre of the arena. Enemies always spawn 1000 units away from the hero regardless of arena size.

Enemy waves

Escalating waves and pressure

Enemies are spawned in waves defined by a timeline — each wave specifies an active time window, spawn rate, count per tick, and enemy pool. Early waves are simple; by mid-run multiple families overlap and spawn rates climb. See the levels page for each level's boss.

The Pressure system caps regular wave pressure at 350 active and queued enemies. Regular wave spawning is blocked when the cap is reached. Above 70% pressure, new enemies receive scaling bonuses that peak at 100% pressure:

The pressure bar is hidden below 50% and fades in from 50–100%, so it only appears when the screen is getting genuinely dangerous. Summoned enemies and spawn-on-death effects bypass the cap.

Bosses also have burst protection: one resolved hit can remove at most 5% of maximum boss HP. Critical hits and Crushing Blow are included in that cap, while multi-hit abilities apply it independently per hit.

Hero levels & abilities

Level up by selecting abilities

Heroes start each run at level 1 and can reach level 9 within a single run. Every enemy kill drops XP. When enough XP accumulates the game pauses and an ability selection screen opens — pick one ability to add or upgrade. There is no auto-pick; the run stays paused until you choose.

XP required to reach the next level grows exponentially: XP needed = 200 × 1.35^(Next level). Each hero level also increases how much XP future kills reward by +5% per level above 1, partially compensating for the higher threshold. Between runs, Paragon levels are unbounded — there is no cap on long-term growth.

Each hero starts a run with one starter ability. During the run, any of the 21 active abilities and 12 passive upgrades can appear as choices. Each level-up offer tries to include 1 active ability and 1 passive upgrade when those pools have eligible choices, with the third slot filled flexibly from the remaining eligible pool. Active and passive abilities share one learned ability cap of 8, and each can continue leveling up to level 9. Active ability damage scales linearly while projectile count and pierce follow their own step progressions. For hero base stats see the Heroes page.

Ability	Damage type	Description	Starter for
Piercing Arrows	Physical	Fire arrows that pierce through enemies in a line. Projectile count and pierce depth increase with level.	Woodsworn
Magic Missiles	Magical	Launch homing missiles that seek nearby enemies. Additional targets gained per level.	Spellblade
Shuriken Toss	Physical	Throw shurikens in random directions. Pierce count increases with level.	Nightreaver
Hurling Axes	Physical	Throw spinning axes in fixed directions. Each axe passes through all enemies it hits.	Bonebreaker
Lightning Smite	Magical	Call down a lightning beam on multiple enemies. Half the damage splashes in a radius around each target.	Lightbearer
Fire Missile	Magical	Fire projectiles toward nearby enemies. Each missile explodes on impact in a radius.	—
Chain Lightning	Magical	Launch a bolt that bounces between multiple enemies. Bounce count increases with level.	—
Chain Frost	Magical	Launch a frost orb that jumps between enemies dealing damage. Bounces increase with level.	—
Arcane Orbs	Magical	Summon orbs that orbit the hero and deal damage on contact. Orb count increases with level.	—
Frost Nova	Magical	Unleash a frost ring around the hero that deals damage and slows all enemies hit.	—
Spinning Blades	Physical	Summon blades that orbit the hero and deal damage on contact. Blade count increases with level.	—
Ballista Shot	Physical	Fire a powerful bolt that pierces through enemies in a straight line.	—
Death Pulse	Pure	Emit a death wave in a radius dealing true damage that bypasses all defenses.	—
Cloak of Darkness	Pure	Surround the hero with darkness, dealing true damage every 0.25 s to all nearby enemies. Tick speed is unaffected by cooldown reduction.	—
Seeking Missile	Physical	Fire guided missiles that spiral toward random areas — a warning ring marks each impact point. Explosions deal area damage and stun. Missile count increases with level.	—
Mines	Physical	Plant a mine that arms itself, then explodes for heavy damage in a radius around it.	—
Slash	Physical	Slash in front of the hero in wide arcs, damaging and knocking back enemies. Arc count increases with level.	—
Frozen Orb	Magical	Launch frost orbs that drift forward, releasing missiles at nearby enemies and slowing them. Orb count increases with level.	—
Fire Siphon	Magical	Ignite fire spirals that revolve around the hero, burning enemies on touch. Spiral count increases with level.	—
Vortex	Magical	Tear open cracks in the ground that pull enemies in and deal damage while they last. Vortex count increases with level.	—
Chains of the Damned	Pure	Fling spectral chains across the field, dealing true damage to every enemy they sweep across. Chain count increases with level.	—

Passive upgrades do not fire at enemies. They register as in-run stat sources and tune the build underneath your active abilities.

Passive	What it improves	Run impact
Extra Projectiles	Projectile count	Adds more projectiles to supported active abilities.
Arcane Power	Magic damage	Raises magical ability damage.
Martial Power	Physical damage	Raises physical ability damage.
Lifesteal	Healing from damage	Heals the hero for a portion of damage dealt.
Iron Skin	Armor	Improves physical damage mitigation.
Ward Shell	Magic resistance	Improves magical damage mitigation.
Gold Drop	Gold find	Increases gold earned from drops.
Widened Blasts	Area of effect	Expands supported ability areas.
Magnetic Reach	Pickup radius	Lets the hero collect XP, gold, and drops from farther away.
Fleet Footwork	Movement speed	Improves repositioning and escape potential.
Vital Surge	Max life	Raises the hero's maximum HP.
Quick Casting	Cooldown reduction	Reduces cooldowns for supported active abilities.

Each hero also has a unique ultimate ability that charges passively over time. See the Ultimate section below for details.

Drops & loot

What enemies leave behind

Every enemy death rolls independently for each eligible drop type, while XP always drops. The table shows base chances with no Magic Find. For Components, Potions, Hunter's Trophies, Reliquary Keys, and Codex Tomes, Magic Find subtracts its value from the base denominator but can never improve a drop beyond 1 / 500: Drop chance = 1 ÷ max(500, Base denominator − Magic Find). Magic Find also improves the rarity mix of Components up to 500%. Gold is the other exception: its chance stays fixed, while Gold Find increases the amount dropped.

Gold drops 1–3 gold on Mortal, 5–10 on Broken, and 25–50 on Damned, multiplied by the Gold Find stat: Gold dropped = round(Base gold × (1 + Gold Find ÷ 100)). Hunter's Trophies drop only on Damned difficulty. Their base chance is 1 / 1500 and Magic Find can improve it toward 1 / 500; successful rolls select a common, uncommon, or rare trophy from that enemy's archetype at 70 / 25 / 5 weights. Codex Tomes are also Damned-only: each eligible enemy has a base 1 / 10000 chance to leave one of the five Tome volumes associated with its archetype, improved by Magic Find under the same 1 / 500 floor. For full inventory item details, see the Inventory page.

Potions

Consumables and their effects

Potions drop in three tiers — Weak, Normal, and Strong — gated by difficulty. Health potions have 3× selection weight compared to other potion types, making them the most common potion drop. Duration scales with tier (5 / 7.5 / 10 seconds).

Difficulty

Mortal, Broken, and Damned

Three difficulty tiers are available. Completing a level unlocks the next level on the same difficulty and the same level on the next difficulty. Clearing all five Damned levels marks Endless mode as unlocked. Enemy HP and damage use one fixed 15-stage curve, so Broken level 1 is always harder than Mortal level 5 and Damned level 1 is always harder than Broken level 5. Future spawns also receive the in-run hero-level multiplier Enemy multiplier = 1.05^(Hero level − 1).

Broken also uses +200% enemy defense and +10% movement speed; Damned uses +400% defense and +20% movement speed. Mortal rolls no random Damned modifiers, Broken rolls 1, and Damned rolls 3.

Modifiers

Damned and Blessed conditions

Before a run, the Gate of Hell screen shows all active modifiers. Damned modifiers are rolled randomly based on difficulty (see table above) and cannot be removed — they make the run harder and increase score. Blessed modifiers are optional purchases in the Gate; they make the run easier but reduce score.

Each modifier belongs to a tier (S, A, B, or C) that determines its score impact:

Damned modifiers

S +30%Unstoppable

Enemies are immune to stun and slow.

S +30%Rapid Escalation

Difficulty scaling ticks 30% more frequently.

S +30%Relentless Dead

Enemies can revive once at 25% HP after 5 seconds.

B +15%Swarm

+1 enemy per spawn tick. Enemies have 20% less HP.

A +20%Super Strong

Enemies deal 35% more damage.

A +20%Super Fast

Enemies move 25% faster.

A +20%Enraged

Low-health enemies gain speed and damage.

A +20%Thorns

Enemies reflect 1% of physical damage taken.

A +20%Elite Surge

Every 5th enemy is an elite with higher HP and damage.

A +20%Empowered Boss

The boss spawns with +100% HP and +50% damage.

A +20%Hexed

Player ability cooldowns are increased by 25%.

A +20%Brittle

You take 20% more damage from all sources.

B +15%Iron Flesh

Enemies have 60% more max HP.

B +15%Physical Enchanted

Enemies gain 50% bonus armor.

B +15%Magical Enchanted

Enemies gain 50% bonus magic resistance.

B +15%Shadow Veil

Enemies can evade physical attacks.

B +15%Cursed Wounds

Your healing from all sources is reduced by 50%.

Blessed modifiers

S -30%Divine Interdiction

Bosses cannot heal.

S -30%Armor Ruin

Enemy boss armor is reduced to 0.

S -30%Arcane Ruin

Enemy boss magic resistance is reduced to 0.

A -20%Wisdom Surge

Increase hero experience gain by 20%.

A -20%Fortune's Favor

Increase Magic Find by 25%.

A -20%Pacifist Oath

Hero damage is reduced by 50%.

A -20%Executioner's Grace

Increase hero damage by 100%.

B -15%Tempered Strikes

Hero damage is reduced by 25%.

B -15%Battle Benediction

Increase hero damage by 50%.

C -10%Lessons of Light

Increase hero experience gain by 10%.

C -10%Measured Blows

Hero damage is reduced by 15%.

C -10%Steel Conviction

Increase hero damage by 25%.

C -10%Graceful Stride

Increase hero movement speed by 15%.

Modifier impacts stack additively on the score multiplier. Running 3× S-tier Damned modifiers gives a score multiplier of 190% (100 + 30 + 30 + 30). The score multiplier has a minimum floor of 5%.

The Gate shows a total of 3 purchasable slots across all difficulties, plus any random Damned slots rolled at run start (1 on Broken, 3 on Damned).

Score

How your run is rated

At the end of a run a base score is calculated from five components, then multiplied by the active modifier stack, level bonus, and run result:

Final score formula: Final score = int(round(Base score × Score multiplier × Level bonus × Result multiplier)). Victory runs (boss killed) use a 125% result multiplier, while defeat uses 75%. Only Victory runs pay out rewards; defeat ends the run with no reward drops, though gold and XP earned during the run are kept.

Ultimate

The ultimate ability

Each hero has a unique ultimate ability. The ultimate bar charges passively over time with a 120-second base fill time, reduced by Paragon investment at −5 seconds per Paragon level down to a minimum of 30 seconds. Ultimate CDR from other sources caps at 70%. Ultimates are activated manually — except Bonebreaker's, which fires automatically the moment the bar is full.