World Info

The World

Fantasia is not one land any more. What the old maps drew as a continent is a scatter of stone shelves standing over a black sea, each one a piece of something that was whole when the maps were drawn. Nobody now living remembers the breaking. Every faction remembers a different account of it, and every account puts somebody else at fault.

Five peoples inherited the pieces. The Fantasians held the old kingdoms and the old grudges. The Kieerah outlived both, and made an art of patience. The Karseesh were Kieerah once, until their mistress reached for something she had been forbidden and her household followed her into exile and out the other side, changed. The Animalia answer to whatever is strongest in the room, which is a simpler law than most and harder to argue with. The Aa'gar are not really bodies at all; the fire and the stone are costumes worn to make conversation possible.

For a long stretch of years there was something close to peace. Not friendship — the five have never much liked one another — but trade routes, tolerated borders, and a habit of settling things short of war. That is the part everyone agrees on, and the part nobody can explain the end of.

It came apart quickly and in a pattern. A Fantasian grain convoy was taken on a road the Animalia had no reason to be watching. A Kieerah envoy delivered an insult that the Kieerah insist was never written, in her own hand, sealed with her own seal. Aa'gar elders woke from a century of quiet already furious, and would not say at whom. Karseesh raiding parties appeared at three borders in a single week, and the Karseesh themselves seem as surprised by it as anyone. Each faction can name the moment it was wronged. No two of those moments fit together.

Then the gates opened. They stand on every shelf, paired, humming, and nothing in any of the five histories describes anything like them. What comes through is not a raid or a migration. It is a schedule. The same creatures arrive in the same order at the same hour on every shelf, from the weakest thing that can hold a spear to the last horror at the end — and they arrive for both commanders at once, identically, as if two armies were being marked against the same rubric. A wave is not weather. Weather does not repeat itself in the same order, and it does not begin again at the top of the list when it runs out of things to send.

So somebody is sending them, in order, to both of you. That is the part with no answer in it. The convenient enemies do not fit: the Karseesh mistress has not been seen in four hundred years and her exile was witnessed; the Aa'gar were asleep for the years the wedge was driven in; the gates predate every faction's oldest stone. What is left is the shape of an intent. Someone learned what each people would believe about the others, and told them exactly that. Someone knew what the five would do to each other if the door were held open. And someone, still, is counting.

So the commanders build. Two of them, one to a shelf, drawing fighters from whichever peoples will still take a contract, buying an economy while a wave walks toward the thing they are sworn to keep standing. They are told they are fighting each other. Some of them have started to wonder.

The Loop

Two commanders each defend a lane. Between waves you buy fighters and place them; then the wave walks the lane and everything fights on its own. Whatever reaches the end hurts your King.

Your lane is a 14 by 11 grid — 154 cells. Monsters enter at one end and walk toward your King at the other. Fighters fight what comes near them and return to their cell between waves at full health — all but a fighter under Vetiti Foedus, which does not rise once it falls.

Your King starts with 300 health. The first King to fall loses — and that is the only way a match ends. There is no last wave to survive to.

The first 30 waves are the same every match, in the same order. Learning them is the game. Past 30 the schedule starts over at its worst tier and grows from there, with more Warlords every tenth wave, until one of the two Kings falls.

The first build phase lasts 75 seconds and every one after it 30, and the wave comes when the clock runs out. A wave ends when its last monster is dead — or after 90 seconds, when whatever is still walking leaks. While a wave runs, placing and promoting fighters is locked; Miners, King levels and sends are not.

Gold and Mana Essence

You start with 150 gold, and nothing is paid for the passage of time: a wave pays the income you built — every send and every King level adds to it permanently — plus a clean bonus for a wave you hold without a single leak: 10 gold plus 5% of what that wave is worth, so holding wave 12 clean pays far more than holding wave 2. Leak once and it is gone. Killing monsters pays gold as well — a lot of it early on, and a steadily smaller share from wave 6 to wave 22, after which fighting alone will not keep pace with the waves. That is deliberate: the difference has to come from an economy you chose to build.

You start with 10 Mana Essence and one Miner at level 0. Miners cost 30 gold each, up to 20, and each digs 0.05 Essence a second at level 0, rising with every upgrade to 0.6 at level 10 — paid from the start of wave 1 through every build phase and wave, and paused for a duel. 20 Miners at level 10 dig 12 a second. Every Miner is a fighter you did not buy.

Essence sends mercenaries into your opponent's next wave — sent before a wave or during one, it is always the next wave that gets it — and raises your income permanently. Nothing sent is ever lost. If they kill it, they collect 50% of what you paid as a bounty — so sending into a lane that can hold pays for their next build.

Essence can also fortify your King, three ways, 10 levels each: Health (+40 now and to the maximum), Armor (every leak takes 2.5% less, 25% at the top), and Regen (0.7 health a level at the end of every wave, rounded up, never past full). The first level of a stat costs 35 Essence and each level after is 5 dearer; every level of anything adds 4 income a wave — less per Essence than a send, which is the price of playing safe.

A Miner takes 2 seconds to build, and every click queues one more, paid for on the spot. The × beside the button cancels the one in production and refunds it; the next in the queue starts from the beginning.

What the wave is bringing is public: it is the same script for both players and you can read it before you build. What your opponent has sent is not. Their mercenaries appear in the wave card the moment the wave starts, and not one second before — whenever they were sent.

Hold 3 waves in a row and you are on a streak. If your opponent's send lands in the next wave and you leak, that is a shutdown: they are paid 25 gold and everyone hears about it. A match decided before wave 10 is a domination.

Every point of King health you lose pays your opponent 1 gold. Your bad wave is their good one.

Selling a fighter refunds 65% of its cost. Select it and use the Sell button in the Selected panel, or its key.

Your Hand, Rerolls and Upgrades

Each match deals you a hand of 5 fighters — one drawn at random from each tier, out of the shared pool of 25 — plus one tier 6 Hero in its own slot. You can only buy what is in your hand, so every hand is a ladder: something to open with, something to grow into, and a top end worth saving for.

You may reroll the whole hand as often as you like. The first is free and every one after it costs 40 Essence more than the last — free, 40, 80, 120, 160, 200 — climbing for the whole match rather than the wave, and stopping at 1600. Rerolling also changes your Hero, and leans away from fighters you already have: anything on your board or in the hand you are replacing is a third as likely to come back.

Every race's tier 3 fighter can be upgraded in place into one of two tier 4 specialists, for the difference in price plus 12%. Those 30 specialists are never dealt — building the tier 3 first is the only way to field one.

Fighters level up three times from the work their role does: DPS and Splash fighters by dealing damage, Tanks by taking it, Versatile fighters by both. The levels come at 100, 250 and 500 experience, and each adds 10% health, damage and armor, free and at once; gold stripes over a fighter show its level. A fighter can be upgraded only at Level 3, and the new tier starts again at Level 0. Heroes level up too, by what they do in a fight: a splash Hero by dealing damage, the others by dealing it and taking it.

Fighters are not fixed to their cells. They leave them to meet a fight, come to each other's aid anywhere in the lane, and march up to the King's end once the wave is beaten — then walk back to where you put them for the next build phase. You can move one yourself for 5 gold, and anything you bought this round sells back for every coin you paid.

Bodies take up room. Two fighters never share a space, and a crowd around one enemy is a ring: as many attackers as fit stand around it, and the rest wait a step back and step in as one falls. Bows shoot over the ring; only swords need a place in it.

How Damage Works

Four attack types meet four armor types. Each attack is strong against one armor and weak against another.

Every wave's armor is shown before it arrives, and its weakness with it. Building the counter is what holds a wave on less gold than it usually takes.

The Five Races

Fantasian

Humans of the old kingdoms: nobles, sworn warriors and levied peasants. Nothing exotic, everything dependable.

Unit	Tier	Gold	Health	Damage	Attack	Armor type	Range
Militia → Levy Sergeant	1	40g	210	21 (23.3/s)	Impact	Light	0.9
Archer → Sharpshooter	2	70g	280	17 (22.2/s)	Pierce	Light	4.6
Spearman → Halberdier / Pike Wall	3	105g	820	27 (30.0/s)	Pierce	Heavy	1.5
Shield Guard → Castellan / Vanguard	4	145g	1180	48 (43.6/s)	Impact	Heavy	0.9
Bombardier	5	185g	565	55 (38.4/s)	Impact	Medium	6.2
Marshal of the Realm · Rally	6	290g	2040	81 (73.6/s)	Impact	Warded	1.4
Levy Sergeant (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	2	70g	425	27 (32.4/s)	Slash	Medium	1.0
Sharpshooter (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	3	105g	315	31 (34.4/s)	Pierce	Medium	5.0
Halberdier (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Castellan / Vanguard	4	145g	1150	64 (64.0/s)	Slash	Heavy	1.6
Pike Wall (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Castellan / Vanguard	4	145g	1395	33 (23.0/s)	Impact	Warded	1.8
Castellan (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	5	185g	1835	49 (34.2/s)	Impact	Heavy	1.1
Vanguard (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	5	185g	1045	148 (193.0/s)	Slash	Medium	1.3

Kieerah

Effectively immortal, and expert at whatever they turn their hand to. Centuries of practice, arranged into a royal hierarchy.

Unit	Tier	Gold	Health	Damage	Attack	Armor type	Range
Blade Dancer → Duelist	1	50g	225	13 (27.9/s)	Slash	Medium	0.9
Glade Warden → Aegis Warden	2	100g	705	35 (35.0/s)	Pierce	Warded	1.6
Longbow Adept → Stormbow / Shadowbow	3	145g	415	64 (58.2/s)	Pierce	Light	5.8
Spellweaver → Oracle / Tempest	4	195g	655	63 (49.7/s)	Arcane	Light	5.0
Eternal Sentinel	5	255g	2300	112 (84.0/s)	Impact	Heavy	1.2
Immortal Archon · Arcane Volley	6	390g	1290	99 (118.8/s)	Arcane	Warded	5.6
Duelist (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Aegis Warden	2	100g	635	29 (66.9/s)	Slash	Light	1.0
Aegis Warden (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	3	145g	1065	43 (39.1/s)	Impact	Heavy	1.5
Shadowbow (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Oracle / Tempest	4	195g	640	67 (74.4/s)	Arcane	Light	5.4
Stormbow (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Oracle / Tempest	4	195g	455	59 (46.6/s)	Impact	Medium	5.6
Oracle (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	5	255g	1110	55 (50.0/s)	Arcane	Warded	5.0
Tempest (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	5	255g	780	116 (69.6/s)	Impact	Light	6.0

Karseesh

Dark descendants of the Kieerah, exiled with their mistress for forbidden arts and remade by them. What changed their bodies also made them stronger.

Unit	Tier	Gold	Health	Damage	Attack	Armor type	Range
Nexus Stalker → Flenser	1	45g	205	19 (33.5/s)	Pierce	Light	1.0
Blood Reaver → Carver	2	90g	550	33 (43.0/s)	Slash	Medium	1.1
Hexbinder → Blightcaller / Bonebinder	3	130g	460	38 (34.5/s)	Arcane	Heavy	4.5
Bloodcaller → Plaguelord / Soulbinder	4	180g	605	55 (55.0/s)	Arcane	Medium	4.8
Dread Knight	5	230g	2085	122 (104.6/s)	Impact	Warded	1.3
The Exile · Hex	6	355g	1160	123 (85.8/s)	Arcane	Light	5.5
Flenser (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Carver	2	90g	375	36 (67.5/s)	Slash	Medium	1.0
Carver (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	3	130g	745	76 (120.0/s)	Slash	Light	1.2
Blightcaller (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Plaguelord / Soulbinder	4	180g	610	62 (62.0/s)	Pierce	Heavy	4.8
Bonebinder (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Plaguelord / Soulbinder	4	180g	815	68 (53.7/s)	Slash	Warded	4.2
Plaguelord (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	5	230g	890	51 (56.7/s)	Pierce	Medium	4.8
Soulbinder (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	5	230g	1030	86 (67.9/s)	Arcane	Warded	4.4

Animalia

Anthropomorphic beasts banded into a single clan, led by the apex of each ecosystem. Strength decides rank.

Unit	Tier	Gold	Health	Damage	Attack	Armor type	Range
Packrunner → Pack Leader	1	45g	255	15 (28.1/s)	Slash	Light	0.9
Gharial → Crusher	2	80g	565	23 (20.9/s)	Pierce	Heavy	1.1
Talonguard → Shrike / Roc	3	120g	370	29 (41.4/s)	Pierce	Medium	4.5
Silverback → Matriarch	4	160g	1270	71 (64.5/s)	Impact	Medium	1.0
Pridewarden	5	210g	1635	100 (111.1/s)	Slash	Heavy	1.2
The Clanfather · Rampage	6	325g	2155	119 (170.0/s)	Slash	Warded	1.3
Pack Leader (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Crusher	2	80g	440	26 (43.3/s)	Slash	Medium	1.0
Crusher (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	3	120g	860	43 (43.0/s)	Impact	Medium	1.2
Roc (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Ripper	4	160g	380	49 (38.7/s)	Impact	Medium	5.2
Shrike (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Ripper	4	160g	600	38 (67.1/s)	Slash	Light	4.2
Matriarch (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	5	210g	2040	85 (102.0/s)	Slash	Warded	1.3
Ripper (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	5	210g	820	56 (93.3/s)	Pierce	Light	4.8

Aa'gar

Beings of pure Mana Essence wearing bodies of fire, water, stone and air. The body is a convenience for dealing with mortals, and a limit on what they truly are.

Unit	Tier	Gold	Health	Damage	Attack	Armor type	Range
Galeform → Squallform	1	55g	280	12 (27.7/s)	Slash	Warded	1.1
Tideform → Undertow	2	105g	335	28 (31.1/s)	Pierce	Warded	5.2
Emberform → Pyreform / Frostform	3	155g	490	42 (31.5/s)	Arcane	Medium	4.5
Stoneform → Monolith	4	210g	1875	58 (34.8/s)	Impact	Heavy	1.0
Elder Aa'gar	5	275g	2420	108 (85.3/s)	Impact	Medium	1.4
Unbound · Overload	6	425g	3225	71 (71.0/s)	Arcane	Warded	1.6
Squallform (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	2	105g	560	28 (56.0/s)	Impact	Warded	1.2
Undertow (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Pyreform / Frostform	3	155g	490	35 (31.8/s)	Arcane	Medium	4.6
Frostform (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Maelstrom	4	210g	935	69 (62.7/s)	Pierce	Warded	4.6
Pyreform (Upgrade only — cannot be bought) → Maelstrom	4	210g	505	78 (50.9/s)	Impact	Medium	4.8
Maelstrom (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	5	275g	990	89 (76.3/s)	Arcane	Light	5.0
Monolith (Upgrade only — cannot be bought)	5	275g	2725	84 (50.4/s)	Impact	Heavy	1.2

Heroes and Their Skills

Tier 6 fighters are Heroes — one per race, the only units with a skill. There is no limit on how many you field.

• Marshal of the Realm (Fantasian)
  Rally: Every 8s, allies within 4 deal 30% more damage for 5s. Only the strongest Rally in reach applies; they do not stack.
• Immortal Archon (Kieerah)
  Arcane Volley: Every 7s, deals 120 damage to every enemy within 6 at once. Held back rather than wasted when nothing is close enough.
• The Exile (Karseesh)
  Hex: Every 6s, marks its target to take 40% more damage from everything, not just from the Exile, for 4s.
• The Clanfather (Animalia)
  Rampage: Every kill sends the Clanfather further into a frenzy: 22% more damage for 4s, and each kill refreshes it rather than stacking.
• Unbound (Aa'gar)
  Overload: Every 9s, floods its borrowed shell with Essence: 60% more damage for 3s.

The Waves

The 30 scripted waves, in order. Each is one monster type, 14 to 22 of them; every family returns twice, up-armored. Waves 10, 20 and 30 are bosses: one great Warlord, with reinforcements seven seconds behind it. Nothing stops at 30: after it the Chaos tier repeats, harder each time round, so a long match runs past the end of this table.

Wave	Unit	#	Attack	Armor type	Weak to
1	Grunt	20	Impact	Light	Slash
2	Harrier	22	Slash	Light	Slash
3	Stinger	18	Pierce	Light	Slash
4	Ravager	18	Slash	Medium	Pierce
5	Overseer	16	Pierce	Medium	Pierce
6	Hexling	18	Arcane	Light	Slash
7	Gorehound	16	Slash	Heavy	Impact
8	Bulwark	14	Impact	Heavy	Impact
9	Wraith	16	Arcane	Warded	Arcane
10 BOSS	Warlord Then at 7s: 6× Grunt	1	Impact	Warded	Arcane
11	Corrupted Grunt	20	Impact	Medium	Pierce
12	Corrupted Harrier	22	Slash	Light	Slash
13	Corrupted Stinger	18	Pierce	Medium	Pierce
14	Corrupted Ravager	18	Slash	Medium	Pierce
15	Corrupted Overseer	16	Pierce	Heavy	Impact
16	Corrupted Hexling	18	Arcane	Light	Slash
17	Corrupted Gorehound	16	Slash	Heavy	Impact
18	Corrupted Bulwark	14	Impact	Warded	Arcane
19	Corrupted Wraith	16	Arcane	Warded	Arcane
20 BOSS	Corrupted Warlord Then at 7s: 4× Corrupted Grunt, 2× Wraith	1	Impact	Warded	Arcane
21	Chaos Grunt	20	Impact	Heavy	Impact
22	Chaos Harrier	22	Slash	Medium	Pierce
23	Chaos Stinger	18	Pierce	Heavy	Impact
24	Chaos Ravager	18	Slash	Heavy	Impact
25	Chaos Overseer	16	Pierce	Heavy	Impact
26	Chaos Hexling	18	Arcane	Medium	Pierce
27	Chaos Gorehound	16	Slash	Heavy	Impact
28	Chaos Bulwark	14	Impact	Warded	Arcane
29	Chaos Wraith	16	Arcane	Warded	Arcane
30 BOSS	Chaos Warlord Then at 7s: 3× Chaos Grunt, 2× Corrupted Wraith, 1× Corrupted Bulwark	1	Impact	Warded	Arcane

Early waves come down the middle rows and fan out as the board fills. A wave's strength is shared over its monsters, so fourteen Bulwarks are big and twenty-two Harriers small; from wave 4, the more bodies a wave is spread over, the harder each one hits, because a wave spread thin lands its blows across your whole army instead of on one fighter. A boss's escort shares the boss wave's strength rather than adding to it. Until a wave reaches your army, your fighters hold their cells -- shooters fire from where they stand -- and the first blow struck up close brings the whole army forward at once.

Mercenaries

What you can send, cheapest first. Cheaper mercenaries return more income per Essence; stronger ones return less. A send lands one second after the wave’s first monster, on an army that is already busy; sent during a wave, it waits for the next one. A mercenary does not scale with the wave: it is the same creature on wave 1 and wave 30.

Three of them carry an aura, and cost the same to send as they always did in exchange for a point of income. They are the ones worth killing first.

The 11 marked Advanced need the Advanced Barracks first: 400 gold and 335 Essence, paid once, for the rest of the match. They are the strongest of every family, and the ones that carry an aura.

Unit	Mana Essence	Income	Health	Attack	Armor type	Aura
Spawnling	10	+0.6	150	Impact	Light	-
Imp	15	+0.9	105	Slash	Light	-
Bloatling	20	+1.2	195	Impact	Light	Burst
Deep Lurker	25	+1.5	120	Pierce	Light	Rally
Whisperer	30	+1.8	180	Arcane	Light	-
Ghoul	35	+2.1	190	Slash	Medium	Frenzy Aura
Rift Shade	40	+2.4	150	Arcane	Warded	-
Watcher	45	+2.7	365	Pierce	Medium	-
Hellhound	50	+3.0	250	Slash	Heavy	Iron Ward
Imp Prince	55	+3.3	260	Slash	Light	-
Brood Horror	60	+3.6	335	Impact	Medium	Rally
Abyss Lurker	65	+3.9	270	Pierce	Medium	-
Flesh Colossus	70	+4.2	540	Impact	Heavy	-
Warp Caller	75	+4.5	445	Arcane	Light	-
Ghoul Reaver	80	+4.8	480	Slash	Medium	-
Rift Revenant	85	+5.1	375	Arcane	Warded	Frenzy Aura
Hell Alpha	90	+5.4	620	Slash	Heavy	-
Eye Tyrant	95	+5.7	825	Pierce	Heavy	Iron Ward
Dread Colossus	100	+6.0	1500	Impact	Warded	-
Elder Spawn Advanced	125	+6.3	840	Impact	Heavy	-
Imp Archon Advanced	135	+6.6	640	Slash	Medium	Rally
Star Lurker Advanced	145	+6.9	680	Pierce	Heavy	-
Ghoul Emperor Advanced	155	+7.2	1210	Slash	Heavy	-
Rift Sovereign Advanced	165	+7.5	1050	Arcane	Warded	-
Warp Herald Advanced	175	+7.8	1110	Arcane	Medium	Frenzy Aura
The Crawling Dark Advanced	185	+8.1	1585	Slash	Warded	-
Cerberus Advanced	195	+8.4	1730	Slash	Heavy	-
Eye of the Gate Advanced	210	+8.7	2310	Pierce	Heavy	-
Titan of Meat Advanced	290	+9.0	4200	Impact	Warded	Iron Ward
Star-Spawn Advanced	320	+9.3	3150	Arcane	Heavy	-

The Duels

After waves 5, 15, 25 the two armies meet in an arena in the middle instead of building, at double speed, with both courts watching. Nothing can be bought until it is decided.

The side with fighters still standing wins. It is paid 50, 150, 300 gold for the first, second and third duel, and every winner still on its feet takes one health off the losing King as it arrives. The loser is paid nothing. Both armies then return to their cells at full health — all but a fighter under Vetiti Foedus that fell, which is gone for good — and a whole build phase follows before the next wave.

The King

The King has 300 health and three faces: whole, cracked, and on one knee. He does not fight; he endures.

Within a single wave the King grows tenacious: every 1% of health lost this wave reduces the next leak's damage by 1.3%. One monster through costs full price; a catastrophic wave is a slope, not a cliff.

Blessings of the Crown

After wave 10 the heavens offer each player 3 of 16 blessings. You keep one for the rest of the match. Most change one number and nothing else; four are laid on one fighter you choose, and last as long as it does.

• Bounty Hunter — Gold from kills is tripled, for wave 11 only.
• Deep Veins — Every Miner yields 0.2 more Essence a second, for waves 11-12.
• Iron Crown — The King gains 100 health, now and permanently.
• Warlord's Call — Your next send arrives with 20% more health. Kept until you send.
• Rally Banner — Your fighters deal 8% more damage.
• Stone Skin — Your fighters take 6% less damage.
• Second Wind — The clean-wave bonus is doubled, for waves 11-12.
• Quartermaster — Selling a fighter refunds 90% instead of 65%.
• Fortune — +12 gold income every wave, permanently.
• Greed Is Good — 100 gold, immediately.
• Sunstrider's Wish — 135 Essence, immediately.
• The Coronation — One level of every King upgrade, free. No income with it.
• Mystic Potential — Choose one fighter to Ascend: +20% health, +20% damage, +10% attack speed, and an aura.
• Vetiti Foedus — Choose one fighter: +50% damage, +25% attack speed, +25% health. If it falls, it never rises again.
• Court's Hassassin — Choose one fighter to be the Executioner: each hit on a monster or mercenary at 25% health or less has a 10% chance to kill it outright. Never a Warlord.
• Army Vanguard — Choose one fighter: +50% health.