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Compendium
Game modes & difficulty
Difficulty is a setting you can change at any time (Settings → Gameplay). The hard modes change the rules, not just the numbers; Legendary is meant to kill you.
Difficulty modes
Easy
A gentler descent. Foes hit softer and fall faster.
Medium
The intended challenge: bosses and packs will test you.
Hard Hardcore OK
Bigger packs, nastier elites, foes that go for you past your minions. +20% XP and gold, +25% magic find.
Epic Hardcore OK
Every pack is a fight and mistakes are punished; foes no longer ease off for a fragile hero. +40% XP, +35% gold, +50% magic find.
Legendary Hardcore OK
Brutal. Expect to die: gear up, farm and learn every boss. Foes hunt you through your minions, bosses enrage, no flask refills on the stairs. +60% XP, +50% gold, +80% magic find.
| Easy | Medium | Hard | Epic | Legendary | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Foe HP / damage | ×0.7 / ×0.6 | ×1 / ×1 | ×1.1 / ×1.1 | ×1.3 / ×1.2 | ×1.6 / ×1.4 |
| Rescaling floor (HP / dmg) | ×0.85 / ×0.75 | ×0.85 / ×0.75 | ×0.9 / ×0.85 | ×1 / ×1 | ×1 / ×1 |
| Rescaling ceiling (HP / dmg) | ×1.35 / ×1.35 | ×1.35 / ×1.35 | ×1.45 / ×1.45 | ×1.6 / ×1.55 | ×1.8 / ×1.7 |
| Pack size · elite packs | ×1 · — | ×1 · — | ×1.05 · +3% | ×1.1 · +5% | ×1.15 · +8% |
| Elite affixes | -1 · max 3 | baseline · max 3 | baseline, 50% chance of +1 · max 3 | +1, 30% chance of +1 · max 4 | +1, 50% chance of +1 · max 4 |
| Elite HP / damage (extra) | ×1 / ×1 | ×1 / ×1 | ×1.05 / ×1.05 | ×1.1 / ×1.05 | ×1.15 / ×1.1 |
| Boss damage (extra) | ×1 | ×1 | ×1 | ×1.05 | ×1.1 |
| Boss soft enrage | never | never | after 240s, +10% per 15s | after 200s, +15% per 15s | after 160s, +20% per 15s |
| Elite & boss special cooldowns | ×1 | ×1 | ×0.95 | ×0.9 | ×0.85 |
| Foe speed · aggro range | ×1 · ×1 | ×1 · ×1 | ×1 · ×1.1 | ×1.04 · ×1.15 | ×1.06 · ×1.2 |
| Summon hunters | none | none | 30% of foes | 50% of foes | 70% of foes |
| Damage summons take | ×1 | ×1 | ×1.3 | ×1.5 | ×1.75 |
| Melee cleave onto summons | — | — | 25% | 40% | 50% |
| Stairs: heal · flask | 50% · +1 | 35% · +1 | 35% · +1 | 25% · +1 | 20% · none |
| Potion drops | ×1.3 | ×1 | ×0.9 | ×0.75 | ×0.7 |
| Gold lost on death | 5% | 10% | 15% | 20% | 25% |
| XP | ×0.85 | ×1 | ×1.2 | ×1.4 | ×1.6 |
| Gold find · magic find | −15% · −15% | — · — | +20% · +25% | +35% · +50% | +50% · +80% |
| Legendary pity | normal | normal | 87% as long | 74% as long | 63% as long |
- Rescaling: foes flex toward your party's real power. The floor stops a fragile build from making them softer; the ceiling is how far they rise to meet an over-geared hero.
- Elite affixes: 1, then 2 from monster level 8 and 3 from 18, adjusted per mode as shown.
- Summon hunters walk past summons and pets to reach the heroes. Bosses never do; archers and casters do more often.
- Soft enrage: a boss still standing after the time shown flies into a rage and hits harder every 15 seconds (6 steps at most).
- Rites are always played on Hard. Hardcore heroes choose between Hard, Epic, Legendary.
World Tiers
Beat the campaign to raise the world's tier: tougher foes, better loot, higher item levels.
| World Tier | How to open it |
|---|---|
| Normal | Where everyone starts. |
| Veteran | Clear the Act V finale on Normal. |
| Nightmare | Clear Act V on Veteran, or reach Descent depth 20. |
| Torment I | Reach Endless Descent depth 30. |
| Torment II | Reach Endless Descent depth 40. |
| …Torment X | Each further tier: 10 more Descent depths (Torment X at depth 120). |
From World Tier 3 elites roll one more affix.
Hardcore
One life. No second chances. Death is permanent. Your hero, their gear and their bag are lost forever.
- Death is permanent: the hero, their equipped gear and the hardcore bag go into the grave.
- Hardcore heroes keep their own gold, stash, materials, town, sellswords and pets.
- Hard, Epic or Legendary only.
- No trading, no gifts, and parties only with other hardcore heroes.
Hardcore heroes brave the Depths on Hard, Epic or Legendary only. Hardcore duels are hardcore vs hardcore. An arena defeat is not a death.
When one falls, Quillon reads the eulogy and the name goes on the wall of the Hall of the Fallen. Every hardcore hero who fell in the Depths. Quillon keeps the book; the names don't come off.
Hardcore boards
- highest level (living)
- deepest Endless Descent
- fastest campaign
- Hall of the Fallen
Daily Descent & Weekly Rite
Ten floors, today's seed, one scored attempt. How deep, how fast? A five-floor gauntlet under three Ember Mutators. Unlimited tries; your best counts. Everyone plays the same seed, the same map and the same Ember Mutators, solo, on Hard. Top 10 and top 1% finishes earn titles.
Every posted run earns a rite chest: 150 gold + 40 per hero level, 2 Arcane Essence and one rare item at your level.
| Daily Descent | Weekly Rite | |
|---|---|---|
| Floors · mutators | 10 · 2 | 5 · 3 |
| Attempts | one scored attempt a day (practice is free) | unlimited; your best counts |
| Per floor reached | +1000 | +1500 |
| Per kill · elite · boss | +10 · +40 · +300 | +10 · +40 · +500 |
| Each time you go down | −400 | −600 |
| Clearing every floor | +2500, plus 4 per second under 30 min | +3000, plus 6 per second under 13 min |
| Dying | −1000 | no extra penalty |
Ember Mutators
A rite rolls its mutators from its seed, never more than one severe.
| Mutator | Effect | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Bloodthirst | Every kill heals the party 3% of max HP. | Mild |
| Iron Hides | Foes have +35% health. | Mild |
| Leaky Flasks | Potions heal half. | Mild |
| Quickened | Everyone moves 25% faster. | Mild |
| Smothered Light | Your light shrinks; the dark closes in. | Mild |
| Quickened Dead | Foes move 20% faster. | Mild |
| Cold Hearth | No healing or flask on this floor's stairs. | Nasty |
| Ember Rain | Embers fall on you every few seconds. | Nasty |
| Emberfury | Foes deal +40% damage. | Nasty |
| Glass Cannon | You deal and take +50% damage. | Nasty |
| The Horde | Packs are 35% bigger. | Nasty |
| Dry Flasks | Potions can't be drunk. | Nasty |
| Twin Champions | Twice the elite packs. | Severe |
| Vengeful Dead | Foes burst into flame when they die. | Severe |
Vhoruun's Wager
At the top of each staircase the Ember Tyrant offers a pact: a curse on the next floor for a growing loot multiplier. Cash out at any staircase, or lose the pot when you die.
Curses: 9. Emberfury is +40% foe damage, Iron Hides +35% foe health. Cash out at any staircase; die and the pot feeds his fire. The cash-out chest holds up to 24 items (a guaranteed rare once the pot holds 3). No wager in Bramble Hollow, the Training Grounds, the rites or the arena.
| Stack | Loot multiplier | Magic find while cursed | Curse drawn from |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ×1.5 | +10% | mild |
| 2 | ×2 | +20% | nasty, then mild |
| 3 | ×3 | +35% | severe, then nasty |
| 4 | ×4 | +50% | severe, then nasty, then mild |
The curses
| Curse | Effect | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| Leaky Flasks | Potions heal half. | Mild |
| Quickened Dead | Foes move 20% faster. | Mild |
| Iron Hides | Foes have +35% health. | Mild |
| Smothered Light | Your light shrinks; the dark closes in. | Mild |
| Emberfury | Foes deal +40% damage. | Nasty |
| Cold Hearth | No healing or flask on this floor's stairs. | Nasty |
| Ember Rain | Embers fall on you every few seconds. | Nasty |
| Twin Champions | Twice the elite packs. | Severe |
| Vengeful Dead | Foes burst into flame when they die. | Severe |