Before you set out

Emberbearer’s guide

The essentials to survive the valley: pick a difficulty, read the attacks, vote at the portals and, one day, sign the Pact of Winter.

Difficulties

Change it any time from the menu. In a party, the host decides.

Story
Discover Valcendre without pressure: fragile, sparse enemies and generous healing.
Adventure
The intended experience: you will have to dodge telegraphed attacks.
Heroic
Tougher, more numerous and more aggressive dead. Every mistake costs you.
Nightmare
The Endless Winter. For seasoned Emberbearers — ideally in a group.

What is dead is cold

Reading the fight

A filled disc with a dark rim on the ground is an incoming enemy attack: it fills up until impact. Roll out of it.
The shape tells the blow: a disc for an area, a line for a charge, a cone for a volley, a ring for an expanding wave.
A glowing runic ring always belongs to a hero: never a threat.
The dead are frost, the living are ember: you tell each side apart at a glance.

Road portals

After each wave, two portals: blessing, relic, forge, spring or elite. In a party, you vote.

The expedition

Defend the Hearth
The undead go for the marked brazier: keep it burning until the end of the wave.
→ Relic
Break the Totems
Three bone totems raise skeletons while they stand: break them before time runs out.
→ Embers
Frost Storm
Survive until the storm ends. The cold bites outside the circles of heat, which drift from brazier to brazier.
→ Relic
The Hunt
An elite flees toward the edge of the arena: bring it down before it escapes.
→ Embers

The Pact of Winter

After your first victory: tick conditions before you set out. Each has a weight; the total weight raises the embers you earn (+10% per point).

Bite
Enemies are 20% faster.
2
Famine
No more healing orbs.
3
Crown of Ice
Bosses gain one more phase below 15% health, faster still.
3
Long Winter
Two more waves per act before the boss.
2
Cold Ashes
No healing between waves or when a new act begins.
2
Elites Everywhere
Every wave has at least one elite.
2
Lingering Frost
Freezes and slows you suffer last 50% longer.
2
No Return
No revival: a fallen hero stays down until the end of the expedition.
3
Cursed Relics
Each relic costs you 4% of your maximum health (40% at most).
2
Pitch Night
The fog closes in and the light dims: you see monsters coming from less far away.
2
Horde
30% more enemies in every wave.
3

Weight max : 26

Up to 8 players

1
Open a party from the camp and share the invite link: your friends join without an account.
2
The “Online” window lists open public parties: join one in a click.
3
Between acts, the party votes for a team bonus drawn from its composition.
4
A fallen hero gets back up: an ally just has to stand close for a few seconds.