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 party.

Everything cold wants you dead

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.

Blessing
Pick 1 of 3 blessings: a bonus that stays with you until the end of the expedition.
Relic
Pick 1 of 3 relics: a powerful item that lasts the whole expedition.
Embers
The currency of the camp’s altar, which unlocks permanent favours. Paid out at the end of the expedition.
Spring
Full heal before the next wave.
Forge
Strengthen a blessing you already have.
Elite
A harder wave with a guaranteed elite. A rare relic as the prize.

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.