The guided first descent
The first three floors teach four moves by having you make them. Nothing is explained that you have not just done.
The four lessons
| Lesson | Where | What happens | Learned when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gear | Floor 1, first fight | The fight waits until you wear something: "Gear up: drag the glowing piece onto the glowing slot." | You wear anything besides your starting weapon |
| Loot | Floor 1, second fight | A kill drops a set piece into your stash: "Loot! It dropped into your stash: tap the bag to open it." | That piece leaves the stash |
| Merge | Floor 2 | The market holds a twin of a piece you own: "Two of the same piece merge into a stronger one. Drag it onto its match." | You merge anything |
| Sets | Floor 3 | A kill drops what you lack for two pieces of one set: "Wear it: two [set] pieces give a set bonus." | You wear two of a set |
Learning is doing: make the move early, unprompted, and it counts. A lesson not learned by floor 3 waits for your next run. A pulsing gold ring marks what to touch.
Each hero is taught with one of their own sets: Wren and Ilse with Emberforged, Ossa with Rimeglass, Brannoch with Bulwark, Anselm with Vigil, and Pip with Gilded once it is unlocked.
What a guided run leaves out
- No Tally in the first depth.
- No forked stairs and no Wardens, on any floor of that run.
- No Coin Mimics on floors 1 to 3.
- Refresh is locked until the lessons end: "Refresh unlocked: pay a little gold for new stock."
- The Auto chip stays hidden until the lessons and both tips are done.
For every run, guided or not, fights on floors 1 to 3 have two enemies instead of three.
Two tips and a handful of hints
Two tips complete the guided descent: your hero's skill ("CLEAVE strikes every enemy, bosses too. Cast it whenever it glows.") and GUARD ("This turn would kill you. GUARD saves you."). After them come one-time hints, each shown once when it first matters:
- "Big blow coming: GUARD halves it."
- "Your GUARD bashes harder than your ATTACK. Use it."
- "Hits take armor first, then health. A red number by a bar: what the enemies' next turn takes."
- "Every fight starts with full health and armor."
- "The Tallyman waits on floor 10. Tap 2/30 to see him."
- "Tap your portrait to fight beside your hero."
- "Hold any button to learn what it does."
That last one is the best advice in the game: long-press ATTACK, GUARD, a skill or any button on a card and it tells you what it would do right now, with numbers.
Skipping and repeating
Every lesson line carries a "skip" link; tap it twice to skip them all. Settings (from the title), Hints, Lessons turns them off, or on again from your next run.
Play Gold BelowThe first ten floors are free. No ads, and it plays offline.
Written from the game's own rules, version 2.9.4. Spotted something wrong? Tell us on Discord.