Release Notes

The Kinship town

Tap Kinship to walk through a Viking town, one step at a time on the same grid as the dungeon. Snow falls in the streets. Under the hall roof the wind dies down and your footsteps move from snow to wooden boards.

• Townsfolk keep the town busy. Porters carry their loads across the square, a carter pushes a hand cart, a milkmaid tends the cows, and guards watch the gates. They step aside for each other and for you. They stop to talk when they meet, cough if you stand in their way, and grunt under heavy loads. Cattle, a donkey and deer wander the edges of the town.
• Ravens perch on the roofs and call to one another. If you walk too close they take flight and find another ridge to land on.
• Stations replace the old menus. Trade with Astrid at her stall to reach the shop. Visit the warlord to muster your warband. Speak with the Jarl in the Kinship Hall to manage your Kinship, its members, its chat and its wars. Your Kinship’s chat stays open along the screen while you walk.

The broken Runegate

At the edge of town stands the broken Runegate. Step through it for a quick descent into the dungeon at your current journey point, with your saved party and packed supplies. The gather and prepare screens are skipped. If you have no party yet, the gate sends you to pick one first. Starting a run needs a connection, and the gate tells you when it can’t answer. When an expedition that began at the gate ends, you return to the town at the gate.

Every new expedition now starts just inside the dungeon entrance, with the portal at your back. Turn around to use it when you want to leave. Rats forage along the walls of the entrance chamber, and they bolt for their holes when they notice the party. The tutorial still opens facing a door.

Stone-Eye, the Rune-Bound

Medusa’s Lair is now the Hall of the Broken Oath. Its boss, once Medusa, has been rebuilt as Stone-Eye: an oath-bound guardian who turns heroes to stone and then shatters them. Her venom is gone.

• Stone Gaze — adds a Stonebind stack to one hero. Each stack lowers Initiative by 2. At three stacks the hero is Petrified and loses their next action. Cleansing removes Stonebind.
• Shatterbound — strikes the hero with the most Stonebind stacks and deals 40% more damage per stack. A Petrified hero is shattered for 2.5× damage.
• Oathward — absorbs 28 damage. Break it and she is Exposed for two turns, taking 25% more damage.
• Broken Oath — strikes the whole party and leaves them Oathbroken: armor is 30% less effective for two rounds.
• Runic Slam — sends a shock of rune-stone through the entire party.

Below 30% health she hits harder and uses Shatterbound and Broken Oath more often. Her new statuses have their own icons and descriptions in the combat status panel. Her title appears in the combat header, and her Bestiary entry has been rewritten.

Choose Heroes, redesigned

• The Choose Heroes screen has a new layout, and the heroes in your party are listed first, in party order.
• When your party is full, the select button becomes Replace. Tap a party member to swap them out, and the new hero takes their place. Cancel backs out.
• Heroes and the companions Basse and Skolli have redesigned portraits across the game.
• The Codex screens, the reward inbox and the footer bar have been restyled.

Truer to the North

A naming pass replaces words that didn’t belong in a Norse world. Only the names have changed. Effects and rewards are the same.

• Enemies: Ashen Prospector is now Ashen Delver, Molten Chorister is now Molten Skald, and Forge Saint is now Forge Seer, whose Forge Sermon is now Forge Chant.
• Enemy abilities: Galvanic Burst is now Storm-Core Burst and Voltaic Field is now Storm Ward.
• Heroes: Stormseer’s Heaven’s Wrath is now Asgard’s Wrath.
• Items: Rust Bomb is now Rust Flask, Roast Turkey is now Roast Goose, and three fish have northern names: Sorrowblue Wrasse, Fatewing Perch and Runefin Carp. The Quartermaster’s Ledger is now the Steward’s Ledger, and room blueprints are now called sketches.
• Account: the Field Medic perk is now Wound Lore. The achievements Blitzkrieg and Conqueror of the Nine Worlds are now Lightning Raid and Scourge of Svartalfheim.

Server maintenance and updates

• Before planned server maintenance, a countdown banner appears on every screen. Shortly before it begins, new expeditions and battles are paused, and the game tells you why.
• During maintenance, a maintenance screen shows when the servers are expected back, in your local time. An expedition already in progress is never interrupted. Finish it and it is sent once the servers return. When maintenance ends, the game goes back to the title screen and signs you in again.
• If an expedition can’t be submitted because you are offline, the server is busy or maintenance is running, the game keeps it and keeps trying to send it.
• Every new version is now a required update. When one is out, the game asks you to update on Google Play before you continue. It never interrupts a run.

Additional fixes

• Solving the False Treasure room no longer makes the run fail server validation.
• Statues and the shrine in the Offering Chamber, the Moon-Sealed pillar, Viking bowls and runestones, and some Viking characters no longer show up white on Android devices.
• The portal at the dungeon entrance can be used again.
• Your first clear of a journey point now moves the map’s selection on to the next point.

Sigrava, the Silver Queen

Face Sigrava in Weekly Boss Trials. She awakens Frostsworn, an independent silver sword that strikes twice after her actions, and fights with Paralyzing Touch, Frightening Gaze, and a protective Frost Ward. Her fear, paralysis, sword, and ward have distinct status icons, and Frost Ward can be inspected in the combat status panel. Cold resistance now applies to Frostsworn's strikes. Sigrava's Act IV dungeon encounter is reserved for a future act.

Dungeon Runes and the Dwarven Forge

• Find one of eight Futhark runes in treasure and runic room coffers, or in a boss coffer. Rune quality follows the act: Cracked in Act I, mostly Cracked with a small chance of Perfect in Act II, and Perfect in Act III.
• Bring a rune to the Dwarven Forge and inscribe it into an Epic or better item that has been forged to three stars. The forge can be used once per room. A new inscription replaces the item’s old rune, and the choice is shown before you strike.
• Runes add stats according to their identity, quality, and equipment slot. Perfect runes add a second bonus. Unused runes are lost when the dungeon run ends, so finding a forge changes which doors are worth pursuing.

New rooms behind the doors

• Offering Chamber — choose one of three shrines. Your chosen god grants a blessing for the rest of the run, from stronger healing or richer treasure to better rune odds. The other two shrines go dark.
• Silver Reliquary — spend a Moon Rune to enter, then release three seals in the right order. Figures, moonlight and bells all have their part. The reliquary holds two or three pieces of equipment and may also yield a rune.
• Alcove — spend a Moon Rune to climb a shaft of shifting pads and pry open the hidden niche. A fall costs health, but the party survives it. The cache holds supplies and may contain a rune.
• Moon-Sealed Fountain — spend a Moon Rune to claim moon-touched water and make treasure and runic doors more likely later in the run.

Boss rewards

Every boss room now has a locked coffer. Bring a Moonlit Lockpick and open it after the fight for five pieces of equipment, including one Epic-or-better piece, plus its other possible spoils. The dungeon map marks rewards you have not yet claimed.

A new beginning and a travelling companion

• The Broken Road plays on first launch and leads new players into a shorter, revised tutorial. The film has subtitles and a Skip button, and it plays again when you open the tutorial from the menu.
• At account level 4, choose Basse the dog or Skolli the fox as your companion. Your choice follows the party through dungeons, explores nearby, and can be hidden in Settings. Companions are cosmetic and provide no combat or loot bonus yet.
• Heroes and companions have new portraits across the interface.

Additional improvements

• Run rewards and forged runes are checked against the run’s recorded choices when submitted to the server. Forged runes are read back from the server and included in cloud-save conflict checks.
• The extraction item is now consistently called Moonmarked Map.
• Android-safe textures fix pink or missing materials on Sigrava and the new rooms.

Valhalla Draft

Valhalla is a new server-authoritative draft mode in which every run begins from nothing. Choose one of three Runic Boons, draft a warband and fight through increasingly dangerous opponents. A run ends after nine victories or three defeats, with draws counting as defeats.

Account progression does not determine the strength of a Valhalla hero. Every combatant enters at level 50 without their normal equipment, traits or mastery. Instead, the run builds its own temporary power through heroes, stars, relics, boons and formation.

Build your warband

• Three active heroes
• Up to two reserve heroes on the bench
• One Runic Boon
• Temporary star ranks
• One War Relic per hero
• A six-position combat formation

The War Market opens between battles. Spend earned Honor to recruit heroes, improve their stars, purchase relics or replace weaker members of the roster. Heroes may be dismissed to recover Honor, but an active warband can never fall below three members.

Temporary stars

• 1★ — Novice abilities and normal stats
• 2★ — Master abilities and 20% increased stats
• 3★ — Grandmaster abilities and 45% increased stats

Stars improve the hero’s entire active kit for the remainder of that Valhalla run.

19 Runic Boons

Every run begins with the blessing of a Norse power, including Odin, Thor, Freyja, Loki, Tyr, Heimdall, Baldr, Skadi, Njord, Freyr, Hel, Bragi, Vidar and Mimir.

Each Boon provides a defining combat rule and later branches into one of two upgrade paths. Fully developed Boons may change formations, grant extra actions, manipulate critical strikes, cleanse afflictions, summon Wards or reward aggressive and defensive warbands in very different ways. Opposing warbands also carry their own Boons, making their strategy visible before battle.

60 War Relics

The War Market contains 60 temporary relics across Common, Rare, Epic and Legendary rarity, supporting specialized builds around frontline and backline formations, long-range and close-range combat, execution damage, healing and overhealing, starting Wards, paired allies, isolation bonuses, death triggers, critical-hit immunity, reflection and lethal-hit protection.

Every hero may carry one relic. Relics disappear when the Valhalla run ends.

Position, reach and movement

Valhalla battles take place directly inside fully rendered arenas. Melee fighters advance toward the enemy line, ranged heroes attempt to maintain useful distance and living opponents block movement. Heroes must bring enemies or allies within reach before using attacks, healing or targeted support abilities.

Area attacks only strike enemies within the caster’s reach, and frontline combatants prevent melee attackers from simply walking through them to reach the backline. Formation, positioning and movement therefore remain relevant after the battle begins.

Valhalla currently includes open, dungeon, meadow and frozen arena environments, each with its own layout, navigation and combat camera.

Glory and the Valhalla leaderboard

Completed runs award permanent Glory based on victories. A complete nine-win conquest grants an additional bonus, with another bonus for finishing without a defeat. Losses never remove Glory, so every completed run advances the account’s lifetime total.

The Leaderboard now includes a dedicated Valhalla ranking showing Glory, conquests, completed runs and best performance. Ten new achievements reward the full Valhalla journey, from a first run through flawless conquests and 10,000 lifetime Glory.

Oaths & Events

A new Oaths hub introduces daily and weekly objectives. Each day presents three Oaths across seven named daily themes, designed to progress through ordinary play — defeating enemies, opening doors and chests, winning battles, completing expeditions and bringing a featured owned hero. Rewards must be claimed manually and cannot be claimed more than once.

Completing all three daily Oaths opens the Oathkeeper’s Chest. Three weekly objectives run alongside the daily rotation, and the server-verified Weekly Boss is displayed as a live event inside the same hub.

Progress, claims, login days and daily rotations are preserved in local and cloud saves. The main menu shows current completion and unclaimed rewards directly on the Oaths button.

Kinships

Players can now form persistent social groups called Kinships. Signed-in players may create a Kinship, search for and join existing ones, receive and manage invitations, view members and their online presence, assign member and officer roles, invite or remove members, and leave or disband.

The Kinship Hall has received a complete visual presentation with its own hall artwork, member list, management controls and account information.

Live Kinship chat includes real-time messages, online presence, role badges, day separators, new-message dividers, unread tracking, and reconnection with message history. The Leaderboard now includes a Kinship ranking alongside Renown, PvP and Valhalla.

The War Table is visible in the Kinship Hall but remains closed while Guild Wars testing is completed.

New and expanded dungeon rooms

Four rooms have been rebuilt or newly authored, each with its own mechanism to work out and its own reward for doing so. We’re leaving the details for you to find.

• Armory — an old minecart, a broken track, and a quartermaster’s chest just out of reach. Wall cutouts, animated machinery and mine ambience throughout.
• Clockwork Chamber — three satellite gears turning around an ancient mechanism. Read the runes, seize them in the right order, and the dungeon’s later treasure improves for the rest of the run.
• Herbal Cache — living flower beds and a cauldron. Green, red and yellow herbs brew into temporary flasks that carry into your next fight. Some combinations are said to produce more than a flask.
• Infirmary — a timed lever gate, healing supplies, and two suspicious floor grates. One of them is not what it appears. Clarity helps.

Deeper damage and resistance rules

Every enemy now has a complete combat stat block including Attack, Defense, Magic, Insight, Resist, creature type, race, combat role and rank. Enemies may possess individual elemental resistances and weaknesses across Fire, Cold, Lightning, Poison, Shadow, Holy and Nature.

Physical armor and elemental resistance now affect separate parts of an attack. A mixed weapon must still overcome block, but only its physical portion is reduced by Defense — its elemental portion instead tests the target’s relevant resistance and weakness.

The first split-damage weapons include:

• Ember Greatsword — 50% Physical / 50% Fire
• Ironbound Morningstar — 70% Physical / 30% Lightning
• Reaper of the Frostfire Crucible — 50% Physical / 50% Cold

This gives elemental weapons a distinct role against heavily armored targets while making enemy knowledge and party preparation more valuable.

Enemy inspection

Enemies can now be inspected directly during combat. Long-press an enemy, or tap an already selected enemy, to open a detailed combat sheet showing current and maximum Health, full stats, elemental resistances and weaknesses, known abilities, and active buffs and debuffs.

The Bestiary has also been expanded with a consistent creature taxonomy covering race, creature types, combat role, rank and faction.

New Act III enemies

• Cinder Imp — a fast Ember Cult nuisance that attacks wounded heroes with burning scrap and adds cooldown to random hero skills. When a Construct dies, it gains stacking Attack and Initiative through Scrap Frenzy.
• Blackforge Imp — a tougher collared imp capable of tearing Ward or Fortify from a hero before delivering an empowered strike. Its Bad Temper passive immediately launches another Cinder Toss whenever an ally dies, punishing parties that clear the formation in the wrong order.
• Cinder Scrapyard warband — combines a Bronze Sentinel with both varieties of Imp. Destroying the Construct enrages the Imps, while killing their allies triggers additional attacks. May be led by a Molten Chorister.

Vigga, Court Blade

Vigga joins the Act III boss roster as an evasive Deep-Court duellist. Her fixed rhythm includes Glass Veil (physical attacks miss while magical damage becomes more effective), Umbral Fang (hunts the weakest hero and inflicts persistent healing reduction), Polymorph Curse, Culling Thrust, and summons that call Deep-Court reinforcements into battle.

Vigga includes a dedicated character scene, effects, animations and Bestiary entry. The Black Anvil Captain, Forge Saint, High Runebinder and several Act III enemies have also received improved models, scale, effects and combat presentation.

Battle reports

Dungeon victories and defeats now include a detailed battle report on the Spoils screen, tracking actual combat outcomes for every hero: damage dealt, healing performed, damage taken, buffs and debuffs applied, effects cleansed, largest critical hit and enemies defeated.

Highlights identify standout contributions such as most damage, meaningful healing, damage prevented, enemy actions stopped, dispels and revivals. Only damage actually removed from enemy Health counts — healing excludes overhealing, and protection records damage genuinely absorbed or prevented. Valhalla battles use the same report system, with separate statistics for both warbands.

Mercy’s Edge

A new Core Discipline is available to Rune Adept, Ashen Cleric, Vanir Thornspeaker and Idunn’s Disciple.

• Novice — directly healing another ally empowers the hero’s next damaging action by 10%.
• Expert — damage bonus increased to 20%.
• Master — after spending the damage bonus, 25% of the actual enemy Health removed is returned to the last ally healed (capped at 10% of that ally’s maximum Health).
• Grandmaster — spending the damage bonus also empowers the next direct healing action by 20%.

Mercy’s Edge rewards alternating between healing and offense rather than repeating the same action.

Exploration and equipment improvements

• Dragging the dungeon view now lets players peek left, right, upward and downward. Releasing the screen returns the camera smoothly to the current grid direction.
• A new Quick Equip button selects stat upgrades suited to each hero’s ability scaling, respecting slot restrictions, hero eligibility and Forge upgrades.
• New physical traps include sweeping spear grates and moving wall mechanisms.
• Room loot may now appear as physical pickups placed throughout authored environments.
• Lake Cabin geometry has been isolated to prevent outdoor props appearing in neighbouring rooms.
• Journey-map buttons and several navigation states have been improved.

Audio and presentation

• New menu, dungeon ambience and combat music have been added.
• Valhalla includes a dedicated versus-style battle introduction.
• Combatants now move through the arena and remain at their tactical positions.
• Health bars, floating damage and impact effects have been synchronized more accurately in Valhalla replays.
• Stone Warden, Scout, Occultist, Thornspeaker and numerous enemies have received new spell effects and audio.
• Imp models and animations have been rebuilt.
• The Guild Hall, Oaths hub, Spoils screen and several dungeon rooms have received complete visual redesigns.
• Event messages are larger and easier to read.
• Android-safe texture settings have been applied to the main menu, new dungeon rooms and Valhalla arenas to prevent missing or pink graphics.

Additional fixes

• Act II and Act III bosses now spawn from the correct boss pools.
• Weekly Bosses no longer count as ordinary Act III campaign bosses.
• PvP result cleanup no longer produces invalid-node errors, and missing PvP equipment definitions are handled safely.
• Valhalla Health bars and floating combat text remain synchronized after movement and delayed impacts.
• Ranged Valhalla heroes no longer advance through their own frontline.
• Blocked movement no longer causes combatants to twitch.
• Area abilities only hit enemies within the caster’s current reach.
• Relic and Runic Boon effects have received additional balance and validation fixes.
• Several Act I, Act II and Act III equipment effects have been corrected.
• Bookcases, rooms, enemies and environmental assets have received texture and material fixes.
• Tutorial, combat, item, room and Android smoke validations have been expanded.

Hero Ascension

Heroes can now progress from one to five stars using their own unique Ascension Fragments. Epic heroes who have not yet joined the roster may be summoned after collecting enough Fragments. Owned heroes can instead spend Fragments to increase their star rank.

• 1★ — unlocks and summons the hero.
• 2★ — grants +4% to level-derived base stats.
• 4★ — increases the total star bonus to +8%.

Star bonuses improve only the hero’s natural level-derived stats. Equipment, allocated stat points, training, traits and Forge bonuses retain their full independent value.

Ascension stars are now displayed throughout the game, including the hero roster, equipment screen, expedition party, victory results, Codex and PvP profiles. Hero Fragments and star progression are verified by the server and preserved through cloud saves.

Two new Epic heroes

Idunn’s Disciple

A Vanaheim bruiser and battle-healer who turns aggression into recovery.

• Restoring Blade — damages an enemy and redirects part of the damage as healing to the weakest ally.
• Pilgrim’s Flurry — performs a sequence of strikes, sending a healing pulse through the party whenever a hit lands.
• Lifebond — connects the Disciple to a wounded ally, allowing healing received by the Disciple to flow through the bond.
• Open Palm (passive) — redistributes excess self-healing among injured allies.

Higher mastery ranks improve her healing flow, cleanse allies, strengthen party-wide recovery and turn otherwise wasted healing into protection. Idunn’s Disciple is fully supported in ordinary combat, Weekly Boss Trials and PvP.

Draugr Champion

An undead Helheim juggernaut who becomes increasingly dangerous as his Health falls.

• Gravecleaver — strikes the entire enemy formation and grows stronger while the Champion is wounded.
• Deathbound — taunts the enemy party, reduces incoming damage and answers attackers with counterblows.
• Carrion Hunger — grants lifesteal, allowing the Champion to feed on the damage caused by his attacks and counters.
• Cold Corpse (passive) — limits control effects but also reduces direct healing received from allies.

Self-healing remains fully effective, rewarding aggressive low-Health strategies. Both new Epic heroes include dedicated models, portraits, animations, spell effects and combat audio.

Rewards inbox

Account rewards can now arrive through a dedicated claim screen. Pending Weekly Trial, promotional and seasonal rewards are presented automatically from the main menu, and may contain currencies, crafting materials, hero unlocks or Ascension Fragments.

Some rewards allow a choice between several prizes. These can be inspected before claiming or left safely in the inbox for later. Claims are processed by the server to prevent lost or duplicated rewards.

Promo codes

A new Redeem Code option has been added to Settings. Signed-in players can enter promotional codes and immediately view the rewards granted to their account. The system handles already-used, invalid and expired codes with clearer feedback.

Clearer stats and abilities

Hero statistics can now be tapped to open a detailed explanation showing what each value actually does for that hero:

• Current basic-attack damage from Attack
• Physical damage reduction and block chance from Defense
• Abilities powered by Magic
• Critical-strike chance gained from Insight
• Magical damage and status resistance from Resist
• The hero’s current equipment contribution

Ability descriptions now display calculated power more consistently and explain mastery upgrades without repeatedly hiding the important numbers inside long descriptions.

Insight and critical strikes

Insight now improves critical-strike chance for every attack type, including physical attacks, ranged attacks and spells. This gives Insight a clear universal purpose while preserving its additional use as a scaling stat for specific abilities. Critical strikes continue to deal 150% damage.

Hero skill and passive rework

Hero ability scaling has received a large roster-wide balance pass. Underperforming skills have been strengthened, excessive scaling has been reduced and several costs and effects now scale more naturally into higher levels.

Several previously limited starter passives have also been rebuilt:

• Hold the Line — the Stone Warden’s Taunt now inspires the rest of the party with additional damage and, at higher mastery, Resist.
• Arcane Insight — the Rune Adept can increase the entire party’s Insight, reveal enemy intentions through critical strikes and rescue a failed allied attack with a Moment of Clarity.
• Pack Bond — the Scout’s Wolfmark Arrow gains a chance to call an additional wolf strike, with mastery upgrades adding cooldown recovery, armor penetration and Bleed.
• Umbral Harvest — strengthens the Occultist while travelling under Curse, extending debuffs and improving damage, afflictions and execution healing.

The Rogue’s trap-focused passive and several additional ability descriptions have also been corrected and clarified.

New and rebuilt dungeon rooms

The Resonance Chamber

A rare new puzzle room contains three rotating rune resonators and a sealed cache. Each resonator changes the glowing pattern traced on the central display. Align all three rings with the ancient target sigil to awaken the chamber and release its treasure. The room responds through light, sound, unstable rune traces and rising resonance rather than directly revealing which ring is correct.

Archive

The Archive now has a fully authored room layout filled with books, shelves, ancient instruments and forgotten records. Bookcase textures and room presentation have also been corrected.

Armored Cache

The Armored Cache has received its own authored treasure room, providing a more distinctive setting for discovering protected equipment rewards.

More distinctive enemies

Several ordinary enemies now use complete tactical kits instead of relying on generic attacks.

• Chain Beast — hardens itself with broken chains, protects allies by redirecting attacks and tears into the party’s weakest hero with a bleeding Shackle Rend.
• Grave Warden — collects its dues through lifestealing attacks, seals itself behind defensive vault-runes and regenerates Health through Paid in Advance.
• Pit Mutant — uses Bonebreaker Blow, a party-wide Pit Slam and Gorging Bite, which hunts the weakest hero and heals the Mutant from damage dealt.

These abilities include new casting effects, persistent auras, impact effects, animations and audio.

Fishing improvements

Fishing now features a visible first-person rod and line. When a fish bites, players must react within a short reel-in window. Missing the bite lets the fish escape, but does not consume the cast or discard the pre-generated reward. Fish can now be selected correctly when preparing expedition supplies and remain available alongside other consumable run items.

Audio and presentation

• Idunn’s Disciple and the Draugr Champion have complete character sound sets.
• Additional attack, spell, wound and death sounds have been added across the hero roster.
• Ascending, summoning and claiming rewards now have dedicated audio.
• Several combat abilities have received new cast and impact sounds.
• Bookcases, rooms and character models have received texture and presentation fixes.
• Combat hit feedback and ability effects have been expanded.

Fixes and balance

• Ability cooldowns now reset correctly between separate combats.
• Fish appear correctly in expedition preparation and inventory details.
• Numerous equipment effects, tooltips and special-effect descriptions have been corrected.
• Fortune, Runeguard, Veil and several Act III item mechanics now describe their actual values.
• Equipment effects involving critical strikes, afflictions, gold and resistance now resolve more consistently.
• Hero ability power has been rebalanced across the roster.
• Dark Pact now uses a percentage of maximum Health instead of a flat cost.
• PvP and Weekly Boss Trial simulation have been updated for the new hero balance and Ascension stats.
• Additional room, texture, smoke-test and combat presentation issues have been resolved.

The first outdoor room

A doorway can now lead beyond the dungeon walls and into Runeworld’s first fully outdoor environment.

The Lakeside Cabin opens onto a moonlit shore featuring an animated lake, wooden jetty, cabin, boat, foliage, rocks, water lilies and distant clouds. Outdoor passages use dirt and grass terrain, wooden fences and open night skies instead of the familiar dungeon walls and ceilings. Lighting and atmosphere transition naturally as the party moves between the dungeon and the lake, then return to their original state when heading back underground.

The Lakeside Cabin is a rare dead-end room that may appear during later journeys across all three acts. Explorers may also discover a small offering of gold or Moon Rune Fragments beside the shore.

Fishing

The jetty contains Runeworld’s first fishing spot. Each discovered lake provides up to five casts. Cast the line, watch the bobber and wait for the visual and audible signal that something has taken the bait. A successful catch may contain a magical fish, a combat Scroll, or equipment from the current act.

Every fishing spot guarantees one Epic-or-better equipment catch across its five casts. The remaining catches are determined from the run seed and preserved with the expedition, preventing the lake from being rerolled by leaving and rebuilding the room.

Fishing includes new casting, bite, splash, reel and catch effects together with dedicated audio and water animation.

Eight magical fish

Fish are carried in the expedition satchel and may be consumed directly during a run:

• Emberjaw Pike — increases the party’s damage by 25% for the remainder of the dungeon.
• Ironscale Catfish — reduces damage taken by the party by 15% for the remainder of the dungeon.
• Gilded Carp — increases the chance of finding Epic and Legendary equipment by 50% for the remainder of the dungeon.
• Moonbrined Herring — restores between 25% and 75% of the weakest hero’s maximum Health.
• Jesterfish — unpredictably grants either three Curse, three Danger or three Clarity.
• Sorrowblue Tang — exchanges the Health percentages of the healthiest and most wounded living heroes.
• Fatewing Butterflyfish — redistributes the party’s Health so every living hero has the same average Health percentage.
• Drowned Idol — sacrifices 25% of the expedition’s carried gold, fully heals the weakest hero and grants one Clarity.

Persistent fish bonuses do not stack. Attempting to consume another copy of an already active fish preserves the catch for later use.

The Fishing Codex

The Codex now contains a dedicated Fishing collection. Undiscovered species remain hidden, while caught fish reveal their artwork, rarity, effect and lore. Selecting a discovered fish also opens a live 3D preview of the creature. The collection tracks progress across expeditions, providing a permanent record of every species pulled from Runeworld’s waters.

Animation and combat improvements

Character animation transitions now blend more naturally instead of snapping between poses. Combatants correctly return to their idle stance after hit-stop and interrupted attacks, resolving cases where characters could remain frozen on the final frame of an animation.

Several Dark Elf character scenes and shared magical combat animations have also been corrected. The Dark Elf Priest now uses improved animations and impact timing for its attacks, including Sundering Verse, Unmaking Word and its standard magical strike.

Additional improvements

• Outdoor water, shoreline terrain and lake dressing have received further visual refinement.
• Outdoor corridors now share the correct moonlit lighting and atmosphere.
• Fishing catches and temporary bonuses persist correctly when exploration scenes are rebuilt.
• Newly caught species are recorded permanently in the Codex.
• The lake’s placement and generation rules have been refined across all three acts.
• Various character rigs, caster animations and combat timing issues have been corrected.

Skuggadís, Veiled Blade

Skuggadís joins the Weekly Boss rotation as an evasive counterpart to the Iron Jötunn. Where the Jötunn tests sustained damage against an immovable wall, Skuggadís demands that the party read her rhythm and attack during the correct windows.

Her fixed rotation includes:

• Glass Veil — physical attacks automatically miss while the veil holds, but magical attacks deal 50% additional damage. Existing Bleed, Poison and other damage-over-time effects continue ticking through the veil.
• Umbral Fang — strikes the weakest hero and inflicts permanent Umbral Rot, dealing damage and reducing received healing until cleansed.
• Polymorph — transforms a hero into a sheep. Basic attacks and physical or ranged abilities become unavailable, although spells, healing and support abilities can still be used.
• Culling Thrust — a brutal attack aimed at the weakest hero.
• Court Summons — later phases replace Culling Thrust with a Deep-Court Duelist or Deep Oracle.

Polymorph is one of Skuggadís's defining scripted actions and now ignores Resistance. Her Health has also been increased after endgame simulations showed that heavily developed parties could defeat her outright and flatten the leaderboard's upper scores.

The Weekly Boss screen now provides a dedicated fight button for each available boss, while the main-menu banner names the boss currently in rotation.

Unstoppable and boss control immunity

Repeated Stun, Root and Paralysis chains can no longer prevent a combatant from acting indefinitely. When a hard-control effect expires, the target gains Unstoppable and is guaranteed one action before another hard-control effect can land.

Bosses are now completely immune to Stun. This prevents random Stun effects from skipping signature mechanics, boss phases or fixed Weekly Trial rotations.

AUTO combat has been updated to understand Skuggadís's mechanics. Disarmed or Polymorphed heroes avoid unusable physical actions, while spellcasters prioritize magical abilities during Glass Veil.

Saga Tome overhaul

Saga Tomes now provide genuine roster catch-up. A single Tome raises a lagging hero all the way to the average level of the roster's three strongest unlocked heroes. Existing XP inside the hero's current level is preserved, and every crossed level still awards its normal stat points and progression rewards.

• Now Epic instead of Rare
• Priced at 12 Moon Runes in the shop
• Still obtainable as valuable Arcane Library finds

The hero screen now shows the exact target level and number of levels the selected hero will gain before the Tome is consumed.

New hero models and animations

The six starter heroes and the three Rare Calling heroes now have dedicated mobile-ready 3D character scenes: Stone Warden, Rune Adept, Duskwick Scout, Lockshade Rogue, Ashen Cleric, Moon Occultist, Runesmith, Froststalker and Vanir Thornspeaker.

These models are now used consistently in PvP presentation and support dedicated weapons, palettes and animation sets. Deep-Court Duelists and Deep Oracles have also received new Dark Elf character models and animation sets. Numerous issues involving bows, spellcasting, attack transitions, hit reactions and animation playback have been corrected.

Faster combat playback

Combat now includes a persistent 2× speed toggle, accelerating character animations, visual effects, impact delays, floating combat results and turn pacing. The complete presentation pipeline scales together, keeping attacks, damage numbers and sound effects synchronized even during faster AUTO combat.

Clarity reveals valuable objects

High Clarity now provides direct visual information inside dungeon rooms. Useful interactable objects begin to glow green when the party has enough Clarity:

• Equipment and weapon pickups
• Library books
• Runestones
• Feast tables
• Coin bags and reward containers

Dangerous mechanisms such as saw rails and wall-slab traps can glow red before they trigger. Clarity therefore helps the player physically read the room instead of only affecting hidden checks, enemy information and combat initiative.

Improved combat consumables

The in-combat consumable interface has been redesigned with larger icons, clearer quantities and better mobile touch targets. Consumables and Scrolls now use improved artwork, shadows and presentation. Their effects are displayed more clearly when selecting or using them, and Scroll activation has dedicated audio feedback. Several issues involving carried stock, item icons and consumable layout shifts on mobile have also been corrected.

Cloud-save safety

Cloud synchronization has received several critical safeguards. Every cold app start now checks the server before trusting the locally stored cloud revision, preventing a new, empty or restored local save from entering a PUT-only loop and attempting to replace valid cloud progress.

• Failed network requests never mark the initial cloud check as complete.
• Authentication failures remain retryable after the player signs back in.
• Only an explicit server response indicating that no cloud save exists can start a new revision.
• Lost acknowledgements from the same device are resolved silently instead of displaying two nearly identical conflict choices.
• Duplicate and stale revision handling has been improved.

Settings now include a manual Restore from Cloud button. The restore action safely compares local and server progress through the existing reconciliation system rather than blindly overwriting either copy.

Act III balance refinements

• Equipment now enters the loot pool at the intended journey points and rarity gates.
• Act III casters have gained additional armour-breaking tools.
• Equipment effects now display their correct descriptions and values.
• Item spritesheets have been rebuilt onto exact mobile-safe grids.
• Staff, armour, weapon, offhand and trinket artwork now uses proper transparency and consistent cell alignment.
• Several warband and high-danger encounters have received additional balance and validation.
• Weaken now behaves consistently for both heroes and enemies.

PvP and Weekly Trial stability

• Hero Weaken now resolves consistently between live combat and deterministic playback.
• PvP supports the new Unstoppable rule and updated hero character scenes.
• Weekly Boss fixtures have been refreshed for Skuggadís, Polymorph, boss Stun immunity and Resistance-ignoring scripted attacks.
• Trial playback is protected from live account upgrades leaking into its deterministic random sequence.
• Offline Weekly Boss information now uses neutral placeholders instead of displaying misleading data.
• Boss-specific fight buttons and descriptions are shown correctly.

Android graphics and stability

The Android texture-compression issue that could produce pink or magenta graphics has been corrected across the main menu and affected dungeon rooms, including the Runestone Shrine.

• Replaced desktop-only S3TC material references with Android-safe textures.
• Corrected rubble, room props and environmental materials that could render pink.
• Fixed item and interface graphics jumping between frames.
• Added automated Android graphics validation to prevent incompatible texture references from reaching a release build.
• Added bundle inspection for missing ETC2 textures and accidentally excluded resources.
• Improved export validation for character assets and animation packs.

Additional fixes

• The Weekly Boss banner now displays the actual active boss.
• Combat effect descriptions and status presentation have been corrected.
• Several Act III enemy abilities now show their intended armour-breaking behaviour.
• Library rewards and carried Scroll stock now synchronize correctly.
• Same-device cloud retries no longer create unnecessary conflict prompts.
• Several room props, traps and interactable objects now respond correctly to Clarity.
• Combat animation timing, hit presentation and effect synchronization have been improved.
• Additional PvP, Weekly Trial, Android export and mobile-interface issues have been resolved.

Act III — Svartalfheim Deep Roads

The journey continues beneath the mountain into Svartalfheim, where abandoned mines still operate, ancient furnaces refuse to cool, and the dvergar warbands obey orders from a kingdom that should have died long ago.

Ten new journey points for heroes around levels 19–28, with their own campaign map, journey artwork, routes, encounter balance and progression through increasingly long and dangerous runs:

• Rootscar Descent · Cinderhold Outpost · Ashen Delves · Blackforge Quarter · The Chainworks
• Runebinder Sanctum · Deep Court · Vaults of the First Smiths · Frostfire Crucible · Jotun's Threshold

Seventeen new enemies

Svartalfheim introduces a full enemy roster built around formation, control and cooperation. Tunnel Guards protect their allies, Runebinders silence casters, Deep-Court Duelists hunt wounded heroes and Chainmasters drag party members out of position. Ember Priests suppress healing, Rune-Sick Miners spread Chill, and elite Menders, Oracles and Choristers can turn an ordinary enemy party into a serious threat.

Four new bosses guard the Deep Roads:

• Black Anvil Captain — protects and strengthens his line while calling fresh soldiers into battle.
• High Runebinder — controls the party with Silence, roots and defensive rune wards.
• Forge Saint — seals away healing and burns the entire party in waves.
• Vault Colossus — alternates between enormous barriers, rune locks and crushing earthquakes.

Every new enemy includes its own combat identity, abilities, Bestiary information and tactical advice.

Warbands

Act III introduces Warbands: authored enemy parties that fight as coordinated groups instead of collections of randomly selected creatures. Each combines defined roles — tank, support, assassin, bruiser — and deeper Warbands can arrive with an elite leader such as a Molten Chorister, Deep Oracle or Ashen Mender.

• Excavation Detail
• Blackforge Warband
• Ember Rite Cell
• Court of Chains

These encounters contain fewer bodies than the largest ordinary packs, but every member is considerably stronger and contributes to the group's strategy. Target selection, control effects and breaking the enemy formation are essential.

77 new Act III items

Svartalfheim adds 77 new equipment pieces, including 18 Legendary items:

• 16 Epic and Legendary trinkets
• 16 magical staves, rods, scepters and foci
• 16 additional weapons and armor pieces
• 16 molten Blackforge weapons
• 8 offhands
• 5 high-end armor pieces

The new equipment supports every current combat role, with effects built around armor penetration, repeated attacks, Resistance, support power, enemy ailments, party Wards and fighting heavily defended targets.

Legendary finds include The Turning Stone, Threshold Pike, Reaper of the Frostfire Crucible, Wyrmcoil Carver, The World-Anvil Splitter, Lion of the Deep Court, Star of the North Vault and Storm of the Threshold.

Item details now explain special effects and combat bonuses more clearly, making unusual equipment easier to evaluate before equipping it.

Combat Scrolls and the rebuilt Library

Arcane Libraries can now contain physical books that may be collected while exploring. Alongside Saga Tomes, libraries can reveal two new single-use combat Scrolls:

• Scroll of Frailty — weakens every living enemy for several turns.
• Scroll of Meteor — calls down a meteor that deals heavy damage to the entire enemy line.

Discovered Scrolls are stored with expedition supplies and can be packed for a later run. They cannot be purchased from the shop, making libraries an important source of rare tactical resources. The Library itself has also received a substantial visual redesign with expanded shelves, props, lighting and interactive book pickups.

Clearer combat information

Combat effects are now represented by dedicated status icons on heroes and enemies. Tapping a hero's active effects opens a detailed overview explaining what each buff or debuff does, how long it lasts and how many stacks are active — including Ward, Taunt, Veil, Chill, Poison, Bleed, Exposed, Marked Quarry and the new Act III equipment mechanics.

The turn-order bar can now also be used for enemy targeting. Tapping an enemy portrait selects that target, and the chosen enemy is marked both in the turn order and on the battlefield.

Weaken now affects heroes consistently as well as enemies, allowing new enemy abilities and equipment interactions to reduce incoming attack damage correctly.

A guided first run

New players now receive a guided tutorial covering the core Runeworld loop:

• Building a party and beginning a run
• Depth, Danger, Clarity and Curse
• Movement, interaction and room choices
• Manual combat, targeting and Auto combat
• Uncleansed equipment and boss completion
• Permanent progression between runs

The tutorial follows the player across exploration, combat, loot and the run summary instead of placing every lesson on a single screen. Existing players are not forced to repeat it.

The Forgotten Lord returns to his throne

The final Act I boss has been completely rebuilt. The Forgotten Lord now fights as an undead ruler instead of relying on generic boss actions:

• King's Toll — drains a hero's life and feeds it back to the throne.
• The Court Assembles — summons Haugbui courtiers to surround the party.
• Regal Poise — reduces incoming damage while the court regroups.

The fight changes as his Health falls, with stronger attacks and more aggressive command of the battlefield. His summoned Haugbui disappear when their lord is defeated, creating a choice between controlling the court or focusing everything on the throne. The encounter also features new effects, animations and combat presentation.

New achievements

Seven new achievements reward progress through Svartalfheim and mastery of its Warbands:

• Conqueror of the Nine Realms — clear every journey point in Act III.
• Broke the Line — defeat your first Svartalfheim Warband.
• Cut the Head Off — defeat a Warband with an elite leader.
• Warband Breaker — defeat 10 Warbands.
• Scourge of the Deep Roads — defeat 25 Warbands.
• Decapitation Strike — defeat five Warband leaders.
• Not a Scratch — defeat a Warband and its leader without losing a hero.

These achievements grant Account XP, Renown and Moon Runes, including a substantial reward for conquering the entire act.

Performance, interface and fixes

• Combat now opens over the existing dungeon instead of rebuilding the exploration scene before and after every fight.
• Returning from combat and inventory screens is faster and preserves the current dungeon state more reliably.
• Dungeon geometry handling has been improved to prevent rooms and corridors from intersecting after returning from combat.
• Journey map backgrounds and Act III route presentation have been corrected.
• The Deepdamp encounter has received a visual and combat redesign.
• Equipment reward cards and inventory details now present special effects more clearly.
• Weapon loot popups now appear consistently.
• Journey titles and several Act II progression issues have been corrected.
• Ability upgrades now clear outdated roster notification badges.
• Additional combat validation, encounter generation and mobile presentation issues have been resolved.

Active Curses

Curse is no longer just a number. A run can now accumulate up to four active Curses, each of which can deepen through three ranks and directly change combat, rewards or both. If the global Curse reaches Ragnarök, every active Curse becomes even more dangerous for the rest of the run.

• Curse of the Coward — lets enemies seize the initiative at the start of combat.
• Curse of Thorns — punishes heroes for landing direct attacks.
• Curse of Greed — improves treasure while strengthening enemies.
• Curse of Echoing Runes — causes enemy abilities to repeat.
• Curse of Blood Oaths — makes critical hits deadlier for both sides.
• Curse of Hollow Hope — weakens and shortens positive hero effects.
• Curse of Fimbulwinter — drains Health as battles continue.
• Curse of the Restless Dead — gives undead enemies a chance to rise again.
• Curse of Broken Shields — allows enemy attacks to penetrate Defense.
• Curse of Iron Will — grants permanent combat blessings to bosses.

Curse effects and ranks can be reviewed from the new Curse panel during a run. Curse rooms, sealed failures, sanctuaries and the reworked Runestone Shrine now interact with the system, making the route through a dungeon matter in new ways.

New enemies and dungeon dangers

Windmill Wraith

Act I now opens with the Windmill Wraith in The Mill's Heart. This haunted boss follows a readable four-action rhythm: it blinds the party with spectral chaff, regenerates through Ghost Grain, delays a hero skill with The Mill's Toll and sweeps the whole party with its sails. When wounded, the mill turns backwards — and the rhythm reverses.

Blackroot Creeper

The Blackroot Creeper has received a new model, bespoke audio, effects and a full combat kit. Thorn Mantle punishes weapon attacks, Spellbane Husk retaliates against spells, Venom Miasma empowers enemy blows with poison, and Blackroot Spike delivers a heavy magical hit. Reading its current mantle is now essential before committing a powerful attack.

Draugr Crypt

The dungeon can now draft a rebuilt Draugr Crypt featuring slamming wall traps, a partial healing water source and stronger environmental storytelling. Sufficient Clarity can reveal the wall-slab danger before it strikes. The Runestone Shrine, barracks and several other room presentations have also been improved with new interactions and ambience.

16 new Act II endgame offhands

Act II's offhand pool has gained 10 Epic and 6 Legendary items. These relics add unique combat effects and ensure that every current role — including Rogue and the three Rare Heroes — has meaningful Epic and Legendary endgame options.

• Emberbrand of the First FlameLegendary — support skills can ward the ally in greatest danger.
• The All-Seer's Frozen EyeLegendary — rewards attacks against Chilled or marked prey and spreads Chill on a kill.
• Valkyrie's Final DraughtLegendary — performs an emergency heal, Ward and cleanse once per combat.
• The Hourglass Without SandLegendary — grants an immediate extra action after a non-damaging ability once per combat.
• Fafnir's Bottomless PurseLegendary — builds stacking Fortune through critical hits.
• Shard of the Fallen BifröstLegendary — chains part of the first damaging hit each round to another enemy.
• Worldroot's Blighted ThornEpic — improves healing and damage against afflicted enemies.
• The Last Map of MidgardEpic — improves accuracy and damage against marked or revealed enemies.
• Grimoire of the Violet OathEpic — strengthens support abilities and critical chance.
• Lantern of the Lost EinherjarEpic — wards the first ally pushed below 40% Health.
• Skull of the Horned TyrantEpic — restores Health and grants Ward on a kill.
• Gjallarhorn's Lesser EchoEpic — begins combat by Rallying the whole party.
• Elixir of Undying VerdureEpic — improves incoming healing and poison resistance.
• Heartstone of VanaheimEpic — converts part of overhealing into Ward.
• Moonfeather TalismanEpic — rewards a patient round with Veil and added critical chance.
• Sigil of the Ascended ValkyrieEpic — wards the lowest-Health ally at combat start.

Epic and Legendary drops are now introduced progressively within each act rather than appearing at the very first journey point, making powerful finds feel more appropriate to the depth reached.

Progression and hero updates

• Saga Tomes provide a new catch-up path for heroes below the level of the roster's three strongest members. A tome grants one full level and can be found in Arcane Libraries or purchased with Moon Runes.
• XP now tapers when a hero greatly outlevels a journey point, and each act has a soft level cap. Lower-level heroes in a veteran party still receive their own appropriate XP, making it practical to train newly Called heroes.
• Repeat clears now grant reduced journey completion gold while still allowing players to farm equipment and other dungeon rewards.
• The Ashen Cleric now builds Devotion by using healing and support skills. Devotion adds party Defense and gains stronger protective interactions at higher ranks.
• Blessing and Void Gaze no longer raise or lower the global Curse value. Curse progression is now handled by dungeon choices and consequences.

Rare Hero Callings, PvP and Trials

• Account reward claiming is now normalized across local and cloud-restored saves, preventing milestones from becoming stuck or being offered more than once.
• The Callings at account levels 5, 10 and 15 now reliably unlock Runesmith, Froststalker and Vanir Thornspeaker, including saves where one or more Calling rewards were already pending.
• PvP playback and server synchronization now correctly resolve opponent snapshots containing heroes not yet owned locally, including Froststalker and other Rare Heroes.
• PvP error messaging now reflects when the server has already recorded and rated a match even if local playback fails.
• Boss Trial leaderboard submission has been corrected.

Interface and fixes

• Major screens now respect phone safe areas and display cutouts, keeping headers clear of camera notches and status bars.
• Journey details and the Curse interface have improved mobile spacing and readability.
• The Three Chests puzzle now provides interaction popups and corrected collision.
• Forced journey bosses now consistently appear in their intended boss rooms.
• Curse events triggered before boss combat are now shown and applied to the correct fight instead of leaking into a later room or run.
• Additional combat presentation, audio, room collision and text issues have been corrected.