Floors, Combo & Grades

The labyrinth is a chain of stages you descend one floor at a time. On each floor you fight your way through several areas, then get past a challenge or a boss in the last area to clear it. Every clear is graded by your combo and three scoring axes, and that grade decides your rewards and your Essence of Conquest. This page walks through everything that happens on a floor, from choosing it to the results screen.

The stage selection screen

Tap the Labyrinth entrance in the village to open Stage selection. Pick a zone and a floor, then tap Descend to set out.

Floors you can enter: everything up to the floor right after the deepest one you’ve cleared, plus every shallower floor. Tapping a locked floor tells you the seal still holds.
Floor buttons: show the best grade you’ve earned there (B or higher), and boss floors carry the boss’s portrait.
Waypoint floors: once your best record is deep enough, deep floors open right away after reincarnating. The first time you enter one in each life, you get gold, and a deep enough waypoint also brings a Waypoint Awakening — level-up cards to pick at once, more the deeper the waypoint. See Reincarnation for details.
Rescue floors: selecting a floor where an ally is caged tells you who is held there and what rescuing them brings.

Loot preview

The Spoils bar on the selection screen shows the gear slots that drop most in this zone and the options they tend to roll. Tap it to open Loot Details.

Tab	What it shows
Equipment	Which gear slots show up, and how often, when gear drops
Summons	Whose fragments show up when minion fragments drop. Tap Change Farming Focus at the bottom of the panel to pick the minion you want.
Affix Bias	Options that favor this zone’s gear, plus Exotic Affixes

Monster Intel

Monster Intel scouts the enemies of the floor you’ve selected.

The floor’s overall threat, the zone’s affix, and the extra spoils that affix pays
The dominant element, compared with your own resistance to it
The monsters that appear: name, element, share of the horde, and whether they’re elite
The floor’s boss, and how many more kills until that boss’s ceiling reward
Enemy status resistance on deep floors. The deeper you go, the less slow, stun, bleed and vulnerability affect enemies.

How a floor plays out

Starting area. You begin each floor in the starting area. The time limit and Eclipse start as soon as the gate opens, even if you’re still standing there.
Areas along the way. Enemies pour into each area in waves as you pass through. Clear them as you push on toward the last area.
Dark Pact. On non-boss floors, you pick one of three pacts just before the last area.
The last area. Cross the bridge into the last area and either face your pact’s final challenge or fight the boss.
Clear. Once every objective is done, the clear sequence plays automatically and the results screen opens.

Boss floors

Every 10 floors, and on a few special floors, a boss waits in the last area instead of a final challenge. Boss floors have no Dark Pact; defeating the boss is the final objective.

A slain boss spills a large burst of gold and essence and always drops gear. That gear carries one of the boss’s signature Exotic options, and each boss favors its own mix of gear slots and options.
Kill the same boss enough times to reach its ceiling and it drops special loot with extra sockets and stronger option rolls. Kills are counted separately for each boss; check how many remain in Monster Intel.
Boss names and where each one appears are listed in Zones & Affixes and the Boss Codex.

Boss warnings and how to dodge them

Every boss marks its big attacks on the ground in red before they land: red circles for area attacks and red paths for charges and waves. Reading and dodging these warnings is the heart of every boss fight.

The red mark is exactly the attack’s area. Step outside it and you won’t be hit, and an attack that lands on an empty circle doesn’t jump to a nearby target instead.
A circle’s position locks the moment it appears. It doesn’t follow you, so step out to the side as soon as you see it. When a circle forms around the boss itself, move away from the boss instead.
It detonates the moment the disc growing from the center fills the rim. The rim pulses faster as detonation nears.
Red paths run from the boss toward you. Their direction is fixed once drawn, so step sideways out of the path. A charge rushes along it, and a wave races down it once the path fills.
Staying inside hurts far more than a normal attack. A single hit has a cap, but at low health it can easily be fatal. Some bosses also slow, stun or weaken you on a hit; see the Boss Codex.
Falling strikes cover the ground in several circles that go off one after another. Each strikes only inside its own circle, and one volley hits you only once. Small red circles also show where a boss’s adds are about to rise.
A successful dodge gives a slight screen kick and a sound cue. A telegraphed attack can’t be interrupted, but after a wave, a circle around itself or falling strikes, and after a charge that misses, the boss stands still for a moment. That’s your opening.
Badly wounded bosses warn a little faster and can chain one big attack straight into another.
Your minions step out of red warnings on their own. Minions in the middle of a skill or a charge may not make it, though.
Auto-Hunt dodges red warnings too, but deliberately reacts a little late. In boss fights it’s safer to dodge yourself.

Besides these attacks, bosses mix in summoned adds and hunts where they mark one of your minions and focus it down. Seal statues that crack open and fight use the same language: a red fan before a slam and a red path before a lunge. Some bosses brand corpses. If the boss harvests a branded corpse, it heals, and some bosses gain more adds too — but if you use that corpse first with a summon, Corpse Explosion or Absorb, the harvest fails: it gets no healing or extra adds, and it edges closer to being staggered. Each boss’s style is described in Zones & Affixes and the Boss Codex.

Dark Pacts

On non-boss floors, three Dark Pacts are laid out just before the last area, and you must choose one to continue. The time limit and Eclipse are paused while you choose.

The top of each card names the final challenge: Massacre (slay a set number of enemies), Survive (hold the ward) or Break the Seals.
The rows below show how Enemy HP, Enemy ATK, Gold, Essence, Summon Fragments and Hidden Rune change. Favorable and unfavorable changes are color-coded.
Gold and essence changes apply to kill rewards after you choose and to the clear payout. The Summon Fragments change applies to the fragments in your clear rewards.
The first few floors only offer gentle pacts; tougher ones mix in as you descend. The three you just saw are left out of the next offer when possible.
Pacts that are dangerous for your current floor carry a Perilous or Deadly Threat badge. At most one card per offer gets Deadly Threat, and the same pact’s badge softens on deeper floors.

Pact types

Pact	Final challenge	Enemies	Reward tendency
Novice Trial	Massacre	Almost unchanged	Slightly more gold
Short Vigil	Survive	Almost unchanged	Slightly more essence
Miser’s Truce	Break the Seals	Unchanged	Less gold, essence and fragments
Hollow Victory	Break the Seals	Weaker	Less gold and essence, more fragments
Ashen Bargain	Break the Seals	Slightly weaker	Less gold and fragments, more essence
Blood Covenant	Massacre	More health and damage	More gold
Crimson Tide	Massacre	Much more damage, more health	Much more gold, less essence
Berserker’s Mark	Massacre	Far more damage, slightly more health	More gold, less essence, Hidden Rune
Titan’s Burden	Massacre	Far more health	More essence and fragments
Plague Pact	Survive	More health and damage	Less gold and essence, many more fragments
Soul Famine	Survive	Much more health and damage	Less gold and essence, far more fragments
Twin Fate	Break the Seals	More health and damage	Slightly more essence, more fragments, Hidden Rune
Abyss Vigil	Break the Seals	Much more health, more damage	Slightly less gold and essence, Hidden Rune
Void Pact	Survive	Extreme health and damage	More gold, essence and fragments, Hidden Rune

Hidden Rune raises the chance of a hidden rune turning up in your clear rewards.

Final challenges

Once you’ve chosen, the bridge connects and your pact’s challenge begins in the last area. Whichever challenge it is, completing it pays a Rite complete gold bonus, and the pact’s gold change applies to that bonus too.

Challenge	Goal	Good to know
Break the Seals	Break the seal statue in the last area.	It keeps calling enemies while it stands and, once badly damaged, cracks open and fights. Breaking it spills gold, essence and minion fragments on the spot.
Massacre	Fill the on-screen kill count to the target.	Enemies keep pouring in, so sweep them up together with Corpse Explosion.
Survive	Stay inside the Ward until the seal gauge fills.	The gauge doesn’t rise while you’re outside the ward.

The Survive ward has several rules.

The gauge fills only while you’re inside the ward. Outside, it just stops at first, but once the gauge has built up a bit, staying out for more than a moment makes it drain, faster the longer you’re out. A quick step out to dodge is fine.
The longer you stay inside, the more of a protective barrier builds up on you. Holding your ground is safer than running.
If too many enemies crowd inside the ward, the gauge slows down. Don’t just stand there — clear the enemies inside.
Late in the challenge the ward gradually shrinks, and throughout the challenge elite enemies periodically appear at the ward’s edge and rush in.
Finish without ever letting the gauge drop to empty for an extra bonus.

Field altars

Every other floor has one altar, standing in one of the areas along the way. Tap it or stand beside it until the ring fills to activate it; it works only once. The effect lasts until the floor ends.

Altar	Effect
Altar of War	More minion damage and attack speed.
Altar of Bone	More minion health, resistance and life leech.
Altar of the Reaper	Instantly fills the Reaper gauge and extends Reaper Form.
Altar of the Legion	Instantly refills Command, then slowly restores Command whenever it runs low.

Altars of War and Bone can appear from the first altar floor; Altars of the Reaper and the Legion join a little deeper.

Battle chests and Mimics

A battle chest holding rewards shows an open button; chests without one are just decoration. Each floor holds a limited number of reward chests.
Tap one or stand beside it until the ring fills to open it. It holds one of: gear, minion fragments (for a minion in your deck), gold and essence, or rune fragments (sometimes a complete rune).
Sometimes opening a chest springs a Mimic ambush: a pack of enemies and an elite appear around it. Defeat them all for a better reward than usual — so opening chests always pays off.

Cages and rescues

The story’s allies are caged on floor 3 (Merchant Jeff), floor 6 (Hargas the Smith) and floor 12 (Doran the Miner).

Approach the cage and tap it, or stay beside it, and its guards appear.
Defeat every guard to open the cage; the ally then follows you around.
The rescue only counts once you clear that floor. If you fall or retreat before that, you’ll have to try again.

Once an ally has been rescued, their cage no longer appears on that floor.

Eclipse and the time limit

Two kinds of pressure run on every floor at once. Don’t mix them up.

	Eclipse	Time limit
How it runs	Climbs gradually with game time from the moment the gate opens, stepping up in stages.	Counts down in real time from the moment the gate opens.
As it rises	Enemies get faster and hit harder, seals call enemies faster, and corpses rot faster.	The remaining time stays hidden until the final stretch, when the floor label turns into a TIME countdown with a tolling bell.
When it’s full	Eclipse triggers. Enemies go into a frenzy and corpses rot rapidly, but it is not a failure.	You fail. The floor ends with the time limit exceeded and no clear rewards.
When it pauses	Whenever the game is paused (menus, card choices, pact choices, bridge scenes, lessons)	Battle Menu, level-up cards, pact choice, bridge scenes, challenge announcements, lessons, the clear sequence

The same clock also sets your tempo grade: the faster you finish a floor, the better your tempo.

Level-up cards

Killing enemies fills your experience; when you level up, you choose one of three cards. The game and the time limit are paused while you choose.

Card effects keep stacking for the rest of this life — they carry across floors and stay even when you fail a floor.
They reset when you reincarnate. Cards you seal with the Seal of Memory come with you into the next life, though, and sealed cards are offered more often there.
Every card has a type mark. Focusing on one or two types gives your build a clear shape.

Type	What it strengthens	Example cards
Emperor	Your legion and Command	Edict of Dominion, Legion of the Grave, Banner of Bloodlust
Berserker	Your own attacks, critical hits and damage against bosses	Rageforged Edge, Killer Instinct, Ruinbound Obsession
Balance	Your health, damage reduction, resistances and life leech	Bulwark of Equilibrium, Sanguine Circuit, Elemental Rampart
Mage	Corpse Explosion, Teleport, elemental power and item finding	Corpse Explosion Codex, Elemental Doctrine, Abyssal Greed

Clearing a floor

The moment you finish every objective, you become invincible and the remaining enemies vanish. In slow motion the dropped loot is drawn in, a portal opens, and you move on to the STAGE CLEAR screen. On floors you’ve cleared before, the sequence is shorter.

The results screen shows your grade and scoring axes and the gold, essence, fragments and runes you earned, plus what you would have gained one grade higher.
If you beat your best grade, an Essence of Conquest card appears too.
Use the buttons at the bottom to go to the Next Floor or Return to Village. On floors where the story sends you home, such as your first clear, there’s no next-floor button.

Failing a floor

If you fall or run out of time, the DESCENT FAILED screen opens and shows what ended the run.

Use RETRY to jump straight back into the same floor, or head back to the village.
Dropped gear and currency are kept. You only lose that floor’s clear rewards and grade.
Levels gained and level-up cards chosen during the run are kept as well.
Even if you opened a cage, the rescue doesn’t count.

Combo

Kill enemies without a break and your combo builds. A small combo counter at the upper right shows your count, and the line beneath it shows how much time you have until the next kill is due; the line flashes red when that time is nearly gone. A larger gauge opens when you reach a new tier, and if the first chain you lose on a floor had reached REAPING, it shows CHAIN BROKEN.

Tier	Effect
REAPING	Item finding and item quality rise.
SLAUGHTER	Item finding and quality rise further.
CARNAGE	Item finding and quality rise the most.

When no enemies are alive on the field (moving between areas, waiting for the next wave), you enter CHAIN HELD: the clock stops and the combo line turns pale. Stretches with no enemies never break your combo.
Bosses and seal statues refill your grace time every time you deal a certain amount of damage to them. Even in a long fight against a big target, your combo holds as long as you keep hitting it.
Killing a boss, a seal statue or an elite raises your combo by several steps at once.

Clear grade

There are five grades: C, B, A, S and SS. Your grade comes from your Slaughter Score, which is built around your combo plus three scoring axes.

Axis	What it measures
Combo	The highest combo you reached on this floor. It carries the most weight.
Tempo (shown as Onslaught)	How long you took to finish the floor. Faster is better.
Necro (shown as Corpse Harvest)	How much you used corpses for summoning, explosions and absorbing instead of letting them rot. Floors where Absorb isn’t available yet carry no penalty.
Survival (shown as Untouched)	Damage taken compared with your maximum health. Less is better.

Without a combo you can’t reach A or higher. Even perfect scores on the three axes cap out at B if your combo is low.
The top grade, SS, is called APOCALYPSE. It requires that your combo never broke before the floor ended (UNBROKEN), that you reached CARNAGE, and a high enough score.
The results screen tells you how many more combo you need for the next tier, or what to fix to reach APOCALYPSE.

Grades and rewards

Clear gold and essence grow with your grade, and a good tempo adds extra gold.
A good Necro grade brings more minion fragments and runes.
Floors with an affix pay larger clear rewards to match the danger. Monster Intel shows how much larger.
Essence of Conquest: when you earn a higher grade than your previous best on a floor, you get Essence of Conquest for each grade step you climbed, plus a one-time gold and essence bonus. Clearing again at the same grade gives no Essence of Conquest. Each floor holds a set amount up to SS; the best grade on each floor button shows how far you still have to climb.
First clears pay in full and give extra minion fragments. Floors you’ve already cleared pay less, and after a few repeats of the same floor on the same day, the reward drops further. That extra reduction lifts when the date changes (UTC).
After your first reincarnation, the Harvest Vessel also affects repeat rewards. See Reincarnation for details.

Weekly mutations

Once you’ve finished the Relic and Dark Covenant guidance after your first reincarnation, Weekly Mutations are added to every floor from the first boss floor down.

Each week two affixes are chosen, changing on Monday (UTC). They stack on top of the zone affix, so enemies get even tougher.
The small label on the floor’s entry banner changes from Stage Effects to Weekly Mutation, and the combined effect is shown. This week’s mutation names appear on the The Nether Twists line of the Sevenday Pact window.
Weekly mutations pay no extra spoils. Instead, the Sevenday Pact includes a task to slay bosses on twisted floors (Pact of the Hunt). See Dailies, Weeklies & the Codex for details.

Tips

Keep moving. The time limit ends in failure, and Eclipse keeps making enemies stronger. Both start as soon as the gate opens, so there’s no reason to linger in the starting area.
Combos break while you travel. Detouring to a distant chest or altar while enemies are still alive is an easy way to lose your combo. Clear the pack first, then go.
Keep hitting bosses and statues. As long as you’re dealing damage, your combo grace keeps refilling.
Revisit old floors to raise grades. Once you’re stronger, shallow floors are easy SS clears, and every grade you climb pays Essence of Conquest.
Choose pacts for what you need. Need gold? Take a Massacre gamble. Need minion fragments? Plague Pact or Soul Famine. Feeling shaky? Take a weakening pact.
Hold the center of the ward in Survive. Chasing enemies outside the ward stalls the gauge.
Focus level-up cards on one or two types. A scattered build loses steam on deep floors.

Common mistakes

Thinking a full Eclipse means failure. A full Eclipse is not a failure. You fail only if the time limit runs out or you fall.
Ignoring your combo. Without a combo you can’t reach A or higher.
Repeating floors at the same grade and waiting for Essence of Conquest. It only comes when you beat your best grade.
Skipping chests for fear of Mimics. Beating a Mimic improves the reward.
Running out of the ward in Survive. The gauge won’t rise outside the ward, and once it has built up, it drains while you stay out.
Opening a cage on a rescue floor and then giving up. The rescue only counts when you clear the floor.
Thinking death costs you your level-up cards. Cards stay even when you fail. They only reset when you reincarnate.