Getting started

Starting your first run comes down to two decisions: which world and chapter to enter, and which three fighters to bring (they lock for the whole run). Before either, make sure you meet the two prerequisites.

Before you start

You need both of these, or the Journey tab won't let you begin:

Prerequisite	Why	Where
Discord linked	Journey identity is keyed to your Discord account — without it the mode won't load.	Settings → Linked Accounts
A team of three	You commit three fighters up front, and they're locked for the run.	Build it in the Roster (your fighters)

Link Discord early

The same Discord link gates your Kitchen and Arena too. Do it once, up front, and everything unlocks together. See Link accounts.

The World Picker

Open the Journey tab and you land on the World Picker — a season map with a card per world:

Card	State today
The Resonant Plains (Tutorial)	Open — the free starting world every new player begins in; a short, guided tutorial before Cinderfall (see Worlds)
Cinderfall (Season 1, Volcanic)	Open — the first full world, once you've found your feet in the Plains
The Stillair (Season 2, Storm)	Open once you clear Cinderfall's Herald — Season 1's capstone boss unlocks it
Meridian Deep (Season 3, Tidal)	The newest world — unlocks after you clear The Stillair's Herald
Seasons 4+	Countdown or "coming soon" — locked
Sonentius (Event)	Live — a limited-time event world in the Event slot, open to everyone now. See SkyScape

Worlds unlock in order. Each locked world opens when you clear the Herald — the capstone boss — of the world before it. So everyone starts in Cinderfall; beat its Herald and The Stillair (Season 2) opens, then Meridian Deep (Season 3) behind Stillair's Herald in turn. Later seasons stay sealed the same way. See Worlds & Where to Play Next for the full ladder and how to know you're ready.

Each world hits harder — and pays off in stronger gear

Enemies scale up with each world. Cinderfall is a gentle entry; The Stillair's foes are meaningfully tougher, and Meridian Deep's tougher still. That climb is matched by loot: each world drops its own gear line in a higher power band (Ashen → Stormswept → Barnacled) and opens the next Ascension stage. Expect to re-gear and ascend as you enter each new world, not coast in on the last one's kit.

Picking a chapter

Inside a world you choose a chapter, then run its 16 nodes as a gauntlet. Before you commit, each node shows you:

• Its type — Standard, Elite, Swarm, or Boss (see Node types).
• Its energy cost.
• A recommended power read — green if your team meets it, yellow if you're within about 20% below, red if you're further under.
• A loot preview — an honest "1 of N from a family pool" (the item shown is an example of what can drop, not a guarantee).
• Your best star rating so far, 0 to 3.

Use the recommended-power read as your go/no-go: green is a comfortable clear, yellow is a real fight, red means come back stronger.

Starting the run

1. From the chapter, choose the sprint to begin (runs open at Sprint 1: nodes 1–4).
2. Pick your three fighters. The picker starts with your Recommended (highest-power) team already selected, and a one-tap ✨ Recommend and ⚡ Auto-equip will field and gear a strong trio for you — so you can just hit start. Want to fine-tune it yourself? Open Customize team to swap fighters and edit gear by hand. Either way, this is your last chance to change them — they're locked once the run starts.
3. Confirm and node 1 begins at full health. Playing while you have Attunement spends a little for the loot bonus; out of Attunement, you play on at the normal rate.

Combat is a turn-based fight you play out; when a node resolves you carry your team's condition into the next one. See Run Mode for the full flow, and Difficulty tiers for what you can pick today.

Don't want to play it by hand? Dispatch it

Instead of confirming a live run, you can hit 🛰️ Start & Dispatch to send the gauntlet to the server and let it play in the background — it clears nodes and banks loot whether or not the app is open. See Dispatch.

Build a roster, not one team

Different node types reward different builds — the team that melts a boss gets swarmed by a horde, and vice versa. Aim for a small pool of fighters you can mix and match between runs. Node types explains which team suits which fight.

See also

• Run Mode — the 16-node gauntlet, checkpoints, and retries
• Node types — the kinds of fight and what they demand
• Energy — the Attunement loot bonus behind your runs
• Your fighters — build the team you'll bring