How the ladder opens
Your first run clear unlocks Ascension 1. Clearing that level opens the next, up to the current maximum of Ascension 5. You can return to the base difficulty, so a newly unlocked tier is an option rather than a requirement to continue playing.
Unlocks use both clear count and selected Ascension where those requirements exist. A card that needs one clear and Ascension 3 is not available just because you have won several Ascension-0 runs. Losses also do not count as clears.
How higher tiers change a run
Ascension makes enemies more durable, improves their action pressure, and reduces post-battle healing. The health scaling also includes enemy-tier and world adjustments, so a single headline percentage does not describe every enemy you will meet.
The base victory heal is 15% of Max HP. Each Ascension level reduces that recovery by 10% of its base amount before other modifiers: Ascension 1 retains 90% of the base heal, while Ascension 5 retains 50%. This is not a subtraction of ten percentage points from your health bar.
Later runs can change world order, introduce dangerous weather, and add more content to the exploration and reward pools. Better tools arrive alongside the harder encounters, so the ladder asks you to make fuller use of the game’s systems.
Useful progression milestones
These are selected milestones rather than a claim that every eligible item appears immediately. Random rewards still depend on the available pool, and special rewards retain their acquisition conditions.
| Tier | Selected additions |
|---|---|
| Ascension 1 | Phumi and Kali; Super Beam and Power Shield; later-world shrines and wells after the required clear |
| Ascension 2 | Mirefall inclusion once eligible; Cosmic Well; Destructive Shot and Spirit Axe |
| Ascension 3 | Power Stream, World King’s Armor and the hunter introduction |
| Ascension 4 | Energy Bomb; extra boss reward picks and an element branch; first-world shrine/well access |
| Ascension 5 | Portal, Aureole Crown and Tornado; Mythic Fighting Aura enters its eligible pool |
What to improve before climbing
Practise a reliable response to ordinary ranged attacks, a charged attack into guard, and a dodge against a close-range telegraph. A stronger deck cannot fully compensate for repeatedly taking the same avoidable attack.
Then refine your opening hand. Put your necessary defense in reach, make sure every trait has a realistic trigger, and identify one damage sequence you can repeat under pressure. Learn what your resource meters look like after that sequence so that you know when to pause or refill.
Higher tiers make run-only stat items, relics and infusions increasingly valuable. Their purpose is to strengthen the build you are currently playing; collecting them does not create a permanently overpowered profile for later attempts.
Choose the reward that solves the next world
A new card is attractive when it fills a missing role. A card upgrade is stronger when the current deck already works and one of its main tools still has room to improve. A stat reward gives broader value, while the later element branch can complete a specific interaction.
At Ascension 4 and above, the boss reward flow provides additional normal picks. Resolve each choice against the loadout you now hold rather than following a fixed list made before the first reward. A new card can change which upgrade or element is useful next.
If a tier feels inconsistent, review the encounter that ended the run. Identify whether the problem was low damage, missed attacks, insufficient sustain, an inactive trait or an unfamiliar hazard. Change the part of the build that answers that problem, then test the new plan.
