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Chronoromancer

Version-matched official guide

Dungeon and Dragon Coin Guide

Factions & ExplorationSimplified Chinese availableV0.9.6.0
Guide noticeThis page contains gameplay and story spoilers and may describe mature systems.

This guide covers the Ancient Catacombs, their current progression gates, fixed minibosses, hidden routes, the separate Infinity Dungeons, and the current Dragon Coin economy.

Major spoilers: This page names dungeon guardians, secret-wall coordinates, late-game areas, and valuable scenario rewards.

Community credit

The Floor 13 farming idea and several early dungeon tips were popularized by Larsun and other players on the community Tips page. That work inspired this guide and is credited under the wiki's CC BY-SA 4.0 license. The details below were then checked against the current game implementation and expanded substantially.

Quick answers

  • Enter through Medieval Era → Village Outskirts → Monastery Scriptoria → Underground Catacombs → Explore Ancient Catacombs.
  • You begin on the bottom-right side of each 20×11 floor. The downward stairs are near the top-left.
  • Find the floor's key, open the door protecting the stairs, and descend. Lockpicking can open the door without its key.
  • Every successful descent permanently unlocks that floor in the entrance floor picker.
  • Re-entering a floor generates a new layout and new random rewards. A partially explored map is not preserved after leaving.
  • Movement normally costs 4 minutes per tile. The Time buff and Fleet Footed each remove 1 minute, for a minimum of 2 minutes when both apply.
  • Floor 13 guarantees one underwater Dragon Coin tile on every generation, but practically requires Swim.
  • Ordinary Dragon Coin tiles have a 16% generation chance, with at most one per eligible floor. They do not generate normally on Floors 41–45.
  • The current normal dungeon ends at Floor 45. The Infinity Dungeons are a separate endless mode.

Before the first descent

The game autosaves immediately before entering. You can also leave at any time with the exit button or Escape.

Useful preparation, roughly in priority order:

  1. Carry Medicine and restore Health, Energy, Calm, and satiation.
  2. Equip the best armor you can obtain. Each effective armor level removes 2 damage from affected floor traps, down to zero.
  3. Learn Swim before Floor 13. Without it, water tiles are impassable.
  4. Learn Lockpicking to bypass the key requirement and open chests regardless of stats.
  5. Learn Fleet Footed to reduce travel time and hunger accumulation.
  6. Bring the Time buff if you expect a long run.
  7. Learn Mining and carry pickaxes if you want shortcuts and resource fragments.
  8. Keep a reserve of Dragon Coins instead of spending every coin on random events. Several unique upgrades require them.

See combat_system.md, mining_system.md, stats_skills_and_proficiencies.md, and items.md for the systems behind combat, equipment, skills, and consumables.

The core floor loop

Each ordinary floor is generated as a maze:

  1. Start at the entrance near (18, 9).
  2. Explore for the key and any rewards you want.
  3. Reach the door near the downward stairs.
  4. Use the key or Lockpicking.
  5. Step on the downward stairs near (1, 1).

Descending updates your highest reached floor. The next time you enter from the catacombs, every floor from 1 through that highest legal floor is directly selectable.

Ascending also generates a fresh copy of the previous floor. Leaving and re-entering does the same. This is why fixed-floor resources such as the Floor 13 underwater coin can be farmed.

Time and hunger

Every traversed tile costs time:

Setup Minutes per normal move
No reduction 4
Time buff or Fleet Footed 3
Time buff and Fleet Footed 2

Dungeon hunger uses the normal day-long satiation formula: 100 satiation per 1,440 minutes. It applies accumulated loss once at least 7.2 minutes have passed and rounds to the nearest point. Perfect Metabolism reduces this loss by 25%.

Food tiles help during long explorations:

Tile Satiation restored
Apple 10–25
Bread 25–35
Meat 30–50
Fish on Floor 13 5

Mining a wall costs 10 minutes when it breaks. Some traps and scenarios consume additional time.

Keys, chests, skulls, and barriers

Key and door

There is normally one key and one progression door. A carried key opens the door; Lockpicking opens it without consuming a key. Key possession resets when changing floors.

Chest

Each normal floor attempts to place one chest. Open it with Lockpicking or meet either of these raw-stat checks:

  • Strength ≥ 30 + 2 × (floor − 1)
  • Ability ≥ 30 + 2 × (floor − 1)

Its gold reward is 50 + 25 × floor + 0–30.

Skull

Each normal floor attempts to place one skull. It performs one Luck test per generated floor:

  • Floors 1–35: Luck roll out of 100
  • Floors 36–40: Luck roll out of 500

Success awards the same gold range as a chest. A skull cannot be retested on the same generated map.

Water, blood, and obstacle checks

  • Water: impassable without Swim.
  • Blood on Floors 21–25: always traversable, but each step drains 5 Energy without reducing Energy below 1.
  • Boulder: requires raw Strength 20 + floor.
  • Troll: normally requires raw Strength 30 + 2 × floor. In the Void Depths, it instead uses a 50% success roll; failure deals 10–30 damage.
  • Trick door: requires raw Creativity 35.

Traps and armor

Early floors mix spikes, spiders, buzz saws, lava, gas, trapdoors, quicksand, ice, and other checks. Damage generally rises with floor depth. The later themes add their own denser hazards.

Effective armor reduces many direct floor-trap hits by 2 damage per armor level. It does not make every environmental effect safe: Energy drains, forced movement, time loss, special scenario damage, and some late mechanics use separate rules.

Perception is especially useful against ordinary spikes. Their requirement is 30 + (floor − 1). Void and mechanical hazards use their own success rules instead.

Mining dungeon walls

With Mining and at least one pickaxe, click an adjacent interior wall three consecutive times to break it. Changing targets resets the hit chain.

Breaking a wall:

  • consumes one pickaxe in this priority: Iron, then Copper, then Diamond;
  • costs 10 minutes total;
  • creates a permanent passage for that generated map; and
  • awards one random fragment: Iron Ingot, Silver Ingot, Mithril Ingot, Mineral Cluster, Crystal, or Gem.

Border walls and active secret-passage walls cannot be mined. Mechanical wall turrets use a separate two-hit pickaxe interaction and can yield Components.

Floor themes and milestones

Floors Region What changes
1–12 Ancient Ruins Standard maze, increasingly numerous spikes, early guardians and scenarios.
13 Submerged Floor Floors become water, exactly 3 fish and 1 underwater Dragon Coin are placed, and Swim is functionally mandatory.
14–20 Deeper Ruins Standard theme resumes; enemy and trap scaling continues.
21–25 Vampire Depths Water patches become blood, blood enemies join normal battles, and Floor 23 contains the Vampire Castle.
26–30 Infernal Depths Guaranteed lava and fire overlays. Floor 26 contains a fixed Minotaur Blacksmith forge.
31–35 Overgrown Depths Audrey plants, bear traps, poison vines, poison overlays, and earth elementals.
36–40 Void Depths Gas overlays, void hazards, harsher Luck checks, and more dangerous troll rules.
41–45 Mechanical Depths Mechanical traps, mines, turrets, force fields, Components, merchantbots, and the A.R.I.A. endpoint.

Floor 13: the reliable Dragon Coin route

Floor 13 is not merely a 16% coin roll. Its special generator places exactly one underwater coin each time the floor is built.

Recommended route:

  1. Learn Swim.
  2. Reach Floor 13 once so it appears in the picker.
  3. Enter Floor 13 directly.
  4. Search the navigable water maze for the underwater coin.
  5. Exit to the catacombs.
  6. Re-enter Floor 13 to generate another map and another coin.

This is the most deterministic repeatable normal-dungeon coin source. The tradeoff is movement time, hunger, water battles, and the need to search a new layout each run.

Floor 23: Vampire Castle

Floor 23 uses a fixed central landmark inside a random surrounding maze. The castle is at the center around (10, 5) and is surrounded by two layers of blood. Entering it leads into the Vampire Castle content and provides one of the current access routes associated with Ruxandra. See ruxandra.md for her complete route.

Floor 26: Minotaur Blacksmith

The fixed forge is centered near (3, 8) inside a lava ring. The blacksmith upgrades a melee weapon or armor from Level 1–7 by one level, once per visit.

The price is current equipment level + 2 Dragon Coins:

Current level Cost New level
1 3 2
2 4 3
3 5 4
4 6 5
5 7 6
6 8 7
7 9 8

Starting Level 0 gear is not eligible, and the blacksmith will not upgrade Level 8 gear.

Floor 45: Proxy Warden and A.R.I.A.

The hidden wall at (1, 6) leads to the repeatable Proxy Warden challenge. Defeat the Proxy Warden to obtain the authorization needed for A.R.I.A.'s threshold. The A.R.I.A. miniboss tile remains blocked until that flag is set.

After the Floor 45 guardian content, the stairs remain sealed. Floor 45 is the current end of the normal dungeon.

Current floor-access gates

The entrance picker and stairs enforce current content entitlements:

Gate Current behavior
Normal free-access picker Floors up to 21 can be built once reached.
Floor 20 → 21 The descent is blocked without the paid dungeon-content entitlement.
Floor 35 → 36 Requires the applicable supporter code/state.
Floor 40 → 41 Requires the latest deeper-dungeon supporter unlock.
Floor 45 → 46 Sealed; Floor 46 is not part of the current normal dungeon.

With the paid dungeon surface available, the normal picker cap is 45. This cap does not bypass the additional Floor 35 and Floor 40 supporter gates.

Fixed minibosses

These narrative guardians are fixed to specific floors and disappear from future generated maps after victory. Their listed level is the encounter's internal guardian tier, not the dungeon floor.

Floor Guardian Encounter level
1 Raven 1
3 Spectra 2
5 Whiskers 2
7 Lindia 3
10 Serpina 3
15 Lyssa 3
20 Ravenous 4
25 Torea 7
30 Valkyra 8
35 Audrey 9
40 Nyxara 10
45 A.R.I.A. 11

Miniboss battles use narrative choices rather than the ordinary combat screen. Choices may use one or more stats or require a skill; Mystic choices also need a grimoire. Power increases damage dealt to a miniboss, while Shield reduces incoming miniboss damage.

A timeout or stalemate is not a victory and ejects you from the dungeon. Defeating Nyxara on Floor 40 also unlocks the Void Chamber used to enter Infinity mode, subject to its normal paid/Higher Power access requirements.

Secret-wall routes

Secret walls look like ordinary walls. Walk into the listed coordinate after satisfying its conditions.

Floor Coordinate Route or condition
2 (2, 10) Momosagi rescue; own the brothel, have Beast 20+, and have not already recruited her.
10 (2, 10) Jelly encounter; Cell Corridor built and Jelly not active.
18 (1, 6) Myriss encounter; Cell Corridor built and Myriss not active.
21 (2, 10) Mandarin rescue; own the brothel and have not acquired the second maid.
27 (2, 10) Melanthe encounter; Cell Corridor built and Melanthe not active.
29 (1, 6) Bessie encounter; Cell Corridor built and Bessie not active.
34 (1, 6) Bobo rescue after exactly two earlier Bobo encounters; Cell Corridor built.
35 (1, 6) Baba Yaga route.
45 (1, 6) Repeatable A.R.I.A. Proxy Warden challenge.

Infinity floors intentionally disable these secret passages.

Dragon Coins

Dragon Coins are the dungeon economy's principal special currency. They appear in the consumables inventory but are usually spent through merchants and scenario choices rather than consumed directly.

Reliable and random sources

Source Coins Repeatable? Notes
Floor 13 underwater tile 1 tile per generated floor Yes Guaranteed generation; Swim required to traverse water.
Ordinary coin tile 1 tile Yes 16% chance, at most one, on eligible non-mechanical generated floors.
Tutorial Elf Usually 1 Limited Several tutorial outcomes introduce the currency.
Dungeon scenarios 1–10+ Varies Rewards include trapped-character rescues, battle scenarios, water events, Void events, and progressive character encounters.
Zombie Horde victory 5 Scenario-dependent Fixed victory reward when that scenario appears.
Arachnid Nest victory 3 Scenario-dependent Fixed victory reward when that scenario appears.
Black Knight / Cthulhu victories 5 / 10 Scenario-dependent Void Depths examples.
Mechanical weapon cache 1 Randomly generated Also awards Components and gold.
Infinity mimic bonus 1 Random One possible bonus drop after an Infinity mimic victory.
Kupie Love Training store 1 Stock refreshes Listed at $1,000,000 with a 12-hour restock; generally an inefficient late-game money sink.

Many scenario rewards depend on a stat check, skill, alignment choice, combat victory, or a one-time story counter. Do not plan a farm around a random scenario unless you can afford to reroll floors.

Best farming strategy

For pure reliability, use Floor 13:

  1. Start fully fed and learn Swim.
  2. Equip Fleet Footed and use the Time buff if available.
  3. Enter Floor 13 from the picker, collect its underwater coin, and exit.
  4. Repeat.

For better overall value, clear whole eligible floors. A floor can combine the 16% coin roll with chests, skulls, scenarios, Fighters Guild objectives, food, and combat drops. Full clearing is slower per guaranteed coin but advances several systems at once.

Gonzo's shop

Gonzo has a 10% placement chance on eligible ordinary floors. He does not appear in the Void or Mechanical Depths. Negotiation discounts most of his 5-coin purchases by one coin and his Crystal by two.

Purchase Normal cost With Negotiation Limits/effect
Upgrade melee weapon by 1 5 4 Current Level 0–4; reaches Level 5.
Upgrade armor by 1 5 4 Current Level 0–4; reaches Level 5.
Random non-exclusive skill book 5 4 Chooses from skills you can currently learn.
Medicine ×5 1 1 No Negotiation discount.
Random +2 core-stat elixir 5 4 Random among ten main stats.
Crystal ×1 25 23 Current price; save carefully before spending.

Other important coin purchases

Seller or event Cost Result
Wort 1 Monster Tonic or Smelling Salts. Wort only appears after the Cell Corridor is built.
Goblin Blood Orb trader 5 One Blood Orb.
Mischievous Leprechaun 1 +1 Luck; Deception can substitute one ordinary gold coin.
Old Fisherman 5 Learn Master Baiter or take a fishing lesson, when eligible.
Sea Witch 3 A potion.
Demon Brothel 3 One of five service rewards.
Flesh Sculptor 3, or 2 with Negotiation An enhancement selected through the scenario.
Goblin Merchant 7, or 6 with Negotiation Upgrade eligible Level 1–3 professional gear, formal attire, or dating outfit.
Minotaur Blacksmith 3–9 Upgrade eligible Level 1–7 weapon or armor once per visit.
Withered Merchant 1 +1 Max HP, +1 Max Energy, or +1 Max Calm.
Void Wizard 10 Upgrade a grimoire below Level 5.
Void Wizard 5 +3 Max HP or +3 Max Energy.
Mech Engineer Hologram 1 One Component.
Mech Merchantbot 20 Components + 5 coins Initial Force Field, Bio-Reactor Core, or Mnemonic Battery.
Mech Merchantbot 35 Components + 5 coins Sword Chain or Sniper's Scope.

Additional one-off or random scenarios can charge 1–10 coins for services, stat changes, memories, equipment enhancement, passage, gambling, or story choices. Always read the full choice text: some options permanently change stats or consume all currently held Coins and Components.

Spending priorities

A practical order is:

  1. Keep 5 coins in reserve for unique skill, Blood Orb, fishing, or scenario opportunities.
  2. Use Gonzo to bring Level 0–4 weapon and armor up efficiently if normal gold upgrades are lagging.
  3. Buy permanent max-resource or stat increases when the choice is favorable.
  4. Save 5 coins plus Components for each unique Mechanical Depths key item you want.
  5. Buy Gonzo's Crystal only when you specifically need a Crystal and cheaper acquisition routes are unavailable.

Negotiation is one of the strongest economy skills for coin spending. It reduces costs across Gonzo and several random merchants, though not every seller honors it.

Current pickup discrepancy

The intended reward for an ordinary or underwater coin tile is one Dragon Coin. In the current interaction code, the first-ever pickup can add one coin through mystery-item discovery and then add another coin unconditionally. As a result, a fresh save may receive two inventory coins from its first visible coin tile even though the tile and message describe one. Later pickups award one normally.

This is an implementation discrepancy, not a second guaranteed Floor 13 tile. Treat the inventory total as authoritative until the pickup logic is corrected.

Infinity Dungeons

Infinity mode is separate from the 45-floor normal dungeon.

To unlock its entrance:

  1. Reach Floor 40 of the normal dungeon.
  2. Defeat Nyxara.
  3. Return to the Underground Catacombs and enter the newly opened Void Chamber.
  4. Meet the action's paid-version and Higher Power requirements.

Infinity mode has:

  • no floor cap and no supporter gates between floors;
  • its own highest-floor picker;
  • a random normal-dungeon visual theme and hue on every generated floor;
  • battles from the full enemy pool, with enemy tints and affixes;
  • no NPC scenarios, fixed minibosses, Fighters Guild placements, or secret walls;
  • flat 40% activation behavior for its standard trap set, ignoring normal stat avoidance;
  • a 30% chance for an opened chest to become a mimic; and
  • deeper enemy and hazard scaling based on the real Infinity floor, not merely the chosen visual theme.

Descending or falling through a trapdoor unlocks the next Infinity floor. Leaving preserves the highest reached floor but discards the current generated map.

Common troubleshooting

I cannot move on Floor 13

Learn Swim. The special generator converts the walkable floor network to water.

The door will not open

Search for the key, or learn Lockpicking. A key resets on every newly generated floor.

A floor vanished from the picker

The picker is capped by current content entitlement even if an imported save records a higher maximum. Without the paid dungeon surface, it will not build floors above 21.

I cannot descend from Floor 35 or 40

Those are separate current supporter-code gates. Unlocking the general paid dungeon surface does not automatically satisfy both deeper gates.

A miniboss came back after I won

Make sure the encounter ended in a true victory. Timeout, draw, retreat, or stat depletion does not set the persistent defeat flag.

I defeated A.R.I.A. but cannot reach Floor 46

There is no current normal Floor 46. The Mechanical Depths end at Floor 45; use the Infinity Dungeons for endless descent.

Source audit notes

This walkthrough was checked against the current dungeon generator, movement and interaction handlers, floor picker, miniboss registry, scenario files, merchant menus, inventory discovery function, Infinity mode, and save-state derivations. Random-content percentages describe generation attempts; placement can still fail if no eligible tile remains.

Community discoveries

These official guides track the current game. The player-maintained wiki may contain additional strategies and discoveries.

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