Your First Run

Your first run will probably end badly. That's fine — it's supposed to. The design target for a brand-new player is about a 5% win rate, and every run feeds the permanent skill tree whether you win or lose. What you're actually doing on your first run is learning how to read dice, read intents, and read your build.

This page walks you through one.

Before you start

Three things to know:

Death is progress. Every run earns skill points toward the permanent skill tree. Dying on floor 8 still pays out. The SP you earn unlocks stronger starts forever after.
The tutorial floors are generous. Floors 1–3 guarantee at least one elemental die per roll so you can see combos fire. The game gets harder after that.
You don't need to know everything. The only thing you need to know to start is the Core Loop. Everything else can be learned by losing.

Pick the Bruiser

The archetype select screen shows six characters. For your first run, pick The Bruiser.

Why? 100 HP (the highest in the game), a simple signature relic (Go Big: 5s and 6s give bonus chips), and a straightforward game plan — chase the big dice, swing hard. The Bruiser forgives mistakes more than any other character.

After 2–3 runs, try The Wanderer (80 HP, great economy) or The Elementalist (the combo engine) once you've got the basics. Save The Gambler, The Strategist, and The Trickster for later — their punishing stat lines and manipulation tricks work best when you already know what you're looking for. See Archetypes for the full breakdown.

Your first combat

When combat starts, you'll see 1–2 enemies with intent icons above their heads. Each icon tells you what that enemy will do next turn:

Red dagger = Attack (the number = damage)
Blue shield = Defend
Green potion = Heal / buff
Orange die = Dice interference
Purple key = Resource steal

Rule one: always check intents before you pick a target.

Then the core loop kicks in:

Roll your 5 dice.
Look for matches. Two 6s? Hold them — that's a Pair of 6s for about 33 damage (Bruiser's Go Big signature adds +8 chips per 6 on top of the base score). Not great, but not bad for turn 1.
Reroll the rest. Look for a third 6. A Three-of-a-Kind of 6s is where the Bruiser wakes up: Go Big's "three or more 6s doubles all chip damage" clause fires, and that 33-damage hand turns into one dealing ~150 damage. That's enough to one-shot most basic enemies and take a chunk off an elite.
Click an enemy and score.
Enemy phase. They do whatever their intent said.

Two things to internalize this fight:

Targeting matters. If one enemy is about to attack for 15 and another for 5, kill the 15.
Your rerolls are per turn. Use them. Unused rerolls are wasted.

Your first reward

After the fight you'll see three options: a relic, a consumable, or a skip bonus (gold + small gift). On your first run, always take the relic. Relics are permanent; consumables are one-shot; gold is useful but slow.

On a Bruiser run, prioritize High Value relics that feed the Go Big engine: Overcharge (6s worth 12 chips), Maximizer (×1.5 mult if all dice ≥ 4), Weighted Die (one die always shows 6). See Build Archetypes §3 for the full list.

If nothing fits your build, take anything marked +max HP, +reroll per turn, or +gold per combat. Those are always useful.

Guaranteed floors

Some floors are fixed. Use them to plan:

Floor 4 — Shop. Your first chance to spend gold. Leave with at least one relic or consumable.
Floor 5+ — Elite enemies can now appear. They hit harder but drop Uncommon relics.
By floor 7 — Shrine (guaranteed). Pick a blessing. For a Bruiser, aim for Sharpened Edge (+chips), Stone Skin (−1 damage taken), or Second Wind (heal 3/combat).
Floor 8 — Rest. Heal 25% HP, or upgrade a relic. On your first run, always heal.
Floor 9 — Shop. Second shop. Spend down to the 15-gold interest floor here.
Floor 13 — Rest. Last rest before the boss. Heal.
Floor 14 — Pre-boss event (elite or shrine).
Floor 15 — The Beholder.

See Run Structure for the full map structure.

Fighting the Beholder

The Beholder is a disruptor, not a bruiser. They won't deal much raw damage — they'll try to break your combo engine:

STRIP_ELEMENT — dispels elements from your elemental dice
Dice interference — freezes, curses, value snipes
Occasional hard hit

Because you're playing a High Value build (not a combo build), most of their interference doesn't hurt you. Focus fire. Keep scoring every turn and you'll win the race.

If you get stuck, burn your consumables. Save nothing for "later" — there is no later in a boss fight. Shatter a 6 for 60 direct damage. Set Die a low roll into a 6 to chain another Go Big double.

Kill or Save?

When you beat the Beholder, you get a choice:

Kill — a permanent damage buff for the rest of the run. Strong now, narratively costly (karma −15, no Memory Fragment).
Save — a Memory Fragment — no damage bonus, but you unlock the first piece of the secret ending (karma +15).

On your first run, pick whichever feels right — both are valid. On later runs when you're hunting the true ending, always Save. You need 3+ Memory Fragments to access the hidden final boss. See Bosses for the full picture.

After the run

Win or lose, you'll see a run-end screen showing:

Base SP earned (based on how deep you got — 0 SP for deaths before floor 7)
Achievement SP earned (one-time bonuses: Clear Act 1 +5, First Victory +8, first Five-of-a-Kind +3, etc.)
Lifetime SP toward the 100-cap

Spend SP in the Skill Tree. For a brand-new player, the best first 10 SP go into the Damage / Chips branch (small nodes adding +1 base chips and +0.05 mult to every hand) — it helps every build you'll try next. Keystones are expensive; don't chase one until you have ~20 SP in hand.

Then pick a new archetype and run it back. By your fourth or fifth attempt, you'll start to feel the shape of the game — and that's when the real fun begins.

Related: The Core Loop · Archetypes · Run Structure · Build Archetypes · Bosses