Hold out alone against ever bigger waves of monsters while your skills fire by themselves. Build a set of skills and cards as you level.

Talk to the Night Warden in Prontera 167,202 to start. Every run is single player on an instanced map. Your character gains no EXP and loses nothing, and falling in a run is never a real death, hardcore characters included. His window is where you pick a class and a stage, spend gold, follow your unlocks and see the leaderboards.

• You only walk. Your skills fire on their own, and most aim at the nearest enemy.
• A stage lasts 20 minutes, or 15 in Valkyrie's Arena. The waves grow the longer you last, with swarms, rings of monsters closing in, elites and bosses along the way.
• Monsters drop experience gems: Blue, Yellow and Red Gemstones, each worth more than the last. Walk close and they come to you.
• Every level up pauses the run and offers three choices, or four with luck: a new skill, a new card or a level of one you hold. You carry up to 6 skills and 6 cards.
• Monsters hurt you by touch. When your health runs out the run is over, unless you have a revival left to get back up.
• Pause whenever you like. The clock stops with you.

When time runs out

Every monster on the field falls and the Lord of the Dead comes. Defeating him clears the stage.

At the same moment a circle starts closing in on where you stand and shuts over 3 minutes. Outside it you lose 5% of your max health a second, 5% more for each second you stay out. Defeat him before it closes to win the run and 1,000 gold, or 500 more on each stage after Payon Woods.

Controls

• W A S D or the arrow keys walk. Clicking to move works too.
• 1 to 4 picks a level up choice, R rerolls.
• Esc or P pauses.
• Enter opens chat, and sending an empty line gives the keys back.

28 skills from the game, from Bash and Fire Bolt to Desperado and Catnip Meteor. Every class starts with one, level ups offer the rest, and each goes up to level 8.

Cards are Ragnarok cards that each raise one stat, up to level 5. The Doppelganger and Osiris Cards stop at level 2.

Cooldown stops at 60%, however much of it you stack.

Every skill has an evolution. Hold the skill at level 8 and the card it goes with, then open a chest, and it turns into its stronger form.

• Elites and bosses drop a chest. It holds an evolution when a skill is ready for one, otherwise levels of what you already hold, and some gold.
• A boss's chest holds 3 rewards and an elite's holds 1. Luck can make any chest bigger, up to 5.

On the field

Treasure chests also stand on the field around you. Walk into one to break it open for one of these, and a shining one holds something better. Monsters now and then drop a Gold Coin too.

27 classes, from the Novice to the Druid. Each starts with one of its own skills and has a few bonuses of its own: the Knight is heavily armored, the Mage casts quickly but is frail, and the Assassin grows deadlier as it levels.

The four free classes are open from the start. Every other class unlocks through an achievement, then is bought once. The Super Novice starts with both Knife Throw and Bash.

Seven stages, each on its own PvP map. Payon Woods is open from the start, and each of the others opens from the one before it.

Each stage after Payon Woods has tougher monsters, up to 70% more health in Valkyrie's Arena, and pays more gold. Elites and bosses also grow with your level.

Gold comes from coins, bullion, chests and the Lord of the Dead. All you pick up is kept when the run ends, win or lose, and it buys classes and power ups from the Night Warden. It is only for this mode.

Power ups are kept for your whole account and count in every run. Each rank costs more than the last, and every rank you buy adds 20 gold to every price.

Prices are in gold, before the 20 for each rank you own. Revival, Reroll, Skip and Banish unlock through achievements.

Curse

Curse makes a run harder for more experience. Every 10% gives monsters 10% more health, brings 10% more of them and makes them 5% faster, and gives you 5% more experience. It comes from the Curse power up, which can be switched off in the Night Warden's window whenever you like, and its ranks are kept.

Unlocks. One stage, the four free classes, 8 skills and 10 cards are open from the start. Achievements open the rest, along with four of the power ups: survive so long on a stage, reach a level, max a skill or defeat a boss. They are kept for your whole account. The Unlocks tab lists each one and how far along you are, and Collection shows every skill, evolution and card you have held.

Leaderboards. Each character's best run on each stage goes on the board. A win ranks above any fall, the quickest win first, then the longest survived and the most monsters defeated. Records shows the top five of every stage, your own bests and your account's totals.