Field guides
Learn the descent
Dungeonbound is an autobattler, but the decisions happen before the fight. These guides cover the modes, the board, the forge and the systems that decide whether your bag survives the floor.
- Guides
- 8
- Last check
- 2026-11-15
- Build
- Pre-release + demo
Start here
The essential guides
If you only read two pages before launch, read the beginner guide and the board-building guide. They explain the loop and the one system that decides every fight.
By system
The rest of the field guide
Mode guides, system explainers and pre-release caveats. Database pages live under the Database tab; tools live under Tools.
System guide
Dungeonbound Board Building: Shapes, Tags, Runes & Trigger Order
Learn how Dungeonbound's backpack board actually works: shaped items, adjacency, tag sets, affinity bonuses, 2x2 runes, timed gear and a repeatable packing method.
Read guideMode guide
Dungeonbound Climb Guide: Hearts, Relics, Rivals & Rank
A complete Dungeonbound Climb guide: five hearts, relic picks, floor-8 promotion and how to scout another player's build.
Read guideCrafting guide
Dungeonbound Fusion & Merging Guide: Forge, Curses, Gems & Potions
How merging and fusion work in Dungeonbound: duplicate levels, hybrid variants, curses, gems, potion fusion and the stations that change an item.
Read guideMode guide
Dungeonbound Long Haul Guide: Seven Heroes, Five Descents
How The Long Haul works in Dungeonbound: seven heroes, five descents, permanent upgrades and a sane spending order for your campaign.
Read guideMode guide
Dungeonbound Co-op Climb Guide: How 2-4 Player Runs Work
How Dungeonbound's co-op climb works: separate purses and shops, five shared hearts, dice-rolled loot, gear gifting, team rivals and the bot that replaces a quitter.
Read guideHero guide
Dungeonbound Mage Guide: Lightning, Frost & Fire Subclasses
How the Dungeonbound Mage works: Lightning, Frost and Fire subclasses, separate progression, Mana constraints and a sane switching plan.
Read guideMode guide
Dungeonbound Daily Climb Guide: Shared Seed, Modifiers & Scoring
How The Daily works in Dungeonbound: one shared seed, one hero, three modifiers and a depth-based leaderboard. Includes a prep checklist.
Read guideBuilds & strategy
Build archetypes without a fake tier list
Three frameworks, their confirmed basis and the failure mode to test first.
Read pageBefore you read a tier list
We don't publish rankings without evidence
Dungeonbound changed substantially in October and November 2026. A pre-release tier list would mix builds from different patches and call it a ranking. We publish planning frameworks, sourced mechanics and patch-aware advice instead.