The Ashen Depths

#What the Depths are

The Ashen Depths are a dungeon that never ends. Every floor is freshly made when you arrive: a maze of rooms and corridors, lit by the odd torch, with darkness everywhere else and a minimap that fills in as you explore.

The deeper you go:

• The tougher the monsters. Monster level climbs by two with every floor, and new kinds appear the further down you get: the ashlands' wolves and dead at first, then imps, Rotting Delvers and Ash Ghouls, then Ashfang Orcs, and eventually creatures from the swamp and the Cinder Wastes.
• The better the loot. Higher-level monsters drop higher item levels, and every floor adds +10% Magic Find on top of your own.
• The more champions you'll meet.

The Depths suit every level. Go as deep as feels right, and come back up when it doesn't.

#Getting in

• The entrance is just south-east of Emberfall. Party members standing at it with you go down together, and if your party is already below, the entrance takes you to their floor. See Parties.
• Join a friend: at the entrance, pick a friend who's already down there and join them on their floor (not while they're in someone else's party).
• From home: build a Delve Portal in your house. Its higher tiers can start you deeper, at checkpoint floors you've already reached. See Houses.

#On each floor

• Stairs down lead to the next floor. Party members near the stairs go down together; the rest can follow later to the same floor.
• A portal back to Emberfall stands where you arrived. Using it ends the delve.
• Treasure chests: at least one per floor, and two on every third floor. Chests spill gold and several items at once, and can hold potions, Identify Scrolls and Warden Key Fragments. Each hero opens each chest once, for their own loot.
• A shrine: touch it for a boon that lasts for the rest of the delve, and a good heal.
• Rocks: from the second floor down, many floors have an ore rock in one of the rooms.

#Guardians and Echoes

• On every third floor, a guardian champion holds the room with the stairs.
• On every 5th floor, an Echo of the Warden holds the stairs and seals them until it falls. Deeper Echoes are stronger. They can drop the summon-granting Grave Lantern, and from depth 15 down also Emberstone and the Ashfall Rune. Slaying an Echo also opens a Homeward Gate beside it, a quick way back to Emberfall if you'd rather not go deeper (see Homeward Gates).

#Shrine boons

Every shrine grants one boon. Boons stack for the rest of the delve, but each one only up to three times. A shrine that offers a boon you've already maxed heals you instead.

Boons vanish when the delve ends.

#Ending a delve

A delve ends when you:

• Use the portal back to Emberfall, or
• Click a Homeward Gate left by a slain Echo, or
• Die. Dying in the Depths ends the run and sends you back up.

Either way, you keep everything you picked up. A summary shows how deep you got, what you killed and which boons you had.

Your deepest floor is saved. It shows on your house's Trophy Wall, unlocks Delve Portal checkpoints, and counts toward achievements: Delver, Deep Delver and Abyss Walker.

#Pets in the dark

Chests deep in the Depths can hold pets, and the deeper the chest, the rarer the pet. The Salamander and the Phoenix Chick come from nowhere else:

• Cave Bat
• Shade Wisp
• Crystal Spider
• Lava Salamander
• Phoenix Chick

See Pets.

#Delving with friends

The Depths are made for groups. Monsters on a floor scale to the number of heroes on it, and rescale when someone joins or leaves. Every hero gets full XP, their own loot, and their own roll on every chest.