Rift Defense: a tower defense with your Cromons

How a Rift Defense run works

1. 1

   Pick a deck

   Choose 6 towers and, once you have one, a legendary. Each tower is a Cromon line with its own attack: a flamethrower, a tidal wave that pushes foes back, chain lightning, thorn traps, a sky sniper.

2. 2

   Build on the sockets

   Spend Essence to place towers along the road, then upgrade them. At levels 3 and 5 a tower Ascends into the next form of its line, and each tower picks its target: first, last, strongest, closest, or priority (thieves, saboteurs and healers first).

3. 3

   Read the next wave

   The top bar shows what is coming. Flyers take their own route, camouflaged foes need a detector, burrowers dig under the road, and a type that beats the enemy's deals 25% more damage.

4. 4

   Hold the Heart

   Call a wave early for bonus Essence, aim the legendary's Ultimate where the road is crowded, and keep the Heart alive to the last wave.

5. 5

   Collect your stars

   The Heart starts with 20 lives: keep 18 for three stars, 6 for two. Three stars on a level open its Heroic and Iron challenges.

What are the worlds of Rift Defense?

Each world is a region of the Crystal Void with its own ground, music and threats, and each one teaches something new. Its seventh level is a guardian, a champion with its own health bar, and its last level is its boss. Beating a world's boss gives you that world's legendary, so you arrive in the next world stronger than you left the last one.

Which towers can you play?

There are 20 towers and 7 legendaries, each one a Cromon line. 6 are open to every Keeper from the start: Kindlekin, Pladdle, Sproutara, Glimviper, Aerbyte and Flitbat. The rest open as you play: the fifth and tenth levels of each world open one tower each, a world's boss gives its legendary, and owning a Cromon of a tower's line opens that tower for you at once. A tower can also be opened early for 1,500 to 4,000 Shards depending on its world, and a legendary for 12,000 Shards and 300 Rift Cores.

In a game, a tower climbs to level 3. Levels 4 to 6 are bought once with Shards and stay open, and owning the final form of a line opens it up to level 5 for as long as you own it. At level 6 a tower takes one of two branches, which its Rank opens: Ranks 2 to 5 add damage and are paid in Shards and Rift Cores, the mode's own material. Owning the line also adds a Bond of 5 to 10% to the tower's damage. All of this is frozen when a run opens, so a Rank bought halfway through changes nothing until the next one. The mistake to avoid early on: a deck without anything that hits flyers. Before a level starts, each card of your hand shows what it can hit, flyers and camouflaged foes included, and the brief lists what the waves will send.

What are the Heroic and Iron challenges?

Three stars on a level open two harder versions of it. Heroic sends the same waves as elites of their class, tougher and with an ability of their own, against a Heart with a single life. Iron takes your collection away: everyone plays the same three towers the level lends, without a legendary, Rank or Bond. A challenge won is worth one star of its own, on top of the level's three.

How do the Daily Breach and the Endless Breach rank Keepers?

Both are endless runs on a map of the campaign: the waves never stop, and the score is the wave where the Heart falls, then the share of that wave purified, then who got there first. The Daily Breach lends everyone the same deck and legendary, adds three modifiers that change the day's rules, and keeps your best run of the day: play it as often as you like, every try meets the same waves and the same luck. The Endless Breach lasts a week: you bring your own 6 towers at equal power, with no Rank or Bond, the week's legendary is lent to everyone, and your best run counts. The Keepers' board asks for one thing: beat the boss of The Ember Terraces. Until then, and for anyone who plays without an account, runs rank on an open board of their own, without prizes: a guest plays the day's lent deck, and the 6 starting towers in the Endless Breach.

The server deals each wave only once the previous one has fully spawned, after replaying the whole run so far: nobody sees further ahead than the wave in front of them. Once a period closes, its best runs can be watched by anyone, played back exactly as they happened. For now the boards rank only: the podium does not pay yet.

Rift Defense at a glance