1. Quick Start

1. Launch the client — run run.bat (Windows) or ./run.sh (macOS/Linux). See the Install Guide for details.
2. Set your name — from the main menu, select Change Name to set a display name (auto-generated on first launch).
3. Create or join a party — select Create Party for a new party or Join Party with a 5-character party code. Share the code with friends.
4. Pick your class — choose Warrior, Rogue, or Wizard in the party lobby. The party leader launches when ready.
5. Enter the dungeon — you start at depth 1. Move with WASD, attack with Space, use secondary ability with Q.
6. Descend — find staircases (>) and press E to go deeper. Fight monsters, loot chests, and manage your potions.
7. Win — reach floor 26, kill the Lich King, grab the Artifact of Ascension, then ascend all the way back to floor 1 and exit.

For quick solo play, use Quick Play from the main menu to jump straight into a session.

2. Controls

Movement also updates your facing direction, which determines your primary attack's aim. You can turn in place by moving into a wall.

3. Classes

Base Stats

Warrior

The Warrior is a heavily armored tank. With 120 HP and 6 armor, physical attacks barely scratch them. Their melee range means they must get close, but 2 ticks/tile speed means they commit to every fight.

• Secondary Attack: Ground Slam — hits all enemies within 1 tile, 0.8x damage multiplier, costs 30 Stamina, 5-second cooldown.
• Starting Gear: Short Sword, Wooden Shield, Leather Armor, 2 Health Potions.

Rogue

The Rogue is the fastest class. At 1 tick/tile, they can outrun anything. Their ranged bow attacks hit from 6 tiles away, but 75 HP and 0 armor mean any mistake is punishing.

• Secondary Attack: Fan of Knives — hits enemies within 2 tiles, 0.6x damage multiplier, costs 40 Energy, 6-second cooldown.
• Stealth: Standing in a shadow tile (unlit area) while stationary activates stealth. Enemies must be within 2 tiles to detect you. First attack from stealth deals 2x weapon damage.
• Starting Gear: Dagger (hand 1), Bow (hand 2), 1 Health Potion.

Wizard

The Wizard has the longest range (8 tiles) and deals magical damage that bypasses armor. With only 40 HP and 0 armor, the Wizard relies entirely on the party for protection.

• Secondary Attack: Arcane Nova — hits enemies within 3 tiles, 1.0x damage multiplier, ignores armor, costs 35 Mana, 6-second cooldown.
• Starting Gear: Staff (2H), Mystic Robes (+0.05 class bar regen/tick), 1 Health Potion, 1 Energy Potion.

Level-Up Bonuses

Characters level up by earning XP from kills. Max level is 5. Leveling boosts HP, vision radius, and class bar — but not primary attack damage (that comes from weapons).

Warrior Level Progression

Rogue Level Progression

At level 5, the Rogue's speed drops to 0 ticks/tile (1 tile per server tick — effectively 20 tiles/sec).

Wizard Level Progression

XP Thresholds

4. Combat

Damage Formula

Damage is rolled as a random integer between the weapon's damage_min and damage_max. Target armor is then subtracted. The minimum damage is always 1 — armor can never fully negate a hit.

All damage comes from weapons. A character with no weapon deals 1 damage (unarmed floor). Class levels do not increase primary attack damage.

Damage Types

Primary Attack

Press Space to attack. The server auto-targets the best enemy in your facing direction within your weapon's range. If nothing is in range, the attack whiffs with no cooldown penalty.

Secondary Attack (AoE)

Press Q for a self-centered area attack. Hits all enemies within radius. Costs class bar resource and has a separate cooldown from primary attacks.

AoE damage scales with level (1.0x at level 1 up to 1.5x at level 5). Trinkets can further modify AoE behavior.

Cooldowns

The server runs at 20 ticks per second. Move and attack cooldowns are independent — you can attack and move in the same window.

Out-of-Combat Regeneration

After 3 seconds without attacking or being attacked, all characters passively regenerate HP. Rates are slow (Warrior 0.15 HP/tick, Rogue 0.10, Wizard 0.10) — potions remain the primary healing tool. Fire damage suppresses all HP regen for 1 second.

5. Inventory & Equipment

Slot Layout

All classes share an identical 6-slot equipment layout (plus a hidden artifact slot):

  [hand_1]  [hand_2]  [armor]
  [potion_1] [potion_2] [trinket]
                        [artifact_slot]

• hand_1: Primary weapon (melee or ranged).
• hand_2: Off-hand weapon, shield, or bow. Locked when a 2H weapon is in hand_1.
• armor: Armor piece (Leather, Chain Mail, Plate, Mystic Robes).
• potion_1 / potion_2: Consumable slots. Potions stack up to 5 charges.
• trinket: Passive stat item (rings, amulets, cloaks).
• artifact_slot: Reserved for the Artifact of Ascension (cannot be manually equipped).

One-Handed vs Two-Handed

1H weapons (Short Sword, Dagger, Bow, Long Sword, all shields) fit in either hand slot. 2H weapons (Battle Axe, Staff) occupy hand_1 and lock hand_2. You cannot equip a shield or off-hand weapon with a 2H weapon.

Equip-or-Drop

When you pick up an item, it goes directly into the matching slot. If that slot is already occupied, the old item drops on the ground. There is no backpack — manage your gear carefully.

Weapons

Weapon damage scales with character level at pickup time (+1 min/max per level above 1).

Armor

Armor value scales with level at pickup (+1 per level above 1), except Mystic Robes (fixed).

Shields

Consumables

Use with Z (slot 1) or X (slot 2). Potion effects scale with character level at pickup.

Trinkets

Trinket bonuses are fixed values — they do not scale with level.

6. Dungeon

Structure

The dungeon has 26 floors, generated procedurally from a random seed at session start. Floor 1 is the entrance; floor 26 holds the Artifact of Ascension.

• Floors 1-8: Early game. Small rooms, weak monsters (Rats, Goblins, Cave Spiders). Common loot chests.
• Floor 8: Maze floor — a labyrinthine layout with narrow corridors.
• Floors 9-13: Mid game. Skeletons, Zombies, Orcs appear. Multiple down staircases per floor.
• Floor 13: Boss floor — the Orc Warlord awaits in the largest room.
• Floors 14-25: Deep dungeon. Dark Elves, Trolls, Dragons. Rare loot chests replace common ones.
• Floor 26: Final floor — the Lich King guards the Artifact of Ascension.

Room Types

Rooms are generated using BSP (binary space partition) with irregular edge noise for organic shapes. Corridors between rooms are 2-3 tiles wide with occasional 1-tile bottleneck chokepoints (15% chance). Special rooms:

• Entrance room (floor 1): The starting room. No monsters spawn here.
• Staircase rooms: Rooms containing > (down) or < (up) stairs. No monsters spawn in staircase rooms.
• Boss arena (floors 13, 26): The largest room on the floor, containing the boss.

Navigation

• Stand on a staircase tile (> or <) and press E to descend or ascend.
• Floors 9-25 have multiple down staircases, giving parties route options.
• Fog of war: Tiles outside your vision radius are hidden. Explored tiles remain dimly visible. Unexplored tiles are completely dark.

Loot Distribution

7. Monsters

Regular Monsters

Special Abilities

• Cave Spider: 25% chance to poison on hit (1 dmg/tick for 20 ticks = 20 total, ignores armor).
• Zombie: Regenerates 0.5 HP/tick (10 HP/sec) when out of combat. Don't let them retreat.
• Dark Elf: Prioritizes lowest-HP targets. Keep your Wizard behind the Warrior.
• Troll: Regenerates 0.5 HP/tick always (even in combat). Fire damage suppresses regen for 20 ticks and deals 1.5x damage. Bring fire weapons.
• Dragon: Ignores walls for movement (flying). Fire breath cone: 25-40 fire damage in a 4x3 tile cone. Immune to fire. The most dangerous non-boss enemy.

Bosses

Orc Warlord (Floor 13)

• Phase 1: Spawns 2 Orc adds at combat start. Uses War Cry to buff nearby Orcs (+25% damage for 5s).
• Phase 2 (50% HP): Becomes faster (1 tick/tile) and attacks faster (4-tick cooldown). Kill the adds first.

Lich King (Floor 26)

• Life Drain: 20-30 magical damage, heals self for 30% of damage dealt. 6-tile range, 25-tick cooldown.
• Dark Nova: 30-45 magical AoE in a 4-tile radius. Don't clump together.
• Animate Dead: Resurrects up to 4 dead monsters at 50% HP. Kill adds quickly.
• Phase 2 (60% HP): Faster attacks (3-tick cooldown). Uses all special attacks simultaneously.
• Phase 3 (25% HP): Brief invulnerability (2 seconds) — use this window to heal. Then Dark Nova cooldown halves.

The Artifact of Ascension cannot be picked up until the Lich King is dead.

8. Multiplayer

Party Formation

1. One player creates a party from the main menu. They receive a 5-character party code.
2. Other players join using that code (up to 3 players per party).
3. In the lobby, each player selects their class. The party leader launches when everyone is ready.

Session Lifecycle

• Each session supports up to 10 parties (30 players max).
• New parties can join while the session is open. All parties start at floor 1.
• The session seals (no new parties) when the Artifact is picked up or a carrier ascends past floor 13.
• The session ends when a party exits with the Artifact or all parties are eliminated.

PvP Rules

• Players from different parties can attack each other freely. No safe zones inside the dungeon.
• Same-party friendly fire is off for all current abilities.
• PvP kills award XP based on level difference.
• Monsters don't distinguish between parties — all players are valid targets.

Underpopulation Scaling

Monster HP is adjusted based on the number of parties in the session:

Disconnect Handling

If a player disconnects, they get a 60-second grace period. During this time, their character is frozen and invulnerable. If they reconnect within 60 seconds, they resume play. If the timer expires, the character suffers permadeath. The party slot does not reopen.

9. Win Condition

Winning a session of Skirmish requires completing the full loop:

1. Descend to floor 26. Navigate all 26 floors, fighting monsters and rival parties.
2. Defeat the Lich King. The final boss guards the Artifact and must be killed first.
3. Pick up the Artifact of Ascension. Interact with the pedestal after the Lich King dies.
4. Ascend back to floor 1. Retrace your steps through all 26 floors using up staircases (<).
5. Exit the dungeon. Reach the entrance on floor 1 and exit to win.

Artifact Carrier Buffs

While a party holds the Artifact, all living party members receive:

• +20 max HP (current HP also increases by 20)
• +2 damage to all attacks

Hidden Carrier

Other parties are not notified when the Artifact is picked up. They only discover it's gone when they reach floor 26 and see the empty pedestal. If the carrier dies and drops the Artifact, all parties receive a brief notification and 10-second map marker showing its location.

Session Sealing

Once the Artifact is picked up (or the carrier ascends above floor 13), no new parties can join the session. The race is on.

10. Tips & Strategy

Party Composition

The classic balanced party is Warrior + Rogue + Wizard:

• Warrior leads the party into rooms, absorbing damage with 120 HP and 6 armor.
• Rogue deals ranged DPS from behind the Warrior and scouts with the highest vision radius.
• Wizard provides AoE damage that ignores armor — critical against Trolls and high-armor targets.

Potion Management

• Potions are your most valuable resource. Don't waste them on minor damage — let out-of-combat regen handle small hits.
• Save at least 2-3 Health Potions for the boss on floor 13 and the Lich King on floor 26.
• Wizard players: Energy Potions restore Mana. Keep one for the boss fights.

PvP Awareness

• Other parties appear as red characters. Stay alert on staircase floors where paths converge.
• You don't have to fight every party you meet. Sometimes avoidance is the smarter play.
• Ambushing a party after they've fought a tough monster group (when they're low on HP/potions) is a valid tactic.

When to Fight vs. Flee

• Fight: When you have full resources, favorable positioning, or the enemy is between you and the stairs.
• Flee: When outnumbered, low on potions, or facing a Troll/Dragon without fire weapons.
• Rogues can stealth in shadow tiles to break aggro. Use this to disengage from bad fights.

Boss Strategies

Orc Warlord (Floor 13):

• Kill the 2 Orc adds before focusing the Warlord. War Cry buffs all nearby Orcs.
• Below 50% HP, the Warlord speeds up — burn him down quickly in phase 2.

Lich King (Floor 26):

• Spread out to avoid Dark Nova hitting your entire party.
• Kill Animated Dead adds immediately before they accumulate.
• At 25% HP, the Lich King goes invulnerable for 2 seconds — use this window to heal with potions.
• Magical damage bypasses your armor. The Warrior's HP pool is the primary defense, not their armor value.

General Tips

• Explore each floor thoroughly for chests before descending — loot is your primary power source.
• Fire weapons (Ember Bow) are essential for Trolls. If your party finds one, give it to someone with a fast attack rate.
• The Rogue's 2x backstab from stealth is your single highest burst option. Save it for priority targets.
• Descend methodically. Rushing through floors skips XP and loot that make later floors survivable.

11. Replays

Every game session is recorded server-side as a .skrm replay file. You can watch replays to review your runs, study strategies, or spectate other parties' perspectives.

Launching a Replay

Pass the --replay flag when launching the client:

  # Play a single replay file
  run.bat --replay path/to/replay.skrm

  # Play all replays in a directory
  run.bat --replay path/to/replays/

  # Start at 2x speed
  run.bat --replay path/to/replay.skrm --speed 2

On macOS/Linux, use ./run.sh instead of run.bat.

Replay Controls

The status bar at the top of the screen shows playback state, current tick, speed, and the player perspective you're watching.

12. Cheat Menu

During playtesting, a cheat menu is available to help test scenarios and explore the dungeon. Press Tab during gameplay to open it. Cheats are only available when the server has them enabled.

Cheat Panel Controls

Available Cheats

Toggles

HP & Resources

XP & Leveling

Floor Navigation

Monster Control

Other