How to Play Throneward

1. Choose how to play

If this is your first match, choose Play Tutorial. It starts a guided Inferno run, points to the exact fighter and tile you need, and pauses the first build timer so you can read without losing a wave.

Next, choose a legion. Each themed legion supplies five fighters—one at each tier—with a distinct playstyle. The current roster includes Inferno, Nomad, Heaven, Arcane, Blight, Celestial, Nature and Dynasty. Fortune rolls one fighter from each tier and can reroll; Random gives you one complete themed legion chosen at match start. Compare every legion and roster before choosing.

2. Learn the build–battle loop

1. Read the next wave.The top bar names the incoming wave and shows the build countdown. The first build phase is 45 seconds; later builds are 30 seconds.
2. Spend gold on fighters.Select a fighter card, then click an empty stone tile on your 6×4 board to place it.
3. Arrange a formation.Put durable melee fighters toward the enemy portal and protect ranged or support units behind them.
4. Press Send Wave.Solo and AI battles start when you press it. Online, it locks you ready; the battle begins when every human is ready or the timer ends. Your fighters then act automatically.
5. Deal with leaks.Anything that crosses your board enters the King's Court. Surviving fighters from a cleared lane rush over to help defend the throne.
6. Collect income and rebuild.Fighters revive, gold and mythium are paid, and the next build phase begins. Repeat through wave 20.

In solo and AI games, the button becomes Finish Wave ⏩ during combat. Use it when the outcome is already clear and you want to fast-forward. Your decisions happen before the fight; there is no need to issue combat orders.

3. Build a formation that makes sense

Enemies enter from the far portal at the top of your battlefield and march toward the King below your grid. Row 1 is the front line; row 4 is the back line. A simple starting shape uses tough bodies in the two front rows and damage or support behind them.

This is a principle, not a fixed build order. Range, abilities and targeting can change the ideal spacing. Inspect a fighter card to see its role and ability, then use the damage, healing and tanking statistics after a wave to learn which placements are working. The unit placement guide goes deeper on aggro, support coverage, boss spacing and arenas.

If you change your mind, Undo reverses the latest build, sell, worker or mercenary action from the current build phase. A fighter sold in the same phase it was placed returns its full cost; selling it after it has fought returns 60%.

4. Understand gold, workers and mythium

The essential economic decision is simple: can your current wall survive if you spend 60 gold on a worker? A worker makes mythium forever, but contributes no damage or health to the next fight. Build too safely and your late-game economy falls behind; build too greedily and one hard wave reaches your King.

5. Use mercenaries for pressure and growth

Each match offers four mercenaries drawn from a sixteen-unit pool—one at each price tier. In versus modes, a hired mercenary joins an opponent's next wave. In Solo, it instead fights as your ally for one wave. Either way, the send permanently raises your gold income and adds upgrades to one random King stat: damage, maximum health, regeneration or attack speed.

Cheap sends turn mythium into income sooner. Expensive sends are less frequent but carry bodies and abilities that can break a specific formation. Scout the enemy lane: slows punish walls dependent on attack speed, healing helps a durable wave outlast burst damage, and slams pressure tightly packed defenders. See the complete mercenaries guide for all sixteen units and their counters.

A complete Wave 1 example

Suppose you start a Tutorial or Solo match as Inferno. You have 100 gold and five fighter cards:

Imp40 gold

Cerberus90 gold

Succubus150 gold

Infernal230 gold

Phoenix330 gold

Read the complete Inferno guide for Ignite, red detonations, unit roles, placement and purchase decisions.

1. Place one Cerberus for 90 gold.Put it near the center of the front row. You have 10 gold left.
2. Send Wave 1: Emberlings.Your Cerberus automatically fights 25 small enemies. A small leak is survivable because King Aldric can finish stragglers.
3. Collect the Wave 1 rewards.The scheduled payout is 30 gold. The 25 Emberlings are worth 1 gold each, so killing all of them brings your total to 65 gold.
4. Add an Imp for 40 gold.Place it on the back row behind Cerberus. You now have a tank holding enemies in place while ranged splash and Ignite build behind it.

That small sequence contains the entire game: spend just enough, watch what the wave exposes, and add the unit that fixes the problem. After Wave 2, you will be close to the first meaningful choice between another fighter and a 60-gold worker.

6. Protect the King and understand victory

Waves 5, 10, 15 and 20 are boss waves. Each combines an escort with a boss that can slam clustered fighters and becomes more dangerous below half health. Plan major upgrades before those checkpoints rather than assuming the same wall will scale forever.

When a creep escapes your board, it enters your team's King's Court. In team games, every teammate shares one King. Players who clear their lanes early send surviving fighters to help with a teammate's leaks. This makes fast, reliable clears valuable even when your own board never leaks.

Versus matches also hold arena battles after waves 10 and 20. You receive a dedicated 20-second preparation phase, then full copies of both teams' formations fight directly:

• After Wave 10: the losing team's King receives a comeback heal equal to 25% of maximum health.
• After Wave 20: the arena decides the match. If it draws, the team with the healthier King wins.
• At any time: if a team's King dies, that team is eliminated immediately.

Solo has no arena. Clear Wave 20 with King Aldric alive to win.

Seven first-match tips

1. Use the Tutorial once. It teaches the live interface and freezes the early timer while you read.
2. Keep tanks between the portal and your damage. A powerful ranged fighter contributes nothing if enemies reach it immediately.
3. Read the next-wave name and boss timing. Waves alternate between swarms, rushes, ranged threats, heavy units and bosses.
4. Buy workers from surplus, not hope. The payoff compounds, but only if your King survives long enough to collect it.
5. Send early for income; save for impact. Cheap mercenaries accelerate gold, while large saved sends are better at forcing a leak.
6. Use Undo freely during the build phase. It can reverse multiple actions until the fight starts.
7. Review unit statistics after each wave. Damage, healing and tanking numbers show whether a fighter is positioned to do its job.