The Abyssal Expedition is a 16-day cooperative map (the Vault of Time) where a militia of up to 70 players captures settlements, farms Blessed Essence, builds Blessed Relics and then pours damage into a final boss. Most of your rewards are paid as you climb titles; the rest come from your total damage on the final boss, your militia's boss kills and its leaderboard rank. It unlocks once you clear stage 15-40.
Enrollment: Casual or Honorable
Before each season you enroll in one of two modes. Casual is free. Honorable costs 3,000 diamonds, puts you on a harder map, and only matches you with other Honorable players. Only Honorable militias appear on the damage leaderboard, and the choice can't be undone once made.
Honorable pays the fee back twice over, but only if you climb high enough. Reaching Duke returns 3,000 diamonds and reaching Prince returns another 3,000, so Duke breaks even and Prince nets you 3,000. Honorable title rewards also double the gold and Hero's Essence. If you don't expect to reach Duke, Casual is the safer pick, because an Honorable player who stalls at Marquis has paid 3,000 diamonds for some extra gold and Hero's Essence.
How the 16 days run
The map lasts 16 days. The last 24 hours are Quiet Time: hero stamina stops recovering and settlements stop producing resources, so the stamina you hold going into that last day is all you get.
The map is split into four regions, and each one opens at a title:
| Region | Opens at | What's there |
|---|---|---|
| Springtide Plains | Start | Villages and towns, Devourer of Flames and The Arcane Shadow |
| Desolate Plains | Viscount | Towns and cities, The Sacrifice and Chimera of Ire |
| Ashen Fields | Earl | Towns up to Large Cities, Bell Ringer, Harvest Totem, Crowbane Bell |
| Blazing Tomb | Marquis | Cities, Large Cities and the final boss, Cindercrow Specter |
Stamina
Stamina belongs to each hero, not to your account. Each hero slot holds starting stamina (80 at the start of the map), and the first hero you place in a slot takes it. Every placed hero then recovers 4 per hour (96 a day) at every title. Removing a hero from a slot throws away the stamina it holds, and any hero you put in that slot afterwards starts at 0, so pick your expedition heroes once and keep them. Placing a hero also locks you out of becoming a Spectator.
Each attack charges the cost to every hero and beast in the attacking team, and quitting or retrying a fight partway costs stamina too. Most settlement tiles cost 12 per hero; City II and Large City tiles cost 24 per hero. Bosses charge more:
| Target | Cost per hero, boss team | Cost per hero, guard teams |
|---|---|---|
| Village I to City I | n/a | 12 |
| City II, Large City | n/a | 24 |
| Devourer of Flames, The Arcane Shadow | 24 | 12 |
| The Sacrifice, Chimera of Ire, Bell Ringer | 36 | 18 |
| Cindercrow Specter | 48 | 24 |
Stars refund stamina. Every star you earn on a win returns one sixth of the guard cost to each hero and beast that fought, so a 3-star win on a 12-stamina tile gives back 6 (half the cost) and on a 24-stamina tile gives back 12. On a 12-stamina tile that makes a three-star win cost each hero 6 net, against 10 for a one-star win, so overpowering a tile is cheaper than scraping through it.
Titles
Your title sets how many heroes and beasts you can field, how many tiles you can hold and how high your core relics can go. To promote, you finish every task listed for your current title.
| Title | Hero slots | Beasts | Tiles you can hold | Max core relic level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Squire | 10 | 2 | 20 | 1 |
| Knight | 10 | 2 | 25 | 2 |
| Baron | 15 | 3 | 25 | 3 |
| Viscount | 15 | 3 | 30 | 3 |
| Earl | 15 | 3 | 35 | 4 |
| Marquis | 20 | 4 | 40 | 5 |
| Duke | 25 | 5 | 40 | 5 |
| Prince | 25 (30 for an Honorable Star of Dawn) | 5 (6 for an Honorable Star of Dawn) | 40 | 5 |
Promotion tasks
| Promote from | Tasks |
|---|---|
| Squire | Occupy 1 tile in Springtide Plains; occupy 3 settlements of tier 1+; collect 3,000 Essence; get 3 Common relics; occupy 1 settlement of tier 2+; own 3 cultivated settlements of tier 1+ |
| Knight | Occupy 15 tiles in Springtide Plains; occupy 5 settlements of tier 2+; collect 12,000 Essence; any core relic to level 2; get 2 Rare relics; own 3 cultivated settlements of tier 2+ |
| Baron | Occupy 20 tiles in Springtide Plains; occupy 10 settlements of tier 3+; collect 54,000 Essence; get 7 Rare relics; any core relic to level 3; own 6 cultivated settlements of tier 3+ |
| Viscount | Occupy 1 tile in Desolate Plains; occupy 10 settlements of tier 4+; collect 100,000 Essence; get 3 Elite relics; occupy 1 settlement of tier 5+; own 6 cultivated settlements of tier 4+ |
| Earl | Occupy 1 tile in Ashen Fields; occupy 15 settlements of tier 4+; collect 180,000 Essence; all five core relics to level 3; occupy 10 settlements of tier 5+; own 8 cultivated settlements of tier 5+; get 4 Legendary relics |
| Marquis | Occupy 1 tile in Blazing Tomb; occupy 15 settlements of tier 5+; collect 600,000 Essence; any core relic to level 4; occupy 1 settlement of tier 7+; own 10 cultivated settlements of tier 5+; deal 150,000,000 damage in one attack on the final boss |
| Duke | Take part in killing the final boss; occupy 10 settlements of tier 6+; collect 900,000 Essence; all five core relics to level 4; occupy 1 settlement of tier 8; get 5 Mythic relics; deal 500,000,000 damage in one attack on the final boss |
The Earl and Duke task lists are the expensive ones, because "all core relics" means spending Essence on all five classes, not just the one your main team uses. Plan for that from Baron onward instead of sinking everything into one class.
Title rewards
Rewards are paid when you reach the title. Squire has none.
| Title | Casual | Honorable |
|---|---|---|
| Knight | 1,000,000 gold, 360 Rare Hero Soulstones | 2,000,000 gold, 360 Rare Hero Soulstones |
| Baron | 500 Hero's Essence, Baron Choice Chest, 60 Elite Hero Soulstones | 1,000 Hero's Essence, Baron Choice Chest, 60 Elite Hero Soulstones |
| Viscount | 2,000,000 gold, 20 Common Hero Scrolls | 4,000,000 gold, 20 Common Hero Scrolls |
| Earl | 1,000 Hero's Essence, Earl Choice Chest | 2,000 Hero's Essence, Honorable Earl Choice Chest |
| Marquis | 1,500 Hero's Essence, 2,000,000 gold, 30 Faction Hero Scrolls | 3,000 Hero's Essence, 4,000,000 gold, 30 Faction Hero Scrolls |
| Duke | Legendary Bizarre Totem Card, 2,500 Hero's Essence, Duke Choice Chest, 10 Arcane Staffs | Legendary Bizarre Totem Card, 5,000 Hero's Essence, Honorable Duke Choice Chest, 10 Arcane Staffs, 3,000 diamonds |
| Prince | Legendary Bizarre Totem Card, 20 Stargazer Scrolls, 10 Time Emblems, 10 Arcane Staffs | Legendary Bizarre Totem Card, 25 Stargazer Scrolls, 10 Time Emblems, 10 Arcane Staffs, 3,000 diamonds |
Settlements and Blessed Essence
Every settlement you hold produces Blessed Essence each hour and periodically drops relics of its tier. Essence is what you spend to build relics and what several promotion tasks count.
| Tier | Settlement | Essence per hour | Essence per win | Relic quality dropped | +20% yield if you garrison |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Village I | 40 | 30 | Common | an Elite hero of the tile's faction |
| 2 | Village II | 60 | 30 | Common | an Elite hero of the tile's faction |
| 3 | Village III | 80 | 40 | Rare | an Elite hero of the tile's faction |
| 4 | Town I | 120 | 40 | Rare | a Legendary hero of the tile's faction |
| 5 | Town II | 200 | 50 | Elite | a Legendary hero of the tile's faction |
| 6 | City I | 240 | 50 | Elite | a Mythic hero of the tile's faction |
| 7 | City II | 280 | 50 | Legendary | the named Ascended hero |
| 8 | Large City | 320 | 50 | Legendary | the named Ascended hero |
A Large City makes eight times what a Village I does, and the number of tiles you can hold tops out at 40, so the way to raise income is to trade low tiers for high ones as your title opens new regions, not to hold more tiles. Garrisoning the matching hero adds 20% to that tile, which matters most on cities.
City I and City II tiles can carry a faction curse, and every Large City carries one. The curse hits every hero outside the named faction at the start of the fight: they lose 50% health, are stunned for 5 seconds and have Attack Rating cut by 30%.
| Curse | Heroes spared |
|---|---|
| Blade of Punishment | Lightbearers |
| Forest's Fury | Wilders |
| Rock Bombardment | Maulers |
| Death's Ambush | Graveborn |
| Bolt of Wickedness | Celestials, Hypogeans, Dimensionals (Large City only) |
Bring a team built around the spared faction rather than fighting through the stun.
Cursed Scarecrows and the cursecrow fire
Cursed Scarecrows sit across all four regions. Each one spreads Phantom Watch over nearby tiles, which makes your heroes deal 40% less damage and Terrifies them for 3 seconds every 6 seconds. Clear them early around the area you plan to hold.
| Scarecrow level | Curse range (tiles) | Essence for clearing |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 200 |
| 2 | 2 | 300 |
| 3 | 3 | 400 |
| 4 | 4 | 800 |
Stamina your militia spends fills a shared Alert meter. When it fills, the Cindercrow Specter's cursecrows set a random tile alight, and that tile stops producing Blessed Essence until enough militia members gather to put the fire out: 3 for a level 1 fire, up to 5 at levels 3 and 4. From level 2 the fire spreads to other tiles, and higher levels spread to more tiles, more often.
Blessed Relics
Relics boost every hero of one class in your expedition. There are 90 of them, 18 at each of five qualities: Common, Rare, Elite, Legendary and Mythic. Common relics cost Essence alone; every higher relic is combined from lower ones plus an Essence fee. Selling a relic returns 40% of its total cost, so a wrong combine costs you most of what you put in.
| Quality | Total Essence cost |
|---|---|
| Common | 1,140 to 2,880 |
| Rare | 3,960 to 7,800 |
| Elite | 12,000 to 23,400 |
| Legendary | 46,800 to 96,000 |
| Mythic | 180,000 to 396,000 |
Each of the five classes has a core relic with six slots, and each level takes six specific relics of one quality: Common at level 1, Rare at level 2, Elite at level 3, Legendary at level 4 and Mythic at level 5. Your title caps the level, as shown in the titles table.
| Core relic | Class |
|---|---|
| Dura's Might | Warrior |
| Dura's Fortitude | Tank |
| Dura's Celerity | Ranger |
| Dura's Sorcery | Mage |
| Dura's Sustenance | Support |
The Relic's Soul lets one hero per team fight with relic attributes at the level of your highest core relic, so a strong hero from a class you haven't built can still fight with relic stats. It does nothing for a hero whose own class relic is already your highest.
Bosses
The four early bosses sit in pairs on opposite sides of the first two regions, then Bell Ringer guards Ashen Fields. The two pairs are Soul Bonded: kill one and its partner instantly loses 50% of its max health (it can't die from this). That damage counts on the militia leaderboard but not on anyone's personal one, so the militia gets the most out of a pair by finishing one quickly.
| Boss | Region | HP | Essence for the boss kill | Essence per guard team |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devourer of Flames / The Arcane Shadow | Springtide Plains | 12 billion each | 12,960 | 540 |
| The Sacrifice / Chimera of Ire | Desolate Plains | 40 billion each | 86,400 | 2,160 |
| Bell Ringer | Ashen Fields | 160 billion | 259,200 | 3,600 |
The first five militias to kill each boss (Cindercrow Specter included), take a City I, City II or Large City, or own a level 4 or level 5 core relic each earn 50 diamonds for that milestone.
Cindercrow Specter
The final boss in Blazing Tomb comes back four times after its first death, each time with more health:
| Life | HP |
|---|---|
| I | 1.666 trillion |
| II | 8.33 trillion |
| III | 41.65 trillion |
| IV | 88 trillion |
| V | 400 trillion |
Your militia earns a set of chests for each life it clears. If your settled camp connects to the boss, you deal 5% more damage to it. Cindercrow Specter can also be swept: the fight is skipped, but every hero in the team still pays the stamina.
Two artifacts in Ashen Fields, one on each side of the region, weaken it. The Harvest Totem greatly reduces the rice fields Rice-Field Phantom creates, and the Crowbane Bell cuts the Cursecrow Marks each Cursecrow Blaze applies by one stack. Both are worth a detour before your militia commits stamina to the boss.
The Boss Trial lets you test a lineup against the final boss without spending stamina, using your highest-level relics. Damage there doesn't count, but it shows which team to send.
Personal damage rewards
Total damage you deal to Cindercrow Specter unlocks five rewards, each worth 500 diamonds and a Reward Choice Chest (2,500 diamonds in total):
| Total damage | Reward |
|---|---|
| 1.785 billion | 500 diamonds, Reward Choice Chest |
| 6.12 billion | 500 diamonds, Reward Choice Chest |
| 11.05 billion | 500 diamonds, Reward Choice Chest |
| 14.45 billion | 500 diamonds, Reward Choice Chest |
| 28.9 billion | 500 diamonds, Reward Choice Chest |
Leaderboard rewards
Only Honorable militias compete. At the end of a ranked season, members of the top 100, top 20 and top 5 militias on the Militia Damage Leaderboard each receive that bracket's avatar frame and 980 Dragon Crystals. If enough members of one guild (36) fought in a top militia, that guild also gets a Guild Statue for its grounds, one per guild per season. Some seasons are experimental, with no leaderboard and no rank rewards.
Stars of Dawn and Spectators
The 10 players in a militia with the highest hero Combat Rating become Stars of Dawn. In Honorable enrollment, a Star of Dawn who reaches Prince gets 5 extra hero slots and one extra beast. Each Star can carry one Spectator: a militia member who doesn't fight but climbs titles alongside the Star (never above the Star's title) and claims the same title rewards.
Spectators also speed up stamina recovery. Every Spectator raises stamina recovery for the whole militia by 1.2%, and a Star who carries one recovers 10% faster on top of that. You can only apply as a Spectator after enrollment closes and within the first 24 hours of battle, you can't do it once you've placed a hero, and you can't go back to fighting afterwards. If you can't play much during a season, spectating a reliable Star collects the same title rewards and still helps the militia's fighters recover stamina faster.