Right-click to move, including into lava. Stone-to-stone routes prefer solid ground. Your warlock turns before moving or casting; Teleport can bring you back from the fire.
GraphicsHandcrafted low-poly art. Same hitboxes and spell warnings in every preset. Auto - adapt to this computer Low-spec - low-poly Balanced - crisp low-poly Atmosphere - low-poly + full effects Frame limit30 FPS reduces rendering work further. 60 FPS 30 FPS - lower power
Retry settings sync
Render resolution follows the preset and your screen. Auto lowers visual cost on slower devices. Gameplay, hitboxes and movement speed stay the same.
Casting styleSame spell timings in every mode. Normal - key, then click Quick cast - on key press Quick cast - on key release Left-click fires a Fireball, or confirms another selected spell. Q is unassigned by default. Other spells: normal uses key, aim, click; quick press uses aim, then press; quick release previews until release. Self spells activate immediately.
Fireball: aim and fire. Aim at the rival's body and left-click. No spell selection or keyboard key is needed, in any casting mode. If another spell is selected, the click confirms that spell instead. There is no charging or automatic repeat when holding the mouse. Once facing is ready, Fireball launches without an extra windup. Projectiles and aiming share the character's body-height plane; movement and ground spells still target the floor. Fireballs push harder at close range: up to 25% extra knockback, tapering to base strength over 450 travel units from the caster. Reflection restarts that distance from the defender.
Inferno empowers three shots within eight seconds. They are twice as wide, faster, deal 50% more damage and add a 0.2s mini-stun. Reflection preserves those properties. Thrust stops on the first rival, knocking them forward with a 0.28s stun. Ordinary Repulse still deals 14 base damage. World labels and the buff panel show active effects and remaining shots.
S / H Stop movement and cancel casting
SPACE Recenter / follow the watched warlock
ARROWS Pan camera; middle-drag also works
WHEEL Zoom; minimap click looks there
TAB Open scoreboard from the arena. Tab navigates normally inside UI.
[ / ] Previous / next survivor while spectating
ENTER Open chat / send. Escape keeps your draft. Typing never pauses online combat.
Lava heat, not spell-hit heat. Only lava builds heat, which makes knockback stronger. Heat clears after one uninterrupted second on stone; stepping back into lava sooner preserves it. Burn starts at 6 HP/s and doubles every 1.5 seconds of continuous exposure. Damage stops and the burn timer resets on stone. Teleport cancels sliding. Ordinary Shield does not stop lava damage. Bastion and Rampage block it while active, but heat and exposure still build: get back to stone before protection ends.
One slot. Ten random rune types. Move within 40 world units to collect a rune. HP+ and Aegis are automatic pickups; other runes enter the slot and activate with your power-up key (1 by default). Thrust, Rampage and knockback collect along your path; Teleport collects only at its destination. Targeted powers follow your normal/quick-cast setting. Hold Shift and press the rune key, or click the swap prompt, to exchange your stored rune for a nearby stored-rune pickup. Your old rune drops there; a full slot never silently replaces itself.
Aegis automatically grants one extra life, without using the slot or replacing a buff. On lethal damage it is consumed and restores 25% of maximum HP on nearby safe stone. If no safe stone remains, it revives you at a legal position in lava instead. It clears heat, sliding and stuns, but does not reset cooldowns or progression. A prevented death awards no knockout or death drop. Extra charges do not stack, and unused Aegis expires at the round break.
Bastion is the mobile shield rune: five seconds of Fireball reflection and immunity to damage, knockback and stuns, including lava damage. You can walk and cast freely without ending it. Rampage is empowered Thrust: charge up to 420 units over 0.6s, hitting every contacted rival once for 24 damage, enormous knockback and a 0.8s stun. Attacks, movement, stop and cast orders cannot interrupt it. You are immune to damage and knockback during the charge. Pillars remain solid and can obstruct travel, but never extend the protection window. Aim before committing.
Chain Lightning strikes up to three distinct rivals. Scorched Earth removes ground until next round. Supernova is a giant Repulse with a 0.5s stun. Cataclysm is an empowered Meteor with a larger warning area. Arcane accelerates all six cooldowns by 25% for six seconds, including timers already running. Inferno empowers three double-width Fireballs. You can carry another rune while a buff runs; activating a new timed buff replaces the previous buff. Offensive runes end ordinary Shield channels, but preserve Bastion and Aegis. Rampage takes over your movement until it finishes.
The ten types cycle without repeats across rounds: three timed buffs, five attack runes and two automatic pickups. HP+ restores up to 25 HP without replacing a buff or filling the slot. Full-health players leave HP+; players with Aegis leave extra Aegis. Deaths also drop HP+ with a 0.35s collection grace, even when random runes are disabled. Death drops do not count toward the two-random-rune limit. All unclaimed pickups expire after 18s; lava does not destroy them.
Know what you can see. Fog is controlled globally per map and stays fixed for your whole match. When enabled, it hides enemies behind pillars and beyond your vision. Bots follow the same rules. Incoming fireballs have extra warning distance. Spell flashes briefly reveal their origin nearby. After death, all fog lifts for you alone. A death notice holds your view for 1.2 seconds, then the camera eases toward a survivor. Press [ or ], use Previous / Next, or choose Spectate from a living player's menu to switch views. Tab opens the scoreboard. Respawning restores your normal vision.
When one warlock remains, that win is locked. Movement, spells and effects continue for a four-second victory lap before the next screen. Late damage cannot change the winner or add knockout points.
Choose an available arena: Large Ashen Reach supports up to 8 warlocks. Giant Caldera supports 12 when enabled by the operator; it is hidden by default. Their wavy rectangular shores collapse unevenly from outside inward; the amber boundary warns where the edge will be in 2.5 seconds. The Small Crucible is reserved for the menu preview and guide examples. Offline fills the arena with your selected Apprentice, Adept or Archmage bots. Online bot ranks are assigned randomly per warlock. Every rank uses the same health, spell stats and fog rules.
Standard starts with Fireball and Teleport: learn before rounds 2 and 3, then choose boons before rounds 4 and 5. Turbo unlocks all six spells immediately and offers boons at every break. Both use five rounds. Most crowns wins, then KOs. Collapse starts at 38 seconds in Ashen Reach and 46 in the Caldera. Offline pauses in menus and hidden tabs; online matches keep running.
Experience grows your warlock. Start each match at level 1. The next level costs 100 XP, then 150, 200, 250 and so on: requirements rise by 50 each level. A credited kill still grants 100 XP regardless of distance, so later levels take more work. Other living players within 300 world units of the actual death share a separate 50 XP pool, even across cover. The killer never takes a second share. An uncredited lava death awards only the nearby pool. Dead spectators receive no nearby XP.
Each level adds 8 maximum and current HP, 4% of base Fireball damage and knockback, and 2% of base Fireball radius. Level growth stacks with Power, Vitality and Inferno. Existing projectiles keep their launch stats, including after reflection. Other spells, movement speed and cooldowns do not change. Aegis revival and deaths after a round is secured award no XP. A dead killer may level from a delayed kill, but stays dead.
XP and levels persist across the five rounds and through rejoining, then reset with the next match. The level badge and violet XP bar show progress toward the current requirement; hover or focus the bar for the rules, or Fireball for its current stats. Enemy levels are shown only when that warlock is visible. Final results show total actual spell damage alongside crowns and KOs; damage does not change placement.
The match keeps running while this menu is open.