Judgment and boss waves
The Steam store writes judgement waves and boss waves. Official achievements and older patch notes usually write Judgment. They are the same checkpoints. This page uses Judgment unless it is quoting the store.
The six campaign battlefields
These names are official. They come from the 1.0 achievement set (each has a “Master of …” achievement for a Hard clear):
- Open Forest
- Deep Cave
- Wasteland
- Lost Ruins
- Crimson Hell
- Split Space
Total Conquest is awarded for clearing all 6 battlefields on every difficulty. Official achievements explicitly mention Normal and Hard. Steam 1.0 players also talk about Easy. Whether there is a fourth campaign difficulty is [verify in-game].
In the demo, official v0.4.0 opened Stage 2, Deep Cave, through Normal only. 1.0 includes all six maps and Hard clears, including later maps such as Wasteland (players were already posting about being stuck there on Normal during launch week).
What “Judgment” and “boss” mean
Official achievement text is the cleanest definition we have:
- Wave 5 is a Judgment. First Judgment is awarded when you lose the wave 5 Judgment — it is a milestone, not a secret failure state.
- You can win every Judgment wave without losing a unit on a Normal or Hard clear (Beyond Judgment).
- Boss waves are separate named fights. You can win a boss wave with only Normal-grade units, or while owning just 1 Normal-grade unit (David and Goliath).
- Boss Hunter is awarded for defeating 100 bosses across campaign and Endless Mode.
Exact wave numbers for bosses on each of the six maps, and how many Judgments sit between them, are [verify in-game]. Do not invent a full wave table.
Lives (hearts) are a campaign resource. Official achievements include clearing with only 1 life left, and clearing Normal or Hard without losing a life. Starting life counts by difficulty: [verify in-game].
Official demo v0.2.5 changed the Game Over screen to appear immediately after defeat during Judgment and boss waves. Official v1.0.0 (3) later fixed a related bug: “Defeat” could show before “Victory” when an attack already in the air finished the enemy after your last unit had fallen. If you see a flipped result, update.
Difficulties after the launch nerfs
Several official 1.0 hotfixes changed the curve:
- v1.0.0 (4) (13 November 2026, 10:03 AM PT): Stage 1 and Stage 2 are easier.
- v1.0.0 (5) (14 November 2026, 1:46 AM PT): overall difficulty eased; some unit skills not triggering or missing certain enemies were fixed; Wasteland Camel rider-swap bug fixed.
- v1.0.0 (6) (14 November 2026, 3:28 AM PT): the first boss in each stage is easier.
Day-one “this is impossible on Easy” threads were posted before some of those patches. If you bounced off a map on 12–13 November 2026, try the current build before you assume the map is the problem.
Wasteland Camel is an official encounter element on Wasteland. Treat camel riders as a placement puzzle (hotfix (5) existed because dropping a unit onto an occupied camel could swap them).
Endless Mode
Endless is official and separate from the campaign ladder:
| Official achievement | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Into the Abyss | Defeat the wave 10 boss in Endless Mode |
| Bronze / Silver / Gold / Abyss Medal | Reach waves 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 |
| The Endless One | Reach wave 130 |
| Six Abysses | Reach wave 110 on all 6 battlefields |
| Name on the Board | Get an Endless run onto the leaderboard |
Leaderboards are why the store lists a broadband connection. Steam Deck compatibility metadata records that single-player does not require internet; leaderboard submits will.
A 1.0 thread asked why Fast forward x3 is locked behind the upgrade tree and, according to that player, only works in Endless. That limitation is [verify in-game].
Enemy Collection completion excludes Endless Mode (official achievement wording), so campaign still matters for the codex.
How to actually survive a checkpoint
- Feed a carry and a damage unit before wave 5; see absorption.
- Reposition after every jackpot. New summons do not always land in a sensible row.
- Spend Items for the next named wave, not “sometime later.”
- If the board dies to a missed skill, check you are on hotfix (5) or later.
- For Hard badges and life-based achievements, see achievements.
Campaign clear time has its own leaderboard: Stop the Clock requires a campaign clear played in one sitting (no resume). Mid-run saves (official since v0.3.0) are fine for normal play; they just disqualify that particular board.