Your level is the backbone of a run. XP raises it, and each level pays you more gold, hardens your tower and sharpens the shop. Leveling too slowly starves your income; rushing it starves your board. Finding that balance is most of the game.
Earning XP
- You gain XP automatically at the start of each day from the day before: a win is worth 12, a loss 8. Losing still moves you forward, just slower.
- You can also buy XP in the shop at 4 gold for 4 XP. It is mostly worth it to cross a level you are one nudge away from hitting (assuming you are level 7+ with 20k+ HP).
- Each level costs a little more than the last, but the early ones are cheap (starting at 52 XP and costs 4 more per level), so the first few come quickly.
What a level gives
- Income: your daily gold is 40 plus 5 per level, so you start at 45 and gain 5 more every time you level.
- Max HP: every level raises your maximum HP, and the gain scales off your current HP (until you hit the soft cap at 20k), so a flat boost you pick up early compounds into every later level.
- Shop odds: higher levels tilt the shop toward better items, but this stops improving after level 7. Income and HP keep climbing well past it.
How a day opens
Every day begins the same way: you collect your income, gain the XP from yesterday's result, resolve your daily item and slot effects, then step into the shop, frozen if you kept it or freshly rerolled if you did not.
The pouch rule: items with a Start of Day effect fire straight from your inventory and never need a tower slot. Start of Combat is the reverse, only items placed in the tower trigger, so keep your combat pieces slotted and let your Start of Day items sit in the pouch.