ArenaGauntlet

Requires Survivors of the Void to host. Other expansions are optional.

Fight through ten rounds in a Greek stone colosseum, build an allied army, and shop in the Bazaar Between Time after every victory. Pick your survivor, gather items and hire commanders to help you survive the next assault. Each cycle builds toward a final showdown with Mithrix.

How to play

1. Install ArenaGauntlet through Thunderstore. Everyone in multiplayer needs the same version. Replace older copies of the mod instead of keeping multiple versions installed.
2. Choose ArenaGauntlet in the game-mode menu, select your survivor and difficulty, and start the run. The host chooses the gameplay settings before starting.
3. Get ready when you arrive: combat begins automatically after the party loads and a short grace period. There is no start button to press.
4. Defeat the horde, then finish the champion encounter. A blue portal opens when the round is complete. Check your build and enter it to visit the Bazaar.
5. Buy items, pick up your purchases, and take the return portal. The next round starts automatically when the party returns to the arena.

Press B to open the War Council and hire allies. Keep an eye on the fight while using it: opening the council does not stop combat.

Survive the gauntlet

Every round starts with a finite mixed horde, followed by its champions. Enemy numbers and strength grow across the ten-round cycle, so keep improving your build between fights. The open courtyard gives you room to move around ground enemies and track threats above the arena.

Major encounters arrive on rounds 5 and 10: a Twisted Scavenger at the midpoint and Mithrix at the end. Ordinary rounds 6-9 have two champions. Killing the first is not enough; both must fall before the clear reward and shopping portal appear.

Leave endless continuation enabled to pass through the Bazaar into another, harder cycle. Disable it before starting if you want defeating round 10 to end the run in victory. A party wipe ends the attempt, so protect your teammates as well as your own build.

Raise an allied company

Earn renown by defeating enemies. Your hired units' kills count for you, and champion kills reward every connected player. Spend renown in the War Council on a commander and its accompanying squad. Renown and shopping gold are separate currencies.

Choose from ten companies with different strengths: burning attacks, healing, barriers, slowing, armor stripping, chain lightning and more. Keep your commander alive to replenish its squad between rounds. If the commander falls, you can hire the company again.

Company limits are 3 solo, 2 per player in a 2-3 player party, and 1 per player with 4 or more players. A host setting can lower those limits. When someone joins and lowers the cap, excess companies withdraw and refund their hire cost. Manually discharging a company frees a slot without a refund.

Loot, gold and shopping

Gold comes from clearing rounds, rather than individual enemy kills. Your reward appears immediately in the arena and is sized for roughly three average Bazaar purchases. Prices rise as the run progresses. The same gold balance follows you into the Bazaar and back; entering the shop does not award extra income.

Frequent item drops help your build keep pace with the shorter run. Free arena loot is gathered between rounds, while Bazaar purchases need to be picked up normally. Shopping pauses the combat clock, so use the break to plan your next upgrade.

BiggerBazaar installs with the mod, providing gold-based shopping. You can disable or remove it and use the native Bazaar, whose lunar shops keep their usual currency. Risk of Options lets you adjust balance, continuation, the HUD and the War Council key. Available enemies and companies depend on the expansions enabled for the run.