The Gauntlet is Dot Conquest's roguelite mode: a chain of battles that get harder, with a build you carry from one to the next. It opens once you have cleared ten campaign levels, and it is made for players who already know the game: there are no teaching guards, and the battles are not picked for you to be easy.
The run
A run is split into acts of 10 battles, and each act ends with a boss. Along the road there are rest stops, so a run has a rhythm: a few battles, a rest, a few more, then the boss. The run is saved after every battle, so you can stop and come back.
Your build
You choose a Doctrine at the start of the run, and it stays with you. Between battles you draft cards into your build. Inside a battle, Councils still happen as usual, but the cards you pick there last only for that battle. Your build is what you carry; a battle's Councils are what you improvise.
Because your build follows you through the whole run, focus matters more here than anywhere: see drafting well.
Veterans
Dots that rank up carry their ranks forward, so a run rewards keeping your army alive, not only winning. See veterans and city levels.
Supplies and Markets
Battle types
Every battle in a run has a type, fixed by the run's seed. Most are plain conquest; the rest change what wins or loses. Here are all of them, with their numbers:
- Conquest
- Most of a run's battles. Win by owning every city, or 90% of the map.
- Hold the flags
- Win by holding 2 marked cities at once: for 0:45 in a run's first battle, up to 1:28 in its deepest.
- Survive
- Win by still standing when the clock runs out: 2:30 in a run's first battle, up to 4:26 in its deepest. You lose if the marked city falls: your capital, on nearly every map.
- Race for the flags
- Win by being the first to own 2 of the 3 marked cities.
- Beat the clock
- Win by conquest before the clock runs out: 10:00 in a run's first battle, down to 7:35 in its deepest.
- Tripwires
- Win by conquest. Each city you take sends 33% of every rival's army at your capital, 12 s after a warning. You lose if your capital falls.
- The Forge
- Win by conquest. A rival's cities make no dots: his come in waves at one of his cities while he holds it, 4 dots every 15 s in a run's first battle, up to 16 every 10 s in its deepest. He starts with 20 to 60 dots more.
- The Vault
- Win by holding your rival's marked city: for 20 s in a run's first battle, up to 34 s in its deepest. From 0:40, 70% of his army marches on your nearest city after a warning, every 60 s in a first battle and every 46 s in the deepest. You lose if your capital falls.
- Until the Relief
- You start with a small army, and your rivals strike at your capital 3 times, each after a warning. Then your relief arrives: 24 dots at 2:00 in a run's first battle, up to 53 dots at 2:58 in its deepest. After that, win by conquest. You lose if your capital falls.
Four of them (Tripwires, The Forge, The Vault and Until the Relief) are taken from campaign set pieces and played as rules on the run's maps.
The bosses
An act's boss takes one of five scripts, and a run's three bosses differ:
- The Charge
- A boss battle. Every 56 to 46 s, 70% of the boss's army marches on your nearest city, shown 10 s ahead. You lose if your capital falls.
- The Hatcheries
- A boss battle. Every 22 to 18 s, 4 dots hatch at each starting city the boss still holds. Win by holding all of those cities at once for 34 to 44 s.
- The Onslaught
- A boss battle. 8 waves land from the map's edges, each larger than the last and each shown 10 s ahead. Outlast them all; you lose if your capital falls.
- Three Acts
- A boss battle in three acts, each announced as it opens: first Lights hatch at the boss's cities, then Heavies arrive there and those cities turn to making them, then waves land from the map's edges.
- The Mirror
- A boss battle. The boss holds no councils: every card you pick in the battle is the boss's 20 s later.
Each boss fights alongside other rivals. Read the boss's script on the battle's panel before you press START: the panel says what wins, what loses, and what the boss will do.
Second Winds
A lost battle ends the run, unless you spend a Second Wind. You can use one continue in each act. A Second Wind comes from the run itself, and if the run has none left, from the Second Winds you have earned elsewhere in the game. Quitting a battle from the pause menu counts as losing it, so use Second Winds for real losses.
Renown
Runs earn Renown, which you spend on the Gauntlet's own unlocks, so even a run that ends early moves you forward.
Secrets
Some runs earn a secret for doing something unusual:
- Siege Train
- Win with 3 or more Sieges alive.
- Triple Crown
- Capture 3 cities in one battle.
- Untouched
- Win without losing your starting city.
- Blitz
- Win in under 2:30.
- Lean Boss
- Beat a boss with 5 cards or fewer.
Tips for deeper runs
- Pick a Doctrine you know. A run is long. Choose a plan you can play without thinking. See every Doctrine explained.
- Keep your army alive. Veterans carry over. Fall back with hurt groups.
- Read every battle's panel. The type changes what wins. A Survive battle is won by lasting, not by conquest.
- Save a Second Wind for the boss. The boss is the most likely place for a run to end.
- Think about the boss early. You can see what kind of boss waits at the end of the act. Draft cards that answer it.
Where to go next
- Drafting your build: when to pass on a card.
- The other daily mode: the Daily.