Rift Spire

The Spire is a challenge you climb one floor at a time. It unlocks at Lv5.

Structure

Each city has one tower, and every tower has a different number of floors. A fixed set of enemies waits on each floor.

Towers open in line with their city's level band — Seoul's tower is open from the start, while Jeju's opens its doors much later. You can see which towers are open on the Spire screen.

You must climb one floor at a time, in order. You can't skip floors partway through a climb. Only your starting floor can be moved up, to anywhere you've already cleared — see "Jumping" below.

Every tower has its own rules of battle

Each tower carries fixed rules. The number of enemies that rush you at once, the HP and mana you recover when climbing a floor, and the stack cap on Brands piled onto enemies all differ by tower. Anything that differs from the standard is shown as a chip on the screen before you enter, so check before going in.

On top of that comes one more layer: this week's mutation. It changes every week — adding one more fighter to the front line, say, or making Brands sink in deeper. Mutations only ever add — they never take anything away.

Forks — past a Gatekeeper, you must choose

When you clear a Gatekeeper floor, you must pick one of three paths. The next floor won't open until you do.

All three give you something extra. There's no losing option, so just pick based on what you're short of right now. The path you choose only lasts for that climb and disappears when you come down.

Jumping — Spire Climbing Passes

Floors you've already climbed can be passed with a jump instead of fighting them again. You pay with Spire Climbing Passes — 1 pass per floor. Starting from floor 20 costs 19 passes. Climbing from floor 1 is always free.

Climbing Passes are tickets for retracing a path you've already walked. Floors you haven't set foot on yet won't open, however many you hold. Records are kept per tower, so even if you've conquered another tower to the top, a tower you're visiting for the first time starts at floor 1.

Here's how you collect Climbing Passes:

• The Spire awards them when you descend or finish a climb. The higher you climb in that tower, the more often and the more you get. Reaching the top is the most generous.

However, if you come down without reaching four floors, you get none. The same goes for jumping up and coming straight back down.

• They come from Otherworld Chests.
• They're also in the Shop's payment tab.

You also receive 60% of the haul from the floors you skip. Start from floor 20 and 60% of the materials and Essence floors 1 to 19 would have given you arrive the moment you enter. The screen tells you how much you'll receive when you choose your starting floor.

Gold and gear, however, only come from climbing yourself. And since it's 60%, climbing floor by floor always leaves you with more — what Climbing Passes buy you is time, nothing more. To collect enough passes to jump all the way to the top in one go, you'd have to finish that tower about thirty times.

The Climbers' Roll only counts climbs made without jumping. Honor can't be bought with Climbing Passes.

Rewards

The Spire gives you things that only come from the Spire. Essence and enhancement materials drop well here. Every ten floors you clear, you're guaranteed one Otherworld Chest.

Milestone rewards don't come on every floor. They sit only on landmarks like floor five and floor ten, and at the top, and you receive each one once per tower, permanently.

Gold — the Spire is the most generous place for it

You get Gold every time you clear a floor. Higher floors give more, and the taller the tower, the more each floor is worth.

For the same amount of time spent, you come away with 1.5× what Explore gives. The Spire gives no EXP and can't be auto-played, so you have to fight by hand from start to finish — and you're paid back for that in Gold. If you need Gold fast, the Spire is the place.

This value stays the same no matter how many times you climb. Only milestone rewards come once, on the floor where you first reach them; the Gold you get for clearing a floor is exactly the same on your tenth climb as on your first. If it's a tower you're climbing for the first time, the milestones on top make it even more generous.

Clear a Gatekeeper and choose the "Path of Trials" and that stretch's Gold rises sharply. If you're climbing for Gold, take this one at every fork.

⚠ Defeating enemies doesn't give Gold. Spire Gold comes from floors — you have to clear a floor all the way to get that floor's share.

How it differs from Explore

• The enemies on each floor are fixed. You can go in knowing what you'll face.
• It gives no character EXP. The souls accompanying you don't gain EXP either — only their bond deepens a little.

If you want to raise your level and your souls, Explore is the place.

• You can't flee. Once you've stepped in, you keep going until you descend.

What gets recorded

Clearing a floor every time would fill your activity log and push out other news, so the Spire only records Gatekeeper floors and milestone floors. The enemies you met on each floor aren't recorded.

When to climb

When a material you're stuck on comes from the Spire, and when you need Gold fast. Look at what you need, then climb.

If you need to raise your level, the Spire isn't the answer — it gives no EXP at all, so head to Explore instead.