Stonewards Combat

Combat in Stonewards is not a separate arena mode—it is the surface half of the dig–forge–defend loop. While teammates mine procedural caves between horns, defenders hold walls, spend crafted ammunition, and keep monsters away from the King. When outer fortifications collapse, the fight moves inward toward the throne room. This hub collects focused combat pages so you can fix the part of your run that breaks under pressure.

What Combat Pages Cover

Stonewards waves escalate over a mission. Early assaults teach lane discipline and ammo discipline; later packs stress repairs, consumables, and coordinated fallback. Banana Tiger Studio designed the fail condition around the King—if he falls, the run ends regardless of how many dwarves remain standing. Every combat guide on this hub assumes that rule and helps you translate ore spending into survivable surface time.

Combat Guide Index

Core Defense Topics

• Wave Defense — Horn timing, wall assignments, ammo cadence, and what to finish before the next assault begins.
• Monster Types — How different enemy behaviors punish weak repairs, slow fallbacks, or greedy mining rotations.
• Bastion Fallback — Retreat lanes, throne-room choke points, and co-op callouts when the outer wall is gone.

Recovery and Milestone Pressure

• Campfire and Revive — Healing between waves, resurrecting teammates at campfire, carrying dead players after patch 0.1.10 fixes, and when revive beats forge spending.
• Bosses and Elites — Color-coded boss names in demo builds, wave eleven milestone, endless mode versus hub extraction, focus fire, and ammo prep.

How Combat Connects to Mining and Forging

Surface fights are only as strong as the economy between waves. Teams that return late from caves start the next horn short-handed. Teams that forge flashy upgrades before baseline arrows bleed ammo mid-wave. Pair combat reading with Mines and Caves for travel timing and Resource Priority Checklist for ore spend order. Bastion Layout helps you understand which lanes matter before monsters test them.

Solo vs Co-op Combat

Solo players perform every combat role while still mining during lulls. There is no backup when you mis-time a return from the mine—plan shorter cave trips than you would in co-op. Groups of two to four can split miners and wall defenders, but silent teams collapse when one player chases deep ore during a horn countdown. How to Co-op in Stonewards complements these combat pages with communication habits.

Related Wiki Sections

Combat explains enemy pressure and defense procedure. For loadout planning and forge choices, see Builds. For keybinds, sensitivity, and camera settings that affect aim and wall repair speed, see Controls. Map pages describe hub flow, cave generation, and bastion geography. Review covers demo versus Early Access expectations if you are comparing patch notes to wiki advice.

Recommended Reading Order

1. Wave Defense if you lose runs during horns rather than in caves.
2. Monster Types when you are unsure which target to focus first.
3. Bastion Fallback once breaches reach the inner keep.
4. Campfire and Revive when teammates die far from fire or attrition stacks between horns.
5. Bosses and Elites before wave eleven and endless decisions.
6. Wave Prep Planner to turn these ideas into a repeatable pre-horn checklist.

Staying Current

Stonewards is in active development ahead of Early Access on August 11, 2026. Enemy counts, boss pacing, and consumable recipes may shift in demo updates and post-launch patches. Treat numbers here as principles—protect the King, repair primary lanes, spend ammo deliberately—rather than frozen tier lists. When mechanics change, individual combat pages update first and cross-link back to this hub.