Stonewards Guides
Learn the dig–forge–defend loop, protect your King, and run smarter with friends or solo.
Stonewards by Banana Tiger Studio is a first-person roguelite defense game where you split time between holding a bastion against monster waves and mining procedural caves for ore. Whether you are preparing for Early Access on August 11, 2026 or learning from the Steam demo, these guides explain the full run loop so you stop guessing and start surviving longer.
What Stonewards Guides Cover
Every run in Stonewards follows the same pressure cycle: defend the King during a wave, retreat into caves to gather resources, then forge ammunition, repair walls, and pick randomized upgrades before the next assault. The guides on this hub break that loop into focused topics so you can fix the part of your run that keeps failing.
If you are brand new, start with Getting Started for a first-run checklist. How to Play Stonewards explains the wave structure, economy timing, and win/loss conditions in detail. Once you understand the basics, drill into mining efficiency, bastion defense, co-op coordination, and the between-run hub.
Guide Index
Onboarding and Core Loop
- Getting Started — Demo setup, first objectives, and what to prioritize before your first King death.
- How to Play Stonewards — Full dig–fight–craft cycle, wave pacing, and when to push your luck underground.
Specialized Skills
- How to Mine Fast — Cave routing, ore priorities, and returning to the surface before your team is overwhelmed.
- How to Defend the King — Wall repair, choke points, ammo management, and holding the line when waves spike.
- How to Co-op in Stonewards — Role splits, communication habits, and recovering when one player stays in the mine too long.
- How to Use the Hub — Characters, missions, shop purchases, and meta progression between runs.
Advanced Tips and Roster
- Tips and Tricks — Mine timer discipline, four-ring blacksmith limit, three-defend-one-mine role splits, campfire regen cards, and solo difficulty adjustments.
- Characters — Miner and Warrior starters, unique abilities, hub character select, and meta unlocks for additional dwarves.
Related Topics Outside This Hub
Guides explain how to play; other sections on this wiki go deeper into loadouts and systems. Pair these guides with Builds when you want forge and upgrade paths that match your role. Combat covers enemy behavior and weapon handling during waves. Map notes help you read cave layouts and bastion sightlines. For keybinds and quality-of-life settings, see Controls. Tools pages include calculators and planners as the wiki grows.
Who These Guides Are For
Stonewards supports one to four players in online co-op or solo play. Solo runners need tighter timing on mining returns; full squads can specialize but must still respect the King death rule—when the monarch falls, the run ends immediately. These guides assume PC play through Steam (app ID 4502710) and reflect demo and pre–Early Access information from Banana Tiger Studio.
Recommended Reading Order
- Getting Started if you have not finished a full loop yet.
- How to Play Stonewards to internalize wave and forge timing.
- Either How to Mine Fast or How to Defend the King depending on whether you die underground or at the wall.
- How to Co-op in Stonewards when playing with friends.
- How to Use the Hub once you are repeating runs for unlocks.
- Tips and Tricks when you know the loop but want efficiency gains.
- Characters when class choice and unique abilities matter for your squad.
Staying Current
Stonewards is heading into Early Access with active development. Wave counts, forge recipes, and hub vendors may change in patches. When mechanics shift, we update individual guide pages and cross-check facts against the Steam store page and patch notes. Bookmark this hub and jump straight to the guide that matches your current bottleneck—slow mining, weak walls, or chaotic co-op rotations.
Quick Troubleshooting
Use this table to pick a guide when a run falls apart:
| Symptom | Likely cause | Read next |
|---|---|---|
| King dies early on surface | Weak lanes, low ammo, bad choke holds | How to Defend the King |
| Team wiped while you were underground | Late mine return, no telegraph callouts | How to Mine Fast |
| Repeated losses with no improvement | Skipped hub upgrades or wrong mission tier | How to Use the Hub |
| Friends and roles feel chaotic | No flex rotation or voice callouts | How to Co-op in Stonewards |
| Unsure how phases connect | Missing full loop picture | How to Play Stonewards |
Stonewards rewards teams that treat mining and defense as one schedule, not two mini-games. The guides above are written to be read in any order, but fixing the row that matches your last King death usually pays off fastest.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common Stonewards questions.
Which Stonewards guide should I read first?
Start with [Getting Started](/guides/getting-started/) if you are new, then read [How to Play Stonewards](/guides/how-to-play/) for the full wave and mining loop.
Do these guides cover solo and co-op?
Yes. Core loop guides apply to both modes. [How to Co-op in Stonewards](/guides/how-to-coop/) adds role splits and communication tips for groups of two to four.
Are the guides based on the demo or Early Access?
They reflect the public Steam demo and pre-release information ahead of Early Access on August 11, 2026. Patch updates may adjust specific numbers.
Where do I learn about builds and combat mechanics?
Use this hub for procedures and timing. Deeper loadout and enemy detail lives in [Builds](/builds/) and [Combat](/combat/) on the wiki.