Stonewards Wave Prep Planner

Wave prep is the last gate between a calm economy phase and another bastion assault. Stonewards horns punish teams that treat post-wave time as unstructured sandbox: miners stay underground too long, crafters forget arrow stacks, and defenders drift away from primary lanes until audio cues scramble everyone. This planner lists horn-ready tasks in order so you can run them in under a minute solo or as a co-op captain read-aloud before spawns begin.

When to Run This Checklist

Run wave prep after Resource Priority Checklist spending and before anyone re-enters procedural caves unless you intentionally start the next economy phase early. If horn audio already plays, skip checklist items about mining and focus on surface positions only.

Interactive Wave Prep Checklist

Surface Role Assignments

Co-op groups should verbalize roles each horn—even repeat groups drift without callouts:

• Primary anchor: main lane focus fire and repair callouts.
• Flex peel: rushers and secondary lane spikes.
• King guard: intercept anything passing inward.
• Miner / crafter: only enters caves after horn ends unless emergency surface help needed.

Solo players note which hat they wear first sixty seconds of horn—usually anchor plus King guard simultaneously.

Mining Cutoff Discipline

Item wave-9 exists because late mining causes under-staffed horns. Agree a cutoff time or audio cue:

• “No new cave entries after forge craft complete.”
• “Last miner surfaces when horn prep sting plays.”

Pair cutoff rules with Mines and Caves return paths so miners know fastest route to primary lane.

Ammo and Consumable Verification

Item wave-4 prevents assuming quivers are full because someone “crafted earlier.” Physically confirm stacks or open inventory UI together in co-op. If ammo is low and horn imminent, delay mining and craft—see Resource Priority Checklist.

Control consumables (knockback, explosives, stagger tools) belong on players who can see breakers first—usually primary anchor or flex peel.

Fallback Pre-Identification

If outer walls failed last horn, item wave-6 forces inward planning before stress hits. Walk to choke point during prep window so rotation is muscle memory. Details in Bastion Fallback and Bastion Layout.

Communication Keywords

Item wave-8 standardizes callouts from Monster Types:

• “Breaker primary”
• “Rusher inner”
• “Fallback gate”
• “King side”
• “Ammo low”

New groups pick five keywords max—more vocabulary gets ignored mid-horn.

Milestone and Boss Horns

Before milestone waves referenced in public previews (around horn eleven) or known boss horns:

• Re-read checklist even if earlier horns felt easy.
• Stock control consumables on King guard and anchor.
• Skip non-essential mining on prior economy phase entirely.

Boss horns punish economy mistakes from horns three through five—prep is audit time.

Solo Wave Prep Compression

Solo merges roles—compress checklist to:

1. Surface with ore spent via resource priority.
2. Stand where primary and King sightlines overlap.
3. Confirm ammo and one control tool.
4. No cave until horn clears.

If solo prep exceeds horn timer, mine shallower permanently until buffer returns.

After the Horn Clears

When wave ends, order becomes:

1. Resource Priority Checklist for ore spend.
2. This wave prep planner before next horn.
3. Mining only after both checklists complete.

Related Reading

Combat depth: Wave Defense. Enemy focus: Monster Types. Geography: Bastion Layout. First-run context: Getting Started.