Challenges are unlocked by completing the rewards Defiance I and Defiance II. It adds 2 new buttons: one on the Perk tab to launch challenges, one on the Spells tab to activate the challenge buff.
Note: Yellow challenge Perkless is unlocked after killing Armathoth.
They are activated by selecting a challenge from the Challenges menu before performing a dark ritual.
There are 2 kinds of challenges: Black challenges (first 8) which effect runs only for the fight when Defiance is activated, and Yellow challenges (last 3) which effects runs all of the time, including during challenges.
The rewards are activated by casting the Defiance spell which is unlocked along with challenges. The number of casts per run is: 1 + total rank / 100
Black Challenges
Beast Hunt
Each boss here is The Beast. And the next one has 113x health of the previous one. You will meet a lot more bosses here.
You will get 1 rank for each killed boss.
Reward
Increases the max health of all heroes by 16% (compound) per rank.
Mana Leak
There is no mana here. Fortunately, the Amulet of Resurrection works here without mana too.
You will get 1 rank for each 10 caves cleared.
Reward
Increases the power of Cure spell and Heal ability by 26% (compound) per rank.
Bare Hands
Fight the demons with your bare hands. There are very few resources and far more bosses than usual.
You will get 1 rank for each killed boss past Cave 50.
Reward
Increases the attack of all heroes by 13% (compound) per rank.
Stone Skin
There are no wounds here.
You will get 1 rank for each 6 caves cleared past Cave 50.
Reward
Increases the armor of all heroes by 66% (compound) per rank.
Yellow (Archchallenges) Challenges
Perkless
Almost all your compound perks give additive effects here. Note, if this challenge is selected, tooltips in perks tab will show additive values.
You will get 1 rank for each cave after cave 66
Reward
Increases the power of Armor, Health, and Attack perk by 0.01% per rank (applies full time).
Tips
- All challenges: You don't need Enslavement for any challenge, redistribute DM to Attack/Loathing
- Beast hunt: You need all your perks.
- Mana Leak: Don't need Mana & Spells perks, redistribute DM to Attack/Loathing/Armor/Health (Loathing is very interesting here because at high caves, you are never limited by the mana you spend to max out it out
- Bare Hands: Don't need Loot/Discipline/Housing/Storage/Spells perks,, redistribute DM to Attack/Loathing/Armor/Health, use cave forest and old mine to gather resources to build up arsenal
- Stone Skin: You need all your perks.
- Perkless: You need all your perks, don't hesitate to use cure spell, for once it's very useful for some bosses