Across the Obelisk: Complete Beginner-to-Madness Guide

A player's guide to Across the Obelisk (AtO), Dreamsite Games' co-op roguelite deckbuilder. It covers party building, the town and economy, perks, status effects, bosses, game modes and the Madness difficulty ladder, plus what changed in the 1.7.x patches.

Researched September 2026 — current as of Update 1.7.6.3 (live) with 1.7.7.1 on the patch-preview branch (25 September 2026). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• You control a party of four heroes, one per class: Warrior, Scout, Mage and Healer. Your starting party covers all four: Magnus, Andrin, Evelyn and Reginald. Everyone else unlocks by playing.
• Each hero has their own deck. You're building four small decks, not one. Keep each deck lean and on-plan.
• Gold and Shards are your two run currencies. Gold buys items and cards. Shards pay for upgrading and transforming cards. Both can be passed between players in co-op.
• Supplies upgrade your towns permanently. Spending supplies on town upgrades makes future runs cheaper and stronger. It's the main between-run progression besides hero ranks.
• Hero ranks unlock perk points. Playing a hero raises their rank, and ranks give perks (stat, resistance and keyword bonuses) that carry into every run.
• Events matter. Many map nodes are events whose choices depend on your party's classes and cards. Some choices reward rare items, pets or hero unlocks.
• Card rewards unlock permanently. Each class has a pool of unlockable cards (achievements track 30/60/90 per class), and unlocking more widens every future run.
• Adventure mode first, then Obelisk Challenge. Adventure is the story campaign across four acts. Obelisk Challenge and the Weekly Challenge are draft-based roguelike modes for experienced players.

Classes and Starting Heroes

Class | Starter hero | Party role

Warrior | Magnus | Front-line tank and damage; Block, Taunt-style protection and heavy hits

Scout | Andrin | Fast attacks, Bleed, Poison, Sharp and Mark-based burst

Mage | Evelyn | Elemental damage (Burn, Chill, Spark) and AoE

Healer | Reginald | Healing, Shields, Bless, Sanctify and cleansing curses

Unlockable heroes (base game and DLC, confirmed by the Steam achievement list): Heiner, Grukli, Bree, Thuls, Sylvie, Gustav, Cornelius, Wilbur, Zek, Ottis, Malukah, Nezglekt, Laia and Navalea. Many unlock through events or by beating content. Check the hero select screen for each one's requirement.

Paid hero DLCs: Amelia, the Queen; Nenukil, the Engineer; Bernard, the Alchemist; Sigrun, the Valkyrie; Tulah, the Spider Queen.

1.7 reworks (Magnus and Andrin)

Update 1.7 reworked the two starter frontliners. You can switch between Classic and Reworked traits on the hero's Traits screen. Since 1.7.6.3, the Weekly Challenge works with either setting.

• Magnus (reworked): starting deck swaps 2x Rend for 2x Precise Strike. His innate Well Trained now casts 0-cost Melee Attacks, Defenses and Spells twice (up to 3 times per turn). Level 4 Thunderclap (now bigger Lightning damage plus Spark) and level 5 Weapon Expert (All Damage +7, all Curses +1 except Disarm, Silence and Doom, plus Fatigue immunity) round him out as a curse-stacking bruiser.
• Andrin (reworked): starting deck swaps 2x Rupture for Tactical Thinking and an extra Hunter's Mark. His innate Trailblazer gives 2 Sharp if you already have Fast. Master Ranger (formerly "Ranged Attacks cost 1 less") now refunds 1 energy and grants 1 Powerful when you play a Ranged Attack (3 times per turn). Level 5 Mark for Death keeps Mark +3 and, whenever Andrin damages an enemy, adds Slashing damage equal to that enemy's Mark charges.

Core Combat Mechanics

• Energy: each hero gets energy every turn to play cards. Cheap cards and energy generation are the backbone of every strong deck.
• Turn order: heroes and enemies act by Speed. Getting your healer or a debuffer to act before enemies swings fights.
• Damage types: Slashing, Piercing, Blunt, and elemental types including Fire, Cold, Lightning, Holy, Shadow and Mind. Enemies have resistances, so check the enemy's resistance panel before you commit to a damage plan.
• Block: absorbs damage this round. Warriors stack it. The Defender and Fortress achievements ask you to reach 50 and 200 Block charges.

Key status effects (charges)

Effect | Type | What to know

Bleed | Curse | Damage over time; Scout specialty

Poison | Curse | Stacks high and ticks every turn; great against bosses

Burn | Curse | Fire damage over time; Mage specialty

Chill | Curse | Slows enemies; big stacks lock them down

Spark | Curse | Lightning that spreads; "Sparkly" and "Electrocuter" achievements reward stacking it

Crack | Curse | Weakens blunt resistance; pair with blunt attackers

Insane | Curse | Mind-themed curse

Mark | Curse | Scout debuff (Hunter's Mark); reworked Andrin converts Mark charges into damage

Sharp / Powerful / Fast | Aura | Damage and speed buffs

Regeneration | Aura | Healing over time

Bless / Sanctify | Aura / zone | Healer-side buffs; big stacks power holy builds

Thorns | Aura | Reflects damage to attackers

Fury | Aura | Offensive stacking buff

Since 1.7.6.2, on-hit effects trigger when a hit removes the last stack of Thorns, and damage fully absorbed by Block no longer removes Sleep.

The Run Structure

• Act 1: Senenthia. The starting region and town. Learn the event pool here.
• Branching regions. Choose paths at forks. Different regions have different bosses, events and shops. Base-game bosses (from the achievement list) include Ylmer, Yogger, Ignidoh, Scorn, Tulah, Faeborg, Erekhal, Elder Dryad, Belphyor, Minotaur, Astarios, Graendor, Rhodogor, Ursur, Matriarch, Ratone, Mortis and DT-800.
• Final act. The campaign ends against Lord Hanshek, the villain holding the king's daughter.
• Expansions add regions. The Wolf Wars, The Obsidian Uprising, Sands of Ulminin, Shores of Sahti, Necropolis of the Damned, The Shattered Remnant, Spooky Night in Senenthia and The Sunken Temple each add content such as areas, events, bosses and cards. Ulminin, for example, adds the Sandworm fight (it has its own boss achievement, as do Fred and Franky).

Towns

In each town you can:

• Craft cards with gold/shards from your class pools
• Upgrade or transform cards (Shards)
• Remove cards to thin your decks
• Buy items (weapons, armor, jewelry, accessories) and pets
• Divinations for random rewards
• Sell supplies
• Since the 22 September 2026 update, gamble supplies at a new wager building in every town except Senenthia

Town buildings get new cosmetic looks at upgrade levels 6 and 12 (also added 22 September 2026).

Deckbuilding Rules of Thumb

• Thin to win. Remove weak starter cards as soon as you can. A 15-card deck that draws its key cards every turn beats a 30-card deck full of filler.
• Give each hero one job. A Scout stacking Bleed shouldn't also be dabbling in block.
• Build synergy across the party. Keyword chains (e.g. Chill plus Blunt/Crack, or Mark plus multi-hit Scouts) make a party much stronger than four solo decks.
• Upgrade before you add. An upgraded core card is usually worth more than a new unupgraded one.
• Mind the corruptions. Some rewards and events add corruption cards or effects. Only take them when the payoff is clear.

Your First Few Runs: A Simple Plan

• Run 1 with the starter four. Magnus holds the front, Andrin applies Mark and Bleed, Evelyn picks one element and commits, Reginald keeps everyone alive. Don't worry about winning; you're learning the event pool and enemy intents.
• Pick one element per Mage run. Fire (Burn) and Cold (Chill) decks each want different items and supporting cards. Splitting them weakens both.
• Spend Shards on your healer's key cards first. A party that can't sustain through Act 2 loses to attrition before damage ever matters.
• Spend supplies at the end of every run. Town upgrades are permanent and make the next attempt stronger even when the last one failed.
• Rotate in new heroes as they unlock. Each hero earns rank (and perk points) by being played, so a wider bench of ranked heroes gives you more strong party options.
• Try the Reworked toggle on Magnus and Andrin. If the reworked traits don't fit your style, the Classic versions are still available.

Items and Pets

• There are 300+ items. Weapon, armor, jewelry and accessory slots stack with your deck's plan. An item that adds a status on hit can carry a whole keyword build.
• Pets (Betty, Flamy, Lianta, Stormy, Slimy, Oculy, Orby, Mozzy, Sharpy, Daley, Asmody, Champy, Chompy, Chumpy, Fenny, Batsy, Holy Cuby, Dark Cuby and more) sit in a hero's pet slot and add small effects. Many come from events.

Game Modes

Mode | What it is | Who it's for

Adventure | Story campaign across four acts, with events and choices | Everyone; start here

Obelisk Challenge | Draft your decks and play a randomized map | Experienced players

Weekly Challenge | Fixed deck and map each week, with a leaderboard | Competitive players

Madness levels | Difficulty tiers with extra rules (corruptors) for Adventure/Obelisk | Post-campaign progression

Madness: after beating the game, higher Madness levels add harder rules. The "Legendary Hero" achievement asks you to master Madness Level 1. Recent fixes mention encounters at Madness 6+, like the Wraith of Regret softlock fixed on 1.7.7.1 preview.

Co-op

• Play solo controlling all four heroes, or with 2–4 players, where each person controls one or more heroes.
• Gold and Shards can be shared between players. Many desync bugs around sharing and town purchases were fixed in 1.7.6.2 and 1.7.6.3. If a run desyncs, resuming now keeps sharing working.
• Talk about path choices before you vote. Town shopping is where most co-op runs are won or lost.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Adding every card you're offered. Skipping is often the best pick.
• Ignoring enemy resistances. A Fire Mage against a fire-resistant zone needs a backup plan or a different path.
• Never spending supplies. Town upgrades are permanent power. Spend supplies instead of hoarding them.
• Leveling only one hero. Perk points come from a hero's rank, and a party is only as strong as its weakest member. Rank up several heroes so you have options for each class.
• Jumping straight into Obelisk Challenge. Learn cards and enemies in Adventure first.
• Forgetting about the new wager building. It's optional gambling. Don't blow supplies you need for upgrades.

Advanced Tips

• Speed manipulation: Fast plus Slow/Chill lets your heroes act before enemy bursts. Build around it at high Madness.
• Reworked Magnus combo: fill his deck with 0-cost cards, since Well Trained double-casts them up to 3 times per turn.
• Reworked Andrin: pair Mark-applying cards with multi-hit teammates, then let Mark for Death convert those charges into damage.
• Test fixes on the preview branch: right-click the game in Steam > Properties > Game Versions & Betas > "patch-preview". Choose "Default Public Version" to go back.
• Community resources: the devs' 24 September 2026 community update points to an interactive map by Panda and strategy guides by Kabbyyss (both linked from the official Discord).

FAQ

Who are the starting heroes? Magnus (Warrior), Andrin (Scout), Evelyn (Mage) and Reginald (Healer).

Can I play Across the Obelisk solo? Yes. You control the full four-hero party yourself. Online co-op supports 2–4 players.

Which DLC should I buy first? The campaign expansions (The Wolf Wars, The Obsidian Uprising, Sands of Ulminin, Shores of Sahti, Necropolis of the Damned, The Shattered Remnant, The Sunken Temple) add the most gameplay. Hero DLCs add single heroes. Season Packs (Golden, Frostforged and Deadly Sins, the last released 22 September 2026 with 10 skins) are cosmetic only.

How do I switch Magnus/Andrin back to their old versions? Toggle Classic/Reworked traits on the hero's Traits screen.

What is Madness? The post-game difficulty ladder that adds modifiers for bigger challenges and rewards.

How do I join the patch-preview branch? Steam > right-click Across the Obelisk > Properties > Game Versions & Betas > select "patch-preview".

Sources

• Across the Obelisk on Steam (DLC list, features)
• Across the Obelisk Steam news (1.7.6.x patch notes, 1.7.7.1 preview, Deadly Sins pack)
• Across the Obelisk DLC list on Steam
• Open Beta: Magnus and Andrin Rework (Steam news)
• Across the Obelisk Steam achievements (bosses, heroes, pets, keywords)