New to Everhex? Start here
Everhex 0.5.23 · Updated 13 November 2026
This page explains Everhex from zero: what you are doing, what each currency is for, and what words like Ascend, jewel and Rift mean. Each part is short and links to the full page when you want the detail.
1What the game is
You do not aim or build a maze. Your tower stands in the middle of a round arena and shoots by itself. Enemies walk in from the edge in waves, and every wave is harder than the last.
A run is one attempt. It starts at wave 1 and ends when the tower falls. The deepest wave you have ever reached is your record, shown on Home as Highest Wave.
Your job is to make the tower stronger. During a run you buy upgrades that last until it ends. Between runs you buy upgrades that last for good. That is the whole game: each run goes a little further than the one before.
2The currencies
Everhex has six currencies. On your first day you only need the first three: cash, coins and gems.
| Currency | Kept? | Where it comes from | What it buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| No. It is gone when the run ends. | Kills during a run. Every run starts with $25. | Upgrades for this run only. | |
| Yes, until you Ascend. | Every run, time away from the game, the daily reward. | Workshop upgrades and new weapons. | |
| Yes, always. | Free from records, quests, the daily reward and more (below), or the Store. | Revives, perk redraws, wave skips, extra weapon mounts, permanent Store upgrades. | |
| Yes, never reset. | Your Tower Level going up, and Ascending. | Constellation nodes and jewel sockets. | |
| Yes. They are jewels. | Fusing three Legendary jewels into one, and some Rift rewards. | Rift keys. | |
| Yes. | Rift runs. | Nothing yet. Its shop is not in the game yet. |
The coin, gem, core and Mythic icons are drawn the way the game draws them. Cash is the game's own $ sign. Riftlight has no icon in the game, so the star is only this wiki's marker.
Cash ($): this run only
Each kill pays cash. Spend it in the panel under the arena on Attack, Defence and Utility upgrades. They make the tower stronger right now and are lost when the run ends. Nothing you buy with cash carries over, so spend it freely.
Coins: the money you keep
When the tower falls, you keep every coin the run earned. Coins buy the Workshop: permanent upgrades, so every new run starts stronger, and new weapons. A run pays more coins the more cash it earned and the more waves it cleared, and every sector above the first pays ×4 the one before. While you are away the tower keeps earning, for up to 24 hours.
Gems: premium, and free to earn
Gems can be bought in the Store, but you can earn plenty without paying:
- +5 gems each time your best wave passes another 10 waves (10, 20, 30 and so on).
- Three daily quests: +5 gems each, and +10 more for finishing all three.
- The daily reward on Home: gems on days 2, 5 and 7 (40 on day 7). Missing a day starts it again from day 1. While today's reward is waiting, a red dot shows beside DAILY REWARD on Home and on the TOWER tab of the other screens.
- Free Gems in the Store: +5 every 4 hours.
- Achievements, each paying once, and gem shards from bosses (100 shards make 1 gem).
Gems buy a perk redraw (15) and a revive at half health (30) during a run, wave skips to start a run at wave 10, 20 or 30, weapon mounts 4 to 6, and permanent Store upgrades such as x2 Coins Forever (400), which doubles every coin payout for good. The full list is on Currencies.
Cores: permanent power
Cores buy nodes in the Constellation, and those nodes are never reset. You earn them two ways. From your first runs, every time your Tower Level goes up you get +1 core; your Tower Level grows with every wave you survive, across all runs. Later, Ascending pays cores in bulk.
Mythics and Riftlight: the Rift's currencies
Mythics are not a separate coin. They are your Mythic jewels, the highest rarity, that are not socketed or locked. You make them by fusing jewels (see Jewels) and spend them on Rift keys.
Riftlight is earned by playing the Rift. What it buys: nothing yet. The Riftlight shop is not in the game yet; the game says it will buy looks, never power. Every bit of Riftlight you earn is kept.
3The loop
Everhex has two loops, one inside the other. The small loop is every run. The big loop is a cycle, and it ends when you Ascend.
The two loops
Every run repeat many times
- Runearn cash, buy upgrades for this run
- Tower fallsyou keep the coins
- Workshopcoins buy permanent upgrades
- Go furtherthe next run reaches a deeper wave
Every cycle when your runs stop improving
- Ascendcoins and the Workshop reset
- Corespaid for your best wave this cycle
- Constellationcores buy stats that never reset
- New cyclestart again from wave 1, stronger
4Ascending
Ascending is a fresh start that pays you. It wipes the cycle's progress and turns your best wave of the cycle into cores. The ASCEND button appears on Home as soon as Ascending would pay at least 1 core, which first happens at wave 10, and the sheet it opens lists exactly what you keep.
What Ascending does
You keep
- Gems
- Cores and every Constellation node
- Jewels, plus one to five new ones
- Achievements and your all-time wave record
- The Range unlock
- Workshop build presets
- The Compendium's entries
It resets
- Coins, to zero
- Workshop levels
- Weapon upgrades, owned weapons (back to the Cannon) and the loadout
- Sector, back to 1
- This cycle's best wave
How much it pays. The deeper your best wave this cycle, the more cores, and the payout climbs faster than the wave does. With only sector 1 opened, a best of wave 50 pays about 13 cores, wave 100 about 39 and wave 150 about 76. Every extra sector you have opened multiplies that by 1.35.
When to do it. Not the moment the button appears. Keep running while each run still beats your best wave, because every extra wave raises the payout. When your runs stop getting further and the Workshop upgrades have become expensive, Ascend: the cores you get make the next cycle quicker, and it will go past where this one stopped.
5The Constellation
The Constellation is a web of small permanent bonuses called nodes, bought with cores. Open it from the CONSTELLATION tile in Home's menu. Unlike the Workshop, it is never reset.
The Constellation, simplified
- Centre. Free. You start here.
- Nodes. Four rings of 18, 28, 38 and 48.
- Jewel sockets. Where a spoke crosses a ring: 24 in all.
- Keystones. One at the end of each of the six spokes.
- Clusters. A bigger node ringed by six small ones. Only six of the 33 are drawn.
- Deep Field. Rings past the edge, without end.
- Buying. You can buy any node that touches one you already own, starting from the centre. Inner nodes cost 1 core; the outer rings cost more and give more.
- Sockets hold jewels. A socket costs 30 cores and gives nothing until a jewel is in it.
- Keystones are big nodes that change how the tower plays. Second Wind, for example, saves the tower from one lethal hit a run and brings it back at half health.
- The Deep Field opens once you own all 453 nodes of The Web. It carries on outward forever, each ring dearer than the last. Owning the whole Web also opens the Siege and Hive modes.
- Mistakes are free. RESPEC ALL gives back every core you spent on the map.
More, including what each arm and keystone does and the other map shapes, is on Constellation.
6Jewels
A jewel is a gem you place in a Constellation socket. It adds a stat bonus, such as +15% damage. Rarer jewels carry more bonuses, and from Rare up they also boost the nodes you own near their socket. Open them from the JEWELS tile in Home's menu.
Common1 bonus
Rare2 bonuses
Epic3 bonuses
Legendary4 bonuses
Mythic5 bonuses
- Where they drop. Bosses drop a jewel 22% of the time, and any other kill very rarely (0.07%). The Fortune upgrade raises both. Deeper waves and higher sectors drop better jewels. Every Ascension gives one to five, and the daily reward gives one on days 4 and 7.
- Drops stop at Legendary. A Mythic never drops. You make one by fusing.
- Sockets. A jewel does nothing in your bag. Buy a socket in the Constellation (30 cores), tap it and choose SOCKET JEWEL.
- Fusing. Three loose jewels of one rarity become one of the next rarity. So 81 Commons can become one Mythic, and three Mythics fuse into a fresh Mythic. Jewels in a socket and locked jewels are never used. The fuse bar at the top of the Jewels screen shows every rarity and how many you have; tap a loose jewel and FUSE ×3 fuses it with two more of its rarity.
- Attuning is a gamble for gems: it may raise a jewel one rarity, and if it fails the jewel is destroyed, unless you also pay for a Safeguard.
- Lock a jewel you want to keep, so fusing never takes it.
Cluster jewels are a different item for later: they go in the Deep Field's three rim sockets and unfold into a small web of their own. Details, chances and costs are on Jewels and Cluster jewels.
7The Rift
The Rift is the season's challenge, and Season 2 is on now. It is a special run with its own rules, a 50-wave limit and a season ladder. You find it in the Rift panel on Home.
Getting in takes a key. In the game a Rift key is called a Rift Jewel, but you never socket it: it is a ticket.
- Your first key is free: the first time you clear wave 20 in a normal run, you are given a trial key.
- After that, forge keys at the Rift Forge (in Home's menu) from Mythics: 3 for a blank key, and 1 more for each mod you add, up to 6 mods.
- A key is used up the moment its Rift opens, whatever happens in the run.
Why it is different from a normal run. Your tower comes in exactly as strong as it is: the same Workshop, Constellation and jewels. What changes is the field.
- Each mod on the key is a rule the Rift runs under, with a bonus that applies only inside it. Fleet makes enemies twice as fast but gives them 20% less health; Half range halves every weapon's reach but doubles the tower's health.
- Each mod adds danger. More danger means a harder Rift and bigger rewards. A key's danger puts it in a tier: Ember (1 to 5), Cinder (6 to 11), Blaze (12 to 17) or Inferno (18 to 24).
- A Rift stops at wave 50, and it has no boss waves unless the key carries the Warden mod.
- The same key always makes the same Rift, and its code (RIFT·XXXX) lets another player race the same one.
- If your Tower Level is below what usually clears a tier, the game warns you. It is only a warning; you can always open the key.
From Mythics to the ladder
- 1Mythics3 for a blank keyor the free trial key at wave 20
- 2Forgeadd modseach mod adds a rule and danger
- 3Openthe key is useda Rift of up to 50 waves
- 4Rewardspoints and Riftlightand sometimes Mythics back
The ladder and seasons. A Rift scores ladder points: its danger × the waves you cleared. The ladder resets each season; badges and cosmetics stay.
Riftlight is the Rift's other reward: 50 × the key's danger for clearing all 50 waves, and a share of that if the tower falls earlier. A full clear can also hand back up to 2 Mythics. As above, the Riftlight shop is not in the game yet; what you earn is kept for when it opens.
Every mod, the arenas and the Rift Pass are on Modes: the Rift.
8Modes
ClassicThe original game. Enemies walk in from the edge toward the tower. Open from the start.
SiegeEnemies stop at range and shell the tower; a wall soaks the shots, and a full Overcharge becomes a Vent that knocks them back.
HiveNo marching waves. Nests sit on the field and breed enemies; a wave ends when every nest is destroyed.
Siege and Hive open together with the Deep Field, once you own all 453 nodes of The Web. All three are played on sectors: sector 1 is where everyone starts, and clearing wave 25 there opens sector 2, which is harder and pays ×4 the coins. The Rift is the fourth way to play, with its own rules (above).
9Your first hour
- Tap BATTLE on Home. Classic, sector 1, is already chosen. Watch the tower fight, and spend cash in the panel under the arena: Damage and Attack Speed are a good start. The AUTO button, which buys upgrades for you, stays locked until Tower Level 16.
- Pick a perk every second wave. A perk lasts until the run ends.
- When the tower falls, open the WORKSHOP tab and spend your coins on permanent upgrades. Damage, Attack Speed and Health cost 12 coins for the first level. Then run again.
- Collect the free gems: the daily reward on Home, the three daily quests, and Free Gems in the Store every 4 hours.
- Add weapons. A second weapon mount opens at wave 15 and a third at wave 30. Buy weapons in the Workshop and put them on your mounts.
- Spend your first cores. Your Tower Level rises as you play and pays a core each level. Spend them in the Constellation; it is never reset.
- Take the free Rift key you get at wave 20, and try a Rift.
- Open sector 2 by clearing wave 25 on sector 1. It pays ×4 the coins.
- Ascend when your runs stop beating your best wave.
Before spending gems on redraws, look at the Store's permanent upgrades: they pay back for as long as you play. If something on screen is unclear, the Compendium (in Home's menu) describes every weapon and enemy you have met, and the community answers questions in #everhex-help on the Klara Code Discord.
10Glossary
- Cash ($)
- Money earned by kills during a run, spent on that run's upgrades, gone when it ends.
- Coins
- Money every run pays and you keep; spent in the Workshop. Reset by Ascending.
- Gems
- The premium currency, also earned free; buys revives, redraws, wave skips, mounts and Store upgrades.
- Cores
- The permanent currency, from Tower Level and Ascending; buys Constellation nodes.
- Mythics
- Mythic-rarity jewels, the highest; three make a blank Rift key.
- Riftlight
- Earned in the Rift and kept; its shop is not in the game yet.
- Ascend
- Reset coins, the Workshop and your sector for a payment of cores and new jewels.
- Tower Level
- Grows with every wave you survive, across all runs; +1 core each level.
- Sector
- A difficulty step, 1 to 10. Each is the same field, harder, and pays ×4 the coins of the one before.
- Tier
- The game's other name for a sector ("Tier 1 of 10").
- Wave
- One group of enemies. Every wave is harder; every 10th is a boss wave.
- Boss
- A big enemy every 10th wave; 22% of them drop a jewel.
- Perk
- A bonus you pick from three cards every second wave; it lasts for the run.
- Workshop
- Where coins buy permanent upgrades and new weapons.
- Mount
- A slot on the tower for one weapon; up to six.
- Constellation
- The web of permanent stat nodes bought with cores; never reset.
- Node
- One point on the Constellation, each a small permanent bonus.
- Keystone
- A big node at the end of a spoke that changes how the tower plays.
- Deep Field
- The endless rings past the Constellation's edge, opened by owning all 453 nodes.
- Jewel
- A gem you socket in the Constellation for extra bonuses; five rarities, fused three into one.
- Cluster jewel
- A separate kind of jewel for the Deep Field's rim sockets; it unfolds into its own small web.
- Rift
- The season's challenge: a run of up to 50 waves under the rules on its key.
- Rift key
- Also called a Rift Jewel: the ticket into one Rift, forged from Mythics and used up when it opens.
- Danger
- How hard a Rift key is: the sum of its mods. It scales the ladder points and Riftlight.
- Overcharge
- A gauge that fills as you kill. When full, press it for a burst: weapons fire 3× as often and deal 2× damage for a while.
- Super crit
- What crit chance past 100% becomes: extra crit damage on every crit, not wasted chance.
- Long Shot
- Range past the arena's edge, turned into extra damage on hits against far-away enemies.
- Crucible
- The screen behind the › beside your cores: stake cores on a record run, buy perks until your next Ascension, or turn cores into coins.
- Compendium
- The book in Home's menu that describes every weapon and enemy you have met.