Daily Challenge formats explained: Classic, Twisted, Act Slice and Giant Day

The Daily Challenge is one solo run a day, the same for every player: a set race, a set map and a set starting gold. What changes from day to day is the format. Each weekday has its own kind of challenge, so a week of Dailies takes you from the first waves of Act I to the giants at the end of the later acts. This guide explains what every format plays, how the rule twists work, and what each medal asks of you on each kind of day.

The week at a glance

Every format belongs to a weekday (UTC), and the same format never comes two days in a row:

The three Act Slice days of a week cover Act II, Act III and Act IV once each, in a different order every week. The Giant Days take the three giants in turn. Every day is free to play, whatever the race and however late in the campaign it starts, so the Daily is also the free way to try the races and acts that are otherwise part of Premium.

Classic: Act I as it was

A Classic day is the Daily as it started: Act I, “The Gathering Dark”, waves 1–30, from the first wave with 100 gold. On some race and map pairings that are harder than most, the day also gives a head start in gold; the day's page says so under "Start gold". Monday's Classic has no twists at all, which makes it the best day for a first try. Friday's Classic adds one twist that helps you, such as faster building or more kill gold.

If you are new to mazing, read how to maze first: on a Classic day you build everything yourself from an empty lane, and the rules from that guide apply as they are.

Twisted: two rules change

Wednesday is still Act I from wave 1, but with two rule twists: one that makes the run harder and one that helps. Because a harder twist on the tightly tuned first act costs a lot, a Twisted day starts with 250 gold instead of 100. Read both twists before you place the first tower: a helping twist like faster building changes how late in a break you can still build, and a hard one like faster creeps changes how long your maze needs to be.

The ten rule twists

These are all the twists a day can have, with the exact rule each one changes:

• Swift Horde: Creeps move 15% faster.
• Iron Hides: Creeps have 20% more health.
• Twin Lords: Every boss comes twice (and pays twice).
• Sky Raid: Every wave brings 3 extra flyers per lane.
• No Retreat: Built towers can't be sold once the first wave starts.
• The Swarm: 50% more creeps (not bosses), each with 35% less health and gold.
• Regen Surge: Every creep heals 0.5% of its health a second (half while slowed).
• Master Masons: Towers build and upgrade twice as fast.
• Gold Rush: Kill gold +25%.
• War Chest: 50% more start gold, but wave bonuses are halved.

Twin Lords and Regen Surge only appear on Act Slice days, and Master Masons only on the Act I days. A Giant Day never has a twist: the giant is the twist.

A twist never changes your race, your map or the medal rules. It only changes the creeps, your gold or your towers for that one day.

Act Slice: dropped into a later act

On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday you start in the middle of a later act: waves 36–50 of Act II, waves 66–80 of Act III or waves 96–110 of Act IV. You don't have to play the waves before them. Instead you get the gold a strong player would have put into towers by then, and a setup break of 4 minutes before the first wave.

During the setup break every tower builds instantly and sells back in full, so you can lay out a whole maze, look at it, and move what doesn't work without losing gold. Press Ready when the maze holds, or the break ends on its own. The starting gold also depends on the race: races whose late towers cost more for the same effect get more gold, so every race has a fair start.

Later acts bring creeps with traits of their own, like shields, healers or creeps that burrow. Each day's page lists every creep the slice sends, with its element, armour and traits, so you can plan your counters before you start. The bosses page explains each act's bosses.

Giant Day: the end of an act

Sunday plays the last waves of an act and ends with its giant: waves 51–60 and the Abyssal Kraken, waves 81–90 and the Deepmaw, or waves 116–120 and The Furnace Colossus. Like an Act Slice, it starts with the gold of a strong board and the same setup break.

Giants follow their own rules, and every one of them is on its page: the Abyssal Kraken, the Deepmaw and The Furnace Colossus. One rule matters on every Giant Day: while a giant walks, selling refunds 100%, so you can sell the towers it has already passed and rebuild them ahead of it.

Medals on every format

Each run that clears the day earns a medal, and the day keeps your best one:

• Bronze: clear all of the day's waves.
• Silver: clear them losing at most 25% of your lives (20 lives on the Daily).
• Gold: clear them without losing a life, and fast. The clock allows 48 s of play a wave on Classic and Twisted days, 80 s a wave on an Act Slice and 110 s a wave on a Giant Day, because later waves are longer.

The Gold clock starts with the first wave and stops while the game is paused, so the setup break doesn't count against you, but the breaks between waves do. Sending waves early with Ready is how you beat it.

The Heroic Daily

Every day also has a Heroic Daily: the same race, map, gold and twists on a harder difficulty with only 12 lives. It has its own leaderboard and its own medals. Clearing it is the hardest thing the Daily asks of you, and a cleared Heroic can also rescue a streak you broke the day before.

Where to look each day

Each day has its own page under the Daily Challenge, with the format, the twists, the race's towers, the map, the creeps of the day, tips for that combination and the day's results. Open it before you play: two minutes of reading tells you which of your race's towers the day calls for, and which of them to leave in the shop.