Runehold
Help & Support
Need a hand with Runehold? Email support@greenfieldlabs.llc and tell us your device model, iOS version and what happened. The answers below cover the most common questions.
How do I play?
Enemies march along the road toward your keep, the Runehold. Stop them with towers. Tap a glowing plot, pick a tower and tap it again to build it. Towers cost gold: you start each battle with some and earn more by defeating enemies. When you're ready, tap Start Battle to send in the first wave. Tap a tower you have built to upgrade it (each tower can be upgraded twice) or to sell it for 70% of the gold you spent on it; tap your choice a second time to confirm. You can build, upgrade and sell before and during the waves. You win if you still have lives when the last wave is over, and you lose when your lives reach 0.
Waves, spells, speed and pause
When a wave has finished coming in, a horn button with a countdown appears at the bottom right. The next wave starts by itself when the countdown ends. Tap the horn to call it early and you get 3 gold for every second left on the countdown.
The two spells are at the bottom left, and you can use them once the first wave has started. Meteor: tap it, then tap the place where it should fall; it damages every enemy close to that place. Winter's Grasp: tap it to slow every enemy on the field for 4 seconds; bosses are slowed less. After use, Meteor takes 30 seconds to recharge and Winter's Grasp 45 seconds.
At the top right, the speed button switches between normal and double speed, and the pause button opens a menu where you can resume, restart or leave the battle and switch music, sound and vibration on or off. Leaving a battle after its first wave has started counts as a defeat.
Stars and lives
You start every battle with 20 lives, or more with the Ramparts upgrade from the Forge. An enemy that reaches the end of the road takes lives: most take 1, large enemies 2 and bosses 5, 10 or 20. When you win, your stars depend on the lives you have left: three stars with at least 90% of your lives, two stars with at least half, otherwise one. The game keeps your best result for each level, and every star you earn for the first time pays 3 gems. You can replay any level you have unlocked to earn more stars.
Once per battle, when your last life is lost, you can revive by watching an ad or for 40 gems. You get back half of your lives (at least 5), every enemy on the field except bosses is removed, and bosses lose a quarter of their remaining health and go back to the start of the road.
How do I unlock towers and spells?
The Ranger Post and the Arcane Spire are available from the start. The Dwarven Bombard unlocks when you clear level 1, the Frost Obelisk when you clear level 3 and the Storm Totem when you clear level 6. You can get the Storm Totem earlier for 200 gems (in the Forge, on the Storm Totem's tab) or with the Starter Bundle. The Meteor spell unlocks when you clear level 2 and Winter's Grasp when you clear level 4. There are 12 levels in three regions, and each level opens when you clear the one before it.
The Forge and why upgrades get more expensive
The Forge opens when you clear level 1. There you spend Runes on permanent upgrades that apply in every battle. Each tower has Might (more damage), Haste (faster attacks), Reach (more range) and a special upgrade that opens when its Might reaches level 5. The keep's tab has Treasury (more starting gold), Ramparts (more lives), Bounty (more gold from defeated enemies) and one upgrade for each spell. Upgrades for a tower or a spell are locked until you have unlocked that tower or spell.
Every level of an upgrade adds the same bonus but costs more Runes than the level before it. For example, the first level of Might for the Ranger Post costs 30 Runes, the tenth costs 180 and the twentieth, its last, costs 1,310. The game is designed this way: the first levels are cheap, and the last ones are a long-term goal. The button on each upgrade shows the price of its next level. Forge upgrades are permanent and can't be reset.
Runes, gems and gold
Gold exists only inside a battle: you earn it and spend it there, and every battle starts fresh. Runes pay for Forge upgrades. You earn them by winning battles (more stars pay more, and the first win on a level pays a bonus), from the daily reward and from the free-Runes offer; a lost battle still pays a small share for the waves you cleared. Gems can be bought in the Shop. You also get 3 gems for every star you earn for the first time and some from the daily reward. Gems buy Runes in the Shop (500 Runes for 80 gems, 2,200 for 300 or 8,000 for 900), a revive (40 gems) and the Storm Totem before level 6 (200 gems).
What is Heroic mode?
When you clear a level, its Heroic mode unlocks. Tap the level on the map and choose Normal or Heroic before you play. In Heroic, enemies have 75% more health and move 10% faster, and the battle pays double Runes. Heroic stars are counted separately from Normal stars, so they pay their own gems and their own first-win bonus. Heroic is optional: levels, towers and spells unlock through Normal mode only.
Daily reward and free Runes
The gift button on the home screen opens the daily reward. You can claim once per calendar day, in a seven-day cycle: 100 Runes, 150 Runes, 10 gems, 250 Runes, 300 Runes, 15 gems and, on day 7, 500 Runes and 25 gems. Then the cycle starts again. If you miss a day, the cycle restarts at day 1. After you claim, you can watch an ad to double that day's reward.
The Forge and the Shop also offer free Runes for watching an ad. The amount grows with the highest level you have cleared. You can claim up to 8 times a day, with a 10-minute wait between claims. Both offers follow your device's date and time.
I bought something and didn't get it
Open Settings (the gear on the home screen) or the Shop and tap Restore purchases. This restores the permanent items: Remove Ads (no ads between battles), the Rune Doubler (double Runes from every battle) and the Starter Bundle's Storm Totem. The Starter Bundle's 400 gems and 2,000 Runes are delivered once, when you buy it, and are not restored. The game also checks for these items by itself every time it starts.
Gem packs are delivered when the purchase completes; if one didn't arrive, close and reopen the game while connected to the internet, then contact us if it's still missing. If a purchase needs approval (Ask to Buy), the item arrives once it's approved.
Can I get a refund?
Purchases are processed by Apple, so refunds are handled by Apple. Request one at reportaproblem.apple.com.
Where is my progress saved?
Your progress is saved on your device. There is no account and no cloud save. Deleting the game deletes it, and we can't recover it. It is part of your device backups (iCloud Backup or a backup to your computer), so restoring a backup brings it back. Permanent purchases can always be restored with Restore purchases; the rest of your progress, such as stars, Forge upgrades and the gems and Runes you had, can't. A battle isn't saved while you play it: if the game is closed during a battle, you start that level again.
Ads
This version of Runehold shows placeholder ads only, labelled as test ads: they're generated on your device and don't contact any ad network or track you. An ad can appear between battles. You can also choose to watch one for a reward: double Runes after a win, a revive, the War Chest (extra gold during a battle), free Runes or a doubled daily reward. Buying Remove Ads turns off the ads between battles; ads you choose to watch for rewards stay available. See our privacy policy for details.