Soulkeep: Introduction & Tutorial

Welcome to Soulkeep! This Tower Defense auto-battler allows you to strategically place towers, spells, and heroes in order to defeat the incoming hordes of fiends. This article can be used as a basic introduction to the story, concepts, and interface of Soulkeep.  

Soulkeep is currently available in the closed Beta version to players who have purchased 500 Nightmare Packs or more. Stay up to date with the progression of the game by viewing the Soulkeep Dev Diaries. 

You can access Soulkeep via the icon located at the top of the main Splinterlands website:

After logging in, click Battle to begin the tutorial and receive a step-by-step walkthrough of the items listed below:

Backstory

When her sister dies, your ally has a disturbing vision. The Nightmare Queen is preventing departed souls from being laid to rest - instead harvesting them to create an army of fiends. You must help your ally to free her little sister's soul with the aid of the ancestors. They have shared their knowledge of Towers and Spells to aid in protecting the Soul Gates from the fiends.

Tower and Spell Page

Towers are the primary mechanism by which you defeat the onslaught of fiends. Before you are allowed to place your towers, you will encounter the Tower and Spell page. This screen allows users to view the Towers and Spells contained in their inventory.

• Use the Towers and Spells tab to view your desired group of items.
• Sort the items by Rarity, Level, or Cost.
• Hover over the items to view their stats including:
  • Attack Range, Fire Interval, Physical Damage, and information relevant to that specific item.
• View the number of towers or spells you have available on the upper right edge of that item.
• View the level of the item within the red banner beneath the quantity available.
• View the mana cost on the bottom edge of the item. 

Within the tutorial, you must click Battle to continue your progression.

** In the full version of the game, you will be able to click Retreat.

Battle Screen: Basics

The Skull Icon and directional arrow which indicate where fiends will attack from. 

Note the swirling green Soul Gates.  You must protect these in order to win. 

• Every time a Fiend reaches the gates, your Life Force (contained within the red heart) decreases.

The Mana balance is contained within the blue bar to the left of the Life Force.

• Each Tower Costs Mana. You gain more mana by killing fiends. 

New Fiend Detected Notifications

New Fiend Detected notifications will give you information about new fiends you have to face - this information is invaluable when selecting and placing your towers. 

Battle Screen: Placing Towers

Click and drag towers to the one of the available purple circles:

The Attack Range is indicated by the grey circle around each tower.

• Strategically place them for maximum range. 
• Note the differences in various towers.
• Be sure to review the tower descriptions for specific information regarding attack. 

Click your towers to reposition or upgrade them.

You may reposition your Towers prior to battle by clicking the Red Recall icon.

• After placing your towers and defeating a wave, you must pay mana to reposition your towers. 
• Hover over the aquamarine "i" icon to view stats.

Towers that qualify for an upgrade are indicated by a Golden Arrow pointing up. You may upgrade your towers (if you have enough mana) by clicking the Sword icon.

When your Towers have been placed, click Start:

Watch the Battle Play out

While watching your towers fight fiends:

• Note the health bar of the fiends as well as the speed at which they move (pictured below).
• Note which towers are effective at taking out the various types of fiends.
• Consider tower positioning and what you may do differently if need to repeat a level. If you allow one wave to overwhelm you, you must repeat the full level. All 6 waves must be defeated consecutively in order to advance.  
• You may speed up your view of the wave or skip it completely by using the green buttons at the top of the screen (pictured below) 

Post Battle Screen: Defeat or be Defeated

If you have successfully defeated a wave of fiends, you will be shown a Wave Defeated pop-up. Here you can decide to Retreat or Keep Going.

• Note which wave you are on and your remaining life force. Can you strengthen your towers enough to repel another wave without completely draining your life force?
• Consider how difficult the previous wave was to defeat, and the placement of your towers. When you are playing to win (or lose) SPS, you might retreat in order to place your towers more strategically, thereby increasing the odds of securing victory without penalty. 
• You need souls to unlock leagues and level up your defenses. SPS, potions, and packs will be available as rewards as you progress within the full version of Soulkeep.

If you are defeated, take note of the fiends that were able to penetrate your forces. Reflect upon tower placement to better defeat these fiends next time. You must click Exit in order to return to the home screen. 

Interested in purchasing Nightmare Packs?

Nightmare Packs are available within the Non-Card Market. Be aware that packs purchased here DO NOT qualify for Airdrops. However, each pack will have a 0.2% chance of containing the Promo Hero.

Questions? Submit a request – Splinterlands