Campaign spoilers follow. A Crown of Greed mission rarely ends because the city is merely large enough. It ends when the correct trigger chain is intact: reveal the target, remove the protection around it, move enough independent heroes into range, and preserve the building or caravan that changes the next objective. Treating every map as a free-build economy test is the fastest way to miss that chain.
This route covers all 12 campaign scenarios and was checked on July 20, 2026. The detailed scenario references were published between April 1 and April 6, before Update 1.1.0 rebuilt saving and added mission timers, objective counters, clickable target links, and a Restart Mission command. Official Hotfix 1.1.1 on April 28 is the patch ceiling for this guide. If a day number below disagrees with the current objective panel, trust the panel.
The campaign advances when the trigger chain is clean
Contracts are commitments, not orders. An Attack flag asks heroes to judge whether its reward is worth the danger. Exploration exposes fogged objectives and pulls adventurers through hostile ground. Defense is the right tool for a caravan, allied settlement, sacred tree, or forward building that must stay alive. Gold placed on a contract leaves the treasury immediately; deleting an unfinished flag does not restore that stake. Raise one important reward instead of scattering small payments across five simultaneous jobs.
Before activating a main objective, make a response lane:
- Reveal the approach. Scout the road or map edge named by the objective. A defense flag cannot save a caravan if heroes discover it only after enemies have closed around it.
- Remove repeat spawns. Killing the visible pack is temporary when its habitat still stands. Hotfix 1.1.1 even corrected a Gates of Hell description to say that habitats, not only their current residents, must be destroyed.
- Build a return path. Inns, shops, guilds, and compact towers reduce the time between a fight and the next contract. A powerful hero on the opposite edge of the map is not part of the defense.
- Keep one reserve. Do not send the entire roster into the lair that starts a retaliation wave. Several scenarios answer the boss objective with an attack from another direction.
Update 1.1.0 makes this easier to audit. Time-sensitive objectives now show timers, kill tasks have visible counters and target links, and time controls let you slow the moment when two threats overlap. Hotfix 1.1.1 repaired party members ignoring Attack flags, so a party leader should no longer arrive alone while the rest wander back toward town.
Start with New Frontier, then prepare for two escort maps
Launch-week references treated the first three scenarios as freely selectable. Hotfix 1.0.1 changed the onboarding so New Frontier is the default opening and the campaign unlocks scenarios on a more gradual curve. Follow the current campaign panel rather than forcing the old order.
New Frontier: make the road pay for its own security
The finish is an economy-and-clearance test: build toward the displayed gold target while eliminating the enemy habitats that threaten the trade road. Keep the first district close to the castle because hostile dens begin near the starting area. Expand along the road only after heroes have cleared the next pocket, then let safer caravan traffic accelerate the treasury instead of spending continuously on replacement buildings.
The northern village is an efficient early branch. Clear its beasts and bandits so its tax income begins contributing to the goal. South along the main road, reveal the marked outpost site before sending workers. Put a hero in vision range, complete the Trading Post, and defend it when flying attackers arrive. This is a better rehearsal for later escorts than sending every hero to explore at once.
Do not diagnose a missing bandit or Arena objective from an April 1 route. Update 1.1.0 fixed non-spawning bandits, an unavailable Arena, and an optional northern-bandit completion failure. If an old in-progress save still lacks one of those states, use Restart Mission after updating.
Night of the Fangs: the silver caravan is the real damage phase
Build at least one hero guild immediately, then establish a Blacksmith, Inn, Marketplace, and a compact tower perimeter. More copies or upgrades of a guild increase that class’s available seats, which matters more here than decorating a broad city. Explore while the first wolf packs gather, but keep enough heroes near home to strip the smaller wolves away from their protected leader.
The Lord of Fangs is not an early damage race. When the golden protection is active, clear its pack and survive until the silver shipment enters from the south. Place a Defense contract on that caravan before it crosses hostile ground. When it reaches the castle, confirm that the boss protection has dropped, then switch the main reward to the Lord of Fangs.
The southeast mercenary camp can add friendly defenders if you save it from its own beast attack. Three special caves are documented to the east, southwest, and far north; destroy their spawners when the main timer leaves room. The original walkthrough placed the silver arrival around Days 20-21, but the current timer is safer than an old calendar. Updates 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 repaired several save/load failures in the swamp search and boss retreat phases, plus a misleading invulnerability effect after the caravan arrived.
Price of Gold: clear the announced lane before the cart exists
The Marketplace is the destination and therefore part of the main objective. Give it a protected interior position, then recruit before pushing south, where a nearby habitat can reach a thin opening city. The first documented caravan approaches from the west. Scout that road, use the existing defensive tower, and remove the closest spawner before the arrival notice turns into an escort emergency.
Later warnings identify another approach before the shipment appears. Pause, trace that lane back to the map edge, and either clear it or stage a small escort there. Wolves and bears may arrive shortly before their related caravan; removing the interception group is more reliable than stacking a huge reward after the cart is already surrounded. When two or more shipments overlap, split the roster by road and keep a mobile reserve near the Marketplace.
The route also contains three old-kingdom towers, a bandit-held southeastern village, and coastal camps north of that village. Those are useful between arrivals, especially if the side objectives strengthen later runs through Heritage. Do not chase them while a caravan timer is active. Hotfix 1.0.1 fixed the scenario ending immediately after a warning, so a current client should advance from actual escort results rather than the notification alone.
Infernal Pact: break the daylight anchors before opening the cave
Upgrade the castle to Tier 2 and spend the scout-waiting period on a defensible roster. The main evil is at the eastern edge, but attacking it as soon as it is revealed creates the worst possible sequence: exhausted heroes at the cave, then a three-direction counterattack against the city.
First locate the three Obsidian Apex structures documented northeast, east, and south of the castle. They reinforce the undead and accept damage only during daylight. Put each Attack contract up early enough for travel, then watch whether the heroes wait for the correct time state instead of repeatedly walking into an invulnerable target. The current mission timer and daylight state override the old Day 6 scout landmark.
There are two useful detours. Southwest, clear the cursed tower in the fishermen’s village and construct the requested Trading Post. Northwest, the ruins create a choice between the nearby bandits and the resident spirits; the available source documents a hero-strengthening reward for siding with Grimloth against the bandit camp, but does not establish every branch consequence. Preserve a save if you want to compare outcomes.
After the Apex network and optional help are resolved, recall the reserve and attack the devil cave. Destruction triggers the retaliation. The Ravager travels with the southern group, so mark it rather than letting every hero disperse across the other two fronts. Update 1.1.0 corrected a crooked-path navigation failure and the Cover of Night effect persisting into daytime; restart an older mission rather than routing around either bug.
Lost in the Fog: free the villages before entering the vampire pocket
This map rewards a search pattern, not random exploration. Begin with the nearby southwestern village, then work around the castle through the southern, northeastern, river-side southeastern, eastern-across-the-river, and far-southern settlements shown by the route. Use the live objective tracker as the final count because the source describes positions more clearly than a stable numbered list. Destroy spider nests encountered between villages; the documented reward is additional city guards.
The river settlement opens the Fishermen’s Nightmare branch. When the Fishermen Eater is announced, look near the bridge southeast of the map center and assign a focused party rather than dragging the entire village-clearing force away. The main fog sequence waits until the settlements are safe. Vampires then emerge from the southwestern fog, led by the Blood Feeder. Defeat that attack, explore the newly opened pocket, and destroy the Bloody Barrows with a substantial group. The vampire lord returns after the structure falls; keep the contract funded until the second fight registers.
Update 1.1.0 fixed a load after the first rescued village incorrectly jumping the main quest forward, while 1.1.1 repaired placeholder values on the vampire timer. A save showing either symptom belongs to the old mission state even if the map looks playable.
Stone Gaze and Burning Grove reward allies, not raw hero count
Stone Gaze: reclaim circles while searching the map corners
The friendly necromancy circle near the castle explains the map’s conversion rule. Freeing the other circles adds undead support, so fold them into the basilisk sweep instead of postponing them until the boss warning. One contested circle is far east under Grimloth; another is north under Zareth. Approach both with a formed group because their defenders are stronger than the ordinary corner lairs.
West of the city, destroy the cursed tower behind the Twelve Brothers branch. Its spectral defenders return daily while the structure survives. Basilisk lairs occupy the outer map, so explore each corner and eliminate the habitats rather than only their visible occupants. Once the required lairs are gone, the colossal basilisk enters from the northwest with smaller allies. Pull the circle-supported force back toward a prepared defense lane and focus the king only after its escort is controlled.
Update 1.1.0 fixed an immediate scenario soft lock, a resurrection event firing after its tower was already gone, and Curse Hunter errors after loading. Those are patch faults, not clues to a hidden route.
Burning Grove: defend two centers and recruit the map
The castle and the sacred tree to the east are both failure surfaces. A permanent Defense contract on the tree can drain gold without guaranteeing coverage, so refill it before announced attacks and release heroes for cleanup between waves. Clear the upper-half swamp habitats northwest of the city for the documented gold reward, then convert side objectives into defenders:
- Destroy the western witch shack, survive the follow-up enemy, and free the werewolves assigned to the tree.
- Clear the hostile rings around the dryad altars east near the tree and north of the castle, then recruit from the restored sites.
- Open paths between castle and tree so a party does not spend the warning window walking around fog, water, or surviving habitats.
The pre-update route placed the decisive attack on Day 20. On 1.1.1, use the timer and four map pings: the patch specifically fixed a final wave that had been entering from only one direction and enemies that ignored Dryad towers. Do not overstack the first ping and leave the other three approaches open.
Sins of the Ancestors turns Day 7 into a route change
Build the opening force on the accessible side of the rivers and clear the enemies around the Blood Tree. The older route uses Day 7 as the point when water freezes and previously isolated ground becomes reachable. Treat that as a planning landmark, then verify the actual terrain and objective state before sending explorers across.
The ritual branch requires the Ice Wolf’s heart from the central area and all four bonfires. That count is not an inference: Hotfix 1.0.2 changed the objective so four must be lit, correcting an earlier three-fire completion. The same patch repaired the Hunter joining, the Blood Tree reward, and several frozen-lake states. The launch route aimed to finish the ritual by Day 16 before the undead assault on Day 17; the current timer is the authority if balance changes move either window.
North at the Giant Cave, the Legendary Hunter can be freed as an additional defender. Complete that rescue before the final formation if the route is safe. Hotfix 1.1.1 removed an incorrect undead counter from the bonfire UI, so do not wait for a number that the current objective intentionally no longer displays.
The Creaking Hut is a damage schedule, not a chase
The villages already contain economic services, allowing early spending to go into guilds, heroes, and local guard towers. Prepare the southern settlement first: the launch route saw Baba Yaga’s hut strike there on Day 5. During these opening visits, the goal is to protect buildings and inflict enough pressure to force a retreat. Chasing the walking hut across the map only pulls heroes away from the next village.
Rebuild a lost service if necessary and keep increasing the roster between attacks. The old route marks Day 19 as the point when the hut can finally be destroyed; confirm that the current objective has changed from repel to destroy before committing every contract. Baba Yaga then arrives separately from the north, so a force that ends the hut fight on the wrong edge can still lose the city.
Hotfixes repaired the witch failing to appear, a cauldron escape not starting, the hut’s corruption/healing chain, premature damage dialogue, and a load that stripped the hut’s buffs. If a current hut remains invulnerable while the objective says it should take damage, restart the mission state; do not assume an unlisted building or spell is the answer.
Gates of Hell: dismantle the buffs before the three fortresses
The three Hell Fortresses on the eastern side call out the Overlord, but nearby infrastructure determines how hard that response will be. Clear ordinary habitats as the city expands, then find the Obsidian Apex network: one to the north, one south-southeast near a gold vein, and one on the approach to the middle fortress. These towers are daylight targets. A night contract merely wastes travel time and can leave heroes exposed for the next spawn.
The southern altar offers a side objective involving a ghost bride and a Knight of at least level 12. Knights do not reliably answer a distant Exploration flag. Build on the nearby gold vein, place a Defense reward on that structure, and let the economic destination pull the correct class into the altar area.
Only after the Apex structures and useful side support are settled should the three fortresses fall. Collapse them one at a time, heal and re-equip between pushes, then recall everyone before the Overlord’s army arrives. The reference recommends a very large late-game roster, but traits, Heritage choices, difficulty, and current balance make a universal hero count unreliable. Judge readiness by whether two complete parties can return while a reserve still protects the castle.
Hotfix 1.1.1 corrected the southern Apex trigger, unreachable spawns, lingering War of Destruction buffs, and the Overlord arriving with the wrong state after a load. It also clarified that a related side task checks destroyed habitats, not the bodies from one wave.
Cult of Shadows: buy the missing roster from the map
This scenario deliberately withholds much of the normal build menu and leaves the opening economy short on workers. Do not wait for the castle to unlock a complete roster. The campaign route is a loop through allied settlements, each of which adds buildings or classes needed for the three Shadow Circles: one north and two far east.
- Northwest settlement: destroy the nearby spider nests and Spider Queen. The settlement then provides martial and economic facilities that the starting city lacks.
- Central-eastern religious group: follow the Mass Grave request to the far-eastern ancient barrow. Destroy it to gain priestess support, a library, and a functioning resurrection route.
- Northern dryad settlement: recover the relic from the white coffin in the ruins directly east of the village, then build the requested outpost when the objective calls for it.
One readable Nightmare guide updated July 9 reports success with a Ranger-heavy opening: three early Ranger guilds, Market healing research, compact tower groups with overlapping arcs, then the spider settlement before attacking circles between waves. That is a tested player build, not a permanent best composition. Weak traits, available Heritage perks, and patch balance can change how many guilds or towers are efficient. The transferable idea is to use the class you can recruit now, unlock equipment before the long eastern push, and attack one circle during the gap after its wave.
Follow objective order even on 1.1.1. Update 1.1.0 fixed premature Trading Post construction blocking progress, loss of that post suppressing Druid recruitment, Mass Grave failing to close, villages staying locked after their requirements, and scattered final attackers. Hotfix 1.1.1 then repaired Forbidden Forest remaining open after completion. A current player should not need old workarounds, but an older in-progress save may still carry their broken state.
Lord of Greed: escort the tribute, then attack the lair
Dargrothan destroys the nearby settlement before the city can use it, then returns in an invulnerable state. Surviving that visit is the first gate; keeping the dragon occupied is useful, trying to kill it is not. The pre-update route places the first major attack on Day 5 and then asks for 50,000 gold. Read the live target, because the objective amount and timer are safer than an old balance snapshot.
Expand for income without opening every front. East, the Alchemist asks for the witch huts deeper in the swamp; completing that branch supplies a hero-strengthening potion and gold. The Guardian group offers soldiers and money after its cultist objective is resolved. After the later demon-source prompt, destroy the Hell Fortress in the north. These branches are valuable because the final plan consumes both treasury and map travel time.
When the gold target is satisfied, the campaign sends a tribute caravan from the castle toward Dargrothan’s northern lair. Do not spend the last reserve on a distant cleanup flag. Put a Defense contract on the caravan, clear its route ahead of it, and keep the escort funded until delivery registers. The tribute puts the dragon to sleep. That is the cue to attack and destroy the lair; only then does the final Dargrothan fight become a real damage phase.
Hotfix 1.1.1 addressed several false states in this sequence: the lair objective returning after the dragon spawned, tribute dialogue continuing after delivery, pre-attack save soft locks, incorrect invulnerability after loading, and the ending failing to reach credits. A gold aura alone is therefore not reliable evidence that Dargrothan cannot be damaged. Check whether the tribute and lair objectives have completed.
Use the 1.1.1 recovery tools before rebuilding a mission
If a quest stops advancing, diagnose state before strategy:
- Confirm the client is on Hotfix 1.1.1 or newer.
- Open the objective panel and use its timer, counter, or clickable target link. A living enemy, surviving habitat, unlit fourth bonfire, or undelivered caravan is a route problem; a completed requirement that never registers is a state problem.
- If the mission save began before Update 1.1.0, use Restart Mission from the in-game menu or campaign panel. BLUM’s own 1.1.0 notes say the refactored system works best with saves created on the new version.
- For a repeatable failure, preserve the campaign profile, scenario save,
Player.log, andPlayer-prev.logfromC:Users[username]AppDataLocalLowBLUM EntertainmentCrown of Greed.
Do not use a console command, trainer, or forced objective trigger to repair campaign progression. The next event often depends on a faction change, caravan arrival, completed habitat, or side-objective flag that a skipped trigger will not create.
Evidence and media notes
The official Steam listing identifies AppID 1697870, BLUM Entertainment as developer, PlayWay and ConsoleWay as publishers, the March 31, 2026 Windows release, and the game’s indirect-control, Heritage, single-player, and achievement features. Current-client cautions were checked against BLUM’s official Steam announcements through Hotfix 1.1.1.
The 12 scenario routes were reconciled across the supplied verified walkthrough references. The supplied Steam Community page was used only for its narrow Cult of Shadows Nightmare build and was not treated as an official or universal strategy. All three images are original Steam appdetails JPGs. No competitor image, AI image, placeholder, or unverified video is embedded.