Passtech Games and Nacon released Ravenswatch on 26 September 2024 after roughly eighteen months in Early Access. Nine heroes taken from folklore, among them Little Red Riding Hood as Scarlet and the fallen monkey king Sun Wukong, fight the Nightmare across three procedurally arranged chapters. Each chapter gives you three days and three nights to grow stronger before its Master Nightmare arrives.
This guide covers everything you need: core mechanics, the best builds, equipment worth investing in, location progression, and the tips that actually make a difference.
Core Mechanics
Three days and three nights per chapter
A visible clock runs through three full day and night cycles, and everything you do in that window decides how strong you enter the boss fight. Time spent travelling is time not spent levelling, so route planning matters more than raw combat skill.
Talent picks on every level up
Over 200 talents exist and you choose one each time you level, shaping a hero's four abilities into a specific build. Two runs on the same hero can end up playing completely differently depending on which upgrades appeared.
Day and night hero forms
Several heroes change entirely when night falls. Scarlet fights as an agile dagger user by day and becomes a heavy area damage werewolf at night, while Melusine swaps between a human form and a mermaid form.
Magical items from wells and shrines
Around 50 magical items are scattered across the maps, held by wells, health shrines, sacrifice shrines and locked chests that need keys. Almost every health or sacrifice shrine can also spawn a teleporter, which is how you cover ground before the clock runs out.
Four player online co-op
Up to four players share one map and one clock, with matchmaking available. Ability combinations across heroes matter, since one player's crowd control turns another player's slow ultimate into a guaranteed hit.
For a deeper dive into how these systems interact, see our Ravenswatch combat guide.
Builds Overview
| Build | Tier | Playstyle | Key Stats |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scarlet | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Beowulf | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Aladdin | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Melusine | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
| Sun Wukong | A | Versatile approach | Balanced stats |
For full build breakdowns with gear and stat priorities, see our Ravenswatch builds guide. For rankings, check the tier list.
Equipment Guide
| Equipment | Why It Matters | Best For |
|---|---|---|
| Grandmother's Souvenir | Scarlet's ultimate, and the payoff for building around her night form. | Night phase clears and packs that stack tightly together |
| Raging Chain | Beowulf's ultimate, matching his sword and shield frontline role. | Holding a position in four player co-op and locking down elites |
| Magic Carpet | Aladdin's ultimate, letting him fly while damaging enemies underneath. | Repositioning across a fight and covering distance between activities |
| Wisp Ballet | Melusine's ultimate, built around the orbs and water zones she places around the battlefield. | Grouped enemies and co-op runs with a crowd control hero |
| Plague of Rats | The Pied Piper's ultimate, sending his swarm out to attack and trap enemies rather than hitting them directly. | Slowed or trapped packs and long boss fights |
Grandmother's Souvenir: Scarlet's ultimate, and the payoff for building around her night form. It rewards the aggressive positioning her werewolf transformation already pushes you toward.
Raging Chain: Beowulf's ultimate, matching his sword and shield frontline role. It pairs naturally with his fire breathing Wyrm, which covers the ranged gap a tank usually leaves open.
Magic Carpet: Aladdin's ultimate, letting him fly while damaging enemies underneath. It doubles as the fastest travel option any hero has, which matters when a chapter only lasts three days and three nights.
Wisp Ballet: Melusine's ultimate, built around the orbs and water zones she places around the battlefield. It is at its strongest when enemies are already held in one place by a teammate.
Plague of Rats: The Pied Piper's ultimate, sending his swarm out to attack and trap enemies rather than hitting them directly. Damage arrives over time, so it wants targets that cannot simply walk away.
Full breakdowns in our Ravenswatch weapons guide.
Location Progression
| Location | Level Range | Key Rewards |
|---|---|---|
| The Dark Hills | Chapter 1, three days and three nights | First magical items, early talent levels, Master Nightmare fight |
| Hogsden | Chapter 1, day one | Dense early activities, keys, low risk experience |
| Storm Island | Chapter 2, three days and three nights | Mid run magical items, Arabian Nights themed encounters, higher tier talents |
| Avalon | Chapter 3, three days and three nights | Sacrifice shrines, final talent tiers, run completion |
| The Epilog | Post campaign, higher difficulties only | Hardest encounters in the game, unlocks tied to high difficulty clears |
The Dark Hills: Chapter 1, a corrupted countryside of swamps, fields, graveyards, ruins and caves. Mini bosses here include Brigit the White Lady, Mother Ghoul and The Ogre, all of them beatable at low level if you clear activities in the right order.
Hogsden: The ruined village inside the Dark Hills that the chapter is built around. It concentrates several activities in a small area, which makes it efficient early while the clock still has room in it.
Storm Island: Chapter 2, the remains of a huge ancient civilisation with sandy shores and treacherous reefs that have frightened sailors for millennia. Karkinos Scourge of the Reefs, Abu Al Jann, Steropes the Cyclop and Simurgh all appear here.
Avalon: Chapter 3, drawing on Arthurian legend. The Coven, Melion the Cursed Knight, Arthur the Fallen King and Mordred the Usurper are the encounters that decide whether a run finishes.
The Epilog: A fourth location added for the 1.0 release, opening on the Twilight, Darkness and Nightmare difficulties once you have beaten the Chapter 3 Master Nightmare. It is the content the roster is actually balanced against.
See our maps & locations guide for detailed area breakdowns and our walkthrough for the optimal progression path.
Tips That Actually Matter
- Read the map colours before you move. Green activities are the accessible ones meant for early in a chapter and red ones are the hardest, so saving red for day three converts your accumulated talents into free progress.
- Treat the three day clock as your real resource. Combat power is easy to find, but a hero who wandered the map inefficiently arrives at the Master Nightmare several levels short no matter how well they fight.
- Take a teleporter whenever you find one. Almost every health shrine and sacrifice shrine can spawn one, and cutting travel time is worth more than the small reward you skipped to reach it.
- Build talents around one ability rather than spreading them. With more than 200 talents available, a run that concentrates upgrades on a single ability produces far more damage than one that touches all four evenly.
- Learn which heroes change at night before committing. Scarlet becomes a heavy area damage werewolf after dark and plays nothing like her daytime dagger form, so a fight you would avoid at noon can be the right fight at midnight.
- In four player runs, coordinate crowd control with slow ultimates. Wisp Ballet and Plague of Rats both want enemies held in place, and a teammate who groups the pack first roughly doubles what those abilities land.
- Pick up keys as you pass them rather than backtracking. Locked chests hold magical items, and the walk back across a chapter costs more clock than the chest is worth once night has fallen.
- Use sacrifice shrines when your build already works. They trade something away for power, which is a good deal on a run that is ahead of schedule and a run ending mistake on one that is behind.
- Unlock the Epilog by clearing Chapter 3 on the higher difficulties. It only opens on Twilight, Darkness and Nightmare after the Chapter 3 Master Nightmare falls, and it is where the real difficulty of the game lives.
- Try Aladdin if runs keep ending early. He deals melee damage with a scimitar, heals, and flies on the Magic Carpet, which covers survivability, group support and travel speed in one hero.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Fighting red activities on day one. They are marked as the hardest content in a chapter and are meant to be saved until your talents have stacked up.
- Spreading talents across all four abilities. Concentrated upgrades win runs, diluted ones produce a hero who cannot kill anything before the clock ends.
- Ignoring the day and night change. Heroes like Scarlet and Melusine swap forms entirely, and playing the night form the way you played the day form throws away their strongest window.
- Skipping teleporters to squeeze in one more fight. Travel time is the scarcest thing in a chapter, and a missed teleporter costs more experience than the fight gave.
- Treating co-op as four solo runs. Ravenswatch is built on ability combinations across heroes, and four players fighting separately lose to encounters that a coordinated group handles easily.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many heroes are there?
Nine at the 1.0 release on 26 September 2024, growing to twelve after the Merlin update in January 2026. The roster includes Scarlet, Beowulf, Aladdin, Melusine, the Pied Piper, Sun Wukong, the Snow Queen, Carmilla, Geppetto, Romeo, Juliet and Merlin.
How long is a run?
Three chapters, each giving you three days and three nights before its Master Nightmare fight. The clock is the pacing mechanism, so a run is bounded by in game time rather than by how many rooms you clear.
Can I play solo?
Yes. Ravenswatch supports single player as well as online co-op for up to four, with matchmaking. Solo runs are harder in the encounters built around grouping enemies, which is why heroes like Aladdin and Sun Wukong rate highly alone.
Which hero should a new player choose?
Aladdin. He is the most complete all rounder, dealing melee damage with a scimitar, healing allies and travelling fast on the Magic Carpet, so a mistake in one area is covered by another.
What is the Epilog?
A fourth location added for 1.0, reachable on the Twilight, Darkness and Nightmare difficulties after you defeat the Chapter 3 Master Nightmare. It is the endgame content beyond the standard three chapter run.
More Ravenswatch Guides
- Ravenswatch Best Builds
- Ravenswatch Tier List
- Ravenswatch Walkthrough
- Ravenswatch Beginner's Guide
- Ravenswatch Tips & Tricks
- Ravenswatch Weapons Guide
- Ravenswatch Combat Guide
- Ravenswatch Boss Guide
- Ravenswatch Maps & Locations
- Ravenswatch Crafting Guide
- Ravenswatch Classes & Characters
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- Hades Guide: roguelike game with similar mechanics
- Darkest Dungeon Guide: roguelike game with similar mechanics
