Lootbound Map

The map is not the hub

Between expeditions you spend Shards and Seals at Barracks, Game Room, and Laboratory. Those rooms buy permanent stats, extra dice, and potions. They do not sit on the biome path. If you are standing on a node icon, you are already in the run.

Branching paths, not a published layout

[Turn Based Lovers](https://turnbasedlovers.com/review/lootbound-impressions/) describes a node-filled map with branches that offer different rewards before the closer. This wiki will not invent a node graph or spawn rates. Read the icons in front of you. Official copy does not publish a per-biome probability table.

Once you can read the icons, the next question is which biome those icons sit in.

Each biome looks different. The node types do not

Turn Based Lovers notes all three biomes keep distinct visual themes. Later biomes also drop stronger shapes than earlier ones — that is a loot-power curve, not a new icon set. Combat, elite, camp, blacksmith, training, treasure, companion, and dice rooms can appear on any of the three paths. Do not wait for a “Desert-only” room name that this wiki has not logged.

Demo Desert is not 1.0 Desert

The third biome had a shortened demo layout. Treat 1.0 Desert as a full gate: another route, another Boss Part, then the closer. If a demo note says the last stretch is a sprint, confirm it in the live build.

The icons on those three paths are the rest of this page.

Combat and elite are not the same click

Trash nodes grow the board. Elites tax Health. Armor comes back after every fight; Health does not. If the next icon is an elite and the party is already thin, the camp on the other branch is the route, not a coward’s skip. Fight rules: combat.

Companion rooms are how the party exists

You start alone. A companion node is the only way a second grid enters the run. Pack that recruit their own job — Crush, Acid, or Order — not a clone of the hero. Roster: classes.

With the catalog in view, the next decision is which icon you actually walk to.

Early biomes grow the board

Chests, common fights, and the biome-end pick list matter more in Dungeon than a gem on a temp sword. HeadClick’s 1.0 run ([I8QzZBQV0Fw](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8QzZBQV0Fw)) keeps swinging at training when the reward is a flat damage number that does not eat a cell — that is a later-act habit you can start once one strong shape is already seated.

Later biomes tighten a kit that already works

By Forest and Desert the grids should already speak a damage language. Trainers and blacksmiths get better because the piece you enchant will still be there at the Guardian. Act / biome naming in the UI may say Act 1–3; the three confirmed biomes are still Dungeon, Forest, Desert.

The one node that still tricks first runs is the room that asks you to roll.

Take the hard line only when it finishes the kit

The tips video’s rule is the one that wins runs: take the difficult roll when the reward completes the build, when it is the only option that helps, or when you have an extra die. Otherwise take the safer upgrade. [Turn Based Lovers](https://turnbasedlovers.com/review/lootbound-impressions/) and [Technetbook](https://www.technetbooks.com/2026/08/lootbound-review-art-dock-roguelike.html) both watched the same fail state — extra dice still miss, and the node pays nothing.

Training is a cousin, not a second map

The [Into Indie Games beginner writeup](https://intoindiegames.com/walkthroughs/tips-tricks/lootbound-beginners-guide/) treats training as its own risk node: you roll for an upgrade instead of a new shape. HeadClick’s opener does the same — a D20 that has to beat 12 for 50 slash, then a second die when the first roll dies. Count training as a dice-style room when you route. Do not collapse it into a fake “all rooms are identical” table.

Camp, blacksmith, and training still have a timing rule that is not a roll.

Camp is a timing tool

Into Indie Games is blunt: many players burn the campfire when Health is already critical, and that is too late. Elite packs delete a thin party. Heal before the risky stretch. Armor will come back on its own; the campfire is for the bar that does not.

Blacksmith is a commitment

The smith attaches an enchanted gem — damage, crit, vampirism, armor, dodge, and similar lines. The enchant stays on that piece. If you will drop the sword in Forest, the gem is wasted. Wait until the shape is the one that still sits on a role grid at the Guardian. Lane talk: builds.

The biome does not end on a random elite. It ends on a two-card pane.

The gate is not a side room

You pick at the end of the biome, not at the hub and not after every elite. A HeadClick 1.0 run shows the first pick around the Dungeon gate and extra dice coming back afterward — that refresh is the tell you have entered the next biome. Full part drill: bosses.

Route for the pane you can live with

Chests and recruits before the gate matter because the pane reads against the party you actually have. A pretty pack you “save” by skipping the last treasure is still a Guardian you never planned. Name the thinnest body, then take the card that does not delete them.

If the same wipe repeats, it is usually a routing habit — not a missing legendary name.

One habit that fixes most of them

Before you click a branch, name the resource the node spends: Health, a die, or a gem on a piece you might drop. If you cannot afford that spend, take the other icon. Two seconds there prevents most empty-handed Dungeon exits.

When that is automatic, the sequel is the pane the route was for — the Boss Part that becomes the Guardian.