Every described dungeon run uses the same four beats, in this order:
- Team up. Dungeons are built as co-op. The main experience server holds up to 20 players. That cap is the server size, not a required party size.
- Survive the waves. Enemies arrive in waves. This phase is about staying up, not about the chest.
- Defeat the boss. The chest stays locked until the boss goes down.
- Loot the chest. Opening it collects the run's rewards and completes the dungeon.
The chest loot table is not published. Do not assume it contains DNA, mastery, or a specific alien. Daily Charge is not inside this chest. Daily Charge is the login streak.
Choosing Easy through Insane
The experience update names the range as from Easy to Insane. Easy and Insane are the two ends that announcement names. It does not name the tiers between them, so this guide does not invent middle names.
The difficulty changes how hard that same loop is. It does not change the loop into a different mode. Use the run you just finished:
- New to the mode: start at a low setting and see whether the group reaches the boss.
- Comfortable from the first wave through the boss: step up.
- Wiped by waves before the boss: that setting is ahead of the group. Drop it, level, and unlock more aliens before you step up again.
There is no published rule that a story act is required before a given tier. Leveling and a wider wheel are what the progression notes treat as the way a group climbs. Treat that as a route, not as a lock on the dungeon door.
Before you queue
- Transform into a form you have already used. Heatblast is the one the tutorial guarantees.
- Do not spend the run learning the watch buttons. The Q / wheel / E sequence is in How to Transform.
- Clear the story objective you are in the middle of if it is timed, such as the camp drones. A dungeon does not pause that banner.
- After the chest opens, the run is over. Another difficulty is a new run, not a second chest on the same clear.
Official key art shows a crystal alien fighting a large tentacled machine in a ruined city. That image is not labeled as a dungeon map, a boss name, or a loot source. Follow the in-game dungeon entry rather than searching the open world for that picture.