Pods

Players may select the pod their heroes crash in from several possible variants, which are unlocked by completing specific gameplay tasks. It is only necessary to complete one of the specified tasks to unlock a variant.

Unless specified otherwise, all pods start with 2 heroes.

Escape Pod

• No particular gameplay bonuses or penalties.

Unlock conditions:

• Available from the start.

In-game description:

• Note from sales brochure: "This pod is guaranteed to survive any crash; we hope its occupants do as well."

Infirmary Pod

• Heroes have vastly increased maximum health (2x HP).
• Cost of healing reduced (per HP, meaning food cost is identical to base value but heals twice as many HP).
• No auto-heal at end of turn.
• Many in-game items are replaced with drugs that provide buffs with some side effects.

Unlock conditions:

• Win a game with the Escape Pod.
• Spend 1000 Food healing heroes in one game.

In-game description:

• Note from sales brochure: "dedicated to your pharmaceutical well-being."

Additional notes:

• Starts the game with several drug device items in the inventory.
• All passive skills with health regen provide a defense bonus instead, but actives like Paramedic work as normal.
• Item replacement removes all items with health regen.

Tips:

• Autodoc Shards are not available with this pod, but Bio-organic Transference modules are. Use them judiciously as they are the most consistent way to heal in this pod!
• Do not be afraid to swap drugs often. Give your hero a speed boost to reach a room under attack and then swap the drug out for one that provides attack. Or, swap out a wit boost for a defense boost during combat to keep your fragile operators safe.
• The benefits that drugs provide are generally more than the penalties. This is especially useful for heroes with two device slots: two drugs that give opposite effects (e.g. Bunkerosate & Whaklarox) will be not only neutralized but actually give a larger benefits of both. Or one can just give themselves a double boost or a mix of drugs.

Library Pod

• Heroes are smarter (2x wit) but less powerful (0.5x attack power) and weapons will never drop.
• Resources, Artifacts, and Slots for modules are more common.
• No Food module at the start, but larger reserve of resources, items, and modules.

Unlock Conditions:

This is a Dungeon of the Endless Crystal Pack or Founder Pack Exclusive. Players must own the respective pack as well as meeting the condition:

• Research all the modules (lvl 1) in a winning game

In-game description:

• Note from sales brochure: "To avoid inciting prisoners, this pod only contains data on meditation, graphic design, and party planning."

Additional notes:

• 6 extra Dust and +2 Food base production compared to other pods.
• Begin with +10 Food, +10 Industry, and +10 Science compared to other pods.
• The starting Prisoner Prod is replaced with Tesla and KIP Cannon modules, though Prisoner Prods can still be researched.
• Starts the game with one Scope and one Tools Belt in the inventory.
• Wit boosting items also give 2x the wit, as well as skills like Knowledge Is Good.

Tips:

• This is generally seen as the easiest pod. Having more resources makes it easier to get even more resources, and massed modules are usually more powerful than heroes anyway meaning the penalties are not very severe.
• Operators are extremely powerful on this pod, heroes without operate are considerably less so. As it is only possible to operate with three heroes at a time, having a team of three high-wit operators and a fast scout hero to open doors is often a very strong combination.

Drill Pod

• No Food, Industry or Science modules at start. Endless mode: Unwinnable game!

Unlock conditions:

• Win a game with the Armory Pod.
• Open every door in every floor in a winning game.

In-game description:

• Note from sales brochure: "Maybe you had a life before. Now, you have a dungeon!"

Additional notes:

• +3 Food, +4 Industry, and +1 Science base production compared to other pods, so the complete lack of major modules at the start is not quite as detrimental as it may seem. That said, still try to get all the resource modules as soon as possible.
• Doors automatically opening via moving the crystal still count towards "open every door" to unlock the pod as long as they are all open before the player leaves the floor.
• It is recommended to play on Too Easy difficulty if trying to get to floor 24, the game will quickly get harder than floor 12 on Easy.

Armory Pod

• Start with 4 powerful heroes (2x attack power).
• Some weapons supplied at start (2 of FUzzi, Peashooter, Toothpick, Rapier, 8 total).
• No additional heroes in dungeon.
• No modules except Food at start.
• No offensive or Industry modules can be researched.

Unlock conditions:

• Win a game with the Infirmary Pod.
• Never lose a hero in a winning game.

In-game description:

• Note from sales brochure: "Whether you're liberating, policing, enforcing, or just having fun, the Armory Pod is what you need to impose your brand of freedom."

Additional notes:

• -1 Food and -1 Science base production compared to other pods.
• Begin with +10 industry compared to other pods.
• Monsters have +20% attack compared to their base values!
• Heroes can be spawned via Urgent Call but cannot be recruited.
• Attack power boosts or penalties from Items and Skills are doubled as well.

Tips:

• Don't forget to equip the starting weapons and keep the others in your backpack to sell later!
• It is recommended to research the Science module as soon as possible.
• Tear Gas and Viral Injectors can be used as substitutes for offensive modules.
• Industry and Science generation will be very low in this pod, so heroes with Endless Expert or Recycling are very useful. On the other hand, heroes that rely heavily on using science to recharge their abilities (such as Elise or Nanor) may find it more difficult.

Refreezerator Pod

• One faster (+25% speed) and stronger (+100% defense) hero for the entire game.
• Quick heal using Food and ability refill using Science is not possible.
• Dead heroes are automatically resurrected using Food.
• No Science module at the start, but a larger reserve of resources, items and modules.

Unlock conditions:

This is an Endless Legend Emperor Pack or Endless Legend Founder Pack Exclusive. Players must own the respective pack. It is also obtainable by purchasing the 'Deep Freeze add-on'. It is also required that you meet this condition:

• Never have the Crystal lose HP in a winning game

In-game description:

• Note from sales brochure: "Guaranteed to freeze food, people, and lava in 30 seconds or less. Caution: Do not lick."

Additional Notes:

• 5 extra Dust and +1 Science base production compared to other pods.
• Begin with +40 Food, +20 Industry, and +10 Science compared to other pods.
• Neurostun and Holohero modules are unlocked from the start.
• Starts the game with one Surviving Kit in the inventory.
• Your hero is unaffected by slowdown akin to Scamper.
• Resurrection happens automatically and instantly, placing the hero in the crystal room. Dying removes approximately one level's worth of food from your supply. You can still respawn with less food than that as long as you have more than 0, otherwise you will die permanently.
• Reviving with less than the food required pares your hero's max health by a %. Beware dying with low food and getting immediately killed again.
• Heroes can be spawned via Urgent Call but cannot be recruited.
• Your Crystal runner can be hit by mobs while you carry the crystal at the end of a floor and you will still unlock the Pod.

Tips:

• It is recommended to research the Science module as soon as possible.
• Operate is useless with only one hero!
• Choosing a hero with some form of AoE capability (Mizi, Nanor, etc) will make this pod much easier. Likewise, speed is highly valued since your hero may need to hold back multiple waves on their own.
• Neurostuns are invaluable in this pod, as is proper door management. Try your absolute best to send monsters through chokepoints and around the longest possible route to the crystal, you will need all the help you can get. This is true of all pods, but especially so on one where you are extremely likely to die against a powerful wave.

Sanitary Pod

• Hard mode: Cannot pause game!
• Stronger monsters (+25% attack); unfavorable events occur more often.
• Resources, Heroes, and slots for Modules are less common.
• Healing a Hero is more expensive (2x).
• Monsters react when you research new modules (+30% speed on all mobs while research in progress).

Unlock conditions:

• Reach floor 24 with the drill.
• Never use pause in a winning game.

In-game description:

• Note from sales brochure: "Kiloliters of bleach and ammonia solve every problem! Caution: Chemical warfare gear required."

Additional notes:

• -1 Science and -1 Industry base production compared to other pods.
• Dust loot probability is reduced by 10% compared to the base value.
• Starts the game with one Prison Soap in the inventory.

Tips:

• Warning: in a game where "Too Easy" difficulty can be very challenging, underestimate "Hard" mode at your peril!
• Your generation of resources will be exponentially lower in this pod compared to the others. As a result, it is extremely difficult to level up heroes on the Sanitary Pod. Choose heroes who are useful even at low levels.
• Recruitable Heroes only appear on floor 2 and 4; besides that, they only rarely appear in Cryo Chambers. Meaning one hero's death will often end your run.
• Even if you are low on resources, do not be afraid to leave the floor earlier than you would in other pods. Every wave is a desperate fight for survival in this pod, and enemy waves become nearly impossible to fend off once the exit has been located. It is better to survive and miss resources than die.

Organic Pod

• Enemies are faster (+20%).
• Modules can’t be repaired.
• Powered rooms:
  • Can’t be unpowered,
  • Deal damage (~5%) to modules and artifacts on every turn,
  • Reduce monsters’ defense by 100%,
  • Provide +0.5 Food per turn.

Unlock conditions:

• Available from the start. (with "Organic Matters" update)

In-game description:

• This pod is an intellectual living creature, so take care of her like a member of your crew. Remember, she likes red wine, boiled shrimp with sauce, classical music and pictures of kittens.

Additional notes:

• Designed by the community via the GAMES2GETHER© initiative.

Tips:

• Battle monsters in powered rooms for an easier time. The defense debuff is substantial.
• As repair is ineffective on this pod, many heroes (such as Dell) lose a considerable amount of utility. Be very careful against anti-module monsters since you can no longer repair the damage they deal!
• Much of the challenge of this pod comes from deciding when to light rooms since they cannot be shut off. Turning on rooms with abandon can make the crystal run very difficult if you don't give yourself enough light to reach it. It is often better to leave a few rooms worth of Dust in reserve and power up the route to the exit once it is found.
• As a result, Heroes with some sort of dust income mechanic help even more than usual (and the Shop + Mechanical Pal/Operator)
• Every two powered rooms give +1 food per door. This bonus partially alleviates the common situation for players to have more unlit rooms than they would in other pods.
• Major modules tend to last approximately 20 turns once placed (assuming they are not damaged by mobs or player abilities), taking around 5% damage per turn from the room. Floors 6 and higher generally have more than 20 doors in total. Higher floors can have up to 30 or so.