Levels and experience
Advancing from level L costs 50 x L^1.35 experience, and every level grants 5 skill points to spend on any of the five stats at the Cove. Winning a rewarded fight pays (10 + 6 x opponent level) x (1 + 0.12 x level gap) XP, the multiplier clamped between 0.3x and 3x, so punching up pays and farming down does not. The ladder soft-caps at level 5,000.
| Level | 1 | 5 | 10 | 25 | 50 | 100 | 250 | 500 | 1,000 | 2,500 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XP to next | 50 | 439 | 1,119 | 3,856 | 9,831 | 25,059 | 86,335 | 220,079 | 561,009 | 1,932,809 |
The gold economy
You start with 25 gold. A rewarded win plunders 11% of the loser’s CARRIED gold (never their lifetime wealth), each rival pays out once per three days, and trophies pay fixed purses on claim. Everything drains back out through the four sinks: gear at the Stall, forging and repairs at the Forge, and magic upgrades at the Grotto. While you are away other players can raid the gold you carry, so banked gold is spent gold.
Rivals on the fight board are built against the same economy: a bot’s gear tier, forge levels and magic upgrades are capped by what a real player of its level could actually have earned and spent, so a same-level rival is a mirror, not a cheat. Matchmaking then anchors on your par level rather than your level counter, so out-building your level earns harder, richer opponents (see Combat).
The ladder
The Tide Pools rank every active real player by level, then experience, then wins; bots never appear. The Champion trophies require HOLDING a rank band for consecutive days, not merely touching it: 7 days for top 100 easing to 2 days for rank 1 (see Trophies for the full list).