Crypt of the NecroDancer progression guide: zones, stairs and bosses
For Cadence in the PC base game: Single Zone versus All Zones, retries versus suspended sessions, zone entrances, terrain, stairs and boss warnings. Specific solutions and finale details remain in closed answers.
Edition: Steam PC base game (app 247080), primarily Cadence, solo, normal rules, with AMPLIFIED, SYNCHRONY and character DLC disabled. Ports, mods and other characters use separate conditions.
Verification scope: Official announcements checked through v4.2.1 (2025-12-16). Public sources compared on 2026-10-04. The installed build, Japanese in-game display and a complete playthrough have not been tested. Older guides are used only for basic base-game behavior.
Sources checked: 2026-10-04
40 / 40 rows
Searching does not open answer tables. Choose the answer you want to reveal.
Choose between Single Zone and All Zones
Separate practicing a section from completing everything in one run. You cannot extract equipment from part of one run and insert it into the middle of another.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Mode / action | How to start | What carries forward | After failure / suspension |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single Zone | Start from an unlocked zone in the lobby. | Applicable lobby upgrades can be used. | Retry that section. Return to the lobby to spend diamonds. |
| All Zones | Play through the zones from the first one. | Keep equipment, gold and remaining health within the same run. | Death ends the complete run. Lobby upgrades do not apply. |
| Practice facilities | Select unlocked enemies or bosses. | Isolate behavior using practice equipment. | Separate from complete-run progression |
| Save and Quit | Save and suspend while alive. | The saved session's state | Resume the same session later; this does not undo death. |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
All Zones equipment pools are generally unlocked. This guide does not claim that you must first buy every lobby item to begin.
Checks before opening the tables
The examples below use the base game, Cadence, normal rhythm and DLC disabled. Maps change every run, so identify your location by floor display, entrance and floor type rather than fixed room numbers or fastest seconds.
- Check the current Zone and Level display.
- Check weapon reach and whether the current floor permits attacking or moving.
- Open only the relevant answer, choose one next action and return to the game.
Answer numbers are article navigation labels, not the order in which bosses appear in-game.
Progression answer 01
Progression answer 01Close
Base-game zone progression table
Ordinary base-game zones have three floors followed by a boss floor. In All Zones, progression continues after the boss into the next zone; Cadence has dedicated finale battles.
- Secure floor you can retreat onto before opening an unseen room.
- Reduce enemies in an opened room before revealing more beyond it.
- If stopped at stairs, check answer 02 below.
- Identify the boss shown on screen and open its corresponding answer.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Zone | Entry / unlock condition | Progression prerequisite | Enemies / terrain to watch | Next entrance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | First lobby entrance / All Zones start | Check stair conditions through 1-1, 1-2 and 1-3. | Narrow passages and water; skeleton warnings and irregular bat movement | Boss floor after three floors. In Single Zone, check the lobby display after winning. |
| Zone 2 | Check the entrance after clearing the preceding zone / continue the same run. | 2-1→2-2→2-3 | Wide passages, lingering tar, shields and ranged pulls | Boss floor after three floors |
| Zone 3 | Check the entrance after clearing the preceding zone / continue the same run. | 3-1→3-2→3-3 | Open rooms with enemies approaching from multiple directions, ice and hot coals | Boss floor after three floors |
| Zone 4 | Check the entrance after clearing the preceding zone / continue the same run. | 4-1→4-2→4-3 | Walls that open neighboring walls when dug, Ooze, swordsmen and enemies that change your position | Continue to Cadence's two dedicated finale battles. |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
All Zones does not assign one fixed ordinary boss to each zone. Single Zone has separate placement conditions; no single table guarantees boss order across every mode.
Progression answer 02
Progression answer 02Close
When stairs are blocked and when to stop exploring
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| State | Prerequisite / display | Action | Result to check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stairs are locked | Ordinary Cadence stair restriction | Find and defeat the floor's miniboss. Also check for remaining enemies carried over after skipping a previous floor's opponent. | Has the stair restriction lifted? |
| Approaching a large enemy gets me surrounded | There is space to retreat near the entrance. | Return to safe entrance floor and let faster enemies approach first. | Can you watch one large enemy's warning at a time? |
| The song ended and I fell | Non-boss floor under normal rhythm | Do not assume the arrival is as safe as descending the stairs; check nearby enemies first. | Check escape space and remaining enemies before equipment. |
| Rooms keep opening in Zone 4 | Digging one wall spreads to adjacent walls. | Return to a previously seen area instead of revealing more uncleared rooms. | Can you separate approaching enemies? |
| More enemies appear near Zone 4's exit | A sarcophagus near the stairs is spawning them. | Secure your footing, remove the source and recheck the stairs display. | Are you confusing reinforcements with remaining minibosses? |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Defeating every ordinary enemy is not treated as a universal stair requirement. Character, shrine and mode rules can change restrictions. Song looping with Bard/No Beat differs from the end of a normal Cadence song.
Progression answer 03
Progression answer 03Close
What to do before advancing in each zone
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Scene landmark | First check | Example action | After failure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1: narrow doors and water | Can you spend the release beat after entering water? | Observe enemies from the entrance and pull the fight back toward dry floor. | Are you assuming you can attack continuously in water? |
| Zone 2: wide passages and black floor | Tar and shield-facing direction | Make a fighting position outside the black floor and choose somewhere that lets you attack from the side. | Check pull distance and the floor behind you. |
| Zone 3: open rooms with fire and ice | Where a slide ends and what floor remains after a kill | Reveal one group at a time from a safe edge; do not retreat onto newly changed floor. | Are weapon lunges or recoil moving you onto dangerous floor? |
| Zone 4: areas divided by walls | How far digging will open the room | Use the opposite-corner direction as a rough guide to finding the exit while advancing one room at a time. | Are excessive shortcut tunnels exposing more unseen enemies? |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
The opposite corner is a guideline based on ordinary Zone 4 generation, not a rule for custom dungeons or all zones. Specific enemy behavior is covered in the enemy guide.
Boss answer 01
Boss answer 01Close
King Conga: read the beat with a rest
This fight inserts a rest on the eighth beat into ordinary beat-by-beat inputs. Watch the musical rest and lower beat display, and break the habit of pressing continuously.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Action landmark | Attack / dodge example | Check after failure |
|---|---|---|
| Zombies are in a line | Clear from an end and watch the acceleration of an isolated individual. | Are you assuming the same movement after cutting through the middle? |
| Eighth-beat rest | After seven inputs, give no input during the rest. | Are you confusing the rest with an ordinary missed beat? |
| The boss leaves the throne and chases | Watch tracking and diagonal approach, then attack when it enters reach. | Are you closing the distance directly and making contact? |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
The boss may move before all zombies are cleared, including after a missed beat. Throne destruction and high-damage instant kills are outside these ordinary instructions.
Boss answer 02
Boss answer 02Close
Deep Blues: distinguish where each piece can reach
Defeating the king wins. Opening moves vary, so this is not a procedure of pressing the same upward input every time.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Piece / landmark | Behavior | Attack / dodge example |
|---|---|---|
| Pawn | Advances and attacks diagonally forward; promotes to a queen at the bottom edge. | Deal with approaching pieces and avoid unnecessarily entering their forward diagonals. |
| Knight / bishop | L-shaped jumps / diagonal movement | Watch the next landing and diagonals as well as adjacent empty tiles. |
| Rook / queen | Cardinal directions / cardinal and diagonal directions | Check the fast queen's arrival first. |
| King | Teleports when hit while other pieces remain. | For an ordinary clear, reduce surrounding pieces before pursuing; check its escape destination too. |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
This is not a complete reproduction of chess. Piece-color health differences, opening moves and your weapon change the required inputs. Defeating every other piece first is not mandatory.
Boss answer 03
Boss answer 03Close
Death Metal: change tactics with the shield and raised-arm warning
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| State | Action landmark | Attack / dodge example | Check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening with a shield | Front-facing shield | Reduce surrounding enemies and hit from the side or rear. | Are frontal hits spawning more bats? |
| After the shield drops | Raised arm warns of a summon | Attack only when in reach and reassess its position after teleportation. | Are you continuing inputs toward its previous position? |
| Late fire warning | Raised arm and fire call | Leave the horizontal firing line during the warning. | Are you staying in the firing line by only pursuing horizontally? |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Older sources count the beats before summoning differently, so no fixed-count instant-kill route is given. Keep one input per beat even at high tempo and read the shield, teleport and fire states.
Boss answer 04
Boss answer 04Close
Coral Riff: deal with water and tentacles first
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| State | Action landmark | Attack / dodge example | Check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tentacles surface around the room | They shake before attacking. | Attack reachable tentacles in turn from a position where water will not trap you. | Do not confuse the beat spent leaving water with an attack beat. |
| Boss at its starting position | Hitting the boss first activates them together. | Ordinary instructions prioritize handling the tentacles. | Avoid accidentally hitting the boss with a throw or wide attack. |
| Later stage with the boss approaching | Shakes, then moves and attacks around its destination. | Leave the area adjacent to its destination, then attack from reach after it acts. | Watch around the next position as well as the current one. |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Boots or other effects that negate water change the assumptions. Durability differs by zone, so a one-bomb example from an early zone does not apply to every floor.
Finale answer 01
Finale answer 01Close
Dead Ringer: separate bells from the gong
Cadence's base-game finale includes a room with four bells. This is not a fight won by continually reducing the boss's health with an ordinary weapon.
- First locate the four bells, upper sarcophagus and sideways floor available for dodging.
- Striking a bell yourself or letting the boss ring it spawns a miniboss. Distinguish this from destroying it with a charge.
- Align horizontally or vertically with the boss to bait a charge, then step sideways. A bell placed between you can be destroyed by that charge.
- After all bells are rung or destroyed, the boss glows yellow and a gong appears at top center. Remaining enemies do not disappear.
- Lure the boss onto a straight line toward the top-center gong, then step sideways after the charge warning. The boss hitting the gong wins the fight.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| State | Attack / dodge example | Check after failure |
|---|---|---|
| First phase | Hit bells with charges or deal with enemies spawned by ringing them. | Are wide weapons ringing nearby bells too? |
| After the yellow glow | Bait a charge at the gong from a position with sideways escape space. | Do not wait as though its movement were still the slow single steps of the first phase. |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
The wiki and Giant Bomb agree that destroying a bell spawns no reinforcements; the conflicting older article was not adopted. Special-equipment instant kills and the boss's story identity are omitted.
Finale answer 02
Finale answer 02Close
The Necrodancer: watch both characters' positions and equipment
Cadence and Dorian move together with the same directional input; either one's death means failure. Do not apply Dorian's starting equipment and jumping rules as a standalone character to this fight.
- Locate both characters and the paired floor switches. Stop only one character against a wall, for example, to match their spacing to the switches.
- Stand on both switches simultaneously and check the gate/stage change. Realign when the next switches appear.
- When the stage collapses and the Golden Lute becomes available, collect it with Cadence. Dorian cannot pick it up.
- The Golden Lute attacks surrounding tiles as you move. Move onto empty floor to bring enemies adjacent, instead of inputting directly into them as with an ordinary weapon.
- Attack the boss with the Golden Lute, checking both characters' footing and retreats after every teleport. During its raised-arm warning, move both away from the ice firing line and nearby explosions.
- Do not focus only on Cadence's attacks; check enemies near Dorian and remaining health each time.
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Problem | What to check | Corrective input |
|---|---|---|
| Switches do not activate | Are both characters on separate switches at the same time? | Stop one against a wall to adjust the spacing. |
| The boss loses no health | Does Cadence have the Golden Lute? | Move onto empty floor to hit with the surrounding attack. |
| One character remains in danger | Can both escape with the next direction? | Look around both before inputting and choose the direction again. |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Sources differ on the exact number of switch activations, so follow the visible stage changes. A fight involving encroaching walls pushing you into lava belongs to another character and is not a condition of this Cadence fight.
Check additional content
Check additional contentClose
Branches with DLC enabled
Wide tables scroll horizontally.
| Condition | What changes from the base game | Treatment in this article |
|---|---|---|
| AMPLIFIED | Adds Zone 5, enemies, equipment and bosses. | Do not mix electric floors or new enemies into the base-game table above. |
| All Zones with AMPLIFIED | Cadence's dedicated finale moves to the added-zone side. | Do not treat the base-game Zone 4 finale entrance as universal across modes. |
| Additional ordinary boss: Fortissimole | Adds to the ordinary boss pool. | This article's four-boss table does not complete coverage of all DLC bosses. |
| Other characters, such as Nocturna | Starting equipment, special actions and story bosses change. | Do not apply Cadence's final battle as every character's victory condition. |
| SYNCHRONY / character DLC / mods | Added characters, enemies and rules | Check co-op and added rules separately even for enemies with the same name. |
No matching entries in this table. Shorten the query or clear it to restore all entries.
Complete DLC guides are not included. Check whether DLC is enabled or disabled, not merely whether you own it.
Frequently asked questions
Can I practice just one zone?
Select an unlocked Single Zone from the lobby. This is a separate attempt rather than continuing All Zones, so confirm your intended mode before entering.
Does closing the game always mean starting over?
PC v3.0.0 and later has Save and Quit to suspend and resume a living session. This is different from restoring a dead run.
Why is my boss different from another guide's?
Single Zone versus All Zones, character and DLC can change placement and finale conditions. Match the opponent on screen and open only its corresponding answer.
Must I defeat every enemy to advance?
For normal Cadence, distinguish opponents affecting the stairs from ordinary enemies that can be left alive. Check the displayed restriction and current mode in progression answer 02.