Stonewards Map Guide: Hub, Bastion, and Procedural Mines Explained

Stonewards does not have one static world map. The game splits into three connected spaces: a persistent hub that survives between runs, fixed bastion strongholds you defend during missions, and procedurally generated mines and caves that regenerate every mission. Because the underground is randomized per run, any "complete" collectible map you see online is fiction — what you can actually learn and reuse are the hub services, bastion geometry, and mine routing habits. This guide covers all three, current through Hotfix 0.1.6 (August 18, 2026).

How the Stonewards Map Structure Works

Each mission follows the same spatial loop. You leave your base camp from the hub, deploy to a threatened dwarven stronghold on the edge of disaster, and then alternate between holding the walls and diving into the mines beneath the terrain. When the wave ends, a clock starts: the official store page describes it plainly — dive into procedural mines, gather resources, and get back before the next horn sounds, because if you take too long your friends will be defending the kingdom one dwarf short.

The key distinction is what resets and what persists. Walls crumble, caves regenerate, and forge stations live inside the stronghold you are defending, so in-run geography resets with mission pressure. Hub purchases and mission rewards, by contrast, carry between attempts. Players who confuse the two end up hunting for shop vendors mid-wave or ignoring hub unlocks that would have made the next bastion easier. For broader run strategy, pair this page with our build guide.

The Persistent Hub Between Runs

The hub is the social and progression space you return to between missions. There you select characters, pick missions from the board, and spend currency at the shop on stock like Rings and Tomes — Hotfix 0.1.4 even added more detailed shop descriptions for those items so their effects are clearer before purchasing. Hub upgrades can raise a character's health, stamina, and special ability, which directly shapes how aggressive your mine routing can be in the runs that follow.

The hub has been actively polished since the demo period. Demo Update 0.1.9 (demo-era, June 2026) added a player count display in the Hub, and Hotfix 0.1.5 fixed an issue where some missions — including headshot and player-death missions — could be progressed or completed while sitting in the Hub instead of in a run. Hotfix 0.1.6 updated the Character Screen to show which missions are required to unlock each character, making the hub a genuine planning tool rather than just a lobby. For release context and pricing, see our game info page.

Bastion Layout: What Is Fixed

Unlike the caves, the stronghold you defend is a designed, repeatable space, and its geography follows consistent rules you can learn once and reuse. The monster pathing is straightforward: enemies push toward the King, and broken wall segments and open angles become kill lanes. Forge stations sit inside the stronghold — the Blacksmith for leveling and ring picks, the Wall Builder for repairs fed with stone, the Crafting Camp for arrows and consumables, a Recycling Camp for breaking down old gear, a chest opener NPC, and a campfire for between-wave healing and resurrection. Enemy variety is built around this geography: Archers near the stairs were once able to enter an unhittable state (fixed in Hotfix 0.1.3), and Trebuchets and boss-type elites pressure specific lanes.

Because lanes are fixed, repair spending should be too. Hotfix 0.1.3 reworked several collision areas on Map 1 to stop players from getting stuck or clipping outside the playable area, which tells you the developers treat the bastion as a tuned, stable environment — patch notes adjust its collisions and interactions, not its overall shape. Learn which lane monsters used last wave, spend Wall Repair stone there, and keep fallback routes toward the King in mind before your first serious breach.

Procedural Mines: Routing Principles

The mines are the reason no fixed Stonewards map exists. Banana Tiger Studio generates cave layouts per mission, so routes differ run to run and memorized coordinates are worthless. What transfers between runs are habits. Community-favored principles (consistent with the official description of twisting tunnels and hidden caves) include:

• Mine outward from the entrance so your return path is already broken when the horn approaches.
• Dig toward audio cues — chest rooms and treasure are audible, though players report the "shiny" sound is sometimes misleading and can fire for ordinary ore.
• Watch soil color as a depth signal. Multiple player reports indicate the color of the terrain indicates the resource tier — blue soil is associated with iron, and players describe digging "until you hit pink walls," then picking a direction to find Diamonds and Emeralds. This is player-reported and not officially documented.
• Dig a responsible staircase down rather than dropping straight into pits you cannot climb out of — an unverified but common community tip to avoid getting stuck.

Hidden labyrinths and dungeon rooms with treasure chests and bosses also exist inside the caves, and Hotfix 0.1.5 added missing out-of-bounds protection to parts of the Dungeon map. Hotfix 0.1.5 also added new Lore Pages to discover in the caves, so deep exploration now feeds collectible missions too.

Resource Depth and Risk

Resource value scales with depth, and so does risk. Iron levels the Blacksmith fast, gold can be traded for potions or experience, and the community guide on Steam describes Diamonds and Emeralds as the prizes past the pink-walled deep zones (player report, unverified against official documentation). Hotfix 0.1.4 fixed an issue where Platinum Ore was missing its icon and could not be picked up or used — evidence that the deep resource palette is still being stabilized patch by patch.

The risk side of the equation is time. Every extra node you break is surface time stolen from crafting arrows, repairing walls, and voting on end-of-wave upgrades. Hotfix 0.1.6 fixed an issue where player input could become blocked during End-of-Wave or regular upgrade selections, which is exactly the menu you risk rushing if you surface late. Strong runs pick ore types that match immediate forge needs rather than clearing every branch.

Map 2 and the 0.1.6 Hotfix Changes

Stonewards currently ships with multiple named maps — Map 1, Map 2, and a Dungeon map — and map unlocks are now correctly shared in multiplayer sessions as of Hotfix 0.1.3 (previously progression was only awarded to the host). Map 2 has seen steady attention:

• Hotfix 0.1.3 fixed an incorrect resource requirement for the Parchment on Map 2.
• Hotfix 0.1.4 fixed an issue where some props on Map 2 could drop Map 1 Stone instead of the correct resource.
• Hotfix 0.1.6 (August 18, 2026) reduced the intensity of the white terrain layer on Map 2 to make it easier on the eyes.

The studio has also said the full 1.0 version aims to introduce new maps and environments, so the current map roster should be treated as the Early Access baseline rather than the final count.

Return Timing: Beat the Horn

Wave telegraphs — audio cues and a timer on the HUD — announce the next assault before it arrives, and that window is your return deadline. The failure mode the whole loop is built around is returning from a profitable cave branch after the horn already sounded. Healthy habits: call "surfacing" early, finish reloads and urgent repairs during the telegraph window, and confirm teammates are surfaced before the wave locks in. Dead players add another wrinkle — Hotfix 0.1.5 added an option to recover or teleport stuck dead players, and Hotfix 0.1.6 fixed revived players being launched into the air because velocity was not reset on death. If someone does go down mid-wave, our revive guide covers the campfire resurrection flow.

Co-op Implications

Map knowledge is a team skill even though caves generate procedurally. In co-op, communicate mine depth, ore type, and return ETA, because one player greedily finishing a deep node while wave audio starts is a classic wipe source. A common informal split — three defenders, one primary miner, rotated every horn — works because the defenders learn the fixed wall sightlines while the miner learns stable paths between the stockpile and the mine entrance. Solo players cannot delegate: mine shallower, set conservative cutoffs, and treat the horn timer as law. Our 2-player co-op guide breaks down role splits and communication habits in detail.

Sources

• https://store.steampowered.com/app/4502710/Stonewards/
• https://steamcommunity.com/app/4502710/allnews/
• https://steamcommunity.com/app/4502710/discussions/0/569288789836541090/