Game Guide
Corebreak — complete guide
The full breakdown: mid-run perks, the permanent upgrade tree, how the Idle Rift system works, mutators, and the build strategies that scale deepest.
Overview
How it works
Break blocks
Fire balls upward to destroy layers of core strata. Each ball bounces between the walls and the blocks above. Clear rows to prevent the strata from pushing too low.
Collect cores
Broken strata drop cores. Cores are your run currency and long-term meta currency — spend them mid-run for power-ups and bank them between runs for permanent upgrades.
Forge
The Forge lets you combine cores into higher-tier resources. Forging unlocks deeper upgrades and scales your ceiling run-over-run. It's the engine of permanent progress.
Survive
If strata reach the floor the run ends. The deeper you go, the faster strata descend. Upgrade your ball count, damage, and speed to stay ahead of the pressure.
Mid-run
Seven run perks
Run perks are offered during play — typically after clearing a layer or reaching a milestone. They last only for the current run. Each perk stacks with the others.
Volley
Offense
Fire 3 extra balls per volley. Multiplies your clearing speed immediately. Best taken early — more balls means more cores per layer, which compounds across the rest of the run.
Power Core
Offense
+1 damage per ball hit. Stacks with your permanent HONED TIPS upgrade. A second Power Core doubles the bonus. Mandatory on deeper runs where block HP scales up.
Blast Radius
Offense
Each ball hit also damages adjacent blocks with splash. Useful on wide, uniform layers — not as strong on sparse or scattered strata where balls already route between blocks.
Lucky Strike
Luck
+15% chance for any hit to deal 3× damage. Great floor; high ceiling. Late in a run with many balls in play, Lucky Strike proc rate makes it effectively a persistent damage multiplier.
Aim Rig
Utility
Extended trajectory preview — shows the full bounce path of each ball before launch. Precision pick. Transforms into a significant advantage on narrow columns and ricochet angles.
Pushback
Defense
Shoves strata up 3 rows when triggered. Take it when you're close to the floor and need breathing room. Combining with SEISMIC ECHO (permanent) adds rows on top of the push.
Chain Reaction
Offense
+12% chance a block breaks triggers a chain that cracks its immediate neighbors. Scales well with Volley — more balls hitting more blocks means more chain procs per volley.
Between runs
Fifteen permanent upgrades
Permanent upgrades persist across every run. Tier 1 is free-to-play accessible. Tiers 2 and 3 unlock with Pro. Costs shown are base — each level within a node increases the cost.
Tier 1 — Foundation
| Upgrade | Max lvl | Base cost | Effect per level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deep Stock | 4 | 70 cores | +1 starting ball |
| Honed Tips | 3 | 100 cores | +1 base damage |
| Salvage | 4 | 80 cores | +12% cores earned per run |
| Core Memory | 3 | 90 cores | +1 run perk slot (more choices offered) |
| Drill Bit | 3 | 85 cores | +8% ball speed |
Tier 2 — Advanced Pro
| Upgrade | Max lvl | Effect per level |
|---|---|---|
| Reinforced | 3 | +1 floor row — strata must fall one extra row before ending your run |
| Prospector | 4 | +10% chance for ore blocks to appear — these drop 3× cores on break |
| Resonance | 3 | Every 10th volley automatically fires a bonus free volley |
| Seismic Echo | 3 | Pushback (run perk) shoves +1 extra row per level |
| Pressure Wave | 3 | +5% ball damage per active run perk held |
Tier 3 — Endgame Pro
| Upgrade | Max lvl | Effect per level |
|---|---|---|
| Streamline | 3 | Reduces cooldown between volleys by 12% — fire more often |
| Overdrive | 2 | Lucky Strike damage multiplier increases from 3× to 4× at lvl 1, 5× at lvl 2 |
| Fault Line | 3 | Chain Reaction chains can now propagate a second time — chains of chains |
| Core Lens | 2 | Blast Radius splash damage applies to 2 additional adjacent blocks per level |
| Mineral Rights | 3 | All forge outputs yield +15% more resources per level |
Upgrade priority: Max Deep Stock first (4 starting balls is a dramatic early boost), then Salvage (cores compound faster), then Honed Tips. Unlock Pro upgrades in the order: Prospector → Pressure Wave → Streamline → Overdrive.
Passive system
Idle Rift — eight upgrades
The Idle Rift is a secondary progression loop that runs while the game is closed. It generates a trickle of resources proportional to the upgrades below. Invest cores into the Rift to accelerate passive income.
| Upgrade | Effect |
|---|---|
| Rift Condenser | Increases the base cores-per-hour rate from the Idle Rift |
| Fracture Vault | Raises the maximum resource cap the Idle Rift can hold before overflowing |
| Seismic Surge | Occasional burst events — the Rift spikes output for a short window at random intervals |
| Deep Matrix | Unlocks a second resource type from the Rift (ore fragments for forging) |
| Resonance Tap | Tapping the Rift icon manually generates a bonus burst on a 4-hour cooldown |
| Pressure Seal | Resources don't overflow and are instead banked — removes the vault cap entirely at max level |
| Fault Depth | Scales Rift output based on your deepest run depth — deeper runs mean richer passive income |
| Resonance Array | Multiplies all Idle Rift output by your current total Rift Condenser levels — the final scaling node |
Idle Rift order: Rift Condenser → Fracture Vault → Pressure Seal (never lose overflow again) → Deep Matrix (ore for Tier 2/3 upgrades) → Fault Depth → Resonance Array.
Run modifiers
Five mutators
Mutators are optional modifiers you can activate before starting a run. They change the rules to increase difficulty or reward. Two are free; three require Pro.
Dense Strata
Blocks start with higher base HP. Strata descend the same speed but take significantly more hits to break. Favors builds with Power Core and Blast Radius already in hand.
Gem Rush
Ore blocks appear at 3× the normal rate. Cores drop faster, letting you buy more run perks mid-run. A flat buff run with no additional risk — best for trying new perk combos.
Low Gravity
Balls move in slow arcs with floaty physics. Volleys take longer to resolve. Aim Rig becomes almost mandatory. Rewards patient play and precision aiming over raw ball count.
Fragile Cores
Every missed volley (no block hit) costs you one floor row. Forces precise targeting — no wasted shots. Pairs with Aim Rig for a high-skill, high-reward modifier.
Double Pickups
All core drops are doubled. Stacks with Salvage and Gem Rush. On a maxed Salvage build this modifier makes the run's core yield absurd — ideal for grinding Tier 3 upgrade costs.
Strategy
Build paths and tips
- 01 Deep Stock is the single best early investment. Four starting balls from Deep Stock maxed out turns your first volley into what used to be your fifth. More balls per volley means more cores per layer — and cores fund everything else.
- 02 Salvage + Double Pickups is the fastest path to Tier 3. Max Salvage (4 levels = +48% cores/run), activate Double Pickups, and run Gem Rush on top. The compounding makes Tier 3 node costs reachable in a fraction of the usual time.
- 03 Pressure Wave rewards stacking run perks. At +5% ball damage per perk, holding four perks means +20% damage before anything else. Max Core Memory for more perk offerings, and take whatever is offered — quantity matters with Pressure Wave.
- 04 Idle Rift pays off faster than it looks. The Rift earns while you sleep. Fracture Vault + Pressure Seal early means you never overflow — every hour you're away translates directly into upgrade progress. Treat Rift Condenser like a passive run multiplier.
- 05 Fragile Cores + Aim Rig is the highest-skill combo. Missed shots cost you floor rows; Aim Rig shows full trajectory. Players who can nail every volley earn bonus depth with no downside. On a Deep Stock + Drill Bit build the fast balls make each trajectory easier to read.
- 06 Fault Depth changes the Idle Rift meta. Once Fault Depth is maxed, deeper runs directly grow your passive income. This creates a positive loop: upgrades → deeper runs → more idle income → faster upgrades. It's the late-game engine.