Why the Underwild River of Spirits Is the Toughest Grind in Empires & Puzzles

You’ve finally pushed through the early provinces of Season 4. Your roster is looking decent, maybe you’ve snagged a few Void Gems, and then you hit it—the Underwild River of Spirits. It isn’t just another map stage. Honestly, it’s where a lot of casual players start hitting a wall because the mechanics shift from "just match tiles" to "don't let the environment kill you before the boss does."

Small Giant Games didn't just skin these levels with a spooky blue glow. They changed the physics of the board. If you’re coming in from Season 3’s Valhalla Forever expecting easy mana gains, the Underwild is a cold shower. The River of Spirits specifically introduces a "soul-drain" vibe that can leave your healers empty right when a boss decides to fire off a devastating special. It's frustrating. It's slow. But if you want those Underwild Coins for the portal, you’ve gotta find a way through the mist.

The Reality of the Underwild River of Spirits Mechanics

Let’s talk about the Underwild Gems. In the Underwild River of Spirits, these little purple-rimmed buggers are your best friends and your worst nightmares. When you match them, they deal damage to enemies based on a percentage of their max HP. That sounds great on paper, right? Well, the trade-off is the "Underwild" status effect that permeates these provinces.

The environment itself often reduces the effectiveness of your mana gains. You’ll notice your heroes take forever to charge. You’re sitting there, staring at a board full of yellow tiles, but your Vivica or Gullinbursti is barely halfway to their special. This is the "River of Spirits" logic—the life force is being tugged away. Unlike the early seasons where you could brute-force your way through with a high-attack team, Season 4 demands tactical tile management.

You also have to deal with the specific enemies found in these watery, ethereal stages. They aren't just high-HP sponges. Many of the mob types in the River of Spirits stages have passives that trigger upon death or when they reach certain mana thresholds. Some of the "Spirit" mobs specifically target your hero with the highest mana, resetting their progress or applying a nasty DOT (damage over time). It’s basically a war of attrition.

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Why Your Standard Rainbow Team Might Be Failing

Most players stick to a rainbow team (one of each color) because it feels safe. In the Underwild River of Spirits, safe is usually synonymous with "dead." Because mana generation is throttled by the stage properties, you need to maximize the impact of every single tile you throw.

A 3-2 or even a mono-color stack (all five heroes of one color) is often the only way to clear the Hard mode versions of these stages without burning through ten Dragon Attacks and five Time Stops. Why? Because when your mana is slow, you need your "weak" tile hits to actually hurt. If you’re running a rainbow team and the board is 60% blue tiles but you only have one blue hero, you aren't doing enough damage to overcome the health pools of the Underwild mobs.

Stacking colors also helps you focus on the Underwild Gems. Since these gems deal percentage-based damage, you want to clear the board as fast as possible to spawn more of them.

Heroes That Actually Shine Here

Don't just look at the stars. Look at the utility.

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• Gullinbursti: The "Angry Pig" is a godsend in the River of Spirits. His overheal helps you survive the environmental chip damage, and his delayed damage hit doesn't care if your mana is being drained—once it's active, it's going to pop.
• Proteus or Hel: Mana control is king. If you can stop the spirits from firing their specials, you remove half the threat.
• Underwild Heroes (The Families): If you’re lucky enough to have pulled Morel, Elizabeth, or even Poppy, use them. The family bonus in Season 4 stages often provides a boost to those specific Underwild Gems, making them spawn more frequently or hit harder.
• Miki or Tarlak: Since the mobs have massive HP, boosting your normal tile damage is often more reliable than waiting for a sniper special to charge up.

The Myth of the "Easy Auto-Farm"

You might see people on the forums claiming they auto-farm the Underwild River of Spirits on Hard mode. They’re probably lying, or they have a 5200+ power team with Level 30 Mana Troops. For the rest of us, auto-farming these stages is a recipe for wasted World Energy.

The AI is notoriously bad at using Underwild Gems. It will prioritize a 3-match of regular tiles over a 4-match that creates a special gem. In the River of Spirits, those gems are the primary way you deal "free" damage that bypasses high defense stats. If you're going to farm, do it on Normal, and even then, keep an eye on it. The jump in difficulty between Province 10 and Province 15 is significant.

Navigating the Map: What to Watch For

The "River" isn't just a name; it represents a flow of difficulty. As you move deeper into the Season 4 map, the "Underwild" effect becomes more oppressive. You'll encounter stages where the "mist" obscures parts of the board or where specific elements are "reflected."

Always check the stage info before you hit "Start." There’s nothing worse than bringing a team of heavy hitters only to realize the boss reflects all their damage back at them. In the River of Spirits, the bosses tend to be "clunky"—they don't fire often, but when they do, it's a wipe. Look for bosses that apply "Mindless Attack" or "Abyss" effects. These are the real killers.

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Practical Steps for Beating the River of Spirits

Stop trying to speed-run. The Underwild isn't meant to be blitzed unless you’re a whale with a maxed-out roster. It’s a marathon.

1. Bring Mana Potions: I know, you want to save them for Titans. Don't. Use the small ones to top off your healer right before a boss wave. The Underwild's mana reduction makes natural charging too risky.
2. Focus on the Underwild Gems: These are your primary win condition. If you see a purple-bordered gem, pop it immediately, especially if there are multiple enemies on screen.
3. Prioritize Defense Down: Since the enemies have high health, bringing a hero like Grimm, Tiburtus, or Morel is essential. You need to make those few tiles you do land count for double.
4. Watch the Boss Mana Bar: In the River of Spirits, boss specials often include a secondary "drain" effect. If you can’t silence them, make sure your team is at full health before they fire.
5. Use the "Ghosting" Technique: Whenever there’s a gap in the enemy line, fire tiles through it. In the Underwild, where mana is scarce, "ghosting" tiles (hitting empty space) gives you double mana. It’s often better to ghost three tiles than to hit a mob with three tiles of a color they are strong against.

The Underwild River of Spirits is a test of patience. It’s designed to make you feel like you’re wading through molasses. But the rewards—the coins for the Underwild Portal—are some of the best in the game. The heroes you can pull from Season 4, like Elizabeth or Lepiota, are meta-defining. Grinding through the river is the price of admission for a top-tier roster.

Adjust your expectations. Expect the mana to be slow. Expect the mobs to be tanky. Once you stop trying to fight the mechanics and start playing into them with color stacking and mana control, the river becomes much easier to cross. Focus on high-utility 4-star heroes if your 5-stars aren't maxed yet; a limit-broken Gullinbursti or Rigard C will do more for you here than a half-leveled legendary hero ever could. Keep your heals cycled, keep your defense down active, and let the Underwild Gems do the heavy lifting for you. High-level play in Empires & Puzzles is rarely about the biggest hit; it’s about surviving long enough to make the board work in your favor. Cross the river carefully, and the gems will follow.