Cinderhound
- This article is about the infernal beast. For the fire spell, see Cinderbrand. For the campaign boss, see Ashmother.
| Attributes | |
| Type | Beast · Infernal |
|---|---|
| Tier | II (intermediate) |
| Disposition | Aggressive · pack |
| Spawns from | Forge |
| Diet | Carrion · embers |
| Base stats | |
| Health | 650 |
| Strength | 45 |
| Armour | 12 |
| Speed | Fast |
| Upkeep | |
| Pay | 80 gold / payday |
| Food | 2 chickens / cycle |
| Lair | 2 × 2 tiles |
| Relations | |
| Allies | Imp, Salamander |
| Rivals | Frostmaw |
| Added in | v0.1 (launch) |
The Cinderhound is a fast, pack-hunting infernal beast available to the Netherlord from the early game. Drawn out of the deep strata by the heat of a working Forge, it makes an inexpensive frontline skirmisher: cheap to feed, quick to anger, and devastating in numbers. Cinderhounds hunt in packs and gain bonus damage for every allied hound fighting beside them, rewarding keepers who attract several at once.
Although classed as Tier II, a well-trained pack can hold its own deep into the campaign, and its Cinder Breath makes short work of the lightly-armoured scouts and surveyors the Ringborn send into the Underring. Its chief weakness is cold: anything from the Frostmaw line halves its damage on contact.
Biology & lore
Cinderhounds are not born so much as kindled. Where a Forge burns long enough against living rock, the heat wakes something already sleeping in the strata of the Underring — the vast hollow underside of the Ring. The creature claws its way up through cooling slag, shaking the ash from a hide of overlapping plates that glow at the seams when it is roused.
We dug for ore and found teeth. The deeper galleries were never empty, keeper — they were only waiting for us to make them warm. Vexcavator-Adept Morr, first survey of the Lower Forges
A hound's body temperature tracks its mood: calm animals run merely hot, while an enraged pack can set dry timber alight just by passing through a corridor. This makes them superb attackers and a genuine hazard inside your own dungeon if left unpaid and unfed near your Wooden Bridges or Library.
Attraction
Like all creatures, the Cinderhound is not directly recruited: it enters your dungeon through a Portal when your domain offers what it wants. Cinderhounds are drawn to heat, space to run, and the smell of roasting flesh. Build for those three things and a pack will arrive within a few cycles.
Requirements
All of the following must hold at the same time. The more spare heat and lair space you offer, the faster (and larger) the responding pack.
| Condition | Minimum | Effect on the pack |
|---|---|---|
| Forge heat | 9 tiles | Unlocks attraction |
| Forge heat (surplus) | 16+ tiles | +1 hound, faster arrival |
| Free lair tiles | 4 | 1 hound per 2 tiles |
| Hatchery surplus | 6 chickens | Prevents immediate departure |
| Dungeon dread | — | High dread attracts a 4th hound |
Combat
In a clean fight, a single Cinderhound is unremarkable, but they are almost never alone. Its value scales with the pack, and the keeper who funnels enemies through a corridor of hounds will get far more out of them than they cost in gold.
Abilities
- Cinder Breath — short-range cone of fire. Ignites flammable terrain and applies Burning (8 dmg/s for 4 s). 6 s cooldown.
- Pounce Claw — leaps up to 4 tiles to close the gap, knocking down light targets. Unlocks at level 4.
- Pack Fury (passive) — +6 % damage per allied Cinderhound within 3 tiles, up to +30 %.
- Stoke Embers (passive) — slowly regenerates health while standing on a Forge or Lava tile.
Stats by level
| Level | Health | Damage | Armour | XP to next |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 650 | 45 | 12 | 512 |
| 4 | 980 | 68 | 15 | 1640 |
| 7 | 1420 | 97 | 19 | 3900 |
| 10 | 2050 | 134 | 24 | — |
Jobs & training
Cinderhounds are single-minded: they fight, eat, sleep and train. They do not study, craft or pray, so don't count on them for production in your Library or Temple.
| Room | Aptitude | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Training Room | Excellent | Fastest leveller in Tier II; trains only when content. |
| Combat Pit | Excellent | Earns XP and reduces anger. |
| Library | None | Refuses to study. |
| Workshop | None | No manual dexterity to craft. |
| Temple | Poor | Only tolerates it to cool off. |
Moods & anger
The following raises anger:
- Missing a full payday (severe).
- No accessible Forge or Lava in the dungeon (severe).
- Falling in cold water or being near a Frostmaw (moderate).
- Imprisonment, or watching a packmate die (moderate).
The following calms it down: prompt payday, a victory in the Combat Pit, sleeping in a warm Lair, and a stocked Hatchery.
Strategy
- Attract in bulk. Because of Pack Fury, three hounds are worth far more than three times one. Oversize your Forge before opening the Portal.
- Watch your own corridors. The Burning effect spreads to Wooden Bridges, Doors and the Library. Reroute patrols.
- Against cold. Facing Ringborn cryomancers, pair hounds with a Salamander to strip frost stacks.
- Don't overinvest past Tier III. Once Hellhorns unlock, retire hounds to corridor defence rather than frontal pushes.
Gallery
-
Idle animation sheet -
Cinder Breath VFX
-
Early concept, 2024
Trivia
- The Cinderhound's idle moan is the slowed recording of an actual kettle reaching boiling point.<ref>Developer commentary, devlog "The Sound of the Underring", 2025.</ref>
- In early versions it was called "Ashmastiff"; it was renamed because playtesters kept calling it "the fire dog".
- It is the only Tier II creature capable of permanently destroying your own rooms, a property it shares with the Tier IV Magma Wyrm.
References
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