Banana Tiger Studio · Steam Early Access
Stonewards Field Guide
Stonewards is a 1-4 player co-op dwarf roguelite defense game on Steam. Classes, rings, waves, mining and every hotfix to 0.1.8, tracked from official sources.
Official Trailer From the Mines
Patch Log
- MAJOR Hotfix 0.1.8 lands: multiplayer now stays paused between waves until someone presses Continue, enemies disengage instead of stalling, and progression keeps up to 20 local backup saves outside Steam Cloud.
- Banana Tiger Studio confirms it is 'now full focus toward our major September update', on top of features already announced.
- MAJOR Hotfix 0.1.7 adds playable Crossbows, a 60-second timer on multiplayer upgrade picks, and raises gold from digging so mining pays comparably to combat.
- MINOR Hotfix 0.1.6 reworks Endless Mode difficulty to a non-linear curve and makes the Character Screen show the missions each dwarf needs to unlock.
- MINOR Hotfix 0.1.5 raises the Blacksmith level cap from 101 to 999 and hides new Lore Pages in the caves.
What is Stonewards?
Stonewards is a first-person co-op roguelite defense game by Banana Tiger Studio, a two-person team, and it has been in Steam Early Access since August 11, 2026 at $9.99. A run is one loop repeated under pressure: the horn sounds and monsters march on a dwarven stronghold, you hold the wall, and the moment the wave breaks you sprint into procedurally generated mines to dig ore before the next horn. Everything you drag back gets spent at the forge on arrows, wall repairs and randomised upgrades — the rings and tomes that shape the rest of the run.
You play it solo or with up to three friends, for a hard cap of four — the studio's own wording in its pinned FAQ. There are eight dwarves, six of them locked behind mission requirements the game does not spell out; the achievement unlock rates show how few crews ever reach the last two. There are 20 achievements, all of them shipped without descriptions. And there have been six hotfixes in the first fifteen days, up to 0.1.8 on August 26, with a major September update already announced.
One thing to clear up first, because search engines will not: this site is about the game. The Stonewards you find on Fandom and the Coppermind are an order of Knights Radiant in Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive novels. Different Stonewards, no relation.
Inside a Stonewards Run
Before the Horn
Your First Run, in Five Steps
- Take the Miner, not the Warrior. Both are unlocked from the start, but the digging phase is where a run is won or lost — see the first-run walkthrough.
- Leave the wall the second the wave dies. Mining time is the only currency that does not carry over; the gold and mining guide covers which ores are worth the detour.
- Spend at the forge before you spend on yourself. Repaired walls and stocked arrows outlast a shiny ring — ring and tome priorities.
- Know where the campfire is before someone goes down. Reviving means carrying the body back; the revive rules changed twice in Early Access.
- Check which dwarf you are unlocking next. Hotfix 0.1.6 added the mission list to the Character Screen — the unlock table shows what you are in for.
The Forge
Data Pages & Answers
Class Tier List
All 8 dwarves ranked for solo and for a full four-stack.
FULL LISTAll 20 Achievements
Every achievement with its live global unlock rate.
PATCHEvery Hotfix, 0.1.3 to 0.1.8
What actually changed in each of the six updates.
ANSWERHow to Revive a Downed Dwarf
Campfire, Bed and the Unstuck button, by version.
ROADMAPOfficial Early Access Roadmap
All four phases, transcribed from the studio chart.
SPECSPC Specs & Steam Deck
Minimum, recommended, and what the devs say about Deck.
The Deep Shelf
Every Page on This Site
Dwarves & Builds
- All 8 Classes — what each dwarf does and how it has been patched.
- Class Tier List — ranked from patch notes and unlock rates, not guesswork.
- Unlocks & Achievements — all 20, with live global unlock rates.
- Rings & Tomes — the upgrade layer and every balance change to it.
Running a Mission
- Beginner Guide — your first run, phase by phase.
- Waves, Horn & Endless Mode — how a run is structured.
- Mining & Gold — the economy the 0.1.7 patch rebalanced.
- How to Revive — campfire, Bed and the Unstuck button.
Collectibles & Secrets
- Pets — what is documented, and what the studio has not said.
- Lore Pages — the cave collectible tied to two achievements.
- Mods — the BepInEx scene and what it can and cannot do.
- Games Like Stonewards — the obvious comparisons, checked.
The Game Itself
- Patch Log 0.1.3 – 0.1.8 — every change, dated.
- Official Roadmap — all four phases, transcribed.
- Co-op Rules — 4 players, no join-in-progress.
- Release & Console Status — and PC specs.
- The Demo — why it vanished on July 11.
- Is It Worth It? — Steam score and player count.
FAQ
Is Stonewards the game the same thing as the Stonewards from the Stormlight Archive?
No, and this trips up almost every search. Stonewards (2026) is a co-op dwarf roguelite defense game on Steam by Banana Tiger Studio. The Stonewards you find on Fandom and the Coppermind are one of the ten orders of Knights Radiant in Brandon Sanderson's Stormlight Archive novels. This site only covers the game.
How many players can play Stonewards together?
Four. In the developer's own pinned FAQ on Steam, Banana Tiger Studio wrote: "You can play solo or with up to 3 friends for a max party of 4 players." There is no host-side option for larger parties, and joining a session that is already in progress is not supported.
How much does Stonewards cost, and is there a free version?
Stonewards is $9.99 USD on Steam with regional pricing elsewhere. There is no free-to-play tier. The free demo that ran from June 2, 2026 was taken offline by the studio on July 11, 2026, so any site still offering a demo download is out of date.
How This Site Is Kept Honest
Stonewards Field Guide is an independent, unofficial fan resource for Stonewards players — not affiliated with Banana Tiger Studio.
- How we verify: Every number on this site is traced to a public, checkable source: Steam appdetails for specs and price, the studio patch notes for mechanics, the public achievement page for unlock rates, and the developer FAQ thread for co-op and Steam Deck answers. Each page names the source and the date it was read.
- Update cadence: Checked against the Steam news feed within 48 hours of every hotfix. The patch log page is rewritten the same day a new version ships, and the version number in the site header moves with it.
- What we don't do: No invented stat tables. Stonewards does not publish ring values, wave counts or class stats, so this site says "not published by the studio" instead of guessing, and it links no crack, key-reseller or cheat-trainer pages.