Kin and Conquest Guides
Combat, mining, totems, and boss prep for every floor
Kin and Conquest by The Fox Knocks is an incremental idle action adventure where you guide a Fox through a corrupted mountain, defeat floor guardians, mine ore for coins, and grow stronger through equipment, Blessings, and the Survival and Cunning skill trees. These guides explain the systems that matter most during a run so you spend less time guessing and more time pushing toward the Evil Geomancer.
Whether you picked up the game on Steam or itch.io, the core loop is the same: move your Fox into danger, let proximity combat handle swings, dodge back out, collect loot, and reinvest power before the next wave or floor transition feels overwhelming.
Start here
New players should read the Getting Started guide first. It covers movement modes (click-to-move, auto-follow cursor, keyboard, and gamepad), what to prioritize in your first hour, and how early Blessings and skill nodes shape the rest of a run. Kin and Conquest front-loads a lot of UI at the town hub, but the game gradually reveals NPCs and systems as you unlock them, which keeps the opening manageable once you know what to ignore temporarily.
Combat and positioning
Fighting is proximity-based: your Fox swings when enemies are in range, so success depends on rhythm rather than button combos. The Combat Basics guide walks through spacing, dodge timing, and how to avoid getting pinned between packs or environmental hazards. This pairs well with weapon choice and upgrades covered in the Weapons hub, especially when you enter a new floor and enemy health spikes.
Mining and economy
Ore nodes are not optional scenery. Mining rocks generates coins that fund weapon upgrades, skill respecs, and shop purchases between runs. The Mining guide explains when to break nodes during combat, how coin merges affect pickup effects, and why mining tempo often decides whether you can afford the next recipe or blessing reroll.
Totems and automation
Totems are powerful interactables that can swing a run in your favor, but they interact awkwardly with auto-movement settings. The Totems guide covers activation timing, golden totem value, and common pitfalls when your Fox paths toward a totem instead of safer targets. If you play in auto mode, read this before you waste a rare golden activation on a bad floor transition.
Bosses and floor guardians
Each floor ends with a guardian fight and difficulty modifiers that change enemy speed and pressure. The How to Beat Bosses guide summarizes prep steps: blessing choices, equipment upgrades, totem planning, and when to push a higher difficulty versus farming the current floor for coins and recipes.
How these guides fit together
Think of Kin and Conquest progression as three overlapping tracks. Combat skill keeps you alive long enough to mine and level. Mining and loot fund weapon upgrades that make new floors tolerable. Blessings and skill nodes provide the long-term multiplier that turns a stable build into a run that can challenge the Evil Geomancer.
Cross-linking matters because no single system wins alone. A strong weapon without mining income stalls when upgrade costs jump. A defensive Survival build still needs positioning knowledge from combat basics. Totems can solve a bad pack but only if you understand when auto pathing will trigger them early.
Recommended reading order
- Getting Started — controls, first hour, early Blessings
- Combat Basics — proximity spacing and dodge rhythm
- Mining — coins, ore nodes, economic tempo
- Totems — activations, golden totems, auto mode
- How to Beat Bosses — guardians, difficulties, floor prep
Also read Challenges & Souls for Soul farming and the Tutorial System page for revised onboarding after 0.5.3. For equipment depth, continue to the Weapons tier list, upgrade paths, and Books and Staffs pages after you finish the combat and mining primers.
Staying current
Kin and Conquest received balance updates throughout its demo and 1.0 release on August 3, 2026, including weapon damage tuning, Survival tree buffs, and quality-of-life fixes for floor transitions. When a patch changes node values or enemy scaling, revisit the guide tied to that system rather than assuming old habits still apply.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers for Kin and Conquest players.
Which Kin and Conquest guide should I read first?
Start with the [Getting Started guide](/guides/getting-started/). It explains movement, the first hour loop, and early progression before you dive into combat or boss prep.
Do these guides cover both Steam and itch.io versions?
Yes. Kin and Conquest uses the same downloadable build on Steam and itch.io, so controls, floors, and systems described here apply to both storefronts.
Where can I learn about weapons and upgrades?
Visit the [Weapons hub](/weapons/) for tier rankings, upgrade timing, and the [Books and Staffs](/weapons/books-and-staffs/) breakdown after you understand combat and mining basics.
Are totems covered in the guides hub?
Totems have a dedicated page. Read the [Totems guide](/guides/totems/) if you use auto-movement or want to avoid wasting golden totem activations.
How do guides relate to Blessings and the skill tree?
Guides focus on moment-to-moment play and floor progression. Blessings and Survival/Cunning nodes are mentioned where they affect combat, mining, or boss prep, with deeper build coverage planned alongside dedicated build pages.