Wren's big reward: 10 ideas

What she gives now, and why you never see it

The hunter's ring (src/35-hunter-ring.js). At Mentor, partway through a run a faint white ring closes on the chest over 1.5 s onto a thin gold ring. A touch on the chest while the two line up (about a quarter of a second) is "Bullseye!": a fanfare, 6 items (the first Rare or better) and 3 gold piles. Too soon or too late shows "Too early" or "Too late".

Why it never seems to work:

• Your own tapping kills it. Every chest touch is judged (17-ui.js:326 → 34-friend-steps.js:137 → 35-hunter-ring.js:54-58). The core game is tapping the chest fast, so the next tap after the ring starts ends it as "Too early". The ring fades in over its first 225 ms (35-hunter-ring.js:33), so it usually breaks before you can even see it. All you get is a grey "Too early" flash every 18 to 30 s.
• Opens only at the very top. on() is FriendSteps.at('huntress', 3) (35-hunter-ring.js:14): step 3 is friendship level 5, 45 points (34-friends.js:36, 34-friend-steps.js:24). Tobin and Elowen now open theirs at step 2 (BIG_AT, line 26), Wren doesn't.
• Starts late, then rarely. The first ring waits 8 to 14 s after the first touch, then 18 to 30 s after each one ends (35-hunter-ring.js:48,37). Short runs often see one ring, or none.
• It hides under the action. It's a thin line of 2 to 2.5 px at 60 to 85% opacity (1-rewards.html:38-39), sitting on the chest where drops come out.
• No intro or practice. Her line "Watch for the ring" is the only explanation.

Why it's chaotic at high levels: by then the chest has Tapper Imps tapping (twice as fast with Brom), Lucky Touch extra items, gold piles, Shiny glints and Legendary beams going off from the same spot. The ring, the 38 px "Bullseye!" and its shock ring sit on top of all that. A hit then throws 6 items and 3 gold piles at once, with the fanfare stacking on drop sounds. The "Too early" and "Too late" words come up every 18 to 30 s with nothing tied to them.

Wren's character: she's about speed, danger and lava ("Danger pays the quick. How fast are you, burglar?"). She hunts the cellar rats and the deep rooms. She loves rats, moths and beetles, likes embers, charms and glowcaps, and sneezes at flowers. Her quests are about speed (pick ups in 5 or 20 s, grabs in the last seconds) and about lava and acid. Her perks give more bows, and a Legendary bow sometimes turns Mythic.

Core play: tap the chest, items fall onto the floor in their rarity colours (Common, Magic, Rare, Set, Legendary, Mythic, Unique), and you tap them into a backpack before the run timer ends. Gold piles and gems drop too. Imps can steal or tap for you, rooms add lava or acid, and you sell everything in town afterwards.