The Witch Trial
The Witch Trial is Zenko's first limited-time leaderboard event. When it opens, a Witch descends on the town — the streets turn cursed, a gate appears at the west edge, and a countdown billboard ticks down the time until she leaves. Pay a one-time entry (the pact), then fight her over the event window to climb two leaderboards for the rarest prize in the game.
It runs for a limited window (about 3 days). You get 2 runs per day, so there are only ~6 attempts to build your score — every run counts. When the window closes the boards settle and prizes are handed out by rank.
While the event is live, a Witch gate appears in town and the whole town takes on a cursed dusk. Walk to the gate to meet the Witch and seal your pact. The countdown billboard beside the gate shows how long is left.
Entry is a one-time event pass — pay once and run until the event ends. To seal it:
- Reach account Level 10. The Witch won't deal with anyone lower.
- Sacrifice 3 Elders. Offer three Elder-stage creatures at the gate — they are burned forever. This is the price of the pass. (Bound / free-onboarding Elders can't be offered.)
- Choose your squad of 3. Pick the three creatures that will fight the Witch. Any stage is allowed — and they are never consumed: they fall in battle and return to you after every run.
The three Elders you offer to seal the pact are permanently destroyed — choose fodder, not your favourites. Your squad, on the other hand, is completely safe: no matter how a run ends, your fighters come back.
Each run is a real-time boss fight, not a menu battle. You walk your trainer avatar into the arena and personally dodge the Witch's telegraphed attacks — the red decals that bloom on the floor. Your three creatures auto-battle at your side, using their skills against her. Two things are happening at once: your creatures deal the damage, and you stay alive to keep them fighting.
- Dodge or get ejected. Your avatar has its own HP. Take too many hits (or get caught by her arena-wide ultimate) and you're ejected — but your damage still banks, so a run is never wasted.
- Fixed 1,000,000 HP. The Witch has the same HP for the whole event, so clear times are directly comparable across players.
- 10-minute cap. A run lasts up to 10 minutes. If the timer runs out, your damage is banked (a "timeout") — most players bank damage rather than clear, which is exactly what the Most-Damage board rewards.
- Pick your lineup every run. Before each fight you re-choose your 3-creature squad, so you can adapt as you level and gear up.
- 2 runs per day. Your attempts reset daily (UTC). Everything — your power, level, relics, variants — feeds the fight through the same math as PvP.
The exact damage formula (skill multipliers, crit, lifesteal, ward, no element wheel vs the Witch) is on the Combat & PvP page.
Your runs feed two separate leaderboards. You can place — and win — on both. Check your standing any time from the stele in the antechamber or the panel that opens when you tap the Witch.
Your cumulative damage across every run of the event. This is the primary board — it decides the Gold, Gems and titles. Timing out at the cap and banking a huge hit is a totally valid strategy here.
Your single fastest kill time (to the tenth of a second). Only actual clears count, so this board rewards a truly optimized, high-DPS squad that can down 1,000,000 HP quickly.
When the window closes, both boards settle and prizes are granted by rank. The headline is the Witch Dog — a 3-headed Void cerberus MYTHICAL, wreathed in an always-on Void aura, and a tradeable one: only 10 exist per event.
| Prize | Who earns it |
|---|---|
 Witch Dog (Mythical · 10 ever) | Top 5 of EACH board — 5 from Most Damage + 5 from Fastest Clear (win both boards and you still get one dog). |
 5,000,000 Gold +  1,000 Gems | Shared across the top 50 of Most Damage, on a rank-weighted curve (higher rank = bigger slice). |
 "Witch Slayer" title | Most Damage ranks 1–10. A distinct gold nameplate title. |
| "Witch Watcher" title | Everyone who sealed the pact earns it (and it's the title for Most-Damage ranks 11–50). |
| 💵 USDC pool | Top 5 of each board earn a USDC slot (a both-boards winner earns two), paid manually from the treasury after settlement. |
A brand-new 3-headed Void cerberus, Legendary rarity, that only ever enters the world through this event — 10 per event, from settlement. It's fully tradeable, so if you don't place top-5 you may still be able to buy one on the marketplace from someone who did.
- Bank damage, don't force a clear. The primary board is cumulative damage — you don't have to kill her. Survive, deal as much as you can, and let the 10-minute timeout bank it.
- Dodging is on you. Your creatures can't win if your avatar dies early. Learn her telegraphs; the ultimate ("Serpent's Judgment") is an arena-wide dodge-or-eject with a wind-up and a safe ring.
- Gear matters. Combat relics (crit, lifesteal, ward, power) all apply here exactly as in PvP — a geared squad hits far harder.
- She gets faster as she weakens. The Witch attacks more often the lower her HP, so the last stretch of a clear is the most dangerous.
- Two chances a day. Runs reset at UTC midnight. Spend them when your squad is at its best.
Sources: lib/trial/tuning.ts (EVENT_WITCH_HP, run cap), lib/server/witch-trial.ts (WITCH_PRIZES — gold/gem pool, Witch Dog + title cutoffs, USDC), docs/WITCH_TRIAL_DESIGN.md. The Witch Trial is a limited event — it's only playable while the owner has it running.