Adventure roster

Choose a hero who changes the solution

Every Swordkoban hero follows the same movement and letter-matching rules, but carries two abilities that reshape distance, access, or crate control. Learn the exact limits before choosing; the safest hero is the one whose skills answer the board’s hardest constraint.

Updated 2026-09-02 · 10 minute read

Choose for the board, not the portrait

Select a hero when opening a level. During gameplay, the portrait in the upper-left opens the hero selector without resetting the board. Changing heroes can rescue a plan when the geometry calls for a different tool, but it does not undo crates or restore terrain. Examine the current board before switching.

Long empty lanes favor Alden or Pip. Separated rooms and unreachable support squares favor Vesper. Dense obstacles and aligned crate groups favor Heracles. No hero removes the need to protect corners, corridors, and support tiles; skills widen the set of valid plans but still obey their targeting rules.

How uses and cooldowns work

A numbered skill has that many successful uses available for the level. The infinity symbol means there is no per-level use cap. After a successful activation, the move counter increases by one and the configured cooldown begins. Each following successful movement or skill action reduces active cooldowns by one.

A zero cooldown means the skill does not wait for movement before becoming ready again, although a limited-use count may still run out. Invalid targets, blocked paths, and premature activation do not consume a use. The skill belt always shows the live state for the selected hero.

Direction skills and board targeting

Earthbreaker, Titan Push, Moon Dash, Lance Drive, and Vine Pull use the hero’s facing direction. Turn toward the intended object before activating them. Hex Exchange, Rune Blink, and Bamboo Roll enter targeting mode and highlight only legal choices. Select a highlighted object or tile to complete the action, or cancel targeting without spending a move.

Highlighted choices are calculated from the current board. Moving a crate, exchanging an obstacle, or changing hero position can immediately change which destinations are legal.

Build a plan around the hard constraint

First find the move the normal rules cannot perform efficiently: crossing a separated region, getting behind a wall-bound crate, opening a blocked gate, or moving several tiles while preserving the support side. Then choose the hero whose skill addresses that exact constraint. Use ordinary movement for the rest of the route so limited abilities remain available when they matter.

Alden compresses clear travel and advances a single crate by two tiles.
Vesper reaches remote support squares and relocates obstacles.
Pip crosses full lanes and can pull a crate backward.
Heracles removes obstacles and drives one or two crates by three tiles.

Hero roster and skills

The Moon Knight

Alden

Alden turns open corridors into efficient routes. His movement skill saves steps, while his lance can reposition a single letter crate without requiring the usual pushing stance.

Best for: Open boards, long approaches, and puzzles where reaching the far side of a crate costs more moves than pushing it.

Moon Dash

Travel two clear tiles in the facing direction while adding only one move to the counter.

Uses: Unlimited uses
Cooldown: 3-move cooldown
Target: facing direction

Both tiles ahead must be inside the board and free of walls, obstacles, and crates.
The dash cannot jump over a blocked tile or push a crate.
A successful dash changes position and spends one move; a rejected attempt spends nothing.

Planning tip: Save clear two-tile lanes between crate pushes. A dash is most valuable when it also places Alden on the support tile needed for the next push.

Lance Drive

Drive the adjacent crate two tiles forward, then occupy the crate’s former tile.

Uses: 2 uses per level
Cooldown: 4-move cooldown
Target: facing direction

Alden must face a crate on the neighboring tile.
The two tiles beyond that crate must both be clear.
The skill moves one crate only and cannot drive through another crate, obstacle, wall, or board edge.

Planning tip: Check the landing tile from every side before committing. Moving a crate two spaces at once is powerful, but it can skip the only row from which the crate could later turn.

The Rune Witch

Vesper

Vesper rewrites positioning rules. She can trade places with a board obstacle or cross the map to an open floor tile, making her strongest when walls divide the useful pushing lanes.

Best for: Maps with isolated regions, expensive detours, or obstacles that can become useful anchors after an exchange.

Hex Exchange

Exchange Vesper’s position with any selected obstacle on the board.

Uses: 2 uses per level
Cooldown: 5-move cooldown
Target: board obstacle

Select one of the highlighted obstacles after activating the skill.
Hex Exchange is unavailable while Vesper is standing on a letter target.
The chosen obstacle moves to Vesper’s previous tile, so the exchange changes two parts of the map at once.

Planning tip: Treat the moved obstacle as part of the solution. Exchange from a tile where the obstacle will not seal a corridor or remove a support square needed by a crate.

Rune Blink

Teleport to a selected unoccupied floor tile anywhere inside the playable board.

Uses: 2 uses per level
Cooldown: 4-move cooldown
Target: empty floor tile

The destination must be an open floor tile and cannot be Vesper’s current tile.
Walls, obstacles, and crate tiles are never valid destinations.
Blink changes the hero’s position but does not move any crate or terrain object.

Planning tip: Blink behind a crate rather than merely close to it. The best destination immediately creates a legal push that walking could not reach efficiently.

The Grove Scout

Pip

Pip combines fast lane movement with the rare ability to pull. That changes the usual Sokoban rule that a crate can only move away from the hero and gives careful players a way to repair awkward alignments.

Best for: Long straight lanes, recovery from near-deadlocks, and boards where a crate must leave a wall before it can turn.

Bamboo Roll

Choose one highlighted direction and roll to the farthest clear tile in that lane for one move.

Uses: Unlimited uses
Cooldown: 3-move cooldown
Target: highlighted lane endpoint

Activating the skill reveals up to four endpoints: one for each clear cardinal direction.
Pip stops at the last open tile before a wall, obstacle, crate, or board edge.
The destination is chosen by the player; the skill does not automatically use Pip’s current facing direction.

Planning tip: A roll cannot stop early. Verify the far endpoint is a useful support tile before selecting it, especially in narrow corridors.

Vine Pull

Step one tile backward while pulling the crate directly ahead into Pip’s former position.

Uses: 3 uses per level
Cooldown: 2-move cooldown
Target: facing direction

Pip must face an adjacent crate and have a clear tile directly behind him.
The crate moves into Pip’s former tile while Pip moves backward.
A pull cannot pass through terrain or another crate and still counts as one move.

Planning tip: Use Vine Pull to recover turning space, not simply to reverse the last push. Pulling onto a central lane often creates several future options at once.

The Lionhearted

Heracles

Heracles changes the board through force. He can remove a destructible obstacle and can drive one or two adjacent crates three tiles while advancing directly behind them.

Best for: Dense maps, blocked corridors, and layouts where several letters already share the same useful line.

Earthbreaker

Destroy the obstacle on the tile directly in front of Heracles.

Uses: 2 uses per level
Cooldown: No cooldown
Target: facing direction

Heracles must face a destructible obstacle on the neighboring tile.
Walls and letter crates are not obstacles and cannot be destroyed by this skill.
The cleared tile becomes traversable, but using the skill still adds one move.

Planning tip: Break the obstacle that opens the most useful pushing approach. Removing a decorative shortcut is less valuable than restoring access to the back of a letter crate.

Titan Push

Drive a facing line of one or two crates three tiles forward and move Heracles forward three tiles behind the line.

Uses: Unlimited uses
Cooldown: 4-move cooldown
Target: facing direction

The first tile ahead must hold a crate; a second immediately connected crate may join the push.
Every tile crossed and every landing tile needed by the moving crates must be clear of fixed terrain and non-moving crates.
The skill cannot move a line of three or more crates and cannot shorten its three-tile travel distance.

Planning tip: Trace all three landing rows before committing. Titan Push is safest when the crates land in open space with room for Heracles to circle around them.

Frequently asked questions

Does switching heroes restart the level?

No. Opening the selector from the gameplay portrait preserves the current board. The newly selected hero continues from the current hero position.

What does unlimited mean?

The skill has no per-level use cap. A configured cooldown can still prevent consecutive activations.

Can Rune Blink land on a crate?

No. Rune Blink accepts only an unoccupied floor tile and excludes walls, obstacles, all crate tiles, and Vesper’s current tile.

Why can’t Hex Exchange activate on a target?

Hex Exchange is intentionally unavailable while Vesper stands on any letter target. Move off the target, then choose a highlighted obstacle.

How far does Titan Push move?

It moves a line of one or two facing crates exactly three tiles and advances Heracles three tiles directly behind them. The entire route must be clear.