Depth Spelunking Priority & Fear Stats — How They Work
How Depth Spelunking priority and fear stats affect entity detection, chases, and items—verified for v0.7.0b. See which stat to raise before you drop.
FAQ
What does priority do in Depth Spelunking?
How do you check priority and fear in-game?
How does fear increase in Depth Spelunking?
What lowers fear or priority in Depth Spelunking?
Can entities use priority against you?
Two numbers quietly decide whether a floor feels “empty” or “hunted”: priority (how much entities care about you) and fear (how stressed the run thinks you are). They have been core since older patches, but v0.7.0a tied them to moment-to-moment movement—and v0.7.0b tweaked items like Coffee that interact with fear drain.
What is the priority stat?
Priority is best thought of as attention. Higher priority makes you easier to detect within the Recode detection formula, which the July 2026 log says now scales more gradually but hits harder at very low or very high values.
0.7.0a live inputs (official):
| Action or state | Typical effect |
|---|---|
| Crouching | Lowers priority (stealth posture) |
| Sprinting | Raises priority |
| Flashlight on | Raises priority |
| High fear | Raises priority |
Items shift the baseline. Examples with published numbers:
- Halo (0.7.0a): -1 priority plus fear gain -15% / drain +15%
- Heart Locket (0.7.0a): priority -10 → -5; when spotted, +2 speed for 20s; +10% armor while chased
- Lumberjack’s Cap (0.7.0a): +3 priority, but only +3 priority (was +5) when finishing a task
The screenshot shows the terminal stats stack where priority and fear sit next to luck—critical when pairing items from /items/best-starter-items/ or /items/magic-scarf/.
Entity-side priority hooks
Published examples you can play around:
- Lurker (0.7.0a): approaching a “false idle” lurker rolls enrage based on your priority. See /entities/lurker/.
- Channel: community docs cite a +10 priority beam—use a private lobby to confirm telegraphs.
Stealth strats from 0.6 may fail if they ignored priority entirely—especially with flashlight habits.
What is the fear stat?
Fear measures run stress. It rises when you take hits and unlocks both threats and build payoffs.
How fear goes up
- Damage → fear: about half the HP lost becomes fear (self damage excluded), per the 0.6.6.6 fear overhaul referenced in official logs.
- Events: Fog and Power Outage passively raise fear in older patch notes—still relevant on certain floors.
- Items: Spectral Blindfold ties blindness duration to fear; Blood of the Martyr scales speed/luck with fear (+1 per 20 fear, cap +5) per 0.7.0a numbers.
How fear goes down or gets managed
- Natural fear drain over time (unless something blocks it).
- Coffee (0.7.0b): official note—disables fear drain for the effect window. Strong in prolonged chase floors.
- Halo / Heart Locket: percentage tweaks to fear gain or modifiers (see /guides/patch-notes-0-7/).
Fear thresholds that spawn content
- Hat Man: community wiki data places appearance after ~90 fear sustained for about a minute—a fail condition for letting chip damage stack. No separate official floor table exists.
Between floors, fear carried upstairs still feeds priority per 0.7.0a rules. Community tutorials sometimes mention a fear-based speed boost; that behavior is not spelled out in the DevForum excerpts we track—confirm in a private lobby if your build feels different.
How priority and fear interact
They are not the same meter, but the Recode links high fear to higher priority. That feedback loop is why “I only tapped sprint once” can still snowball:
- You take damage → fear rises.
- High fear → priority rises.
- Higher priority → entities detect you sooner → more damage.
Breaking the loop is the basic skill floor:
- Crouch between tasks; stand only when routing.
- Toggle flashlight off when you know the path.
- Use Coffee before long defense phases if you own the consumable.
- Pair Heart Locket or Halo on teams that expect mistakes.
For systemic debuffs that outlast one chase, see /guides/traumas-explained/.
Items and modes that care about these stats
| Goal | Direction | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Stealth / intel | Lower priority, control fear | Phantom’s Cloak (wiki: -5 priority), crouch play, Coffee timing |
| Carry / aggro | Accept higher priority | Lumberjack’s Cap task buffs, loud objective strats |
| Luck scaling | Fear/luck through buffs | Blood of the Martyr, Magic Scarf luck stacks /items/magic-scarf/ |
| Hard Mode | Tighter tasks, earlier Eris | /guides/hard-mode-guide/ |
Daily Mode scoring still cares about clean floors—even if fear is invisible on YouTube highlights—see /guides/daily-mode/.
Beginner mistakes with priority and fear
- Flashlight always on in “empty” halls—priority tax every second.
- Sprinting to elevator during reboard with traumas stacked (/guides/traumas-explained/).
- Ignoring Coffee timing after 0.7.0b—treat it like a fear-drain pause button, not just stamina candy.
- Chasing lore videos pre-Recode where instant kills skipped fear math entirely—start from /guides/beginner-guide/.
Related pages
- /guides/patch-notes-0-7/ — when priority/fear bindings shipped
- /entities/eris/ — more common from floor 2 in Hard Mode (0.7.0b)
- /entities/echovore/ — sound boss where sprinting has outsized cost
- /guides/ — all mechanics guides
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