Depth Spelunking Warden Guide — Hearing Threats Floor 5+

Verified against v0.7.0b (2026-10-09). Wardens are one of the first “you must play quiet” checks after the early floors. This page is a decision guide for hearing-threat routing — not a lore dump. If you are still learning elevator power and tasks, start with the beginner guide and skim priority and fear so crouch and flashlight habits make sense.

What Should You Do When a Warden Is on the Floor?

Default plan: assign a quiet runner, finish tasks on the far side of the map, and crouch through every connector. Nobody sprints, nobody uses Roblox voice near the squad, and nobody fires the Camera for “free info” unless the Warden is rooms away. If white echo rings stack around its head, freeze and let it investigate empty space — do not feed it another noise event.

Wardens are blind but run an aggression meter. Noise nearby fills the meter (shown as white echoes). They walk toward the sound, gain a killbox while investigating, and enrage into a chase when the meter tops out. Community docs also note: if you can hear its heavy footsteps, you are usually close enough for it to hear you.

How Does a Warden Detect Delvers?

After the 0.6.6.6 rarity change, Wardens are uncommon and floor-locked to floor 5+. On deeper floors, a bonus Eris event can inject a second dangerous entity from floor 10+ (Hard Mode floor 2+ after 0.7.0b), so hearing discipline still matters when extra threats rotate in. They do not see you. Anything that produces sound in their range pumps aggression, including:

• Walking and running (sprinting is worse for priority and volume)
• Completing, failing, or canceling tasks
• Sound-producing items, trap triggers, explosions (Bear Traps, glass, sound machines)
• Shrieker screams and BSoD bursts
• Roblox voice chat

Vertical maps matter: wiki trivia states Wardens hear better up and down than sideways — common on Parking Lot–style floors. Phantom’s Cloak invisibility does not fool them (hearing entity — see /items/best-starter-items/); hearing still applies.

Step-by-Step: Survive a Warden Floor

1. Scout audio on elevator drop. Listen for limb slaps before you sprint off the lift. If you hear them, the whole team switches to crouch protocol.
2. Split noisy and quiet tasks. Send one crouch player to power-heavy interactables; keep another on watch for echo rings.
3. Chain tasks carefully. Task success/fail noises are explicit triggers. Finish one objective before crossing open ground where echoes travel.
4. Control companions. In co-op, one loud teammate griefs the meter for everyone. Use daily mode duos as practice for silent routing.
5. Reboard quietly. The return minute still counts — running to the elevator after a task pop can pull a chasing Warden into the whole squad.

Pair this routing with items that lower priority or fear, not louder gadgets: Halo trades -1 priority for comfort (0.7.0a rebalance), and Heart Locket trims fear spikes when you must freeze. Avoid Blood of the Martyr stomp effects near hearing hunters — wiki notes those footsteps do not provoke Wardens, but your normal sprint still does.

Common Ways Delvers Die to Wardens

• Sprinting after a task ding — the completion sound and your footsteps stack meter in the same second.
• Shrieker chain reactions — two screamers plus a Warden create a sound sandwich; route away from scream floors documented on /entities/.
• Camera scouting in the same room — info is not worth the shutter click.
• Voice chat callouts — aggression treats VC like any other noise source.
• Hard Mode depth spikes — hard mode guide floors cram more entities; Warden plus Lurker splits your attention between sound and sight.

What Changed in 0.7.0a and 0.7.0b?

0.7.0b patch notes do not list a fresh Warden rework — behavior above reflects the Recode hearing model plus published spawn gates. Wiki gameplay text may predate voice lines; trust DevForum spawn locks when they disagree.

For broader entity taxonomy, browse /entities/ and compare hearing threats with sight threats like mannequins after their 0.7.0b hearing removal.