Megabonk Chaos Tome: How to Unlock It & Is It Worth It

Updated October 22, 2026 · Patch covered: Megabonk v1.0.69 (Feb 4, 2026), still the latest on Steam as of Oct 22, 2026

Step by step

1. Be ready for Tier 3 first. Guides recommend starting attempts only once you clear Tier 3 reliably. Forest is the usual choice.
2. Enable Shrine Counter (Settings → Game, added in the Spooky Update). It shows "x/15" shrines in the corner.
3. Open the full map with TAB. Charge Shrines are teal/turquoise squares; Moai, merchants and other shrines are green.
4. Route the edge first, then the middle. Run a full lap along the map's edge, then sweep the inside. Look over cliffs; shrines hide behind trees.
5. Enter each zone in a straight line and stand in the center. Do not approach from below — the zone is smallest there and you can jump over it.
6. Never charge right before a boss (7:00 and 2:00 on the timer) or during a swarm. Boss attacks knock you out of the zone, and one step out fails the challenge.
7. Banish the Beacon — it adds 2 extra shrines per stage.
8. After the stage boss, you can stay near the portal for about 50–58 seconds to farm XP, then leave before the stronger ghosts arrive.

Characters and build for the unlock

• Fast characters: Calcium, Tony McZoom or Monke. Monke can accidentally climb a pylon and fail the zone.
• Weapons: Bandit's Dexecutioner + Sniper Rifle + Katana + an area weapon (Revolver, Lightning Staff or Bananarang), or Katana/Dexecutioner/Aegis for a tankier run.
• Tomes: XP, Quantity, Bloody (lifesteal), Regen. Tomes matter less than staying in the zone.
• Items: Wrench (charge 4% faster, better rewards), 2–3 Moldy Cheese for bosses, Soul Harvester and Slutty Cannon against swarms.
• Shrine picks: at least 3 jumps, then attack speed and movement speed.

Load this build in the build planner ("Chaos Tome unlock run").

Is the Chaos Tome worth it?

The tome raises a random stat per level. The developer has changed it three times:

Our read: it is a gamble slot, not a core pick. A final-boss guide calls it "unlikely helpful" because more randomness hurts a planned build; the Graveyard guide liked it for extra jumps, but that was before v1.0.49 removed Jump Height. Take it when your build does not need a specific fourth tome.