Gladiator Guild Manager: Campaign Starter Guide for V1.0

Archer, Rhino, Shaman. Restart until Pyro is in the the initial buildings offered.
Comp: Archer for dps (Agi), Rhino for tank/taunt (Health). Pyro for aoe dmg (Int/Str), shaman for healing and dmg (Int)
At the start, buy at least 1 archer and 1 rhino with the max stat above. (e.g. archer with max agi). if you can find one with great trait, that’s even better.

• Pyro building – need aoe dps.
• Altar of Respec building – a lot of stats are wasted, respec is cheap-ish.
• Expand Gladiator House (slots) once

• Trait crucible building – some traits are op. blueprints are the main bottleneck in the game, so this defines most of the strategy. get it once your core team has traits and you have 2 blueprints leftover to upgrade your best dps.
• Upgrade buildings of archer/pyro/rhino/shaman for more exp

• Resources are the early bottleneck, so use a small variety of gladiator types and upgrade their buildings. Stick to the 4 above until mid game.
• Trait blueprints are the mid-late bottleneck, so invest in 1 strong gladiator of each type, and max 1 backup per role.
• Avoid wasting blueprints on “finite scaling” champs. With few exceptions, only level up perks for each of the infinite scaling “core 3” hyper-scaling-carries – 1 archer, 1 pyro, 1 shaman.

• SSS – Game changer
• S – Important – save resources to level these up
• A – Good but not important, don’t level unless it’s your “core 3”, consider skipping for the backups
• B – OK if you can get them in the shop, but don’t waste resources on them.
• C – Meh
• F – Avoid

Rhino – is great as he can taunt.

• Stamina – to cast taunt 2-3 times.
• Str – If he never dies, or people are passing through him, start putting points in Strength to increase taunt radius. (maxes at 200 so it’s more important that he has health and doesn’t die).
• Health – everything else. 90% of the job is not die.
• Movement speed – a few points could be useful mid-late game.

You’ll very quickly need a backup one, as many times enemies have 2 clumps. The backup should be full HP (so, no Str investment) in case tank 1 dies in big fights.

• 1 – Swift (A). Practical Learner (B), Fast Wits (C); Battle Scarred (F – avoid to not distract healers from saving those who actually need healing)
• 2 – Revitalizing Echo (A), Vitality Echo (B) Emberheart (B), Colossal (C, lategame A)
• 3 – nothing is worth the cost, grab a level 2. Max Hold my Beer (B) if you’re not happy with the taunt, or are scaling pure health.
• 4 – Absolute Guardians Veil (SSS). Unyielding (B), Healthy and Powerful (B)

When shop starts offering level 18s, it’s worth buying a new tank just to get AGV. ideally someone with Colossal already on the skill bar. max only health stat&items. It should become part of the permanent lineup, in addition to the main tank (does not replace it). Game is a cakewalk from then on (on easy).

Just hp, some stamina/str. Not worth investing in making slight upgrades unless he’s dying.

• Drummer – S? – haven’t played but seems to fit 1-for-1 with the way to play rhino above.
• Knight – C – no taunt. better at tanking.
• Cleric – C – no taunt. heals as well.
• Fence wielder (people) – C? – no taunt.

No taunt = fails at the main part of the job 30% of the time. If no taunt, get one of the taunt perks. but why waste resources if you could just get a tank with taunt.

2 of the biggest threats in this game are other high level DPS (archers) and AOE DPS (pyromancer). Which makes a alpha-strike&infinite-scaling&infinite-range dps necessary to kill them ASAP.
Archer – best single target DPS at doing the above, with great sustain dps
Buy a second archer early, but don’t over-invest: either (a) keep him at 2x lv1 perks, or (b) buy nothing and replace him when the shop gives you decent perks).

• Life – enough to survive – 500-1000 early, 1500-2000 late
• Stamina – enough to shoot 5-10 times.
• Agility everything else – infinity scaling.

Old guides are now misleading since v1.0: str is now stricly inferior to agility. only need 6 int to minimize cd, and not that important.

• 1 – Serial Killer (S), Practical Learner (A), Feeling at Home (B)
• 2 – Critically Lucky (S)
• 3 – Greed is Good (S), Glass Cannon (B)
• 4 – Unyielding (A), Frenzied (C)

Agi% items (S); Necklace of reklessness(A); Agi items.
Dmg when burning/frozen are nice, but too slow for me. Primary/Unique Goal of the archer is alpha strike the big threats, so a strong AGI item ends up being better at that, even if it costs long term dps.

When enemy has more than 3 enemies clumped, nothing beats aoe dps.
Pyromancer

• Life – enough to survive – 500-1000 early, 1500-2000 late
• Stamina – enough to cast 2-3 times
• Str– 50 for max aoe and upfront damage
• Int – everything else – infinity scaling damage over time
• Agi – reduces cd/execution time, but i didn’t find it as helpful as just having more dmg

• 1 – Serial Killer (S), Practical Learner (A), Feeling at Home (B)
• 2 – Critically Lucky (S) (not sure if/how this works btw, if you want to be safe take a level 1 perk)
• 3 – Greed is Good (S), Glass Cannon (B)
• 4 – Unyielding (A), Frenzied (C).

As you’re infinity scaling, leave utility/etc for others

Int% items (S), int/str items. Orb of frost until you have cryomancer.
competes with shaman for int% items, and shaman benefits more since Pyro has to “waste” 50 points on str. give them to whoever is dps-ing more for you in difficult fights.
Increases to dmg seem to only affect the initial hit, not the DoT, so avoid/test for yourself.

• Dark Mage S – small CC + all dmg upfront (similar Int scaling as pyro), but only half the max area of the circle (1.6-2.5 instead of 1.6-3.5 radius, so 19.6v38.5). can/should take Critically Lucky. also likes Orb of Frost + Orb of Fire

Shaman – I didn’t have space in most fights for pure healers, so Shaman is the best compromise, as he can heal himself, also deals damage, and infinity scales.
I didn’t have a secondary shaman as i had cloak and he rarely died, but it probably works ok to have backups.
You can also pretty much just spam shamans and win the game that way. (devs already said they will nerf)

• Life – enough to survive – 500-1000 early, 1500-2000 late
• Stamina – enough to cast pillars 2-3 times.
• Int – everything else – infinity scaling damage and healing
• Agi – reduces cd/execution time, but i didn’t find it as helpful as just having more int

• 1 – Serial Killer (S), Practical Learner (A), Feeling at Home (B)
• 2 – Nothing as useful as another level 1 above
• 3 – Greed is Good (S), Glass Cannon (B)
• 4 – Unyielding (B). Raincaller/windbringer on someone else comboes well with 1/multiple Shamans, but by that time you don’t need more help winning.

As you’re infinity scaling, leave utility/etc for others

Int% items (S); shadow cloak (S, maybe); int items.
Competes with pyro for int% items.

• Priestess (B) – heals, shields, buffs, but can’t target self. and having 2 on the field isn’t practical. can work as secondary support.

I didn’t need other supports and didn’t think it was worth it over any of the main roster (or even a second dps/shaman), but happy to include suggestions if your experience is different in higher difficulties.

Marauder – available at some point in story when you can hire mercenaries. grab 2 while they’re available.
For big threats, or double big-threats, it may be useful to run 2 marauders. If 3 big threats, have the archer dps down the 3rd.
Since v1.0, it’s no longer possible to permastun with just 1 stat, so early the best bet is max duration on first stun, and leave him as stun-bot with little/no dmg.

• Life – enough to survive – 500-1000 early, 1500-2000 late. all leftover after movespeed.
• Agi – 75 to max knockdown duration.
• Stamina – enough to cast stun 2-3 times early. 5-10 times late.
• Movespeed – invest some points until you’re happy, but hard to spare early game. max late-game.
• Int – 50 to max knockdown cd. only lategame.
• Str – by the time you can spare str, his damage is very low. you can still spec it instead of Int, as he’s generally targeting weak enemies, and most of the time, 1 knockdown is enough. but i don’t recommend it.

• 1 – Swift (A) – decent to max if you can spare the resources. not worth to waste on backup, as he’s just a stun-bot.
• 2 – Instructor (S) – someone on your team should have it, and on mine it’s him. maxed asap.
• 3 – nothing is worth the investment. maybe Firm As A Rock (C).
• 4 – nothing is worth the investment. maybe Unyielding (B).

Early benefits from even small item upgrades to get the desired Agi. By mid-late-game he’s “capped out” as soon as it becomes a good stun-bot. By then, min-maxing is way less impactful than putting resources in the core 3 that scale infinitely.
note: Marauders were nerfed in v1.0. There are better alternatives, but you can’t reliably get them early (besides restarting 500x times), so i’ll keep Marauders as default option.
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Cryomancer – useful to keep people in place while they burn. As the scaling is weak, it has “spare” slots for utility.

• Stamina – enough to cast frost bolt 2-3 times
• Life – minimum enough to survive – 500-1000 early, 1500-2000 late. split with int to make him a bit tankier, as it doesn’t scale that well.
• Int – 174 to max freeze, but duration only goes 3.5-5.5, so it’s not too important.
• Rest doesn’t matter

• 1 – Practical learner (B) – if you have spare resources. otherwise, just grab anything from the shop that increases Int.
• 2 – Toxic personality (A) – someone on your team should have it, and i don’t know/think it stacks. I maxed it after the other key traits in core characters.
• 3 – nothing is worth the investment. maybe Knockout Artist (C).
• 4 – nothing is worth the investment. maybe Unyielding (B).

Orb of fire AoE; int/hp. doesn’t really matter as it doesn’t scale as well as others.

In this strategy, you should avoid all of these, but in case you can’t:

• Invisibility Cloak item might buy you precious seconds.
• Use Shaman in most cases.
• Pyro if they’re clumped up.
• Archer if you can dps without dying.

• If it’s just 1, try to line up everyone: [Archer – rest of your team – your tank – invisible enemy – non-invisible enemy] with no one out of the lineup. archer projectile attack should hit invisible guy while attacking the non-invisible; or the tank taunts.
• If many invisibles, try catching them with taunt/multiple taunts, or aoe dps if everyone clumped up and there is someone not invisible in the middle to be targeted priority 10 by the pyro.
• In small battles, consider giving hp potion to your fragile dps’s, or just risking and “accepting” the revival cost.
• In big battles, just “accept” the revival cost, or avoid the battle.
• In arena battles, assuming you can still win, it’s usually still worth accepting the revival cost to guarantee “trait blueprint” rewards.

If there are multiple high level archers/pyros, you’re usually losing at least 1 unit.

• Make sure archers 10-priority target the biggest dps. positions the archers so that arrows are not blocked by other enemies, and not so far that the enemy might move and the arrow miss.
• If it’s archer/projectile in a small fight, line up everyone so the archer hits the tank
• If it’s AOE/pyro, make sure to spread out.

Tbh never had problems with bosses.. but here’s some tips

• If you have “pop space”, use 2 disablers from different angles (in case 1 is ko’ed).
• Give stamina potions to shaman & archer, especially if you run low on stamina. alternatively give them health/shield potions/items, as you really cannot afford them dying.

S – ASAP ; A – important, not urgent ; B – good, when you can spare resources ; C – meh ; F – not unless you’re rich.

• Trait Crucible – A – very helpful and big powerspikes.; A upgrade – very strong for infinite scaling, but very expensive (20 blueprints). I start saving for 20 blueprints when I have the core 2-3 gladiators with some level 2 traits, and the next 3-4 with 1-2 level 1 traits.
• Altar of Respec – S early-mid – most peeps have wasted stats, respec is cheap-ish; B upgrade – when you are not very pressured on resources, but the earlier you do it, the more you save 🙂
• Reviving Temple – B upgrade; A upgrade from mid-late game when revive times increase. if you’re not rushing speed achievements, you can usually wait it out or use stones to revive your 3-core.
• Gladiator House – S 1st upgrade; C next upgrades
• Item Storage – F – stop hoarding
• Items Workshop – F early; B late – expensive and each item upgrade is expensive, so only useful mid-late.

• After 2 battles, you can refresh for free.
• Avoid 1vX battles, and only take “many vs 1” if you can’t refresh for free.
• Don’t over-stress over each battle, you’ll have another chance every few days.

At the end of the month, you have 5-8 battles with a team of 3/4/5/6/7/8/8/9/9/10/10/12.

• Have a few mana crystals to replenish losses.
• Prioritize the hardest fight, then the easiest, as these give trait blueprints, which are the biggest bottleneck.
• You can “accept” a fight to see enemy positioning (especially useful vs invisibles), and “change fight” if you think you can’t handle the expected losses.
• If you see it’s impossible to win (e.g. everyone dead and no mana crystals), don’t worry too much and just try again next month, there’s no big penalty for losing assuming you can pay salaries. even for achievements you can fail a couple of months.

• Wait for discounts before buying.
• You can refresh shops a few times at increasing price. save it for when you have discounts and money to use.
• in Gladiator Market, check for traits that can be useful. late game you can save a lot of blueprints by finding good traits (more in traits section) or a very high level gladiator for non-core roles.

• Trait blueprint – biggest bottleneck all game, don’t waste it.
• Crafting blueprint – only relevant mid game onwards – you should have enough to upgrade some items, but it’s relatively limited. save it for infinity scaling items (usually INT/AGI/dmg). in the lategame, some items come upgraded.
• Mana Crystals – make sure you have enough when end-month-championship starts. don’t over-hoard as their price stays same while other resources grow in value, and it’s relatively cheaper later.
• Gold – you need enough to pay salaries and spend when discounts come around. when your “core 3” are level 12, you need to start floating 6k-12k gold for the “greed is good” trait.
• Wood/Stone/Iron – have a sense what upgrades you need and get those. you can get 10%ish improvement when choosing between rewards, but it’s not worth time to over-engineer this
• Resources min-maxing (don’t spend mental resources on this unless you’re OCD min-maxer):
  
  • Resources are the main constraint early, so here’s a table with the initial relative values to help you choose between rewards. This is max 10% improvement so just choose what you need for the next upgrades.
  • W/S/I increase price throughout the game (which breaks the table on the left for MC/gold columns). so, don’t over-float Gold/Mana as these lose value over time vs wood/stone/iron.
  • For favoured faction rewards, resources are more valuable than items. (you can choose 2 from 1 category and ignore the other, might be bug).

Hopefully someone makes a wiki, but meanwhile here’s what I found.
Not all perks are available at the start, i assume they unlock as you see peeps with them.

Ratings are how much you should invest in that trait. Ratings are harsh because trait blueprints are a HUGE bottleneck. The opportunity cost is to improve the best-in-slot trait of your core-3-infinite-scaling team members that go in every fight. And they really benefit from those expensive tier3/4 upgrades.
But Perks are more reasonably balanced than the ratings make it seem.
So, if you are shopping for a backup, a B trait might be very good, as it only costs gold.
With a few upgraded tier 3/4 traits, even if their rating is “bad”, a shop gladiator might be 2x more powerful than most of your team, with just a little investment.

• Serial Killer – Gains 2/1.5/1% MainStat for each enemy killed (max 30/45/60) {Best in Slot (BiS) for DPS/Shaman}
• Practical Learner – MainStat reduced by 20/30/40%. Each battle they participate it increases by 5%. Max bonus 25/37/50%. Resets count when learned {cheap option for regular party members when you don’t want to spend on higher level upgrades}
• Feeling at Home – After 2/4/6 months in the guild, MainStat increases by 25/35/45%. Resets time in guild when learned {similar to above but for party members that don’t play that often. but you shouldn’t be spending on them..}
• Swift – Movespeed increased by 8/12/16. Push/pull forces are 50/75/100% weaker. Lv2 can’t be trapped by a net. Lv3 can’t be frozen. {OK on Tanks}

• Extrovert – Gains 7.5/10/12.5 MainStat for each friendly gladiator within range of 2/2.5/3 {Can be very strong but you’re risking team wipe whenever you face high level pyro/dark mage}
• Fast Wits – Gains xp 12/18/24% faster
• Dragon Blood – Can’t be set on fire; lv2 – frozen, or poisoned ; lv3 bleed or cursed
• Consumer – Gains 20/30/40% MainStat when using a consumable item
• Anti-Capitalist – Gains 25/35/45% MainStat bonus but loses 1/3/6% for every 100 gold. Min (-20/30/40%)
• Young Vampire – Killing an enemy restores 25/37/50% health
• Introvert – Gains 30/45/60% MainStat if no friendly gladiator is withing range of 2
• Mighty Chicken – Gains 40/60/80% MainStat , but if any enemy gladiator comes within range of 3, this gladiator gets terror and runs for 8 seconds.
• Wind Rider – Has 60/90/120 MainStat during Heavy Wind
• Crimson Lungs – has 50/75/100% MainStat and restores stamina 100/150/200% faster during Crimson Mist
• Rain Absorber – Restores 5%/7.5/10 health each 2 seconds during Rain
• Magic Enthusiast – Gains 1/0.75/0.5% for each mana crystal you own (max 20/30/40%)
• Adaptative Marksman – Disables minimum range requirement for abilities and increases Agility by 5% each time this gladiator damages an enemy (max 20/30/40%)
• Fading Ambition – Gains 35/45/55% MainStat but loses 10/12.5/15% each time health is lost
• Fatigue Sensitive – While stamina is above 50%, gaisnt 25/35/45% MainStat, but while stamina is below 50%, loses 25/35/45%
• Battle Scarred – Has 40/60/80% bonus max health but starts with 60/70/80% health missing.

• Critically Lucky – Each time the gladiator deals damage, there’s a 30/35/40% chance to deal 100/125/150% higher damage {Best in Slot for hypercarry DPS}
• Instructor – Other gladiators in battle gain 8/12/18% more experience (bonus only from 1 Instructor) {Best in Slot for 1 of your team members who has spare slots and goes in most battles}
• Revitalizing Echo – 10/15/20% of the damage this gladiator receives will restore stamina to all friendly gladiators {Best in Slot for main tank}
• Toxic Personality – Damaging an enemy poisons them, causing them 10/15/20 stamina per this gladiator’s level during 5 seconds (effective aoe40%, projectile 50%) {OK on 1 secondary with spare slot}
• Vitality Echoes – 10/15/20% of the damage this gladiator receives will restore health to all friendly gladiators {ok on tanks but worse than revitalizing Echo. consider taking on tier3 slot}
• Chillheart – Getting hit by a melee attack freezes the enemy for 2/3/4 (cd:5/3/1s) {OK on tanks. a bit too expensive to upgrade, and too high cd in level 1}
• Colossal – Max health increases by 30/40/50%, but movement speed decreases by 50/60/70% {Good combo with tier 4 godly trait. also ok earlier if your main tank isn’t surviving}
• Ascending Summoner – Each time this gladiator summons or revives a unit, they gain a 20/30/40% MainStat (max 60/100/140) {seems good if you play summoners, i don’t}
• Wildheart – Damage of the first attack is increased by 100/140/140 (AoE: 1 target); lv3 – Killing an enemy resets the effect {ok but not great on dps. if you find upgraded on the shop, could be an interest alpha striker backup}

• Fitness Addict – Stamina recovers 40/60/80% faster
• Beastmaster – Gain 10/15/20% MainStat for each friendly beast in the team (.6s after battle start) (max 80/120/170%)
• Fast and Powerful – Gain 1/2/3 MainStat for every 2 MS
• Foul Mouth – Taunts enemies within an area of 2 for 3/4/5s (cd: 12/10/8s)
• Guardians Veil – Absorbs 10/15/20% of damage dealt to all friendly gladiators
• Lifeforce Alchemist – Casting a buff on a friendly gladiator restores their health by 10/15/20 per this gladiator’s level
• Vigor Alchemist – Casting a buff on a friendly gladiator restores their stamina by 10/15/20 per this gladiator level
• Regenerative Summoner – Each time this gladiator summons or revives a unit, they restore 20/30/40% of their health
• Vigor Summoner – Each time this gladiator summons or revives a unit, they restore 20/30/40% of their stamina
• Lifeline Surge – 10/15/20% of damage dealt to any friendly unit is restored to this gladiator as health
• Wound Specialist – Damaging an enemy causes them to bleed, inflicing 4/6/8 damage per this gladiator’s level every 0.5s indefinitely (aoe 40%, projectile 60%)
• Healing Shield bearer* – 10/15/20% of the damage blocked heals allies within an area of 1.5/2/2.5 around the gladiator
• Emberheart* – 10/15/20% of the damage blocked releases a heat blaze, damaging enemies within a 1.5/2/2.5 area around the gladiator
• Agile empowerment* – Dodging an attack increases the MainStat by 10/20/30% (max 60/100/140)
• Agile Vitality* – Dodging an attack restores 5/7.5/10% health and 5/7.5/10% stamina

*not every gladiator has these, probably only those who can block/dodge/etc

• Greed is Good – For each 100 gold you have, the gladiator MainStat increases by 1% (Max 60/90/120%) {Best in slot in easy mode, might be harder to get 6/12k in harder difficulties}
• Better Together – Gives 20/30/35% MainStat for each friendly gladiator of the same type in battle (Max 125%) {if you run several Archers/Shamans}
• Glass Canon – has 40/60/80 more MainStat but 40/50/60% less max health {risky, use at own discretion}
• Arsonist – When hit by a melee attack, the enemy will be set on fire, burning a total of 50/75/100 dmg per this gladiator’s level over 5s {ok for tanks, but a bit expensive}
• Minimalist – Gains 25/37/50% bonus MainStat foor each empty unlocked item slot {alternative build to stack very high MainStat late game}
• Hold My Beer – Jumps into the middle of the enemy team and taunts enemies within an area of 2.5/3.25/4 for 6/8/10 seconds {if your taunt isn’t reliable, maxing this could help, but it’s expensive}

• Fit and Powerful – Each 70/55/40 max stamina gives this gladiator 1 MainStat (at battle start)
• Firm as a Rock – Cant be knocked down. Lv2 -or stunned. Lv3-or terrified
• Energy Vampire – Each attack drains 5/7.5/10% stamina from the enemy and restores 5/7.5/10% to this gladiator (cd: 2/1.5/1s)
• Boss Slayer – has 50/75/100% higher damage agaisnt bosses
• Grateful – Every time gladiator gets healed, gladiators MainStat is increased by 10/15/20% (max 70/110/150%)
• Last Stand – When this gladiator’s health or stamina is below 45%, they gain 100/150/200% MainStat bonus
• Hold My Beer – Jumps into the middle of the enemy team and taunts enemies within an area of 2.5/3.25/4 for 6/8/10 seconds
• Knockout Artist – Each time deals damage, there is a 25/37/50% chance to knock down the enemy for 1.5/2/2.5 seconds (aoe 15/20/25%. Projectile 15/25/35%)
• Long Arms – Increase ability range by 1/1.25/1.5
• Master of Poison – When hit by a melee attack, the enemy is poisoned, losing 20/30/40 stamina per this gladiator’s level over 5 seconds.
• Shadow Skin – When hit by a melee attack, the enemy is cursed, reducing their primary stat by 0.5/0.75/1 points (stacks 3 times)

• Absolute Guardians Veil – Absorbs 100% of damage dealt to all friendly gladiators in their team during first 5/7/10s {game-changer. on easy, after this you can steamroll everything brainlessly}
• Unyielding – After a killing blow, the gladiator survives at 1 health, gains 100/150/200 MainStat, and blocks all dmg for 4/6/8s {Good fail-safe for hyper-carries, but probably overkill by the time you have Absolute Guardians Veil on your tank}

• Old Vampire – Damaging enemy restores 5% of maximum health. Cd: 2s
• Healthy and powerful – Each 180/135/90 Max health gives this gladiator 1 MainStat
• Feared – Attacking an enemy makes them flee in terror for 8/12/16s (aoe – 1 target) cd 12/9/6s
• Lone Wolf – Gain 200/250/300% MainStat if no friendly gladiator is within range of 5
• Frenzied – Gain 30/45/60% MainStat for each enemy they kill
• Reversal Rift – Getting hit by a melee attack teleports the enemy to their starting position and deals 50/75/100% of their own attack dmg (cd 6/3/0s)
• Collector – Gains 25/37/50% bonus MainStat for each epic item equipped
• Raincaller Martyr – Changes the weather to Rain, then gets stunned for 30/15/3s
• Windbringer Martyr – Changes the weather to Heavy Wind, then gets stunned for 30/15/3s
• Mistweaver Martyr – Changes the weather to Crimson Mist, then gets stunned for 30/15/3s

• Common (Stat) items have no variability in power scaling, they are as strong as their level. So, they are as good as what % of the attributes you use you use. So:
  • Health is almost always good, even if slightly contaminated with Str/MS (ok for tank).
  • Stamina is almost always good when mixed with health. by itself it might be overkill, and other mixes are less good.
  • Pure Int is awesome as half your roster can use it. mix with Str works early for Pyro.
  • Pure Agi is great for archers. mixed Agi with worse stats is almost always wasted except early marauders who benefit from a bit of everything.
  • Str is basically wasted for this roster (no main STR user), except very early until your Pyro has 50 Str. Tanks can use it, but their power caps relatively early.
  • Movement speed is almost always wasted, as almost no one benefits from it.
• The reason that Int/Agi mixes are bad is that, for the Core 3 hyper-scalers (archer/pyro/shaman), you want to max Agi/Int as appropriate, and have as little as possible of everything else. Each 1 unit wasted would be worth 2-6 units of Agi/Int after all the multipliers. Of course having a margin of safety in health (no dmg if dead) and stamina (no dmg if no stamina) is less “wasteful” than Str/MS.
• For non-scaling (everyone else), past mid-game they don’t get much more powerful, so it’s not worth over-optimizing beyond giving them health and a bit of stamina.
• Very early items (level 1-3) are mostly a waste of gold, as they are quickly replaced and are not that cheap.
• Mid-game items are not that much more expensive, but they are much better.
• Late-game items are also not much more expensive, but don’t scale infinitely like most other games, so it’s not worth to over-optimize. just make sure your core 3 hyper-scalers aren’t carrying very old (10 levels from max) equipment.

• If you get a universal item early and have no use for it, just sell it (good price) and improve your team in other ways. don’t “wait for later”, unless you’re sure you’ll use it or it’s one of the good ones below.
• Beyond this tip, if you’re new, skip the rest of the item section and go play, as you can’t plan and
  you’ll know more by the time mid game rolls around:
  • There are great universal items, but they might just not come out. If your plan A is having a pyro that ALSO freezes, or finding multiple int% items, have a plan B.
  • Item upgrades are expensive and only relevant lategame. By then, a very good stat item might be almost as good anyway.
  • I haven’t found any game-changing borderline-broken item to look out for. The best ones are int/agi/dmg% for hyper-carries, but they’re “just” 50% more power, nothing outrageous.

Hopefully someone makes a wiki, and developers give preview of upgrades in-game, but meanwhile here’s the items I found:

• Book of Invincible shield – Gains a magical shield that lasts for 4/?/?s and absorbs all dmg during its duration
• Necklace of reklessness – Deals 50/60/70% higher dmg, but also reveices 50% higher dmg (any attack type)
• Sages sacrificial diadem – Gladiator gains 50/125/200% intelligence but loses 10/12.5/15% of the health every 3/2/1 seconds
• Swiftfoot shackle – Gladiator gains ?/?/75% agility but loses ?/?/2.5% of the health every 3 seconds
• Hare’s Gambit greaves – Gladiator gains 40/60/?% agility but starts battle with 50% less stamina
• Mantle of invisibility – Makes a gladiator invisible during the first 5/10/? seconds of the battle, or until they finish executing their first ability

• Book of magic shield – Gains magical shield that absorbs 100/150/? dmg per level of the gladiator holding this item
• Book of fire – 2s after battle starts, sets enemies in area of ?/2.25/? On fire, burning a total of ?/22%/? Of their max health over 5 seconds
• Orb of fire AOE – Area of effect attacks set enemies on fire, burning 15/22/30? Dps per level of the gladiator wearing the item. Duration 5s
• Ring of Fire – Damage against Burning targets is increased by 70/110/150% (AoE 40% weaker)
• Ring of Frost – Damage against Frozen targets is increased by 70/110?/150?% (AoE 40% weaker)
• Book of force – 0.5s after battle starts, pushes and knocks down enemies in area of 2/3/? For 1.5/2/?s. Damages the gladiator wearing the item for 20/30/?% of their max health
• Knockout Gloves – Melee attack knocks out the enemy for 3/3.5/? Seconds (cd 12/9/?s)

• Orb of frost – Direct type attacks freeze enemies, preventing them from moving for the next 3/4/5?s
• Arrowhead of Frost – Projectile attacks freeze enemies, preventing them from moving for the next 3/4?/5?s
• Arrowhead of Fire – Projectile attacks sets enemies on fire, burning 35/52/70? dps per level of the gladiator wearing the item. Duration 5s
• Blades of Terror – First melee attack makes enemy lose control and run in terror for 8/12/16 seconds or until somebody hits them
• Undergrowth Pet – Summons a battle-earthworm that gains 1 For every 5/4/? levels of this gladiator, tripling its levels during rain
• Emanating Ball of havoc – Makes all enemies in the area of 1.5/?/? around this gladiator lose 2.5%/?/? of their max health every 5s. Double during Crimson Mist weather
• Energy absorbing helm – Each time this gladiator gets damaged, the item gives 2/?/?% of dmg to Str (max 50/?/?%)
• Malfunctioning Mech Suit – Every 7/6?/5 hits, dmg all enemies in area of 1/75/2?/2.25, dealing 5/7/5?/10% of their max health, knocking them and this gladiator down for 0.5s
• Amulet of Crimson Endurance – Restores 5/?/?% of the gladiators maximum stamina every 4s (double during Crimson Mist)
• Amulet of Crimson Endurance – Restores 4/6/?% of the gladiators maximum health every 4s (double during Crimson Mist)
• Whetstone – Deal 30/?/?% more damage for any melee ability
• Damage storage Crystal – Stores all dmg received until 100 per this gladiator level, then explodes for 10/15/20?% of stored dmg, hitting all enemies withing area of 2/2.5/3?

• There are a lot of achievements and you need at least 3 runs, and the game is relatively long. Finding a playstyle that is fun for you is better than being very efficient.
• Devs posted in forums asking what’s imbalanced and are going to re-balance, and i’m not going to update this guide once i’m finished. If someone is planning to update stuff later, or make a more comprehensive guide, feel free to steal anything.
• Comment if anything is unclear, anything else I should include (e.g. harder difficulties or permadeath), or any other feedback. Note that the guide is targeted at avoiding overwhelm while learning the game’s many options, and adding more info with more options doesn’t necessarily make the guide better.
• Have fun!