Creating a devastating build

Trim the reward pool, pick your amplifier, and chain elements wisely.

Trim the pool: Settings → Content

The most underrated tool in the game isn't in the run: it's in Settings → Content. There you can set Infusions, Passive items, and Artifacts to Inactive so they never show up during the run — not on level-ups, not in chests, not at the merchant. Runes can't be disabled.

Less active content means less noise in every choice: if you disable everything that doesn't fit your plan, every card you see will be one you want. There's a floor: the game requires keeping at least 10 passives, 10 artifacts, and 3 infusions active; below that, it rejects the change.

The four amplifiers

Four passives don't raise your numbers — they multiply what you're already doing. They're the centerpiece of almost any devastating build. Pick the one that amplifies YOUR playstyle:

Soul Lantern

Your artifacts repeat each discharge a second time at 30% of its damage (+5% per stack, up to 50%).

The echo. Every discharge from your artifacts repeats itself 0.35s later, at 30%–50% of the damage depending on stacks. If your build lives off artifacts, this doubles almost everything.

Arcane Echo Orb

Artifacts that create projectiles, strikes or zones create +1 extra.

The projectile-artifact multiplier: each stack adds +1 ray, nova, zone, jet, soul, vortex, blade, knife, ring of fangs, chakram, or sunbeam to the discharge.

Special Quiver

Attacks and abilities that fire projectiles create +1 extra (basic attack, power attack, Mithril forks, etc.). Requires a projectile weapon.

Your weapon's multiplier: +1 projectile per stack on the basic attack and the heavy attack, and on Forge abilities that launch projectiles, zones or copies: turrets, bursts, arrow and meteor rains, and also the Mage's blizzards, fields, monoliths, fissures and pillars (one more copy per stack, up to 9 per source; the Stone Bastion adds a pillar, up to 15). Requires a projectile weapon.

Runic Hourglass

+15% duration of abilities, zones and status effects (includes turrets, auras, DOTs).

The time stretcher: more duration for the statuses of your infusions, artifacts and weapons (Burn, Poison…), zones, turrets, and auras. With effects that last longer, everything else pays off more. Note: the Elf daggers' own poison and bleed are not extended.

What does each one apply to?

The full matrix, with the Resonance rune as a fifth column. Read it by column: the Lantern, the Orb and Resonance are for artifact builds; the Quiver, for weapon and Forge builds; the Hourglass, for status and zone builds:

Content	Soul Lantern	Arcane Echo Orb	Special Quiver	Runic Hourglass	Resonance Rune (Rare)
Alchemist's Flask	✓	✓	—	✓³	✓
Blade Rain	✓	✓	—	—	✓
Boots of Embers	—	—	—	✓³	✓
Crown of Aegis	—	—	—	—	—
Dragon's Breath	✓	✓	—	✓³	✓
Storm Core	✓	✓	—	✓³	✓
Warden's Relic	✓	—	—	—	✓
Winter Crystal	✓	✓	—	✓³	✓
Fallen King's Crown	—	—	—	—	—
Custodian's Relic	✓	—	—	—	✓
Gravity Orb	✓	—	—	—	✓
Soul Reaper	✓	✓	—	—	✓
Cursed Effigy	✓	✓²	—	—	✓
Black Hole Rune	✓	✓	—	—	✓
Dawn Barrier	✓¹	—	—	—	—
Boots of Frost	—	—	—	✓³	✓
Judgment of the Firmament	✓	✓	—	—	✓
Knife Thrower	✓	✓	—	—	✓
Earthen Fangs	✓	✓	—	✓³	✓
Eclipse Chakram	✓	✓	—	✓³	✓
Dawn Prism	✓	✓	—	—	✓
Stopped Clock	—	—	—	—	—
Attacks and Forge abilities
Basic and heavy attack (projectile weapons)	—	—	✓	—	—
Spinning Sword Throw · Greatsword	—	—	✓	—	—
Brutal Whirlwind · Greatsword	—	—	—	✓	—
War Saw · Greatsword	—	—	—	✓	—
Deep Crater · Axe	—	—	—	✓	—
Crossbow Turret · Crossbow	—	—	✓	✓	—
Repeating Crossbow · Crossbow	—	—	✓	—	—
Arrow Rain · Bow	—	—	✓	✓	—
Fire Aura · Fire Branch	—	—	—	✓	—
Meteor Shower · Fire Branch	—	—	✓	✓	—
Glacial Shard · Ice Branch	—	—	✓	—	—
Blizzard · Ice Branch	—	—	✓	✓	—
Frost Nova · Ice Branch	—	—	—	✓	—
Conductive Bolt · Lightning Branch	—	—	✓	—	—
Polarity Field · Lightning Branch	—	—	✓	✓	—
Storm Orb · Lightning Branch	—	—	✓	✓	—
Stone Bastion · Earth Branch	—	—	✓	✓	—
Gravity Monolith · Earth Branch	—	—	✓	✓	—
Seismic Fissure · Earth Branch	—	—	✓	✓	—

✓ applies · — doesn't apply · ¹ only repeats the push (no damage) · ² hits more targets per pulse · ³ only extends the status it applies

In the Forge, the Arcane amount Global Upgrade adds the same as the Arcane Echo Orb, Amount the same as the Special Quiver (so it never touches artifacts either) and Duration the same as the Runic Hourglass. No artifact ever crits, and neither Area of effect, Speed, Cooldown nor attack speed changes an artifact: its waits and radii are its own. The Stopped Clock has no Lantern echo and is the exception to Resonance: its shatter is a share of the damage each enemy took during the stop and is not multiplied.

Chain elements — carefully

The elemental wheel looks at the statuses the enemy is currently carrying: Earth beats Electricity, Electricity beats Ice, and Ice beats Fire. Every elemental hit of yours is compared against those statuses — ×1.3 if yours beats one of them, ×0.7 if it loses. And if the enemy is carrying several statuses, the bonus wins.

That turns every infusion, artifact, and ability into a piece that fits… or gets in the way. Real examples:

• Ice Infusion + the Mage's Fire abilities = a bad pair. Your own ice marks the enemy, and fire loses against ice: your fire abilities hit at ×0.7.
• Fire Infusion + Ice magic = a combo. The first hit applies Burn, and from the second hit on, your ice beats fire: ×1.3.
• Boots of Embers + Ice abilities. The trail burns anyone who steps on it by itself — your ice hits at ×1.3 almost every time, without spending a single hit marking the enemy.

The Resonance Seal deserves a special mention: it makes your abilities and heavy attacks also apply your equipped infusions — more marks, more often. Just remember that the mark you apply is what your next hit gets compared against.

Against bosses

Bosses charge their attacks and many of them mark them on the ground, and that is where statuses pay double: Stun and Shock stop them from starting an attack (and on the four phase bosses they cancel the one being charged), and Chill stretches their cadence. A Shock or Stun infusion, or a weapon that chills, turns part of the fight into free windows to hit. Details in Status effects.

Guide checked against game v0.9.16.