Preface: Every race can succeed with every skill and any build. Some are just better than others. I’ve tried to provide my basic suggestion but by no means does that mean you *have* to play like that.

Dwarf:
- Have 20% more hp than normal
- Have 15% less skill mastery than normal
- Have 15% higher attack damage than normal
- Have 10% less attack speed than normal
- Has a racial move that stuns nearby enemies.
- I find works best with high attack damage skills such as shadow strike or unyielding charge.
- I tend to prefer doing a weapon build (where you level up the weapon and increase attack damage and attack speed) over a skill build. The bonus health helps with melee builds especially

Elf:
- Has 15% less hp than normal
- Has 15% more skill mastery than normal
- Has a racial move that ensnares enemies and increases their damage taken
- I find works best with skill builds where you ensnare the enemy and then unload all of your skills on to them
- I try to avoid melee builds with them due to the reduced amount of hp and the fact they don’t have a stun.

Human:
- Has no benefits / drawbacks to any of the stats (although perhaps the lack of stat changes is somewhat of a drawback?)
- Has a racial move that summons a squire. The squire can absorb attacks for you and scales up fairly well - but I always find human to be my least favorite race because the squire is completely awful against the orcs that eat dead humanoids or against necromancers that summon skeletons from dead humanoids.
- Due to not having any particular stat advantages, humans can pretty much take on whatever build you want to go with.

Minotaur:
- Has 10% more hp than normal
- Has 20% less skill mastery than normal
- Has 25% more attack damage than normal
- Has a racial that charges and stuns enemies
- Due to the crazy high attack damage and hp - I find that Minotaurs are my favorite class for fighting in melee range. Stone sword + whirlwind works very well in my opinion.
- I almost never try to level up skills with this race (I prefer to level up the weapon and get more attack speed and attack damage).

Faerie:
- Has 30% less hp than normal
- Has 15% less skill mastery than normal
- Has 40% less attack damage than normal
- Has 10% more movement speed than normal
- Has 25% reduced cool down reduction than normal
- Has 35% increased attack speed than normal
- Has a racial that allows you to teleport anywhere
- The faerie is a VERY fragile class that I found to be difficult when I first tried it out. However, as I played more I learned to appreciate the racial ability as well as some of the quirks. A faerie with a bow and festering venom is one of my favorite builds due to the fact that festering venom scales super well with attack speed and you don’t need very much attack damage. Finding a set that benefits from on hit effects (such as chain lightning) is great.
- Due to the lack of hp and attack damage I avoid any melee builds with this race like the plague. Finding hp boosting items is definitely helpful unless you can flawless clear most levels.

Giant:
- Has 35% more hp than normal
- Has 10% less skill mastery than normal
- Has 30% more damage than normal
- Has 5% increased movement speed than normal
- Has 10% less cool down reduction than normal.
- Has 10% less attack damage than normal
- Has a racial that throws a boulder for a good amount of damage and stuns the enemies
- Is the largest of the classes so doesn’t fit through some spots that other races might.
- Similar to minotaur, giant is a great class for doing melee due to the increased hp and increased attack damage.
- It has fairly significant drawbacks to skills so I tend to avoid trying to level anything other than the weapon (unless the weapon / skill combination is just so bad that you need to).

Halfling:
- Has 20% less attack damage than normal
- Has 20% increased attack speed than normal
- Has a racial that makes them become invisible for a short period of time and then do bonus damage when they reveal themselves.
- I always felt like there was a disconnect between the racial ability and the stats of the class. The racial ability ONLY increases the damage of your main attacks - not the skills. However, your main attack damage is reduced. If you can get a good amount of attack damage boosting items - you can overcome this but it always felt weird to me.
- I view this class similar to that of a human in the sense that it’s fairly flexible - but I wouldn’t actually pick this class for most things if given the option (I find most other classes are better - especially those that have a stun for a racial).

Lich:
- Has 30% less hp than normal
- Has 25% increased skill mastery than normal
- Has 20% less attack damage than normal
- Has 20% les attack speed than normal
- Has 5% less movement speed than normal
- Has an AMAZING racial that lets you reset the cooldown of your last skill (and scales to do bonus damage to that skill).
- The lich is by far my favorite class in the game due to the racial. It should go without saying that the lich is absolutely terrible for any melee damage build and you should go for skill mastery / cooldown reduction as the primary stats. If you can pair the lich with the flaming staff - even better.
- Due to the reduced movement speed and hp - it may be worthwhile picking up some type of hp and movement speed boosting item(s) at some point during the run. I actually really enjoy trying to get the god favor of Sepicles because of this (reduced cooldown and increased movement speed).

Orc:
- Has 10% more hp than normal.
- Has 20% reduced skill mastery than normal.
- Has 10% increased damage than normal
- Has 20% less attack damage than normal.
- Has a racial that allows you to eat nearby corpses for increased attack speed and movement speed. Also allows you to use it without corpses for the cost of health.
- I really dislike this class due to the racial actually. I find that my instinct is to use the racial whenever it's up but then I end up hurting myself. The lack of skill mastery and attack speed make it so both build options aren't that great (Although if you can use the racial well the attack speed doesn't matter).
- Tends to be better with weapon builds over skill builds since you don't get any bonus to skills with the racial and you have the reduced skill mastery.

Flame wave:
- A fairly basic starting skill that does an ok amount of damage down a line.
- I tend to find it somewhat difficult to reap the benefits of this skill since enemies are rarely in a straight line - but if you can position them as such (or group them together with a skill like vacuum grenade) this skill can be pretty good.
- I tend to avoid leveling this skill up unless I have a consistent way of grouping enemies.

Ethereal projection:
- An interesting skill that sends an image of you off into the distance damage enemies along the way. You can hit the skill again to teleport to wherever your image is and do bonus damage. That means for maximum damage you want to hit through a group of enemies and when it hits the last enemy - teleport to there.
- Can be used both offensively and defensively depending on your play style. Don’t be afraid to use it to attack but just keep in mind you won’t have the “get out of jail free card” once it’s used (unless you have another teleport ability or are a faerie).

Skeleton Mines:
- A fun ability that summons a group of mines that seek out enemies and explode for a reasonable amount of damage.
- Each level increases the number of mines spawned.
- Is not the greatest in levels that have “dangers” to them unless you are very close to enemies.
- If you can consistently hit with them then it scales well with cooldown reduction and skill mastery (and can be a lot of fun).
- Can be used to block / absorb some attacks

Shadow Strike:
- A great skill for when you have a dagger and / or are going an attack damage build.
- Has an infinite range
- Can be used defensively to avoid certain attacks. For example, some bosses might throw things at you and you can time this to go behind them after they do their attack.
- Not the best to use if you are a skill mastery class or are trying to level up skills (if you have this as a skill you probably need to either level the weapon and this skill or ignore this skill and just use it as a defensive ability).

Whirlwind:
- A fairly difficult skill to use well. Like shadow strike - it only benefits from attack damage.
- Also similar to shadow strike - it can be used defensively to spin through enemies or over obstacles in an attempt to get out of the way of attacks.
- Is challenging to use because you can’t stop it once you start using it and you take damage while using it. You have to be very careful when and where you use it or you’ll just take too much damage.
- Scales somewhat well with attack damage but pales in comparison to unyielding charge. If you have the option, I’d always pick unyielding charge over this skill.

(More to come shortly)

Crossbow:
- Does 90 damage by default (scales up by 10 damage per level)
- Has a decent range that scales up for each level
- Slows enemies that scales up for each level
- Is a very friendly weapon for newer players that allows you to stay out of melee range and attack while fleeing.
- Is fairly good for kiting.

Stone Sword:
- Does 125 damage by default (scales up by 25 damage per level)
- Hits all enemies in the swing arc (arc increases with each level)
- Great for killing large groups of enemies close by. Works well with skills that group enemies together
- Scales up well

Musket:
- Does 23 damage per pellet (115 if all hit) by default (number of pellets scales up with each level from 5 to 7 to 9)
- Has a 15% chance of knocking enemies back with each hit (each level increases the chance by 15%)
- When paired with attack speed and attack damage - this weapon can be fairly effective at shutting a lot of things down (since the knockback acts as a sort of stun)

Dagger:
- Does 100 damage if hit from the front and 140 if hit from behind by default (backstab scales up with each level) or if the enemy is stunned.
- My least favorite weapon since you have to be behind enemies to receive the bonuses. It works well with a few select skills (like shadow strike) but, in general, is difficult to use effectively (since enemies naturally turn around to look at you when they attack rather than allowing you to get behind them).

Flaming Staff:
- Does 80 damage by default with a normal attack
- Does significantly increased damage for each skill you use while not using your weapon (91 to 159 to 228). If you save up charges you can do a base damage of between 819 and 2052 depending on the level of your weapon (and this scales up tremendously well with skill mastery items).
- Does area damage as well
- By far the BEST weapon in the game (if you’re going a skill build). You should almost always try and save the weapon attack until you have a few skills built up (which may seem counter-intuitive compared to the other weapons). Don’t be afraid to use skills to just increase charges for this weapon (for example festering venom you should use just as a booster to your skill counter).

None of these items should be used in the first region ever. It’s just a waste. The first region only has 1 shop and no secrets. I tend to prefer to seek it out and buy a few of the items below - but other people have said they tend to save their gold for world 2.

Spyglass:
- Useful item for scouting for key areas around the map. I try and target mountains typically because some mountains have “treasure realms” in them - which you can see by the mountain having gold sparkles on it after you’ve used a spyglass on them.
- Likewise - wise men tend to appear near mountains (Which upgrade your skills / weapon / racial for a fee).
- Is also useful for finding bazaars or mini bosses
- Can be upgraded in a bazaar for 50 gold to reveal a significantly larger part of the map (although I’ve never really found this to be that useful).

Warp Stone:
- The best of the items in my opinion. I typically go through 5-8 of these per run. Using warp stones allow you to hit key areas more easily (for example warping from mini boss to mini boss or warping to get closer to a treasure realm).
- I typically pick these up in a shop if I have < 3 of them (unless you’re in Worldfire heights or the god realms).
- Random (hidden?) factoid: If you are 2 or more squares away from the boss and you have 0 warp stones and you enter a shadow level - you are guaranteed to get one. (Although I’d recommend not entering shadow squares if at all possible).
- Can be upgraded in a bazaar for 50 gold to significantly increase your warp distance.

Dust of Appearance:
- A item that most newer players tend to overlook. I typically go through 2-4 of these per run.
- When used near mountains - it can reveal paths through the mountains or treasure realms for bonus money.
- When used near shops (such as a town, blacksmith, jeweler, or bazaar) - it increases the number of options by 1. This can be especially useful if you are nearing the end and want a few extra options or if you are struggling to find a set piece.
- Can also be upgraded in a bazaar (I think) but have never tried it.

Healing Potion:
- Fairly obvious - it heals you. Is useful and not guaranteed in every shop. I typically pick up 1 or 2 of these per run just in case things go wrong.

Moving around the overworked has a decent amount of depth to it (other than in region 1). Here are some factoids that might help you as you try to navigate towards the boss:

- Hazardous areas will always drop one of the core items (spyglass, warp stone, dust of appearance).
- Every map (other than the first map) will have 2 mini bosses, 2 wise men, 2 treasure realms, a blacksmith, a jeweler, a bazaar, and one temple for each god.
- The blacksmith and the jeweler will not always carry the same sets (but there are a limited number of sets offered per run - meaning you won't always find the same sets in every run).
- Wise men tend to be found near mountains.
- Bazaars are found on the far sides of the maps (never in the middle).
- Treasure realms are found in mountains and can be revealed with a spyglass (or by just going next to a mountain and using a dust of appearance).
- Certain levels will randomly place you into either a “defend the gold” mini game or a “hook the goblin” mini game. If you manage to kill every enemy in the defend the gold mini game (before they escape) you will get a “merciless” defense award and be given 35 gold instead of the normal 25 gold.

There are five gods in the game. Gaining favor in them grants you various bonuses. Please note you can only have favor with one god at a time - whichever god has the highest amount of favor is the one whose bonuses you will get.

You can gain favor from the gods in a few ways:
- Obtaining items from towns
- Obtaining items from bazaars
- Killing temples in the temple fights (killing a temple caused a drastic decrease in favor of the god you killed but rewards you with 2 favor for every other god).
- Saving temples in the temple fights (if the temple stays alive, you get 6 favor with the god. If the temple stays alive and takes no damage, you get 7 favor with the god).
- Saving temples in random encounters (if the temple takes no damage you get 4 favor - if it takes some damage you get 3 favor). Note: Killing temples in the random encounters does not reward other god favor - it simply hurts your favor with that god!

Here’s some more information about each god including what they are like to fight and what their favor is.

Furere:
- Furere is the god of lightning and will cause circles to appear that will be hit with lightning for a good amount of damage on levels with his temple.
- If you gain his favor - your attacks will cause lightning to hit every enemy on the map for some amount of damage (the scales with each level up).
- One of the developers of the game has expressed to me that this is their favorite god for beating the game quickly - although I tend to prefer Sepicles to Furere.
- Fights in this god realm will all have lightning strikes (that are relatively easy to dodge).
- Fighting this god at the end of the god realm will require a decent amount of movement speed as he will have tons of lightning strikes appear all over the map as well as cast large lightning balls in a variety of directions.
- Compared to other gods - his fight is not that challenging if you have the movement speed. You should be able to anticipate his large AOE moves by his stances and attack / stun as needed.

Halarin:
- In my opinion, the most annoying god in the game. If you don’t have burst damage you are basically screwed in these god fights as the enemies heal so quickly.
- Countered very well by festering venom (since the poison stacks do not get healed away).
- If you can gain the favor of this god - you will be healed for some amount after each battle. This god tends to be favored by newer players who take lots of damage - but as you get better at the game you will take less and less damage and begin to avoid this gods favor since it provides almost no benefit.
- Fights in this god realm will all have enemies being healed constantly and will require a significant amount of burst damage. Focus on one enemy and kill them before moving on.
- Fighting this god at the end of the god realm is awful. The god will consistently heal back up and every quarter of his life you take away - he’ll summon a new wave of enemies (that also get healed to full health every few seconds). DO NOT try to kill the god and ignore the enemies or you’ll be quickly overwhelmed. Halarin will do charge attacks as well as cast the Elf racial (that ensnares you and causes you to take more damage). It’s not a huge deal to be hit by the ensnare if you have a stun or an escape move - but otherwise try to avoid it as he follows it up with a charge typically. Focus on one enemy in each wave and kill them before moving on. Avoid AOE skills as they don’t do enough damage typically.
- Compared to the other gods - this god is one of the most difficult to beat. Make sure you have great burst damage or you won’t stand a chance.

Necrus:
- Necrus is basically a necromancer and summons skeletons / reanimates corpses. AOE damage is typically key against him.
- If you can gain the favor of this god - you will be rewarded with a skeleton that attacks enemies and absorbs attacks. At the lower levels the skeleton does not have very much hp nor does it do very much damage. For this reason - I tend to find Necrus to be fairly poor of a god and would gladly pick Sepicles, Furere, or Proctus over this one.
- Fighting in this god realm will be fairly challenging and require a decent amount of strategy. Every enemy you kill will be resummoned after 5 seconds (unless no enemies remain alive). Because of this, you want to slowly whittle down each mobs HP until they have almost none left (but not kill them).
- DO NOT EVER USE THE HUMAN RACIAL UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE A HORRIBLE PAINFUL DEATH OF SADNESS (or unless you have super powered summons that won't die quickly).
- Fighting Necrus at the end of the god realm is a huge pain unless you have significant AOE abilities. Necrus will summon tons of enemies to fight you. Each enemy will be resummoned after 5 seconds. I tend to find it challenging to whittle down each enemy and kill them all at once like in the previous fights in this realm - so I tend to just try and kill things as quickly as possible and hope I can stay alive long enough to make it out alive. AOE abilities will be your friend for sure since there’s so many enemies.

Proctus:
- Proctus is the defense god and all attacks against him or his minions will do significantly reduced amounts of damage.
- If you can gain the favor of this god - you will be rewarded will a significant amount of damage reduction. Similar to Halarin, though, damage reduction is not as important once you become more experienced in the game.
- Fighting in this god realm is actually not too bad since all it is is that the enemies take a bit less damage. There are no new mechanics or new strategies you have to think about so just take your time and you should be fine.
- Fighting Proctus is one of the worst god fights, unfortunately. Proctus will have 3 minions that “protect” him. They will all charge at you and you won’t be able to damage Proctus until they’re dead. Once one of them dies, you have a few seconds before ALL of them are resummoned and healed back to full HP. Because of this, you need to make sure you have AOE abilities or abilities that won’t kill them in one hit so that you can kill them all together and then focus on Proctus. Keep in mind that he will consistently summon these throughout the fight (even after you killed them all). He will also cast shockwave on you which will stun you and make you more vulnerable to charges. Be prepared for an extremely lengthy fight.

Sepicles:
- Sepicles is my favorite god. He gives his minions increased movement speed and increased attack speed as well as reduced cool downs.
- If you can gain the favor of this god - you will be rewarded with a significant boost to all of the above stats (movement speed, attack speed, reduced cooldowns).
- Fighting in this god realm will require a bit of finesses as every enemy will move more quickly and attack more often. I actually tend to try to just get through this world fairly quickly as some of these fights can be incredibly scary.
- Fighting Sepicles at the end of the realm is a moderately difficult god fight. He has the typical AOE abilities and charges and moves quickly - but there isn’t anything too difficult otherwise. You don’t need any special build to win against him (Although movement speed does help).

Information to come!