There are many things to consider when designing your build in Tangledeep. Class, abilities, passives, equipment, feats, flask infusions... All of those are just the tip of the iceberg. It can feel overwhelming to try and create the perfect build through all these factors.

The Tangledeep Build Guide was written to help alleviate some of that stress and help you find the path toward a build you'll enjoy. This guide will cover the feats at character creation, the various flask infusion choices you'll need to make upon level up, grant an overview of each class, detail weapon and armor type masteries, and then delve into the details of specific build templates I've personally designed. For the purpose of this guide, I've split up decisions that builds are composed of into five parts: Character, Class, Weapon, Armor, and Offhand. But before we delve into those glorified information dumps, there will be a brief section on how to design a build from the ground up so you can make the most out of what this guide offers.

Keep in mind that it's not strictly necessary to read through every section. If you feel you have a solid grasp on the various classes and equipment types in Tangledeep and you just want some cool builds to try out, then feel free to skip right to the Build section of the guide using the Guide Index to the right.

This guide only applies to Mirai's Story. The random nature of Shara's Story from the Legend of Shara DLC makes any build guide practically useless.

I'm sure most of you probably think of designing a build as a painstaking process that requires a high level of game expertise and experience where each aspect of the build is meticulously put together into a cohesive whole. And you'd be right.

If that was right, I mean. Which it isn't. Lucky for us! Designing a build is less a meticulous, careful process and more a haphazard, cobbled-together mess that you throw into a pile to see what sticks!

Designing a build is actually fairly simple, and it doesn't require all too much overthinking. In fact, if you do think about a build too hard, you'll probably just end up burning yourself out. So, how exactly do you design a build? Well, let me tell you how I personally go about doing that.

The process can be summed up in a few simple yet wordy steps:

1. Find a gimmick you like. Like crit? That's your gimmick. Like dodge? That can also be your gimmick. Maybe you like AoE effects? Gimmick choice complete. Any one thing that you find enjoyable, whether it be a stat or a mechanic, can be your gimmick. That's what your build will be focused on.
   
   
2. Throw as much of that gimmick into the build as you can with reckless abandon. In other words, don't worry about other things, yet. Focus only on building whatever your gimmick is to as high a prevalence as possible. If your gimmick is a stat, stack it as high as you can. If your gimmick is a mechanic, slot as many abilities that use that gimmick as possible.
   
   
3. Throw in what your build lacks. Some form of defense would be nice to ensure you can survive while taking advantage of your offensive gimmick. Or if your gimmick is a defensive one like, say, dodge chance, then throwing in some offense instead could help you actually defeat monsters. The point of this step is to round out your build a little. You've already maximized the gimmick in the last step, so now it's time to make sure the rest of the build around it actually functions. This is where your build goes from a mess to a legitimate, workable build. Your end goal for this step is to include three things in your overall build: offense, defense, and utility (status effects, movement abilities, etc.).
   
   
4. Test the build to find what doesn't feel right by smacking around some monsters. Constantly almost dying and killing enemies noticeably slowly are both telltale signs that your build isn't quite right.
   
   
5. Change what doesn't feel right.
   
   
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until the build feels good to use and doesn't get you killed.

As you can see, in order to be able to even follow most of those steps, it's important to know what sort of options you have available. That's where this guide comes in, as it details just about every option in the game that could be used to create a build.

I can't promise that this method of build designing will work for everyone, but surely some of you will make good use of it.

The Character sections will cover decisions made at character creation or while leveling up which will affect your builds and how they play. This will include Feats and Flask Infusions.

Feats are bonuses chosen during character creation that you start the game with. There are currently twelve feats to choose from, and you may only choose two. Of these twelve, three of the feats are unlocked by playing the game and cannot be used on your first character. I highly recommend you make a character specifically to unlock these three feats, so that you have a full selection of feats to choose from for your playthrough.

You may find a list of feats on the Tangledeep wiki. Keep this open as a reference while reading this section of the guide.[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Feats persist through New Game+. You do not get to choose new feats unless your character dies on Heroic mode or is deleted.

There are no "best feats". It's not possible for me to tell you "just choose these two feats and you'll be perfect". Each one of the feats has a purpose, so it's up to you which two to choose. To help you do that, let's try to break down this list of feats into something more manageable.

Feats can be broken up into three categories: power, wealth, and circumstance.

Power feats are feats that directly affect combat in some way. This includes increasing your damage dealt or healing received, increasing your stats, and increasing your mobility.


Wealth feats are feats that increase the rate of gain of something. This includes increasing JP gain, gold gain, drop rates, and drop rarity.


Circumstance feats are feats that are only useful in very particular circumstance. They are useful if you have a specific goal, but are otherwise useless at best.


In order to choose your two feats, you need to decide what you want to do. Do you want to focus on power feats that are always useful in combat? Would you prefer wealth feats that help you amass gold and items more quickly, but are of limited use after you get the perfect set? Or maybe you have a very specific playstyle in mind and would like one of the circumstance feats?

Remember, your choice will carry over even to your New Game+. You can't ever change your mind unless your character is deleted. If you choose something like Fast Learner, you might regret it once you no longer need any JP. You should think of not only the short term, but also the long term usefulness of these traits when you choose them.


DO TAKE:

• Rager. 20% damage is nothing to sneeze at. You will be under 50% HP quite often, and some unique class builds work very, VERY well with this feat.
  
  
• Toughness over Thirst Quencher and Food Lover. Toughness increases your Max HP and increases healing done by both food and flasks by only slightly less amounts than the other two feats. If you want to take either Thirst Quencher or Food Lover in addition to Toughness, then go right ahead. But if you're only taking one of the three, then take Toughness.
  
  
• Entrepreneur. It's the only feat that might become useless later in the game that I still recommend taking. Gold is of utmost importance in Tangledeep. Almost everything requires gold: food, potions, equipment, improving equipment, healing to full at camp, the gil toss gold toss ability...

DON'T TAKE:

• Quick Step. There are plenty of movement abilities in the game. You likely won't even have room on your hotbar for this ability in a complete multiclass build.
  
  
• Fast Learner if you plan to ever play New Game+. It feels really bad once you have all the abilities you want.
  
  
• Keen Eyes. There's a legendary off-hand book equipment that grants the Keen Eyes effect while equipped. No other feat can be gained that way. Besides, the general descriptors for enemy level, health, and resistances are plenty.
  
  
• Scavenger. Not only does it become entirely useless once you've gotten your ideal set of gear, but it hardly changes a thing even when it is useful. You won't notice the difference even when you want more and better loot.

Flask infusions are passive bonuses to the effect of your flask which unlock at levels 5, 10, and 15, for a total of three infusions. When you achieve each of those levels, the game will immediately prompt you to choose between two options for that level. You may only choose one infusion from each choice.

Flask Infusions persist through New Game+. You do not get to choose new infusions unless your character dies on Heroic mode or is deleted.

• Tea Leaf - Restores 3 Stamina and Energy per turn while flask is active.
  
• Citrus - Boosts attack and defense by 10% while Flask is active.

Both Tea Leaf and Citrus are very, very good. You can't go wrong with either option, and they will both almost always be useful. I personally prefer Tea Leaf, since it lowers my reliance on resource recovery food mid-battle, allowing me to use more healing or buff foods instead.

• Basil - Heals an additional 1.2% of Max HP per turn while Flask is active.
  
• Vanilla - Heals 3% of Max HP instantly.

This choice is very simple. Do not take Vanilla. Choose Basil.

There is never a single point in time where the immediate 3% Max HP heal from Vanilla will be useful. You're either too high health to need it, or you're too close to death for it to matter. Basil is the strictly superior option. No contest.

• Caramel - Gain +4 CT per turn while Flask is active.
  
• Green Apple - Increases dodge chance by 15% while Flask is active.

Both Caramel and Green Apple are strong, but they're also both situational. Caramel won't do you much good if you're not playing a CT-based build, and Green Apple only really shines if you're playing a build that focuses on dodge.

Between the two, I personally always choose Green Apple. Most of my builds rely on dodge for their defensive needs, and 15% goes a long way toward making that defense reliable. But Caramel isn't a bad choice, either, so it's ultimately up to, well...taste. Ironically.

The Class sections will delve into the mechanics of each class in Tangledeep, examining their strengths and individual playstyles based on their passive bonuses, abilities, and job emblems. You could consider them loose build guides for if you wanted to completely restrict yourself to a single class.

Each Class section will be further cut into smaller subsections: Overview, Passive Bonuses, Abilities, Job Emblem Bonuses, Skill Orbs, and Summary.

Overview and Summary are self explanatory. Passive Bonuses, Abilities, Job Emblem Bonuses, and Skill Orbs each require a little extra explanation to be understood. I'll explain these subsections here, so that I don't need to repeat them in each Class section.

Each class in Tangledeep comes with three tiers of built-in passive perks that are active so long as you play as that class. These passive bonuses cannot be mixed and matched or transferred between classes. They are only available when you are playing that specific class they come from.

• Tier 1 is unlocked by default.
  
• Tier 2 is unlocked when you spend a total of at least 1,000 JP on abilities from the class.
  
• Tier 3 is unlocked when you have purchased every single ability for the class.

More Information On Class Bonuses[tangledeep.fandom.com]

The Tangledeep wiki has a really nice, compact way to display information on abilities. Due to how much better the display on the wiki will be to anything I can create on Steam Guides, I will not be listing the abilities and their effects in this subsection. I will only list the ability names and any notes I feel should be mentioned regarding each ability if applicable. Each Abilities subsection will have a link to that class' abilities on the wiki.

Just go here and mouse over one of the ability icons. Ain't that just beautiful?[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Job Emblems are special, customizable accessories that have three tiers of passive bonuses, similar to a class' Passive Bonuses, as well as increase all of your Core Stats by a specific amount. The Job Emblem passives are active no matter your current class so long as the Emblem is equipped, but the Core Stat increase is only active if your current class corresponds to the Job Emblem. Job Emblems have their own equipment slot, below Accessory 2.

To earn a class' Job Emblem, you must complete a Job Trial which can be started for a cost in JP by talking to Jorito in Riverstone Camp. There are three Job Trials of progressive cost and difficulty for each class. Each time you complete a Job Trial, you are given a choice of two unique passive effects to add to your Job Emblem, up to a total of three choices.

Job Trials are only available if:

• You have beaten the first boss of the game.
  
• You have learned every ability for the class.

Once you've chosen a tier for a Job Emblem, you may not freely change your mind. The only way to change which passive you chose is to delete the Job Emblem from your inventory and earn a new one by going through the Job Trials once more.

More Information On Job Emblems[tangledeep.fandom.com]
More Information On Job Trials[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Skill Orbs are special Lucid Orbs that grant a magic mod to a piece of equipment that augment a specific ability. There are three types of Skill Orbs for each class (except Wild Child, which doesn't have any Skill Orbs). Most Skill Orbs are not straight improvements over the default ability; it grants something to the ability but takes away something else.

Equipment is limited in the number of magic mods (more commonly referred to as affixes) that can be on the item at one time. You can use one Skill Orb per equipment piece without it counting toward this limit. Any further Skill Orbs beyond the first to a piece of equipment will count towards the magic mod limit.

More Information On Skill Orbs[tangledeep.fandom.com]
More Information On Upgrading Equipment (Item Dreams)[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Brigand's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



Brigand Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





Out of any class in Tangledeep, Brigand feels the most self-contained. Its toolkit of abilities feels complete, as though it's not really missing anything in particular. It has three movement abilities, two of which deal damage and one of which stuns. Its support ability, Smoke Bomb, increases the damage of its primary damage abilities, which in turn apply bleed, which increases the damage of Fan of Knives.

Between its physical direct damage, bombs of fire, and bleeds of three different elements, Brigand has quite an array of elements at its disposal, allowing it to hit an enemy where they are least resistant.

Floramancer's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



Floramancer Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





Floramancer is one of two premier summoning classes in Tangledeep. And it excels at it. Between the mobile tank that is the floraconda and the stationary turrets that are the spitting plants, it can create a veritable army in the middle of combat. To make things even better, it can use a corral pet alongside your summons.

Floramancer's abilities focus on crowd control and AoE damage. If you like the idea of sending out your flowery minion to distract the enemy while growing an army of sharpshooters and wearing down your enemy with poisonous fields, all the while blocking their retreat with a sudden overgrowth of vines, then you'll really like Floramancer.

Sword Dancer's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



Sword Dancer Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





Sword Dancer is the premier parry class. Being surrounded by enemies and parrying them all to death is a normal afternoon to a Sword Dancer. With numerous abilities and passives improving the riposte caused by parrying, there's no one better at what this class does.

It's worth noting that Parry only blocks 66% of the damage you take on Savage World (New Game++), making it defensively inferior to dodge, so Sword Dancer's efficacy takes a real blow there.

Paladin's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



Paladin Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





Paladin is the premier tank class. It has an array of shield and heavy armor focused abilities and passives, its primary damage ability also lowers enemy damage dealt, it has one of the only healing abilities in the game (when you block) in the form of Radiant Aura, and it has the ultimate defensive ability. No class on its own even comes close to the defensive prowess of the Paladin.

Paladin's abilities have a lot of depth, as can be seen by the fact that almost all of them required that I add a note to them in the Abilities subsection above. Using them well, there's nothing a Paladin can't handle!

Budoka's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



Budoka Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





Budoka is the premier martial arts class. Its abilities are largely support-based, and it has a lot of passive abilities. As such, Budoka focuses mainly on doing powerful basic attacks with its empowered punches and kicks, which in turn activate some of the powerful Vital Point passives. Even though the number of damaging abilities Budoka has is limited, the ones it does have are powerful.

Hunter's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



Hunter Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





Hunter is the premier Weapon Power ranged class. It has a solid balance between offensive and crowd control abilities, allowing it to do meaningful damage while maintaining safety at range. Furthermore, its permanently summoned Spirit Wolf distracts and damages foes that get too close. Even once an enemy reaches it, there are tools the Hunter can use to maintain control of the situation by distracting enemies with shadows or rooting them in traps.

Spellshaper's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



Spellshaper Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





Spellshaper is the premier caster class. An elementalist, it has one powerful damaging evocation for each of four elements, allowing it to work around enemy resistances with ease. Each of those four evocations can be altered from a single target ability to an AoE ability of various shapes or even a aura that can be cast on the self. If an enemy arises that is immune to each element, the Spellshaper can spellshift its evocation to penetrate the enemy defenses entirely at the cost of silencing itself for one turn after every cast. Alternatively, should a single burst of power not suffice, the Spellshaper can shift its evocation to summon fields of elemental power that persist for some time.

Spellshaper has few abilities, but the sheer number of spellshape and spellshift combinations is staggering. Due to this, it has the most offensive flexibility in the entire game.

Edge Thane's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



Edge Thane Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





Edge Thane is the premier bard class. Except instead of the physically fragile, charming bard you'll find in most RPGs, Edge Thane is a hulking behemoth of a singing warrior. Edge Thane focuses on singing one of three songs to dramatically buff its stats, switching freely between them during battle and occasionally adding a verse to the song in order to strengthen itself and weaken its enemies.

With only one damaging ability, Edge Thane relies almost entirely on basic attacks with the buffs from its songs to make them more impactful and to survive the enemy assault.

Soulkeeper's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



Soulkeeper Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





Soulkeeper is one of two premier summoning classes in Tangledeep. It takes up the role of a necromancer, using the power of the souls of its enemies to create monstrous living shadows, summon raging elementals to protect it, temporarily resurrecting the fallen to do its bidding, debilitate groups of enemies, and empower its ranged basic attacks. While the Soulkeepers enemies are distracted by its many minions, it can attack them from afar using its weapon and overpower them on all fronts.

Gambler's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



Gambler Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





Gambler is...well...certainly quite something. Ever wished an RPG had more RNG to screw you over? Ever want to be entirely at the mercy of random numbers as you realize they could crush your hopes and dreams at any moment? No?

Good. Then you'll love Gambler, because it's nothing like that. I swear.

For real, though. Gambler is a class that requires a mix of luck and strategy to play well. Its two most iconic and powerful abilities rely on drawing a poker hand by killing enemies and rolling virtual dice, respectively. Luckily for you, the odds are stacked in your favor. None of the possible effects are negative for you - at worst, they're just less useful than other effects at the moment - and the various passives available to Gambler grant you a greater chance at obtaining better hands and rolls.

If it's not random chance, then a Gambler ability grants both a benefit and a detriment. Double Down costs precious HP, Blood Debts heals dramatically but takes that HP back with interest later, and Hot Streak moves you in a random direction which could be out of an enemy attack...or directly into it.

HuSyn's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



HuSyn Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





HuSyn is a unique class that has almost all of its abilities tied to a summoned floating crystal. The crystal allows the HuSyn to mow over its enemies, shock its enemies, pull its enemies with a gravitational field, and, most importantly, shoot lasers at its enemies! While the crystal is summoned and at your side, it reduces your damage taken and, if the Fortify ability is toggled on, takes some of the HuSyn's damage to protect it.

Wild Child's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]



Wild Child Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]




There are no Skill Orbs for Wild Child abilities.

Wild Child lives up to its name. With only a few abilities that can be learned for it by using JP, the rest of its abilities come from watching specific enemies use them. As you progress through Tangledeep, you'll find yourself learning a few new abilities every couple of floors. In total, Wild Child has access to 19 abilities. That's more abilities than you can fit on both of your hotbars! That makes Wild Child the only class in the game to be able to fill your hotbars with abilities all on its own.

Nearly every ability at Wild Child's disposal has a secondary effect as well as a primary, and there's no particular theme to the abilities overall. Melee, ranged, weapon power, spirit power, damaging, healing, crowd control, self-buffs, movement... It really has an ability for everything.

Calligrapher's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]

The Calligrapher class requires the Legend of Shara DLC to be played.



Calligrapher Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]





Calligrapher is a very interesting class. It excels in dual-wielding and has an array of weak physical+magical elemental AoE abilities that all leave objects or fields on the floor which you can pick up or stand in to receive temporary buffs of various kinds. Its unique Brushstroke resource can be generated not only by killing enemies, but also by dealing critical strikes or dodging enemy attacks, allowing for a max of six Brushstrokes total. These Brushstrokes can then be consumed all at once to deal massive damage or draw powerful crowd controlling runes on an area of the ground.

Imagine Calligrapher as a sort of artistic ninja, and you have a solid idea of what it feels like. It's actually a lot of fun and feels fairly complete all on its own, without any multiclassing.

Sorceress's Page On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]

The Sorceress class requires the Legend of Shara DLC to be played. You must beat Shara's Story to unlock it.



Calligrapher Ability List On Tangledeep Wiki[tangledeep.fandom.com]




No Skill Orbs found so far for Sorceress. Please let me know if you find any.

Sorceress is definitely one of the most unique of the classes. It has abilities for short, medium, and long range combat; two movement abilities, both of which apply status effects on enemies; two point-blank AoE abilities; and a summon that shoots lasers and distracts enemies for a few turns. It doesn't have a theme so much as it has raw power. Then again, I suppose that is its theme. You end up feeling like, well, a Sorceress.

Like a few other classes in Tangledeep, Sorceress actually feels fairly complete all on its own, without any multiclassing. That said, its unique melting pot of a Job Emblem also means it's a class that does best when you do multiclass.

There are numerous types of weapons in Tangledeep, and which type of weapon you use can have a significant impact on your build. All weapons of a type share specific traits and each weapon type has a Weapon Mastery ability line. In the Weapon section of this guide, I'll be covering those two factors for each weapon type, trait and Mastery, and then writing a short summary on the weapon type. There's more information on weapon type traits and Mastery lines below.

Each weapon of any specific weapon type comes with a unique, passive trait. Such traits are things like unique effects on crit, hitting in an AoE effect on basic attacks, increasing certain stats, or having damage scale off of Core Stats other than Strength.

In this subsection for each weapon type, I will give an overview of each trait that weapon type has.

More Information On Weapon Types[tangledeep.fandom.com]


Each weapon type has a what are called Weapon Masteries. Weapon Masteries are a line of abilities that consist of two passive abilities, one active ability, and one Ultimate ability, all of which can only be used if you have that weapon type equipped.

The Ultimate ability of a Weapon Mastery line is a powerful active ability with a long cooldown and no cost. You can learn the two passive abilities and one active ability for every weapon type if you wish, but you are limited to learning only one Ultimate ability. That makes the choice of Ultimate ability extremely important.

To progress through the Weapon Mastery line, you must talk to Jorito after unlocking the second Passive to any one class by spending at least 1000 JP on its abilities. At this point, next time you enter Riverstone Camp, Jorito will prompt you to come talk to him. From there, you can ask him about Weapon Masteries and begin progressing through any Weapon Mastery line by purchasing the skills with JP.

Learning an Ultimate ability for a Weapon Mastery line requires that you have defeated 20 Champion Monsters with that weapon type.

Take note!

• Once you learn an Ultimate ability for a single weapon type, the other weapon types' Ultimate abilities become unavailable to you.
  
• You will never be able to change your Ultimate ability.
  
• New Game+ will not give you the ability to learn a second Ultimate ability.
  
• You may learn an Ultimate ability for a second Weapon Mastery line only on Savage World (NG++), which is unlocked by beating Tangledeep's New Game+ and starting another new game on that save.

I will not be listing the Mastery Line abilities and their effects in this subsection. I will only list the ability names and any notes I feel should be mentioned regarding each ability if applicable. Each weapon type's Weapon Mastery Line subsection will have a link to that line's abilities on the wiki.

More Information On Weapon Masteries[tangledeep.fandom.com]

More Information On Unarmed Mastery, referred to as Fist Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Unarmed "weapons" are primarily used by the Budoka class which take up both your weapon and offhand equipment slots and scale in Weapon Power with your level. If used by any other class, unarmed "weapons" are incredibly weak. Other classes can improve their unarmed "weapon's" power to the level of a Budoka by equipping a Judo Belt accessory. Wraps are an actual unarmed weapon (which require the Dawn of Dragons DLC) that you can equip without losing your unarmed attacks, essentially allowing you to apply magic mods to your unarmed weapons by running the wraps through their Item Dreams at the Dreamcaster.

The Fist Mastery line makes up for unarmed's complete lack of passive traits by being incredibly powerful. Assassin Fists are wonderful for unarmed crit builds, and Fighting Spirit is a wonderful buff to both offense and defense. The Ultimate, Suplex, is a gap closer with an extremely high Weapon Power coefficient of 340%.

More Information On Dagger Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Daggers are ideal dual-wield weapons focused on speed (CT) and tunneling a single enemy at a time. They are a great weapon to use on a crit build due to the CT gain, and are a solid choice for stealth builds which allow the player to focus on one enemy at a time more often.

More Information On Sword Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Swords are the absolute best weapon for parry builds by far, and are a solid defensive weapon option for crit builds due to their On Crit effect. They increase your parry chance, cause a riposte on parry, increase the damage parrying does, causes parrying to blind the enemy, causes your crits to make you parry the next attack, and grants up to two active abilities that increase parry in addition to dealing damage. Literally everything about swords improves parry in some form or another.

More Information On Axe Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Axes are an AoE-focused melee weapon that works best if you're surrounded by enemies. This makes axes a terrible weapon choice for Stealth builds, since you'll rarely become surrounded, but axes are amazing for crit builds. Everything about axe focuses on its AoE damage capabilities. Both of its active mastery abilities, including the Ultimate, are AoE effects. Even both of its passive mastery abilities increase damage done while more enemies are within AoE range.

More Information On Mace Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Maces are an interesting weapon that focuses on stuns, with a sprinkle of improving crit damage based on enemy health. The stronger the enemy you crit, the better the mace will perform. The more often you stun an enemy, the more damage you'll deal. It all works together rather well in an interesting mix of offense and crowd control. The active mastery ability also has its own stun chance to play into the stun motif. The ultimate mastery ability fits in perfectly as a sort of finisher. Imagine Home Run critting to cause that extra 10% current mob HP in damage, getting a boost of 20% because the enemy was recently stunned, and possibly stunning the enemy on its own as well. That's nice.

More Information On Spear Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Spears are a unique weapon type that can deal damage from two-squares away and, if there are two enemies lined up, can hit both at once. It focuses on landing blows on enemies just outside of their reach while rooting them there for further blows, making it the ideal weapon against melee-focused monsters.

More Information On Staff Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Staves are the only Spirit Power weapon, and they're ranged to boot. They focus almost entirely on buffing your Spirit Power, but grant very, very little Weapon Power. Both of its passive mastery abilities plays into this role, and they're both quite strong. The active mastery abilities, however, instead focus on granting some very rare Physical type damage that scales of Spirit Power, which helps elemental builds work around enemies with high elemental resistances.

2H Staves sacrifice the ability to wield an offhand for higher Weapon Power. The lack of offhand, however, means much lower Spirit Power than a 1H Staff w/ a Book offhand, and a complete lack of any elemental damage bonuses that the magic mods unique to a Book offhand can offer.

More Information On Claw Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Claws are ideal dual-wield weapons that focus on steadily relentless damage through basic attacks and passively sustaining you during your endless assault. They deal great damage and deal even more damage when you're taking a lot of damage yourself. If you crit while dealing that damage, you'll get some of that precious HP back, too. The active mastery ability increases both your offense and your defense but forces you to only use basic attacks, which further plays into this role. One of the passive mastery abilities even makes moving an offensive action! Of course, if you see a large amount of damage coming in within a turn or two, the ultimate mastery ability both deals damage and causes you to heal for half of that incoming damage. As if that's not enough, the second passive mastery ability makes it so you can't be paralyzed and your damage can never be lowered, ensuring that your strikes bring a consistent amount of hurt.

More Information On Bow Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Bows are the only Weapon Power ranged weapons. They focus on dealing damage and controlling the enemy from afar while maintaining distance. With a range of 4 and the potential to cancel any abilities an enemy attempts to use, you won't find a safer weapon to master. Due to scaling off of Swiftness and the passive effect of Quiver's increasing CT on ranged attacks, bows are also great weapons for CT builds.

Crossbows share their Mastery Line with bows. Refer to the Weapon: Bows page of this guide to learn more.

Crossbows are actually part of the bow weapon type, even using the same Weapon Mastery line, but are just different enough to have their own page. Compared to bows, they have 1 less range, have greater Weapon Power, and do not lose damage when used in melee range. I'll reiterate a point I made in a note above: if an ability refers to "bows", crossbows also work with it.

Since there are currently no Whip entries on the Tangledeep Wiki, the below table will contain all of the ability information. It's...not a pretty table. Sorry.


Whip Mastery not added to the Tangledeep wiki. No link available.

Whips are 1H weapons that require the Dawn of Dragons expansion. They focus on damaging clusters of enemies, being more likely to crit when there are more enemies in the cluster, and applying a brief DoT effect to any enemy unlucky enough to be crit by the attack. Its ultimate mastery ability also works into this role, first hitting a single target twice and then hitting every nearby target once with a spreading shockwave. The active mastery ability allows you to hit a line of enemies instead of a cluster, and acts as a different way to apply that brief DoT to enemies that are close enough.

Possibly the most unique trait of whips are that they scale off of Swiftness in addition to Strength. This makes them the ideal melee weapon for Weapon Power ranged builds, which will already be focusing on the Swiftness stat in order to use bows.

There are three types of armor in Tangledeep: Light, Medium, and Heavy. Which armor type you use can have a significant impact on your build. All armor of a type share specific traits and each armor type has a single passive Armor Mastery ability. In the Armor section of this guide, I'll be covering those two factors - trait and Mastery - and then writing a short summary for each armor type. There's more information on armor type traits and Mastery lines below.

Each armor of any specific armor type comes with a few unique, passive traits. Such traits are things like increased Stealth, a minimum dodge chance against skills, and increasing your dodge or physical defense stats. Some are even negative, such as reduced Stealth.

In this subsection, for each armor type, I will give an brief description of the traits that armor type has.

More Information On Armor Types[tangledeep.fandom.com]


Each armor type has its own, singular Armor Mastery passive ability which grants you a unique bonus to wearing that armor type, which do not cost a slot to activate. You may only learn the Armor Mastery passive for one armor type.

To learn an Armor Mastery, you must find the Elemental Lair dungeon hidden somewhere in Tangledeep and speak to Jorito there. Once you speak to him, if you clear out the three floors of the Elemental Lair and return to him, he will offer to teach you an Armor Mastery.

Take note!

• Once you learn an Armor Mastery passive for a single armor type, the other armor types' Mastery passives become unavailable to you.
  
• You will never be able to change your Armor Mastery passive.
  
• New Game+ will not give you the ability to learn a second Armor Mastery passive.

I will not be listing the Armor Mastery passive's effects in this subsection. I will only list the passive's name and any notes I feel should be mentioned regarding its use. Each armor type's Armor Mastery Passive subsection will have a link to that armor's passive on the wiki.

More Information On Armor Masteries[tangledeep.fandom.com]

More Information On Light Armor And Traits[tangledeep.fandom.com]


More Information On Light Armor Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Light armor focuses on speed (CT), mobility (the mastery), and Stealth, but grants little if any defense.

More Information On Medium Armor And Traits[tangledeep.fandom.com]


More Information On Medium Armor Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Medium armor focuses heavily on dodge, with a sprinkle of physical resistance in case you fail to dodge. It also ensures you have at least a 10% chance to dodge enemy abilities, but that's only useful if you have less than 20% dodge since your chance to dodge enemy abilities is half of your normal dodge chance.

More Information On Heavy Armor And Traits[tangledeep.fandom.com]


More Information On Heavy Armor Mastery[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Heavy armor has one goal, and only one goal: increase your physical resistance. And it does so very well, but at a cost. Monsters will notice you from further away and are more likely to be aggressive while you're in their range.

There are three types of offhand equipment in Tangledeep aside from 1H weapons: Quivers, Books, and Shields. Which offhand type you use, if you even use any, can have a significant impact on your build. All offhands of a type share specific traits. In the Offhand section of this guide, I'll briefly detail the traits of and write a short summary for each offhand type. There's more information on offhand type traits below.

Each piece of any specific offhand type comes with a few unique, passive traits. Such traits are things like the ability to block, increased CT gain, and increased damage.

In this subsection, for each offhand type, I will give an brief description of the traits that offhand type has.

More Information On Offhand Types[tangledeep.fandom.com]

More Information On Quivers[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Quivers are a unique offhand in that they can be used when bows, a 2H weapon type, are equipped. They can be used with any 1H weapon type, but cannot be used with any other 2H weapon type. No other offhand can be used when wielding a bow. If you're using a bow, you have no reason to not use a quiver; they're a package deal.

More Information On Books[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Books are primarily offensive offhands for Spirit Power. Some magic mods unique to books grant elemental damage multiplier or resistances, making books great sources for all your elemental needs.

More Information On Shields[tangledeep.fandom.com]

Shields are the defensive offhand. They add block chance and determine the amount of damage reduced by blocking, as well as grant a slight bonus to physical resistance. The default damage blocking reduces is 0, so if you don't have a shield but have an effect that causes you to block, you get nothing out of it.

The Builds section will include builds that I designed that I felt good enough to share in this guide. Most of them are not min-maxed to the extreme. My builds are sometimes thematic, and will make mildly subpar choices for the sake of furthering that theme. Even so, most, if not all, of them are usable and enjoyable even on Savage World (NG++).

Each build page will explain the following parts of the build where applicable: suggested feats, suggested infusions, suggested ultimate weapon mastery, core class, stat priority, core equipment, core active abilities, and core passive abilities. Note that "core" means that they are a necessary part of the build. In other words, "core active abilities" will be abilities that the build wouldn't work anywhere near as well without, but won't include abilities that are nice but not quite necessary. The idea is that I'll explain only what's strictly necessary for the build, and you will have the flexibility to tweak the build to your liking by deciding what else you want to fill in the rest of the build with.

But before any of that list of suggested and core parts of the build, I will write about the build and explain what its gimmick is and how it plays at the top of each build page.

The Juggernaut is unstoppable. Though they throw at her all they have, none of it makes her so much as flinch away from her onslaught. She is the last thing they will fear.



The Juggernaut attempts to reach the 75% resistance cap without even remotely sacrificing offense. It is through her astounding offensive strength that she gains unbreakable defense, all the while having the expertise to all but ignore her enemies' futile attempts at defending themselves. The Juggernaut excels at standing her ground, and doing so only further increases her damage capabiltiies. As the unstoppable force she is, she is immune to bleed, posion, stun, paralysis, freeze, and chill effects, and foes will find it is impossible to strike her critically. To make matters worse for those who cross her, she only grows in power as she loses the upper hand.









+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Spellblade is a master of sword and magic, using both in tandem to overwhelm her foes. She wields her enchanted weapon in one hand and her magical tome of spells in the other.



The Spellblade attempts to keep roughly equal Weapon Power and Spirit Power while stacking key elemental damage multipliers as high as possible. The weapons used are all given an elemental damage magic mod and each of her abilities deal elemental damage or match the weapon's element in order to make use of the high element multipliers. Most of her abilities scale with both Weapon and Spirit power. Defense comes in the form of dodge stacking with a reasonable amount of parry.









+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Assassin is a true master in the art of killing. Few are more adept than she at swiftly eliminating key targets. It matters not if they see her coming; her daggers will meet their hearts.



The Assassin attempts to achieve 100% crit chance basic attacks while dual wielding daggers and relies on those basic attacks for her damage. The weapons are left dealing physical damage in order to penetrate enemy physical resistance, and poisons are employed to both lower enemy defenses and health. All of the Assassin's offensive abilities aid in her basic attacks by increasing their damage in some way. Defense comes in the form of dodge stacking alongside a great amount of parry.









+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Whisper is the very essence of stealth. Shhh! Do you hear that? Is it just a leaf blowing in the wind, or could it be the Whisper brushing right passed you? It's impossible to tell.



The Whisper focuses on increasing passive stealth rating as high as possible. With such skill in stealth, she has a mere 7.5% (4.5% w/ suggested feat) chance of being noticed when within enemy vision, and is all but invisible at distances greater than arm's length. Making the first strike is not only easy for the Whisper, but essential. If successful, she will stun, seal, and paralyze her enemy, with the potential to reapply these effects with abilities and further attacks. Even should the enemy break free, the Whisper has numerous methods of escape up her sleeves that cause her enemies to completely lose track of her. Should all else fail, she can rely on her fair parry and dodge rates.

Note: Damage is too low for Dawn of Dragons DLC content on Savage World (NG++). Extremely difficult to complete Tyrant and Jelly Dragon dungeons and survive any dragon bosses. Works fine for all other content.









+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Alchemist is a mysterious guru of potions and scrolls. Her concoctions are said to set entire battlefields alight in flames, call down storms large enough to take down monster nests, and call floods the likes Tangledeep has never seen.



The Alchemist focuses on increased consumable damage and reusability, with Spellshaper evocations as backup. With consumable and elemental damage so great, she can do thousands of damage per potion. Potions are rare in Tangledeep, unfortunately, and must be used with care to their numbers. To alleviate this concern just a little, the Alchemist carries a special bag that sometimes multiplies the consumables within. Her defenses are thin, though what few abilities she does use allows her to build up a respectable dodge, and she can form four crystals of ice to temporary aid in her defense.








+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Sentinel is the venerable shield. There is no known force of Tangledeep that can pierce her adamant defenses. It is said that even the dragons of legend would be incapable of causing her the slightest harm.



The Sentinel focuses on maximizing block capability, with secondary focuses in parry chance and resistances. Blocking her enemy's attacks causes her to stun or paralyze them, while parrying them allows her to blind them. Nearly every ability she uses aids in her defensive capabilities, either directly or by debuffing her enemies, often while simultaneously dealing damage.










+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Sword Saint is the undisputed master of the ways of the sword. Like a flash of lightning, the blade intercepts all incoming blows and fluidly delivers a devestating strike in retribution.



The Sword Saint focuses on achieving and sustaining 100% parry chance against basic attacks in order to deal great damage through ripostes, all the while blinding wounded enemies as well. In this way, the Sword Saint's defense and offense are one in the same. She even has the tools needed to bring foes to her side and root them there, in order to overcome her greatest weakness: ranged attackers.










+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Invoker is a conjurer of both natural and supernatural forces. It is not often that Tangledeep itself is outnumbered and overwhelmed when an adventurer enters its sanctum, yet this is the role of the Invoker.



The Invoker focuses on summoning as many creatures as possible to outnumber and overwhelm her foes. Its offense and defense are one in the same: the sheer number of allies it can call to battle will both deal great damage to and distract nearby enemies. As for the Invoker herself, she can call upon the elemental Evocations to deal damage and debuff enemies, and even set the field with materialized elemental effects to allow her to summon powerful fire, poison, water, or shadow elementals.








+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Archmage has reached the pinnacle of mastery over Flow, standing as the epitome of all casters. The elements and the plants of Tangledeep both bend knee to her manipulation.



The Archmage focuses on raising Spirit Power as absolutely high as possible, accompanied by a respectable amount of elemental damage multipliers for Fire, Water, Poison, and Shadow. Though her defenses are paper-thin, the Archmage's sheer damage throughput is astounding, as every spell she slings empowers her further. Though should an enemy manage to land a hit on her, rare an act as that is, she is likely in deep trouble.









+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Nightblade is the controller of shadows. All fear her power, though none more than those who hide in the dark, for darkness itself is her servant.



The Nightblade focuses on stacking critical chance as high as possible in order to activate various crit and hit effects. By striking critically, she passively summons a soulshade every five turns, lowers all of her cooldowns, and dramatically boosts her CT bar. By hitting with basic attacks, she inflicts her enemies with shadow vulnerability, increasing their weakness to her strengths. After she builds up a large enough army of shades and enough weakness to shadow upon her enemies, she switches to her staff and book to cast a vastly empowered barrage of darkness.









+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Divine Fist is more than just a master of the ways of a Budoka. She is the pinnacle of their form which all should aspire to be, as her hands are the most lethal weapons in all of Tangledeep.



The Divine Fist focuses on raw, up-front damage by stacking Weapon Power as high as possible. While her focus is on offense, her natural defenses are strong and become even stronger still when she strikes her opponents. By striking her opponents' vital points, she applies bleeding and weakening effects, which she can then turn to mass hemorrhaging and confusion using her various Budoka abilities. Each ability she uses will cause immense damage to her foes, but her basic attacks are not far behind.










+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Sniper is a masterful archer capable of targeting the weakpoints in her prey from afar with startling accuracy. Few will know they're being hunted before they take an arrow to the knee head.



The Sniper focuses on stacking attack range and crit chance/damage as high as possible, with the goal of slaying enemies before they reach you. Should that fail, and should the Sniper end up surrounded, she has to her avail a trusty whip, with which she can strike entire groups of nearby enemies at once. Her plethora of dodge-boosting abilities allow her to use this whip safely while dodging most attacks, while her ability to surround herself with daggers of ice allow her to increase her defense against those who would dare attack her from range.












+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Reaper is a terror that defies all expectation. There is power in numbers in Tangledeep, yet it is the Reaper's power that grows as she is surrounded by foes. It is said that her assaults become an unstoppable blur should she become surrounded.



The Reaper focuses on dealing AoE damage to surrounding foes using the basic attack of her axe, building that damage as high as possible while paralyzing and rooting her opponents, as well as dismantling their defenses. Her defenses are middling all around, having low to moderate resistances, moderate parry, and a low dodge chance but with a multitude of ways to raise it. While the Reaper thrives when surrounded by enemies, she must always be cautious. But should too many foes surround her at once, her enemies will all die with naught the chance to retaliate.










+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Shadowbreaker excels at group combat, cutting swaths of enemies all at once with her dual wielded axes. Many confuse the Shadowbreaker for the Reaper, as reaping is what they both do.



The Shadowbreaker is a sister build to the Reaper which duel wields shadow-infused axes instead of using a larger, 2-handed axe. She focuses on dealing AoE damage to surrounding foes using the basic attack of her two axes, building that damage as high as possible while paralyzing her opponents and weakening them to further shadow damage. Her defenses are middling all around, having low to moderate resistances, low-moderate parry, and a low dodge chance but with a multitude of ways to raise it. While the Shadowbreaker thrives when surrounded by enemies, she must always be cautious. But should too many foes surround her at once, her enemies will all die with naught the chance to retaliate.











+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

Leave it to the Freneticist to find a way to coldly and calculatedly harness the power of sheer rage and frenzy. She's practically a walking oxymoron, and yet none that see her tear Tangledeep's most fearsome monsters to shreds in seconds can doubt her power.



The Freneticist (what a name, right?) focuses on dealing as much damage as possible with duel-wielded claw basic attacks, empowered by the claw's Frenzy ability. While she does have a selection of abilities at her disposal, most of them support her Frenzy state or increase mobility when not in a Frenzy. Her basic attacks often immobilize her enemies. Further, her critical strikes heal her from damage sustained and damage sustained increases her damage dealt. In all, combat with the Freneticist becomes an artistic, flowing dance of rage and blood.









+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Pulverizer... A fitting name for someone carrying around a maul bigger than she is. They say a swing of her hammer can cause the earth of Tangledeep itself to tremble and split, swallowing all that oppose her. Perhaps...just perhaps...there is a grain of truth to that.



The Pulverizer focuses on using a gigantic golden 2-handed mace to stack weapon power as high as possible while stacking critical chance to take advantage of the mace weapon type's unique critical effect. While her weapon is devastating, it also protects the Pulverizer from lethal harm. As such, she has no need to worry over defenses, and can focus on obliterating her foes with powerful swings so long as she is not overwhelmed.










+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.

The Tempest is as the unstoppable storm. To strike her is to strike at wind, and her attacks strike as ruthlessly as a vicious gale.



The Tempest's overwhelming focus is stacking as much dodge chance as possible with the goal of maintaining at least 100% dodge chance. Doing so allows her to rapidly build up brushstrokes for use in rapid attacks against surrounding foes using her fist and dagger or, in emergencies, drawing trap runes beneath the feet of her enemies. If an enemy happens to land a hit, the Tempest is always ready to parry and immediately counterattack, potentially applying status effects to the offender.









+ Any Weapon and Armor Mastery passives.