This is a guide to help players who are struggling with the game when it comes to what weapons, passive items, or relics to pick up. This is going off of the latest build of 1.0.3 at the time of writing. I only play on extreme difficulty and have beaten both current maps with all characters trying out a bunch of different weapon combos to see what does and doesn't work. If the guide is out of date, i'll update it unless I grow bored of the game. The only issue you might run in to while using this guide is not having the weapons unlocked or a good portion of upgrades taken. If you feel that this guide helped you, give it a rate. If not then leave a comment.

Weapon evolutions and passives

Relics


Weapons if you dont plan on evolving

Storm Amulet gets weaker late game while Spectral Dagger becomes better late game. Fire boots become really bad late game or if you are unable to have a clear walking path, theyre super strong early game while you are kiting. Never pick up Blessed Hammer, it's by far the worst item in the game.

Weapons
Holy Cross - This item is consistently highest dps by 4-5x as much as the next highest dps in my runs. The primary reason is that when it triggers it does a screen wide AOE. It is sort of weak early on but by the 20 minute mark it will be consistently triggering.

Energy Shield / Inferno Shield - The reason for putting the unevolved shield in S tier is because the invulnerability it provides does not require you to upgrade it and will save you at all stages of the game but more so early on when you are still without upgrades. Inferno Shield is the same but better because when it triggers, it does massive amount of damage, typically clearing anything remotely near.

Frozen Orb - This weapon is hidden top tier. It looks and feels weak upon first inspection but its honestly one of the strongest in the game because it consistently freezes enemies and gives you room to breathe which is much needed when you are completely surrounded. Frozen enemies cannot damage you but what happens in this game is that when there are a ton of enemies they push each other forward, so this also helps with preventing that as it keeps them still.
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Passives
Cooldown - Doesn't really need much explanation, this is easily the biggest damage increase you can get in the game.

Experience Gain - Again, not much explanation needed, but imo this is hands down the absolute best passive possible as you will gain so many levels you will skyrocket to a full evolved build before minute 10. I heavily prioritize this pickup and try to get it maxed out before anything else because it will make the game that much easier.

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Overall thoughts:
You dont need all 3 weapons to beat the game on Extreme difficulty. Honestly you need just 1 of them, maybe 2 if you find yourself having an unlucky run. If you pick up all 3 its because you definitely want a win with no way of messing it up. As for the passives, I always get both cooldown and experience gain. I dont think you can beat extreme without experience gain honestly because youll just fall behind and like I mentioned I will prioritize leveling up Experience gain before anything else, the only time I wont pick it over something is if theres a legendary weapon or something that I will pick up brand new, meaning I dont already have it. So if I am picking between leveling exp gain or a weapon, i'll level exp gain. Early on I think its important to pick up all the weapon/items you can that will make up your end game build so you dont "lose" it, especially if its legendary, but if its epic tier or below, i'll let it go and try again on another level up. Cooldown is almost luxury tier, its nice to have, not necessary but keep in mind that it is still the strongest passive behind exp gain. Try and get it epic or legendary tier and then grab a heart/armor/damage passive from the ground to evolve its respective weapon.

Weapons
Crescent Blade - This weapon does great damage but one of the better parts to it is that it gives your character basically a "shield" because the projectile comes out basically dead center of your character, so it provides a small pushback on top of damage before its even fired out. It also has seemingly zero cooldown, there is some but its so small its negligible.

Storm Scythe - This upgrade path for the Scythe is weird because it essentially is a better version of Dark Scythe. The scythes that it has rotate around your character come out fairly quick, do great damage and again, has a short cooldown. The area that it affects is also bigger than dark scythe, There is no reason to pick Dark Scythe with this being a simply superior version to it. Another reason that this is a consistent pick up for me is that the Area passive item is part of the evolution path and you want the area passive is just really strong.

Overcharged Lamp - Probably the weakest in the A tier, and might seem odd to rate it so highly but what this weapon brings to the table is that it will 100% shoot at whatever is closest to you with no cooldown and push it back. The damage isnt amazing, but it doesn't need to be. This weapon is strongest early game compared to late, but the pushback is always helpful.

Flying Stars - This weapon is what the blessed hammer wishes it was. is basically forms a huge ring around you and just claps everything then flies away. Not much more needs to be said.
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Passives
Projectile Speed - This is great because it helps everything just move around the screen quicker, slightly underrated imo. This passive is so good it makes the Crystal Bow be not such a ♥♥♥♥♥♥ weapon pick up so you can get its evolution, that says a lot.

Amount - This is truly in a weird spot. I want to rate it higher but also lower at the same time. The reason for that is because this does a lot early on and is a huge damage increase but late game it makes almost 0 difference because weapon evolutions shoot out so many projectiles at such a high rate, the impact of it is not felt at all. Also the weapon that this helps evolve is not that great either.

Area - This helps all your weapon projectiles become bigger and is most noticeable when you have holy pendant/cross/divine punishment as a weapon. Arguably should be S tier.

Max Health - I used to underrate this but it helps you tank a ton of hits, especially late game and will help you survive a lot of times while you get to the next health pickup.

Attract Area - The magnet is super good and I tend to level this up over other passives because it'll just help you grab those exp shards much easier without putting yourself in danger. Maxed out legendary magnet will have you grab like 70% of the screen, its so helpful. The weapon that this helps upgrade is also not bad.

Movement Speed - Not much needs to be said, movement speed is life because you can zig-zag your way out of nasty situations early on.

Revival - The cheese is either S tier if you use it or F tier if you dont. If you find yourself going through multiple revives, youre having a bad run and this doesnt really help you make it into a good run but at the same time you can get unlucky and needing to revive once or twice early on can be the difference between completing a run or not. Firm A tier.

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Overall thoughts:
The 4 weapons are really good and they are all equally strong with the lamp being slightly less so but what it brings to the table is still great. The obvious recurring issue I bring up is that they all have some sort of pushback to them and thats what you need in this game to beat the hardest difficulty because the enemies are so strong especially late game. All 4 weapons also benefit from having good passives that help evolve them, with the exception being the sword but it's passive is only slightly weaker. As for the passives, theyre all good with amount, movement speed and revival having a slight downside to them. I already spoke about amount, but movement speed suffers from the same issue where the weapon it helps evolve is not that great and Cheese suffers from either being used or not.

Weapons
Endless Tide - This is actually very strong but it has a decent cooldown on its own and the worst part about it is that it hits a very narrow area. You can make a corridor through enemies though because it does hit like a truck. Crescent blade is better but this is still fun to use every now and then.

Dark Scythe - This would be better if it hit a larger area around you, its passive actually worked and it didnt have a sizeable cooldown. Or 2 out of those 3. But as it currently stands it's very bad and the Storm Scythe version is simply far superior in everything this tries to achieve. I would rate this F tier but this actually still does great damage even with all it's drawbacks.

Rainy Wings - This is actually pretty good, the downside to it is that youre stuck using the crystal bow until you upgrade to it and while it hits hard it offers no pushback. Also this weapon is a little weird where putting extra levels into it late game doesnt feel like it helps it do more. It consistently stays around 2-4k dps even if you get it to level 40. A tier weapons do that dps output with only 10 levels into them.

Magic Orb - I actually love this weapon. Visually, how it moves, the explosion into smaller projectiles after. The problem is that it moves too slow. Youre constantly waiting for it to hit an enemy. Also while I love the explosion, it does make it hard to see what is near you end game, no way around it.

Meteor Storm - This evo is actually kind of weak until late game when the whole screen is filled with enemies trying to touch you and the ground aoe it leaves behind can actually do some damage. I think this would be a little bit stronger if it had a higher alpha strike and had its damage over time component removed. Its so much better than the Sun Orb though and still, im a huge fan of meteors as a magic attack type, so I like using it sometimes.

Lightning Amulet - The upgrade to the storm amulet oddly feels weak. Not much else to say really. Looks cool though.

Divine Punishment - This is really good and arguably S tier or solid A tier except for the fact that it requires the right build to pull off. You need max cooldown reduction and the right weapon combo to keep people away from you but not too far away so the spikes can hit. Its hard to pick this up when Holy Cross hits the entire screen and doesnt have all these caveats to make it work. It does hit like a truck though so dont completely dismiss it.

Falling Flowers - This isnt bad but it simply does less damage than Flying Stars, only slightly but its still a slight amount and thus finds itself B instead of A.

Fire Orb / Devil Boots - Just going to pack these together because they both suffer from the fact that you need to keep moving to make them work. They both do great damage but late game you will find yourself unable to make the huge strides that these weapons want you to make, especially devil boots because you need to be constantly making an enclosure around enemies when its the enemies who have you surrounded. Its tough to make them work but they do a ton of damage and are actually really good against the final boss, especially devil boots.

Staff of Freezing - While it has a 100% chance to freeze, it simply has too long of a cooldown and too little damage to make this picking up over frozen orb. The aoe of it also is very very narrow as well.

Lightning Shield - This feels like a meme weapon more than anything. It does decent damage but somehow not more than Inferno shield, also if you find yourself getting hit and having your shield popped you lose it and begin dealing NO damage which is terrible as you will occasionally find yourself being hit by some random enemy that runs at you at the speed of light or the guys who die and rez right at your feet. You can simply get hit by too many things and it doesnt even do more damage than inferno shield. I would rate this F but F tier is for the true dregs of society.

Duplicating Daggers - This weapon is really really good, does great damage and hits everything on the screen. Would be A tier but A tier is a cut above. I would rate it A- or B+

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Passives
Damage - Might be odd to rate this so low but in my opinion whenever I pick this up it simply feels like it has little to no impact. I would rate it lower if it wasnt necessary to pick this up for the sword evolution.

Armor - Same as damage. Doesnt feel like it does much and only really worth picking up to evolve the shield weapon.

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Overall Thoughts:
None of these weapons are bad, they just are not as good as the A tier or suffer from some sort of drawback. I would not say never pick them up or play with them as some are fun and you can still win on Extreme Difficulty with these in your arsenal.

Weapons
Barrager - This weapon is odd because it feels like it does zero damage. It hits 1/4th of your screen as well in whatever direction you are facing but the arrow spread is so high its just bizarre. It also has a high cooldown.

Sun Orb - Not really sure what the intention is here. Its nice that it will suck in enemies but it will not grab elites so its not that helpful as the elites will push everyone around as they chase you. It also suffers from pitiful damage output.

Protector Shield - Doesnt evolve into anything so best avoided. Does okay damage for an unevolved weapon though.

Blessed Hammer / Storm Hammer / Magic Armory - Absolutely awful. Low damage, low area. Dont ever pick this up and if you do accidentally pick this up, just restart the run and save yourself the time.

Dragon Tooth / Dragon Heart - Low damage, low area. The evo upgrade, which is Dragon Heart, doesnt do anything except remove the cooldown. Best to be avoided.

Hellfire Butterfly - If you somehow found yourself picking up Dragon Tooth and think this evo path is the one to take you will find yourself to be wrong. The cd is decent and but the aoe explosion it has is not big enough to hit enemies behind the ones infront, so this essentially is a worse Magic Lamp. I think if the butterflies passed through enemies and dealt damage along the way it might be decent.

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Passives
Duration - Useless. Its helpful early on but it stops being helpful as soon as you hit your first weapon evolution because all weapon evos have little to no cooldown so their duration doesnt matter. I dont know what this is for honestly. Also this item is required for the hammer weapon which you do not want in any instance.

Luck - I wish I didnt have to rate this as F because it actually is very helpful. Max luck means you find Legendary weapons/passives on the regular. The issue is that it requires you to not only pick this up as a passive, taking up a slot, but also LEVEL IT for maximum effectiveness. This is only useful if you dont have luck leveled up as a powerup passive so you can find epic/legendaries from the start. Once you do, theres zero reason to grab this.

Recovery - The recovery rate is simply far too low, also there for some reason is no difference from any of the rarities, so legendary recovery is the exact same as common at 0.3, so if there is a recovery leaf on the map, its much better to grab another passive item and then pick this up from the floor.

Gold Gain - This item helps evolve the dragon tooth which you dont want. The extra gold you get from this is also not significant enough to warrant a pickup. Not much else needs to be said.

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Overall Thoughts:
I would not pick up any of the items listed under F tier, they are simply far too underpowered or need some type of rework to make them worthwhile, especially the hammer which is just a travesty. The ONLY item to ever grab is the recovery leaf and thats simply to upgrade the ice staff. Everything else should be avoided at all costs.

Just going to make this short because there isnt much to say. First of all, DO NOT go for relics unless you have maxed out your relic reroll upgrades so you can reroll your choices 3 times. You can get seriously screwed by being forced to pick bad relics that will end your run.

Having said that, if you do have rerolls, I highly suggest going for Relic of Treasure 100% of the time. The chest drop chance is decently high and is immensely helpful especially if you get the 5 chest. Relic of Despair and Healing are the only other relics worth taking. Relic of Healing can be clutch and Despair is obvious in that it can help you kill enemies you are struggling with.

All the other relics are meme sh!t or have such a huge downside they are simply not worth picking up as they will cause you to fail your run except for the gold ones but the gold ones are weird because the one that makes enemies drop gold isnt that big of an increase and the one that makes it that enemies ONLY drop gold severely hinder your level ups by dropping your exp gain to near zero