Hero-Guides

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These are guides for some of the heroes (work in progress). They are mostly subjective.

## Antonio

Antonio - Django Unchained
Antonio is an overall fantastic hero. It's not unreasonable to say that Antonio is the overall best hero to use in almost every situation (besides very specific niche farming goals). Antonio's weapon -- while fairly mediocre end-game -- is great for early to late-mid game. The cleave the whip provides extends both above the hero, to the left and the right, and only gets better once it is upgraded. That being said, the greatest benefit that Antonio provides is the passive global +50% damage he brings (at level 50+). There is not another hero that increases damage by such a significant amount than Antonio.

TL;DR: Antonio is a solid A+-tier and can be used for almost any purpose.

## Imelda

Imelda - the Experienced
Imelda is a hero that gains up to +30% experience gained and starts with the wand weapon. While the experience may seem great early on in your upgrade progression, it is probably better suited for farming and going after max levels at the end of your run. The wand is a great early weapon but falls off rather fast in terms of clear speed and overall damage. Imelda serves a purpose, though: boosting your early game levels (which inherently advances you more quickly) and expanding your reach of maximum levels (and gold) at the end of your run.

TL;DR: Imelda is a solid B-tier pick depending on what your goal for the run is.

## Pasqualina

Pasqualina - Speedy Shots
Pasqualina is quite the interesting heroine. While the starting weapon can be described as a step above mediocre, it's favored by many in the end game provided you have an free weapon slot that doesn't require a support item for the upgrade. The randomness that the Runetracer provides is both a blessing and a curse early in the run; however, once most of your skills are maxed out, it really begins to shine at what is the most common reason for death - too many little monsters getting too close to you. The fact that the Runetracer both pierces and bounces is a tremendous help late in your run when clearing as many monsters as possible before they get close enough to hit you. The projectile speed increase is not horrible, but it's not great either as the speed of most projectiles isn't the limiting factor (raw damage and cooldown reduction typically are weighted higher).

TL;DR: Pasqualina, due to only really shining very late in the run, is a solid B-tier heroine.

## Gennaro

Gennario - AKA Knife Boy
While Gennaro is one of the first that you will play as, due to his global +1 projectiles, he can be considered one of the weakest heroes once you have collected at least 5000 gold to purchase the static +1 projectiles bonus. Once you've obtained roughly 10,000 gold, it's generally NOT recommended not to use this hero for two main reasons: Knives are a very weak weapon spot choice as they do not scale late game, and +1 projectiles is arguably worse than even pickup radius. The main downside of knives is that it requires you to face (and ultimately approach) your enemy as well despite the very low raw damage that they provide. While the +1 projectiles is great before you hit level 10 on your run, its pairing with the knife is just not what you want to use. There are those that swear by him, but they simply cannot consistently clear hyper levels due to overall poor hero design. Avoid at most costs.

TL;DR: Gennaro is an F-tier pick after the first hour of playing the game.

## Arca

Arca - What Cooldown?
Arca is a very unique hero in that both his starting weapon and his passive ability of -15% cooldown reduction are some of the most powerful and sought after in most runs. The Fire Wand -- doing decent damage overall, while not being predictable at all -- can be evolved to Hellfire with Spinach, which is flat % damage. Everyone likes more damage, even knife-users. Now the CDR that his passive grants is an additional source of increased damage that directly affects clearing speed and overall DPS - both of which directly affect whether or not you'll clear Hyper levels. The only drawback is the first few levels can be a small chore as clearing with Fire Wand early is tedious and not nearly as satisfying/easy as say Garlic from Poe.

TL;DR: Arca is a very solid S-tier hero.

Porta - All the Area
Porta is quite the interesting hero as +30% area can be quite effective with many of the weapons that benefit from doing more damage in an area. As it currently stands, Lightning Ring is not the greatest weapon for anything end-game as it falls off fairly early. It is not a bad starting item, but after your first weapon upgrade, it's not going to do much in terms of clearing. Now the +30% area does affect a few other weapons that can make some fun builds; most notably Garlic (bae) and anything that benefits from projectiles. Assuming that in future patches the Lightning Ring can be upgraded, it might do decently well compared to other builds.

TL;DR: Porta is currently a D-tier hero due to area not scaling amazingly well with the meta builds and Lightning Ring not able to be updated.

## Poe

Poe - The Sigma of Sigmas
Poe is love. Poe is life. Poe is the founder of Garlic Gang. Poe is legion. Poe never forgets. Poe always forgives (mostly Bible users). Poe is diverse and inclusive in a way that there's nothing else to say other than Poe is the greatest hero that this game has provided thus far. Starting off, pickup radius is quite the beneficial stat as it increased your XP/minute due to not having to chase down XP gems as well as your DPS since more levels turns into more damage. Now for Garlic - there are many that do not appreciate what Garlic brings to the table; there are many that purposely choose to be close-minded about why Garlic is single-handedly the best starting weapon; there are those that all but refuse to accept that Garlic is the reason that you will progress from your first 5000 gold to having all powerups unlocked. Garlic literally allows you to start off and just walk directly through almost every monster for the first 10-15 minutes of your run. Once it's upgraded, it's now SUPER GARLIC GANG GANG which means it's going to not only kill almost everything in your pungent path, but in the off chance that something somehow manages to hit you, you'll heal up (due to the support item used to evolve Garlic). You can argue that Garlic doesn't scale as well as other other non-agnostic weapons (looking you Bible zealots), which might be true, but the carry for the first 20-25 minutes is really where Garlic shines.

TL;DR: Poe is an S+++-tier hero and will carry you as soon as you unlock him, until your upgrades are maxed (and beyond).

## Mortaccio

Mortaccio - Bouncy Bone Bro
Mortaccio is a hero that is one of the most underrated heroes in the game, currently. Let's be very clear, his Bone weapon is fair to decent early but falls off once you get your first weapon upgraded. Where his real potential shines is his passive: at level 60, he gives +3 global projectiles. This means that every items that is projectile-able, has +3 and it shines even more with the +2 projectile ring. Keep in mind that there are those that value him under Gennaro (somehow +1 projectile is better than +3?????) which is objectively wrong. It's simple math that 3 > 1 so don't listen to those clowns. In a future update where Bone get's an upgrade, Mortaccio will 100% be one of the greatest heroes that this game has ever seen.

TL;DR: Mortaccio is a solid C+-tier hero that will dramatically get closer to S+ once there's an upgrade for Bone.