Task Bar Hero — Low-Level F2P Guide
A progression guide for free-to-play players starting out. This is an early-game focus. (The Small Investment section at the end is just a pointer for players who want to rush — ask in the comments if you want more detail.)
Useful Links
- Farming calculator: https://taskbarhero.wiki/tools/farming — find your optimal farming spot (see Section 4 for how to use it).
- Wiki (items, decorations, engravings, runes, class skill points): https://taskbarherowiki.com
1. Getting Started
- Starting class: Always choose Ranger at the beginning. It’s the best way to start.
- Squad composition: Ranger + Priest + Sorc. The composition stays the same throughout — only your skill points change depending on the situation you’re in (see Section 7).
- Order to add the others: Priest > Sorc.
- Priest: get the DLC, which is free on Steam. Grab it as soon as possible — you’ll need it.
2. Early-Game Core Loop
Your early-game focus is:
- Open chests (pray to get a bow/arrow)
- Synthesis
- Craft
Alchemy:
- Don’t use alchemy — only if you’re able to buy gear from the market (see the Small Investment Guide).
- The one early exception: sell alchemy items for gold to rush both the +1 formation slots and the +1 skill slot. This is optional, for people who want to invest a bit.
3. Rune Priority
Rush in this order (> = then, = = equal priority):
- +1 formation slot (rush this first)
- 2nd +1 formation slot
- +1 skill slots
- Gold = DPS
- Gold: focus on %, flat gold, and stage boss gold. Do NOT get Act boss gold.
- DPS: for F2P this is needed to help you through some phases. Focus on flat dmg, % dmg, % attack speed.
- Chest drop
- EXP = Slot
Note: Avoid getting +max normal/stage chests due to the chest drop bug. (This may change in the future.)
4. Progression & Farming
The goal: advance to the highest stage you can, then farm the optimal spot.
Find your optimal farming spot with the calculator: https://taskbarhero.wiki/tools/farming
How to use it:
- Run normal 1-1 to see your base clear time.
- Go to your highest cleared zone and add its time/zone in the MAX field.
- Add 1–2 other stages.
- This shows you where you’ll gain the most EXP.
Then climb. Core loop:
Open chest → synthesize → craft → repeat.
5. Chest Rotation (farming chests)
The game has 10 different chest drops, and some stages share the same chests. Rotating between them increases your chance of getting chests — and therefore items — which matters for F2P.
These are the lowest stages for each chest:
| Chest | Lowest stage | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-1 | Normal |
| 2 | 1-4 | Normal |
| 3 | 1-8 | Normal |
| Lv15 | 2-3 | Normal |
| Lv20 | 2-8 | Normal |
| Lv30 | 3-8 | Normal |
| Lv40 | 1-9 | Nightmare |
| Lv50 | 3-5 | Nightmare |
| Lv65 | 2-5 | Hell |
| Lv80 | 1-3 | Torment |
How to rotate: jump to one chest stage, get the chest, move to another, farm that chest, and repeat.
Cooldown (as far as I understand — could be wrong): each chest level seems to have an internal wait time of around 12 minutes after you get one. So you need to wait at least 12 minutes to get another of the same chest level. Keep in mind you still have to actually drop the chest (also chance-based), so you won’t get one chest every 12 minutes for the same level — but you can get more than one chest per 12 minutes if you jump between different chest-level stages.
6. Gear Focus (by class)
- Ranger (archer): gloves, bow, arrow — with flat dmg.
- Sorc: CDR, cast speed, fire dmg. (Attack dmg too, but not in place of the stats above.)
- Priest (early): a good weapon/sub-weapon, dmg absorption, HP, dmg reduction. The Priest is the only class where you should add chest, helmet, and gloves. For the rest, try to synthesize for a better weapon/sub-weapon/gloves.
- Accessories: anything. This is hard for F2P.
7. Skill Point Builds
The squad composition stays the same — only your skill points change depending on your situation.
A. Farming spot where you DON’T die
- Priest: Blessing of Might 5x, Wrath of Heaven 5x, DMG Absorption enhancement 3x, Health/Attack Damage, w/e
- Ranger: Rapid Fire 5x, AS 8x, Attack dmg 3x, then w/e you want until you have Projectile dmg enhancement (crit chance/dmg, or another skill you like). If waves take time to kill and they stack, Arrow Rain is okish; if not, Swift Surge is better.
- Sorc: Fireball 5x, CDR 8x, then a choice (preference: Area of Effect for the fireball explosion, but w/e) — max it until you can get the next skill, Flame Hydra. You can put 1 point in Ice Orb until Flame Hydra. Then Flame Hydra 1x and Fire dmg enhancement as much as you can. (Preference, since it boosts both Flame Hydra and Fireball — feel free to experiment.)
B. Farming spot where you DIE
- Priest: Blessing of Might 5x, Heal (1–5 points, depending on what keeps you alive through the whole stage), DMG Absorption enhancement, Health, CDR.
- Ranger: Same as “don’t die.”
- Sorc: Same as “don’t die.”
C. Hard level / boss
- Priest: Heal 5x, DMG Absorption enhancement 3x, Sanctuary 5x, CDR max, fill with Health > Armor.
- Ranger: Same as “don’t die.”
- Sorc: Same as “don’t die.”
8. Small Investment Guide (optional)
For players who want to put a little money in.
First step: Buy immortal items to sell, and rush the rune to get the 3rd squad formation slot and +1 skill point.
After that, if you want to invest a little more, focus on the Ranger as follows:
Weapons
- Get the highest-DPS bow and arrow (arrows can be expensive).
Decorations
- Start with flat damage decorations (Obsidian Shard).
- As you accumulate more flat attack damage from bow/gloves (usually lvl 50+), switch from flat damage decorations to %phys damage decorations.
- The same logic applies to engravings if you have immortal weapons.
Gloves
- Note: gloves give flat dmg, so they’re okay to buy as well if you want.
Accessories
- Get accessories mainly for the decoration/engraving slots (good accessories are expensive).
- Apply the same progression: flat dmg → %phys damage.
Squad & farming with investment
- With investment, you should run only the Ranger in the squad.
- Add MS (Movement Speed) on gear — boots/accessories — and on decorations/engravings, to rush to the highest stage you can.
- Farm there, then buy new gear from the next capstone (levels 10/20/30/40/50…).
- Rush until you can’t anymore. Note: you won’t get EXP from zones more than ~10 levels above you (little to none).
- But if your solo Ranger (lvl 30–40) can reach a high zone (say lvl 80 zones), put your whole squad in the highest zone and log out. You’ll level much faster than soloing lower zones, and you’ll level everyone.
- Offline cap: 8 hours.
- Do this until your squad reaches the level you want, or until around 75–80. At that point, online EXP is better, because you’ll be running the highest zones (3–8 Torment) online rather than offline.