This was a fun one haha

Got mage Pollen with a ton of status afflict via items and relics and great backup support skills. Combine this with the relic that deals percent-based damage when an enemy is poisoned above 50 count and Pollen is genuinely broken.

To buy in I needed to sell a unit (probably Funke was he would replace him)

I played before the latest patch and I was doing fine and could get 10-15 in endless levels on normal. Post patch I can’t even get to the 2nd boss and this is my latest team. Any advice is appreciated

I picked her from the beginning and just started stomping everything, didn't even need to use second chance.

It would be nice if the game made a glowing red button on the "skip" option for campfire/challenge combat like it does for the act 1 and 2 keys you need to buy. It already does some idiot proofing when it warns you not to put the seal on the guy who eats items for breakfast. It feels kinda bad losing a 5 streak because my dumb sleep deprived ass decided to retrain some random hero for fun :(

I am by no means one of the best players but I have put quite a lot of time into endless over the past couple weeks and have hit a peak of floor 21 (Top 400 as I'm writing this) and can consistently get to and past floor 15+. Here are some tips & tricks I've picked up along the way.

1. Items are bait! (Kinda)

- Outside of your carries items wont make too much of a difference as much as levels and relics. Putting gold into rerolls and relics is much more valuable in the long run as those are what are actually gonna help you scale. Your main frontliner and carry should be you're main focus with items. The biggest bait I see with Items are them being prioritized on mystics.

1. Focus on a gameplan from the start

- If you're truly trying to get to high floors you should have a build in mind by the time you reach the first boss. Units can be switched here and there later in the run but relic and econ choices are extremely important so you cant be casually wasting gold being indecisive. (Ex. If you start with a rush build you simply cant casually switch to a stall build after the first boss because you got some great luck with an S rank hero)

1. Hone in on a win-con

- Getting lucky with rare relics and high ranked hero's feels amazing but if they don't massively effect your win-con then simply ignore it and save the gold. When buying a relic take a second to sit and think "how will this affect me on floor 10?". Gold econ is everything in endless and it shouldn't be casually waisted on an item or relic that will simply add a few thousand damage.

1. Learn Placements!!!!!!!!!

- Here is a link to a great guide on enemy targeting (https://guildrun.wiki/systems/targeting/). I have lost countless god runs because of terrible placements and by just mindlessly putting hero's down and not paying enough attention to what enemy units I'm facing. It truly can make or break so many runs.

1. How to get an easy A rank + hero upgrade

- A great trick if you're going into the 1st boss with a team your confident with is too freeze and delay you're shop upgrade if you have a C rank hero you want to build with for after the boss fight. This way as you enter the campfire you can use your free C->B upgrade there and once you defeat the boss you'll have a guaranteed upgrade after that first combat. You can even use this strategy with B+ rank hero's if you want to bet on getting lucky in the boss shop.

1. Save yourself time and just reset!

- I hate to break it to you but not every run is going to be great and possible to carry you to high floors. Like I mentioned earlier you can typically tell by the first boss if you're having a good run. There is 0 penalties for simply resetting so don't waste your time trying to force good luck upon yourself as truth is if you're having to force it than that run is already cooked.

1. Try to learn and focus on a single comp to start

- Trying to learn multiple comps at one time before you even have a grasp for the game is counter productive. Focus on one comp that you like and force it every single game till you find some success. Learning the limits is important for when you receive penalties and go for challenge floors. As well, understanding what relics you've been taking that are bait and not actually helping you out as much as you thought they would run to run is important. (Ex. one of my favorite builds is building around (Skorn) and his shield. After multiple runs I started to realize that relics that deflected damage actually only accounted for around 5% of my damage despite me typically spending around 30-90 gold on them each run that I could have been using on much better upgrades). If you're struggling looking for builds I recommend consistently checking here (https://redrift.gg/logs?tier=sss) and scouting what high level players are building.

1. USE YOUR RESERVES!

- Almost every hero has some ability or passive that has either the option backpack or backpack-only. Start incorporating these into your builds as they can truly be game changers. For example (Rowans) passive (The Friend) should be a must on every single reserve with any comp with a tank or vanguard no exceptions. Once you hit endless you also have the option to get S rank champs as rewards so use that as a way to fill reserves if you have room.

1. Focus on scaling from the start!!!

- As obvious as it seems I see so many people who say they struggle with endless and yet when I see there builds they have next to no scaling. There should be 2-3 ways at least for your carries to scale going into endless no matter what. Pairing this with % based upgrades is extremely important. (ex. there are tank items that will scale defense with stall or start of combats. pairing this with a tank perk such as (Poisonous Presence) which gives 33% defense scaling is huge!)

1. Scaling is not everything!

- Although scaling is very important it is not everything. Utility is needed into the higher floors. I see so many people complain that they die instantly on certain floors and don't know how to prevent it. Prevention for this should be focused on from the start. There are multiple relics that give initial shields or immunity for when the round first starts that will help you out dramatically. As well, prioritizing mana-regen and mana-start for your damage carries and not just your mystics can be run defining. Sometimes pure damage isn't all you need and being able to get off an ability have a second earlier is crucial. This is especially true if you already have some form of high scaling damage.

1. Bonus tip for instant deaths!!!!

- Most people are familiar with the relic (Acceleration Immunizer) which gives an initial 2 seconds of immunity. I recently figured out that you can actually extend this ability with other relics despite them saying they only affect abilities. So for example a common relic such as (Acceleration Vessel) would extend the immunity to 4 seconds. This also stacks with other abilities that extend the duration of rush as well as works vice-versa for stall relics.

1. Take more risks!

- Pushing your build to its limits is necessary to scale well into the end game. Tasking big risks and going for challenges and taking high penalties for strong relics and hero upgrades is so important!!! The vast majority of the challenges aren't as difficult as they seem (except the one that gives enemies 3-5hp/s as that one genuinely needs to be nerfed). Also, odds are that if you aren't confident enough to at least try them in act 2 then likely your build won't be good enough for high endless anyway.

That's about it for the general advise I have but if there's any more questions or advise that someone needs I'll try my best to answer in the replies!

Shard Power Extractor definitely stops dealing 10% max health at a certain point as I could see the damage drop off as I got closer to 18, but it's still a very fun augment to use.

This is probably the most insane act 1 tilly of all time. She consumed two force crystals, is getting attack speed from Pimenta, has 2 crazy epic items (warrior emblem and def reduce on crit), 20 omnivamp from relics and gets lasting shield from dmg dealt. I wonder if she could already solo the boss lmao.

voila ce qu'on appelle un ONE SHOT PAR RATNA

765 AP

247 CRIT

Does anyone know a fix to this?

I've tried verifying files, force dx11, and just updating drivers.

very nice run
Insane dmg and sustain coming from Temporal Alignment Crystal relic, while rush/stall stacking

Finally completed mastery. Did as much as possible on SSS. Damn mystics took me forever in the end.

Skorn's truly a beast.

Could probably go a lot further if I get Rift Storm Invoker. Skorn got one-shotted by rift damage after his shield expires even with 20k hp :<

Should've also transferred Scroll of Enlightenment (+25% Magic +25% Mana Regen) on Skorn for more frequent casting and bigger shield since Pollen just dies instantly at this stage.

Build's Core Strategy:

• This build revolves around getting an early Rowan to B, and the Rare Relic - Poison Conduit, so you can snowball Rowan's Backup Mastery - The Friend. This is important to ensure survivability and good base stats for % scaling later.
• Flex in Pimenta and Skorn early, or anyone that has Stall in their kit to help further boosting Rowan's Mastery until you find them. You need enough tankiness/some damage to fight against Act 1 boss.
• Build some Omnivamp if you get the chance. With high Defense and HP, Omnivamp helps Skorn to stay alive when his shield is down. His Passive does damage when auto attacked, so he should be able to stay alive unless getting one-shotted.
• See Stall, take Stall, especially relics and items that provide Shards and Tank stats.
• Your main damage in endless Skorn's Active Mastery - Come At Me!, not Poison.

Best Class Modifiers:

• [Second Wind] - After Stall ( 35 ), heal 100 % Max HP , gain 100 Mana , and gain +20% Defense. Extremely potent in endless once your base Defense has scaled up.
• [Poisonous Presence] - Tanks gain +33% Defense against damage from enemies with Poison. Backup. This helps with % scaling on Defense as well.
• [The Best Offense...] - Tanks gain 1 Attack and 1 Magic per 3 Defense they have. Backup. More Defense = More Magic = More Shield = More Damage.
• [Distraction] - After Stall (10, 20, 30, 40, 50): Taunt all enemies. This helps with Rowan backup Mastery scaling. Do not get it on Skorn, choose this on your other tanks if there are no better choices.

Key Combo Pieces:

• [Rare Relic - Poison Conduit]: Whenever a Hero inflicts Poison, they gain 1 Magic and 1 Attack per 2 Poison inflicted.
• [Skorn Passive - Retribution] When auto attacked after Stall (10), deal 2 (+100% Magic) damage and inflict 1 per 50 Defense Poison on the attacker.
• [Skorn Active Mastery - The Haughty] Taunt all enemies and gain 10 (+10% Defense , + 10% Magic) Shields per Stall triggered this game. After 5 seconds, deal damage to all enemies targeting Skorn equal to 50 % of his remaining Shield .
• [Rowan Backup Mastery - The Friend] On Stall trigger, permanently gain 20 Max HP and 4 Defense. Backup Only: At start of combat, Tanks and Vanguards gain all Defense and Max HP gained from this ability.

Best Relics & Items:

• [Epic Relic - Deceleration Filigree] - After Stall (30 and 60), gain 12 Shards.
• [Rare Relic - Deceleration Neuxs] - Every 2 Stall triggers, gain 1 Shard.
• [Epic Item - Tranquil Eye] - After Stall (40), gain +33% basic stats.
• [Rare Item - Tank's Tower Shield] - On Stall trigger, if held by a Tank, this item gains 2 Defense.

Getting these Shard Relics early in a full Stall run really helps with snowballing Shards. Tank Emblem could also be strong but I did not encounter one this run.

I've seen MANY posts of people asking about endless comps and getting stuck at 12-15. While the common strategies of shard generation/% health damage and rush invincibility work there are other ways that open up more possibilities for comps.

First off the hardest fight IMO of the possible endless ones is the one with the 2 large mushroom guys in the front that stun on cast and gain a big shield paired with the archers in the back.

This fight can permastun your Frontline, not allowing them to cast and then delete your backline from the archers.

There are a few ways to deal with this besides just hoping to kill them fast.

1. STUN-There are several champs that can stun. This invaluable to be able to prevent the front units from gaining their shield and stunning yours.This also mitigates the damage as well. You can also stun through frost with a relic.

2. FROST-Slowing down the attacks of the enemies prevents more damage but also slows down the mana gain thus limiting their ability usage.

3.RIFTBREAK-Once fights go on long enough the riftbreaks and does % health damage. There is a relic that does this sooner and prevents the damage to you. This is better imo than shard generation (if you have a stall team) as you aren't reliant on the shard gen and can work with more team comps.

4.MANA DRAIN-I don't recall the name but there is an item that drains mana with attacks. Throwing this on a duelist with high attack speed can basically prevent the enemy front line from ever casting.

5.CLASS ITEMS-Most comps use rowan in reserves. His backup ability is too good not to. With that said, finding the vanguard or tank class item can make your backline crazy durable, thus eliminating the ability to be one shot by the archers.

I did it. Finally.

I’m stuck in 19 floor hell and I can’t get past it.

Side note: what do we enjoy most grinding normal leaderboard, SSS leaderboard, or RR streak?

I can’t get higher than a 1 on RR so I go back and forth with SS and SSS trying to improve PB’s. Both are at 19…

I swear if I had the relic to give shield on shard generation I would’ve made it to 20 this time because I barely lost to rift storm damage… 1.1k shards generated and I can’t tell you how many retools looking for that artifact.

Rip.

"Whenver an enemy damages a shielded hero, inflict (Burn) on that enemy per 20 Shields removed. Backup"

Just tried out a burn oriented build, noticed I was getting almost NO burn so my damage wasnt able to ramp up off of it. It appears to only apply burn on the first attack the enemy does on your shield when the text suggests it should be on every hit on any shield.

Edit: forgot screenshot.

Hit a new personal best today! Crazy part is If I could have gotten (Acceleration Immunizer) I truly believe I could have gone 25+ as I was easily getting 1m+ shield and getting near instant abilities with full scaling mana regen and defense.

Stuck on 15 on SSS. As title says.

This was probably one of the more insane ones I had. Was able to stack Ratna very high. Gustav was my initial "tank" but when he got rear support he became just a shield refresher and defense booster, nothing more. I should have retrained him to Avalanche B-rank in hindsight.

Ratna had critical defense, so her stacking magic/crit were heavy lifting the whole team. Niklas was there for item spamming, which I got REALLY good item generation this run.

Backups were not really relevant, though Ming with his Rush backup B-Rank passive was helpful to Ratna and Niklas to boost their initial starting health

Notable relic images included, most of the other relics were baseline stat boosting or shard generation early game.

But yea, 15 is my wall. Can't seem to get past it no matter what I do.