The Swordsman – this character is unlocked from the beginning.

The Archer – to unlock this class you have to survive until there are only 26 minutes left. So, you have to survive 4 minutes.

The Cleric – defeat the Lich in Haunted Caverns.

Ember Grounds – to unlock this stage you have to defeat Imp Chieftain.

The Exterminator – kill 1000 enemies during one visit in Ember Grounds.

The Warlock – defeat the Wyrm Queen in Ember Grounds.

The Shield Maiden – defeat the Wraith Horseman in Forgotten Viaduct.

The Sorceress – kill 10 000 enemies in one visit in Forgotten Viaduct.
Remember that between runs you can unlock bonusses for all characters. They cost gold, however, they will make unlocking classes (and the game) easier. What is more, each hero or heroine has their own missions. Completing them will reward you with new bonusses. So, try to play them all to get interesting perks.

Forgotten Viaduct – if you want to get this stage, you have to defeat Wyrm Queen in Ember Grounds.

Beast Huntress - To unlock the Beast Huntress, you’ll need to defeat the Basilisk, the first major boss of the new map, the Frozen Depths.

Norseman - To unlock the Norseman you’ll need to defeat the Elder Giant boss in the game’s new map, the Frozen Depths.

Swordsman


The Swordsman is a melee fighter who wields a sword, and his default attack is a cone-shaped sword attack that can hit multiple enemies at once. Unlike some other classes that specialize in offense or defense, the Swordsman's attributes are all balanced. He has strong attack and defense stats, making him a reliable and well-rounded fighter on the battlefield.

Overall, the Swordsman is a reliable and adaptable class that can hold his own in any situation. Whether he is fighting hordes of enemies or facing a powerful boss, the Swordsman's balanced stats and sword skills make him a formidable opponent.

Character Status


Cleric


The Cleric is an undead fighter who uses a staff to take down enemies. The Cleric's default attack takes the form of a large cone-shaped area-of-effect attack that can hit multiple enemies at once. What sets this attack apart is that, when the Cleric's default attack hits multiple enemies, the damage is divided among all of them, which can result in lower damage per enemy compared to if the attack had hit a single enemy. However, if the attack hits only one enemy, the full potential damage can be dealt to that enemy.

Overall, The Cleric's attacks are extremely slow yet brutal and punishing, capable of dealing massive damage to even the toughest of foes and disrupting enemy formations.

Character Status


Archer


The Archer excels at taking down enemies from a distance with her trusty bow and arrows. Her default attack sends two arrow projectiles in a cone shape, allowing her to hit multiple enemies at once (or a single enemy multiple times).

The Archer has higher critical hit chance than other classes, making her a formidable opponent on the battlefield. However, her focus on offense means that she has lower defense capabilities than other classes, and she may struggle in taking too many hits.

To make up for her lack of defense, the Archer relies on her agility and mobility to stay out of harm's way.

Character Status


Exterminator


The Exterminator is a ranged fighter who specializes in using fire-based attacks to take down enemies. His default attack is a flamethrower attack that blows fire in a straight line with a small cone, making it perfect for piercing and hitting multiple enemies at once.

The Exterminator's attacks are extremely fast, allowing him to deal damage quickly and efficiently. He also has a chance to burn enemies with his attacks, causing them to take additional damage over time.

However, the Exterminator's base damage and defense are low compared to other classes, making him vulnerable to enemy attacks. Overall, the Exterminator is a unique and deadly class that requires skill and finesse to master. With his speed, power, and fiery attacks, he is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

Character Status


Warlock


The Warlock's primary weapon is a summoned unit that flies straight at enemies, damaging them.
The most important traits for the Warlock are attack speed so you can use your main weapon more often.

Character Status


Sorceress


The character Sorceress inflicts damage with spells. It has hardly any defensive values, but a high damage potential.

It deals moderate damage that arcs to other nearby enemies while still having a chance to apply the Electrify Debuff.

Character Status


Shieldmaiden


The Shieldmaiden character scales with Block Strength and has no actual main attack and because the Shieldmaiden has a special attack that scales with Bock Strength, she doesn't need any damage traits for her attack.

You should mainly focus on Block Strength here critical opportunity and critical damage along with
focus, as the Shieldmaiden has a very high base critical damage bonus, which means she will deal extreme amounts of damage to the enemy on a critical hit.

You should also get some Attack Speed so that your special attack is carried out faster.

Character Status


The Beast Huntress


Her physical/ice fighter whose weapons are the Frost Spear and Hound.
The Frost Spear is her primary means of attack, a thrown projectile.
It has 40% Effect Chance (Frost), It can apply knockback.
The Hound is her secondary means of attack, a dog summon which targets enemies near the Beast Huntress, and attacks in a circle in front of it.
Multihit increases the number of hits per trigger, with 0.2s between hits.

Character Status


Norseman


The Norseman is a physical/melee fighter whose weapons are the Dual Axe and Frost Nova.
The Dual Axe is his primary means of attack, which consists of a strike from each axe. Each strike's area is a small cone.

Character Status

• Be quick – movement speed is extremally important if you don’t want to be surrounded and outmaneuver by enemies.
  
  
• Attack fast – above also applies to your attacks, if you have a chance, mix speed and strength of your abilities. Of course, level rewards are random, so you may not get what you want (critical attacks are also quite nice).
  
  
• Do missions – there are many quests which you may complete, track them and try to finish them. It is not only a challenge, you may get additional rewards for them and even unlock some characters.
  
  
• Move constantly – it is the key feature of the game. If you stop for a moment, you are dead.
  
  
• Group your enemies – from time to time, you will be overcome by a large number of enemies, it is impossible to defeat them easily. Bu you can outmaneuver them, and make one big group of opponents. Circle around them and move the horde from time to time to collect exp.
  
  
• Go for the scroll – Scrolls are additional abilities. They add attacks to your arsenal. You can see them marked on the screen. Try to go for them as soon as possible.
  
  
• Leave the hand for later – the hand is another marker on the screen, it allows you to collect a lot of exp from what you have left. So, it is only natural to wait a little bit, to make the stock bigger.
  
  
• Upgrade your skills – between runs, you can upgrade heroes and heroines. It costs gold, but thanks to it, it is possible to start with a stronger character.
  
  
• Unlock Wellkeeper as soon as possible – this person will allow you to equip some items before the fight. It is very important if you want to start with a stronger character. To hire this person, you have to unlock Ember Grounds (kill The Imp Chieftain on the first map). Later reach his cage and find a key.
  
  
• Watch out for range units – it is easy to evade melee units, however, it is much more difficult to see shots of range opponents and they can be lost among many enemies.
  
  
• Not all enemies charge – some opponents does not want to meet you face to face, and they do not try to “touch you”. It is a valuable information if you were surrounded. You can rush to them and thay will move, not giving you damage.

What To Focus On
focus on doing achievements, they tell you what you are supposed to strive towards, don’t worry if you feel like you aren’t making progress, that’s just how the game feels sometimes, try and doing a different achievement

Unlocking Items
Items can be collected by putting them in the well, which you unlock pretty early on. you then have to pay the old man to permanently unlock them. it is sometimes useful to throw any new item you are carrying into the well if you know you are about to die.

Blessings
Blessings are special buffs you can permanently unlock, and they cost gold coins to upgrade. you unlock more blessings by completing certain achievements

Amount Of Content
The game looks like it has little content at first, but don’t worry, when you complete achievements, a lot more content gets revealed

Items can be found inside golden chests and can be equipped to their respective slots.
If you finished the quest The Wellkeeper, these items can be unlocked for later runs from the Wellkeper and can be equipped from the Item Stash.

Overall, the inventory system in Halls of Torment is designed to give players a wide variety of options for customizing their characters and adapting to different challenges and situations. With careful selection and management of items and equipment, players can create powerful and versatile characters capable of overcoming even the most daunting foes.

Footwear

Footwear includes boots, shoes, and other types of protective footwear. They can provide bonuses to movement speed or defense, and may also have special abilities like trail of flames and goo.

Garment

Garments include cloaks, capes, and other types of outerwear that are worn over your character's other clothing. They can provide various bonuses to health capacity, defense, or block chance, and may also grant special abilities like standing still damage increase or life per kill.

Gloves

Gloves are worn on your character's hands and can provide various bonuses to damage, attack speed, or pickup range. They may also have special abilities like fire attacks.


Helmets[hot.fandom.com]
Headwear includes helmets, hats, and other pieces of protective headgear. They are worn on your character's head and typically provide bonuses to health capacity, attack speed and damage.

Necklace

Necklaces are pieces of jewelry that are worn around your character's neck. They provide significant bonuses such as increased damage.

Ring[hot.fandom.com]

Rings are small, circular pieces of jewelry that can be worn on one of your character's fingers. They typically provide bonuses to certain stats or abilities, such as increased critical damage, attack damage, or revivification.
Your Friendly Ratty

Equipping the Pest Ring will summon a rat that will target random enemies and attack them once, applying a weakened debuff that lasts for 15 seconds. Rat will attack up to 30 enemies before disappearing.

By summoning a rat to attack enemies, players can quickly weaken large groups of foes, making them easier to defeat. Additionally, the weakened debuff applied by the rats can reduce the enemy's strength, making them less of a threat to the player.

Once more equipment is added to the game I will of course update this along with new characters etc.

Attributes are numerical values that represent a character's capabilities and traits in a role-playing game or other similar game genre. These values typically affect a character's performance in various aspects of the game, such as combat, exploration, and interaction with the game world.

Some examples of attributes include health, damage, speed, defense, and critical hit chance. Attributes can be increased through traits, blessing and equipping items.

Defensive Attributes

• Max Health - The maximum amount of health a character can have.
  
• Health Regeneration - The rate at which a character naturally regenerates health over time.
  
• Defence - A character's ability to resist incoming attacks and take reduced damage.
  
• Block Chance - The chance that a character will successfully block an incoming attack.

Offensive Attributes

• Damage -The amount of damage a character can deal with each attack.
  
• Range -The maximum distance that a character's attacks can reach.
  
• Area / Size - The size of the area that a character's attacks affect.
  
• Attack Speed - The speed at which a character can perform their attacks.
  
• Crit. Chance - The chance that a character's attack will critically hit and deal extra damage.
  
• Crit. Bonus - The bonus damage that a character's critical hits will deal.
  
• Piercing - A character's ability to ignore collision of an enemy, allowing their attacks to pierce and hit multiple foes.

Miscellaneous Attributes

• Movement Speed - The speed at which a character can move around the game world.
  
• XP Gain - The rate at which a character gains experience points and levels up.
  
• Pickup Range - The distance at which a character can automatically pick up items and loot from the ground.

Traits are a key gameplay mechanic in Halls of Torment, providing players with powerful bonuses that can greatly enhance their chances of success by leveling up.

One of the defining characteristics of traits is that they are temporary, lasting only until the end of the current run. This means that players must make the most of their bonuses while they have them, as they will disappear once the run is over.

Some common examples of traits include increased health capacity, improved damage, enhanced critical hit chance and faster movement speed. These bonuses can greatly increase a player's chances of success, allowing them to tackle tougher enemies and overcome challenging obstacles.

Overall, traits provide a key strategic element, giving players an incentive to level up and make choices during each run. By carefully selecting which traits to focus on and making the most of their temporary bonuses, players can greatly improve their chances of success and emerge victorious.

Lightning Strike

Kugelblitz

Meteor Strike

Ring Blades

Radiant Aura & Transfixion

Phantom Needles & Arcane Splinter

Astronomer's Orbs

Clay Golem

Dragon's Breath

Maybe build to punch above & beyond

Helmet – Ruby Circlet Deals 4% additional damage for each burning enemy. Limited to 60%.
Amulet – Collar of Confidence: +5% damage for each enemy in your pickup range. The maximum is 50%
Ring 1 – Wooden Ring: +10% base crit chance
Ring 2 – Ring of Fire: Transforms the damage type of your main weapon into fire. +15% Burn Chance
Armor – Plate Armor: +6 block strength
Boots – Firewalker Boots: While you move you produce a trail of fire that damages your enemies. Firepatches have a low chance to burn enemies.
Greaves – Sparking Tips: When you hit a burning enemy with physical attacks, that enemy will spark fire damage projectiles dealing damage based on the burn strength with a chance to set the targets on fire.

With the above build, you have a character with a flamethrower. That’s already a great start, since it may inflict the Burn status ailment. The boots leave flaming trails to make such an outcome even more likely, and one ring increases the chance of all of that good stuff happening. Meanwhile, the armor provides a solid boost defensively, and the other ring increases the likelihood of critical attacks. Equip this build and start your run by improving your pickup radius at the earliest opportunity. Activate the Dragon’s Breath ability and enhance it regularly, along with your critical attacks. You’ll do very well. Finally, improve the Fire Damage blessing to further increase the effect.

Good build for lovers of electricity

Helmet – Wind Crown: 1% attack speed for 5s for each killed enemy (up to 50% attack speed).
Amulet – Collar of Confidence: +5% damage for each enemy in your pickup range. The maximum is 50%
Ring 1 – Echoing Band: Damaging an enemy with physical attacks has a 20% chance to deal 40% of the damage as splash damage.
Ring 2 – Ring of Thunder: Transforms the damage type of your main weapon into electricity. +15% Electrify Chance
Armor – Hunter’s Garb: If you stand still your damage is increased by 8% per second (up to 40%). The bonus is reset as soon as you move.
Boots – Electrostatic Treads: Charges up when you move. When fully charged emits an electric shock wave that damages and stuns enemies.
Greaves – Hunting Gloves: +30% Additional Strike / Projectile

build to enable a critical approach

You might find yourself going up against heavily armoured enemies, and It can be difficult/annoying to make a dent in their defences. This build tends to that issue.

Helmet – Ruby Circlet: Deals 4% additional damage for each burning enemy. Limited to 60%.
Amulet – Jade Amulet: +50% XP Gain
Ring 1 – Copper Ring: Increases the critical damage by 40%.
Ring 2 – Wooden Ring: +10% base crit chance
Armor – Hunter’s Garb: If you stand still your damage is increased by 8% per second (up to 40%). The bonus is reset as soon as you move.
Boots – Elven Slippers: Increases block strength while moving. Builds up by moved distance. Block strength is limited to 10, movement speed buffs increase the cap. Standing still removes the bonus.
Greaves – Thornfists: Deals a critical hit to each enemy that hurts you.

The character Swordsman is a very balanced character in terms of values, which means that there is a good balance between offensive and defensive values.
Its defensive stats are 500 max HP, 0.1 HP Regen, 10 Defence, and 10 Block Strength.
His offensive stats are 95 Damage, 5.0m Range, 1.5m Area/Size, 1.0 Attack Speed, 10% Crit. Chance, 100% Crit. Bonus and 100 piercing.
His other stats are 5.0m Movement Speed, 100% XP Gain and 3.0m Pickup Range.
Of course, these basic values can vary from time to time due to patches and are reinforced by
"blessings", i.e. passive improvements.
Its most important value is 100 piercing.
As a result, he hits up to 100 enemies with his main attack, which will always be everyone who is in his attack radius.

Traits
His key traits to get the most out of his attack are Area/Cone Size,and range.

With these two traits, you ensure that your attack is broader and also hits more enemies at range.
There is no perfect value for both, I mostly prioritise them as long as I caused enough damage and was always able to overrun the large waves of enemies without any problems.

Another important trait, as for most other characters, is Damage & attack Speed.

So that you always do enough damage to destroy the opponents with a few hits, and simply for a faster attack so that you can deal better with agile opponents.

Also, a critical hit chance of 30-40% is highly recommended (more is always better, of course, but that's a good starting point). Followed by critical damage.

Which in the end you can never have enough of.

Pickup range should be at least 5–6 meters.
So that you can better collect the experience from enemies killed further away and just get a better game flow.

The character's high base defensive stats also make it very worth investing in, at least some part.
The defence value should be between 30% and 40%.
So that hits don't cost you too much HP and you can escape from dangerous situations unscathed.

Just like the block strength.which you can completely avert damage paired with health regeneration. So that you can regenerate damage you have suffered. Shouldn't exceed 1.5 - 2 HP/s, invest more in the other defensive stats.

This is obvious but Traits like Weapon Proficiency should actually always be prioritised, as they give twice as many stats as a trait or even more.*Ignore piercing as the base is already 100.*

Abilities
Active skills that work very well with the character are Lightning Strike. it has very high damage, which works very well against elite and bosses. Likewise,Phantom Needle & Transfixion.
Which also deal good damage and will help you better deal with single enemies that are directly in front or behind you.
The game is very demanding and difficult at the beginning, but as you make a few runs and earn some gold, it will become easier and easier for you and you will also notice significant progress

First thing the Archer is such a fun character with long-distance attacks.

Defensive stats
350 max HP, 0.1 HP regen, and 5 Defense.
Offensive stats
50 Damage, 6.0m Range, 0.1m Area/Size, 1.1 Attack Speed, 15% Crit. Chance, 100% Crit. Bonus, 4 piercing and 2 projectiles.
Other stats are 5.0m Movement Speed, 100% XP Gain and 3.0m Pickup Range.


Take advantage of this and always try to shoot into as large a mass of enemies as possible.
Even if you are surrounded by enemies, you can clear your way at a greater distance.

The most important traits
The most important traits to get the most out of the Archer's piercing and projectiles are Attack Speed, damage, critical damage. What also increases your damage extremely is Piercing Wind.

This will ensure that your attacks penetrate multiple opponents, which will effectively increase your damage and also make it much easier for you to eliminate opponents.

Special traits that are for your character should always be prioritised, as they will increase your damage immensely.
You should also always take

Multihit

with you as soon as you have it to choose from.

Traits to ignore
These give you absolutely nothing for your main attack and this will be your biggest source of damage.

This does a lot of damage on impact and ensures that the opponent gets a debuff that deals damage again and again.
You should always focus the traits for the Lightning Strike on Attack Speed and Additional Strikes, Damage and Crit Damage secondary.
With this you quickly ensure that the Lightning Strike is carried out extremely often, i.e. approx. 5–6 times per second! And each execution causes 3-4 lightning strikes.
Other good abilities for the Archer are Phantom Needle, which gives you better enemy control in addition to your main attack & Transfixion.

Equipment

Longfinger Gloves - 80% pickup
Collar of Confidence - +5% damage for each enemy in your pickup range.The maximum is 50% (With this you automatically get more damage bonus, the more enemies are around you, It can be made even more effective with a higher pickup radius.)
The Wind Crown - 1% attack speed for 5s for each killed enemy (up to +50% attack speed).
Ring of Fire - Transforms the damage type of you main weapon into fire. It has now a 20% chance to burn enemies on hit.
Ring of Thunder - Transforms the damage type of you main weapon into elecrticity. It has now the chance to electrify enemies on hit.

So the Sorceress is great its that simple! the damage with spells paired with lighting strike is a no brainier and has hardly any defensive values which is normal and expected with spell caster's anyway, but the high damage potential is worth it.

Defensive stats
300 max HP.

Offensive values
100 Damage, 6.1m Range, 5m Area / Size, 0.5 Attack Speed, 10% Crit. Chance, 200% Crit. Bonus and 3 piercings.

Other stats
5.6m Movement Speed, 100% XP Gain and 3.0m Pickup Range.

The most important traits
Due to the relatively good damage that the Sorceress causes, the Damageis recommended In addition, due to the very high critical damage of 200%, Critical Damage is a must pick with Critical Chance, of course.

Furthermore, Piercing Wind pushes your projectiles and thus provides an enormous damage boost.
Multihit is also always a safe bet.
Due to the fact that the Sorceress has low defence values but increased movement speed, you should increase this from time to time for increased mobility.
(If you wanted to take a little less damage from attacks, 10-15 defence wouldn't be a mistake either but this is completely optional)

Skills you want to take
Of course, Lightning Strike goes best with the Sorceress' main lightning attack. In order to boost the ability properly, you should boost the ability's Attack Speed.
Add to this the strikes, and you have an extremely powerful additional ability to your main attack.
In addition, Dragon's Breath also works very well, since you can also use it to inflict a burn debuff on the opponents.


Equipment

Blood Soaked Shirt - Killing an enemy has a 3% chance to give you 1 health point
Ring of Fire - Burn baby burn!
Quickhand Gloves - +20% attack Speed
The Collar of Confidence - +5% damage (bigger pick radius = more damage)
Copper Ring - Increases the base critical damage by 40

Defensive stats
350 max HP and 5 Defense.

Offensive stats
50 Damage, 7.0m Range, 0.1m Area/Size, 0.8 Attack Speed and 40 Piercing.

Other stats
5.0m Movement Speed, 100% XP Gain and 3.0m Pickup Range.

Traits
You want to prioritise the following ones on Warlock:

Quick Hands: 8% faster attack
Strength: 10% more damage
Channeling: +8% Duration
Weapon Proficiency I (Enhancement): +20% Duration (Main Weapon)
Weapon Proficiency I (Sacrifice): +20 Base Damage (Main Weapon), -1s Duration (Main Weapon)

Your main weapon cannot deal Critical Hits, because the Warlock critical stat has a bonus of 0%. This will make it impossible for you to deal Critical Hits, even if you increase the critical damage as the base stat will remain 0.

Abilities

Summon Golems:Summon a clay golem that moves slowly and has a short but wide attack. It can start rolling and damage all enemies in its way. It always rolls back towards you.

Lightning Strike: Strikes random enemies with lightning, and stuns surrounding enemies around the target. Hit enemies get electrified.

A very good ability that works beautifully with the Warlock’s traits is Summon Golem. Because just like the summoned units of your main weapon, it goes after enemies and always comes back to you for better crowd control.

Equipment

Lastly, the best Warlock items involve anything that spawns more units on the map, as well as Attack Speed, and Pick-Up Range.

Longfinger Gloves: +80% Pick-Up Range
Wind Crown: 1% attack speed for 5s for each killed enemy ( up to 50% attack speed ).
Necromancers Clutch: Every 15 seconds, you summon a Skeleton to fight for you. They will perish after a set time, but their life force will be extended. Can handle 5 summons at a time.
Demonic Bond: Every 5 seconds, you summon an imp to fight by your side. They will be gone after a set time which can be extended. Can handle 5 summons at a time.

Defensive stats
400 max HP, 0.5 HP Regen and 5 Block Strength.

Offensive stats
666 Damage, 7.0m Range, 3m Area/Size, 0.3 Attack Speed, 10 Piercing, and 2 Projectiles.

Other values
4.4m movement speed, 100% XP gain and 3.0m pickup range.

Traits

Strength (+Damage)
Quick Hands (+Attack Speed)
Weapon Proficiency (+Attack Speed on Main Weapon)
Multihit (Multiple Attacks)
Vanguard (+Range)
Collateral Damage (+AoE)

Overall, the Cleric focuses on damage and Attack Speed, while completely ignoring Critical Stats. This is because he starts with a 0% critical rate chance, so it’s not worth investing in it.

Abilities

Radiant Aura – Damages all enemies in range and deals great damage.
Lightning Strike – Strikes random surrounding enemies with bolts of lightning, which causes them to get electrocuted and stunned.

When upgrading your abilities, similar to Traits, and prioritize damage, range, and attack speed.

Equipment

the best Cleric items involve anything that increases damage, attack speed, and range. Some prime examples are the following:

Collar of Confidence – Increases damage by 5% for each enemy in your pickup range.
Wind Crown – Increases attack speed by 1% for 5s for each enemy killed (up to +50% attack speed).
Longfinger Gloves

Since you’ll be positioned close to enemies, and will be killing many with your AoE attacks, these items will have their effects always active.

To summarize this Cleric build guide in Halls of Torment, players should focus on damage and attack speed traits and items.
As for abilities, Radiant Aura and Lightning Strike will help you deal with the majority of enemies.

The Exterminator character is a ranged fighter that starts with a flamethrower. He can hit multiple targets at once, triggering the Burn effect.

Defensive stats
400 max HP, 0.1 HP Regen, 10 Defense, and 5 Block Strength.

Offensive stats
20 Damage, 6.0m Range, 0.1m Area/Size, 5.0 Attack Speed, 20% Crit. Bonus and 10 piercing.

Traits
Due to its extremely high attack speed, the Exterminator has the advantage that the percentage attack speed is all the better because it is always counted towards the base value.
Relatively small amounts bring many more attacks per second, which means that you can use the burn debuff more often on the opponents and they take more fire damage per tick.

On the other hand, stats like Crit Damage on the main weapon are very inefficient, as they also count towards the base stat and are therefore of little use.
It is good for the abilities, but very bad for the pure damage of the main weapon.


Special traits
The character is also to be prioritised here, but with a focus on attack speed, burn chance and range.
If you have a lot of attack speed and an additional burn chance, you will only melt elite opponents and bosses.


Abilities
The Exterminator's main attack is extremely strong, especially against bosses. However, it is very helpful if larger enemy masses can be held off with abilities.

Lightning Strike is best suited for this with a focus on attack speed and additional strikes.
Alternatively, Phantom Needles bring a little more enemy control.


Equipment

Quickhand Gloves
Wind Crown - 1% attack speed for 5s for each killed enemy (up to +50% attack speed).
Ring of Fire
Ring of Thunder

The Shieldmaiden character scales with Block Strength.

Defensive stats
400 max HP, 0.2 HP regeneration, 15 Defense and 10 Block Strength.

Offensive stats
6.1m range, 5m area / size, 0.2 attack speed, 5% crit. Chance, 200% Crit. Bonus and 100 piercing.

Other stats
4.7m Movement Speed, 100% XP Gain and 3.0m Pickup Range.



Traits

the Shieldmaiden has a special attack that scales with Bock Strength, she doesn't need any damage traits for her attack.
You should mainly focus on Block Strength here, critical opportunity and critical damage.


focus, as the Shieldmaiden has a very high base critical damage bonus, which means she will deal extreme amounts of damage to the enemy on a critical hit.

You should also get some Attack Speed so that your special attack is carried out faster.

Abilities

I have found that abilities for the Shieldmaiden are those that attack enemies at close range with a lot of area damage.
This includes the Radiant Aura. It deals very high damage, which is divided among all enemies hit.
Another good pick is Dragon's Breath.
Deals good damage and still has a high chance of applying the Burn debuff to opponents.
If you wanted to pick Lightning Strike as this is also always a good choice.
Try to increase the attack speed as much as possible, Additional Strikes are also very helpful.

Equipment

Elven Slippers
Copper Ring
Blood Soaked Shirt
Quickhand Gloves

Or try out @Letir which is also good its in the comments.

This was suggested by

ActustheKaktus

I Have not tested it but on first glace they could be on to something here.

Defensive stats
450 max HP, 0.5 HP Regen, Defence 15 and 0 Block Strength.

Offensive stats
Damage 75, Attack Speed 0.5/s, Multihit 1.00, Crit Chance 40%, Crit Bonus 65%, Force 0.0,
Range 4.5m, Area 1.4m

Other values
5.5m movement speed, 100% XP gain and 3.0m pickup range.

Character Traits

Collateral Damage (Area)
Metabolism ( x/s Base Regeneration)
Vanguard (Range) (for the bosses)
Multihit (Mutlihit)
Piercing Wind (Base Crit Bonus)
Cunning Technique (Base Crit Bonus)
Ruthlessness (Crit Bonus)
Swift Feet (Movement Speed)
Long Fingers (Pick Up Range) (with the Collar of Confidence)

Other Traits:
False Blessing
Lightning Affinity
Fire Affinity
Weapons Proficiency (Strength)
Dedication (Stamina)

Ability
Lightning Strike (Thanks to your guide I love to play this Ability :D)
Transfixion

Equipment
Wind Crown
Collar of Confidence
Blood-Soaked Shirt
Quickhand Gloves
Ring of Fire
Copper Ring
Elven Slippers

Bonus:
Mark of Sorcery

This was suggested by

ActustheKaktus

I Have not tested it.

Defensive stats
400 max HP, 0.2 HP Regen, Defence 10 and 10 Block Strength.

Offensive stats
Damage 120, Attack Speed 0.5/s, Multihit 1.00, Crit Chance 10%, Crit Bonus 150%, Force 10.0, Area 0.4m

Other values
5.0m movement speed, 100% XP gain and 3.0m pickup range.

Character Trais

Weapon Proficiency Piercing -> Trait Level II
Dedication Flight -> Trait Level IV (max.)
From the Mark of Arrow:
Proficient Stance (Barrage) -> Trait Level IV (max.)
Weapon Proficiency -> Trait Level IV (max.)
Fire Affinity -> Trait Level III
Lightning Affinity -> Trait Level II
Bulwark -> Trait Level III
Demonic Exchange -> Trait Level II
Elemental Surge - Fire

Ability

Golem -> Trait Level VIII and Upgrade: Magma Fist
Spirit Warrior -> Trait Level X (max.) and Upgrades: Dash Impact, Twin Spirits
Orbs -> Trait Level VIII and Upgrades: Inner Orbit, Electrified Orbs
Dragon Breath -> Trait Level V and Upgrade: Heat Blast
Radiant Aura -> Trait Level V and Upgrade: Punitive Light
Lightning Strike -> Trait Level I

Equipment
Wind Crown
Collar of Confidence
Blood-Soaked Shirt
Invocator's Grasp
Echoing Band
Copper Ring
Runner Shoes, or Elven Slippers

Bonus
Mark of the Arrow
Allows you to pick Archer character traits.+0.10 Base Crit Chance

Tip:

Use the Reverberant Tinkture for x2 your best traits, if you choose the Tinkture and choose a Trait, he double the effect.

Strength V x 2 and Movement Speed V or Crit V x2
or one of the Ability Traits (check the Wiki, to know which will be doubled).
https://hot.fandom.com/wiki/Trait#Ability_Trait

Items
New item: Gorgon Mask (Head)
Slows down enemies in front of you.
Deals damage based on slow stacks.
Unlocked by quest: Viaduct Survivor III (Viaduct)

New item: Mask of Madness (Head)
Take damage in regular intervals.
On each interval you get a permanent buff in exchange.
Unlocked by quest: Mark of Madness (Warlock)

New item: Broker’s Cape (Body)
Selects a random debuff from an enemy.
Tries to apply the selected debuff to all enemies in range.
Unlocked by quest: Broken Body (Cleric)

Item Rework: Rat Ring (Ring)
Rats now attack the closest enemy that they’ve not attacked yet.
If rats can’t find a new target, they wait and then attack the previous enemy again.
Rats deal 20 physical damage to enemies they touch.
Rat Ring is now affected by summon count.
Amount of debuffs applied is now affected by Multistrike.
New uncommon variants.

Monsters can now have slow resistance and limits on how slow they can be.
Resistance: champion (25%), elite (50%), boss (66%), lord (80%)
Limit: champion (30%), elite, boss, lord (50%)

Abilities
New ability upgrade: Phantom Fetter (Phantom Needles)
Unlocked by new quest: Phantom Needles Specialist (Viaduct)
Quest requirement: 10 000 double crits in a run with Phantom Needles
Slows enemies on hit.
Gets additional crit chance based on the slow stacks on the hit enemy.

New ability upgrade: Orbital Shift (Astronomer’s Orbs)
Unlocked by new quest: Astronomer’s Orbs Specialist (Viaduct)
Quest requirement: Hit 40 000 enemies in a run with Astronomer’s Orbs
Orbs change distance from the player, forming a rotating ellipse.
Orbs deal damage based on the relative distance to the player.

New ability upgrade: Amputation (Transfixion)
Unlocked by new quest: Transfixion Specialist (Archer)
Quest requirement: Apply 150 000 debuff stacks with Transfixion
Enemies take 10% bonus damage per debuff stack on them.
Adds an additional Transfixion emitter.

Transfixion balancing:
Reduced base damage from 80 to 70.
Increased the multiplier for multi enemy hits from 66% to 75%.
Decreased the base damage from deadliness trait from 15 to 10.

New trait: Crippling Strikes
Increases slow chance by 15%
3 levels (10, 20, 35)
Unlocks with the new quest “Crippling Strikes” on the Viaduct quest board

Performance
We’ve done some under-the-hood performance optimizations. There’s still room for improvement and we’ll keep on working on that front.

Full list of changes below follow link
https://sp.zhabite.com/steamstore/news/app/2218750/view/3701455448030070974

• When swapping item versions, their counters (and accumulated buffs) were not kept.
  
• Holy Relic now heals you for the fixed 50 HP.
  
• Power ups and health pickups from items can no longer spawn out of bounds.
  
• Characters can no longer drop below 1 max. Health.
  
• Shepherd’s Boon bonus on full health only charges when being at full health now.
  
• The Focus variant of Shepherd’s boon now increases main weapon damage.
  
• The Summon Ring’s had a bug where the base increase of summon counts would be applied multiple times. This resulted in hundreds of minions when using the Shepherd’s Boon.
  
• The Brimming variant of Maiden’s Tear now properly adds a 60% bonus.
  
• The gem spawn positions on the Viaduct are now calculated more accurately.
  
• Wisps and Wyrms are no longer getting lost in the Frozen Depths as they’ve been taught how to navigate through the passages.
  
• Wyrms on Ember Grounds are back at work.
  
• Possessed Effigy (that nice little statue ghosts on the Viaduct) have their effect on Agony reduced.
  
• Decreased the effect of monsters on Agony in general, making it decay slower.
  
• Removed all the speed modifiers from Champions.
  
• Corrected a balancing mistake with Viaduct and Frozen Depths not scaling monster spawns properly.

Full list of changes below follow link
https://sp.zhabite.com/steamstore/news/app/2218750/view/3893986782153434036

Bug Fixes

• No more negative Health (for real this time)
  
• Holy Relic’s Light does now count as source for Warrior’s Fervor
  
• Holy Relic’s uncommon variant now also scales with itS own light
  
• Blood Catcher (Enchantment), the temporary Attack Speed buff is now working
  
• No more potions stuck in the well, the wellkeeper threw them away
  
• If one has now all available bottles in the inventory, no more additional bottle drops
  
• Sometimes pointers to items would not disappear
  
• Scorched Slayer quest now properly shows Blazing Armor as reward
  
• Several Typos and descriptions
  
• Uncommon Shadow Cloak now spawns the correct patches giving you 30 Block Strength

A Link to the full list of change's and updates below.
https://sp.zhabite.com/steamstore/news/app/2218750/view/7600451356797340592

General Changes

• Chests with uncommon loot will drop more often.
  
• Dialogues contain new voices and add our voice actors to the credits.
  
• In Dialogues, characters will now use their mouths properly.

Bug Fixes

• Projectiles would not be properly destroyed when reaching max. hits.
  
• Reverberant Potion would not drop from chests anymore, this has been fixed.
  
• There was always a trait carried over from previous runs, this has been fixed and should also fix some additional follow up bugs resulting from this.
  
• Typos

A Link to the full list of change's and updates below.
https://sp.zhabite.com/steamstore/news/app/2218750/view/6234737315522963329

Patch Notes

• Fixed an issue that could lead to crashes whenever bullets or effects were duplicated.
  
• Fixed a crash caused by the “Adaptation”-Trait of Spectral Fists when “Cunning Technique” was picked afterwards.
  
• Fix: Spawn rate in Chambers of Dissonance would not increase with Agony.
  
• Added custom key bindings for “Auto Aim” and “Pause” in the settings.

Lords

• Added hexes for all Lords
  
• Lords have new and improved sounds
  
• The Lords have reinforcements

Ability Upgrades

• Arcane Rifts upgrade: added three new upgrades that change the element of the rifts. Only one upgrade can be chosen.
  
• Added “Arcane Rifts Specialist”-Quest
  
• Kugelblitz upgrade “Final Discharge” has been added. Kugelblitz finishes in a strong explosion.
  
• “Kugelblitz Specialist”-Quest has been added.
  
• Flamestrike can now be transformed into “Froststrike” with a new ability upgrade.
  
• New quest “Flamestrike”-Specialist has been added.

Bug Fixes

• Dragon’s Breath, Refined Flame: The value changes for Attack Speed and Burn Damage have been fixed.
  
• Fix: Champions in Chambers of Dissonance could still get the “Fast Walker” modifier.
  
• Fixed Trait: “Fusion” (Meteor Strikes) -> Rel. -> Abs. Crit Bonus
  
• Fixed Trait: “Accuracy X” (Transfixion) -> Description
  
• Fixed Trait: “Proficient Stance IV” (Sage) -> Damage Value
  
• Fixed Trait: “Frost Affinity” -> Description
  
• Fix: Warlock main attack -> Counts now as Summon for Multistrike & Attack Speed
  
• Fixed Quest: Spirit Warrior Specialist -> no more tracking from other abilities
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Base Attack Speed to affect attacks that are triggered by distance moved.
  
• Fixed Sage description -> Movement Speed is actually 4.5m/s not 4.0m/s
  
• Breakables will no longer add damage to the damage statistics.

Stay Fresh 🥕
Chasing Carrots

Source
https://sp.zhabite.com/steamstore/news/app/2218750/view/4101161968292248472

Translations, Gloves and more!

Selecting an inventory slot in the stash menu will now filter the items in the stash.

Three new gloves:
Frost Thorns,
Thundercharged Gauntlets,
Bloodstained Wrappings

New Glove Variants:
Sparking Tipps,
Invocator’s Grasp,
Thornfists,
Fencer Gauntlet,
Spellcaster Gloves

New Quests & Achievements:
Untouchable II (Norseman), Blood’s Blessing (Beast Huntress)
Bug Fixes & Smaller balancing adjustments

You can see the current state of all items on the Wiki.
https://hot.fandom.com/wiki/Halls_of_Torment_Wiki

Changes
The “Electrify” effect is now called “Spark”.
Several various adjustments to the English texts
Quest board was extended to offer more space for text.
Quest Tracker now shows required character

Small Features
Gem Clusters now change color depending on their XP value.
Blue: <50, Yellow: <500, Red: <5000, Translucent: 5000 or more
Selecting an inventory slot in the stash menu will now filter the items in the stash.

Items
Sparking Tips: Variant (Lightning) has been added

Invocator’s Grasp: Variant (Elites) has been added

Thronfists: Variant (Vacuum) has been added

Fencer Gauntlets: Variant (Multistrike) has been added

Spellcaster Gloves: Variant (Uncommon) has been removed
Spellcaster Gloves: Variant (Hyperfocus) has been added
Spellcaster Gloves: Variant (Multitasking) has been added

New Item: Frost Thorns including two Variants
New Item: Thundercharge Gauntlets including three Variants
New Item: Bloodstained Wrappings including two Variants

Quests
Untouchable II (Norseman) has been added, unlocking Frost Thorns
Blood’s Blessing (Beast Huntress) has been added, unlocking Bloodstained Wrappings
Trained Sorceress (Sorceress) does now unlock Thundercharged Gauntlets

Balancing
Hunting Gloves: 20% -> 30% Multistrike
Hunting Gloves (Boost): 40% -> 60% Multistrike
Hunting Gloves(Growth): 20% -> 30% Multistrike
Hunting Gloves (Growth): 0.5%/2 Levels Multistrike -> 0.3%/Level Multistrike

Invocator’s Grasp: 40% Spawns -> 30% Spawns, Remove Force
Invocator’s Grasp: 20% Damage -> 50% Damage
Invocator’s Grasp (Uncommon) replaced with variants (Swarm) and (Elites)
Invocator’s Grasp (Swarm): 60% Spawns, 50% Damage
Invocator’s Grasp (Elites): 30% Spawns, 20 Base Damage, 50% Damage

Unholy Touch: 50% Affliction -> 20% Fragile
Unholy Touch (Uncommon): -> (Slow) / 100% Affliction -> 20% Slow
Unholy Touch (Fragile): 100% Fragile -> 40% Fragile
Unholy Touch (all variants): Scale now with their respective effect chances

Sparking Tips (all variants): Projectiles deal now damage based on the targets elemental stacks
Sparking Tips (all variants): Now scale with modifiers
Sparking Tips (all variants): 100% Trigger Chance -> 10% Trigger Chance
Sparking Tips (all variants): Burn Chance bonus
Sparking Tips: 15% Burn Chance -> 20% Burn Chance
Sparking Tips (Uncommon) -> (Fire)
Sparking Tips (Fire): 15% Burn Chance -> 20% Burn Chance
Sparking Tips (Fire): +100% Elemental effect damage bonus

Thornfists (Uncommon) -> (Retribution)

Quickhand Gloves (Growth): 0.4%/Level Attack Speed -> 0.3%/Level Attack Speed

Longfinger Gloves & (Growth): 80% Pickup Range -> 100% Pickup Range
Longfinger Gloves (Boost): 160% Pickup Range -> 200% Pickup Range

Fencer Gauntlets (all variants): Removed additional block strength

Spellcaster Gloves: 66.6% maximum Damage Bonus -> 100%
Spellcaster Gloves: Reduce Delay from 2s to 1s
Spellcaster Gloves: Increase Charge Speed

Trait Piercing Wind: 0.10 Base Crit Bonus -> 0.15 Base Crit Bonus

Iron Ring: 10 Base Damage -> 15 Base Damage
Iron Ring (Boost): 20 Base Damage -> 30 Base Damage
Iron Ring (Growth): 10 Base Damage -> 15, 0.125 Damage per Level -> 0.15

Plated Boots (all variants): Changed % values to base values
Plated Boots 10 Defense, 10 Block Strength
Plated Boots (Boost): 20 Defense, 20 Block Strength
Plated Boots (Growth): 0.1 Defense & Block Strength per Level

Runner Shoes: 25% Movement Speed -> 20% Movement Speed
Runner Shoes (Boost): 45% Movement Speed -> 40% Movement Speed
Runner Shoes (Growth): 0.5% Movement Speed / 2 Levels -> 0.2%/Level

Plate Armor: 20% Block Strength -> 10 Base Block Strength
Plate Armor: 20% Health -> 25% Health
Plate Armor (Boost): 20 Base Block Strength & 50% Health
Plate Armor (Growth): 0.1 Base Block & 0.25% Health per Level

Chain Mail: 20% Defense -> 10 Base Defense
Chain Mail: 20% Max Health -> 25% Max Health
Chain Mail (Boost): 20 Base Defense & 50% Max Health
Chain Mail (Growth): 0.1 Base Defense & 0.25% Max Health per Level

Bug Fixes
Projectile Stats, the cone display did not give correct information

Exterminator’s Flame Caster no longer scales cone with Area

Added missing Modifier Icons for Vision Crown and Warchief’s Visor

Thunder Crown (Uncommon) had no Crit Chance (now 10%) / Crit Bonus (now 100%)
Thunder Crown (Uncommon) had wrong Base Damage of 100 instead of 200
Thunder Crown (Uncommon) falsely scaled with Attack Speed and Multistrike

Swordsman character info in the selection screen were wrong (Main Weapon stats)

Beast Huntress’ Base multistrike increase should have been 0.006 instead of 0.005 per level
Beast Huntress character info stated 0.01 multistrike increase per level, was fixed

Description of Frost Avalanche IV (Frost) Trait: Frost Chance -> Elemental Effect Chance
Sparking Tips now show up in damage statistics

Red item chests only gave 1 instead 2 item options
Potion chests would display 2 instead of 1 item option

OnHitChance sources are now properly displayed as bonus in Effect Chance on Hit details

Sparking Tips damage now counts as Item, Fire and Projectile damage
Thornfists damage now counts as Item, Melee and Physical damage

Cleric’s Weapon Proficiency (Propagation) was not properly applying its effects
Transfixion Specialist quest had the wrong amount of triggers in the description

Norseman’s Proficient Stance (Blizzard) did not add Frost Chance
Sorceress description falsely stated she has no base regeneration

Ring Blades were not considered “Melee” for Attack Speed
Warlock’s “Bloodletting”-Traits were falsely limited to the main weapon

Abilities get some base crit chances before revisiting their final balancing
Kugelblitz: 0% -> 10% Crit Chance
Dragon’s Breath; 0% -> 5% Crit Chance
Radiant Aura: 0% -> 5% Crit Chance
Golem Melee: 20% -> 10% Crit Chance | 65% -> 100% Crit Bonus
Golem Roll: 0% -> 20% Crit Chance | 100% -> 200% Crit Bonus

Link to all changes
https://sp.zhabite.com/games/2218750/announcements/detail/4164221237587769598

A short overview of what we can currently confirm:

• Stage 6, the Vault
  
• The Scriptor, a new NPC to be rescued from the Frozen Depths
  
• The Shrine of Torment (late and end game challenges)
  
• Artifacts to customize the game experience in the Shrine of Torment
  
• Tier V character traits, new blessings related to critical hits and champion drops
  
• Final item adjustments, variants for all items including a new rarity level
  
• Polishing and QoL features for a better game experience

Link to full update

https://sp.zhabite.com/games/2218750/announcements/detail/4355628027390862097

Its nearly time!!!! 20 Days to go!!!!!

All information about this is in link below
https://sp.zhabite.com/steamstore/news/app/2218750/view/4597699678374177947?l=english

💰 THE VAULT
💀 THE SHRINE OF TORMENT
📜 THE SCRIPTOR
⚔️ CHARACTERS
📦ITEMS
🥕QUESTS
🌍STAGES
🪄ABILITIES
✨QOL
💻OTHER
All Updates in link below its massive so much new content!!
Changelog 1.0
Reports & Feedback[open.codecks.io]

Link to the original source where some of the info in this guide is from.

https://hot.fandom.com/wiki/Halls_of_Torment_Wiki

Anyway Happy hunting!!!!