TBH Task Bar Hero looks simple at first glance, but once you get past the first few acts, you’ll quickly realize that gold management, hero progression, cube usage, and rune investment matter far more than raw levels. Many new players waste resources early because the game does very little explaining, so this guide covers everything you need to know from your first login all the way into the later stages of progression.
if you’re trying to build your first team, unlock formation slots, understand crafting, or even make use of the Steam marketplace, this guide walks through every important system and explains how they connect together.
Heros
When starting a new account, you’ll be presented with several hero classes.
Some classes are immediately available, while others remain locked until they are purchased using in-game currency. Fortunately, unlocking heroes is fairly inexpensive and won’t take long through normal gameplay.
For a first character, two classes stand out:
Knight
The Knight is one of the safest starting choices.
He offers excellent survivability, can absorb damage for the rest of the team, and remains useful throughout the game. While his damage output isn’t the highest, his durability allows newer players to push stages more consistently without worrying about constant failures.
Ranger
The Ranger focuses on speed and damage.
Her attack rate is extremely high compared to other starting classes, allowing her to clear enemies quickly. Players who enjoy faster progression and aggressive gameplay generally prefer starting with the Ranger.
Priest
Although technically obtained through DLC, the Priest DLC is completely free.
Many experienced players consider the Priest one of the strongest and most important heroes in the entire game because of her healing and support abilities. Most successful team compositions eventually include a Priest.
Hunter and Slayer
These additional DLC heroes are more specialized.
They can perform well in certain builds, but beginners usually gain more value from focusing on the core classes first before experimenting with alternative setups.
Building Your First Formation
As you unlock more heroes, your focus shifts from individual characters to team composition.
The Formation menu allows you to deploy heroes, remove heroes, and rearrange their positions within the party.
A balanced beginner formation often consists of:
- Knight
- Priest
- Ranger
This combination provides durability, healing, and damage all at once.
As more formation slots become available later through the Rune Tree, additional classes can be added to strengthen farming speed or increase survivability.
One useful trick many players overlook is that formation changes can be made almost anywhere. If one hero dies and enters resurrection cooldown, you can temporarily replace them with another hero to keep progressing instead of waiting.
This becomes especially useful during difficult progression pushes.
Hero Progression
Every hero gains levels, skill points, and passive bonuses over time.
Whenever you notice red notification markers on a character portrait, check them immediately. These indicators usually mean:
- Available skill points
- Unassigned talents
- New upgrades
- Empty equipment slots
Leaving these unused can significantly slow progression.
Fortunately, skill experimentation is encouraged because respec costs are extremely forgiving.
Pets
Many new players assume pets only matter when equipped.
This isn’t true.
Pet effects remain active regardless of whether the pet is currently deployed in your formation. Because of this, unlocking pets should be considered a long-term account goal rather than a cosmetic activity.
Common pet unlock requirements involve defeating large numbers of specific enemies.
Examples include:
- Bats
- Giant Flies
- Fire Spirits
- Ghosts
- Blue Golems
As your account becomes stronger, returning to earlier stages dramatically speeds up pet farming.
Hero-Dric Cube
The Hero-Dric Cube is one of the most important systems in the entire game.
Nearly every piece of long-term progression eventually passes through it.
Many beginners ignore cube mechanics until much later and end up falling behind because of it.
The cube contains several different functions, each serving a unique purpose.
Synthesis
Synthesis combines equipment into higher-rarity items.
The basic concept is simple:
- Insert 9 items of the same rarity.
- Receive one random item in return.
The resulting item can sometimes skip rarity tiers entirely if you’re lucky.
One important detail many players misunderstand is item level.
The level of the materials placed into the cube is not the primary factor determining the final result. Instead, the selected level range determines what level item can be produced.
Because of this, lower-level gear often remains useful as synthesis material.
Early Game Strategy
Avoid excessive synthesis during your first few hours.
Gold is much more valuable than gear upgrades early on because Rune Tree progression provides larger account-wide benefits.
Late Game Strategy
Once gear begins overflowing and gold becomes less restrictive, synthesis becomes far more attractive.
This is when many players begin chasing high-rarity equipment through mass crafting sessions.
Alchemy
Alchemy is essentially the game’s selling system.
Instead of using traditional vendors, unwanted items are converted directly into gold.
The auto-fill feature makes cleaning inventories extremely fast, but it also creates risk.
Always double-check what is being added before confirming.
Some players accidentally destroy valuable items because auto-fill grabbed something important from storage.
A good habit is to:
- Lock valuable items
- Store important equipment separately
- Review selections before confirming
Throughout the early game, Alchemy becomes one of your biggest sources of gold.
Crafting
Crafting allows you to create completely new items using materials.
Unlike synthesis, crafting does not require existing equipment.
Instead, materials are consumed to generate random gear within the chosen category and level range.
The crafted item’s:
- Class
- Rarity
- Stats
are all randomized.
This system becomes particularly important because accessories are primarily acquired through crafting rather than regular chest drops.
Whenever you have spare materials, crafting is usually worthwhile.
Even a single lucky Legendary, Immortal, or Arcana item can significantly boost progression.
Decoration System
Blue rarity equipment and above begin introducing decoration slots.
Decorations provide additional bonuses that can greatly improve a hero’s performance.
Before inserting decorations, carefully examine which bonuses are available.
For example, adding Fire Damage bonuses onto a hero that deals no fire damage provides almost no value.
Small mistakes like this become increasingly expensive later.
Engraving System
Immortal gear unlocks engraving slots.
These function similarly to decorations but offer different types of stat bonuses and require different resources.
Immortal equipment represents a major progression milestone, so properly engraving important pieces can produce noticeable power gains.
Inscription System
Arcana equipment introduces inscriptions.
These are the highest tier enhancement slots currently available.
By the time players begin collecting Arcana gear, inscriptions become one of the biggest factors separating average builds from optimized builds.
Because Arcana items are rare, choose inscription materials carefully.
Removal System
The Removal feature allows players to clear decorations, engravings, and inscriptions from equipment.
However, there is an important downside.
Removing an enhancement destroys the inserted material permanently.
You keep the equipment, but the enhancement resource is lost forever.
Always make sure you’re comfortable with the trade before confirming removal.
Understanding Offerings
Offerings function somewhat like loot boxes.
Players sacrifice commemorative coins in exchange for random rewards.
Higher rarity commemorative coins appear to provide access to better reward pools, though exact rates are still not fully understood by the community.
While not a primary progression system, offerings can occasionally provide valuable items.
Making Gold Efficiently
Gold is the single most important resource during the early and mid-game.
Many beginners focus too heavily on gear while neglecting account progression.
The best gold sources include:
- Alchemy conversions
- Rune investments
- Efficient farming stages
- Boss clears
Before spending heavily on crafting or synthesis, make sure critical Rune Tree upgrades have already been unlocked.
Efficient Stage Farming
One of the biggest mistakes new players make is farming the highest stage they can barely clear.
This often results in slower progression.
Instead, farm stages that can be completed consistently and quickly.
A stage completed in thirty seconds is often more profitable than one requiring several minutes and frequent failures.
Experienced players regularly move backwards through earlier acts when farming specific resources because efficiency matters more than difficulty.
Unlocking Additional Formation Slots
Your first major Rune Tree goal should always be additional formation slots.
These upgrades dramatically increase account strength because each extra hero contributes:
- Damage
- Utility
- Healing
- Survivability
The final formation slot costs a substantial amount of gold, but the investment pays for itself quickly.
Many veteran players consider these unlocks the highest priority purchases in the game.
The Rune Tree acts as your account-wide progression system.
Every investment permanently improves your overall power.
Southern Path
Focuses heavily on formation expansion.
This should be your earliest priority.
South-East Path
Provides combat power.
You’ll find bonuses such as:
- Attack
- Armor
- Speed
Ideal for players wanting immediate combat improvements.
South-West Path
Focused on experience gains.
Excellent for leveling multiple heroes quickly.
North-West Path
Dedicated primarily to gold generation.
Eventually becomes one of the strongest long-term investments.
North Path
Provides quality-of-life improvements including:
- Inventory expansion
- Storage upgrades
- Automatic chest opening
North-East Path
Improves chest systems.
You’ll find upgrades affecting:
- Chest capacity
- Drop rates
- Loot frequency
Rather than rushing one direction completely, many successful players spread investments between several branches based on current needs.
Steam Marketplace Trading
One feature that separates TBH from many idle games is Steam Marketplace integration.
Certain items can be transferred into your Steam inventory and sold for Steam Wallet funds.
The process works as follows:
- Transfer the item onto the Steam Trade Ship.
- Wait for it to appear in Steam Inventory.
- List the item through Steam Market.
- Confirm the listing through Steam Guard.
If an item fails to sell, it can be removed from the market and reclaimed later.
Reclaimed items return through the in-game mailbox rather than directly back into inventory.
Before listing equipment, remember that enhancements must usually be removed first.
Decorated or engraved items typically cannot be sold with modifications attached.
Frequently Overlooked Features
Several useful features are hidden away in menus.
Auto Retry
This setting determines what happens after failure.
When enabled, the game immediately retries the same stage.
When disabled, the game automatically drops down to lower stages until a successful farming location is found.
Fast Travel
Previously completed stages can be revisited instantly through the Portal menu.
This is extremely useful for:
- Pet farming
- Resource farming
- Fast clears
- Hero leveling
Mailbox Recovery
The mailbox does much more than store messages.
It also handles:
- Marketplace returns
- Purchased items
- Recovered listings
- Certain server-related recoveries
Checking it regularly can save frustration.