Explanation of Stamina Mechanics
By FatFox.
This is a guide to help new players and nerds (like me) understand Stamina-related mechanics. It is organized in the form of Questions and Answers.
Basics
Q: What is Stamina and how is it used?
A: The majority of the weapons have a cost to be triggered. This can be found in item’s description in Stamina cost field in the following format: xx.xx (yy.yy/s). The “x” value shows how much Stamina will be subtracted from your current available stamina during a battle when the item cooldown is refreshed. The “y” value is the sum of all items to estimate your overall stamina consumption per second.
Q: Is there a way to check your Stamina consumption per second?
A: You can also see it by tapping the hero portrait in the corner.
Q: Is there a another way to check your Stamina consumption per second?
A: Go to Settings -> Enable Always Show Stamina Usage. As soon as you place an item which uses Stamina into your build – a number will be displayed.
- 🟢 means that most likely your basic Stamina regeneration is likely higher than consumption.
- 🟡 means some items might not trigger.
- 🔴 indicates that many items will not trigger.
Note that items adding Stamina (e.g. Apple) or improving its regeneration rate (e.g. Endurance Potion or Wrath potion) are not accounted for here, as they work only in battle. Also even you are in a 🟢 area the regeneration rate might not be enough as consumption will be too high to other in game effects like Haste.
Q: Why it is bad to have too high Stamina consumption?
A: If you have too many weapons, many of them may not trigger skipping damage and effects due to a lack of Stamina meaning Gold was spent inefficiently and bag space was wasted while you could buy another item which does not require Stamina. At the same time some strategies might utilize a lack of stamina.
Q: Is there a way to have more Stamina capacity or its regeneration rate?
A: Yes! Plenty. Carefully study items and bags. Also when you level your heroes by playing the game you get +0.5 Stamina cap on level 7, 13 and +0.05 regeneration rate on level 3, 8, 14.
Q: Can an enemy affect my Stamina?
A: Yes, there are many items that drain it. If your build relies on Stamina, it’s a good idea to plan for countermeasures (e.g. Apple).
Foundations
Q: Will a weapon deal damage if there was not enough Stamina at the time of triggering?
A: No, the damage will not be dealt, Stamina will not be consumed but cooldown will restart.
Q: What happens to on hit effects of a weapon if there is not enough Stamina to trigger it?
A: Nothing happens, any on hit effect is skipped. For instance, neither Lifesteal will be added to you, nor will Bleed be applied to the enemy from a Hooked Blade. Or Bolts won’t be used by Hand Crossbow either.
Q: What happens with Buffs (e.g. Armor, Thorns) on the enemy when a weapon is triggered without enough Stamina?
A: Nothing happens, any effect is skipped.
Q: What happens with enemy items with When hit effects? For instance, Spiked Shield effect: 30% chance to block 4 Damage and gain 1 Thorns.
A: Nothing happens, any on hit effect is skipped.
Q: What happens with items with effect when Star item activates that are supposed to be triggered by a weapon but lack sufficient Stamina? For instance, Death essence.
A: Nothing happens. Note, that effects like on Star weapon hit will work anyway if the related item is successfully triggered.
Q: Will other abilities work on the item if there is not enough Stamina?
A: Yes, if they are not related to on hit effects or passive abilities. For instance, Meat Cleaver will still give you Regeneration anyway.
Q: Will a Hero Bag (the one with 6 cells you are starting with) be triggered when a weapon is triggered without enough Stamina? For instance, will Pumpkin Patch give Regeneration?
A: Nothing happens.
Advanced
Q: Are there any weapons or items that override Stamina cost?
A: First of all, there are weapons such as daggers that do not consume stamina. Also, Ronan‘s unique item Weapons Rack will trigger the Star weapon when a condition is met, even if there is not enough stamina.
Q: How to counter lots of Stamina build?
A: Use items which consumes Stamina from your opponent. For example, Skulls / Heater Shield / Gothic Shield
Strategies
Q: What to do with a lot items which require Stamina?
A: Be aware of Stamina consumption and cooldown of the items to offset some weapon triggering to averagely distribute Stamina consumption. Faster weapons have more chance to succeeding the attacks. For example, If you have 3 weapons triggered at the same time, it can cause a surge of Stamina consumption which sometimes can cause some item out of stamina and its effect wasted. To resolve this try putting some items with similar cooldown in Fanny Pack. If you have > 1.15 average Stamina consumption rate, having different trigger time can prolong you from being out of stamina. This synergies very well in terms of effectiveness with Banana and/or Apple.
Q: How to build around Stamina surge?
A: There is a Burst-damage build based on Out of stamina state. Wrath potion not only gives you Stamina but also adds 2 Empower per potion sip. To build around this, you need multiple potions or charges (e.g., increased with Belts) and high stamina consumption so the potions are consumed immediately at the start of a battle, leading to high damage output from weapons. Such battles usually end within 6-9 seconds.
Q: Are there any other hints?
A: Yes!
- If all you weapons are the same quality (all have the same priority to land) it’s okay to having high Stamina consumption in 🟡 or 🔴 area – insufficient Stamina will not affect much.
- Haste increment affects Stamina usage. For example, with Reptile Stalker on Nymphedora requires some spare Stamina as it can grow much more Haste and at some point your Stamina will never be enough. So having like 1-2 weapons can be more appropriate.
- Higher maximum Stamina capacity via Stamina Sacks: use for securing and prolonging Stamina usage for initial set of attacks or for securing more successful hits without endurance/wrath potions situation.
- Sage lands crossbow attack successfully to trigger all bolts.
- Buzz spiked whip build which generally don’t have Stamina generation sources.
- Banana and Apple can slow down wrath potions usage but if you plan to get Empower from triggering multi wrath potion, this can be anti-synergy.