TBH: Task Bar Hero – Low-Level F2P Progression Guide

Low Level Guide F2P

This guide focuses on early-game progression for free-to-play players. The final section covers a small optional investment for players who want to speed up their progress.

Useful Resources

Farming Calculator
Use it to find the most efficient farming stage based on your clear times.

https://taskbarhero.wiki/tools/farming

Wiki
Contains information on items, decorations, engravings, runes, class skills, and more.

https://taskbarherowiki.com

1. Getting Started

Starting Class

Always start with Ranger. It’s the strongest opening class for F2P progression.

Squad Composition

Your permanent team should be:

The team composition never changes. Only your skill point allocation changes depending on whether you’re farming or pushing difficult content.

Recruitment Order

Unlock your party members in this order:

1. Priest
2. Sorcerer

The Priest DLC is free on Steam, so claim it as soon as possible.

2. Early-Game Priorities

Your gameplay loop should always be:

Open Chests → Synthesize → Craft → Repeat

Opening chests is your highest priority, especially early on when you’re hoping for useful bows and arrows.

Alchemy

Avoid using Alchemy during normal F2P progression.

The only worthwhile exception is selling Alchemy materials for gold to quickly unlock:

• +1 Formation Slot
• +1 Skill Slot

This is optional and mainly useful if you’re planning to make a small investment later.

3. Rune Priority

Unlock runes in the following order:

1. +1 Formation Slot
2. Second +1 Formation Slot
3. +1 Skill Slots
4. Gold and DPS (equal priority)
5. Chest Drop Rate
6. EXP and Slot upgrades

Gold Priorities

Focus on:

• Gold %
• Flat Gold
• Stage Boss Gold

Avoid:

DPS Priorities

Prioritize:

• Flat Damage
• % Damage
• % Attack Speed

These provide the biggest boost during early progression.

Chest Warning

Avoid taking +Max Normal Chests and +Max Stage Chests because of the current chest drop bug. This may be fixed in a future update.

4. Progression Strategy

Always push as far as you can before farming.

Once you reach a wall:

1. Find your optimal farming stage using the Farming Calculator.
2. Farm there until you’re stronger.
3. Push again.

Using the Farming Calculator

To calculate your best farming location:

1. Run Normal 1-1 and record the clear time.
2. Enter your highest cleared stage and clear time into the MAX field.
3. Add one or two additional stages.
4. The calculator will recommend the most efficient EXP farming location.

Your core gameplay loop remains:

Open Chests → Synthesize → Craft → Repeat

5. Chest Rotation

There are 10 different chest tiers, and several stages share the same chest pool.

Instead of farming only one location, rotate between different chest tiers to maximize chest drops.

Chest Cooldown

Based on current testing, each chest tier appears to have an internal cooldown of roughly 12 minutes.

This cooldown applies per chest tier, not globally.

That means you can rotate between different chest stages and continue obtaining chests while another tier is still on cooldown.

(This mechanic is based on player observations and may change in future updates.)

6. Gear Priorities

Ranger

Prioritize:

Focus on Flat Damage.

Sorcerer

Prioritize:

• Cooldown Reduction
• Cast Speed
• Fire Damage

Attack Damage is useful, but secondary.

Priest

Focus on:

• Weapon
• Sub-Weapon
• Damage Absorption
• HP
• Damage Reduction

Unlike other classes, it’s also worth upgrading:

• Helmet
• Chest Armor
• Gloves

Accessories

Use whatever you can find.

Good accessories are difficult to obtain as an F2P player.

7. Skill Point Builds

Your party never changes—only your skill allocation.

Farming (No Deaths)

Priest

• Blessing of Might ×5
• Wrath of Heaven ×5
• Damage Absorption Enhancement ×3
• HP / Attack Damage

Ranger

• Rapid Fire ×5
• Attack Speed ×8
• Attack Damage ×3

Continue toward Projectile Damage Enhancement.

Use:

• Arrow Rain if enemies survive long enough to stack.
• Swift Surge if they don’t.

Sorcerer

• Fireball ×5
• Cooldown Reduction ×8
• Area of Effect (recommended)

Unlock Flame Hydra as soon as possible.

One point in Ice Orb is acceptable until then.

After unlocking Hydra, prioritize Fire Damage Enhancement.

Farming (You’re Dying)

Keep Ranger and Sorcerer unchanged.

Adjust Priest:

• Blessing of Might ×5
• Heal (1–5 points as needed)
• Damage Absorption Enhancement
• HP
• Cooldown Reduction

Bosses & Difficult Content

Priest

• Heal ×5
• Damage Absorption Enhancement ×3
• Sanctuary ×5
• Max Cooldown Reduction
• Remaining points into HP, then Armor

Ranger and Sorcerer remain unchanged.

8. Small Investment Guide (Optional)

If you’re willing to spend a small amount:

First, buy Immortal items and sell them to quickly unlock:

• Third Formation Slot
• Extra Skill Slot

Then invest primarily into your Ranger.

Weapons

Buy the strongest Bow and Arrow you can afford.

Decorations

Start with:

• Obsidian Shards (Flat Damage)

Once your Bow and Gloves provide enough Flat Damage (typically around level 50), switch to:

• % Physical Damage decorations

The same progression applies to Engravings.

Gloves

Purchasing Gloves is worthwhile because they provide Flat Damage.

Accessories

Prioritize accessories with Decoration and Engraving slots.

Follow the same progression:

Flat Damage → % Physical Damage

Solo Ranger Strategy

Once invested, temporarily run only your Ranger.

Stack Movement Speed on:

• Boots
• Accessories
• Decorations
• Engravings

Rush to the highest stage you can reach.

Farm there, purchase the next gear upgrade (levels 10, 20, 30, etc.), then repeat.

Keep in mind that enemies more than roughly 10 levels above you provide little or no EXP.

However, if your Ranger can push into much higher zones, place your entire squad there before logging out.

Offline progression will level every character significantly faster than farming lower-level areas.

Offline Farming

• Offline cap: 8 hours
• Continue this strategy until roughly Level 75–80

Beyond that point, online farming becomes more efficient, as you’ll be able to clear 3-8 Torment consistently.