Best Builds: Optimal Loadouts for Every Character
A character's passive abilities and active skill determine which weapons, blessings, and attachments they scale with. The wrong weapon on the right character underperforms. The right weapon on the wrong character underperforms. This guide pairs every character with their mathematically optimal loadout based on the June 2026 launch build.
Every build assumes you have at least rank 8 Training Ground and rank 4 Gunsmith. Early-game alternatives are noted where applicable.
Build Format
Each character entry follows this structure:
- Loadout: 1 primary weapon + 4 secondary weapons across 5 mechanical arm slots
- Blessing Priority: Which blessing types to prioritize when they appear
- Merge Strategy: Key merges to complete by specific wave thresholds
- Cathedral Pairing: Which Cathedral upgrades most benefit this character
The Templar — Balanced Survivor Build
Loadout:
| Primary (Slot 1) | Crusader's Shotgun | General-purpose damage, wide coverage |
| Slot 2 | Righteous Blade | Melee trash clear, covers close range |
| Slot 3 | Holy Water Sprinkler | Debuff application (Weakened) |
| Slot 4 | Purifier's Crossbow | Ranged elite/boss focus |
| Slot 5 | Blessed Mace | Knockdown utility for elite interruption |
Blessing Priority: Defensive blessings (HP, armor, movespeed) > Projectile count > Holy damage. The Templar doesn't need more damage as much as he needs more survivability. Divine Shield is already the best defensive cooldown in the game. Stacking defense on top makes him nearly unkillable.
Merge Strategy: Merge Brimstone Pistols (fire rate) into Crusader's Shotgun by wave 8. Merge a spare Holy Water Sprinkler (Weakened chance) into Righteous Blade by wave 15. The Weakened debuff on a wide-arc melee weapon means everything near you deals 30% less damage.
Cathedral Pairing: Training Ground first (survivability scales multiplicatively with Divine Shield), then Shrine (lock tokens secure the Blessed Mace early).
The Inquisitor — Maximum Burn Build
Loadout:
| Primary (Slot 1) | Infernal Repeater | Primary DPS, burn stacking |
| Slot 2 | Hellfire Magnum | Boss killer, single-target burst |
| Slot 3 | Ember Cannon | AoE wave clear, fire pool creation |
| Slot 4 | Flame Lance | Melee option, fire projectile on-hit |
| Slot 5 | Incendiary Rounds Launcher | Area denial, stackable fire pools |
Blessing Priority: Fire damage > Burn duration > Projectile count > Attack speed. The Inquisitor's +25% fire damage passive makes every point of fire damage blessing roughly 25% more effective than on other characters.
Merge Strategy: Merge Brimstone Pistols (fire rate) into Infernal Repeater immediately. The base Infernal Repeater fires 12 rounds/sec; with fire rate merge from Brimstone, it hits ~16 rounds/sec. Each round applies a burn stack. At 8 max stacks dealing ~40 DPS at max rank, that's 320 damage per second from burns alone.
Second merge: Merge a spare Flame Lance (fire projectile on-hit effect) into the Ember Cannon. This makes the Ember Cannon spawn fire projectiles on explosion, doubling its AoE coverage.
Cathedral Pairing: Gunsmith to rank 8 minimum (Incendiary Rounds attachment turns every weapon into a partial fire weapon), then Alchemy Chamber (fire blessings have the best rarity scaling).
The Stormcaller — Chain Lightning Cascade Build
Loadout:
| Primary (Slot 1) | Stormcaller | Chain clearing, density scaling |
| Slot 2 | Chain Lightning Rifle | Secondary chain, kill-chaining |
| Slot 3 | Tesla Coil | Autonomous damage, boss utility |
| Slot 4 | Thunderstrike Gauntlets | Melee AoE nova, close-range burst |
| Slot 5 | Electro Whip | Mid-range coverage, corridor clearing |
Blessing Priority: Chain count > Shock damage > Attack speed > Projectile count. The Stormcaller's passive (+1 chain jump) stacks with chain count blessings. At max, Stormcaller chains to 7 targets per projectile. Combined with 30+ enemies on screen in Act 4, one projectile hits 7 targets for full damage — effective 7x DPS multiplier.
Merge Strategy: Merge Shock Dagger (attack speed) into Thunderstrike Gauntlets. Getting the 5-hit AoE nova to proc every ~1.4 seconds instead of every ~1.8 seconds is a significant DPS increase. Then merge an Electro Whip (range) into the Chain Lightning Rifle to extend its beam reach.
Cathedral Pairing: Alchemy Chamber (chain blessings are disproportionately valuable for Stormcaller), then Training Ground for HP (Stormcaller has the lowest base HP of the starting characters).
The Paladin — Holy Fortress Build
Loadout:
| Primary (Slot 1) | Sanctified Buzzsaw | 360-degree melee coverage |
| Slot 2 | Righteous Blade | Wide frontal arc, trash clear |
| Slot 3 | Seraph's Judgment | Ranged holy AoE, piercing |
| Slot 4 | Holy Water Sprinkler | Weakened debuff, damage mitigation |
| Slot 5 | Sacred Bow | Long-range, backline enemy removal |
Blessing Priority: Holy damage > Knockback > HP > Armor. The Paladin's Holy Ground heal scales with max HP (5% per second at base). Stacking HP blessings increases both survivability and heal effectiveness — a 1,500 HP Paladin heals 75 HP/sec during Holy Ground versus 50 HP/sec at 1,000 HP.
Merge Strategy: Merge a knockback donor (Blessed Mace has innate knockback) into Sanctified Buzzsaw. Knockback on a 360-degree weapon pushes enemies away from all angles, creating a permanent safe zone around you.
Second merge: Merge Brimstone Pistols (fire rate) into Seraph's Judgment. The Seraph's Judgment has a slow base fire rate (1 shot per 1.1 seconds). Bringing it to ~0.8 seconds nearly doubles its sustained AoE output.
Cathedral Pairing: Training Ground to rank 15 (HP scaling with Holy Ground), then Armory (Seraph's Judgment unlock at rank 8 is essential for this build).
The Zealot — Maximum Carnage Glass Cannon Build
Loadout:
| Primary (Slot 1) | Hellfire Magnum | Maximum single-hit damage |
| Slot 2 | Ember Cannon | Charged AoE, one-shot wave potential |
| Slot 3 | Infernal Repeater | Sustained fire DPS when Magnum reloads |
| Slot 4 | Flame Lance | Melee burst, fire projectile synergy |
| Slot 5 | Molotov Satchel | Pre-throw area denial before engaging |
Blessing Priority: Damage (any type) > Crit chance > Crit damage > Attack speed. At 1 HP, the Zealot's passive gives +99% damage. Crit blessings multiply off this inflated base. A crit with Hellfire Magnum at 1 HP, with rank 5 fire damage blessing and rank 3 crit damage blessing, hits for roughly 4,500 damage. The Act 4 boss has approximately 80,000 HP. Twenty Magnum crits — about 40 seconds of sustained fire — is a kill.
Merge Strategy: Merge Brimstone Pistols (fire rate) into Hellfire Magnum. The Magnum's 2.1-second reload is the bottleneck. Fire rate merge reduces it to ~1.4 seconds. The DPS increase is proportionally massive.
Cathedral Pairing: Alchemy Chamber (more blessing choices means higher chance of crit blessings), then Gunsmith (Advanced Frame attachment at rank 10 adds fire rate).
Warning: This build dies to a stiff breeze. You need near-perfect positioning and full knowledge of every enemy attack pattern in the current Act. It's the highest DPS build in the game but. the least forgiving.
The Seraph — Divine Judgment Build
Loadout:
| Primary (Slot 1) | Seraph's Judgment | Holy AoE, piercing, aerial synergy |
| Slot 2 | Crusader's Shotgun | Backup ranged, wide coverage |
| Slot 3 | Sacred Bow | Long-range precision during flight |
| Slot 4 | Divine Arc | Wide beam, horizontal wave clear |
| Slot 5 | Holy Relic | Passive aura, active during flight |
Blessing Priority: Holy damage > Projectile count > Flight duration (unique Seraph blessing) > AoE radius. The Seraph has access to a unique Flight Duration blessing that doesn't appear for other characters. Prioritize it above all else when it shows up.
Merge Strategy: Merge AoE radius stats (from Ember Cannon or Incendiary Rounds Launcher) into Divine Arc. During Wings of Judgment flight, the widened Divine Arc beam covers the entire screen below you. Merge projectile count donors into Seraph's Judgment — more projectiles during flight = more ground coverage.
Cathedral Pairing: Bell Tower to rank 6 (Seraph-specific bonuses at ranks 4 and 6), then Training Ground (HP is still important — flight doesn't make you invincible).
The Bishop — Sanctuary Support Build
Loadout:
| Primary (Slot 1) | Holy Water Sprinkler | Weakened debuff, rapid application |
| Slot 2 | Seraph's Judgment | Holy AoE, ranged presence |
| Slot 3 | Purifier's Crossbow | Precision damage behind barrier |
| Slot 4 | Censer of Smiting | Passive smoke damage during barrier |
| Slot 5 | Blessed Mace | Knockdown, elite interruption |
Blessing Priority: Barrier duration (unique Bishop blessing) > Holy damage > Debuff duration > HP. The Bishop's unique Barrier Duration blessing extends Sanctuary from 6 seconds to 11 seconds at max rank. With 22 seconds of cooldown (max skill tree), you have 50% barrier uptime.
Merge Strategy: Merge Holy Water Sprinkler's Weakened chance into Censer of Smiting. The Censer's smoke clouds now apply Weakened to everything they drift over, creating overlapping zones of damage reduction. Merge fire rate into Holy Water Sprinkler for faster debuff application.
Cathedral Pairing: Bell Tower (Bishop-specific bonuses), then Shrine (shop discount matters more for the budget-heavy Bishop loadout).
The Prophet — Autonomous Arsenal Build
Loadout:
| Primary (Slot 1) | Tesla Coil | Deployable, autonomous damage |
| Slot 2 | Divine Arc | Wide beam for personal defense |
| Slot 3 | Static Field Generator | Additional deployable damage zone |
| Slot 4 | Chain Lightning Rifle | Self-chaining for wave clear |
| Slot 5 | Stormcaller | Primary chain weapon |
Blessing Priority: Turret damage inheritance (unique Prophet blessing) > Shock damage > Chain count > Deployable duration. The unique Turret Damage Inheritance blessing increases the percentage of your damage that turrets inherit. Base is 40%, max is 80% — doubling turret output.
Merge Strategy: Merge attack speed donors into Tesla Coil. The Coil's pulse rate is fixed but it benefits from attack speed in a non-obvious way: faster attack speed on the Coil's equipped slot translates to more pulses per second from the deployed version. Merge damage donors into Static Field Generator to increase the field's per-tick damage.
Cathedral Pairing: Gunsmith (attachment slots on deployables apply their effects while deployed), then Alchemy Chamber (the Prophet needs specific blessings more than most characters).
The Martyr — Controlled Demise Build
Loadout:
| Primary (Slot 1) | Hellfire Magnum | Maximum damage for explosion scaling |
| Slot 2 | Infernal Repeater | Sustained DPS before death |
| Slot 3 | Flame Lance | Melee option, fire synergy |
| Slot 4 | Ember Cannon | Charged AoE |
| Slot 5 | Molotov Satchel | Pre-death area setup |
Blessing Priority: Explosion damage (unique Martyr blessing) > Fire damage > Damage (any) > HP. The unique Explosion Damage blessing scales Final Sacrifice from 500% to 900% weapon damage. Combined with the Martyr's passive (damage increases when missing HP), a low-HP Final Sacrifice explosion can one-shot Act 3 bosses.
Merge Strategy: Stack as much base damage as possible on the Hellfire Magnum. The Final Sacrifice explosion uses the Magnum's damage as its base. Every point of damage on the Magnum is multiplied by 5-9x.
Cathedral Pairing: Training Ground for HP (counterintuitive but you need enough HP to survive the revive at 25-40% HP), then Bell Tower for Martyr-specific explosion damage bonuses.
The Exorcist — Elite Hunter Build
Loadout:
| Primary (Slot 1) | Stormcaller | Chain damage, elite prioritization |
| Slot 2 | Chain Lightning Rifle | Secondary chain, kill chaining |
| Slot 3 | Thunderstrike Gauntlets | Melee burst, AoE nova |
| Slot 4 | Shock Baton | Stun application, elite control |
| Slot 5 | Electro Whip | Mid-range coverage |
Blessing Priority: Banish duration (unique Exorcist blessing) > Shock damage > Debuff duration > Chain count. The unique Banish Duration blessing extends Banish from 8 to 14 seconds. At 14 seconds with max cooldown reduction (22 seconds), you have 63% banish uptime on one elite.
Merge Strategy: Merge Shock Baton's stun chance into Stormcaller. Stormcaller already prioritizes elites with its active ability. Adding stun chance means elites are stunned while chained, completely locking them down. Merge attack speed into Thunderstrike Gauntlets for more frequent AoE novas.
Cathedral Pairing: Alchemy Chamber (debuff blessings are more common with higher rarity chance), then Bell Tower for Exorcist-specific banish bonuses.
FAQ
Q: Can I use these builds if I haven't unlocked all the weapons yet?
A: Yes, with substitutions. If you're missing an S-tier weapon, use the best A-tier alternative from the same damage type. The weapon tier list guide has specific recommendations. The build concept (blessing priority, merge strategy) works regardless of whether you have the optimal weapon.
Q: How important are the secondary weapon slots? Can I just focus on the primary?
A: Very important. Five weapons firing simultaneously is the game's core mechanic. Neglecting secondary slots is leaving 80% of your potential damage output on the table. That said, you should prioritize merging and upgrading the primary weapon first, then invest in secondaries as currency allows.
Q: Do these builds work for endless mode?
A: Endless mode was not in the June 2026 Early Access launch build. The developer has mentioned it on the roadmap for a future update. These builds are optimized for the four-Act campaign. Endless mode will likely require different priorities (sustain over burst, scaling over immediate power).
Q: Should I follow these builds exactly or experiment on my own?
A: These builds are optimized for consistency and clear speed based on community testing. They'll get you through all four Acts reliably. But half the fun of a roguelite is discovering your own synergies. Use these as a baseline, then experiment. You might find a combination the community hasn't discovered yet.