FAST ANSWER

A step-by-step first-session route with the exact early Rune path, starter teams, active-versus-offline farming rules, and a simple stage reset test.

For the first two hours, unlock a stable three-hero formation, spend skill points, keep useful gear, and delay expensive Cube decisions until the account can clear stages reliably.

TBH Beginner Guide: the route that prevents an early stall

TBH hides its important decisions behind three menus: Formation, Runes, and the Hero-dric Cube. The first two hours are not about finding a perfect tier list. They are about opening party capacity, keeping active gear flowing, and not melting items you still need.

First 10 minutes: do this in order

1. Choose Knight or Ranger. Knight is the forgiving frontliner; Ranger is the faster ranged starter. Sorcerer is playable, but it gives a new account less room for mistakes.
2. Claim the free Priest DLC on Steam. Steam lists Priest as free downloadable content. If she does not appear in the Formation screen, restart the game and check the DLC/library state before buying another class.
3. Spend skill points immediately. A red dot on a hero portrait means that hero has an unspent point or an unassigned skill slot. Leaving points unused is a real damage and survival loss.
4. Turn on auto-retry. The setting is beside the stage controls. You want a failed push to be visible, not to silently stop your farm.
5. Leave the game active when you need gear. Current player references report that offline rewards provide Gold and experience but not the normal active chest flow. Use offline time for passive currency; use an active session for equipment.

The first party: do not wait for a “meta” roster

Before the third slot, use the two heroes you actually have:

Your first hero	Second hero to test	What this solves
Knight	Priest or Ranger	Knight buys time; Priest sustains or Ranger speeds clears
Ranger	Priest	Ranger kills quickly while Priest prevents failed runs
Sorcerer	Knight or Priest	Knight covers the fragile front; Priest covers long fights

Put the hero who should take contact in the first formation position. If a back-line damage dealer dies while the front hero is still alive, fix order before replacing the entire build.

Unlock the extra Hero Slots

The Rune Tree appears when your first hero reaches level 3. It is an account-wide upgrade tree, not a class skill menu.

Slot 2

Follow the south path from the starting node. Current Rune references list Rune of War at 100 Gold and one level of Rune of Growth at 200 Gold before the first Rune of Command. The first Command node unlocks the second formation slot; its own cost is listed as 1,000 Gold by community databases.

Return to Formation and deploy the second hero as soon as the slot opens. Owning a class is not the same thing as owning a deployable slot.

Slot 3

Continue from the first Command node through the two Rune of Expansion nodes to the next Rune of Command. That final node is the early-game wall: current data lists it at 150,000 Gold. Do not spend the entire account on low-rarity Synthesis while saving for it. Alchemize only items you have already marked as surplus, and keep cheap economy runes if they materially speed the grind.

The second active-skill slot costs 50,000 Gold in current references and sits to the right of the third-slot route. Buy it after the third hero unless your two deployed heroes already have a meaningful second skill ready to equip.

Gear and farming: measure the run, not the stage number

Do not automatically farm the highest stage you have unlocked. Use this three-run test:

1. Pick a stage you can complete without a wipe.
2. Run it three times with the same formation.
3. Compare clear time, Gold gained, deaths, and whether the boss chest was collected.
4. Compare it with the next stage down. Keep the faster stage if the harder one fails or takes substantially longer.

For a specific gear level, community databases recommend finding the lowest stage that drops that level, then checking whether you clear it fast enough to avoid the over-level efficiency penalty. Difficulty changes the danger and rewards; it does not automatically make every item a better drop.

The Cube rule that saves your account

Use the Cube in this order:

• Alchemy for obvious duplicates and materials when you need Gold.
• Synthesis only when nine same-grade items in the same category are genuinely spare.
• Crafting when you are missing one slot and have a clear category target.
• Decoration, Engraving, and Inscription after the base item has survived several stages.

Lock valuable gear before auto-fill. Alt + Left Click is the shortcut documented by current community references. If you cannot explain why an item is being consumed, cancel the operation.

When a stage will not clear

Symptom	Check first	Only then try
Front hero dies	Formation order, HP/Armor gear, Priest sustain	Knight or a tougher frontline item
Waves live too long	Ranger attack speed, Sorcerer area skill	Add a wave-clear slot
Boss survives with a sliver	Focused damage and weapon level	Move resources to one carry
Heroes level but gear does not	You are relying on offline rewards	Run an active session with chest collection
New class cannot deploy	Hero Slot is still locked	Buy the next Rune of Command

Change one thing, then repeat the same stage. A new hero, a new Rune branch, and a full gear reroll at once tells you nothing.

Sources and evidence

• Official Steam listing — free-to-play listing, acts, difficulty modes, and DLC context.
• TBH hero-slot guide — south-path Hero Slots and the 150,000-Gold third slot.
• TBH.City Rune of Command data — current community database entry; this is datamined fan data, not an official developer reference.
• TBH tips and tricks — active versus offline farming, auto-retry, formation and early economy notes.

The exact balance can change. When the in-game tooltip disagrees with a third-party table, trust the tooltip and report the changed value before we update this page.