Working builds

Core idea

Stack crit chance to cap 4. Crit chance has no upper limit, so at the cap every hit is a crit. Pair with crit damage cap 5 (x6 damage) and the character scaler (x9 for violin) for astronomical burst before the soft cap.

Recommended picks

crit chance

Core stat

Raise to cap 4 to guarantee crit on every hit.

crit damage

Core stat

Cap 5 means x6 damage per crit.

Crit Master

Relic

+15% crit, +50% crit damage flat.

Crit Cascade

Relic

25% chance extra hit on crit.

Glass Cannon

Tradeoff

+35% damage, -35% HP. Worth it.

Glissando Evade

Char (Violin)

80% evasion 0.5s on crit. With constant crit you become almost untouchable.

Endgame math

base damage x role multiplier x instrument scaler x (1 + dmg x 3) x Harmonic Convergence x crit multiplier violin endgame: 1 x 1.3 x 9 x 10 x 1.33 x 6 = ~933 raw, soft cap ~400

Trap to avoid: Peaceful Giant. +60% HP does not save the glass cannon. Better defense is evasion (Shadow Step, glissando, Rosin Barrier). Violin should not absorb hits, it should not receive them.

Core idea

Stack armor (cap 15 total with character relics), damage reduction (0.5), evasion (0.5). Add 5 hard saves (Last Stand, Grand Finale, Defiant Encore, Unbreakable, Extra Life). Endgame: each hit removes 5 to 15 HP from 600+. You cannot die easily.

Defensive stack

5 hard saves per run. Last Stand (1 use), Grand Finale piano (1 use), Defiant Encore (1 revive), Unbreakable talent T5 drum (1 use), Extra Life pickup. Plus Death March drum at 1HP (CD 30s). 5 hidden lives.

Core idea

Your damage heals you. life steal operational cap 30% times healing boost 1.75 = 0.525 damage to heal conversion. Heal-per-frame capped at 4% max HP prevents spam-immortal, but with max HP 500 the cap is 20 HP/frame = 1200 HP/sec ceiling. More than any endgame incoming DPS.

heal = damage dealt x 0.30 x (1 + 0.75) = x0.525 heal/frame cap = max HP x 0.04 at max HP 500: cap = 20 HP/frame x 60fps = 1200 HP/sec at AoE shockwave drum: ~800 DPS dealt = 420 HP heal/sec Cap rarely actually reached.

Picks

life steal stat, damage, max HP, Vitality Groove (trumpet), Void Resonance, healing received, Rhythmic Resilience (drum), Brass Barricade, Static Immunity, Corruption Embrace

Core idea

Stack parallel damage sources: primary bullet, multi-hit 50% chance double, shrapnel 3 fragments at 30%, ricochet 3 bounces, chain lightning, AoE Mosh Pit and Reverb Zone, Neon Synthesizer on-kill (200ms CD), Bass Drop 10s pulse stun, Vinyl Feedback Loop every 10 kills re-procs. Game caps bullets at 300, explosions at 100.

Mosh Pit and Reverb Zone overlap. 1.2 x 1.3 = 1.56x multiplicative damage on enemies in both zones. Position to keep spawns in overlap.

Picks

damage, multi-hit, projectile count, area size, Shrapnel Solo, Ricochet Riff, Piercing Crescendo, Mosh Pit, Reverb Zone, Neon Synthesizer, Bass Drop, Vinyl Feedback Loop, Stage Pyrotechnics

Three flavors of the same umbrella