Xandos III the Golden Emperor with 0 Attack and 3 Health is, without doubt, the puniest of all starting Heroes.



Please mommy, dont let them kill me
Xandos, weakling royalty

However just like Olrik's law about fairy tales, the weakest is the triumphant one.

With a little economy, lots of greed and the right artifacts he can become a Murderous Monster that deals 150 damage in the first round and 100 in the next ones*



Blood! Bloooood!!
Xandos, pain incarnate

*Actually 225 in the first round and 150 in the next ones. As shown below



I will cremate the Final Boss in 2 rounds
Xandos, prince of murder

**Ackchyually 249 in the first round and 163 in the next ones.



My name is not Xandos but Charos


Ok then, how?

The tricky part is surviving the early stages of the Tower. You must keep a fair amount of gold while getting items and better allies. At level 22 or maybe 33 you have made a decent build and are ready to roll.

As a general guide, between item chests and gold chests, choose items at start. The items they will grant might be useful i.e. shields you can upgrade. Avoid merchant items except gnome coin (costs 1, turns to sack of 8 gold), follower cloak, noble plates, Midas Belt and the mage shield amulet.

If you are lucky, you will acquire some shields for your fighters in order to avoid buying them.

The Most Essential ally



Loyal Follower with 2 or 3 Noble Plates: +2 Gold on death, will boost your wallet with 4 or 6 gold each battle. He is the most important ally in this build.
True you can play without him, but your gold and thus your attack will be lacking at higher floors which could mean defeat.

These are the allies you need to win the Tower. They will be presented combined, with updates discussing more combinations.

Combination 1: Power / Summon



Ayma, Elf Lighting Caller

Should he be overleveled (OL)? Yes, due to being front liner he needs the +3 health a few times.

Solid ally with a +1 Power Counter. Highly useful with the right allies i.e. Zed. If front line is filled, you can equip a Poisoned shield or a +2 Attack -1 Dmg mage amulet if you multiclass him and put him in the second line.





Zed, Gnome Trickster

Should he be overleveled? No reason, no. With Ayma present the +1 Attack of OL is not needed.

His Mirror Images, combined with Ayma will block every gap in defenses while making more attacks. He is fast, so are his images.



Divine Protector, Human

Should he be OL? Yes, as a front liner for the extra +3 health.

This one is highly essential to this combo. He will shield the mirror images, making the defense line stronger. With him the play will be sure to win.

If you dont get him too, maybe you get lucky and, with a transform fighter potion, get a second Ayma. Thats the next best thing. Twice the power and mirror image generation on Counter.



In camps aim for Divine Protector mostly, then Ayma, then Zed. Or this one below:


Aviakoran Guard, Wood (?) Elf

OL? Yes, front liner

This one combines both Zed and Ayma for the price of 1 team spot, not 2. Also his summons can be moved which is great if you want to protect your wounded team.

A 100% win team would be Ayma, Zed, Aviarok, Protector if you manage to find them all.
If not, for a 4th ally get Path Cleric overleveled to cure 6-7 health each round. Otherwise Fey Adept.

Combination 2: Hope hybrid

This combo aims to boost Hero's already high damage while preserving the front line. Big downside is it probably needs lots of gold for Immortal Belts, Healing Wands, Vampiric Helms and Ballistas. It also is a repetition of the Hope Guide. For further details refer to it.



Royal Guard, Human

Should he be OL? Yes a few times as a front liner.

Combined with Hope: +1 Power to Hero artifact, he can significally boost Hero's damage. He is the basis of this build. Enough Hope must be generated for this to happen though. If you somehow manage to duplicate him with a Transform Fighter potion the accumulated Hero damage would reach unimaginable numbers and for that it should be screenshot.





Cultist, Dark Elf

Should be Overleveled? Not really, maybe once or twice if you really have to.

Generates Hope on Doom and is economic i.e. needs only shields. Doom downside is, after 80+ Floor will be generated much slower due to enemies not dying so fast.





Brewmaster, Dwarf

Overlevel? Yes, to have a fighting chance.

Paired with Guard so he can generate some Hope his way, make sure to equip with a Immortal Belt. You need another healer for sure, cause someone must be healing him in order to last more than 2 rounds.



High Priestess, Battle Cleric (or both)

For a 4/4 Hope team you need one or two of them. Battle Cleric should be OL.



Lyra, Elf Archer


In case you have an empty spot, he is a failsafe solution if Overleveled. With enough Hope he can clear many enemies so Xandos doesnt have to do all the work. But as said, Ballistas are costly.



Here for instance, Royal Guard failed to appear in many camps so the team was based around Lyra. Fortunately 2 bows were found in chests, the rest of the Attack rating is from OL.



A combination of Ayma & Zed, Royal Guard & Battle Cleric could be tested.

Combination 3: Venom Sharpshooter

Poison build designed around the Sharpshooter, its primary damage dealer. Meant to weaken opposition in Battle Start, so Xandos can strike the Floor Boss hard.



Sharpshooter, Human

Overlevel? Definitely BUT you also need to buff +3 health/level the front liners of this build and equip shields. Otherwise they will start failing in the final floors. A solution is he gets to level 10 and the front liners to 5 or 6.

• A build that doesnt require much or any gold spending for items except multiclass potions.
  
  
• Downside of this build is that Allied Archers attack Twice is a must have artifact apart from Elric Boots & Royal Insignia so you need to find it.
  
  
• You also need Arbiter's Cloak, to strike first and fast those resilient foes after battle start.

What about the rest of the team?

As long as they are poisonous, anything goes. You could put the two gnomes and the poisonous lizardfolk or the cube that spawns poisonous jellies. That way the archer will be protected.

The Spear battle tactic strategy.



Multiclass allies lined up in front of Hero. At Battle Start they strike the foes of the main line and maybe the boss. Hero strikes as well once. If team is faster they strike first again, deleting the enemies.

Big downside is if you have a bomb statue in your line and 1hp Xandos doesnt have a shield or Ankh. With all those battle start free attacks happening (from multiclassed allies attack twice & royal insignia artifact) you will hit that bomb and cannot prevent that from happening. Its a big risk. This is covered in the revised Poison Guide. The Tower adapts and overcomes



Combination 4: Doom build

A standard Doom build, Golden Xandos excluded, always fails around 85+ Floor.
But with Golden Xandos included the only problem you will have with a Doom team is that the Loyal Follower will not be dying at the first 40 levels.



With the Doom allies pictured above you have an extremely potent team that will rampage through every floor.



Key artifacts are always Edric Boots and Royal Insignia of course, but you could also acquire Arbiters Cloak for faster initiative so to trigger Doom faster and Doom: +1 Power to Hero. Shield of the Alliance helps as well.

Overlevel only Haruspex.

Tanner, Human

OL? Nope, wont stay that long.

Tanner might come in handy in the early stages by providing easy gold. First enemies have 2-4 hp which will earn you few gold coins that might make a difference. But soon you should be getting a Midas belt if you have a Dwarf in team (you should). And Tanner is found lacking soon enough.



Enchanter, Gnome

O..? Nope, no reason to stay.
Could be paired with Ayma and Zed, for a guaranteed end of round boost. But there are power amulets for this job which dont occupy a team position.


Cleric of the Path, Human

OL? Sure, for decent healing of front line until 6 or 7.

A starting choice that can stay until the Final Boss.



Sword Dancer, Elf

OL? Nah

A decent choice for the early start, due to being fast and inexhaustible he will maneuver the battle and strike where is needed.




Nyx of the Old Moon, Dark Elf

OL? He will need the +3 healths

Why do 50 damage when you can do 100? With Nyx you have a decent damage inexhaustible front liner that can greatly enhance Xandos's potential output. His only drawback is that for some reason sometimes he will curse the same foe until its killed.



Flame Adept, Human

OL? Once or twice.

A good choice for clearing or weakening columns, needs little in terms of items if he pairs with Ayma, Aviakoran, Protector. As a Mana caster he can attack twice/round until he runs out of it.

Must Have Artifacts

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Jack's Fiddle

• Gaining 3 gold in campfires adds up nicely in the end.

Bathin's Book

• Best to acquire at 11 or 22 floor.

Edric Boots Highly Important

• Attacking twice is the key.

Royal Insignia Important

• For the Hero Attacks at Battle Start feature. Free refresh is just ok.

Build dependent and/or good to have

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Holy Blade

• For the Hope Build, otherwise no.

Hammer of the Old Earth

• For Zed and his images.

Merchant secret

• 1 less gold on items, why not

Lost Blade

• Not so much for the +1 Attack but for the inherent +2 speed.

Arbiter Blade

• For the Shield. It will be needed at Final Boss.

Useful Items:

• Immortal Belt
  
• Midas Belt
  
• that armor +2 Gold at death (if you have Loyal Follower give him 2 or 3)
  
• Shield Amulet
  
• +8 Speed Ring for Hero
  
• that Ankh that breaks instead of death; Give 2 or 3 to Hero before Final Boss.

Here Brewmaster was transformed to second Ayma.



After 33 Floor three of the four most imporant artifacts are collected: Insignia, Boots, Book.



Hammer of the old Earth wasnt a priority, but if you have the 3 artifacts, its better to select a first choice than spend 10-14 gold refreshing for something better. Now those images can resist these snakes that hit 3 times.



At Floor 70, 150 gold is collected and Hero does 30 damage before battle start, then hits twice more.



Right before final merchant. He wont get any gold from that big purse.




BOSS BATTLE

To avoid spoilers the Final Battle will not be posted. The Boss had four 8 Attack 50 (?iirc) hp Snakes that induced Paralyze on death to nearest foe.

Boss had 3 attacks of 6 damage and could be shielded at round end. (DISCLAIMER: BOSS DAMAGE and ABILITIES VARY EACH PLAY) Which meant he blocked the first strike from the Hero and got only the 2nd. If Edric Boots werent acquired the battle would've been lost.

Zed's mirror images were invaluable, soaking up 2 of BBEG attacks each round until he was killed.

If Divine Protector was there it would've been somewhat easier.