Task Bar Hero Beginner Guide

Task Bar Hero is a free-to-play idle hack-and-slash ARPG from Nugem Studio on Steam. It runs in a small always-on-top window you can dock anywhere on your desktop — designed as a background autofarmer while you work or stream, not a game you need to watch in fullscreen.

Up to three pixel heroes auto-clear dungeon waves. You collect chests, gear, gold, and XP, then reinvest through the Hero-dric Cube and the 197-node Rune Tree. The loop is simple on the surface but inventory, gold routing, and unlock order matter a lot in your first four or five days.

The game is Steam-only on PC — there is no mobile version. Many players also use the Trading Ship to list high-tier loot on the Steam Community Market.

Stages run in order (1-1, 1-2, …). When you clear one, the game advances to the next. There is little story — the Portal is mostly a progression map.

When a stage is too hard, you do not need to quit. The game keeps you on the last stage you can farm. Mobs there drop chests into your inventory and stash while you grind levels and gear.

Each act ends with a boss on X-10. Red Soul Stones can drop from chests and are spent to attempt that boss. Plan to bank stones before pushing the final stage of an act.

• Act 1 is your first-day focus; Act 2 stages also live inside the Portal once unlocked.
• Chests from farming stages fill inventory — manage stash and Alchemy before you overflow.
• Failed boss attempts do not waste Soul Stones — only successful X-10 clears consume one stone.

The bottom-right Auto-Retry toggle (blue = on) re-runs the current stage after a wipe. That sounds convenient, but dying on a push stage means you miss the full boss chest and complete mission rewards.

When you are stuck — for example on 2-8 while your stable farm is 2-7 — turn Auto-Retry off or step back manually and farm the earlier stage. You still get chest drops, gold, and XP without repeatedly failing the wall stage.

This is the core early skill in Task Bar Hero: farm the last comfortable stage until gear and Rune Tree upgrades let you push again.

Each hero wears rings, bracelets, earrings, amulets, shields, weapons, helmets, armor, boots, and gloves — all dropping constantly from chests. Check the Status tab for full stats and the Skill tab for your point allocation.

Gear uses rarity colors: Common (grey), Uncommon (green), Rare (blue), Epic (orange), Legendary (red), and higher tiers including Immortal and Cosmic. Read item level and stats, not just color — a high-level Rare can beat a low-level Legendary.

Spend early skill points on basic passives before chasing unknown signature actives. On Knight, prioritize HP, HP regeneration, and block chance; named actives like Shield Charge and Aegis Field come online as you level.

• Equip every upgrade that is strictly better; stash extras sorted by rarity row.
• Free skill respec — adjust once you see which actives your hero actually uses.
• Sorcerer gear is spell-focused; Knight wants armor and block — match drops to the hero wearing them.

The Formation tab lists heroes in your active party. Use the arrow buttons to reorder front-to-back and swap substitutes without cooldown — many new players miss this screen entirely.

You start with one Formation slot. Unlocking the 2nd and 3rd slots via the Rune Tree (Rune of Command) is one of the biggest power spikes in the game. Add the free Priest as soon as slot two opens.

Pets are unlocked by farming specific monsters — for example, enough Bat kills grant the Bat pet. Find a stage that spawns your target mob, stay on it, and grind the kill count. Pets keep their passives even when not deployed.

• Knight + Priest is the usual first duo once two slots exist; add Sorcerer or Ranger in slot three.
• Check our Monsters page for which stage spawns each pet unlock target.
• Supporter DLC includes Dragon — strong gold and EXP boosts, but not required for Act 1.

The stash stores chests you are not opening yet. Inventory holds gear you are keeping, sorted by rarity rows: Common on one row, Uncommon on the next, Rare, then Legendary, plus a materials row for crafting reagents from chests.

Open chests when you have inventory space. A practical habit from veteran players: keep greys ready for Alchemy, greens and blues for Synthesis or equips, and reds for your main carry sets.

Extra stash rows come from Rune of Storage in the Rune Tree, or from the optional paid three-row stash pack in the shop. More rows mean fewer forced Alchemy sessions during long farms.

Alchemy — feed Common (grey) junk you will never equip. This is your main early gold source besides mob drops. Alchemy greys constantly.

Synthesis — combine multiple Uncommon (green), Rare (blue), or Epic (orange) duplicates into one item of the next tier. Only fuse gear that is worse than what you wear; a lucky blue synth can jump a Sorcerer slot by thousands of effective stats.

Processing — craft specific weapons from material ingots that also drop in chests (iron bars, etc.). Use when you are targeting a slot, not on day one.

Decoration — socket colored gems into gear holes on helmets, boots, gloves, and other pieces.

Engraving — similar socketing with engraving materials that add fire, lightning, and other stat lines.

Elimination — strips sockets from gear. Gems and engraving materials are not refunded, so most players rarely use this early.

Offering — trades special offering coins for gold; unlocks later in progression.

• Cube strategy: Alchemy all Common gear → Synthesis excess Uncommon/Rare/Epic → fund Runes with the gold.
• Alt+Click to lock gear before bulk Alchemy so you never melt a keeper.
• Do not starve Rune Tree purchases for early synthesis — gold for Formation slots wins first.

Many nodes show 1/5 — you can click the same node up to five times for stacked bonuses before moving on. Early costs stay low, but they climb fast, so invest in a balanced bundle rather than maxing one branch in isolation.

Recommended first-week priority (from community first-days playthrough):

• 1 — Rune of Storage (North branch): extra stash row so chests stop blocking you.
• 2 — North-West gold nodes (Rune of Wealth, Gold per Kill): level each toward 5/5 for income.
• 3 — South-West Rune of Growth (EXP per kill): same — partial stacks on gold and XP together.
• 4 — South Formation branch: Rune of Command for the 2nd hero (50,000g), then 3rd hero (150,000g).
• 5 — 2nd Active Skill Slot in the Formation branch (~50,000g).
• 6 — More Rune of Storage / Rune of Expansion inventory space as prices allow.
• 7 — Combat branches (Rune of Might, Rune of Resilience, Rune of Frenzy): secondary until three heroes are online.
• Later — Rune of the Mainspring (auto-open chests) and offline runes (Rune of Repose) for quality-of-life.

The Trading Ship flag icon opens Steam Community Market listing for Task Bar Hero items — same flow as other Steam economy games. Select inventory, pick the TBH item, set a price, and list. Many players chase Immortal-grade drops for this reason.

Optional paid picks if you support the devs: Supporter Pack (Dragon pet with strong gold and EXP passives) and the three extra stash rows bundle. Hunter and Slayer DLC classes are powerful but not mandatory — free Knight, Ranger, Sorcerer, and DLC Priest cover Acts 1–2.

Priest (the healer) is free DLC, not a paid class. Download the free Priest pack from the Steam store page — she may show locked in-game until the DLC is installed. Grab her before Act bosses; Sanctuary healing trivializes early progression.

• Leaving Auto-Retry on while repeatedly dying on a push stage instead of farming the previous clear.
• Judging gear by rarity color alone — item level and stat totals matter more early.
• Skipping the free Priest Steam DLC because the icon looks locked.
• Ignoring Formation — running one hero long after you could unlock slot two.
• Synthesizing or Processing gear before Alchemy and Rune Tree gold are stable.
• Using Cube Elimination on socketed gear without knowing gems are destroyed permanently.
• Buying Hunter or Slayer before funding Formation slots and gold runes.
• Letting inventory overflow because stash rows and Rune of Storage were delayed.