Getting Started

Your first steps in Guild Idle — from first recruit to clearing The Crypt

Step 1: Hire Your First Heroes

Start by recruiting a Warrior — the free starter class — and send them to The Crypt for your first run. Your first gold should go to the Rogue (250 g) for damage, then the Cleric (1,000 g) to keep everyone alive.

Step 2: Clear The Crypt, Then Whispering Forest

Your goal for the early game is to clear both The Crypt and Whispering Forest without failing. This earns your first gold, levels your heroes, and unlocks additional recruitment slots. Don't worry about affixes yet — run them unmodified until you can clear comfortably.

Step 3: Unlock the Rogue

The Rogue (250 gold) is your first significant damage upgrade. Buy it early — the Rogue's 1.5-second attack speed makes farming much faster than a second Warrior. A Warrior + Rogue + Cleric trio is strong enough to push into Thorncastle.

Upgrade Priority for New Players

1. Guild upgrades that increase gold income — compounding gold faster than any other upgrade
2. Additional hero slots — more heroes = more simultaneous runs
3. Dungeon unlocks — Thorncastle (800 g) and Volcanic Depths (2,500 g) offer substantially better loot and gold
4. Class unlocks — Ranger (3,000 g) and Mage (8,000 g) are your next power spikes

Understanding Affixes

Once your party can clear a dungeon easily, enable the 3 affixes that roll each run. Each enabled affix multiplies gold and loot rewards. Start with HP/DEF affixes (Hardened, Bloated) — they make enemies tougher but don't change how much damage they deal, so they're the safest to enable first.

Subclasses at Level 10

When a hero reaches level 10 they unlock a subclass. For the early game:

• Warrior → Paladin (group shield keeps everyone alive)
• Cleric → Lightbringer (double revive is invaluable while learning content)
• Rogue → Assassin (Shadow Strike crit chains accelerate clearing)

When to Use the Skill Tree

Start investing skill points as soon as heroes hit level 5+. Early-game: focus gateway nodes and the Offense cluster. Defer Keystone choices until you understand your preferred playstyle. See the Skill Tree guide for the full node reference.