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

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.
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.
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.
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.
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:

Pick a stage you can complete without a wipe.
Run it three times with the same formation.
Record clear time, Gold gained, deaths, and whether the boss chest was collected.
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.

Quick answers

What should I do first in TBH?

Choose Knight or Ranger, claim the free Priest DLC on Steam, unlock the Rune Tree at hero level 3, and follow the south path to your second Hero Slot.

How much does the third Hero Slot cost?

The second slot is reached through the early Rune of Command path. The later Rune of Command that unlocks the third slot costs 150,000 Gold in current community data.