Almost every strong run in Overgeared Hero is one of two builds. Burn, built on the Primal Flame gear weapon and Gloves of Plague, is the default and the stronger one for raw damage. Spike, built on Spiral Spear, is the answer to the stages burn can't clear and the stronger one in PvP. This guide covers both cores, the gear that goes with each, and the moment to swap. Every hero page on this site also carries its own build card with the exact pets and in-run items.
Burn or Spike: the one choice that matters
Pick burn first. It deals more damage per second than spike, and the reason is Gloves of Plague: whenever a socketed weapon lands a hit, it has a 50% chance to add 2 more stacks of the enemy's most common debuff. On a burn build that debuff is Burn, so every fast hit multiplies your stacks, and spike gets no bonus of that kind.
Don't throw spike away, though. Some bosses need a spike build and burn simply won't clear them, and on stages full of fire-resistant enemies it is often the quickest fix. PvP is the other place spike wins: against an opponent of similar power, spike usually beats fire. The practical answer is to level one gear weapon for each and keep both ready.
The rest of this guide takes each core in turn, then the pieces that sit around it.
The burn core: Primal Flame and Gloves of Plague
Primal Flame is the strongest gear weapon for early chapters by a wide margin. Its basic attacks apply Burn, every 8 seconds its skill triggers Burn 9 times, and each socketed item that burns applies 1 more Burn. The Burn spreading through the backpack is what makes it so strong, and it also pierces shields. The Poison Bow is fun, but it can't compete, and Meteor Hammer is weak enough to skip entirely.
Higher up it only gets more lopsided. From around Floor 70 of the Tower, most gear weapons other than Primal Flame stop pulling their weight. The build turns into the monster it is once Burn stacks fast and starts to Crit, and that comes from pairing Primal Flame with Gloves of Plague and an Archwizard's Ring on a mage.
Wear two Gloves of Plague, not one plus something else. They add so many extra stacks that any other second glove, Berserker's included, leaves you noticeably weaker. Connect both to a Thunder Dragon in the backpack and Burn stacks at an alarming rate. Thunder Dragon doesn't burn on its own, so the Burn comes from the gloves and Primal Flame, and the Dragon supplies the extra hits that spread it.
Spark, Primal Flame and Mimic is the three-word version of the current meta, and a Spark run with Primal Flame and Plague gloves clears dungeons quickly. Rebecca runs the same weapon with two Plague gloves and an Archwizard's Ring.
Rings: one Garnet, one Archwizard's
The two rings do different jobs. Garnet Ring gives an immediate 25% Burn damage boost at the start of the fight. Archwizard's Ring adds 3 Burn on each hit and keeps adding damage the more Burn you trigger, so it is the one that grows.
For most players the best pair is one of each, both levelled. Two upgraded rings of different kinds beat two lower-level Archwizard's Rings. Only once you are very late in the game, with both rings at Mythic, does a pair of high-grade Archwizard's Rings pull ahead.
For clan battles, where fights are short, Garnet's immediate boost does more than Archwizard's slow build. If you can only upgrade one ring and you play a lot of clan content, level the Garnet first.
Shields: Infernal for PvE, Celestial for PvP
Infernal Shield trades half your Max HP at the start of the fight for a large Block, then keeps turning a little HP into Block every 5 seconds. Celestial Shield does nothing until you drop to 1% HP, then makes you Invincible for 4 seconds and heals you to full, once per battle.
Rebecca is the clearest case. Every weapon hit she makes deals extra damage equal to 10% of her Block, so anything that gives Block is worth more on her than on anyone else, and Infernal Shield is the shield to bring for PvE. It is also the one thing she does better than Rose. In PvP, Celestial Shield is always the better pick. On rush stages with enough Vamp and Mithril Gloves, a spear Rebecca can build Block worth many times her Max HP, which makes Celestial's safety net pointless.
Celestial is also the survivability fix for Cecilia, together with a damage-reduction Ice spell and a blessing pushed to Legendary or Mythic. With those three she becomes hard to kill and keeps her damage up.
The spike core: Spiral Spear
Spiral Spear's basic attacks add 1 Spike each, and every 8 seconds its skill triggers Spike 6 times. If you own Rose, spend an Item Selection Ticket on Spiral Spear. Otherwise take Primal Flame. Rose's Impale sends Spike through the enemy's Block, and the spear lets her shred monsters stronger than your account and reach her Parting Rose execute.
Even with Rose the gap is small. Some players with Rose still pick Primal Flame for its spreading Burn, and on balance Primal Flame does slightly better, but both are fully viable and only change how the run plays. The spear is better in chapters where you fight several times in a row, because your attack speed ramps up so quickly.
Thunderbolt Spike is the other weapon in this family worth levelling. It strikes twice, charges its skill on basic attacks, and is the gear weapon suggested for Cecilia.
Keep a second and third build ready
A single build will stall somewhere. A strong setup for the upper Tower keeps three: Primal Flame as the main build, a Poison Bow build for floors whose monsters are immune to Burn, and a spike spear build for the gauntlet floors, since the spear's buff lasts through all four rounds of a gauntlet.
Spike bosses deserve their own warning. Spark is built on rapid multi-hits and Stun, and against an enemy with Spike every one of those hits triggers a counter, so she can kill herself. Swap to Rose, Rebecca or Barbarian for those fights, or give a Ranger such as Raven or Acrobat the burn gear and buff removal. Rose and Barbarian can steal the enemy's Spike outright, and a Bloodletting Sword with a Bloody Crown removes it. Keeping Rebecca and Spark both built, and switching between them, handles most of these walls.
Hero-specific notes
Spark: build the Thunder Dragon and point as many Lightning Rod Wands at it as you can fit. Astrape with a lightning dragon is strong from the early chapters too.
Venom: if you already have the Poison Bow and Plague gloves, she will carry you a long way on a poison build.
Kai: buy every different Sword you see and keep them. His bonus counts distinct Swords, so it is easy damage with a low skill ceiling.
Cecilia: her blessings give her a conditional staff with a 2-second cooldown that takes no backpack space. Run her over Spark when you don't risk dying, or against Stun-immune bosses, and take Spark when you need Stun and on-hit effects to survive. The Legendary Blizzard spell can keep every enemy item Sealed for the whole fight.
Mistakes that cost runs
Levelling a third gear weapon before the first two. Primal Flame and Spiral Spear cover nearly everything, so upgrade both before trying anything else.
Wearing one Plague glove and a Berserker's glove. The second Plague glove is worth more than any alternative.
Taking Spark into a Spike boss. Her multi-hit damage is her strength everywhere else and her undoing there.