Every strong run commits to one damage pattern early and fills its sockets around it. These are the archetypes that carry, by hero type, built from the game's item data. Item names link to their pages; the merge-recipe reference has the full trees.
Warrior — Sword stack
Skill fit: Kai and Rose both scale Sword DMG with the number of distinct Swords carried.
Buy every different Sword you see, keep them all, and merge duplicates upward. Target Red Rose Rapier or Miracle Sword as the finisher.
Sockets: put Armor on weapon sockets for the extra Block, and keep a Whetstone / Smithing Stone line going for the flat weapon buffs.
Warrior — Spike / thorns
Skill fit: Barbarian (Spike on being hit) and Rose (Spike activation).
Core items: Big Spike into Skull Crusher, Spiked Shield, Spiked Club. Aim for Red Rose Rapier to turn Spike into repeatable damage.
You want to be hit — stack Block and let Spike punish every attack. Bloody Crown and Blood Demon Sword add a defensive spike if you can pay the HP.
Warrior — Blood bruiser
Skill fit: Darkan. Core: Blood Demon Sword / Stone, Blood Frenzy, Bloody Crown — trade Max HP for Block, lifesteal and escalating damage.
Pair with a heal source (Fairy Dragon, a pet) so the HP costs don't end the run.
Ranger — Poison
Skill fit: Venom (enhanced slots inflict 50% more Poison). Core: Venomous Insect, Spider Fang, Poison Crossbow / Venomous Crossbow, merging toward Cobra Whip.
Cobra Whip scales your Haste and Poison output with the enemy's current Poison stacks, so the build snowballs — get poison on the board fast.
Ranger — Evasion / crit
Skill fit: Raven (evade all attacks for 3s, Focus-cancel lethal hits). Core: Crow's Footsteps, Large Crow, Crow Necklace, Adrenaline, merging toward Shadow Hunter and Triple Crossbow.
Stack Dodge-granting items to keep the evasion going, and let Shadow Hunter's on-dodge strikes and Triple Crossbow's crit burst do the damage.
Wizard — Spell auto-cast
Skill fit: Cecilia (auto-enhances slots and auto-fires spells every 4s). Core: as many different Spells as you can fit, plus a Staff on a socket, merging toward Millennium Dragon, Staff of the Sage or Maestro.
Freeze / Burn spells feed Millennium Dragon's removal payoff. Keep a Staff socketed so Thunder Dragon / Staff of the Sage get their multipliers.
Wizard — Burn / Freeze
Skill fit: any Wizard; Fire Mage / Ice Mage tilt the shop. Core: Fire or Ice Robe, the matching Mage's Hat, the tiered magic line (Fireball, Icicle Summon, up to Fusion / Ultimate magic), merging toward Blizzard or Millennium Dragon.
Commit to one element — mixing Burn and Freeze dilutes both unless you specifically build Millennium Dragon to convert between them.