ROUTE NOTES
Spend the reserve before the room spends you.
Lanny is good when saved coins become a weapon, reload, or survival upgrade in time for the next fight. A growing balance with no combat effect is a warning sign.
ROUTE NOTES
WHEN THIS ROUTE IS WORTH IT
Pick Lanny when you can clear early rooms with a simple weapon and expect several shop decisions to matter. The route pays when savings become combat power quickly.
Take Lanny's Piggy Bank only alongside a weapon that already works. Build income first, then use Little Makes Mickle or Trading Expert to buy a visible combat upgrade.
When coins are tight, give up the next economy upgrade before giving up reload, room coverage, or survival. Unspent coins do not protect a weak room.
Stop forcing Lanny when the reserve is growing but the weapon cannot clear the next room, or when the shop is not offering a useful conversion.
A REAL RUN
What this decision looks like in play
You enter the boss shop with a healthy reserve, but the current gun still leaves long reload gaps.
Spend on reload, damage, or survival before buying another income piece, even if the coin total looks worse afterward.
The reserve has done its job only when it changes the next fight.
Do not carry a large balance into the boss while treating combat support as a future purchase.
CLEAR ALTERNATIVE
If this is not your run
Marcus — Marcus's immediate gunfire route
Switch when Use it when you need damage and room stability now instead of a delayed shop advantage.
WEAPON CHOICES
Start here, then change only for a reason
The starter is shown as a transition. The first non-starter pick is the route candidate; the others are for the run you actually rolled.
Why it fits. A Fire fallback when the shop offers Fire support and the room needs wider pressure.
Tradeoff. Do not change element while the current relics are already paying for Physical.
Why it fits. A crowd-control option when a shop-rich run needs room safety.
Tradeoff. Its deliberate rhythm can be awkward if the economy route is already demanding attention.
Why it fits. A reliable physical anchor that lets the economy build without demanding a rare gun.
Tradeoff. Reload downtime still needs support; coins do not replace a working firing loop.
REAL-DATA LAYER
Separate the starter, the quality range, and the community signal
Player reports and official facts are labelled separately. Where a Hunter-level sample is missing, this page does not invent a single certain answer.
Steam player report: projectile count is the real ceiling signal
A launch review describes successful runs around extra projectiles, Fire Rate, and Reload Speed, including an Acid setup reported at 6–8 projectiles and 0% condensed spread. The review uses the names “Skorpian” and “Leaf Cutter”; those names are not present in the current official catalog, so the site keeps the mechanic signal and does not hard-map them to a current weapon ID.
Read the Steam player review ↗Steam demo feedback: keep a working gun, dismantle misses
A player report says dismantling guns and parts returns upgrade tokens, and that they usually keep a gun that already works instead of switching just because a new drop is rarer. That is a useful rule for the in-run decision layer, not proof that the starter weapon is the best weapon.
Read the Steam discussion ↗Official 1.0.487: Training Room and Item Encyclopedia
The 1.0.487 Steam update added a Training Room for freely testing builds and an Item Encyclopedia. The site points players to the exact in-game verification step instead of presenting an untested weapon family as a measured tier-list winner.
Read the official Steam update ↗Current conclusion: the public data supports a projectile / fire-rate / reload direction, but not a reliable seven-Hunter weapon ranking yet. A family name also does not mean the drop is Legendary or Mythic; check the quality range and the current affixes on the item page.
COMMUNITY FIELD SIGNALS
Use player discussion as route evidence, not a fake tier list
Routes, decisions, and pain points stay separate. Each card shows its source, version status, and how the site uses it. A single player's result does not directly change Planner rankings.
Steam report: projectile count, Fire Rate, and Reload Speed
A high-rated Steam review describes a successful Acid run around extra projectiles, Fire Rate, and Reload Speed, reporting 6–8 projectiles and 0% condensed spread. The weapon names in that review do not map cleanly to this site's current 45-family catalog, so we retain the event pattern, not the item ranking.
How the site uses it: Use this as a projectile/reload hypothesis. Check the current family, quality, and room coverage in the Training Room before calling any weapon a best pick.
Steam decision signal: keep the gun that already works
A demo discussion describes dismantling guns and parts for upgrade resources, while advising players to keep a working gun instead of switching only because a new drop is rarer. It is a useful decision heuristic, not proof that the starter copy is the best weapon.
How the site uses it: Treat rarity as a tie-breaker. Switch when the new drop fixes reload downtime, room coverage, or a broken element—not when its color is simply brighter.
Official Update 8.20: current pet, co-op, and Lightning interaction fixes
This is the current bug-fix layer. It does not replace the V1.0.499 Frost balance baseline from the previous day.
How the site uses it: Use the current item data, then retest only the three fixed interactions when they appear in co-op, inventory, or Lightning routes.
Official Update 8.19: Pet system and Frost Relic rework
Old Frost descriptions and any recommendation built around the former Ice Pillar, Heart of the Storm, or Flash-Freeze Round behavior are obsolete.
How the site uses it: Prepare Armor before combat, use the refreshed official item text, and keep route ranking claims behind repeatable run tests.
Official Update 8.7: Arrow Rain, resolution, and Steam Deck fixes
The official 1.0.491 announcement is a bug-fix hotfix. It supports carrying forward current Build routes while keeping the three fixes visible on the patch page.
How the site uses it: Keep the current Build recommendations and Planner logic unchanged, then retest Arrow Rain, affected resolutions, and Steam Deck presentation after the update.
Official Update 8.6: three bugs fixed, no Build rebalance listed
The official Steam Update 8.6 announcement lists fixes for Auto Dismantle, controller Item Encyclopedia navigation, and an occasional backwards weapon on the results screen. It does not list Build balance changes.
How the site uses it: Keep the 1.0.487 Build recommendations and Planner logic unchanged. Use the 1.0.488 patch page for the three system, quality-of-life, and presentation fixes.
TapTap player route: Physical / Bleed one-shot claims
A TapTap post presents a Physical/Bleed route as a fast-kill direction and claims that, after an update, most bosses can be one-shot in a lucky or completed run. It is an anecdotal outcome, not a measured sample or a promise for every Hunter.
How the site uses it: Keep the route as a community experiment: build Physical/Bleed when the early triggers arrive, but retain a room-clear fallback and downgrade the claim after a patch changes Bleed or Final Shot.
Chinese guide candidate: Lightning / Disruption package
A Chinese guide ranks Thunder Bow and Railgun as Lightning anchors, then names Battery and several Lightning weapon parts as the package to try. It frames frequent hits and Disruption as the beginner-readable loop, but the tier labels are the author's judgment and the article does not establish a current public test sample.
How the site uses it: Use the named package as a candidate route in the Planner, then verify element coherence, Disruption uptime, and boss damage in the current Training Room. Do not import its tier labels into the site ranking.
RUN PLAN
What to fix first, and what can wait
Early picks make the weapon usable. Later picks raise the ceiling only after the room is safe.
Build the income engine without losing the run.
Look for: Lanny's Piggy Bank, a stable weapon, and only safe economy upgrades.
Checkpoint: If you cannot clear the next room, stop investing in future coins.
Spend the reserve on a visible advantage.
Look for: Little Makes Mickle, Trading Expert or shop value, then reload or damage support.
Checkpoint: Every purchase should improve damage, survivability, or the next decision.
Convert economy into a finish.
Look for: Growth, reliable damage, and survival before another delayed payoff.
Checkpoint: A large coin count that never becomes combat power is a failed route, not a success state.
FIVE-LEVEL TALENT PATH
The first five upgrades to look for
One choice is available at each level. The route picks below keep the main job visible; use the fallback when the offer solves a real weakness sooner.
MATCHUP TEST
The next fight may ask for a different answer
Before a boss, spend enough to make the weapon and survival plan real. A reserve that stays unspent through the boss is not helping the run.
Use coins to buy room coverage and reload or frequency support. Lanny should not rely on a single-target payoff while packs are ending the run.
BAD OFFER RECOVERY
If the core item never shows up
Income is weak or the shop does not produce a meaningful advantage.
Stop scaling coins and take reliable weapon, reload, frequency, or survival value immediately.
Do not spend the whole reserve chasing one rare item while the current room is already unstable.
NEXT PICK
Use this on the offer in front of you
Check the item you actually see, compare what it triggers, then load the route into Planner if it still fits. A working next pick matters more than a perfect shopping list.
This route is a decision blueprint built from current mechanics and trigger conditions, not a measured DPS ranking. The game currently ships no public damage-testing dummy, so retest it by checking whether the events repeat, rooms clear, and the boss window stays reliable.