THE ONE-SENTENCE RULE
Choose the item that strengthens the event your current build can repeat.
Rarity is a tie-breaker. Trigger frequency, payoff, coverage, and slot cost decide whether a pickup is useful now.
Start with the PlannerThe five-step pickup test
Name the event
Is the route built around firing, reloading, skill use, dodging, dismantling, a companion, or a Tarot condition?
Keep the element coherent
Does the weapon create the Transmutation your relics and Tarot already reference? If not, switching is a pivot, not a free upgrade.
Measure coverage
How often will the trigger happen in the next room, the next boss phase, and the whole run? A huge effect that rarely fires may be a weak slot.
Price the replacement
What reliable effect disappears when you take this item? Count the opportunity cost of the slot, not just the new tooltip.
Choose the next fallback
If the core item never appears, decide which safe stat, element, or room-coverage option keeps the run alive.
How the test changes by item type
Weapons set the element and the firing rhythm. Protect the route's main event before chasing a rare effect.
Compare weapon prioritiesRelics are trigger decisions. Ask whether the condition is already happening and what slot the relic replaces.
Read the War Horn decision
Skills should create or pay off the Hunter's engine. A skill from a different route is usually a delay.
Read the skill entryTarot changes a rule. Take it when your weapon, relics, and skill choices can exploit that rule immediately.
Read the Tarot entryUse the route you have, not the screenshot you wanted
Every Hunter page now includes an early, mid, and late plan, boss and crowd guidance, and a missing-core fallback. Start with the route closest to your play style, then let the offers decide the exact loadout.