This guide discusses progression and weapon evolution, including unlock-system spoilers. It does not claim to reproduce every item statistic or every platform-specific challenge condition.
Fast answer
The answer before the background
Use weapons for damage and trinkets for passive bonuses. During a run, level your strongest damage tools, add trinkets that support their range, fire rate, size, survivability, or elemental requirements, and avoid spreading experience across too many options too early. To evolve a weapon, unlock its evolution feature and the weapon evolution, raise the base weapon to level 5, carry trinkets with the required elements, then open a chest. Unlock additional equipment mainly by completing challenges, progressing through stages, earning stars, and opening features such as Charms, Banishment, and Enhancements.
How the system works
Weapons, trinkets, and permanent upgrades
Equipment is divided into two practical groups: weapons and trinkets. Weapons create the attacks that clear enemies, while trinkets provide passive effects that improve damage, survivability, collection, or other combat properties. The game's store description specifically presents trinkets and equipment as the foundation for combinations that can evolve weapons beyond their normal limits.
Weapons are normally chosen from level-up offers during a run. They can be upgraded repeatedly during that run, usually by selecting the same weapon when it appears again. Trinkets work similarly, but their value is often indirect: a defensive trinket may keep a fragile build alive, while an elemental trinket may be needed to unlock a weapon evolution.
Permanent upgrades and unlockable features sit outside the normal weapon-and-trinket loadout. They improve account-wide progression or add tools that make future runs easier to control. Community and achievement references commonly describe equipment as weapons and trinkets, so this guide uses that distinction rather than treating every unlock as combat equipment.
- Weapons are the primary source of direct damage.
- Trinkets improve statistics or provide effects that support a build.
- Features such as Charms, Favorites, Banishment, and Enhancements change how you assemble runs.
- Permanent upgrades spend earned coins and can be adjusted as your priorities change.
| Category | What it does | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Creates an automatic or directed attack. | Choose a core damage plan and upgrade a small number of weapons quickly. |
| Trinket | Adds passive bonuses or an elemental requirement. | Match it to your weapons, character, stage, or evolution target. |
| Feature | Adds a progression or selection tool. | Use it to improve consistency, remove unwanted choices, or extend late-run scaling. |
| Permanent upgrade | Improves future runs outside the stage. | Invest in capacity, rerolls, projectiles, economy, or survivability according to your goal. |
The broad categories and systems are documented by the developer and Steam listing. Exact item rankings are recommendations, not official ratings, and should be tested against your character and challenge objective.
Acquisition
How to unlock more equipment
New equipment is earned through normal progression rather than a single shop or random loot table. Complete stages, meet challenge conditions, earn stars, and unlock features as they become available. The official developer notes describe new weapons and trinkets being added as challenge rewards, while the achievement guide confirms that equipment-related achievements count weapons and trinkets.
Read the challenge panel before starting a run. Many objectives ask you to finish a stage with a named weapon, raise a weapon or trinket to level 5, complete a stage with a particular character, or satisfy a special restriction. These objectives are the most reliable way to target specific unlocks because the game displays the requirement directly.
Some equipment is tied to features. Charms add another group of unlockable equipment, while Favorites, Banishment, and Enhancements improve the way later level-up choices are managed. Unlocking those systems can be more valuable than chasing one item because they make many future builds more consistent.
- Check the challenge list for the exact stage, character, item, level, or restriction.
- Complete ordinary stage objectives first to build coins and unlock progression systems.
- Use Favorites when available to improve the chance of seeing preferred weapons or trinkets.
- Treat older community lists as references only if their item names or conditions disagree with the current in-game text.
- Do not assume an item has a fixed drop rate unless the game or developer documents one.
| Goal | Practical route | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Specific weapon or trinket | Target the challenge that names it. | This is more dependable than waiting for an undocumented random drop. |
| More build consistency | Unlock Favorites, rerolls, or Banishment. | These tools reduce the effect of unlucky level-up offers. |
| Late-run scaling | Unlock Enhancements after equipment is maxed. | Extra choices remain useful after the main loadout is complete. |
| More capacity | Spend coins on capacity upgrades when available. | Additional slots help advanced builds, but can dilute early upgrades. |
The public Steam page documents the latest Steam update visible in the search results, but it does not provide a complete cross-platform item database. If a console or regional version shows a different challenge condition, use the in-game description as the controlling source.
Build planning
How to use equipment during a run
Start with a clear priority. A common mistake is taking every new weapon because it looks useful. Early experience is limited, so two or three well-upgraded weapons are often more reliable than six low-level weapons. Add a new weapon when it fills a missing role, such as crowd control, close-range protection, boss damage, or area coverage.
Choose trinkets according to the weapon's behavior. Fast-firing weapons usually benefit from fire-rate support, while slow, heavy attacks may gain more from damage, projectile count, size, or area effects. Collection and movement bonuses are especially useful when a stage forces you to travel between objectives or when experience gems are difficult to gather safely.
Defensive equipment is not wasted damage. Armor, health, recovery, shields, or effects that punish attackers can let you stay near enemies and collect experience. For restrictive challenges, survivability may be more important than a theoretical maximum-damage setup.
Capacity is a strategic choice. More slots offer flexibility, but each additional weapon or trinket competes for level-up offers. For a focused challenge, fewer items can produce a stronger finished build because upgrades are concentrated instead of spread across the entire inventory.
- Pick one or two main damage weapons before filling every slot.
- Match trinkets to attack speed, range, size, projectile count, survivability, or elemental needs.
- Use rerolls when an offer does not support the current plan.
- Use Banishment for items that repeatedly weaken your level-up pool.
- For difficult challenges, favor reliable damage and survival over novelty.
| Situation | Prioritize | Avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Normal progression | Damage, experience collection, and a dependable defensive option. | Taking unrelated items just because they are new. |
| Boss-focused run | Single-target damage, projectile count, and attack consistency. | Only using short-range tools without a survival plan. |
| No-movement or low-mobility challenge | Area coverage, knockback, defensive effects, and long reach. | Builds that require constant repositioning. |
| Gold or farming run | Coin-related effects, movement, collection range, and enough damage to finish safely. | Removing so much damage that the run becomes slow or unsafe. |
When testing a new item, keep the rest of the loadout familiar. That makes it easier to tell whether the item helped, rather than confusing its effect with several simultaneous changes.
Evolution
How weapon evolution works
Weapon evolution is a staged unlock process. The developer's early-access notes identify a Weapon Evolutions feature, and the community reference describes the practical sequence: unlock the feature, unlock the individual evolution by reaching the required weapon level, then meet the in-run requirements.
In a run, raise the base weapon to level 5 and carry the trinket elements required for that evolution. When the conditions are met, open a chest to receive an eligible evolved weapon. The available reference describes the chest as awarding one of the evolutions whose requirements you satisfy, so do not open a chest expecting an evolution if the weapon is not fully leveled or the required trinket elements are missing.
Plan the evolution before the run begins. Favorite the weapon and supporting trinkets when possible, then leave enough inventory and level-up control to reach the required combination. If you are completing a challenge, confirm whether the objective asks for the base weapon, its level, or the evolved form; those are not interchangeable requirements.
- Unlock the general evolution feature first.
- Unlock the specific evolution by meeting its stated progression requirement.
- Reach level 5 with the base weapon during the run.
- Carry the required elemental trinkets before opening a chest.
- Open a chest only after checking that the full combination is active.
| Check | Question to ask | If the answer is no |
|---|---|---|
| Feature | Is weapon evolution unlocked? | The chest will not provide the intended evolution. |
| Weapon | Is the base weapon level 5? | Continue leveling it before relying on a chest. |
| Elements | Are both required trinket elements present? | Choose or reroll toward the missing element. |
| Objective | Does the challenge require the evolved item? | Do not assume a level-five base weapon completes it. |
The exact element pair and unlock condition vary by weapon. This guide does not reproduce an unverified full pairing table; consult the individual in-game item description or a maintained reference for that specific evolution.
FAQ
Common questions
Are weapons and trinkets the same thing?
No. Weapons create attacks, while trinkets provide passive effects and can supply elemental requirements for weapon evolutions. Both are usually counted as equipment in progression and achievement references.
How do I get a specific item?
Find the challenge or progression entry that names it, then complete the displayed requirement. The in-game challenge text should take priority over older community lists if the two disagree.
Why did my weapon not evolve from a chest?
Check that the evolution feature and the specific evolution are unlocked, the base weapon is level 5, and every required trinket element is active before opening the chest.
Should I fill every weapon and trinket slot?
Not always. More slots add flexibility, but they also spread level-up offers and experience. For focused challenges, a smaller set of upgraded items can be stronger and easier to evolve.
What are Enhancements used for?
Enhancements provide additional upgrade choices after available equipment has been maxed. They help keep level-ups useful in longer runs or experience-focused builds.
Sources
What we checked
Official listings establish current availability and product facts. Community pages are used for mechanics and build history, then labeled separately.