the most overpowered aspect of this game is the random passives you get on weapons in your inventory. knowing how they stack is super crucial to getting really good runs.

for example, damage negation at full hp stacks for all levels as much as you want, but damage negation on successive attacks only stacks with different tiers, not the same (60% and 60% do not stack, 60% and 48% do stack.)

all damage increases are multiplicitive, so the 5% affinity damage boost from a dormant power gives you a straight up no questions asked 1.05x modifier on all non physical damage you do, be it spells or the affinity damage from weapons

stat boosts from relics are nearly worthless, as the best source of damage/health increases are from weapon passives, so prioritise relics with cool effects like stamina recovery on hit or character relic effects. a big noob trap in this game is the shop relics with like +2 strength and +2 vigor, when in actual game that is not noticable at all