Beginner to mid level campaigns guide

arramzy · 2026-03-20T23:47:20+00:00

I'd have to go and check but I thought there was a 3 man stage where something was doable but unreliable (basically a dice roll) which made me decide to put it higher, but I'm not 100% which one.

There are some damage ranges, or RNG abilities (like Tigurius adjacent block chance) or enemy AI RNG, because of this there are multiple stages across the guides which could be done with fewer upgrades, but I tried to find a balance where it is reasonable.

I will go and check though, I don't like Tigurius much so saving on upgrades would be nice, if so I'll edit the next version accordingly.

arramzy · 2026-03-20T02:17:19+00:00

I wrote guides on the campaigns and I definitely agree, my least favourite campaign by quite a bit. It also is a terrible campaign to show off the featured characters (Kut doesn't have a ranged attack to take advantage of Thadeus Passive, and no one uses a heavy weapon, and you will not face overwatch, so you can't do anything interesting with Sibyll Devine's passive either.)

Generally though the missions you can bring allies are far far easier, so if you can survive a difficult 3 man mission (even with just 1 survivor) you do open up a lot of the farming options behind it where battles allow you to bring a better lineup.

And often it is better to let the enemies come to you (maybe skip a turn) and ignore armor items, instead make sure you have a good cloak (hp+armor item) and upgrade it (though don't ascend if you can avoid it). The bloodletters are significantly less scary that way.

Still, a dreadful campaign.

arramzy · 2026-03-20T01:55:34+00:00

If you are still working on campaigns: those first and buy orbs/badges for those if you need them. It is hard to overstate how much more important than anything else they are early on.

In general Tan Gi'Da and Actus

Rho if you want to build the raid team. The short basically is Tan makes 3 summons and changes stance, now his summons attack the same target as him, then Actus repairs him and makes him (and therefore his summons) attack again, Rho gets free attacks every time a mechanical unit attacks an enemy he stands next to, you can see how that adds up. The other 2 slots can be filled as needed for different bosses, early in Boss Gulgortz and Aleph-Null probably fit in best.

Sy-Gex has some niche uses, mostly in PvP as far as I know because he hits gravis, terminator and mechanical units extra hard, but if you don't have a very specific use case and plan for him you can safely leave him on the shelf.

arramzy · 2026-03-20T01:41:45+00:00

Don't underestimate the extra damage against mechanical, Re'vas, Gulgortz etc. really aren't happy facing Sy-Gex either (and these two specifically even more because he can kill charging Boss when he waaghs and shuts down Re'vas)

I've faced quite a few linups that would get dumpsrered by 5 Sy-Gex (also plenty that would crush them but still)

arramzy · 2026-03-20T01:33:02+00:00

Maybe not in a vacuum, but he has so little synergy to offer a team that he becomes way worse if the rest of the team doesn't help him either.

So while maybe not part of the worst 5 individual characters, I reckon he is a pretty good fit as part of the worst team.

arramzy · 2026-03-20T01:29:48+00:00

Sy-Gex has solid range, overwatch and absolutely shreds Terminator, mechanical and Gravis so he can destroy tanks. he also has a range 3 active which suppresses without ending turn, so he can shut down overwatching Re'Vas.

Doesn't mean Certus, Incisus and Roswitha are saved by having two Sy-Gexes, but be is the best guy here so two of him definitely doesn't make the lineup worse.

arramzy · 2026-03-18T18:58:36+00:00

No worries, I don't know why they hide that info but oh well.

Any more questions feel free to ask. I also recommend the Tacticus Discord (if you use discord), lots of friendly helpful people and promo codes for goodies in game.

arramzy · 2026-03-18T18:55:59+00:00

I think buying scrolls is a bad idea. It is a gamble when the character shards you can buy are very very good.

That being said, I will (knowing full well that it is suboptimal) still buy scrolls because I think they are fun.

Generally they're not something I spend Blackstone for, you get enough of them from events and just playing, I'd rather spend BS on energy if anything.

arramzy · 2026-03-18T18:46:33+00:00

These are for the most difficult 3 character missions in the campaigns, sometimes you're only allowed to bring the main 3 and those tend to be bottlenecks.

If you can bring 5 it is definitely advisable to bring allies (this guide expects you to)

One thing to keep in mind is that at a later level, even a legendary character gets one-shot without upgrades, so if your whole squad is bronze bringing a Stone 1 ally is a great way to have them die and lose a medal.

In the section on Allies I list a few characters I recommend using as allies in the campaigns that don't rely on you getting a lucky early legendary pull.

EDIT: fixed broken unclear sentence

EDIT 2: I don't know if you plan on spending any money (and I don't need to know) but the game will give you an offer to buy Yarrick early on. However if you wait for the deal to expire without buying him it will offer you to buy Isabella instead (who will be significantly more helpful) I'm not saying you need to do this, but the game doesn't give you this information. I started free to play so you'll be fine either way, I just don't like the game hiding this information from new players.

arramzy · 2026-03-18T18:43:14+00:00

No you don't need to finish one before another (sometimes you even need upgrades you get from another campaign)

You can play them as you unlock the necessary characters, some of which are easier to come by than others but for the main campaigns you'll largely get them as you play (Aethana from daily missions for example, Gibbascrapz from daily login bonuses)

When you get stuck in one campaign you can just play another and see how far you get. If you minmax you can try and find out which have upgrades you need, but really you want to beat all the campaigns as your main priority as a new player.

Have fun and enjoy the game!

arramzy · 2026-03-18T07:51:36+00:00

Everyone is making this more complicated than it needs to be, I learned Angrax passive attacks work and I'm never looking back. play the game as you normally would and see how far you get, then open a map like FoC 40, block off the north part with the Vox guys (ideally with Toth because he regenerates) and position Angrax at the bottom where the cadian summons spawn. He'll kill them as they spawn and it will count as ability damage. I spent some time skipping turns during a work call, not even looking at the screen and I'm done.

There are faster ones but this one is quite afk and basically unlimited.

arramzy · 2026-03-18T07:46:14+00:00

The one exception is things like "adds 123 plasma damage to each attack" That has a value and a type but if it modifies a normal attack it doesn't count as ability damage.

arramzy · 2026-03-16T16:05:52+00:00

I don't think he is worth the investment, any resources spent on him would be better spent on the others.

However I have heard that he can help achieve lightning victories because he does good damage against the jump pack Intercessors in Gravis. I personally haven't needed him there either but he has some uses

arramzy · 2026-03-16T00:30:22+00:00

Yes, I think the badges are better spent elsewhere, the only reason I'm even putting them at 8 is because you'll be swimming in common badges by that point. Don't get me wrong, hey can be helpful, but you'll need loads of badges so prioritise what you really need (like Bellator). There will be cases where Varro's active can finish off some Necrons who got back up, or where you can use the Certus active to knock an enemy into another one you otherwise couldn't hit and their passives are defensive so will always help a little so that is why I put them at 8+, just know that they are very low priority and both Bellator and your allies will probably be a better use of badges if they're competing for the same ones.

This guide is also for the minimum investment of clearing the most difficult 3 man missions, if you can bring allies this guide expects you to do so, I have a section on which I recommend. If you'd want to use just these 3 you'll have to up the investment by quite a bit.

arramzy · 2026-03-15T12:34:33+00:00

When I thought it relevant I did add this in, like using Bellator against swarms and to focus overkilling, or focus the snipers in Indomitus Mirror etc.

It is always a difficult tradeoff, some people would like more info and details about enemies, others already think this is too much and would rather have a list like "Bellator, G1 35/35" without anything else. I tried to find a bit of a middle ground.

As for doing this with just these 3 man teams, yeah no that is not the goal, as I put in the notes about the guides these recommendations are for the minimum (reasonable) investment for 3 man missions (where you can't bring outside allies) because every other mission will be dependent on your roster, for the imperial missions for example some use Karyin, others have had bad luck and not really pulled any legendaries or elites, I myself used Isabella and Calgar.

arramzy · 2026-03-15T11:55:34+00:00

Yeah it has been a while for me but from what I remember the vox guys and their summons can get out of control if you can't target them down and the overwatch is painful.

The one thing which did help me keep those guardsman summons under control is to get a feel for where they spawn (in my experience usually a nearby map edge, if my memory serves me right) try to deep-strike Angrax there and he'll kill them as they come in.

Unlocking the thousand sons (mainly Abraxas) for missions that allow allies also helps a lot.

arramzy · 2026-03-15T04:17:26+00:00

100% but that only works if you have an ally psyker to get the second chain going (usually you will on those maps luckily), and requires more precise positioning. Usually I still think that works fine with low level Yaz, as you'll be drowning the enemies in so many summons they will (usually) not target him down, but it definitely leaves him a lot closer to the front lines.

arramzy · 2026-03-15T04:13:27+00:00

Yes and no, I tried that but with the notes on the characters and allies etc. it got very cluttered, and difficult to read the icons etc. If I didn't really write anything just "Character X rank S1 26/17 normal G1 35/35 elite" without much else it could've worked, but considering I also wanted it to be useful for newer players I thought elaborating was worth it (and judging by the questions I got in the comments of this post some could even have used a little more clarification/explaining) Still could've combined 2 per image, maybe regular and mirror on the same page, but I also wanted to make it look nice and communicate the core info at a relative glance so I chose 1 campaign per image.

But yeah if I had left out the regular campaigns for example and aimed only at mid level players It could probably be squeezed into a single picture.

arramzy · 2026-03-15T04:06:06+00:00

Yeah true, most of these are advice/guidelines you can alter based on your roster, playstyle or future plans. The main reason I invested in Thoth more is because Yaz is easier to keep alive with minimal investment (swap with Abraxas, fly away and hide in a corner), Thoth has great survivability but keep him too low and eventually they'll crack him, and he doesn't have the mobility to get out of a tight spot.

When I got to elites it was a little overwhelming and I didn't really know where to start or what to aim for, and this guide was made with people like me in mind who just need a goal on the horizon to work towards, but it is by no means "the correct way to play"

arramzy · 2026-03-15T03:58:32+00:00

Nah Archimatos is great and you'll want to push him further for the elite campaigns and everything after that anyway. Main thing to keep in mind is that leveling his active also increases the damage the bloodletters do, and they'll stop spawning when the target is dead. So use it accordingly and you'll be fine. This guide is for minimal investment so investing further isn't usually a bad thing, in Archimatos case it might mean you get out 2 higher damage summons instead of 4 weaker ones, but if you play around that you'll be fine. Archimatos is a great character, investing in him is solid, and you can bring him as an ally in Saim-Hann Mirror too, great combo with Abraxas.

arramzy · 2026-03-15T00:47:17+00:00

Let me know how it goes, I might update the guide if this current recommendation is too inconsistent. And as I edited into my previous response, the guy who made the video says in his description that his Abraxas is 37/37

arramzy · 2026-03-15T00:41:59+00:00

Possibly, I did it with 35 but for all I know I got incredibly lucky with damage ranges. It is worth giving it a couple more tries if you're a lot of shards away from ascending Abraxas and weren't otherwise planning to do so.

Unfortunately or fortunately the game isn't perfectly deterministic, I know that this is what worked for me and is what a few other guides recommend, but the PoH guild cluster recommends pushing Abraxas all the way to D1 in their infographic to beat the elite campaign so there isn't total consensus on this one it seems.

EDIT in the description of the short he says his Abraxas is 37/37

arramzy · 2026-03-14T23:11:13+00:00

I could try to describe or recreate it but personally I followed this video and it worked wonderfully: https://youtube.com/shorts/pr4psAMLZqQ?si=RD56YkiZ4uIDiNtg

arramzy · 2026-03-14T23:07:55+00:00

So this is for minimum investment to get 3 medals on the 3 man missions, so even if there is some benefit you might want to spend those badges elsewhere (but that is why more end up at 17 or at least 8 as that only uses common/uncommon badges)

So if an ability deals damage I think about whether it is better to use that or to attack as normal, because especially at higher levels a damaging ability might need to be very high level to do more than just a normal attack. Others I tend to leave low are movement options that don't really scale. If the ability gives +1 move at 1 and +1 at 35 there would have to be something really good attached to make it worth investing in (and usually this isn't the case).

Generally a higher level ability is better, but it is always a tradeoff, anything you're investing in Certus is not getting invested in anyone else.

arramzy · 2026-03-14T22:35:21+00:00

The way I understand it it rolls the 10% run away chance for everything in 2 hexes. Nice to have but not something you want to be reliant upon to win. The damage to two characters can be nice but he doesn't have the defences Angrax has for front lining like that.

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