Steam Community :: Guide :: Character and item guide

Store Page

Star Renegades

All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos News Guides Reviews

Star Renegades > Guides > Karmonger's Guides

74 ratings

Character and item guide

By Karmonger

Strengths and weaknesses of each character and item in the game for higher difficulties

Award

Created by

Karmonger
Offline

Category: Characters, Classes, Weapons

Languages: English

Posted

Updated

13 Dec, 2021 @ 9:54am

21 Jan, 2022 @ 9:06am

3,733	Unique Visitors
96	Current Favorites

Guide Index

Overview

Introduction

Characters

Characters - Tier List

Characters - Valkyrie

Characters - Archon

Characters - Saboteur

Characters - Enforcer

Characters - Aegis

Characters - Marksman

Characters - Empath

Characters - Commando

Characters - Varangian

Characters - Juggernaut

Characters - Spectre

Characters - Gunslinger

Characters - Paragon

Characters - Dragoon

Characters - Guardian

Characters - Dark Paragon

Characters - Starting Composition

Items

Items - Swords

Items - Gauntlets

Items - Blasters

Items - Rifles

Items - Implants

Items - Devices

Changelog

Comments

Introduction

The people that exploited reload system triggered me so hard that I decided to make this guide to show that you don't have to exploit anything to beat the game on the highest available difficulty (Entropy 5 as of now). I truly believe that anyone can beat Entropy 5 provided a good starting party composition and a good selection of unlocked items. While the Beginners guide by Bonzai101 does a good job at explaining the basics, it is outdated in some aspects, so I'll try to offer some insight on what's currently good or bad.

Characters

The only big difficulty jump comes from diving into Entropy 5, which makes starting composition to be of extreme importance. The first 2 planets are always the hardest ones, and as such I will mostly cover strengths and weaknesses of each character based on their performance from level 1 to level 6.

Characters - Tier List

Characters - Valkyrie

All around decent starting pick.

Pros: good damage, good stagger, can reach back row, can off-tank, decent fury ability, very good camping skills
Cons: poor relationship bonus, no aoe ability
Starting perks: Berserker for damage or Guardian for tanking

Characters - Archon

One of the worst characters to start your run with. If you want to end your run on the first planet, this is what you pick.

Pros: aoe stagger, shield regen
Cons: terrible damage, awful fury ability, poor camping skills
Starting perks: Zealot is the only viable perk

Characters - Saboteur

One of the best characters to start with. I recommend using Spectre progeny (Dalen Kalthoris).

Pros: the best single-target stagger in the game, especially when paired with Peacekeeper Implant, stun, good camping skills, good relationship bonus
Cons: weak damage
Starting perks: Disruptor all the way

Characters - Enforcer

Decent starting pick. Flurry attack does a lot of damage on paper, but in reality some of the most dangerous enemies are going to have too much armor for the attack to be effective. I recommend using Varangian progeny (Kennex Malric).

Pros: flurry attack scales really well with any item that applies dot or steals health/shields; aoe scales exceptionally well with Debilitator Rifle; stun, extremely good camping skills (Wild Accusations is godly if you can stall), good relationship bonus
Cons: flurry attack gets countered by armor, very poor stagger
Starting perks: Defender for more damage

Characters - Aegis

The weakest tank out of 3, she is still great at her primary duty. I don't recommend leveling her past level 4, unless you have a really good shield device that requires higher level.

Pros: Guard, great stagger with reach, good fury ability
Cons: very bad damage, almost no utlity, poor relationship bonus and camping skills
Starting perks: Guardian

Characters - Marksman

Second best damage dealer in the game.

Pros: very good damage, good stagger, reach
Cons: extremely squishy, mediocre camping skills and relationship bonus, bad fury ability, no aoe
Starting perks: Berserker

Characters - Empath

Tied with Archon for the worst starting pick. Avoid her like a plague, unless you've beaten Entropy 5 already and want to experiment with different starting comps.

Pros: good relationship bonus, decent fury ability
Cons: non-existent damage, mediocre support abilities don't make up for having her instead of an actual carry
Starting perks: Shaman

Characters - Commando

Worse version of Saboteur.

Pros: very good single-target stagger, decent damage
Cons: can't wear implants (therefore no reach), poor fury ability, poor camping skills and relationship bonus, flurry attacks
Starting perks: Berserker

Characters - Varangian

Very solid starting pick.

Pros: good damage, good fury ability, aoe
Cons: poor camping skills and relationship bonus
Starting perks: Punisher

Characters - Juggernaut

Second best tank in the game. She has a lot of utility, most notably buff removal. Unlike Aegis with her Guard giving only +20% defense, Juggernaut's taunt ability gives her full +40% defense AND generates shields for everyone.

Pros: decent damage, good stagger, good fury ability, buff removal, reach
Cons: terrible camping skills and relationship bonus
Starting perks: for some reason Templar only increases shield defense of the leeched target but not hers, so Berserker is best here

Characters - Spectre

By far the best carry in the game; as squishy as Marksman, but can take heat off herself by going into Stealth, which also makes any of her next attacks instant.

Pros: exceptional damage, really good stagger, reach, very good camping skills and relationship bonus, aoe, stun, stealth
Cons: squishy
Starting perks: Punisher

Characters - Gunslinger

Same deal as Enforcer, main damage comes from flurry attacks, although her overall kit is better. I recommend using Valkyrie progeny (Sheva Kymon).

Pros: good damage, good stagger, aoe, good camping skills, very good relationship bonus
Cons: flurry attacks, terrible fury ability
Starting perks: Punisher

Characters - Paragon

This is everything that Archon wishes to be. His aoe ability scales extremely well with Boneslicer, staggers and steals shields OVER his maximum shield capacity, which allows him to soak damage with the stolen shields, sometimes leaving his own shields untouched. All in all, an excellent off-tank. I recommend using his Saboteur progeny (Brakin Syphex).

Pros: good stagger, good damage, decent fury ability, aoe
Cons: mediocre camping skills and relationship bonus
Starting perks: Punisher for damage, Interceptor for stagger, Guardian for tanking

Characters - Dragoon

Somewhat weak outside his Supercharge mode, his output highly depends on how well you can manage your fury.

Pros: good damage, good stagger, reach, excellent auras, aoe, good fury ability, decent camping skills, good relationship bonus
Cons: flurry attack, requires fury to pop off
Starting perks: Berserker

Characters - Guardian

The best character in the game and #1 tank, he is the main reason I beat so many Entropy 5 runs. I highly recommend using Juggernaut progeny (Marv'n Tysanno) and leveling him to level 4 asap.

Pros: self-healing to ensure he never dies, fury ability to ensure that other party members never take any damage, decent damage, aoe, instant application of most elements, decent camping skills and relationship bonus
Cons: doesn't generate fury from crits
Starting perks: Reaver to never have any problems with applying elemental debuffs/dots

Characters - Dark Paragon

The newest addition to the roster, he is a beast. Although he lacks stagger early on, his own damage is almost on par with Marksman or Spectre. Dark Paragon is also the better version of Empath, as the damage buffs that he provides to the entire party are absolutely insane, not to mention the health sustain with his Parasite, which really shines on behemoth fights. Oh, and he is the only character with usable combo abilities.

Pros: good damage, health sustain, amazing camping skills and relationship bonus, good fury ability, good combo abilities
Cons: doesn't generate fury from crits
Starting Perks: Defender

Characters - Starting Composition

Generally speaking, characters with aoe abilities are more desirable, as you face more enemies on higher Entropy levels
No more than 1 proper frontline character: Aegis, Juggernaut or Guardian.
Character with at least B rank in damage.
Second character with at least B rank in damage or at least A in stagger

Items

Depending on how many you've unlocked already you will want to unlock either 12, 18, or 24 items to be able to promote up to 3 weapons and 1 device for your starting characters. Unlocking more than 24 items will mess with the item pool and you may get a lot of items in your runs that you don't want at all. Weapons must have damage multiplier (not the armor or shield damage), or weaken defense, or increased stagger time (not the weaken stagger defense), or faster attack time. Devices and Implants don't have much variety to them and should be self-explanatory.

Items - Swords

Cheapest sword, but better than most expensive ones. Skip if you are going for 12 items set.

Second cheapest sword, good damage multiplier, the fury generation is slightly less relevant. Skip if you are going for 12 items set.

By far the best sword, Weaken Defense is one of the best stats to have access to as it is a debuff, which means every party member hits for more. Promote if you start with a sword character.

Part of 12 items set.

Items - Gauntlets

Yet again, the best gauntlet is also the second cheapest; damage and extra stagger, can't ask for more. Promote if you start with a gauntlets character.

The variant for characters that don't focus on dealing damage. Skip if you are going for 12 items set.

Items - Blasters

Second cheapest blaster is also one of the best, who would've thought. Skip if you are going for 12 items set.

Weaken Defense AND applies Marked? Yes, please! Promote if you start with a blaster character.

Mostly for Gunslinger.

Part of 18 items set. Skip if you are going for 12 items set.

Items - Rifles

Cheapest and goodest; shield piercing isn't as valuable, although it means that you can apply any elemental debuff even if the target still has shields intact. Skip if you are going for 12 items set.

The ultimate heavy hitter for your main carry.

The only item in the game that allows you to remove buffs from enemies makes it invaluable and the best rifle overall unless you already have a character with the same ability, which is still not enough to justify dropping this rifle for the other 2. Promote for a rifle character.

Items - Implants

Mostly used on Saboteur.

For your carries.

Items - Devices

For off-tanks.

For Juggernaut and Aegis. Activate if you start with one of them. Promote if you start with one of them and you are on 24 items set.

For your Guardian tank. Activate if you start with him. Promoting isn't necessary if you start with his Juggernaut progeny.

Changelog

22/12/21 - Characters Tier List added
03/01/22 - Items section updated
21/01/22 - updated Empath's description

31 Comments

< >

Chf. Squiggy McBooty 26 Apr @ 11:08am

I'm paying more attention to this in-game, and at least on his basic attacks he does not in fact generate fury. I haven't tested it with like tentacle 2 (mostly because I accidentally clobbered my save

), but claw and such don't produce any fury.

Drumastermunch 26 Apr @ 5:42am

@Chf. Squiggy McBooty Dark Paragon does generate fury from crits

Maybe it was a bug at the time the guide was written
Or maybe it's only on some attacks (like the guardian, I'm pretty sure he can't generate fury when crit on its special flurry attack, but that's an exception)

Chf. Squiggy McBooty 24 Apr @ 9:02pm

Dark Paragon doesn't generate fury from crits? Is it just me or does it not say that ANYWHERE in-game?

Karmonger [author] 15 Jan @ 11:47am

I'm glad that my evalution on some characters is so off that it encourages people to try different starting strategies. I can add you to contributors of this guide so you can change/add to it if you want since I no longer play this game.

Pandada-sensei 15 Jan @ 12:52am

Again thanks to Polecat, I started dabbling in many different strategies and tried different things on Entropy5:

Biorifle is an amazing enabler for unique tanks, you can make tanks characters on Entropy5 that normally wouldn't be considered. Enforcer with Biorifle makes him into an amazing tank, and allows you to use a Dragoon in tandem really well when done correctly.

Unfortunately I do feel like Marksman is one of the worst characters in the game, and Commando followed by that but makes for a good tank with Biorifle+Vortex in the front, but everyone can do Commando's job better. Even the Archon with the right setup and progeny does damage better on top of that, and Archon is good for an AoE team. Commando is for "when there really isn't anything better", which is never if you can pick 3 heroes every planet, or you desperately need a tank and just happen to have a good Biorifle+Vortex at hand.

Pandada-sensei 15 Jan @ 12:51am

Just did a Entropy5 run with Empath starter, easily the best game of my life and much more interesting/fun. Saboteur with Dark Paragon progeny is a fantastic starter tank, and easily my favorite Progeny on him now.

'PoleCat' was right all along, Empath is cracked when used right and can get you flawless games, never killed behemoth's as easily with enabling and boosting damage like that.

But yeah, thanks to PoleCat, Empath is an easy S-Tier pick for me in a starter team and has allowed me to look at other equipments and strategies outside of the cookie-cutter starter that everyone uses and keeps using.

Bleu 10 Feb, 2023 @ 5:32am

I see that you've changed a few mino things from your kosgames write up.
All in all, it really shows you beat entropy V. Your understanding of the mechanics in the highest difficulty level and of the items is very very good.

(I like the enforcer a bit more, though. I get de Dorn progeny that gets clear shot on level 4 and get the hero perk that boosts armor damge, so as not to be stuck with flurries).

Cheers

Steel Balls 8 Jun, 2022 @ 1:03am

@Karmonger ty very much for your answer! now i understand it much better!!! so, then 24 is not the ideal? i mean, as you say, if u can promote 3 weapons and 1 device it's perffect right? I'm a "newbie" player, i play on switch, well, played months ago 10 hours aprox, and the items point is where im weak in therms of knowledge. Ty again for your time =)

Karmonger [author] 7 Jun, 2022 @ 2:34pm

@Steel Balls Promotion is modifier that increases the chance of any item of your choosing to show up more often during your runs. You get 1 promotion for every 6 unlocked items. In the end, how many items you want to unlock in total is up to your personal preference. In theory a total of 12 unlocked items is ideal, although you may get more generic items that way.

Steel Balls 4 Jun, 2022 @ 1:19pm

I dont understand this sentence:

Depending on how many you've unlocked already you will want to unlock either 12, 18, or 24 items to be able to promote up to 3 weapons and 1 device for your starting characters

and this:

It's not that bad, you just need to make sure that you unlock exactly 6*x items to have as many promotions as you need.

why 6*x items? what are those promotions? im trying to understand how the items pool works and any guide is explaining it clear if u could explain it to me i would be gratefull

< >