In Hell Clock, a Build refers to the synergistic combination of your character’s Relics, Gear, Trinkets, Skills, and passive choices (from the Infernal Bell and Constellation Map) designed to maximize effectiveness, define a unique playstyle, and overcome the challenges of the dungeons. Crafting a powerful build is central to progression and success in the game.
A successful build in Hell Clock integrates several distinct systems:
Relics
Relics are the cornerstone of your build, offering powerful effects that define and amplify your abilities. They are placed in a grid-based inventory within The Reliquary and come with various shapes and randomized affixes. Relics are crucial for creating strong synergies with your chosen skills and playstyle.
Gear
Gear (such as weapons and armor) provides your character’s basic and core stats, including base damage, life, mana, and resistances. While less flashy than relics, solid gear provides the foundational numbers that all other percentage-based bonuses scale from. Gear can be upgraded during a run to boost these base stats.
Trinkets
Trinkets are passive bonuses acquired during a run, automatically enhancing various aspects of your character (e.g., damage %, life %, attack speed). They are not manually controlled or crafted but provide valuable in-run scaling.
Skills / Abilities
Your active Skills are the primary tools for engaging enemies. A build often revolves around a core set of skills, with relics and passive choices chosen to enhance their damage, utility, or defensive capabilities.
Infernal Bell (Passive Skill Tree)
The Infernal Bell is a meta-progression system that provides permanent passive bonuses to your character across runs. Investing points here allows you to tailor your character’s fundamental strengths, such as increased mana, health, damage, or Soul Stone gain, which then synergize with your in-run build choices.
Constellation Map (Ascension Tree)
The Constellation Map is an endgame progression system that allows you to further specialize your character’s overall direction (e.g., focusing on Dexterity, Strength, or Magic pathways). Choices here can significantly influence the types of elemental damage, resource management, or defensive strategies your character excels at.
Hell Clock’s rogue-lite nature means that while your meta-progression (Infernal Bell, Constellation Map) is permanent, your in-run components (Relics, Gear, Trinkets) are lost upon death or ascension. This encourages:
Choose a Core Idea: Start with a spell you enjoy, a damage type you want to focus on (e.g., fire, lightning), or a defensive strategy (e.g., high life, dodge).
Align Skills & Relics: Select skills that benefit from your chosen focus, then prioritize relics that enhance those skills or provide complementary effects (e.g., more mana for a mana-hungry spell, cooldown reduction for frequently used abilities).
Optimize Gear & Trinkets: Look for gear with base stats that support your build (e.g., a weapon with high base damage for a damage-focused build). Allow trinkets to automatically fill in passive gaps.
Leverage Meta-Progression: Use your Soul Stones to upgrade relics and invest points in the Infernal Bell and Constellation Map to permanently empower your character, making future runs and builds even stronger.