TBH: Task Bar Hero: Complete Guide

This guide covers how to set up and grow an idle party in the free-to-play taskbar RPG from Nugem Studio and Tesseract Studio: hero picks, formations, the Rune Tree, the Cube, pets, farming stages, and turning Legendary and Immortal drops into Steam Wallet funds.

Researched September 2026 — current as of Ver 1.2.8 (Sept 22, 2026). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

• Start as Knight or Ranger, not Sorcerer. The early game is easier with a sturdy tank or a steady ranged damage dealer.
• Claim the free Priest DLC right away. It's a free hero on the Steam store, and the healer becomes a core part of most parties.
• Run Knight (front), Priest (middle), Ranger (back) as your first formation.
• Keep the game running. Offline progress only gives baseline EXP and coins. Chests don't drop offline.
• Spend early gold on the Rune Tree, starting with the gold multiplier and chest-drop nodes.
• Unlock formation slots with Rune of Command. The third slot costs 150,000 coins, and that's the big early goal.
• If you're stuck, farm 2-3 stages below the stage you're failing. You'll get better loot per hour and power up faster.
• Turn off "auto retry on stage failure" so the game doesn't loop a stage you can't beat.
• Don't sell anything below Legendary on the Market. Legendary is the floor for items worth listing.

What the Game Is

TBH: Task Bar Hero is a free-to-play idle RPG that lives in a thin strip on your Windows taskbar. Your party auto-fights through monsters while you work. Its developers, Nugem Studio and Tesseract Studio, describe it as Vampire Survivors-style auto-combat meets a Diablo loot grind. It released on May 27, 2026 (Windows 10/11, 64-bit).

• Content: 3 Acts with about 10 stages each, 4 difficulty tiers, 500+ items and 50+ monster types.
• Rarity: ten grades, from Common up to Cosmic. Legendary and Immortal are the grades that matter for trading.
• Monetization: the base game is free. Optional DLC adds heroes, the soundtrack and supporter packs, and the Priest DLC is free. As of Ver 1.2.5, Dusk Wanderer skins are paid items.
• Reviews are Mixed, mostly because of worries about the economy and market changes rather than the gameplay itself.

Heroes

Hero | Role | Notes

Knight | Tank | Best early pick. Put skill points into health and armor.

Ranger | Ranged physical damage | Steady damage. Put points into attack speed and damage.

Sorcerer | Magic damage | Stronger later, and fragile early.

Priest (free DLC) | Healer / support | Top priority is Blessing of Might.

Hunter (DLC) | Traps / crossbow | A tactical damage option.

Slayer (DLC) | Berserker melee | Its Axe Spin cooldown bug was fixed in 1.02.02.

Formation rules

• Switching which heroes are deployed triggers a 60-second cooldown.
• Changing the order inside the formation is free. Use the UI arrows to move your tank to the front without a penalty.
• If your party keeps dying, the problem is usually survivability, not damage. Add armor and healing, or move the tank, before you chase more DPS.

Skill points can be respecced for free, so experiment.

The Rune Tree

The Rune Tree is a large account-wide passive tree that you unlock with gold. It's split into rough directions.

Direction | Focus | Priority

Northwest | Gold multipliers | First

Northeast | Chest drop volume | First

North | Inventory capacity, auto-open | Early

Southwest | EXP gain | Mid

Southeast | Combat stats | When stages wall you

Key purchases:

• Rune of Command nodes unlock formation slots. Slot 3 costs 150,000 coins.
• A second active skill slot costs 50,000 gold. It's a big power jump.
• Ver 1.02.03 added Rune Nodes that raise the drop chance of Normal Chests and Stage Boss Chests. Grab them once your gold and chest basics are done.

Loot, Gear and the Cube

Chests and drops

• Chests only drop while the game is actively running.
• Higher Acts and difficulties raise both the rarity and the frequency of drops. Immortals start appearing in Act 2, and Act 3 has the best quality.

The Cube (Hero-dric Cube)

• Synthesis: combine 9 items of the same rarity into one item of the next rarity up. This is how you make accessories, since rings and amulets don't drop normally in the first three acts.
• Alchemy / Corrosion: other recipes. Skip Alchemy early, because it burns resources you need for Synthesis. Ver 1.2.6 fixed the expected Contamination and Gold gains being displayed incorrectly when you load materials into these recipes.
• Lock items you want to keep. Ver 1.2.8 fixed a bug where locked items in the Stash could change the Synthesis recipe after a game restart, but double-check the recipe before bulk crafting anyway.

Gems and sockets

• Match the gem's damage type to the hero's damage type. Don't put fire gems on a hero who doesn't deal fire damage.
• Removing a gem destroys it. Only socket gems you're happy to commit.

Stacking: since Ver 1.2.5, all material items (Decoration Materials, Coins and Soulstones) stack up to 5, which frees up a lot of inventory space.

Soulstones and Bosses

• After your first clear of an Act boss, Soulstones are required for further boss attempts.
• A failed attempt doesn't consume the stone, so it's safe to try.
• Soulstones are also marketable (Normal rarity). A common early money move is selling 5-8 of them before you're ready for Act 2, then keeping them once you're pushing bosses.

Pets

Pets give account-wide buffs even when they aren't deployed, so unlock every free one.

Pet | Unlock (defeat 5,000 of...) | Where

Bat | Bats | Stage 1-8

Watcher | Giant Flies | Stage 2-5

Burning Skeleton | Fire Spirits | Stages 2-8 / 2-9

Blue Golem | Hell Golems | Stage 3-6

Ghost | Dark Spirits | Stage 3-4

The Bat is the first one to go for. Its buff increases Common Chest drop chance.

Steam Market: Turning Idle Time into Wallet Funds

• Only Legendary and Immortal gear (plus some materials, gems, decorations and Soulstones) is worth listing.
• Steam takes a transaction fee on every sale.
• Items you buy or take off the market have a 7-day trade/resale restriction.
• Pricing: check current listings first. If something doesn't sell, lower the price in small steps instead of undercutting hard.
• Market access has been interrupted before (for example during a server migration in June 2026), so treat market income as a bonus, not a guarantee.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Starting as Sorcerer and struggling through Act 1.
• Leaving the game closed and expecting chests. Offline mode only gives EXP and coins.
• Letting auto-retry loop a stage you can't beat.
• Buying combat runes before the gold and chest nodes.
• Using Alchemy early instead of saving items for Synthesis.
• Pulling gems out of gear, which destroys them.
• Swapping heroes back and forth and hitting the 60-second cooldown every time.
• Dumping Immortals at rock-bottom prices on the market.

Advanced Tips

• Choose your farm by loot per hour, not stage number. A stage you clear instantly usually beats one you barely survive.
• Plan accessories through the Cube. Since rings and amulets don't drop early, set aside same-rarity junk in batches of 9 for Synthesis.
• Run pet unlocks passively. Park your party on a pet's stage (Hell Golems at 3-6, for example) during work hours and collect the kill count while still getting loot.
• Pick up the chest-drop runes added in 1.02.03 (Normal and Stage Boss Chests) once you're farming seriously; more chests means more Legendary and Immortal rolls.
• Respec freely. Move Priest points around depending on whether you're pushing or farming.

FAQ

Is TBH: Task Bar Hero free? Yes. It's free-to-play, with optional DLC heroes and supporter packs. The Priest is a free DLC.

Can you really earn Steam money? You can sell Legendary and Immortal items on the Steam Community Market for Wallet funds, minus Steam's fee. Amounts depend on current demand.

Does it progress while the game is closed? Only a little. Offline progress gives baseline EXP and coins, but no chests.

Which hero should I start with? Knight or Ranger. Add the free Priest as soon as possible.

Why does my party keep dying? Usually survivability: add armor or healing, put the Knight in front, and farm a few stages lower for gear.

What are Soulstones for? Repeat boss attempts after your first clear. Failed attempts don't use them up.

Sources

• Steam: TBH: Task Bar Hero store page
• Steam News: TBH patch notes
• CommonSenseGamer: TBH tips and tricks
• GAMES.GG: How to earn Steam money in TBH
• TaskBarHero.org wiki
• Steam Community guides for TBH