Cooldowns, buff ticks and fatigue

A fight is not a single damage-per-second total. Items have individual activation rules and cooldowns, while shared combat events process other effects on their own schedule. A useful backpack needs those events to work together.

Item activation

Speed changes the wait between activations. Stuns and item-specific conditions can change when an effect occurs, and cooldown variation means identical-looking timers need not stay synchronized. A stunned character's cooldowns stop where they are. Items such as Gloves of Haste are valuable because they alter the timing of compatible neighbors, not simply the number on one weapon.

Alternating ticks

The shared one-second tick processes Regeneration on even seconds and Poison on odd seconds. Healing and poison damage therefore occur on different beats. Compare when protection or recovery arrives with the attacks it must survive.

Fatigue changes the finish

The fatigue timer arms at second 14; its first damage tick arrives at second 17 and repeats each second. The damage grows over time. Fatigue prevents an indefinitely stalled fight, so a defensive setup still needs a way to finish or outscale its opponent.

Read interactions before comparing totals

Hit checks, critical hits, reductions, Block, Spikes and Vampirism do different jobs. A star connection shows which items an effect can reach; it is not a predicted win rate. Use the build editor to inspect those connections, then compare the relevant item descriptions and conditions.

Stamina

Every class starts with 5 stamina, 25 health and 13 gold. The bar refills at 1 stamina per second before other regeneration. A weapon pays its stamina cost only when the bar can cover it. Wooden Sword costs 1 stamina and its cooldown is 1.4 seconds. Dagger costs no stamina and its cooldown is 3.5 seconds. If the cooldown finishes while stamina is short, the weapon does not attack and spends nothing, but the cooldown has already started again. Two copies of Wooden Sword can empty a bar of 5 while a Dagger beside them keeps attacking.

Speed changes how fast that countdown runs. Each cooldown length is also multiplied by a random factor from 0.95 to 1.05. At 0 speed the listed cooldown is that length. A speed of 0.20 makes the countdown 1.20 times as fast. Negative speed lengthens the wait. Each point of Heat adds 0.02 speed, and each point of Cold removes 0.02. A Stun pauses the countdown. A placed Regular Topaz adds 0.20 stamina per second. In a weapon socket the same gem adds 0.20 speed to that weapon instead. Stars, bags and item placement covers the other places a gem can sit.

What the cubes advance

Gold Cube and Chromium Cube each watch the first item with a cooldown inside their stars. The first advance of an item uses that cube's full amount: 2 seconds from Gold Cube, or 1.5 seconds from Chromium Cube. A later advance of the same item uses one fifth of the cube that is advancing it, so 0.4 seconds from Gold Cube and 0.3 seconds from Chromium Cube. The 80 on the cube is that reduction, not an attack chance.

Gold Cube triggers once, when your health is strictly below 50%. It then heals 30 plus 4 for each point of Regeneration, and it is used up. Chromium Cube triggers once, when the opponent's health is strictly below 50%. It then reduces the opponent's healing by 35%, and it is used up.

Stamina that is not a weapon

Banana heals 4 and adds 1 stamina to the current bar every 5 seconds. Flute waits 4.7 seconds, then gives 14 Block, 2 stamina or 2 Luck. The next activation cannot repeat that same gift. After that, all three are available again. It also adds 0.10 speed for each item in its stars. Death Lotus waits 3 seconds, gives 4 Mana and removes 3 buffs. It adds 1.5 stamina only when you have at least 1 Luck, and it spends that 1 Luck. Each Dark item in its stars adds 0.10 speed. Wolpertinger waits 5 seconds and gives you 3 buffs, each of a type you currently have the least of. Each point of buffs you gain or lose changes stamina regeneration by 0.007 per second. Each Pet in its stars adds 0.15 speed. A Stamina Sack in the backpack raises maximum stamina by 1 and refills the bar to that maximum. A copy in Storage does not.

Shields, and shoes that are not a shield

A miss does not ask a shield to roll. A hit does, even when the damage is already 0. Each shield rolls its own 30% chance. The chances are separate, and each success subtracts that shield's own amount. The damage cannot fall below 0. Wooden Buckler rolls only for a melee hit, subtracts 7, then removes 0.3 stamina from the opponent. Moon Shield rolls for any attack, subtracts 14, then removes 0.7 stamina from the opponent. Items in its stars that can block gain 30% Block power, and every 12 Block those items give becomes 1 Mana.

Heart Shield uses that melee test until you have 7 Regeneration. Reaching 7 spends the 7 and grants 150 temporary maximum health. After that, the 30% roll also covers effects. It subtracts 20, removes 0.7 stamina from the opponent, and gives you 1 Regeneration, up to 20 Regeneration from those blocks. Items in its stars that can block, heal or gain Regeneration start with 30% more Block power, 30% more healing and Vampirism, and 30 extra percentage points of Regeneration amplification chance.

Stone Shoes are not a shield. The first time your health is below 70%, they are used up. The check uses your remaining health, so an event that dealt no health still counts once you are already below 70%. For 7 seconds you gain 1 Luck, 1 Empower and 45 Block. For those 7 seconds the opponent's ranged damage, effect damage and Unhealing are each reduced by 35%. Melee damage is not reduced by that factor.