Farming Guide: Best Routes, Rune & Party Tips

Farming in TBH: Task Bar Hero is the set of choices you make to convert time and AP into gold, experience, materials, and tradeable items. Efficient farming is built from three pillars: stage selection and AFK loops, Rune/Cube progression and choices, and inventory management (synthesis/alchemy/market). This page explains what to farm, where to farm it, and how to structure your play so you progress fastest.

Core goals of farming

• Earn Gold to unlock and upgrade Runes (third hero slot and automation runes are priority).
• Acquire unit/character/supporter experience items and CAPITAL for upgrades.
• Gather development/limit-break materials and weapon parts for crafting and upgrades.
• Obtain high‑rarity gear and Soul Stones for Act bosses and market sale.

Best early-stage farms and AFK loop

• Pick the last comfortably clear stage and repeat it. Active runs (game open) drop chests and are far more valuable than offline time.
• Recommended beginner farm stages:
  • Act 1: 1-7 → 1-8 → 1-9 sequence. 1‑8/1‑9 are classic early farms for low-level gear, pet progression (bat pet unlocks at ~5,000 kills), and synthesis fodder.
  • When stalled, portal back one act (blue portal) and farm earlier stages for gear/levels.
• For efficient AFK loops:
  1. Farm your last comfortable stage.
  2. Enable Auto‑retry.
  3. Unlock the Far North rune to auto‑open chests.
  4. Use Cube Alchemy to convert overflow gear to gold.
  5. Keep Auto Fill disciplined (lock BiS pieces).

Party composition for farming

• Early-game best duo/trio:
  • Ranger + Priest is a proven gold/clearing duo. Priest’s buffs help sustain and speed clears.
  • When you can field three heroes, common effective farming parties are Knight (frontline) + Ranger (damage) + Priest (healing/buff) or Ranger + Priest + Sorcerer for higher clear speed if survivability is fine.
• Rule of thumb:
  • If your party dies, add Knight or improve frontline gear.
  • If your party survives but clears slowly, increase damage (swap Knight → Sorcerer).

Rune priorities and why they matter

• Runes are the long-term account upgrades bought with gold; they drastically change farming efficiency.
• Immediate priorities:
  1. Rune of Command: unlock 2nd and then 3rd hero slots (third slot costs substantially more gold but is worth it).
  2. Far North automation: auto-open chests.
  3. Gold and XP nodes (fund further runes and Cube upgrades).
  4. Inventory expansion and offline reward unlock (offline rewards provide some XP/gold for up to hours offline).
  5. Extra skill slot (Rune of Awakening) after you have 3 heroes.
• Invest in automation and gold/XP early to make AFK loops productive.

Which difficulty to farm

• Normal: low AP cost, small rewards; useful for specific low‑level drops or event missions but generally low efficiency.
• Hard: good balance of AP→rewards; many development/limit-break materials and CAPITAL are farmed here. Hard skip rewards are substantially better than Normal for AP spent.
• Expert: highest repeatable rewards (SSR experience items and materials) and the main farm for late‑game progression once your team can safely clear it. Use skip when available for AP efficiency.

Use Skip when you can comfortably clear the stage—skip rewards often include many experience items and CAPITAL equivalent and scale well with event bonuses.

Event farming considerations

• Event stages (Hard) with bonus percentages significantly increase medal and item yield per AP—run event Hard stages when your lineup benefits from the bonus.
• Event Hard farming often yields more experience and support items per AP than main Hard, but note some event stages may not drop certain upgrade parts (read event details).
• Track mission/event objectives (clear Normal/Hard/Expert X times) — these give SSR experience materials and sometimes SSP chips.

Materials & special drops

• Soul Stones: required for Act boss attempts; consumed only on successful clears—keep spares in stash.
• SSP Chips: event/missions supply them; 100 chips required to SSP‑ify a SP Lv100 unit. Farm events and participate in large raid/score activities for steady supply.
• Ult development materials: appear in higher-difficulty rewards (Hard/Expert) and special endgame nodes.

Cube (Synthesis & Alchemy) and inventory hygiene

• Cube functions: Synthesize (9 same-rarity → higher rarity), Alchemy (convert unwanted items to Gold), Crafting, Enchant/remove, Decoration slots.
• Early usage:
  • Use Alchemy frequently early to convert duplicate whites/greens into Gold to fund runes.
  • Don’t melt every white—reserve some “good white” base items for future synthesis/crafting needs.
• Synthesis rules:
  • Put 9 items of the same rarity to attempt an upgrade. Rarely, you may jump two rarities.
  • Synthesize carefully once you have Cube levels and enough inventory space—targeted synthesis of fodder can produce mid/high-tier items given time.
• Safety:
  • Use Alt+click/item lock and stash to protect BiS items from Auto Fill.
  • Auto Fill pulls from open inventory and stash if toggled; check settings before using.

When to Alchemy vs Synthesize vs Market

• Alchemy (Cube) is your primary early gold source; convert duplicates and classes you don’t play.
• Synthesize is for upgrading many low-tier duplicates into fewer higher-tier items — useful long-term once Cube is upgraded.
• Steam Community Market (if available to you): sell high‑rarity items for real money or Gold via market loops described by the in‑game Trade Ship; use with care and follow market rules (some crafted items may have restrictions).
• Practical advice:
  • Early: Alchemy duplicates to fund runes and the 3rd hero slot.
  • Mid/late: Reserve some legendaries/immortals for market or cube rolls; use stash for tradeable pieces.

Stash management — what to keep

• Keep in Stash:
  • Decoration/engraving/crafting materials.
  • Soul Stones for later Act bosses.
  • High-level gear you cannot equip yet.
  • Marketable items waiting to be listed.
• Sell/cube:
  • Class-limited gear for classes you’ll never run.
  • Duplicate common/uncommon pieces once you have a stock of good whites suggested to keep for crafting.

Optimized AFK routine checklist

• Unlock auto-open chests rune.
• Farm last comfortable stage in active mode for chest drops.
• Enable Auto‑retry for long sessions.
• Use Cube Alchemy to convert surplus gear into Gold to fund Runes.
• Lock BiS pieces with Alt+click or move them to Stash before mass Alchemy/Auto Fill.
• Save Soul Stones in Stash for boss attempts.

Event‑specific tips

• Use event bonus % to prioritize event Hard stage runs if your lineup is compatible.
• Track medal/gacha conversion mechanics for events — some events convert boss tickets into medals that can be spent for box rewards; plan AP usage for maximum medal yield per AP.
• Complete event missions (Normal/Hard/Expert clear counts) as they grant SSR experience items, SSP chips, and limit-break materials.

When you’re stuck progressing

• Portal back to earlier stages and farm gear; maintain character levels within ~+6 of area level to avoid XP penalties.
• Improve runes that increase drop rate and gold before adding raw stats.
• Consider changing party composition (Knight for stability, Sorcerer for damage) according to survivability vs clear speed needs.
• Use Cube to fund rune unlocks if gold deficit is blocking progress.

Economy quick facts

• Hard chest CAPITAL per clear is higher than Normal; Expert gives the best SSR experience yield.
• Runes and inventory expansion are long-term multipliers for all farming; prioritize unlocking the third hero slot and automation runes.
• Steam Market (where active) can turn high-rarity drops into a meaningful gold inflow—use it responsibly.

Follow these guidelines to turn AP and playtime into sustainable progression: focus runes first (hero slots, automation, gold/XP), farm the last comfortable stage actively for chests, clean inventory with Cube Alchemy carefully, and switch party makeup for either survivability or speed depending on the stage.