Halls of Torment introduces 11 heroes to survive the dangers of five Halls. Some characters are stronger than others as they rise through the Agony ranks. If you’re new and just starting with Halls of Torment, this tier list should give you a good idea of every hero’s power.
Halls of Torment hero tier list
D-tier
These heroes work well for the first three Halls.
Sorceress
At first glance, the Sorceress’ base attack is useful against the early groups of enemies. However, her base damage does not scale as well with levels compared to the other heroes. With the right Spark upgrades and bonuses to Lightning damage, the Sorceress provides excellent control by stunning enemies in place while she blasts them with forks of Lightning.
Lightning Strikes and Kugelblitz are the best abilities for the Sorceress and provide everything she needs to blast through several clustered groups of enemies.
Swordsman
The Swordsman is the first hero you start with. Being the starter hero, he can be mediocre in the early game with average stats, but with enough upgrades, he can cleave through condensed groups of enemies. With enough damage, attack speed, range, and critical strike buffs, the Swordsman should get through most of the early Halls in no time.
The Swordsman works great with Transfixion and its debuff upgrades, weakening enemies while his cleave damage takes them down faster.
C-tier
These heroes can stand tall throughout all five Halls.
Archer
The Archer is the easiest starter hero to play with. You can improve her damage with the bow with attack speed, damage, and critical strike stats. With additional Force, the arrows can pierce through multiple units and mini-stun all of them.
The Archer is also the best early-game hero if you like running a critical strike build with a high crit chance and crit damage coupled with abilities like Transfixion and Phantom Needles.
Exterminator
The Exterminator is a great early-game hero to clear Halls on Normal difficulty. His Flame Caster weapon deals Fire damage and applies the Burn effect to all affected targets by default. This effect stacks with other Burn-based abilities like Flame Strike and Dragon’s Breath to chip away at enemies bit by bit.
The Exterminator benefits from stats like movement speed to keep himself safe while enemies burn and Force to let the Fire effects pierce through several groups of enemies.
B-tier
These heroes can handle the early Agony levels of the first two Halls.
Beast Huntress
The Beast Huntress is a summoner hero who commands her hound to attack enemies in battle. She attacks primarily with her spear, granting players two viable playstyles. You can either go down the summoner route and get abilities/items that improve them or turn the Beast Huntress into a powerful spear maiden with high attack speed, damage, and critical strike stats.
If you’re playing as a summoner, go all in with abilities like Summon Golem and Spirit Warrior. Getting items like Shepherd’s Boon will improve your stats with the number of active summons you have.
Landsknecht
The Landsknecht brings the firepower with two main weapons: the Arquebus and Grenades. Her Arquebus is a single high-damage shot weapon that benefits greatly from multishot and high critical stats. On the other hand, the Landsknecht’s Grenades are a great source of area damage, allowing her to clear through packs of enemies before blasting the Elites and Bosses with her Arquebus.
Transfixion and Phantom Needles with bonuses to multistrike will also greatly increase the Landsknecht’s damage output later in the game.
A-tier
These heroes should be able to handle max Agony levels in most Halls.
Cleric
The Cleric is a great hero for new players struggling to clear higher Torment levels. His main attack deals 666 damage evenly spread among all targets, making him a great Champion and Boss killer. Pick up Radiant Aura as soon as possible to ramp up the Cleric’s magic damage output.
The Cleric also has the highest base regeneration of all heroes, allowing for some risky plays as long as you get time to regenerate your health safely.
Warlock
The Warlock is not as newbie-friendly, but his damage output far exceeds the Cleric’s. This hero utilizes his summons to deal damage, sending homing spirits outwards to pursue enemies. The Warlock excels as a summoner, requiring items and abilities that grant him more minions to use in battle.
Buff the Warlock with stats that increase summon damage, force, and critical strike chance/damage.
S-tier
These heroes can clear through the game’s content with little trouble.
Norseman
The Norseman is a hero that shines in the later stages of the game. He can clear early game content easily with his high attack speed dual axes and Frostbite procs. The Norseman excels after acquiring a collection of Ice damage and Frost effect-boosting equipment.
The ideal Norseman build would have higher attack speed, crit strike chance, crit strike damage, movement speed, and damage.
Sage
The Sage is the true wild card hero of Halls of Torment. He has no starting weapon and can wield any ability as his main weapon in battle. The Sage also gains access to all abilities whenever he selects a Scroll of Mastery instead of the usual three random ability choices/upgrades.
You can pick up any stats depending on your abilities. A fun build on the Sage is using his Spectral Fists ability coupled with high attack speed, damage, and crit stats to turn him into a powerhouse. Consider using multishot upgrades with Phantom Needles for more damage.
Shield Maiden
The Shield Maiden is the defensive equivalent of the Norseman’s offensive potential. With enough block chance, defense, and regeneration, the Shield Maiden will take little to no damage from any enemy up to mid Torment levels in Agony runs.
Build up your Shield Maiden with the above stats and go for abilities that center around the hero, like Radiant Aura, Morning Star, Transfixion, and Astronomer’s Orbs.
If your favorite hero doesn’t rank high on this list, know that with the right items and abilities, every hero should be able to clear every Hall. You must farm a few Halls to completion and unlock most achievements to get there.
