Across the Obelisk is a fantastic deckbuilding roguelike where you assemble a party of heroes to battle through progressively more difficult dungeons. A key part of building an effective party is selecting the right perks for each hero to enhance their abilities. The perk system went through a major overhaul during early access, so it can be tricky figuring out the optimal builds, especially for new players. In this guide, I’ll share my experiences and recommendations for putting together powerful perk builds in Across the Obelisk.
How the Perk System Works
In Across the Obelisk, each hero has a perk page where you can spend points to unlock various perks You start with 50 points to spend and can earn more through certain shrines and events The perks are divided into three categories – Physical, Elemental, and Mystical. Many perks enhance specific damage types like Bleed or Burn, while others provide universal bonuses like more max Energy.
When selecting perks, it’s important to consider how you intend to play each hero and what cards will be in their deck For example, boosting Burn damage is useless if the hero has no Fire cards. You generally want to focus on enhancing a hero’s primary damage type and lean into their strengths
Certain perks are unique and can only be taken once per party. These often provide team-wide bonuses, so be sure someone grabs them. The perks also have special variants that modify how they function, adding interesting trade-offs to consider.
Always Grab These Core Perks
Based on my experience across many hours of play, there are a few perks that I believe are must-takes for every hero in almost all situations:
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Energy: Extra starting energy is incredibly valuable, allowing you to play more cards, especially crucial ones on the first turn. This perk is a no-brainer.
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Speed: Acting earlier in the turn order is a significant advantage, letting your heroes get attacks or heals in before enemies can respond. Great for quickly overwhelming foes.
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Resistances: Boosting resistances makes your heroes tougher and improves the value of heals. Prioritize types like Physical that are common across many enemies.
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Inspire: If someone in the party has Inspire, grab the perk to draw 2 extra cards. Inspire offers card advantage and flexibility.
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Vulnerable Stack Increase: This unique perk increases the max Vulnerable stacks to 12 and reduces decay by 1. Vulnerable amplifies all damage so this is invaluable.
Offense-Boosting Perks for Damage Dealers
For heroes focused on dealing damage, you’ll want perks that increase their offensive potential:
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Powerful Stack Increase: Another must-have unique perk. Powerful grants a huge damage boost so expanding the stacks is amazing.
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Main Damage Type: Pump points into boosting the hero’s main damage type, like Physical for Grukli or Fire for Cornelius.
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Charges: Extra uses of limited skills like Bleed or Burn are extremely handy.
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Crit Chance/Damage: Boosting crits substantially raises damage output. Great for assassins like Thuls.
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Shards: Extra Shards means more items and power. Helpful if not using chests.
Defense and Support Perks for Tanks and Healers
For tanks and healers, you’ll want perks that improve their ability to protect and restore the party:
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Block: Increase Block to mitigate more damage with Barricade and other skills. Essential for tanks.
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Healing Done/Received: Maximizing healing throughput keeps the party alive. Target the main healing type like Regeneration.
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Fortify Charges: Extra uses of Fortify to grant Shields is invaluable support.
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Cleanse Charges: Removing debuffs with Cleanse is great for handling dangerous effects.
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Group Resistances: Increasing AOE resistance buffs makes tanks better at protecting the party.
Evaluating the Special Perk Variants
Many of the perks have 2-3 special variants that add unique effects and tradeoffs. Some are clearly superior, while others require more thought based on team composition and strategy. Here are some key things I consider when assessing special perks:
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Does the added bonus align with the hero’s role and deck? For example, if the hero already applies Vulnerable, increasing their Physical damage makes sense.
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Does the downside contradict the hero’s strengths or necessitate building around it? Burn dealing Cold damage means you need Frost cards too.
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Will the effect help achieve your overall gameplan? Spark spreading to adjacent enemies turbocharges AOE damage.
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Does another hero fill this niche already? If someone gives team Inspire, you may opt for extra starting energy instead.
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How impactful is the effect? Increasing max stacks or damage percent is almost always better than extra charges.
Common Perk Build Traps to Avoid
While theorycrafting perk builds is part of the fun, it’s easy to fall into some traps that may seem good but aren’t optimal. Here are some I’ve learned to steer clear of:
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All-purpose builds: Trying to boost 3+ damage types leaves everyone average. Specialization is key.
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Hyper-focusing tanks: Prioritizing Block over HP risks getting one-shotted. Balance is important.
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Pure utility: While support skills are great, heroes still need enough offense to contribute.
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Overvaluing charges: Extra uses rarely beats boosting damage/healing percent and max stacks.
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Taking trap variants: Some special perks have downsides not worth the minor upside.
Putting it All Together
With these tips in mind, here are some sample perk builds I’ve had success with:
Cornelius (Fire Mage)
- Fire Damage
- Burn Damage
- Powerful Stack Increase
- Energy
- Crit Damage
- Elemental Resistance
Magnus (Tank)
- Block
- Physical Resistance
- Fortify Charges
- Cleanse Charges
- Health
- Speed
Wilbur (Lightning Mage)
- Spark Damage
- Spark Spreads to Adjacent Enemies
- Energy
- Elemental Resistance
- Crit Chance
- Speed
Reginald (Healer)
- Healing Done
- Regeneration Healing
- Group Physical Resistance
- Group Elemental Resistance
- Cleanse Charges
- Inspire Draw 2 Extra Cards
Experiment and Optimize Your Own Builds
Across the Obelisk! 6 things I wish I knew when I started playing!
FAQ
What do perks do in across the obelisk?
Do perks stack in across the obelisk?
What is the perk limit in across the obelisk?
What are the upgrades for the cards in across the obelisk?
Who is the best support character in across the obelisk?
Bree is a Warden and tactical warrior specializing in thorns. She is the best Support character in Across the Obelisk, thanks to her powerful hero traits and ability to debuff enemies and buff allies. Below is the best Bree build in Across the Obelisk, including the best starting and endgame decks, perks, and items to use for her.
What is Bree support in across the obelisk?
Here’s our Across the Obelisk Bree Support build, including starting and endgame decks, perks, and items. Bree is a Warden and tactical warrior specializing in thorns. She is the best Support character in Across the Obelisk, thanks to her powerful hero traits and ability to debuff enemies and buff allies.
How do you get Bree in across the obelisk?
If you don’t know how to get this character, check out our guide on how to unlock Bree in Across the Obelisk. The best talents for Bree are: Level 2: Defensive Strategy costs one energy and lets you draw three cards. Level 3: Tactician makes your cards-in-hand cost one less at the start of your turn.
Who is Sylvie in across the obelisk?
Sylvie is a ranged damage dealer in Across the Obelisk. She’s best used as a primary damage dealer on any team composition and synergizes exceptionally well with Gustav and Nezglekt. Let’s take a look at the best builds for Sylvie in Across the Obelisk, including the optimal starting deck and late-game decks and the best perks and items.
Is Heiner a good Tank hero in across the obelisk?
Heiner is a tank hero in Across the Obelisk that excels at applying debuffs to enemies, helping the team with survival through shields and card draw, and being an all-around solid frontline damage sponge. Due to his playstyle, Heiner is an easy-to-play hero who goes well with any team composition.
How do you unlock Heiner in across the obelisk?
If you don’t know how to get this character, check out our guide on how to unlock Heiner in Across the Obelisk. The best talents for Heiner are: Level 1: Unbreakable adds 10 Block to all heroes and 2 Fortify to Heiner himself. You should get Fortify to optimize this skill, so the shield maintains on all heroes to the next round.