[Taskbar Hero / TBH Play Log Index] 5-Day Record of a Taskbar Idle RPG
Taskbar Hero / TBH play log index. All 5 entries in one place — from learning the basics and clearing Normal/Nightmare difficulty, to hitting the resistance wall in Hell Chapter 2.
What Is Taskbar Hero / TBH?
Taskbar Hero / TBH is a tiny idle RPG that lives in your PC's taskbar.
You build a party of three heroes — Priest, Ranger, and Sorcerer — and let them fight automatically through increasingly difficult stages.
Your job is purely strategic: craft gear, assign skills, unlock pets, and choose which stage to farm. Combat runs itself while you do other things.
As difficulty climbs from Normal to Nightmare to Hell, managing gear level, cube level, and elemental resistance through enchants becomes increasingly critical.
It's the kind of game where you get stuck, but getting stuck is somehow more motivating than progressing.
My Play Style
These logs were written under the following conditions — take them as context:
- Mostly free-to-play (paid only for pet unlocks)
- Zero guides consulted. All observations, theories, and mistakes are recorded as they happened
- No offline farming at time of writing (online idle only)
If you're playing the same way — no guides, just figuring it out — hopefully these logs save you some pain.
Play Log Index
One Full Day of Idle: How the Early Game Works in This Taskbar RPG
Day one was all about understanding the systems. Farmed Normal early stages while getting a handle on pet unlocks, gear crafting, and how cube level works.
- Topics
- First session · system overview · Normal early farming
- Progress
- Stable Normal farming, core progression understood
Normal Cleared, Into Nightmare. The Fire Spirit Taught Me About Gear Gaps
Cleared Normal Chapter 3 and pushed into Nightmare. A Fire Spirit hit like a truck and made the equipment gap very obvious, very fast.
- Topics
- Normal ch.3 cleared · Nightmare entered · Fire Spirit trouble
- Progress
- Early Nightmare. Resistance and gear level now clearly matter
Nightmare Chapter 2 Down. Then 3-5 Reminded Me This Is a Gear Game
Cleared Nightmare Chapter 2, then ran straight into the gear wall at 3-5. That's when it clicked: this game is fundamentally about equipment gaps.
- Topics
- Nightmare ch.2 cleared · gear wall at 3-5 · Hell pet spotted
- Progress
- Early Nightmare ch.3. Cube level and gear upgrades now urgent
Surviving the Update Accident, Clearing Nightmare, Entering Hell
A post-update bug wiped some gear. Pushed through it, switched to a burst build, and took down the Nightmare 3-10 Skeleton Swordsman. Hell difficulty unlocked.
- Topics
- Update gear bug · burst build · Nightmare 3-10 cleared
- Progress
- Nightmare fully cleared. Hell Chapter 1 entered
Blue Golem Unlocked and the Hell Chapter 2 Wall. Are Poison Missiles Chaos-Type?
Unlocked the Blue Golem, cleared Hell Chapter 1 with a burst build. In Chapter 2, discovered a −40% all-resistance debuff that explained every mystery damage spike.
- Topics
- Blue Golem unlock · Hell ch.1 cleared · Chaos resistance enchants
- Progress
- Hell 2-7 cleared. −40% all-resistance debuff discovered
Tips from 5 Sessions
Key observations from the play logs. These are based on my own experience, not confirmed game data — but they may save you some frustration.
| Topic | Notes |
|---|---|
| Cube Level | Directly caps the max level of crafted gear. Prioritize gear drops to raise it alongside your character level |
| Arcana Gear | A level 20 Arcana piece held its own until a level 40 Legendary finally dropped. Lucky to have one |
| Burst Builds | Against AoE bosses, swap resistance buffs for Blessing of Strength and go full damage. Don't let the fight drag |
| Resistance Debuff | Hell difficulty may apply a significant negative resistance penalty. Check your detailed status screen if damage feels unreasonable |
| Enchants & Resistance | Percentage-based resistance upgrades may not work if your base resistance is zero or negative. Establish a base value via enchants first |
| Stage Resistance | Fire Spirit stages need fire resist (Ruby), poison-heavy stages need Chaos resist (Emerald). Stage-specific builds matter from Hell onward |
| Chest Drop Rate | Value of chest drops grows sharply in Hell. Pet bonuses and drop-rate enchants become worth prioritizing |
For New Players: Rune Priority Guide
Rune priority shifts significantly as you progress. The table below is based on 5 days of play — treat it as a rough guide, not a formula.
Priority by Difficulty
| Difficulty | Priority Order |
|---|---|
| Normal | Farm Efficiency > Gold > EXP > Other |
| Nightmare | Gold > Gear > Farm Efficiency > EXP > Other |
| Hell | Enchants = Gear > Farm Efficiency > Gold > Other > EXP |
Reasoning
- Gear requires farm efficiency to obtain. In Normal, clearing stages faster is the top priority
- Gold is needed to level up runes. EXP and Gold bonuses have the biggest impact early on
- Runes alone won't hard-block your progress — but they meaningfully improve efficiency
- EXP runes lose value over time. At higher levels, gear matters far more than character level. No level-gap damage penalty has been observed in my runs so far — levels go up naturally anyway if you're farming gear and gold
- Spreading rune investment evenly seems more efficient than stacking one category
Suggested Early Unlock Order
① Offline Rewards unlock — only if you plan to idle offline
If you only idle while the game is open, skip this entirely. Spend those rune points elsewhere.
② Hero Slot +1, twice
More heroes means a large and immediate power spike. One of the best early investments.
③ Auto-open Normal Chests → ④ Auto-open Stage Boss Chests
Eliminating manual chest opening saves time and lets farming run without interruption. Worth unlocking early.
⑤ Cube EXP first, then spread evenly
Cube level caps your best craftable gear, so it's worth prioritizing. After that, spreading rune upgrades broadly seems to outperform stacking a single category. Inventory, storage, and chest capacity slots can wait until you actually feel the pinch.
Related Article
Full game overview — price, genre, and system breakdown — available here: