Halls of Torment looks like a survivor-like wearing Diablo's clothes, and the thing that trips up new players is not the combat. It is that the run is not the progression — the gold is.
You are expected to die. A lot. What matters is what you buy with the payout.
What to do first — ranked
| Order | Do this | Why it is this high |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | **Put every coin into the Shrine of Blessings** | Permanent, applies to every hero, and **fully refundable with no penalty**. There is literally no wrong purchase, so there is no reason to save. Blessings raise the floor of every future run |
| 2 | **Stay in the Haunted Caverns until you can survive 26 minutes** | That unlocks the Archer, and the Lich there unlocks the Cleric. One hall, two heroes, and you learn the fundamentals while earning |
| 3 | **Treat a failed run as income** | An eight-minute death still pays gold. The instinct to restart immediately in frustration is costing you nothing, but the instinct to stop playing after a bad run is |
| 4 | **Stay on the Swordsman longer than feels natural** | It is a genuinely good all-round hero, not a tutorial character. Switching before you have blessings just changes which way you die |
| 5 | **Push one hall further rather than repeating a comfortable one** | Heroes unlock from hall-specific achievements, not from accumulated currency. Repetition earns gold; progress earns roster |
The Shrine of Blessings is the whole early game
This deserves its own section because it is the single thing that separates players who bounce off this game from players who get into it.
Blessings are bought with gold, they are permanent, they apply to every hero, and — the part people miss — they are fully refundable with no penalty.
That last property changes how you should treat them. There is no wrong purchase, no build to plan, no mistake to avoid. You cannot waste gold at the Shrine. So the correct behaviour is simply: earn coins, spend coins, repeat.
Because refunds are free, treat blessings as something you reshuffle rather than commit to. Switching heroes? Pull everything out and redistribute into what the new hero wants. It costs nothing, so there is no reason to play a hero with the wrong blessings.
A failed run is not a failed run
The progression model here is worth stating plainly, because it is the opposite of how a bad run feels.
What persists: gold, your blessings, and the heroes, abilities and items you have unlocked. What does not: every trait you picked during the run.
So an eight-minute death that earned some gold has advanced you. A thirty-minute run with a beautiful trait selection that you did not convert into unlocks has advanced you slightly more, but not categorically differently. The game is designed around attrition, and pretending otherwise is how people burn out on it early.
The practical version: stop restarting runs because the traits look bad. Play the bad run out, collect the gold, buy a blessing. That is the loop.
The halls, and where to be
| Hall | What it gives you |
|---|---|
| Haunted Caverns | The starting hall, and where your first two hero unlocks live — the Archer at 26 minutes survived and the Cleric from defeating the Lich |
| Ember Grounds | The Wyrm Queen unlocks the Warlock, and 1,000 kills in a single run unlocks the Exterminator |
| Forgotten Viaduct | 10,000 total kills unlocks the Sorceress; the Wraith Horseman quest unlocks the Shield Maiden |
| Frozen Depths | The Elder Giant at the end unlocks the Norseman |
| The Boglands | Paid DLC, unlocked after collecting 11 herbs. Adds the Crone and Alchemist through its quest board, plus abilities, items and over fifty quests |
The pattern worth internalising: heroes are gated behind hall progress, not behind currency. You cannot grind your way to the Sorceress in a hall she is not in. If you want a bigger roster, the route is forward.
Your first ten hours, in order
-
1
Play the Haunted Caverns and die a lot
Spend everything you earn at the Shrine of Blessings immediately. Do not save. The refund is free, so there is no planning to do.
-
2
Reach the 26-minute mark
This unlocks the Archer and is the clearest early milestone. If you cannot get there yet, you need more blessings, not better play.
-
3
Defeat the Lich
Unlocks the Cleric and confirms you can handle the hall's boss rather than just surviving its timer.
-
4
Move to the Ember Grounds
Two more heroes live here — the Warlock from the Wyrm Queen, the Exterminator from 1,000 kills in one run.
-
5
Start reading trait offers properly
Once blessings are carrying you, the run-level decisions begin to matter. Take multipliers over flat bonuses and support your starting ability first.
The three mistakes that stall new players
Saving gold. There is nothing to save for. Blessings are refundable, so holding coins is strictly worse than spending them.
Restarting runs that look bad. A bad run still pays. Restarting converts a small payout into zero.
Collecting heroes instead of using one. A new name is not an upgrade until you have the blessings to support it. The Swordsman with good blessings beats the Sorceress with none.
Once those three are fixed, the game opens quickly. For which hero to chase once your roster grows, see the characters tier list, and for what to take at level-up, the traits guide.
