Hey everyone! I make guides for Wildermyth and write...things? At the moment only my Wildermyth guides are published, but I do intend to branch out into other games (eg. I have an unfinished guide to Bad North lying around somewhere) and share some of my (original) fictional works when I get the time and inclination!

I play Wildermyth on Walking Lunch difficulty, recommended Calamities, standard save system (though I did once win a Carved in Stone 3-chapter story campaign). Even at this difficulty, there’s a lot of build diversity, so much that I can only be sure I haven’t thought of them all. If you do things differently to me and it works for you, that’s awesome! Please let me know how you do it!

This means you can be sure that my guides will work on all difficulty settings, and that when you start with higher level heroes (level 4 or 5) you should be able to complete higher calamity starts without too much trouble. It doesn’t mean I believe in a handful of hyper-specific builds as the only way to play – I said it in the last paragraph and I’ll say it again; I love to hear what works for others!

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Anyone may freely excerpt, reference, and build on my works, provided they are clearly cited and referenced, and that my works are never used to promote hatred or bigotry of any kind - including but not limited to:

fascism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, polyphobia, bi/panphobia, acephobia

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That said I do need to eat, so if you enjoy my work and want to support my ability to keep making it, here’s a link to my Patreon[patreon.com]

THIS GUIDE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR SOME MINOR EVENTS BECAUSE IT HAS THEMES (Pets count) IN IT! That said, I don’t have any main-campaign spoilers, and I mostly don’t touch on how you get things, so use your noggin and think about how unspoiled YOU want the game. Probably not too unspoiled because you’re looking up guides?

If anyone has feedback, I'd love to hear it! There will always be a few mistakes, plus some of my theoretical stuff is really educated guessing (praise the wiki) so hearing from folk who've tried things is great!

Anything marked with a (Th) or (Theoretical) is something I haven’t specifically tried on a specific build, though I may have experience with it otherwise, and in many cases am relying on the knowledge and experience of others who have tried it

This guide was written during patch 1.11 Firlow – I will list any updates it receives here

Alright listen up, you get one (1) pet slot! No, stop booing me, the bird doesn’t count! So anyway, you gotta remember to choose wisely, because a pet is for life! What? No the Hago Cub doesn’t count, they grow up all big and strong! Ok, sure Pinecone can too, but that’s not important right now!

As my hopefully funny paragraph above explains, the pets of Wildermyth broadly follow the same pattern of competing for your only pet slot, with a few notable exceptions. I’m going to cover those exceptions in their individual segments, since they’re all slightly different

Effect (passive ability):
Black Cat has a passive ability called Shy Swipes that shreds 2 armour OR deals 1 damage to the first enemy entering adjacency to the hero each turn (including on the enemy turn).
Mechanically:
• Range 1.6 (the 8 squares surrounding the hero) unaffected by long reach.
• Is an attack for flanking purposes
• Keeps greyplane (a very sneaky catto)
• Can activate nonspecific on-kill effects when relevant, like the hunter’s Rogue ability

Video of shy swipes settuing up flanking without breaking Greyplane, kindly provided by psionusoid

Ability upgrade: Shy Swipes+
Instead of 2 armour shred OR 1 damage, the most excellent catto now deals 3 shred AND 2 damage.

This is a sizable chunk to be dealing in one hit just for walking past an enemy, comparable to the mystic’s Indignance skill (albeit only once per turn, with different damage typing, and adding a strong shred effect)

Favourable builds:
By nature, the Black cat requires melee based builds, specifically those that want to enter adjacency to enemies:

Flanking Hunters:
Benefitting significantly from the greyplane-keeping flanking setup, as it makes them substantially more independent – while it is only a single target each turn, it greatly reduces the team setup they need, putting less strain on allied builds for support. In these builds I expect the upgrade is fairly neutral: ideally such a character would be both be eternally in greyplane (making the shred less useful) and have enough damage to one-shot most enemies (making the additionally damage less relevant). However, a character that spawns close to enemies and cannot wait a turn to greyplane or that is discovered on the enemy turn can benefit enormously from both the shred and the damage getting them into the fight.
Core:
• Rogue
• Thornfang+
• Long reach (for hitting making your range more than just 1.1 i.e. orthogonal)
• Foxflight
Optional:
• Shy Swipes+
• Viciousness

Warriors
Almost all non-themed warriors and any physical damage themed warriors can benefit from Shy Swipes, but to my knowledge there’s no specific build style that takes it above and beyond – many builds favour long reach (for a reach of 2.6 or longer) and prefer to remain at arm’s length. This can be especially anti-synergistic in knockback-based Vigilance builds

Indignance Earthscribe Mystics
This archetype centres around being a defender and outputting true damage through the indignance ability. What makes it work well with Shy Swipes is that it requires the same range and adds to the effect.
Core (for a build with the cat):
• Indignance
• Earthscribe
• Openminded
• Endurance
• Shy Swipes+
Optionals
• Hardiness
• Compulsion
• Soul splitting

Themes
The Skeletal theme synergises well with Black cat, since Oath of Oldwane (the mandatory weapon for the theme) is a knife with the flanking damage bonus. In fact, this attack can be noticeably stronger than a regular dagger since it scales with potency. It can be as an enhancement to any of the aforementioned builds, or as part of something else you cook up


Trivia
Acquired in the same event that can lead to Shadowcat, they have complementary effects – both shred, but Black Cat is armour where Shadowcat is warding

The cat is often called “Shy” among the playerbase; the event is called “the shy and the shadow” and it’s obvious which is which, plus the ability “Shy Swipes” could mean that the swipes themselves are shy, or that the cat, Shy, is taking a swipe

Technically the upgrade is also called Shy Swipes, but that’s confusing so I’m notating it as if it was a regular ability upgrade

Effect (stat boost):
+12 accuracy

This is a really strong boost, pushing many attacks to a high 95+% or even 100% hit chance and making otherwise low-chance hits (eg attacks on enemies behind cover) a viable option

Ability Upgrade: Trinket Hunter (Th)
Passive: 30% chance for an extra augment at the end of a mission

This seems a little underwhelming. With only a 30% chance, this should increase your total number of augments by slightly more than 15%, assuming you rebuild sites slower to gain augments, which I advise you to do in most cases

Favourable Builds
Any build that attacks many targets in a single turn benefits hugely from critter (such as a Broadswipes warrior, theme Vigourflow mystic, or Throughshot hunter – especially if they’re “railed” by a character with Spiritblade), as does any that can’t afford to miss attacks, such as a non-flanking Thornfang hunter or a vigilance knockback warrior. Critter is the single most efficient pet for a significant chunk of builds, because reliability is one of the strongest features a build can have.

Below, some of my characters with critters
Lefe Arden, Broadswipes warrior

Luti Easttoe, Flamesoul Vigourflow mystic

Gales Clerksy, Ember Cannon (Throughshot hunter with some extras)

Hyula Mormont, non-flanking Thornfang hunter, and my first mythwalker

As such I’m going not going to outline all the possible builds critter slots well into here, because there’s just too many! Instead, I’ll be making other more comprehensive guides for builds, and direct you to my Ember Rail Cannon guide (which covers a few) in the meantime


Trivia
I love this little cutie – a noticeable number of my most successful characters have a critter

Critter has the nice benefit of giving you a choice between two heroes in the event it springs from

Effect (stat boost):
+5 accuracy

You might be thinking “wait, why would I ever pick up this bird, critter is more than twice as good??” The answer is simple – this bird stacks with every other pet. You can’t do better because nothing competes for the shoulder slot it occupies. When you stack them both you get the exciting outcome of “I never miss!”

Ability Upgrade: Mark Prey
As a swift action, bird goes and flanks for you. Mechanically this means it creates a non-existent attack from the other side of the targeted enemy, which doesn’t break greyplane

This is solid, but I have no idea if I’d say it was worth an ability slot – on the one hand, swift action guaranteed hits on target, which can be used by a support character. On the other hand, no damage, and anti-synergistic with the stat boost.

Favourable Builds
I’m… look, I’m going to refer you to Critter (accuracy) and Black Cat (flanking), and remind you there’s no competition for this slot, at least not for now. Every build is technically stronger with this bird, even those that rarely attack.

Lefe Arden, Broadswipes warrior. you may recognise her from the Critter section

Trivia
I’ve only seen this lovely bird once, though I’m not sure why. Sometimes RNG is like that – Lefe Arden is one of my 5ish Mythwalkers though

Effect (stat boost):
+7 dodge
+7 block

Ability Upgrade: Alarming Quack
As a Swift action, once per turn, dodge the first ranged attack against the hero. Not a terrible ability, but not amazing either – definitely useful every once in a while, but rather niche, especially if you need your swift actions, and anti-synergistic with the stat boost

Favourable Builds
Strong in any generic defence-oriented build – Earthscribe mystics, engage warriors etc. as well as any melee build that might get caught out in the open (eg Wolftouched Vigourflow) but there is a very specific build to which this is borderline necessary

Rummy Noon, Wolftouched Vigourflow mystic

AvoiDance Hunter (Th)
This build revolves around a few things – hitting 185 combined dodge/block via specific combinations of background & themes (normally including the pet duck), and having the following core abilities:
• Riposte
• Archery
These allow you to have every non-flanking attack against you miss, and always counterattack!

psionusoid’s guide goes into much greater detail than I have space for here

Trivia
Getting a duck can be a pain because the event requirements are quite strict

Effect (passive and active abilities):
Fire immunity

Once per 3 turns, as a swift action, light an adjacent (reach 1.6) tile on fire. If an enemy is on that tile they take 2 magic damage (1 pierce). Note, the range is sadly unaffected by Long Reach.

The fire immunity alone is extremely useful in teams that often set fires and/or against enemies that can start fires. It does not protect a character from fire-based attacks however – the immunity is to damage from walking through and standing in blazes

When you add the ability to start fires, you can then set up walls of fire or, if you don’t have time, at least provide an interfusion target (though since it takes a swift action it’s less useful for a mystic who also might need to move and/or interfuse twice)

Ability Upgrade: Covering Fire
When ending their turn on fire, the character enters Greyplane (becomes hidden)

This ability is ridiculously powerful – not every build wants to be in Greyplane, but this is the only way (that persists through legacy without mods) for warriors to enter Greyplane, and it doesn’t require mystics use an action of any type or have another ability to guarantee trees (Arches) like Naturalist. The only other Greyplane ability this strong is the hunter’s Rogue.

Favourable Builds
Three main sets of builds love fire chickens:
• Any non-Rogue build that wants to be in Greyplane
• Any build that needs fire (eg Ember Cannon hunters, though I consider Critter to be overall stronger for them)
• Or to provide fire for an ally (i.e. an enabler – though for warriors, the Raider ability is significantly stronger, having no internal cooldown)

Some builds satisfy several of those – for example a Spiritblader (the “Rail” part of a Rail Cannon team) doesn’t like to be attacked or move (so Greyplane in fire is great) and may need to provide fire for themselves or another Spiritblader. For a more in-depth look at this build style, check out my Ember Rail Cannon guide which also covers Enabler warriors and Ember Cannon hunters

Genborn Swanwaft, Spiritblader (see my Ember Rail Cannon guide for more nuance)

Vigourflow Mystic
These builds rely on Vigourflow to do massive damage. Covering fire increases their maximum damage by granting them easy access to Greyplane (and thus ignoring armour/warding) as well as keeping them safe from harm in many cases. Being able to light their own fires is pretty good too, since it’s the only interfusion that doesn’t take damage (but does still contribute to Vigourflow)
Core abilities:
• Vigourflow(+)
• Theme attack upgrade
• Covering Fire
• Openminded
Optional
• Additional main-theme abilities (eg Feedback Loop, Living Hearth)
• Ignite
• Spiritblade
These builds are also covered in more depth in my Ember Rail Cannon guide

Trivia
The fire chicken is always called “Sparky” in the comic after obtaining them by the adopting hero

This is the only event I’ve actually tried to seek out – and as soon as I did I never saw it, after seeing it like 5 times. Then, the moment I got a Critter on the character I was seeking it for? Boom, instant fire chicken on someone I hadn’t considered for it (a Spiritblader who already had ignite, pictured above)

Artbera Lumins and Juna Cherrytear, two builds I'm not sure what to do with. but hey, Sparky!

Janvaer Robgram, with her artifacts and Sparky, she'd make a fantastic Spiritblader... unfortunately she's an old build that'd take a lot of luck and effort to fix ability-wise. perhaps someday!

Effect (stat boost):
+1 Bonus Damage

Solid, but usually results in less damage than the extra accuracy from Critter in the long run. The ability upgrade is where this cutie shines

Ability Upgrade: Protector
Whenever an adjacent (range 1.6) ally is melee attacked, you make a melee counterattack. This happens after the initial attack, hit or miss.

Build-defining, this is a powerful ability, though it’s not for every build (or even every build that can make use of a golden bunny)

Favourable Builds
Any build that directly attacks can benefit from the +1 bonus damage, though the +15 accuracy from critter is often more desirable (since average damage goes up more with reliable hits). Far more important is the Protector ability, around which whole builds can be created:

Branylle Moonric, Artillery warrior (in this case the bonus damage is why you want the golden bunny)

Avenging Hunter (Th)
This build is about hitting back whenever someone hits your friend(s), and pairs well with any defensive build, but has special synergy with AvoiDance hunters, since they counterattack together without taking damage in return. They like similar weapons sets/themes to AvoiDancers, to have both a melee and ranged attack always ready
Core:
• Archery
• Protector
Optional:
• Throughshot (if using a crossbow or Mortificial Enhancements)
• Riposte (you will be close to danger – you’re bound to be targeted eventually)
• Endurance (as above)
• Tinker
• Aid
• Theme Upgrades
• Abilities that boost the damage of the attacks you use

Protector Warrior
A style of warrior that relies on a team that can take a hit or two (Earthscribe mystics etc)
Core:
• Protector
• Long reach
• Vigilance(+)
Optional:
• Inspiration (I mean, you gotta sit next to your team anyway)

Fae, Protector/Enabler warrior

Trivia
This rabbit is technically called “Avenger”
Getting a golden bunny for a non-warrior is a pain
Apparently I have a thing for celestial bunny warriors, since all my warriors with a golden rabbit have gone on to pick up the celestial theme

Effect (stat boost):
+10 Stunt Chance
+1 Bonus Damage
+10 Block

Ability Upgrade (none)
Since the Hago Cub leaves at the end of the chapter (remaining only if acquired in the final chapter of a campaign on a promoted/first campaign hero) there’s no ability associated with them

Favourable Builds (none*)
Since the Hago Cub leaves at the end of the chapter (remaining only if acquired in the final chapter of a campaign on a promoted/first campaign hero) there are no builds associated with them, despite the extremely favourable stats – you‘d have to exclusively recruit a hero in a final chapter, level them up in that chapter, and promote them to make a build around them, and even then, you could only use them for a single chapter

Scout, Ironic Enabler Warrior (you'd think a scout would be a hunter..)

Trivia
If you don’t need the power spike offered by the cub, there are two other favourable event outcomes, though the cub does add a permanent line to a hero’s history
One of the pets with no name – seriously, the event is extremely well-written

Effect (passive ability):
Celestial path: 40% chance to leave behind celestial tiles (which grant allies standing on them +10 accuracy)

This is.. a sadly underwhelming ability. Too unreliable to walk through an ally for their benefit (or otherwise put it somewhere you want it), and taking at least an action and a swift action to stand on it yourself (assuming you have a swift action move). I have seen it hypothesised that when combined with both celestial legs to create a higher (or even 100%) chance to leave celestial tiles Ratbot confirmed that combining the two does create a near but not 100% chance to create celestial tiles – which might make it worthwhile, but still leaves it with significant, annoying problems.

(screenshot of Mulva Piles, a Celestial warrior with both legs and Ogogen leaving a long trail of celestial tiles courtesy of Ratbot to be added soon (technical difficulties))

Ability Upgrade: Starguide
Celestial tiles now grant +2 warding and +1 armour in addition to the +10 accuracy.

Note: this also applies to celestial tiles created by celestial legs, and psionusoid has suggested it may even apply to celestial tiles created by other characters

If the chance to leave a tile was 100%, and/or the tiles were created as you entered a tile, this might be worth it. As is it feels too unreliable. If folk have ideas on how to make it work, please let me know

Favourable Builds
I haven’t a clue what to do with this. It’s so niche, and the tiles don’t even last forever. The stat boost to allies is nice though.

Hope Braunstone, unrefined build (likely a vigilance/broadswipes build to take advantage of the amazing sword she has)

Trivia
This pet rock is the only Wildermyth pet to be mechanically referred to by name

Effect (passive ability):
Forestkind: hero can wall with trees

A little situational, but not bad, especially if the team has a reliable way to make trees. The real draw of this pet is actually that you can exchange the cutie for a permanent, persists through legacy +1 health (don’t worry, it’s ethical) and free up the pet slot for a new pet

Ability Upgrade (none):
Since the Pinecone can leave the hero, there’s no ability associated with them

Favourable Builds
Uh, technically all of them? Health is good. But you don’t ultimately want the pinecone, and +1 health isn’t so earth-shattering you should get this on every character.

Roma, soon-to-be Engage warrior, just passing through

Trivia
The lore here is devastating, joyful, and some of the best writing in Wildermyth. Go experience the events for yourself, the mechanical side could never do them justice
As far as I can tell, this is another pet with no name. I’m not 100% sure about that though

Effect (stat boost):
+5 dodge

I know what you’re thinking “isn’t this just a worse duck?” and yeah, kinda. But the secret sauce is in the ability it grants

Ability Upgrade: Erratic Movement
When you spend the last action point of a turn moving, you gain +30 dodge

So.. this is build defining. Seriously.

Favourable Builds:
Want to end your turn on a move? Don’t want to get hit? Do we have the pet for you!

AvoiDance Hunter (Th)
Well, here it is, the other AvoiDance pet. In this case, it’s the erratic movement that makes the build, since it allows you to skip a lot of defence boost right from the start. Again, psionusoid’s guide goes into much greater detail than I have space for here, but
Core:
• Riposte
• Archery
• Erratic Movement


Paladin warrior (Th)
It’s no secret that I dislike Paladin – you give up an attack for a less reliable attack when you could just slow down and move forwards at a steady pace, or get zealous leap to keep up with the rest of the team. But in this exact case you also get the ability to not give a dam, so there’s incentive to end your turn moving and profit anyway, and no incentive to get the anti-synergistic Paladin+
Core abilities:
• Erratic Movement
• Paladin
• Long Reach
Optionals:
• Riposte
• Untouchable
OR
• Vigilance(+)
• Sentinel(+)*
I think this has real potential as a build (or two), especially if you can find a single (non-tun ending) attack to use with your first action

*Normally I dislike Sentinel as much as Paladin, but in a build where you’ve got an extra 35 defence for free, jumping into danger is much less of a problem. This can also be used in place of Long Reach, though they do stack, and have subtly different use-cases. On the whole I find Long Reach more reliable and sentinel more flashy.

Glenlow Prickleharp, Ember Cannon (not the ideal build, but Ember Cannons are surprisingly flexilble - maybe I'll make her an archery focused variant)

Trivia
I don’t think I’d have the stomach to not take the rat, given how the event works. If I really didn’t want them, I’d probably just not promote the hero

Effect (active ability):
Spiritchase: as a swift action once every two turns, shred 4 warding from an enemy within 5+long reach range

The range is good and the ability is solid – if you’re dealing magic damage. As Ziggurat pointed out, Spiritchase can also be used to set up flanking similar to Black Cat, though at the cost of a swift action, and without necessarily entering melee range

Ability Upgrade: Spiritchase+
Spiritchase now shreds warding from 3 enemies in a chain

Favourable Builds
Vigourflow Shotgun (mystic)
These builds rely on theme attacks to do damage to multiple nearbish enemies – often using Flamesoul, Stormtouched, or Sylvan. Importantly, the latter two also chain the same way as the upgrade (2 times). While they do require swift actions to setup their damage, shadowcat offers them an additional 4 damage to at least 1 well-warded enemy, more than a single interfusion can offer (vigourflow+ is +3 damage) increasing their maximum and sometimes initial damage.
Core abilities:
• Vigourflow(+)
• Theme attack upgrade
• Openminded
Optional
• Additional main-theme abilities (eg Feedback Loop, Living Hearth)
• Spiritchase+
• Ignite
• Spiritblade

Melway, Vigourflow Shotgun

Trivia
Acquired in the same event that can lead to Black Cat, they have complementary effects – both shred, but Black Cat is armour where Shadowcat is warding

psionusoid – eternal wellspring of Wildermyth insight, and provider of the Black Cat flanking video
Ziggurat – theorycraft discusser
Ratbot – Celestial & Ogogen expert and screenshot provider
Everyone else who discussed pet mechanics with me!

Everyone reading! Thanks so much or your attention and feedback :D

And again, if you want to support my works, here’s a link to my Patreon[patreon.com]