Pathfinder Gallowspire Survivors – Fighter Guide and Tips

Please note that I’m not a specialist in this field. I’m sharing this to initiate discussions on Steam Guides for this game. If you have better insights, I strongly encourage you to share them too. Here, I will compile my thoughts on strategies to survive encounters with hostile entities in the game when playing as a Fighter character, particularly on Normal Difficulty.

Stat Priority

Listed in order of importance:

• Strength: Damage and block efficiency, both are vital for a Fighter.
• Constitution: Max HP and regen, also crucial.
• Wisdom: Faster attack cooldowns, pretty important.
• Charisma: More range and area on your attacks.
• Dexterity: Projectile speed, not important.
• Intelligence: Spell Damage, ignore.

Suggested stat spending weights:

• 2 Strength
• 2 Constitution
• 1 Wisdom
• 1 Charisma

Talent Priority

If you are currently perusing this guide, chances are you haven’t progressed very far in the game. At this stage, it’s advisable to allocate one point into each talent. Afterward, prioritize increasing the ranks of ‘Vicious Swing’ and ‘Weapon Legend’.

Weapon Priority

In this section, I’ll elaborate on my weapon choices for the Fighter and explain why I find them effective.

Bastard Sword: This serves as the starting weapon and, despite some initial awkwardness, it becomes a powerhouse for dealing with both groups of enemies and bosses. It benefits significantly from the Furious Focus Talent and character range upgrades, making it your primary tool for DPS in most situations.

Crossbow: A highly versatile weapon that packs a punch in terms of damage. It excels in boss fights and proves invaluable for eliminating stragglers that slip through your other attacks during hordes. While it may not be the best for wave clearing by itself, its other strengths more than compensate.

Flail: While the Bastard Sword is excellent for dealing with mobs, it might not always finish the job in a single blow. The Flail can step in to deliver that final blow when needed. It also shines when you find yourself overwhelmed and have to rely on your special shield ability, allowing you to wade into the thick of the action.

Spear: This weapon is a flexible choice. I particularly favor it for its consistent damage against all types of enemies. It proves useful against bosses and helps maintain a clear path behind you when dealing with hordes.

Other viable options include the Rapier and the Hammer, but in my experience, they aren’t as reliable in my runs.

Passives Priority

In this section, I’ll outline the passive abilities that I believe work best for the Fighter.

Fleet: This is an essential passive for most builds and classes. Speed is crucial for various reasons, whether it’s to evade enemies, reach bonus chests, avoid boss abilities, or counter slow spells from enemies. Having increased speed is always a valuable asset.

Furious Focus: This might be considered a somewhat unconventional choice, but I consider this passive to be vital for the Fighter. Its primary function is to reduce the swing timer for our Bastard Sword. While it may seem minor, in my opinion, this reduction in swing cooldown is a significant bonus. Our starting sword is a formidable weapon, and in my experience, the greatly reduced swing time provides a substantial boost, benefiting both mobbing and boss fights.

Mountain Resilience: As a Fighter, you’ll often find yourself in the midst of combat, taking unintended hits from enemies. While the numerical bonus from this passive may not seem impressive, especially in the late game, it becomes a valuable source of damage mitigation. You’ll come to rely on this as the challenges grow.

Fast Recovery: This passive serves as a flexible choice, particularly useful during boss battles. It allows you to step back from melee combat briefly and recover some health if you make mistakes during boss mechanics, where healing potions are typically limited. Its utility is somewhat reduced in normal stages.

The only alternative I would consider is the maximum HP passive, but Fighters already benefit from Constitution stats that boost this aspect, making it less necessary. Other passives like potions, essence, snare, or armor debuff are generally less effective in my opinion.

Dungeon Priorities

When navigating the dungeon, consider the following priorities:

1. First Floor Strategy: On the first floor, it’s a good idea to stay in one place and focus on farming experience points (xp) for a bit. Once you’ve unlocked at least 3 or 4 of your desired weapon and passive slots, you can start actively searching for chests.
2. Weapon Upgrades vs. Passives: Especially when you’re just starting the game, prioritize weapon upgrades over passives unless the passives are two or more tiers higher. Having the right weapons is crucial because if you can’t efficiently eliminate enemies, your survivability decreases significantly. As you invest in the Weapon Legend Talent, you can be more flexible with your passive choices, occasionally favoring them over weapon upgrades if they are of the same tier. Remember, having more weapons is always beneficial, but survival is paramount.
3. Chest Collection: On each stage, aim to collect 3 or 4 chests. Beyond that, the game spawns chests at considerable distances, and even with movement speed upgrades, it’s often not worth the effort to chase them. Keep in mind that you also need to level up, so balancing chest collection with leveling is essential. If you’ve gathered 4 or more chests and the stage is ending, it’s often a better choice to backtrack and collect dropped xp pickups. This can lead to a level up or two, which can significantly boost your effectiveness.
4. Boss Battles: When facing bosses, the emphasis should be on survival. Play cautiously, focusing on avoiding damage. With the right setup, you should have enough sustain to clear all boss phases and their accompanying add phases.

While there may be more optimal ways to play the Fighter, this route has proven to be fairly efficient for my own initial full clear of the game. As mentioned at the beginning, if you have corrections or improvements, feel free to share them, or even better, consider creating your own community guide. Sharing knowledge benefits everyone!