Constructor is a unique class that don't need to fight directly which is perfect to try on maximum difficulty when enemies can kill with one-two shots. Robots work as a security walking with the character while turrets could be placed in certain places to attack portals of enemy respawn from far away. The other important detail is that minion's health is scaling to enemies so they become walking tanks and walls on higher difficulties. Later on (levels 80-90) minion's damage become insignificant and Katarina's instakill comes to the fore.

In no way I'm an expert in this game, I'm just sharing what worked for me to get level 100 in story mode. If you have some practical experiences on Inhuman Ordeal levels, feel free to leave them in comments for other people. Also I played in hardcore hoping to get better loot but don't make my mistake - the amount of projectiles that comes from nowhere in this game (enemy is not even on screen)... Yeah, I had to save-scum a lot. This is not a full walkthrough, this is level 0-100 guide. After reaching maximum level, there is no development anymore in Story Mode so you can change the difficulty to more convenient and just chill.

It is supposed to start on Fearless and reach level 100 on Inhuman Ordeal 5.

I think I need to elaborate tactics before Abilities & Skills and divide the game into 3 conventional parts to refer later. Don't forget to switch the difficulty to a higher one every time it becomes available.

- from start till Thunderhead Mountain. Focus on minion's damage only, they are disposable and low health but do decent damage. Katarina takes new available ability every level, when there is no new abilities - put it in Magic Otherwordly Senses.

- from Thunderhead Mountain till Viaduct Junction (and level 80). Viaduct Junction is probably the most annoying part of this playthrough because it is a transitional stage between bots doing enough damage to bots are just healthwalls and Katarina is not so effective with Touch of Death. Overdrive & Platform Overdive are used the most in this stage (later should be reset to Cool Aide or Devastator Sentry branch).

- till battle with Harker and Dryad, levels 80-100. Main goal here is to improve Katarina's Ethereality for Touch of Death (first), Mechanical Warfare (second) or Machine Synergy (third, if not enough essence for MW).

Usual tactic for all 3 stages are bots withstand the attack, Katarina fly and kill, Van Helsing stays out and watches.

Mechanical Warfare - Character's Health and Damage. The only skill that needs to be upgraded. Minion's damage depends on Weapon Damage and the latter depends on MW stat. Besides that our character will be extremely low health - we need to endure at least one hit to get back and heal.

Machine Synergy - Minion's Damage from this stat will be a little bit higher than from previous one but at the same time bonus to Rage is obsolete.

Weird Science - Character's Mana and minion's Health. Mana is not needed for this build, it will be just enough to respawn bots again and again and their health will be scaled to the enemies on higher difficulties + Self-Repair Module aura make them quite tanky.


Mechanical Aides and Pocket Mechanoids - first two bots to accompany us and first two skill branches that should be upgraded till the end. Mechanical Aides (5) => Canon Ornithopter (10) => Ornithopter Patrol (10), Pocket Mechanoids (5) => Assault Mechanoids (10) => Dismemberbot Pack (10).

Overdrive - nice bonus to damage to our creations, RMB cooldown skill.

Explosive Aide (5) => Repair Drone (5) with damage Booster Field powerup to run around and boost bots => Cool Aide (10) for bosses and crowds of enemies.

Deploy Turret (5) => Deploy Phlogiston Turret (5) => Devastator Sentry (10) also for the same purpose.

All powerups for damage at any stage of the game.


Level 100 skills


First part of the game: our bots doing decent damage but too fragile -
Paradox Assembly
Enhanced Armament
Paradox Recombination

Second and third part: low damage but high survivability -
Reinforced Structure
Upgrade Gun Platform
Self-Repair Module

All perks related to Katarina's development, some to Van Helsing's skills and 4 perks for you to decide. But remember - having a big backpack is not much of development.

Only Minion's DPS matters in the first part (mentioned above) of the game. Besides that I like Magic Find +%, all essence to Mechanical Warfare.
In the second and third part of the game both bots DPS & Health matter so don't compromise.
Enhance each and every item (gold will be enough when we play on highest difficulties).
Exit-Load in front of Matthias to buy items with big essence capacity (you can also buy essence from him).
Consider save-scum to get desired bonuses from Saffi if you low on gold.

I stumbled upon some tests made by KinKin25, keep that information in mind:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/app/400170/discussions/0/6413763893881570430/

The special something of the game, ghost of burden, caustic companion and instakill monster.

Ethereality is the only ability should be upgraded, both from level-ups or items. It affects very important skills - Spirit Arc and Touch of Death. When Van Helsing reached 100 level, Katarina's Ethereality was 371 with +186% to her chance base skills

Spirit Arc (10) - gains lightning damage bonus base on Ethereality. A very significant damage I must say.

Touch of Death (10) - 6% for instakill. When my Van Helsing reach 100 level, Katarina's Ethereality was 371 with +186% to her chance based skills e.g. 17.16% to one shot an enemy.

Wraith Frenzy (10) - the faster we attack the faster Touch of Death will trigger.

Death Knell (6-10) - 32% damage bonus on level 10 to Katarina & Van Helsing. Remember all minion's damage base on weapon's damage base on main character's damage? That's why we need it.

Mirage Queen (6-10) - antimob defense. Big crowd jumps on you, she kills one, another and then suddenly you are the one who mobbing them.

Power of Vengeange (5) - not a bad bonus to her damage.

Spirit Guardian (5) - necessary for this build or we will die from one hit. Sometimes without seeing the enemy.

Deathless Shroud - handy even on level 1. 5 seconds can be a line between life and death when surrounded.

Katarina's stats on maximum level

Beware of long-range enemies, especially Dreadknechts in Gallowsbog. They come out of nowhere (egde of the screen to be precise), shoot all at once and don't miss.


The tactic is running in circles along the radius of the room, create minions by cooldown, set Devastator Sentry or Cool Aide near hatches or pillars. Ornithopters are useless in this fight, reset them for the boss fight and upgrade a one of two turrets mentioned above. If werewolves are chasing you and another pack is in front of you, just run to cross the center.


Put turrets close to the core, run near the edge of the map to disable protection then immidiately to the center + use Overdrive. When Rift Shell appears, put the turret nearby.

• change the difficulty. Seriously, don't suffer if you don't enjoy it
  
• exit and load till you can buy better items and / or essence
  
• save-scum until you can enhance items to get desire attributes with Saffi

Thanks NeocoreGames for free Final Cut for those who bought all trilogy seperately and have fun with your own builds!

I stumbled into this guide by pandorahero:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3454156104
It describes a bug of Ancestral Rings and it's chance to kill. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? What if we combine those two rings with already decent 17.16% chance to kill (or even improve it?).

To obtain both rings I used Pigasus in Adventure Mode and save-scum. Every two or three times I don't get needed rings, I start again. I was sending Chimera with three "-120 seconds" candles to get enough money for them. I spent a lot of time trying to get second Ancestral Ring but managed to succeed only after I threw the first one on the floor before summoning Pigasus. Don't forget to use essence to increase Essence Capacity (availabe to buy in Adventure Mode). In the end my Katarina has 501 Ethereality which means ~ 21% for Touch of Death + (10%+14%) instant death from both rings = 45% to one shot an enemy. Approximately every second attack would be deadly for regular mobs.




I beat the final boss on Inhuman Ordeal 5 but it took... 1 hour 18 minutes. And mind you, my Mechanical Warfare was 844. Do what you want with this information.