Pygmalien Guide & Best Builds Meta Tier List

Learn how to play Pygmalien in The Bazaar with this in-depth hero build and strategy guide!

The Basics

I didn't realize how impactful the latest balance changes were to Pygmalien until I started playing it a lot again to write this guide. At the end of February, I left this character as the best in the game, combining both good versatility when it came to available builds, and the best scaling ability in the game.

Fast forward two huge changes later, the first being most items being one second slower, and the second a new starting kit system, Pygmalien now seems to struggle a bit more to post the same results. I completely blame those two changes for that.

With the cooldown change, the build based around Yo-yo, Matchbox or Marbles, basically all those items aimed at being charged, now struggles to get going. As such, when facing a Vanessa or Dooley with some early Haste, these builds can now struggle to get going, and we lose before we can stabilize, or get our damage, burn count high enough.

The second change looked great on paper, as one of the starting choices felt specifically designed for Pygmalien, granting gold and extra income. Yet, I feel like that choice is only great if you find some great scaling items early in your run, as you will need to be a late game juggernaut to make up for the early days. Indeed, those early days will be dominated by the enchanted item pick, which often guarantees us a bronze win, on top of being able to quickly beat elite monsters.

I still consider Pygmalien to be a great character, but it has become a little more difficult to reach the later days in a good position with the recent changes. At least if you play the hero the same way we always did.

Pygmalien Builds Tier List

Build	Early	Late	Projected Score	Rating
Fixer Upper	Below Average	Fantastic	7–10 Wins	A
Scaling Weapon	Below Average	Great	Inconsistent	B+
Charging Items	Good	Average	4–7 Wins	B
Medium Weapons	Average	Average	Inconsistent	C+

The freeze build unlocked with the Frozen Assets Expansion is still difficult to assess at the moment, with so few players having unlocked it at the moment. Yet, considering the quick nerfs and the power of freezing opposing items in The Bazaar, I would rank it pretty high.

However, I doubt the build would click early in a run, so it would likely be a below average start and great late game, likely more flexible than a Scaling Weapon strategy. Say A- in our chart.

Starting kit

At the moment, I believe every character wants to pick the enchanted item to get started. Indeed, while the extra gold and income feels tailor-made for a Pygmalien with the best scaling ability, starting strong remains the best way to play The Bazaar in my opinion.

Not only winning early protects your Prestige, and a possible late loss you otherwise couldn't afford, it also allows you to challenge elite monsters earlier in your run. Through those elites, you gain more gold, mitigating the efficiency of the other starting kit, and get access to certain skills also worth their stack of gold.

For all these reasons, unless one is an experienced player with a specific plan, I would recommend the enchanted items as your starting kit in the current metagame.

Early Stages

Arguably, Pygmalien has the worst start of the three heroes, due to its signature items typically requiring some form of scaling. There are builds able to compete right out of the gate, but you would then have a limited ability to compete in the late game. Basically, Pygmalien kind of needs to focus either on the early or the late portion of a run, hoping for the other one to go well, although we have little impact on it due to our build.

If you went with Fixer Upper or a scaling weapon such as Dog or Regal Blade, then it is your early game you are sacrificing a bit for the good of your key item. Instead, if you found an early Matchbox or managed to get a good enchanted item, you can adopt a more aggressive play style in the first days, aimed at quickly reaching four wins.

Understanding when you are most likely to get your wins is crucial to make good decisions, especially when it comes to PvE. Indeed, a good early build needs to be able to beat Elites, as this represents its best scaling opportunity, racking up maximum gold and potential great skills.
Typically, I aim to be able to beat Eccentric Etherwright on day 3. Not only I feel this is a good point of reference to my early power, the Rigged skill is even stronger now that all items are 1 second slower.

Here are some key items combinations at the bronze rarity to target early, depending on the build you picked:

Fixer Upper

Scaling Weapon

Silk Scarf shares the same condition as Dog to add some shield to this build.

Money Tree and Gumball Machine are also great ways to generate small items.

Charging Items

Bushel and some shield items is a great supporting cast to Matchbox as well.

Medium Weapons

The freeze build is based on Cold Room which starts at the silver rarity. I wouldn't target that until you find that item.

On top of these, remember Pygmalien also has plenty of items you can target simply to build your gold stack or collect other bonuses. To know if one is worth, just compare its cost and what you will gain for it over the next few days. Early on, Boomerang and ATM are no brainers in my opinion.

PvE Encounters I like to pick

Day 1

Haunted Kimono for Silk Scarf or Kyver Drone for the Trained skill, which makes Yo-yo great to pair with Marbles in the Charging Items build.

Day 2

It's always Giant Mosquito or Covetous Thief in my opinion, their skills are too good.

Day 3

Eccentric Etherwright if I can break its shield reliably. Frost Street Challenger has a good skill for a future Freeze build.

Day 4

Prince Marianas has great skills to pair with Marbles, or future slow enchantments but can be a challenge. Retiree has good loots for a Charging Items build including Bushel. Last, Outlands Dervish has a good skill in Keen Eye, otherwise, pick the elite.

Day 5

Plenty of great skills to pick up here. Counterstrike from Kyver Commander and Petrifying Gaze from Gorgon Noble fit any build. Otherwise, adapt to your strategy, which should be well on its way at this point.

Racking Up PvP Wins

As our start is often focused on other areas than PvP, we don't have that many loses available in the later days due to digging into our prestige early on. Fortunately, if we managed to build a strong economy, we have the best scaling character in the game heading into the second portion of the run. From this point on, we should always have at least one encounter helping our build, be it to grow our health, scale our key item, or simply gain experience or a new skill.

As it is for every characters, skills and enchantments will represent the biggest improvements to our build at this stage of a run. Here are the monsters I want to target for their skills with an emphasis on non-elite monsters and a reminder Thug is always a pick become Bonk is broken :