Table of Contents
Best The Bazaar Hero builds in the current metagame! Click on the build names to view the deck, as well as the latest explanation and report on how the builds were placed here.
| Tier | Build |
| Tier 1 | Dooley's Companion Poison |
| Tier 1 | Dooley's Ignition Ray |
| Tier 2 | Vanessa's Weapons |
| Tier 2 | Pygmalien's Weapons |
| Tier 3 | Pygmalien's Max Health |
| Tier 3 | Dooley's Armored Core |
Builds are ranked based on three criteria:
- Raw Power: The ability to dominate against a random opponent through the sheer power of your synergy.
- Reliability: The likeliness to find the items required for the build to function in time.
- Flexibility: The ability to surround your key items with support, or to rebound if you aren't able to complete the build as planned.
Although we all aim for the perfect build and 10 wins, The Bazaar rewards finding a way to win consistently, and achieving 4 wins with a bad run is just as important as making it to 10 during a good one.
This is why you won't see full builds on this Tier List; instead, I'm highlighting the influential items you should have in mind for each build. The ultimate goal is to help everyone become a great player, and flexibility is the most important skill you need to acquire to post consistent results.
Overview
Regarded as a very unbalanced patch (and terrible timing for the developers to take their holiday break), the latest balance update has many wondering if it was even tested before release.
At the moment, Dooley is the king of The Bazaar with the two best builds in the game—the two duos of Companion Core + Monitor Lizard and Ignition Core + Omega Ray. Assemble either of those pairs and you have a Poison or Burn output that nobody is really able to contain.
As time passed, some soft counters have been found for those who are still trying to play Vanessa or Pygmalien, such as trying to grab a powerful Monster skill to support a Weapon Damage build (Augmented Weaponry).
The other alternative is having so much health that you are able to survive Dooley's recurring damage long enough to beat his typically low defense builds. To do so, Vanessa has to rely heavily on granting Lifesteal to her weapon, typically with Crow's Nest. As for Pygmalien, playing the character will require you to build a huge health bar and use a beefed up weapon to smack your opponent for a one-shot kill.
Compared to Dooley's ability to consistently find strong items early on, Vanessa and Pygmalien are playing a much riskier game at the moment. They can compete when things go according to plan, but you have to accept the sizable risk of picking either one. On the other hand, Dooley can consistently find either the Rays, First Aiden, or Duct Tape to almost always find a way to win at least four matches—and he often reaches 7 to 10 wins in the current meta.
Tier 1
Dooley's Companion Poison - 9 / 10
Raw Power: 10 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This is the best build in the game hands down. There's only one build able to deal damage faster (after a lucky run), but you can try to Freeze it before it gets started.
Reliability: 8 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Companion Core has to be in your opening choices, and Monitor Lizard is mandatory for this build to work. However, even if you find it relatively late, a bronze Monitor Lizard with a couple of Extracts can be enough to get to seven wins.
Flexibility: 9 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Once you find Monitor Lizard, there are so many Friends available that it is difficult to completely brick. Plus, this build is so powerful that you can afford to fall a little behind in experience and visit merchants to make sure you find enough Haste items.
Key Items
Most people will only list the Core and the Monitor Lizard here, but I believe it is crucial to have a fast item to get your Haste loop started as quickly as possible. First Aiden is the best for the role because it grants Haste too. It is also a great cooldown reduction target so you can start Poisoning as fast as possible, which is often the tiebreaker against heavy damage or mirror builds.
Great Support Items
In order to Poison as much as possible, you want to use your Core as much as you can. Then, finding Friends you can trigger frequently is key. In that role, the ones you can charge with other Friends or can Haste are:
In case the "go as fast as possible" plan isn't available, you can always tank up and try to survive against Weapon Damage or Burn builds with Brick Buddy giving you plenty of Shield. Duct Tape could also work in that role, but it will require you to find some quick activators to put on each side and feed it with a couple of Scraps before it can really contribute.
Once your Monitor Lizard gets fed with plenty of Extracts, you Gamma Ray shouldn't really be required anymore. Still, it can be a great ally until then, and it can help make sure you win your early PvP encounters.
Dooley's Ignition Ray - 9 / 10
Raw Power: 9 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The fact that Poison ignores Shield makes Burn a little worse overall. However, due to Burn being faster than Poison, you should win the head to head if you can Burn as you much as the opponent Poisons you. Plus, this is a Dooley meta, so you might face opponents with Coolant or Pyrocarbon who are looking to specifically beat you.
Reliability: 9 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Omega Ray plays a big role in winning it all with this build. Yet, the Ignition Core is strong enough to take you to 7 wins by just making the build as fast as possible and feeding it with Cinders whenever you can.
Flexibility: 9 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Once you have an Ignition Core with enough Burn attached to it, it is only a matter of making it fast enough. As such, this can function with pretty much any fast items placed to the left of the core to help it Charge.
Key Items
Great Support Items
This build can be played with all the Rays plus disruption items to buy you enough time to build your damage in the early stages of a run. It can also be built as a fast Burner, looking to trigger the core as much as possible for the Omega Ray to buff your Burn items quickly. You would typically pick your direction based on the items you find while polishing your build after you secure your Omega Ray.
Tier 2
Vanessa's Weapon - 7 / 10
Raw Power: 8 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
When the stars align, this build out damages Dooley's Poison fairly reliably, especially with Lifesteal in the mix. However, even if Vanessa can claim the best damage output, this build is still very fragile against Slow or Freeze effects, which limits its raw power.
Reliability: 7 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
What you're really here for is the Augmented Weaponry skill, so you need to see Tent City Mayor as a Day 2 monster, beat it, and have that skill drop as a reward. Fortunately, if you don't get lucky you can always fall back to a one weapon build with Crow's Nest and maximum cooldown reduction. There is also the Trebuchet plan with a lot of quick weapons, but it rarely goes the distance. It is still solid in the early stages of a run, though.
Flexibility: 6 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
While several weapons can do the trick as your damage dealer, this build often won't cut it if you can't find Crow's Nest for the Lifesteal and Critical bonus. Plus, you need to find ways to make your weapon fast enough to beat Dooley's Poison and Burn builds. Also, while Dooley can boost his low rarity Ignition Core or Monitor Lizard with Extracts and Cinders, you will have to upgrade your items to improve your build.
Key Items
OR
Great Support Items
If you managed to grab Augmented Weaponry, just focus on finding as many fast weapons as possible to grow the bonus from your skill as much as you can.
If you had to default to the Crow's Nest plan, a fast weapon (or one with Multicast) and either damage or cooldown bonuses are your next goals.
Pygmalien's Weapon - 6.67 / 10
Raw Power: 9 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Just like Vanessa's Weapon build, this one wants to find Augmented Weaponry and run away with the game. At its best, I believe Pygmalien has a better damage output than Vanessa, mostly thanks to Atlatl, Yo-Yo, and the various Multicast items in this character's arsenal.
Reliability: 5 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Unfortunately, while you might unlock more damage than Vanessa, you don't have as good of a Plan B as the pirate does. As such, if you miss on the coveted Skill, you will have to fall back to a build based on Crook and Medium items (at least Atlatl, Flail, and Jaballian Longbow are Medium) to rack up some wins.
Flexibility: 6 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
If you didn't get Augmented Weaponry or Crook, you either need to have a great economy to operate a full switch to a Max Health build (next on the Tier List) or quickly find another way to deal damage. Beast of Burden or Dog are items you can nurture over time. You can keep one in the stash early and pull it out if the original plan doesn't work. Hopefully you get the Dog if Tent City Mayor didn't give you the Skill.
Key Items
Great Support Items
Anything fast or with Multicast will fit the plan of this build. You're not trying to get cute, so go for damage or Charging your Yo-Yo first and foremost.
Tier 3
Pygmalien Max Health - 5.67 / 10
Raw Power: 6 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reliability: 5 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Flexibility: 6 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A fine pick in this very damage heavy meta, the Max Health build is one of the few that can resist the damage brought by the top builds for more than a few seconds. However, you typically only have one shot for the win since your weapons tend to be too slow or disrupted too quickly to have time for a second hit.
Important Items
Dooley's Armored Core - 5.33 / 10
Raw Power: 5 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Reliability: 6 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Flexibility: 5 / 10 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Probably the best option for Dooley when neither the Poison nor the Burn cores show up, but it is significantly weaker. Indeed, even though you can win the early fights by building enough Shield to outlast the fatigue damage, you need everything to go right to compete against the Poison and Burn builds later on. Plus, the Vanessa and Pygmalien builds will often bring too much damage for you to be able to out Shield them, which makes Force Field quite useless in those encounters.
This build should at least secure 4 wins if you know what you are doing (i.e. buff Duct Tape and land heavy blows with Force Field).
Important Items
Closing Words
I know this isn't a great look for a first Tier List, but we are just getting started with this great game that is The Bazaar. I would love to have more than pictures to illustrate the builds, as well as a way for you to know each item just by mousing over it. These features will come once the website is fully ready, so I'll be calling this vintage until then. Suiting for a game in beta, isn't it?
I hope this first glance at our future reports helps you get a better grasp of the current patch. It's fully focused around damage output, which is the only way to beat a Dooley Poison or Burn build at the moment outside some high roll based shenanigans.
The next update will be in January after I have time to get a good feeling of the next patch (which will hopefully bring a ton of changes if it's synonymous with the game's official release).
Until then, I hope everyone is having fun in The Bazaar. I hope you're having a great time during the holidays, too!
Good Game Everyone.