The first three shops — a wave-by-wave spending plan

The first three shops decide whether a run snowballs or limps. Materials are scarce, the choices look similar, and the instinct is to grab the shiniest item. Here is the plan we use, for any character that does not have a rule of its own.

Shop 1 (after wave 1)

You have roughly enough for one cheap thing. Buy a second weapon if one of your class is on offer, otherwise a Tier I weapon of any class you would be happy to build. An item that costs everything you have is a mistake here: a second weapon is roughly double damage, and nothing else comes close.

If the shop offers nothing useful, keep the materials. Do not reroll on wave 1.

Shop 2 (after wave 2)

Weapon three, same logic. If you already have three, the first item: Max HP or Armor on a character that will fight up close, Ranged Damage or Range on a kiting one. The cheap early items piece lists what we take.

Reroll once if the shop has no weapon of your class and you have more than 20 materials spare.

Shop 3 (after wave 3)

By now you should hold three or four weapons. If two are identical, do not merge yet — fill slots first. Now is the first point where an economy item makes sense: Harvesting and Luck bought this early have 17 waves to pay back.

Three mistakes to stop making

1. Buying a Tier II item in shop 1. It costs the equivalent of two weapons.
2. Locking an item for later. Locking holds it, but materials spent on something else mean you cannot afford it anyway.
3. Rerolling for a specific weapon. Before wave 5, take the class the shop gives you.

When the plan changes

Economy characters flip it: Farmer and Entrepreneur buy Harvesting in shop 1. Arms Dealer buys only weapons for far longer. Baby has a single slot and buys items until slots arrive. Each has a note in our character guides.