Vanessa is a hero that have three different viable strategies: One Weapon S (Silencer, Crows nest, good weapon) All Weapon A (High DPS Weapons, Double barrel, grenade, Pistol, Ammo skills) Aquatic A (Pufferfish, Trebuchet, Jellyfish, Pearl) The one weapon build revolves around a single weapon that serves as the only damage source to defeat your opponent. The reason for using only one weapon is that many items and skills have effects that only apply when you have a single weapon. The most common item in this build is as mentioned before the [Silencer], which reduces cooldown and increases the damage of our weapon. But be careful, it only works as intended if you have a single weapon. The next common item is [Crows’ Nest], a large item that gives your weapon lifesteal and massive critical strike chance. But once again, it only works as intended if you have a single weapon. The weapon can be any weapon but since you're limited to one, you want it to have a big impact on its own. The four best contenders right now are [Cutlass], [Double Barrel], [Flagship], and [Submarine]. These all excel on different things. [Cutlass] requires you to have a lot of crit to do damage. [Double barrel] requires you to have ammo reload, like [Ramrod] or [Power Flask], since it only starts with two ammo in its magazine.[Flagship] requires you to manage the rest of the board carefully since it is cast multiple times depending on what other things you have on the board. [Submarine] is the one that works best if you have nothing else going on, since it has no requirements and starts with a low cooldown. The thing you have to consider when choosing a weapon is first, which one do you have possible to acquire, secondly which one do you have resources to make work and thirdly how much DPS will that result in which depends on damage output, the items cooldown and the possibility to haste. For example you might have a skill that lowers the cooldown or haste aquatic items (Both very good skills) and you do not have any skills that increase crit. In that scenario [flagship] or [submarine] that are aquatic items might be preferred whereas [cutlass] won't do that much damage. Play with what is given you! But also be sure to Pick up what might be good for you. Below is a table that illustrates how the different weapons work in different situations. Plain Board With silver Silencer With Silver Crows Nest Silencer and crows nest Silver Cutlass 8 DPS 20 DPS 36 Silver Double Barrel 33 DPS (But only for 6 seconds) 58 DPS (But only for 6 seconds) 81 DPS (But only for 6 seconds) Silver Flagship 8 DPS 15 DPS 42 DPS Silver Submarine 17 DPS 17 SPS 29 DPS 29 SPS 41 DPS 41 SPS It is not recommended to use this table but instead try to just think about these things when picking up your weapon to your vanessa build. Do you have the chance to reload ammo then pick [double barrel], do you have a chance to get much crit on your weapons pick [cutlass], do you have the requirements for [flagship] then that's good, and [submarine] is overall good. All these weapons work because of their good scaling with damage. [Cutlass] and [double barrel] cast twice so any scaling is doubled. [Submarine] converts damage to shielding so in a way it costs twice and works with damage scaling. [Flagship] can cast up to 5 times which makes it most appropriate for damage scaling. Cooldown wise double [Cutlass] and [flagship] are the slower options but if you believe you can acquire cooldown reduction the percentage gain is higher when choosing a slower weapon. Some [feathers] or good skills can be an indicator for [cutlass] and [flagship]. The All Weapon build is just as it sounds all about acquiring weapons, get the maximum amount of dps and try to kill your opponent before they have any chance to respond. It is easier and more flexible than the One weapon build since it can't go wrong when starting to acquire your weapons. One problem that can arise is the gold management. When you regularly replace the weapons on your board you're better weapons with higher dps you often catch yourself running out gold. One of the problems with Vanessa is that her gold income is quite low. Here gold management is important to be able to get all the weapons you want. Try to get interest when it's possible for example from the [caravan event], try picking up value generating items like [cove] or [Ambergris] that generate value while you play. Also know what weapons that have the highest dps and that you would like to add to the build together with which merchants that sell them. Be careful when re-rolling items when those rerolls cost too much for example with the merchant that sells ammo items. Even though you hunt for a [double barrel] it's not always worth 4 extra gold. Knowing what's available in the bazaar is sometimes tricky but hopefully this guide can help you. The build can work right from the get go if you pick up a few weapons early and also get some weapon skills that enhance all your weapons damage. Many weapons with high DPS also have an ammo count which make items like [powder flask], [Ramrod], and [Cannonball] good for refilling your damage. There are also multiple skills that work well with this build. These can be acquired from level ups, encounters and PvE fights so try to remember which monsters that have ammo skills. Aquatic A (Pufferfish, Trebuchet, Jellyfish, Pearl) The Aquatic build makes use of the type aquatic. This is a type that is mostly restricted to Vanessa and is therefore a play style that is limited to her specifically. These items are fishes, sailing equipment, and everything you might encounter as a pirate. The waterlife is usually not weapons but instead they use poison to damage their enemies. The most famous aquatic build for Vanessa is the [Pufferfish] build which is an aquatic item that deals poison damage and its cooldown is charged whenever you haste. So the goal is to set up your board with a [Pufferfish] and then try to haste as much as possible. This can be done in multiple ways where the classic way is by using a jellyfish. Together with a pearl those three items can loop each other creating a never ending splurge of poison applying to your opponent. The goal with this build is making sure that [Pufferfish] even though it has a starting cooldown actually gets used every second. This can be done with haste but also with cooldown reduction or enchantments. Hints: Haste enchantment on [Pufferfish] works as a cooldown reduction since it charges on self use! An alternative to [Pufferfish] is using a trebuchet that also charges on haste and then applies damage and burn. A good item to use with a trebuchet is a steering wheel that hastes and has a halved cooldown if you play with the trebuchet. Trebuchet also has the advantage that it also charges on weapon use making it versatile and possible to use in a weapon build or a hybrid build. There are multiple ways to make aquatic work and they can have some really good synergies with skills and enchantment. Aquatic build often relies on charging loops that make the items cooldown lower like, [Pufferfish], [trebuchet], [pearl] and [waterwheel]. Together with haste this makes for fast paced and action packed combats.