The campaign structure you need to know
TBH: Task Bar Hero packs 120 stages into a tighter structure than it first appears: 3 Acts, 10 stages each, repeated across 4 difficulty tiers. That means you will run through the same named locations four times, each time against harder enemies and higher level requirements. Knowing how the system is built before you start saves a lot of confusion about why you keep returning to the Pasture.
Act 1 stage select screen
How are the 120 stages structured?
The full campaign breaks down as 3 Acts × 10 stages × 4 difficulties = 120 stages. Each Act covers a distinct theme: Act 1 moves through Green Fields and Cursed Lands, Act 2 takes you through Desert and Tomb environments, and Act 3 runs from Frozen Wastes into Hell itself.
Difficulty tiers gate your character level directly:
Every Act ends at stage X-10, which is a boss encounter. The other nine stages in each Act are standard wave-based fights that build toward that final confrontation.
The game is in its launch window and these values are datamined. Balance patches may adjust level requirements or enemy stats.
What are the three Act bosses?
Each boss sits at the tenth stage of its Act and repeats across all four difficulties with scaling HP. Here is how the numbers look:
Archon Morkar is the hardest of the three at every difficulty tier, and his Torment version at 3,550 HP is the biggest HP pool in the entire campaign. The Skeleton King hits a ceiling after Normal and stays at 2,350 through the remaining three difficulties, which makes him comparatively easier to farm on repeat runs.
Soul Stones are only consumed on a successful boss clear. Failed attempts cost you nothing, so you can practice boss fights without burning resources.
How do Soul Stones work for boss fights?
Every Act-10 boss requires a Soul Stone to attempt. The key detail most players miss: the stone is only consumed when you actually clear the stage. If your team wipes, the Soul Stone stays in your inventory. This makes boss attempts genuinely risk-free from a resource standpoint, so there is no reason to delay challenging a boss once you have the item level to survive a few waves.
Act 1: Green Fields and Cursed Lands (Normal Lv 1–12)
Act 1 is the tutorial gauntlet. Stages run from level 1 through 12, introducing the core enemy types before the Skeleton King at stage 1-10 (Throne of Darkness). Wave counts start at 10 for Pasture and climb to 13 by the time you reach Cursed Land at stage 1-9.
Enemy variety in Act 1 covers Goblins, Orcs, and Skeletons. The Elite Orc showing up in both stage 1-5 and the penultimate stage 1-9 is a deliberate difficulty spike before the boss.
Act 2: Desert and Tombs (Normal Lv 13–22)
Act 2 runs from level 13 to 22 and introduces Ratfolk, Cobras, Venom Insects, Ghouls, and Mummies. The Desert Overlord waits at Pharaoh's Underchannel (stage 2-10). Wave counts grow to 16 by the final non-boss stages, and kill requirements push past 120 per stage in the back half.
Sunset Ruins (2-6) and Pharaoh's Crypt (2-9) are notable gold spikes in Normal difficulty, with the Crypt paying out 38,947 gold versus the 21,598 from Sacred Tomb just two stages earlier.
Act 3: Frozen Wastes and Hell (Normal Lv 23–32)
Act 3 is the longest stretch before you hit Nightmare. Levels 23 through 32 push wave counts up to 18 and kill requirements past 198 per stage. The gold and EXP rewards scale dramatically here: Core of the Abyss (3-9) pays nearly 3 million EXP in Normal, compared to the 155 EXP from Pasture 1-1.
Archon Morkar at Hell Command Chamber (3-10) closes out the Normal campaign. His 2,550 Normal HP is already the highest of the three bosses at that tier.
What are the item-level gates and why do they matter?
Reaching a stage unlocks the item level that can drop there. This is separate from rarity. A critical detail: rarity does not scale by area. Even stage 1-1's boss can drop an Immortal-rarity item. What the stage gates control is the maximum item level available in the drop pool.
The practical implication: push to Normal 3-8 before farming gear seriously, because that unlocks level 30 items. Then push into Nightmare to access the level 35 and 50 item tiers. Farming early stages for high-level gear is not possible regardless of how long you grind them.
Do not spend hours farming Act 1 stages hoping for high item levels. The gate system hard-caps what can drop until you physically reach the required stage.
Scaling across Nightmare, Hell, and Torment
Once you clear Normal, the same 30 stage names repeat three more times with dramatically higher enemy counts and rewards. By Torment, stages that had 10 waves in Normal now run 29–31 waves, kill counts exceed 650 per stage, and gold payouts reach into the millions. The Plains of Torment (4-307) pays over 6 million gold and 123 million EXP per clear.
Boss HP scales more aggressively at the Torment tier. The Desert Overlord jumps from 2,050 HP in Hell to 2,350 in Torment, while Archon Morkar climbs from 3,050 to 3,550. Building a team that can handle sustained damage output matters more at these tiers than raw burst.
For help with team composition before tackling harder difficulties, the best team combinations guide covers the most effective hero pairings for both free and premium rosters. If you are still building out your roster, the hero slot unlock guide explains the Rune costs for expanding your party.
Tips for progressing through stages efficiently
- Push, don't farm early. The item-level gate system means there is almost no reason to grind a stage you have already cleared. Move forward.
- Attempt bosses freely. Soul Stones are not consumed on failed attempts, so challenge bosses as soon as you can reach them.
- Track your item level gates. Normal 3-8 and Nightmare 3-9 are the two most impactful gates for gear progression. Prioritize reaching them.
- Prepare for wave count jumps. Going from Hell to Torment adds roughly 2–4 waves per stage and significantly more enemies per wave. Teams that cleared Hell comfortably can stall in early Torment.
- Rarity can drop anywhere. High-rarity items are not locked to late stages, so a lucky early boss clear can still yield something exceptional.
For a complete breakdown of starting priorities and Rune spending, the TBH: Task Bar Hero beginner's guide covers everything from class selection to Cube mechanics. The full TBH: Task Bar Hero guide collection has dedicated guides for every major system as you push deeper into Nightmare and beyond.