Eternium: Early Bounty Hunter Build and Act 1 Progression Guide

To clear Act 1 efficiently as an early Bounty Hunter in Eternium, equip dual pistols, prioritize Scatter Shot for mob packs, and use Rapid Fire to burst down elites and bosses. Because the Bounty Hunter lacks heavy armor, keep your distance on PC by stutter-stepping—firing a volley and immediately clicking backward to maintain spacing against melee swarms.

Core Act 1 Ability Setup

Replace single-target basic attacks with area-of-effect and rapid burst skills as soon as they unlock. Scatter Shot clears dense groups of low-health enemies in a wide forward cone, while Rapid Fire channels heavy single-target damage into stage bosses and elite targets.

Ability Slot	Skill Choice	Combat Role
Primary Attack	Scatter Shot	Cone-shaped spread damage to clear swarming melee packs
Active Ability 1	Rapid Fire	Channeled single-target burst for elites and bosses
Active Ability 2	Smoke Screen or Magnetic Trap	Emergency repositioning or enemy grouping
Passive Ability	Celerity or Piercing Rounds	Attack speed scaling or increased projectile penetration

Keep your skill training queue active whenever you visit town. Early ability ranks take only minutes to research and provide immediate reductions to cooldowns alongside higher base damage multipliers.

PC Movement and Kiting Tactics

Surviving melee swarms requires continuous repositioning between attacks:

Target from screen edge: Click the ground to position your hero at maximum attack range before initiating combat.
Execute the stutter-step: Fire a volley with Scatter Shot, then immediately click the terrain behind you to step back before the enemy closes the gap.
Tighten mouse movement: Keep your cursor near your character during retreats to prevent pathing errors around narrow doorways and dungeon walls.

Gear Stat Priorities

Equip two pistols rather than a single weapon to maximize base attack speed. Higher attack speed speeds up attack animations, shortens recovery time between stutter-steps, and triggers on-hit effects more frequently. When evaluating drops from quests and chests, prioritize these attributes:

Weapon Base Damage: High flat damage ranges on your main-hand and off-hand pistols.
Haste: Decreases the delay between attacks and accelerates the firing rate of Scatter Shot.
Critical Rating: Adds burst damage spikes against softened packs.
Movement Speed: Equipping boots with bonus speed helps maintain distance from charging enemies.

Avoid spending gold or crafting materials to reforge low-level gear at the Blacksmith. Quest rewards and standard drops provide sufficient stats to handle Act 1 difficulty scaling.

Companion Synergy with Marcus

Marcus the Warrior joins your party during early Act 1 and serves as your frontline tank. Let Marcus charge into enemy clusters first to establish aggro before opening fire with Scatter Shot. Trigger his Charge ability manually to stun priority threats, such as archers or heavy brutes. If Marcus falls, pull back immediately; surviving enemies will path directly toward your hero until Marcus revives.

Resource Management

Save your Gemstones exclusively for permanent account upgrades. Do not spend gems to open locked chests, revive after defeat, or speed up low-tier skill upgrades. Instead, invest your gems in the following order:

Ability Upgrade Slots: Unlocking the second and third training queues lets you level multiple skills simultaneously.
Companion Slots: Extra slots allow you to bring additional allies into combat in later acts.
Inventory Rows: Expanding your bag capacity minimizes trips to town.

Sell white and gray junk items to vendors for gold, and salvage excess green and blue gear to stockpile crafting components for later acts.