This guide is built from repeated full clears of Inferno difficulty using optimized routing and taxation-order planning. Every character strategy, contract interaction, and tax countermeasure below has been verified in live runs to help you hit a stable 90%+ clear rate.
Inferno Difficulty Overview & Core Mindset
Inferno is the current highest difficulty tier in the game. Beyond stricter quota requirements, it introduces a Taxation System that applies random debuffs at fixed intervals. The system is punishing on paper, but with full preparation, stable clears are achievable in the overwhelming majority of runs. For deeper consistency methods, see Tips for Maximizing Clear Reproducibility.
Each deployment imposes 3 taxes, and you can freely reorder them before sortie. Taxes placed lower on the list activate later and escalate in severity. The critical insight: some taxes are best placed at the top (early, weak phase), while others should sit at the bottom. Understanding this reordering is the single biggest skill gap between struggling and stable runs.
Character Strategy Guide
Lucifer
- Official Description / Core Objective: Resource generation and gold support through Whetstones and Certificates. The unsung backbone of any economy build.
- Type / Difficulty Tags: Support | Difficulty: ★2/5 | Essential Partner
- Prerequisites: None. Pairs with any character.
Lucifer synergizes well with every character but is effectively mandatory for Satan. With Leviathan, surplus resources open up Lemonade and the Multifunctional Test contract for higher earning output. When paired with Belfegor and the Convert Coin Tree contract is secured, the entire gameplan shifts: use Casting Proxy to plant money trees relentlessly.
Mammon
- Official Description / Core Objective: Land flipping and bribery — gold-making methods that dodge most taxation triggers.
- Type / Difficulty Tags: Economy | Difficulty: ★3/5 | Slot-Filler
- Prerequisites: Must be paired with another economy character for early game.
Editor Warning: Mammon lacks early-game income generation entirely. Never deploy Mammon alone — always pair with a gold-generating character or you will fall behind on quota.
Quick Steps:
- Deploy alongside Satan for the strongest synergy — long-range Gold Ingot transport and complex recipe crafting rely on Raven.
- Raven surplus makes Belfegor‘s Temp Agency a viable conversion path.
- The Smuggling contract is powerful — it periodically grants Bribery equal to 5x land value. Combine with portals for bulk Bribery, then take the Prank Call contract and spam orders.
- Use Short Selling Notes carefully — plan which land to buy and which to leave before committing.
If the Fencing contract appears early, you gain massive Indulgences. Convert these via Short Selling Notes for overkill-level income. The Sublease contract and late-game Land Shark are also strong picks — Mammon contributes far more to mid-to-late economy than appearances suggest.
Belfegor
- Official Description / Core Objective: Multi-tool economy character using Magic Pellets, Engraving income, and Self-Replication.
- Type / Difficulty Tags: Economy / Production | Difficulty: ★5/5 | Hardest Character
- Prerequisites: Early Mana mining node strongly recommended.
Editor Warning: Belfegor is arguably the hardest character to pilot. The wide toolkit demands precise balance — mismanaging the Self-Replication vs. Magic Pellet ratio will stall your entire economy.
Quick Steps:
- Early-to-mid game: supplement Mana via mining and go all-in on Self-Replication. Without a starting Mana node you can still sell Magic Pellets, but ramp-up is sluggish — secure Mana ASAP.
- Balance Self-Replication and Magic Pellet production so Mana stays even. Route surplus units into Temp Agency and Engraving production.
- Late game: dumping all spare units into Magic Pellets works, but is inefficient alone — grab the Pickpocket contract or other unit recipes.
- Starting with 2x Casting Proxy is a huge boon — enables gem conversions, Convert Coin Tree, and Slime Seed from other characters’ staff skills.
The Overdeclaration contract is strong, but non-Amethyst Engravings tend to pile up. If you can’t spend them, redeploy Witch.
Leviathan
- Official Description / Core Objective: Converts resources into gold and other resources through Alkali Solution chains.
- Type / Difficulty Tags: Converter | Difficulty: ★4/5 | Contract-Dependent
- Prerequisites: Resource-gathering setup; ideally Satan‘s Make It Carefully contract.
Editor Warning: Alkali Solution looks like pure profit on input/output — it is not. As a gold-making method it is inefficient. Do not build around it early.
Quick Steps:
- Early game: gather resources and produce Lemonade and Gem Dust to boost earning efficiency.
- Core win condition: Multifunctional Test for volume-based small-margin selling. This drains resources fast — offset with Satan’s Make It Carefully, or resource-gathering + sale-price boosts.
- If resources cannot be sustained, delay taking Multifunctional Test. This is a critical judgment call, not a failure.
Editor Warning: The Dilution contract can backfire — Alkali Solution may no longer satisfy Litmus Paper requirements, reducing output.
Satan
- Official Description / Core Objective: The fundamental factory character. Acquires high-tier recipes like Pickaxe, Alkali Crystal, and Nitro, then scales output via contracts.
- Type / Difficulty Tags: Production | Difficulty: ★3/5 | Core Carry
- Prerequisites: Recipe unlocks via land expansion; Salamander units.
Selling Gold Ingots from a lucky gold vein is also viable. Satan has two main build routes:
| Route | Method | Advantage | Editor Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gunpowder / Nitro Route | Craft and sell Gunpowder and Nitro | Fuel never depletes — all-in Salamander; Overheat contract keeps fuel flowing | Essential |
| Wood Fuel Route | Burn Wood into fuel | Some Salamanders convert to fuel, but enables higher-value item sales; Iron and Cinnabar recipes boosted by Certificate/Litmus Paper; gold recipes have raw high output | Essential |
In practice, pure routes are rare. Adjust the balance based on fuel surplus/deficit.
Adamantite, Mithril, and Orichalcum recipes are take-if-convenient — only grab them if materials cluster nearby. Adamantite requires no fuel (great with Overheat) but consumes huge amounts of Olive.
The Make It Carefully contract is essentially always worth taking — Water Conveyors only saturate in late game, so downside is nearly nonexistent. Once saturation begins, take speed upgrades. Combining with Make More and Overheat to cancel downsides while raising output is Satan’s core strategy.
Editor Warning: The Compression contract is a trap. It looks beneficial, but multi-stage recipes like Pickaxe and Nitro get hit with both increased materials AND increased craft time. Only take it if your primary output is single-stage recipes, or you already hold enough Make It Carefully to cancel the penalty.
Taxation Countermeasures — Ordering Rules
Each deployment applies 3 taxes. You may reorder them before sortie. Lower position = later activation = stronger effect. Knowing which taxes belong on top vs. bottom is the core skill. Here is the complete breakdown.
Tax Countermeasures — Part 1
Triple-Check Mandate
- Effect: Crafting recipes above a craft-time threshold have craft time doubled/multiplied. Phase 1: 15s+ ×2 | Phase 2: 5s+ ×3 | Phase 3: 3s+ ×5
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 – Phase 2
- Affected: Most Slime and Witch recipes.
Most Salamander recipes are 3 seconds (except Gold Ingot and contract-added recipes), meaning a Satan-centric build placed in Phase 1–2 is barely affected. Watch contract-induced craft time changes — Make It Carefully can push recipes over the threshold. Time your contract acquisition accordingly.
Sample Submission Order
- Effect: Recipes with production count above a threshold at activation are fixed to 1 unit. Phase 1: 4+ | Phase 2: 3+ | Phase 3: 2+
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 – Phase 2
- Affected: Witch engraving recipes, Salamander wood fuel.
Run a Leviathan-centric build, or secure fuel via Sulfur/Gunpowder to keep Salamanders working. Late game contract boosts inflate output counts rapidly — consume this tax early. Again: beware of taking output-count contracts too late.
Tariff: Chemical Industry
- Effect: Crafts using only resources as materials lose production count (minimum 0). Phase 1: −1 | Phase 2: −5 | Phase 3: −10
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 – Phase 3
Affects many Slime recipes and Witch’s Magic Pellet. Multifunctional Test Slime can brute-force through, but results are unstable — a Satan-centric build is safer. Conversely, characters unaffected by this tax can ignore it entirely, making it one of the easier taxes to place anywhere.
Tariff: Heavy Industry
- Effect: Crafts with materials partially or fully composed of items lose production count (minimum 0). Phase 1: −1 | Phase 2: −5 | Phase 3: −10
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 – Phase 3
Inversely, this hits many Salamander recipes. A Leviathan-centric build is safer. Like the Chemical tariff, unaffected characters ignore it, making it broadly easy to place. Witch engraving recipes are affected too, but base output is 10 and Overdeclaration can out-produce the reduction — still playable. However, output does drop and Overdeclaration is RNG-dependent, so avoid relying on Witch as your main axis.
Water Conservation Order
- Effect: Conveyor speed reduced. Phase 1: −50% | Phase 2: −75% | Phase 3: −90%
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 – Phase 2
Conveyor speed rarely saturates before late game, so placing this in Phase 1–2 makes it nearly harmless. Raven transport bypasses the downside, but deploying Mammon solely for this is not worth it.
Mineral Tax
- Effect: Mineral mining nodes require more hits. Phase 1: ×2 | Phase 2: ×5 | Phase 3: ×10
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 – Phase 3
Affects Salamander and Witch. Leviathan-centric is safest. In Phase 1, Salamanders tend to surplus compared to Goblins, so a Satan build can absorb Phase 1 placement as an option.
Agricultural Tax
- Effect: Plant mining nodes require more hits. Phase 1: ×2 | Phase 2: ×5 | Phase 3: ×10
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 – Phase 3
Affects Leviathan. Alkali Solution-only setups can cope, but output shortages are likely — Satan or Belfegor-centric is safer.
Editor Warning: Wood hit requirements also increase. If your Satan build relies on wood fuel, fuel will dry up. Transition to a Sulfur-based route at some point.
Specialty Goods Tax
- Effect: When selling items grants resources matching your starting location, the gain has a chance to become 0. Phase 1: 25% | Phase 2: 50% | Phase 3: 100%
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 & Phase 3
Starting location of Building Materials, Food, Fertilizer, or Gems minimizes impact. Choosing Fuel, Medicine, or Mana can be fatal for the corresponding character — endure Phase 1 or stockpile excess resources to ride out Phase 3.
Investment Tax
- Effect: When buffs/relics grant cash, the gain has a chance to become 0. Phase 1: 25% | Phase 2: 50% | Phase 3: 100%
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 – Phase 2
Buffs/relics only mature in late game, so consume this early-to-mid. If forced into Phase 3, note that Mammon‘s income tools and Belfegor‘s engravings become dead weight. Litmus Paper and Certificate effects also vanish — the impact hits every character significantly.
Damages
- Effect: When gaining resources matching a random sponsor, the gain has a chance to become 0. Phase 1: 25% | Phase 2: 50% | Phase 3: 100%
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 & Phase 3
Highly RNG-dependent. If Fuel, Medicine, or Mana is selected, it is rough. Like Specialty Goods Tax, endure Phase 1 or stockpile excess for Phase 3.
Tax Countermeasures — Part 2
Centralization
- Effect: Selling items outside Gehenna has a chance to be voided. Phase 1: 25% | Phase 2: 50% | Phase 3: 100%
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 – Phase 2
If your build can operate from the starting location, impact is nearly nil. Even in Phase 3, low-movement builds can cope. Effectively an easy tax with proper planning.
Arrest
- Effect: A random sponsor’s contracts/orders stop being drawn, and that sponsor’s familiar work speed drops. Phase 1: ×0.9 | Phase 2: ×0.75 | Phase 3: ×0.5
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 – Phase 3
The randomness is annoying, but the debuff is weak. Place anywhere. For proper counterplay, prepare at least two income methods.
Poll Tax
- Effect: One-time fixed cost at activation based on total familiars (deployed + undeployed). Per familiar — Phase 1: +10 | Phase 2: +40 | Phase 3: +160
- Recommended Position: Phase 1
Editor Warning: This one hurts. Taking it late-game with a large roster can end your run. Place it in Phase 1 without exception. Avoid unit-heavy characters like Mammon, delay order acceptance, and refuse unnecessary unit orders to keep headcount minimal. Even then, expect 200–300 in costs. This tax’s difficulty feels genuinely overtuned.
Property Tax
- Effect: One-time fixed cost at activation based on owned land count. Per tile — Phase 1: +50 | Phase 2: +200 | Phase 3: +800
- Recommended Position: Phase 1
Also brutal late. Aim to survive it in Phase 1. If you fight from your starting location and do not expand land for 5 minutes, the cost is only 50 G.
Consumption Tax
- Effect: Fixed cost each time an order is completed during that phase. Phase 1: +5 | Phase 2: +50 | Phase 3: +500
- Recommended Position: Phase 1 & Phase 3
Moderately painful — accepting all Phase 1 orders costs only ~100 total, manageable. Either place it in Phase 1 and ignore it, or place it in Phase 3 and stop accepting orders for the final 5 minutes.
Editor Warning: If placed in Phase 3, do not forget the effect is active. Completing orders will rack up enormous fixed costs.
Other Tactics & Edge-Case Solutions
Individual tax counters above do not account for combinations or starting-location conflicts. Examples of problematic scenarios:
- Tariff: Heavy Industry + Tariff: Chemical Industry both active — neither Satan nor Leviathan can function.
- Taxes favor a Leviathan build, but the starting location offers no Medicine.
When Both Heavy & Chemical Tariffs Active
Use both characters. It is technical, but running Satan and Leviathan simultaneously and pivoting to whichever is unaffected at that moment works. Multifunctional Test brute-force keeps output above zero even under tariffs. Alternatively, Mammon‘s income tools ignore both tariffs — delegate late-game income to her.
Leviathan Build Without Starting Medicine
Medicine is not strictly required. Leviathan can self-supply Medicine from Alkali Solution, enabling minimal function even without a starting Medicine node. Output does drop, so expand land early, secure resources, and pivot to other recipes. The same logic applies to Belfegor.
Unwinnable Tax Combinations
Consider a Phase 3 skip. Clearing within 25 minutes effectively bypasses Phase 3 taxes entirely. However, a sub-25-minute clear is heavily RNG-dependent — treat this as a last resort, not a plan.
General Tips & Editorial Verdict
- Always check the tax list before selecting characters. Picking a character who ignores the current taxes is worth more than picking your strongest character.
- Learn every character’s Special Mission before attempting Inferno. If any character feels unfamiliar, clear their missions first — it is the fastest route to understanding each playstyle.
- Tax ordering is not cosmetic. Placing Poll Tax or Property Tax late will end runs; placing them in Phase 1 is a near-mandatory habit for stable clears.
- Prepare at least two income routes per run to survive random sponsor-targeting taxes like Arrest and Damages.