Arms of God Complete Walkthrough: Best Builds & Hidden Secrets

Sixty handcrafted levels sounds like a lot but they fly by once you understand the rhythm. This walkthrough covers everything from your first run to the final boss, including Cathedral meta-progression and hidden mechanics I wish I'd known 20 hours earlier.

The game is structured as four Acts of 15 levels each. Between levels you pick blessings. Every 15 levels is a boss fight. The whole thing takes 35 to 55 minutes depending on your build and Cathedral upgrades. A good run feels like a well-conducted orchestra. A bad run feels like slowly drowning.

Act 1: Church Grounds

The opening levels teach you the basics: auto-fire, dodging, picking up blessings. Don't overthink weapon choices here. Grab whatever drops and learn what each weapon type actually does in practice, not just from the stat card.

Early levels are generous with healing drops. That stops around level 8 or so and you'll notice the difference. Suddenly every hit matters more.

By level 10 you should have an idea what direction you're heading. Elemental fire, lightning, physical crit, knockback fortress , something should be emerging from your drops. Committing early matters because weapon merges get progressively more expensive in terms of donor weapons consumed. You don't want to pivot halfway through a run.

The Act 1 bosses are straightforward but you need at least one weapon with knockback or slow. Position yourself vertically relative to the boss and most attacks will whiff. I cleared Act 1 on my third run with this approach and I'm not particularly good at these games.

Hidden in level 8 is a destructible wall in the northwest corner. Slightly lighter bricks than the surrounding wall. Inside is a guaranteed legendary weapon with innate piercing. Grab this every run. It's a 30-second detour for a weapon that carries you through Act 2.

Level 12 has a breakable stained glass window on the right side after the first wave. Behind it: a chest with a high-rarity blessing, always one of the good ones like projectile count or piercing. Two guaranteed power spikes in Act 1. No reason to skip either.

Cathedral Interlude

After clearing Act 1 or dying trying, the Cathedral opens up. Spend currency on Training Ground movespeed first. I've said this in every guide and I'll keep saying it because it's the single most impactful upgrade decision in the game.

The Armory unlocks new weapons for the drop pool. Unlock 4 to 6 weapons early, focusing on ones with natural piercing and AoE. Don't unlock everything at once. You'll dilute your drop pool with weapons you don't know how to use.

Act 2: Descent into the Catacombs

The difficulty curve steepens noticeably. Enemy density increases. New enemy types punish standing still. You need to be in constant motion.

The weapon merge system really opens up here. You should have 3 to 4 merges completed by level 25. Prioritize themed merges: fire into AoE, knockback into pulse, projectile count into rapid-fire. Random merges technically work but themed merges are dramatically stronger because of the hidden same-element synergy bonus.

Level 22 has a destructible wall, again slightly lighter bricks in the northwest quadrant. Another guaranteed legendary weapon drop. This one fires in a spread pattern covering about 120 degrees. Merge elemental damage into it and you get a screen-wide status applier that trivializes the back half of Act 2.

Level 27 has a chest under the bridge in the flooded section. You can walk under the bridge by hugging the bottom wall. The chest offers three random blessings and you pick one. Having an extra blessing choice mid-run is enormous for build consistency.

Act 3: The Cathedral's Depths

Environmental hazards join the enemy roster. Ground fire, falling debris, collapsing floors. Your movespeed blessing becomes non-negotiable. If you haven't picked one up by level 35, consider restarting. I wasted a 45-minute run because I had no speed and couldn't dodge simultaneous enemies and hazards. Never again.

The weapon merge cap increases. You unlock a sixth merge in Act 3 and the stat transfer efficiency actually resets, so your sixth merge gets full value again. Save a strong donor for this.

The Sacred Crux should be near max level by now. If you've been ignoring its skill tree, you've been playing with roughly 80 percent of your potential damage output. At high levels the aura mode applies status effects from all your weapons and the beam mode pierces terrain. It's not a gimmick weapon, it's a core part of your toolkit.

Act 4: The Final Descent

The last 15 levels are a gauntlet. Enemy waves are relentless. Blessing options thin out , you need your build complete by level 50 because late-game blessings are mostly stat padding rather than build-defining effects.

The final boss is covered in detail in the boss guides. Save Divine Form for phase 3. Everything before that is manageable with good movement and decent damage.

My first clear took about 55 minutes. With practice and maxed Cathedral upgrades, runs are now 35 to 40 minutes. The game respects your time. Even a death in Act 4 gives you a substantial chunk of Cathedral currency.I should mention one more thing that doesn't fit neatly into any of the sections above. The Early Access build as of June 2026 is remarkably polished for a solo developer project. Dominik Sójka clearly put the time in before launching. I've encountered maybe two minor bugs across 50-plus hours. The frame rate on Steam Deck is locked at 60 even during the most chaotic Act 4 wave sections with every weapon firing and particle effects filling the screen.

The weapon balance isn't perfect , some weapons are clearly better merge bases than others , but that's part of the fun in a roguelite. Figuring out what's strong and what's a trap is half the game. The other half is execution. And the metal soundtrack.

If you're on the fence about buying this in Early Access, I'd say go for it if you like bullet heavens. The content is substantial for the price. Four full Acts, 10 bosses, 10 characters, 60-plus weapons, 100-plus blessings, a meta-progression system that makes every run feel meaningful even when you lose. And the full release with console ports is coming Q4 2026 or Q1 2027. Your Early Access purchase supports a solo developer who clearly cares about their game. That's worth something in my book.