Megabonk’s creator is asking the community whether to nerf a single character after that character started to dominate the game’s leaderboards. The indie roguelike recently sold one million copies within two weeks and hit a huge Steam player count, even outpacing big releases like Borderlands 4 in concurrent users. The game also just shipped a patch after its leaderboards were compromised, but the new tables show a clear pattern.
Eight of the top ten runs in the world use Robinette, the character with the Stonks passive. That passive gives 1% gold gain per level. The real problem is how much damage Robinette can stack just by carrying gold in inventory. By the endgame, players can turn the character into an absolute monster. Developer Vedinad opened the conversation on a post on Reddit, asking, “What are your thoughts on Robinette?” They wrote “My initial thought is to nerf the passive late game so it doesn’t scale beyond all other characters.” They also admitted, “I don’t really wanna nerf her because it’s fun af, but that leaves us with (probably) an undisputed character and a character that will always dominate the leaderboards.”
Next Patch & Balancing feedback
byu/VedinadGames inMegabonkOfficial
Vedinad floated a few options. One idea is to turn the gold-to-damage link into an item rather than a permanent passive. Another approach is to apply broad buffs to other characters, enabling them to compete. The developer warned that buffing everything to match Robinette would be a tremendous balancing job and could break other parts of the game. Any replacement item would also have to be weaker than Robinette’s current effect, or it would simply create the same meta in a different slot.
The conversation has spread beyond Megabonk’s own channels. For now, the community debate continues. Some players love the runaway build because it feels crazy and powerful. Others worry that a single character will always define leaderboard runs and limit creative variety. Vedinad has signaled a desire to keep the game fun while also protecting competitive integrity. That balance will need careful thought and testing.
Share what you think on X, Bluesky, or YouTube, the dev is listening, and the leaderboard results matter to a lot of players.X, Bluesky, YouTube
