One of the most essential pieces of advice I can ever give you are as follows;

Don't give up. No matter how frustrated you get, you learn things with every new run. Every death is a step towards success. Don't view your deaths as something as a 'failure' like I sometimes do. View them as a step in the right direction - the point where you went wrong, is your point to succeed. That boulder? It got you this time, but you learnt a bit of extra information from that death.

You may be new, or old to the game, but don't give up, even when you most likely would. You can die at the end - but that death will teach you something greater, something in the long run. Which is to be proud for your failures - as they lead you to success.
If you feel you can't survive the run - then survive the area you are in? The mines? Survive that, for now. The swamp? Survive that. If you feel you can't survive the area - focus on surviving the current level. Even a single encounter, your odds improve greatly the less you burden yourself.
Be it hard or easy mode.
Take the game as you need, and be patient. You will eventually get to a point that you can play in success.

So, you just got Barony, just booted up for the first time. Or maybe the 5th or 4th time. In any case, maybe the game is too hard for you? Or perhaps, you don't like a certain keybinding, or maybe you are looking for a good class to play as? Well... We'll start with basics

Check your keybindings
Having poorly mapped keys can make the game notably harder, with this, rebind them as you so choose, but I would recommend, that if you are using a keyboard and mouse to rebind Spell-casting to Middle-mouse, instead of keeping it bound to F. This way with a quick finger movement on your mouse, you can press the spell cast key, to get that quick cast, instead of having to reach off the S or D keys to press F. Saves alot of trouble.

However, a trade off of switching spells to the mouse wheel is that you lose the ability to automatically cast. By holding down the cast key, you will automatically cast - the mouse wheel offers the simple flip of a finger, but comes at the the cost you can't just hold down a button.


Misc tab, what to check, what to ignore
In the Misc tab of options, you'll find your Inventory management hotkeys, and a few ingame options. In any case. USE THE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT HOTKEYS. "0" is usually not moved if one thing is set to 9, and -9. In any case, You should organize your inventory using these methods, so you don't have to, in a way that it's nice, and neat for you. Whatever you prefer is what you prefer here.
But usually I have weapons/utilities on one side of my inventory, and armour/jewerly on the other end, Food, books, other junk go inbetween the two. But this isn't how you should do it, if it's not easy for you. It's just a personal preference, really.

Now, misc options, what are they?
Most explain themselves.

[ ] Cheats - When checked, Achievements, Steam-Leaderboards, and other features are disabled, allows you to use cheats.
[ ] Traps - When checked, Randomly generated traps will spawn, however when not, they won't
This does not effect structure generated traps, such as the boulder-trapped lever-chests in the swamp.
[ ] Minotaurs - Controls whether Minotaurs can appear in levels as a obstacle or not - Does not effect the Minotaur Maze, or any other map where they are force-spawned.
[ ] Hardcore - The game's hardmode, the biggest personal problem I have with it will be discussed later, but for now, just consider it "Hard"
[ ] Classic - Turns on/off Classic mode, or as I call it, Cursed Edition; Classic checked on will stop at level 20/24, while checked off, it stops at 24/35.
[ ] +1 Life Mode - You start with an Amulet of Life Saving - disables achievements + halves your score.
[ ] No Item Drop - Multiplayer only. Makes it so you don't drop items on death, and will resume the next floor with them all in your inventory.

You should leave Auto-appraise on, it's useful


Okay, now... What class?
Well, really, that's up to you on what you find easiest, I cannot say a single best class for a single best player style or anything. Everyone's start is rough or easy depending on their gear, regardless of their tactic, it's just finding the gear you can use effectively for your in-mind tactic.

I am going to redo this part. My list was dumb.

In general
Warrior, Barbarian make good melees

Wizard, Mesmer, and Conjurer make good casters.

Rogue, Accursed, and Ninja make good stealthers.

Barbarian, Brewer, and Monk make good tanks.

Arcanist, Joker, Wanderer, and Accursed make good multi-classers.

Rogue, Arcanist, and Hunter* make good rangers.


* = Upcoming

So you just hopped in, and are seeing your HUD/GUI/UI for the first time, and may wonder 'what's half of this mean!?' I'll summarize it here for you, starting with your character sheet.

This is your character sheet, it displays your character, your stats, level, dungeon floor, total damage, total AC, your gold, and your carryweight.
There's nothing to say about your character's appearance - aside from how they appear. No statement needed here.


LVL - CLASS: This is very obvious your current level, and your current class.
Level ups happen every time you hit 100 XP, and start from zero. It gets progressively slower as enemies give less and less XP per level up; you also get two XP per improvement in skill. So one Appraise Increase will give you 2 XP, killing an enemy gives you varying XP, based on your distance to the enemy, and how tough it was - for instance; You're going to get lots more XP from a Shelob, than you are a Skeleton, and far more from a Minotaur, than you are a Shelob.

FLOOR LVL - Your current dungeon floor ( 0 - 35 - zone changes every 5 floors)
TOTAL DMG - Your total damage output, hovering over it gives you your specifics - damage variance is how much damage you have a chance to do.
AC - Each A.C usually removes 1 damage (exceptions apply to spells, and vampiric enemies). AC is short for ARMOUR CLASS.
Gold - Rightclicking this drops gold, displays your gold - HAS WEIGHT!
Carry weight - How much weight you have - higher weights are worse.
In this screenshot, you can see two stat values ( 23 -> 33 for instance) the preceding number is your actual stat. The green or red after-number is your calculated total from items (here I have the Sphinx' veil on, which is +2, so I have +10 INT, which makes 23 into 33)




Class determines your stats leaning values - how much your STR and DEX will level; for instance.
Here is a good table for the job. Higher means you are more likely to get that skill increased.
(HINT: YOU CAN HOVER OVER STATS TO SEE THEIR EFFECTS IN GAME! - I WILL LIST THEM LATER, THOUGH.)

Hoo-boy that was a big table.
Next we'll explain the Party Stats (and the Skills too)
This is your Party stats - you can swap between itand the Skills by clicking that arrow in your inventory. Above this is the run timer - which it's formatted as Hour:Minute:Second
The lock icon pins it to your hud, allowing you to see it while your inventory isn't open.
This displays all party members (players), and basic stats about them.
Under it will be displayed Followers - which in this case isn't, that will display the monster/name of monster, it's stats, and right clicking it's stats in this menu will bring up that follower's action wheel.

[need image to explain the Skills]


Next, we have the hotbar, and the action-log.
The Hotbar is well... where you put items - how you organize it is your decision, it has 10 slots, and can have anything put on it, even junk items. Under it is the action log, which displays recent text messages and events (e.g "you were hit by a skeleton")

Next we have the health, mana, and chat.
Chat can be opened with / for console and enter to talk. Hitting enter again sends a message, hitting escape closes chat, your health varies on your class - as does your mana, Health when it hits zero, you die. You lose the ability to cast (except in some circumstances such as the God's forcebolt at legend in casting), except as vampire where casting will drain from your healthpool instead of your mana. If an attack leeches mana and you have none left - it will drain out of your health pool instead. That is something to be wary of - and if you fire an attack that leeches mana, and the enemy has no mana left, you will receive extra health.

Next up, is the map. Black/empty space are pits - you need levitation to pass over them. Otherwise they are an obstacle, and you will die if your levitation wears out over them.
Bright brown-orange are walls, they can be broken with a pickaxe or digging spell, seen through with the blind fold of telepathy but are otherwise an obstacle to you and enemies that nothing can go through. There are upper walls, that will block big enemies (minotaur and demons) slowing them down a bit, which can assist you in escaping. Dark brown orange is floor tiles - you can walk on them, they may have traps or loose loot. As you explore your map, and your party members. It will become more open, you cannot break the outermost walls of the map.

Living or Undead creatures when you have the 'FORESIGHT' effect (Oracle's Treads, or Ring of Warning.) will appear as purple dots on the map which will move around.
However the Minotaur when it appears will sometimes flash on the map as a dark magenta, and blue dot. This allows you to track it even without warning.
Players will be colours - and their follows;
Host/Party member 1: Green (always the case in singleplayer)
Client/Party member 2: Blue
Client/Party member 3: Yellow
Client/Party member 4: Purple
Client/Party member 5+: Gray (to be updated)
Player followers will be much smaller - and in their specific map colour, so Member 2 will always have blue-hinged followers on the map, where as Member 3 will always have yellow.
You can rightclick on the map to place down a node, this will make a noise and will appear for a few seconds flickering. All party members will see this, and this can be used to communicate with the team. Followers can be sent anywhere on the map by telling them to move somewhere, and rightclicking on a part of the map.




Finally the inventory. There's a few things here. Hitting R (or that gray-blue button to the side of the inventory) will autosort according to your settings. There are two buttons; inventory and spell book. Spellbook lets you see, and access your spells, right click one to equip/prepare it only one can be prepared at a time, however they CAN BE PUT ON THE HOT BAR , once a spell is 'prepared' hitting your cast key (default on keyboard is F) you will cast a spell - if your default key is bound to a non-mouse wheel input, it can be held down to automatically cast it. Spells will drain from the mana.

The Inventory leads you to well... your inventory, you can autosort, toss items by dragging them out of the inventory, or shift rightclicking them. Items can be dragged to the hotbar, or used by rightclicking on them in the inventory. Equipped items will appear with a blue hand next t o them, broken items will appear with a red "X" to them, and will be gray. Yellow-slotted items are Unappraised, Green/Blue items are Blessed, Red items are cursed, items with no hinge are uncursed, and not blessed. Item stacks are also displayed.
Lastly, an item's durability and stats can be seen by hovering over it.

By holding down SHIFT (control too I think?) you can can right click items to toss them, and left click on them to appraise them.

[Quality] - [Blessing/Curse value] - [Item name]
[Bless/Curse Quality]
[Weight] - How much it weights.
[Value] - How much it'll sell for.
[Stat such as DMG or AC] - Check your 'character sheet' when trying to figure this value out!
This explains each aspect of an item's doing. Remember that curses tend to make it do the opposite of what it's meant to ... Unless you are a succubus or Incubus of course! Then you should learn to LOVE curses!

When appraising items, this will pop up.
This tells you what's currently appraising, and how close to completion it is.

Spoilers ahead! Spoilers head!

If you do not want to spoil the DLC content for yourself, and would rather find out on your own, do not view the following section.

The Skeleton's subclass is the Conjurer - who is a master of conjuration.
Skeleton's special abilities are to Revive with 85 mana left , and to not need food , however Skeleton regenerates mana and health far slower as a drawback.
If you have enough mana left in your pets and healthpool combined to revive - you will kill your pets to revive on the spot.


This is for Conjurer's Skeleton, for now use this table and information to dictate the strength of your guys!
Table of health pools
Health increases by 5 ticks per level for these guys, but this is their health at each rank accordingly.


THIS ONLY DISPLAYS GEAR, NOT THEIR ACTUAL TRUE A.C & ATTACK




The Goatman's subclass is the Brewer; this bleating drunken idiot is a god at brewing mixtures.
The Goatman can sniff out extra potions by drinking fountains , can eat tin cans without a way to open them . What? did you think there was more to it? He can also recruit drunken humans

The Brewer as a class, has extensive brewing abilities (40 in alchemy at start), starts with an alembic - but one of his biggest showcases, is his axe and backpack , he has excellent skills in axes, and starts with the backpack - an object that grants him extra inventory space! Weight may still trouble you, among this Brewer is very tough and has a hard time going down in a fight - especially with the right potions.
{{insert potion guide later here, lyiu. if this is not here by the 14th of june, please call lyiu out in the comments.}}

The Mesmer

The Succubus' subclass is the Mesmer; a mistress who is good at turning thy enemy on enemy.
The Succubus is a demonoid; she LOVES curses! She can wear them, unequip them, and gains extra strengths from them - even the amulet of strangulation is a gift to her! Blessings on the other hand stick to her like glue - not that they're less effective, they just don't leave her side. She can recruit drunken or confused humans , and starts with teleport in her spell list!

The Mesmer as a class, is rather frail, but has impressive leadership abilities (60 at start), and while comes lowly equipped at the start - the mistress' special spell of charming her foe unto herself, and confusing all enemies alike is a force to be feared - as she can turn a Cockatrice, in nothing more than a stumbling fool, or turn a crystal golem, unto her will from it's duty.
She also starts with a bunch of cursed here as Succubus, giving her improved armour class!


The Vampire's subclass is the Accursed; a person found with a seemingly incurable thirst for the blood and hearts of thy enemy.
The Vampire is well, an undead! However, he has many abilities, from firing spell that will rupture the veins of his foe - and grant him his blood, to the ability of flight or invisibility - alike to vampires in fiction, he however hates water , and cannot stand a single interaction with a drop of it. Let alone a pool of it... He also practices blood magic - the magic of using his blood as mana. So he can cast without mana! At a greater cost, of course.

The Accursed as a class - starts with excellent knowledge - and has the highest INT of any class, they are also very skilled with their fists, at appraising, and other things such as stealth! As they are well knowledged and versed in general - their magic is also incredible. However, all this comes at a cost - while he may move faster, he starts frail, and weak. He also has a great hunger, and thirst for the blood of his foe to sate his eternal famine. He is sickened by regular food, and requires strictly the blood he finds through his many stabs to the back, or finishing off what is bleeding.

The Punisher

The Incubus - Coming soon!

The Hunter

The Insectoid - Coming soon!

The Shaman

The Goblin - Coming soon!

The Machinist

The Automaton - Coming soon!

This section seems to lack content, this is most likely since I am placeholding it for the time being. Content that is placeheld should be ignored, and if it isn't dealt with in a timely manner it should be scrutinized heavily in the comment section.

This section seems to lack content, this is most likely since I am placeholding it for the time being. Content that is placeheld should be ignored, and if it isn't dealt with in a timely manner it should be scrutinized heavily in the comment section.

This section seems to lack content, this is most likely since I am placeholding it for the time being. Content that is placeheld should be ignored, and if it isn't dealt with in a timely manner it should be scrutinized heavily in the comment section.

Okay, so you hopped into the dungeon, I'm confused by this Environment, or I find myself being flanked, or I don't understand all the slinking strategies like a good player or Predator does, but I want to!

This is a good start, firstly understand your surrondings. There's a torch next to me, I'm more visible. Theres a corner, and I hear walking behind it. I'm about to be in combat... What's behind me? Check real quick, or acknowledge by sound. Got it, nothing, just this one enemy.
These are mental things you should be taking note of, environmental fatures, such as that boulder trap nearby, or that troll roar you just heard near by.

Take note of this all, and take notice of where enemies begin to walk towards. That skeleton is walking your direction. Slink past it, if it aggros, RUN, and hold space after running off a distance. Okay, I'm not running into any enemies, right? No, no I'm not. I won't be attacked if I immediately go into that door, right? Let me listen, and wait a bit. Okay, no.

That's a long, dark hallway.... Perhaps I should throw a gem down it first. Or quickly flash a lightspell or lantern down it. Never know when a boulder is there.

These are some baisc things to take note of. Just take notice of everything around you, and be aware of how you can navigate it, or slink past enemies. Work out a good strategy to flank, slink, and avoid being flanked yourself. These are basic things to take note of, what traps exist though?

Okay, so I don't understand traps yet, what should I look out for?

Boulder traps, they roll in 1 of 4 cardinal directions. If you throw an item in one of those 4 directions, or directly under it, it will likely fall, and go that way. If you're in a diagonal direction ofa boulder trap, you aren't in danger of it. They are notable by a hole in the roof, usually concealed in long hallways, or just in the corner of your eyes... Be aware of them, if it begins to roll, and you can't get out of a cardinal direction, just book it the other direction,until you can. Or try to break the boulder if you're walled off with a spell of digging, or a pickaxe even.
Boulders are NOT instant kills, contrary to what you'd think early game, they just deal a granted 70 damage upon hit, and will break if they deal that 70 damage.

Dart traps, Dart traps first appear in the Swamp, just toss something you don't need, or you want, but not highly infront of them, then pick it back up, Simple. But you can't always do that. Try throwing a gem infront of it. But wait, I got hit!
You should take 16 damage, or around there, I know 20 AC lets you be immune to them, but they also poison you, so an amulet of Poison resist is handy here. They only shoot in one direction, and sometimes can be triggered by other traps across the map, literally. They're that delicate.
Don't try to swim under them, that doesn't work.
You can usually stop short of entering the tile infront of it, and it may just fire off, and not hit you. Hah, pathetic trap designer! Though, sometimes they can be in unobvious places, just to hit you. Curse you, Kobolds!

Spike traps, they appear from the Labyrinth onwards, and are a pain. Tossing items onto them usually deactives them as long as the item is kept on it, but they do around 95 damage, and don't be mistaken that your dear levitation will save you some damage. It won't, and they'll spike up and hurt you. Just toss items onto them you don't need, you'll be just fine that way. Though, they do appear in one structure in the Mines, just don't tread over them, but if you must, throw an item on them.

Spelltraps, they appear in The Ruins and onwards, shooting spells of varying danger in a straight line. Magic reflection, digging, or patience and waiting it out works wonders. But incase you do get hit, be ready to accept the consequences, and be aware of them being in a corner hitting you unexpectedly.

Spell towers, spell towers are verticle, fun fact. Step into them, they zap you with a spell. Tossing an item into them works, but they will continously set off, like a spelltrap, makes them easier to calculate. You can step into them, back out, and run back through. I won't spoil where these appear. That's yours to find out.

Lava, yes contrary to what you may think, these can be traps too. Step into this molten rock? You take lots of damage, and catch fire, the fire isn't your concern, usually, but it is for your cloak, if that's important to you. Just be aware of your cloak, namely. Or your health. Legend in swimming, Waterwallking, or Levitation advised.

Special, or generated structures are notable for reoccuring in every run, and always being similar, or the same. The reason you want to note them is special strategies can be used in them, or you can get loot out of them. Whichever it is - You usually want to take note of them, when you can, since it's ideal for exploring, while there isn't much to say for the mines, except for 4 notable structures, which I will leave you to find, but one involves 4 gates, and 4 sinks, the other involves 5 spiders, and spikes, the other involves a one-way trap, 2 spiders, and a troll, and the other will be described later.
I won't spoil too much about any of them.

Keep in mind the special exit doors, they're obvious due to portals, or due to hatches at the center of them.


Shops are an exception, always check them, be it for pillaging, or shopping.

In the Swamp, notable structures include what looks like a shop, but has goblins, what looks like sewers, but has a well placed door, with someone behind it, A chest behind 2 gates, with 1 lever, and so on.

This applies to every area, it's as simple as making a little easy to remember number count of what it involves, or remembering their names.

Such as Pillaged Shops, Spell Towers, Kobold-Rigged Chests, Spike-mazes, and similar. I know these aren't official names, but they're names you can give to stuff you need to memorize.

There's always a good list of "Do this" and, "Don't do this." in any situation, in most environments there's different rules that apply
But in general: Try to full-clear levels, kill every enemy, loot every corner. Get as many pieces of Experience and loot as you can, and sort it between "Junk" "Keep" and "Gift", although this doesn't mean to ninja loot an entire level, leaving your allies with quite literally nothing to appraise,as mentioned later in the guide, that is how you end up with an angry teammate.

Also try to keep an idea of your surrondings, and current stats if you're about to do something, such as use a fountain, or attack a troll, or some other powerful enemy.
Keep updated on what's around you too, the field of battle always changes.

Also try to kill special enemies, and inform your team of them. It helps you coordinate better. But if you know your teammate has been fighting that special enemy, let's say Funny Bones, and finally got it down, and you ran up just to see them kill it, don't take Parashu, it's not yours, and it won't be yours with that type of behavior, in any future runs with that person. Wait until your teammate says something on the rare item that just dropped. If they walk away silently, they probably don't want it, but don't want to tell you that, or probably forgot to, wait for their response, and let them know of any rare item that drops, too. If your friend is a Rogue as a starting class, and Khryselakatos does the ever legendary and mythically rare "I'm in a chest now.", you should give them Khryselakatos, not keep it for yourself, but if they don't accept it, then don't try to force them. Just use it yourself. Remember who needs the item more.

That's veering into item tips, however. But remember that just because you see something, doesn't mean you should try to actively go for it. This includes with enemies, I've seen teammates just arrive into Crystal Caves, and immediately charge a Cockatrice, Berserker style, believing they're unkillable, because the previous area did nothing to them. They then abruptly died, and I didn't intervene because I can't safely do so, or they are really low on HP in a late game area, which is never ideal.

Also, keep an eye out for secrets. There's three particular ones, one in the mines, involving two spiders and a troll in seperate cages.
One in the underworld, involving a massive pillar surronded by pillars.
And, one in Herx's lair, Involving 4 spell taps, 8 levers, and a pillar.

Right, so you just hopped in, just got into the dungeon, and immediately... Picked up an item... Wait, it's... Appraising? What does that mean!? Why is it slow sometimes, and other times, it's extremely quickly? Why are some items literally unappraisable? That's not a well made feature if it can't even cover every item!


Usually, appraising is infact a downfall for newer players, but is a great utility for those who learn how to master it. While it certainly can slow down your runs, and you shouldn't equipped unappraised gear in any circumstance, no matter what, there is some goto information to be had, which will be listed here.

Influences
- Your PER skill (Hour-glass icon on level up)
- Your Appraising proeffiency.
- Scrolls of Identify/Spell of Identify

Each of these has an influence.
As Arcanist, the class you have -1 PER at start, meaning you'd need to get 1 level up including the Appraise skill, or you'll need to find glasses, most likely given to you by a kind Merchant teammate, who starts with them, to even begin on appraising.

While other classes, like Merchant and Rogue, who have good starting appraise skills, and can appraise gear such as helmets, breastpieces, armour, and weapons right from the get-go. Other classes without this boost will need to start with Cheese, Meat, Fish, Books, and Torches, usually (... Wall picked torches are automatically appraised, same for ones from campfires, don't even try to cheese the game that way)

In any case, after you have "Basic" you should be on you way to appraising anything you really need to in your normal run, with time. Start by next appraising weapons, basic armour, so on... Eventually you'll get it to a point where you can appraise even those unappraisable gems, and spellbooks, though there is a usual chart to what can and and can't be appraised, and how hard something is to appraise.

• Rocks, Food, Light sources, Journals/Storybooks, Scrolls - Quickest to appraise, easiest to appraise
  
• Weapons, Leather and Iron, some Staffs, some rings and amulets, low end spellbooks
  
• Rarer Weapons, Rarer Gear, Rarer Staffs, Rarer Rings and Amulets, some spellbooks, Glass, some low end gems.
  
• Most spellbooks, some Gems, all equippables.
  
• Rarer Gems, All spellbooks, everything else.
  
• Everything, immediately. (Legend)

Now, shall we get onto loot? Well, since Gems are select scale of the chart, we'll include them here in this section

You can usually tell the difference between Glass and Gems by their weight and value before appraising them, One weighting 3, and being a value of 0 is usually glass, but one worth 2, and a value of 1 is a gem. Though this is an unintended effect, and thus a bug, which will likely be patched out at some point.

Low-tier gems (Opal, Obsidian, ect.) are usually fairly to appraise, and sell for usually less than 1K gold, still, worth selling if you have em on hand, but not worth keeping unless you're short of gold, or still before Labyrinth.

Average tier gems, worth holding onto for that extra gold and score, but usually not needed in case of very valuable gear being found. Sell them quickly, so you don't ditch them for better gear.

High-tier gems (Diamonds, Emeralds, Rubies, Ambers, ect) ALWAYS keep these unless there's a piece of gear that absolutely over-rides it, even then, you could drop maybe 1 piece of bread for that great piece of gear. These sell for a ton, and if you're going for high scores, will add massive score bonuses to the run.

Right, so you finally hauled an inventory of gear to the next level, stepped out, and saw a shop, well of course you naturally visit it, and see what the shop sells...
Wait, I can't sell my swords? Of course you can't! This is a potion trader, he only takes potions and bottles.

Well, no problem, you can sell your cursed potions, useless potions and similar, not bad...
Though, how do I get this skill up? It seems slow to level, and sometimes I never see shops... Maybe I shouldve gone Merch-...
Down to playstyle, I would say, but take those rocks, those torches you find on walls, and all that cheese, all this other trash, such as water bottles. Well, those are a few shops you can sell to now... namely, food markets, potion masters, and utility and knicknack shops. Okay, good. So let's sell these torches, and bottles, also all this cheese, keep buying em back... and selling em... Until we get to "Skilled" then we should look at something such as cheap, yet easy to sell back items, such as lesser potions or the simialr, rinse and repeat till at Legendary... and Huh... Now what? Do I just buy and sell things I need/don't want to all future shops?
Nope! You can now sell anything and everything to any shopkeeper Make use of it for high-scores!

First off, let's cover your class
Rogue, and Merchant are great appraisers from the get-go, you can expect to do just fine as them
But classes like Arcanist lack appraising at the start, and needed Glasses or 1 PER from skills. PER is gotten from Ranged(?) and Appraising skills, in an "increase", but of course it can be randomly given.

But this was explained earlier in the previous sub-section.

So what gear do I look out for, what to take note of? Well, firstly, it all depends on your build in combat, or what you plan to do, but always balance Weight, and inventory slots to be low.


You don't need a backup steel breastpiece in singleplayer, or if no teammate wants it, don't carry it. That's 300 weight, and an even more valuable inventory slot being taken by an item that will likely be thrown away for something such a the Amulet of Life Saving, or a Ring.
And, please don't nick gear from players who actually want to appraise. Picking levels clean and not giving any XP to your teammates is one of the worst things you can do, especially earlier on, since that's when most players need appraise, It's not bad to pick up harder to appraise items, such as Gems or Spellbooks, but please save the basic books, the basic equipment for your team. It's rude to take it, and literally leave your teammate with nothing to appraise, and having them hope you drop whatever important gear you picked up. If you do this, like I sometimes do If I know my ally doesn't care regardless, I always priortize gear for them, since they wouldn't otherwise get any form of say in the matter. It's fine if you're in singleplayer, or if your ally doesn't care about the extra XP, or doesn't want to appraise stuff (usually people like the extra XP), but if you ARE doing this, please consider their gear over yours, unless it's something you know you'll need far more than them... Described more in the next section.


The Berseker (discussed later in guide) doesn't need invisbility, but the Predator will.
So if your friend is the Berserker, feel free to equip that ring of invisbility you got from a faucet. But if you're the berserker, or someone who doesn't stealth around, and you know your friend is, don't be the person to rudely hold onto it, and use it, that's how you get a teammate who will hide your gear from you, or will be envious, and thus gets more irritable, or otherwise outright screams at you.

Remember, when a teammate is envious, or can't do something they need to, they usually tend to get irritable, or somewhat snubby towards you in that particular game, even if they're a really kind person, they usually will resort to this, and may hide gear from you, knowing you likely will knick it. Which screws both you and them over later, since you can't get your essential gear, and they couldn't get theirs earlier. So be a kind team-leader or team-appraiser, and give all the love and hearts to your teammates in terms of gear. Afterall, you can sacrifice a steel breastpiece, given you likely would yourself as someone who appraises, prefer speed. And afterall, if your teammate has that steel breastpiece, that's less weight for you, and another slot that you've got. You move faster, can carry an extra item. Huh... Interesting how it in a way, bites the hoarder for what they do. So for the sake of your teammates, unless there's a valuable shop on the current floor, don't hoard gear, your team will thank you, and will be noticably more helping, and patient, speaking of shops...


Okay, so you know there's a shop on the current floor? What's that mean? Shouldn't I kill him?
Firstly no, you should avoid angering shopkeepers in multiplayer. But if it's your way of playing, I can't stop you. But having that extra XP from Legend in trading is always lovely. Especially since it lets you min-max in The Hub, Hamlet. But let's assume, you catch on here, and are willing to try what I have to say, good, good, or maybe you already are doing it, and know what I'm about to say.
Well, anyways, trade as much as you can with the Shopkeeper, the cheapest items, getting as much gold as you can, going out to pick the level clean if your allies are fine with it, to sell more stuff to the shopkeeper -- Remember, a jewerly shopkeeper isn't a profit unless you can appraise glass, also remember, that you're in limited gold, so you can't just by his most expensive items, and keep buying/selling them back. That's a horrid idea. Instead, if it's say... A Hardware shopkeeper. Pick campfires clean, and steal torches from walls, and sell them to him, and keep buying and re-selling those torches till you're at Legend (If this is fixed in the future; and makes it max out at skill for torches, resort to glasses and tin openers.) ... This'll get you lots of gold, and alot of XP! And future use in shops, especially in that previously mentioned Hub. Now if you're in multiplayer, you should care about your teammates, obviously. So buy some of those torches or cheap items back, drop tons of gold (/dropgold or right click your gold stat in your inventory), not all of your gold, but atleast 60% of it. A sizable chunk, now let your teammate do what you just did. If they runo ut of gold, spare them an extra 200 or so, usually once one player is a legend in trading, Gold is infinite, due to all trash gear being sellable, which lets you thus sell more useless gear any player is holding, to get more gold for farming players. That's good. Now your teammate should have Legend too, and rinse and repeat for every player.
The only dangers are Minotaurs, and hunger, NEVER do this on a minotaur level unless the minotaur is already dead. And NEVER EVER do it on a level past the hub when a minotaur exists, you'll die horribly unless you're really well stocked. Which most shopkeepers don't stock you all that well in general for a Minotaur. And if hunger is enabled, you may starve if you're on your last bits of food. So just know your limits.


Okay... So, let's assume you know your tactic, what gear do you not need, In singleplayer, this is what we call "Junk gear" Junk gear is stuff like cursed equipment, stuff that doesn't benefit any team member, is outdated, or outright useless. It's the first in line gear to be sold to a shop, or the first in line to be ditched for something better, usually dropped immediately unless there's a shop, to improve speed. Junk gear is anything that you don't, won't, have a need for, or don't want, same for any team member, it's stuff you shouldn't cry over tossing, or carry to the next level. You drop it on that exact level, and leave it there. There's nothing compelling you to keep Junk gear, don't carry it to the next floor unless it's very valuable. Gems are in a gray area of this, unless they're high-tier gems.

However, gear that's officially useful, such as a +2 ring of strength to the Berserker is falls into "Gift" gear, if you're in multiplayer. You'll give it to the berserker. They'll thank you for that. But in singleplayer, or when no player needs it, it can be considered Keep for shop, or if you've got enough gold as it stands, it's Junk Gear, so any gear a teammate says they want, you know they'll want, or they'll likely enjoy having is Gift gear, Don't ditch it, don't sell it, and don't hoard it. Give it to them, of course this micro-section is moot in singleplayer games.

Lastly, keeping. Keeping gear is what gear you want, be it to sell in the future, or because it's incredibly useful, like a Ring of Regeneration or Levitation. Don't toss this, and ensure to tell teammates about, and see their opinion on it. Hold onto it, even if it's cursed, you may need it, besides you can uncurse it later.

So you know the basics on gear now, you know what to keep, what to gift, what to toss, and when to sell stuff, That's all well and good, but what about a bit more indepth? Well, let's go into that.

See those gems, rocks, and even those cursed rocks/gems/throwing weapons? Those are handy boulder traps, or very handy for killing a Minotaur with minium gear!
A gem can be thrown into a spike trap, or into a boulder trap to set it off, thus rendering it a null theat. Just don't pick the gem up if it's in a spike trap. Consider that gem non-existant now, otherwise you may just get spiked, now you ask "Why gems?" Well, firstly, I'm referring to glass in particular, don't go throwing unappraised, 1 value, 2 weight gems into traps, instead throw 0 value, 3 weight, or glass into gems. These are trap triggers, and are handy for that, don't worry about carrying to the next floor.. Okay, maybe ONE gem early on, before the swamp. That's fine. They're useful though.

Slowing items and ice items are handy for Minotaurs, and other massively threatening enemies, it helps you put a stop in their tracks, and save yourself from immediate death from such threats, just be sure you don't miss, and if it's cursed, be ready to burn it if it's decrepit.

I would wager always keeping cursed throwing weapons, and pickaxes that aren't cursed are always good, keep them.

Also, Pickaxes and Staffs of Digging can get rid of spelltraps, or boulders that roll towards you. Or can make new gateways to quickly avoid enemies.

What about Rings and Amulets, perhaps? Those are complex, plus doesn't a cursed ring have a different effect?
While yes, this is true, I don't think I described that in detail yet.

Increases stat for every blessing level/lowers stat for every cursing level
Generic Rings
Ring of Strength - STR increase
Ring of Consitution - CONS increase
Ring of Adornment - CHR increase
Ring of Protection - AC increase


The rings below add unique effects
Special effect Rings
Warning - Enemy Foresight: Enemies, and friendly NPCs will appear on the minimap as purple dots.
Blessings: Increases AC
Curses: lower AC

Slow Digestion - Slow Starvation: You take far longer to starve.
Blessings: First blessing adds 1 AC, and makes you take even longer to starve, further blessings improves AC.
Curses: Makes you starve faster for the first two cursings, lowers AC for every curse level.

Regeneration - Regeneration: You heal much faster
Blessings: Improved Regeneration, and +1 A.C for every blessing level
Curses: Disables your Regeneration, and lowers A.C

Magic Resistance - Magi-Res.: Less damage from spells
Blessings: Increase A.C, **May Increase Magic resistance
Curses: Lower A.C, increase damage from spells

Invisbility - Invisbility: You're invisible.
Blessings: Increase A.C
Curses: Lower A.C

Levitation - Flight: You walk over water, and Chasms.
Blessings: Increase A.C
Curses: Lower A.C

Teleportation - Random Teleportation: You teleport at random, to a random valid location on the map.
Blessings: Increase A.C
Curses: Lower A.C



Amulet of Strangulation: Regardless of blessing or curse in inventory, will become -1 upon equipping, drains the player of 2 health every second until death, or the amulet's breaking. Not useful in any way, a detterant from equipping unappraised amulets.

Amulet of Olympic Swimming: Vastly increases movement speed in Liquids.
Blessings: Increase A.C
Curses: Lower A.C, **Doesn't increase water speed?

Amulet of Poison Resistance: Makes you immune to Poison
Blessings: Increase A.C
Curses: Lower A.C, **No Poison Resistance?

Amulet of Magic Reflection: Spells bounce off of you.
Blessings: Increase A.C
Curses: Lower A.C

Amulet of Life Saving: Amulet revives you if you die. (lose all health)
Blessings: Increase A.C
Curses: Lower A.C, and make the amulet fail to revive you.

So, you're keen in looting now, and have an idea of what to do. But what about Legendary loot? Where and what do I do with that?

For those of you newer to the game; You may only see these through Achievements, but for more adept players, you've probably seen all, or maybe all but one piece.


Firstly, we'll talk about "Special" armor, instead of the legendary equipment, so you don't mistake that for legendary equipment.


All of the following will improve a stat, and will add extra to that stat AND AC per each blessing level, but will remove ONE from that stat for every curse

Increases INT
Wizard Hat

Increases CHR
Jester Hat

Increases PER
Glasses

Increases DEX
Gloves of Dexterity
Boots of Speed

Increases CON/Water-Walking
Iron Bracers of Constituion
Iron Boots of Water-walking

Increases STR/MAGI-RES./FASTER/LEVITATION
Steel Gauntlets of Strength
Steel Shield of Magic Resistance
Steel Boots of Feather (-40 Weight)
Steel Boots of Levitation



Just like the above, if it adds to a stat, it will improve that stat for every blessing level + AC.
Personally I call the set "Dragon's armor" for the sole simplicty of referring to it easier.

Dragon's Armor:

Sphinx's Veil: +6 AC, +8 INT, Unbreakable -

Dragon's Mail: +6 AC, Regeneration, Unbreakable

Wraith's Gown: +0 AC, Magic Regeneration, Levitation, Unbreakable

Djinni's Brace: +6 AC, Magic Resistance, Unbreakable

Oracle's Treads: +6 AC, Enemy Forsight, Unbreakable

Other Legendary Items:

Blindfold of Focus: Removes Sleep and Paralysis, and makes you immune to them.

Blindfold of Telepathy: Removes the ability to see walls, but makes every enemy faintly visible through walls. Very interesting for challenges

Vampire Doublet: Removes your health Regen, but gives Magic Regeneration, +1 AC.

Mirror Shield: Reflects spells, +0 AC.

Legendary Weapons & Spells
Parashu: 13 damage, +1 Piercing/NATURAL damage, Improved Critical Hits, Unbreakable.

Dyrwyn: 12 damage, AoE Attack + Fire, Unbreakable.

Gungnir: 12 damage,Always does highest damage (0% DMG Variance), Unbreakable.

Sharur: 12 damage, annoyingly talks to you, damages equipment more?, Unbreakable.

Khryselakatos: 17 damage, Poision arrows, Unbreakable.

Dominate: Brings enemies into your control, for the cost of their entire health affecting your mana, and 21 initial mana for cast. Will kill you if enemy has more HP than your remaining Health & Mana

**Steal Weapon: Steals the enemy's weapon, achieved through reflecting a Steal weapon spell back into it's caster, but may be fixed.

Infinite Forcebolt: A forcebolt that doesn't drain Mana to use.

So, you may wonder... What weapon to use? Do I want this axe, or maybe this spear, but wait... Is Bronze better than Iron!? Or... Maybe, what should help me the most?
Usually the weapon chart is pretty simple, and easy to understand, as well be shown with this picture.

Don't worry about the Cursed/Blessed tiers here, they were to help take the screenshot; Red is the worst in this situation, and green is the best.
Now, this chart isn't the only element to weapons, and how to use them, infact I would still wager that Throwing weapons are one of the best ranged weapons in the game, for the sole fact they can take out Minotaurs on floor 2! Even gems can! But to your usual skilled player, this is a good chart to go off of, of course a +2 Bronze Axe is still better than an Uncursed Iron Axe, unless it's durability falls low enough.

So let's get into some more gritty details and tactics.

Almost every lowest tier item at it's highest [Bronze/Quarter Staff] deals;
5 damage at Excellent | 4 damage at Servicable | 3 damage at Worn, and lastly | 2 damage at Decrepit, however Blesed tiers can make this damage higher, with +2 making Excellent be a +7.
However, Axes have a natural +1 damage modifer, which means that instead of 5 damage, you
will deal 6 damage at Excellent, and 3 damage at Decrepit.
Simply repeat this proccess for every weapon in the game, for every durability lower it is... Take away one damage, but for every blessed level it has, add one damage, and for every cursed level, take away one damage.


All axes have a +1 damage modifer, and it pierces armour.
This sort of is a unique feature to them, whether other weapons truly have specials or not, they probably do, but this is a key special of Axes.

"I equipped a +2 Worn steel Axe, and I originally had a Servicable Iron Spear, but my damage was lower, what gives? Shouldn't it outright be better?"

Remember, that your Weapon skills influence stats alot, controlling your variable damage. (20 - 32 damage, or at Legend, always having the highest, 32 damage.)
While skills alone, and weapons alone usually do not strictly control what weapon type you use, it usually will, but Legendary weapons will usually outdo any other weapon, unless you've happen to got the ever-uncommon Legend in a weapon skill, and happen to have a +2 copy of said weapon.

Your STR skill is a natural increase to all melee weapon damage, so expect that to contribute too, but it applies to every weapon, no singular weapon is excluded from this in melee.

Tiers are as follows
Wood/Bronze -> Iron -> Steel -> Crystal -> Legendary
Wood/Bronze being the worst, and Legendary being the best, as seen in the screenshot.


Legendary weapons
There are a few Legendary weapons in the game, which as follows are;
Gungnir - Polearm (Special: Pins armour, possibly ignoring some AC?)
Sharur - Mace (Special: Talks to you, (?) Does extra damage to equipment (?))
Parashu - Axe (Special: ???, Has 1 extra damage from Axe natural.)
Dyrwyn - Sword (Special: Ignites enemies semi-AOE.)
Khryselakatos - Bow (Special: Poisoned Arrows, ranged like other bows.)


Offensive Spells
There are some spells intended for Combat, such as Fireball, Ice, Magic Missle, Forcebolt, Bloodletting, Stoneblood, and similar, so those will be discussed now

Attack-spells
Spell of Lightning - Sheer damage alone, being the strongest hitting spell.
Spell of Magic Missle - An all-rounder Spell, being the centeral spell of attacking.
Spell of Fire - Ignites enemies, and has great damage, a counterpart to the Magic Missle.
Spell of Bloodletting - Massively slows enemies down, makes them bleed, and deals decent, but not great damage, a merge of the Fire and Ice spell.
Spell of Ice - Slows enemies down greatly, has decent damage, a counterpart to Forcebolt
Spell of Forcebolt - A low-tier, easy to cast spell, that becomes free to cast at Legend in Casting. Very low damage, but reasonably spammable.

Utili-Attack spells
Spell of Spray Acid - Poisons the enemy, deals okay damage, and massively damages armour and equipment, While this spell is offensive in it's damage aspect it falls more into a middleground of offensive utility, and attack. -- It's a trio-bolt spell, so it fires three projectiles upon use.


Utility Offensive Spells.
Spell of Slow - Slows an enemy down majorily.
Spell of Sleep - Puts an enemy to sleep for a bit.
Spell of Stoneblood - Completely paralyizes an enemy, basically upgraded sleep, but doesn't last
as long, useful when combined with Melee, or as a last-resort effort to save an ally or enemy if a
healing spell can't be popped.

ALWAYS KNOW YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Too many times, have I seen enemies sneak up on my ally from afar, and watched as they get ganged up on, and slain by an unfortunate turn of events, or sometimes myself, having the same happen, or even sometimes the surprise boulder smashing into me, killing me instantly, or taking away a large chunk of my health, meaning I ave to retreat.
And, even once having my levitation from a potion end as I was over a ledge back-pedaling from a stronger enemy... Yeah. Fun times. Know your surrondings, and be aware of what could be a danger to you at any second. The unexpected is always a killer.



Brute combat is one of the few methods of fighting, in which you don't run from the enemy, unless you are going to die. Using a mix of Shields and melee, you will fight, and keep fighting, dishing out as much damage as possible, while trading hits into your shield, always be aware of your surrondings in this tactic. Is there something more sinister or powerful lurking around? Perhaps you should deal with it first... And keep an eye on your back. It's easily possible a powerful enemy could sneak up on you, and strike you down in your fight. How rude of them!

But wait, my foe was too strong... I over-estimated my own strength. Fear not, I shall take my leave, and prepare again, strike again! I will take my win with this foe.
Don't be afraid to run away, afterall, a dead warrior is not a successful warrior. Eventually you'll adopt the tactics for running away at the right moments, to win any fight. Remember to move around the nearby environment as you need. Perhaps you can lead this enemy into a boulder... Or perhaps down a long hallway, as you remain just out of it's grasps, as you pound it.

My friend is under attack, I shall run in, and strike it. Taking the aggro off of my friend, and taking the fight to me. Better the numbers, and even the odds. But if I begin to succumb, I can signal a run for both of us.


Okay, so perhaps your forte isn't running in, and bashing the enemy's head in with your weapon... But you like to think a bit more ontop of this too?
Okay, wait for the enemy to turn its back... Strike it, from here you've got the edge over it, in most situations, now bash away at it. If it's too powerful, don't fear to run away, and do another surprise a bit later. Afterall, it's a mix of brawn and brains here in this tactic.

I don't use this tactic enough to add anything else to it, look at Berserker, and The Predator for advanced tips, I would suppose.



Perhaps you're like me, Perhaps you're not the type to run head-first into an enemy, and try to damage-soak, while dishing out more damage, perhaps you're calculative, and careful, patiently waiting to strike your enemy...
While there's multiple ways to use backstabs, the best way is patience, and lurking. Wait for the enemy to turn their back, charge your attack, and rapidly lunge for them, all in a few seconds. Backstabbed. Enemy has taken tons of damage.

You'll run back after getting your successful back stab, sneak once in the dark, and get out sight, and be prepared for any other enemy to show up in the mean time. You always check your surrondings, and look for the best target to pick on. You're a patient snake, waiting for it's prey to be unaware, and then striking.

However, what if the prey is already alerted... What if it's attacking your friend, but it's back is turned to you... Go for it! Lunge the enemy, and help your friend. You will still flank it's defenses, and maybe you'll take it's aggro off your friend, and then you can slink back, while your friend gives the final blows to it. Teamwork!

In any case, this strategy is my personal strategy, and it's relying on patience, and knowledge of your surrondings, combined with timing and sudden, yet deadly strikes. Patiently wait, your prey will eventually turn it's back... But what if instead of it turning it's back, it goes to walk off? Now, now, don't get too ahead of yourself, or cocky. If it's walking past a corner, you may just be walking right into three other enemies, be aware of what's around that corner, but if you feel like it will go well... Give that lunge strike, and dash back, sneaking towards the end, so it doesn't see you.

Now, the lack of gear isn't required, but the speed boost always is helpful as opposed to the extra
AC in this tactic, afterall, AC isn't as needed for what enemies cannot hit.

Now this one is a mix of using spells mid combat to assist your advantage, the enemy is fast? Slow it down with a cold spell, then strike away at it. You'll wittle it down pretty quickly, and it's at the disadvantage.. Is it extremely tough? Try putting it to sleep, or paralyizing it, or perhaps light it on fire with a fire spell? In any case, mix this with melee, and you'll destory it soon enough... Just be prepared if something goes sour.

In a pinch, you have the magic to take down enemies, recover the team's health, and overall are a great team-asset, who can save the entire team some trouble, Slowing enemies, stunning them, resting enemies, or applying debuffs to enemies.

Your tactic in this one is being a massive heavyweight in combat, from debuffing, to healing, to in general support, you're one of the teams strongest team-orientated roles, now this role shouldn't be confused for Magician, as in this, you are using a mix of melee and spells, but you're very reliant on tactically used spells, over primarily using spells.

Keep in mind, you're not strictly spell-related, or melee-based, you're an inbetween. So give the better melee weapons to the Berserker, and don't cast lightning, magic missle, or fire/light near your Predator or Surpriser, that's how you get an angry teammate.

Also avoid casting fireballs next to the berserker, as you can sometimes light them ablaze, which will not make them happy, obviously. Balance in everything. You're after all, a melee/magic combo. Help the team as you need. See a teammate in danger? Put the enemy to sleep, but if it cannot be put to sleep, slow it down! After all, a dead teammate isn't going to help you plan, now is it?

So, you're not about entirely lurking levels, as perhaps it isn't what's fun to you, you don't like melee in general, or just can't use melee to what you feel is the fullest extent? That's alright, there are many more strategies out there to sate your musts, such as Magician.

Magician, as we mentioned earleir is a playstyle based strictly around the idea of using spells as much as you can, while keeping melee as a reserve for weaker enemies, or where you don't need to waste spells. As a Magician, you are usually going to be watching your flanks, but also watching your allies flank, You are the one play style capable of immediately putting a stop to enemies who dare threaten an allies wellbeing. As a Magician, you use your spells as much as you can over melee, so getting Legend in Casting is quite useful to lower mana costs, and if you're one of the type who likes a spammable weak projectile, then forcebolt in infinite will help you alot. Don't completely abolish the concept of armour, but you can likely drop a breastpiece, perhaps some boots, unless there's a really compelling piece of armour to be wearing, like a Vampire Doublet, or Dragon's Mail.

You should be the one to fearlessly step forward, when the team would not. See that Minotaur? You can fight it. Gain it's aggro, and keep some distance, but shoot high damage spells at it, chain it with ice perhaps. But how do you chain? What is chaining?
Well, Ice-Chaining is using the Cold-spell every 2 short-cast spells, or every 1 long-cast spell, to keep an enemy slowed down to the point it is practically harmless to any thinking or calculating teammate, or you. Just be sure not to miss.
A good in-head phrase is "Freeze, Fire, Fire, Freeze, Fire, Fire, And repeat!"
Freeze meaning to use an ice spell, and "Fire" implying to use a high damage spell, like Fireball, or Lightning.

Remember if it gets too close, your ice still won't save you, so keep your distance, you're not immortal just because you have spells, which is acommon mistake I see made, is people get up and close with spells, believing their high damage will wreck the enemy before it wrecks them, and well... It usually results in massive damage, or death.

You're not a berserker after all, nor a Predator, so don't act like them, Leave the Berserker and Predator, or the Surpriser to take the enemies at their face levels, you should retain distance on anything stronger than an average enemy.


And, NEVER. EVER. EVER. lead enemies into teammates, because you had to run, unless you REALLY had to. Yes, you're frail, no that does not excuse possibly harming a teammate, or killing a teammate due to being a frail class, DO NOT do this. Slow it with an ice spell or a spell of slow, or put it to sleep or stun it with a spell of stoneblood.

Don't lead it into your ally, who will consectutively die because the magician was low on health, and didn't burn 4 mana to use a slow spell. Don't be this magician, and you should be a looked up to, and well respected magician.

See a teammate low on health? Heal em! Afterall, they'll thank you for the extra health, or that cure ailment that saved their precious cloak from burning up, or that got rid of their slowness. A great magician is a godsend, and everyone will thank the magician that knows their tactic, and gameplan. But a magician who doesn't know what to do, tends to be harmful, rather than helpful. Takes a bit of practice, and if you're a newer player, it's completely forgivable to mess up at this. But more adept players don't really have the same aspect of being forgiven.

It's usually a good idea to keep the Party stats locked to your hud, so you can keep an idea of your Team's total health, that way you know if you need to pop that healing spell, or not.

What seperates a good magician from a bad one is their use of the spells they have at hand, a good magician would pop a healing spell right before the ally would go into critical health, then shoot a slow spell at the enemy in question. Saving their ally from death, with a two-step combo. Or they would slow down the Minotaur when it's gaining on an ally, or an ally needs to run from it faster. Or they would put that imp to sleep that's trying to torch your ally alive, and they will usually hit their spells, but sometimes may miss.

A bad magician would do none of this, and is usually self-centered about spell usage, and with that, they usually don't use healing spells on allies, but rather when they themselves lose health. And, usually only pop some slow spells on enemies who they feel are a danger to themselves, rather than dangers to the entire team.

Always keep a mind of how to use your spells, and what spells are used when. A well timed spell will do you wonders, after all, that dig spell on a wall you know is 1-wall thick giving your entire team a path away from that Cockatrice and Minotaur will get you thanked heavily, for your smart thinking. Don't think just about what you know's on field, think about how you can use the surrondings to your advantage.

A boulder! Prepare that digging spell and shoot it! You just saved the team alot of harm, and yourself. Good work!

A good use of spells will go a long way. Anywho, I've spoken on this aspect far long enough, and I'm sure you get the idea.

The Sorcerer is sort of like a side-class to the Magician, with the Sorcerer playstyle, you are focused more on debuffing enemies beyond repair, and dealing tons of physical damage to enemies, leaving them nearly dead for a single hit to kill them from forcebolt. You min-max your damage, and total output of sheer damage to enemies, while still holding some core values of Magician to heart, but it's on your downlow to actively save team members, but rather to execute, or help kill walking threats... Or winged threats, in any situation. You are basically a 30MM FLAK cannon, you're powerful and strong, but usually a standing target, who's lining up their full potential, as opposed to the rabid, moving nature to avoid being hit of a Magician, so armour is somewhat advised. As a sorcerer, you're inbetween a Tank, and a Magician, you're strong, can take a good few hits, but also can severely ruin the day of enemies, you're all about getting rid of problems as they show up, or before they show up, and making current problems disappear quickly, or be practically laughable as problems. A good use of slow spells/ice spells + massive damage spells will prove great here!

You're a master of combat, and will shred most enemies, but stay out of the enemies face, as spells do not beat the claws of a cockatrice, or the heated breath or claws of a demon, just stay afar, and line up your spells.

Oh how wrong was I? I vastly ended up eating my own words in this section previously, stating it was "not that viable in the long run", and what did I have happen next? I ate my own words, by myself in game! That's 1 error (of many) in this guide that I made. And I will be fully honest that I was completely wrong to judge it how I did.



Ranger is one of the less-played plystyles, rather due to the fact most people don't see a use in it/don't want to play it/find it unfun, or don't find it practical enough for their playstyle. - What most don't get is how Ranger can really be one of the most powerful classes in the game, given proper usage and tactic is put into play.

Ranger is even by some more keen or expert players usually neglected, usually becuase ranged weapons can break quickly - And, they usually will, but in the proper hands, a ranger can be the difference between you dying to an enemy, and having it just dying right infront of you.

As a Ranger, you are focused more on range-based combat - Throwing weapons are one of your biggest outright damage dealers, and if you have enough of them, it can make you the class with the the highest DPS in the game - And at ranged, at that! Throwing weapons should be treated with respect, they are powerful, they deal high damage, and in mass, they can turn into something that will absolutely shred any enemy who is unfortunate enough to step in it's path.

But that doesn't mean your Bows, Slingshots, and Crossbows, and Khryselakatos are useless too, those are quite good for when you don't need to shred an enemy - For generalized uses, perhaps you can throw your throwing weapons into an enemy first - If it's still alive? Shoot it dead. It's a good tactical combo. - That means your bow and crossbow last much longer, and still see use instead of becoming a dust collector.

Your Bows, Crossbows, and Slingshots should be treated as temporary, but very useful tools, that can be used through gates - Yes, those iron metal gates, you can shoot through them, you're the only class that can hit through those things, meaning you can shoot enemies down, or get kills with free experience! It takes some good positioning, and one teammate pushing you barely, or standing in the way will ruin it, but it's still a fact of the situation, and you can almost always pull it off.

Out of the three, Slingshots are by far the most throw-away, if you're going to use any weapon to do the gate strategy, since that strategy usually chews through durability, you should use Slingshots on it. Though - If that slingshot is your last ranged weapon, it may be best to keep it, until you do get something like a bow - And even then, if the bow or crossbow is Decreipit, that still makes it more of a throw-away than your Worn Slingshot, since your Worn slingshot will still last longer, and thus show more use. -- In any case though.

You should try to use the most throw-away ranged weapon on the same floor you find it on (unless it's cursed, then don't bother) - That way it didn't goto waste, but also so you can get more ranged skill, and not waste your valuable, non-throw away ranged weapons like your +2 Excellent Shortbow, just know what is a "Throw-away" ranged weapon, that you'd normally never pick up and use, and instead of just not using it, use it on the floor you find it - It may just prove to be helpful to you, afterall, more usage of it still means you got experience, and you still did damage, and your job. So there's nothing lost at all, infact I would wager you gained something by using it.

Khryselakatos is a permanent thing - Much like your throwing weapons - unless you lose those to the abyss, but Khryselaktos is permanent, permanent, you don't lose it, you never should, even if you die in multiplayer, Khryselakatos is by far one of the things you should try to get if you can - But you shouldn't risk an entire run just trying to get it in the first Underworld, It's something to think about, do you have an effective way to get an entire team through the underworld, or atleast each member to the exit? And can you kill shadows/imps if they threaten you? (Spell staffs, or good use of daggers will ensure you can!)

Usually the answer is probably "no", but not for a true ranger! A true ranger would say Yes! All those gems, throwing weapons, and rocks will prove quite useful in killing any imp and shadow that so does threaten you here, maybe it can still kill you.- Correction, it definitely can, but you've got the upperhand! You've got high-damage, with DPS! You can most certainly kill each shadow and imp with a good strategy, now all you need is good teleportation, and some good amounts of good to tide you over, or levitation - Levitation potions will work for that, if you don't have permanent levitation, but even then, teleportation has worked numerous times for me.

But Ranger's place that it shines isn't normal mode, no. It's certainly useful there, and now that I've seen it's true power and strength - I can say it can tide over any team, and save teammates from death, but it's main use is on Hardcore , Hardcore is where it shines the most by far, on normal it's extremely useful and powerful, and always a nice asset to have, but on Hardcore, it is one of the strategies you will most definitely resort to, since it's extremely useful there!
I can't stress how useful on Hardcore, even on Normal Ranger is, and I was wrong to consider it 'bad', because it's AWESOME! It can save entire runs, it is the only class that can be fearless and strong enough to tread into the first Underworld with weapons in hand, and dare challenge it, even when conditions seem rough, and it can save teammates!
Sadly the class makes up a minority of the community, gold covered in trash is the best way to describe it. It's a golden class, extremely fun, versatile, and useful, powerful, and can outright win runs, tread the first underworld without fear, striking down imps and shadows alike, and save teammates, but yet it still makes up a minority, only due to the first introduction to it. Which makes it truly a hidden gem of the community.

Stealth goes well with it, a little note I for got to add*

So, you know your playstyle, you've crafted your expertise, and you've got tactics in mind, what to do, and what gear to look out for... But what about the Enemies? There are paticular things to note about enemies, while I will not mention any paticular tactics for every enemy in the game, as that would be extensively time-consuming, pointless, and outright butchering of new tactics and playstyles, I will mention general things to avoid, acknowledge, and take note of, so any enemies mentioned here have special abilities, or are particurally notable -- How you go about dealing with them is clearly your choice, and based off of your paticular tactic and playstyle. Hence as to why I will not label every single enemy from 0 - 35, including every secret area, as that would literally take forever to write.
Without further to say, take this section for the information it offers only , though if a tactic is listed here, it probably is important, but can be taken with a grain of salt as to your so choosing.

Spellcaster enemies are particurally a nuisance, especially to newer players, or slower players, or players who have not faced them before, or aren't the best at dodging attacks. Usually a good tactic for single-bolt enemies, such as Imps is simply to side-step the attack, with a left-step, then a right step while still blasting it at range, or curling around it and slowly advancign carefully, to stab it up.

Or, Trio-bolt enemies, such as the Insectoid, who shoot 3 projectiles, it's best to simply hide behind a wall, or get alot of distance, or you are likely to be hit by the attack, it's not easy to dodge, and isn't worth trying to dodge, given it can be spammed just like normal single-bolts, which would really not be a fun time, now would it?

In any case, when an enemy is a spellcaster, caution should be taken due to their generalized ability to apply debuffs or deal massive damage to the player that outright ignores A.C, or can damage or even take away your gear, and equipment. Particular debuffs tend to be Damage Over Times, and Slowness debuffs, but rarely you can get immobilized, or outright be disabled for a bit.
Just be aware of the enemy you are fighting, before you run head first at it, it may just be a Spell-caster.

THESE enemies, THESE. Enemies. They're outright bad news, and can turn any progress into the depths into complete ash and ruin, not ALL are spellcasters either, while very uncommon, they do exist, and they are an ACTIVE problem. Encounterable from fountains, in the Labryinth, and where the Archmagisters' problems lay, most of these enemies can be quite the things themselves, regardless of their stun-attacks. Just be warned. The best tactic is to kill them, with the highest priority, or to outright avoid confrontation, or fights with them.


Multi-strategy enemies can have multiple forms of attacks, good examples of this are Kobolds, who've got spells, ranged and swords, usually said. Just be aware that they can easily fall into a spellcaster.


These enemies are usually notable for their special names, and tend to be more powerful than their regular counterparts, although you may originally anticipate that only one of each can appear per run, more than one can appear per run, infact I've seen six of one in a single run. Some are more powerful and annoying than others, like Xyygi, while others are more helpful than they are destructive, like Algeranon. Keep an eye out for them, they usually drop something special!


There are many more enemies to be had in the game, but these are particurally ones to keep note of, due to their capabilities. Though, there are noteworthy enemies outside of these categories, I will not mention them for the sole fact you should learn their strategies, and how to handle them yourself, instead of being given a do-all-give all tactic, that that sort of kills the fun and experience of creating your own playstyle. When there's clearly and easier, meta strat.

Kite-looping is an especially useful strategy for enemies such as the fear-striking Minotaur, or Cockatrices, or anything inbetween the two, really. Firstly, you'll need a good place to loop around, maybe even an entire level if the map is small.

But any case, a single room to loop around works.

Kite-looping is where you have a ranged weapon of any form/a spell of the damaging type. -For me, usually I do this tactic to kill Minotaurs on floor 2, with Gems, Throwing Weapons, and Rocks, but that's not important of a detail.

Find a good 6x6 at smallest, but preferablly 12x12 room with 4 hallways outside of it, that all connect to eachother, this should give you a good "ring" around the room, now wait for the enemy in question to provoke you, or you provoke it. Shoot it with your spells or ranged weapons, or throw your throwing weapons at it, and run down the loop, loop back around (But not too quickly - Make sure it doesn't come back around and flank you from the front - Usually with Minotaurs) and pick up your weapons/do the attack again. Keep running around your loop - Which I should note does not need to be perfect, it just needs to be some place relatively closed in, which doesn't have alot of points connecting two parts of the ring (A shortcut or two is fine, but more than that can make the enemy use the shortcut), and long enough that you have enough time to shoot atleast one or two spells/throwing items at it while it runs down the hallway, you should be quick, get your attacks in, and immediately go, don't go for more lush attacks, once the enemy is in about 5 blocks of you, that is when you NEED to go,you shouldn't wait any longer.

This strategy works in multiple levels, but is primarily useful against extremely powerful enemies that you cannot risk meleeing, or conducting ranged attacks in - Since the chance of missing in an open room is too high, and taking a hit since it curve-balls into you isn't something you can accept in the second.

Kite-looping takes practice to learn, but is a strategy worth learning, since it can land you tons of early-game experience and money through the murder of floor 2 and 3 Minotaurs, given you have the gems/rocks/throwing items, or spells/ranged weapons to do it, and the effiecent and proper hallway to do it. [Example Images Needed*]

The strategy is definitely a time consuming one though, but usually you're doing it against the minotaur anyways, so the minotaur timer is out of the question here, since you can really just bring that into the loop right after this enemy if you so need to. But that doesn't mean that you should immediately wait for the minotaur to show up, and do this strategy, no.
All enemies, or most of them should be dead if this is being preformed on a Minotaur, on smaller enemies like Cockatrices though, it isn't as required, but still suggested

Otherwise you just might be running down the hallway on your 5th loop, and Oh- Look, a skeleton, and now you've been uncermonically slain by a Skeleton and Minotaur duo that sandwiched you in this strategy. Kill all enemies, then preform this, or kill most of them, the emphasis on "Most here" are ones that could actively prove to stand in your way. The one that's on the isolated corner of the map, on it's own platform surronded by the abyss that it cannot pass isn't one you need to kill, since there is no way it can reach you, and thus lead to a major disadvantage. So you can leave it alone until you killed the Minotaur, and you probably should - To get prepared.

You shouldn't spend the level looking for these spots, but rather, mentally taking note of them as you find them while killing other enemies, and looting the level. Since actively searching will waste valuable time that coudl be used otherwise exploring to find loot and enemies to help you actually preform the strategy - And exploring leads you right into discovering these special hallways.

If you can't find a good enough place to Kite-loop, it is up to your gut instinct if you do it or not. If you feel it's good enough, and you wouldn't mind possibly having a massive loss in the run, go for it, if not, don't take the risk. It's a massive risk/reward factor, on one hand, you can get an already-appraised, high tier gem, and alot of XP, on the other, you could outright lose a ton of useful throwing weapons, and just take alot of needless damage, or even just die.

In any case - It is these failures that teach your instincts, so feel free to test the limits a bit.

This strategy can work with four players, although you should avoid pushing eachother, and NEVER have a player outside of the loop, unless they are say... Locked up in a room where the minotaur's AI cannot detect/physically get to them. Since it may just decide to turncoat from you onto them, and just suddenly kill your friend who could've just been having fun alone, casting light spells and appraising that gem they've been wanting to for the past floor. So ensure each player knows what you're doing, and that you can cooperate without throwing your attacks into eachother, or accidently pushing echother into the enemy in question. - Throwing throwing items into players currently just erases them, they don't exist anymore. And, it still could damage them on Friendly Fire ticked on. - With ranged weapons and spells, you're just wasting durability and magic if it goes into a player. So just take these precautions, to not have this happen, or have one player be the damage dealer, and the rest just stay slightly ahead in the loop, but they should be ready to take the place of this player, if he dies or can't damage anymore.

Maybe you're like the Predator, and don't go for physical confronttions, and would stalk and wait for the enemy to fall into your traps? Well, alright, I'll explain that more here.

To start things off, you should ensure there are no sources of light - Take every torch off the wall, tear up campfires, and drop those torches - Don't use lightspells, lanterns, torches yourself, and make sure teammates don't use them if you do plan to have massive assassinations on enemies, since any light can skew your results. The next part is when you know an enemy is near, be it you hear it coming, or you see it physically, hold down your stealth key - How do you stealth? Same way you block, except you can't be using any form of carried light, or a shield, you have to be bare-handed and holding space to stealth. Wait for it to turn it's back, walk up with a charged attack, and strike it in the back! Not only did you just hit it with a charged attack, you got a stealth bonus, and the first hit! Now from here, you can just rush back into the dark, holding space once you've gotten out of attack range, to never be seen until your next blow, or you can tear it apart right then and there, having it turned around now.

You're sneaking around, you're killing enemy by enemy, getting stealth experience off of them, and taking little to no risk in the proccess, while being very hard to sneak up on, and always getting your way. Though, pick your targets carefully, since backstabbing a Cockatrice may just land you in it's trap. So just be careful, take things carefully, and slowlly, don't fear nor cry, just be patient, and awaiting, await your time to strike, your peak, your time to shine. And, you'll overcome any obstacle.

As an item in the game says
"Don't be afraid to go slowly, only be afraid to stop."

Throwing Gems, Rocks, and Glass, usually "trash" items (Except REAL gems aren't just trash, sometimes) aren't as useless as you might think -- Those Gems, Rocks, and Glass you find may be useful on the next few floors and against your next few foes.

Throwing it at an enemy ahead of time does decent damage, there isn't any net-loss in misisng, infact it's only a net-gain to use them, Since it can reel you in 3 XP, for ranged damage, and perhaps soften tougher enemies down, so you can slay them in melee, and they do decent damage, Aye!

They seem to Ignore AC too, and with that, they can damage Minotaurs, and enemies you otherwise couldn't harm, and they were imperveous to you.


Gems aren't just useful in combat even though they're an excellent, light weight temporary tool, that's free to use, even if cursed. A cursed gem is indifferent from a normal one, you can still throw it, to deal damage, get 3 XP, and soften enemies - Just you're forced to throw it once you equip it.
Off of that now, and onto what else they prove useful in

Gems as mentioned earlier in the Guide, can trigger Boulders, Arrows, Pressure-Spell traps, and activate Spike traps This is very useful if you use it, by throwing it down a long hallway you otherwise couldn't pass due to a boulder, then got out of the way - Problem solved! Boulder is gone.

Just chuck it infront of an arrow trap (Drop or throw, both work) and the arrow will go off, and thus not be a problem to you anymore.

If you toss it into a Pressure-activated spell, in the Crystal Caves or Mystic Citadel, it will make the trap go off on a timer, so you can predict going through it easier. Of course, if you're an SCP:CB player, you likely will be used to timing, and running past obstacles :P

When thrown into Spike traps, some spiketraps are activated by Lever or Power, while others are activated by walking onto them. The trick here is the latter ones. Once a gem is on them don't pick the gem back up, just leave it there. Walking across the trap - If it's still on and firmly on, not on the edge of the spike trap - It should deactivate the trap, so long as the gem/rock is there. Quite a useful gimmick, it basically removes them, at what cost? Making use of a 'useless' item? That's no loss, but a gain! Make use of Gems in every situation, I am quite sure, and certain I missed some tactics you could use gems for here, they're one of the most versatile items in the game, just due to what they are!

Make use of them against enemies, traps, really any situation could use a gem or two, tossing a gem in a trap is like throwing a wrench in the cogs of a machine - If that machine was working against you. It basically gets rid of it.

If you can verify, or debunk the following information, please do so in the comments!

Rarer loot/loot in general is more common on Hardcore?
Bread isn't as good on Hardcore?
Vomit is more common on Hardcore?

Source for some information in this guide, although most information is off from my head, and observations.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1296764329

Another source taken into account
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=471633622 For you more indepth casters. [Somewhat outdated]

Another Source used for this guide
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=471622046
[Outdated to a degree]

Happygigi's Indepth Guide to Followers
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2229170418

https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=471019483
[Outdated in list, but not in some information.]


https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1351642690 Monster damage multiplier charts per weapon.

0.8
Added a new important section I feel should be added. It is below the most important advice.
Added an Information that Needs Citation
Added a Credits section in "Last Word"
Added a new section to Advanced Tactics - About Gems, and Rocks.
Updated Legendary Equipment section; Added the OFFICIAL effects of Parashu and Gungnir.

0.7
Added new section "Advanced Tactics"
Added new Subsection "Kite-looping"
Added new section "Assassinating"
Massively overhauled my section on Ranger- Boy was I so wrong.

0.6
Added the most important tip I can muster to say.

V 0.5
Added some of my exterior sources, where I checked stuff, or in general useful to the user sources.
Improved a bit in the Environmental Section, although it isn't better by much. There isn't much to say aside from "Explore yerself"
Added my last word.

V 0.4
Added New Section: Menus, and Basics.
Improved "Tactical Item uses"


V 0.3
Added new sub-sections, improved information
Improved category seperation, now there's spaces inbetween each one.
Preparing guide for future.

V 0.2.5
Added two new sections, Items and Levels.
Added multiple sub-sections and micro-sections.

Added lots of new information.
Updated previous information.
Changed Guide's categories "Weapons", "Co-op" added.

Removed a contraversally written tip, it was not helpful.

V 0.1.1
Added new section for Range and Magic.
Vastly improved old sections, ensuring indepth procedures are known per each.
Added "The Sorcerer", and "The Magician", Renamed "Melee" to "Berserker", improved Spell-Tactician.


V 0.0.1
Changed Section "Worker Journals" Changed Section "The Saviour King of the North."
Changed guide from "Lore & Story" to "Tactics, and strategies."

Got any feedback, suggestions, fixes, updates to information, or critism to give?

I'm all for it. Please, give feedback as to your genuine opinion, to help me improve this guide, even if it is entirely negative. All negative constructive critism helps me build up this guide, since it gets me an idea of where I'm wrong, and what I can do, keep in mind, this guide is still a bit earlier in it's development, so alot of the information listed may be oddly worded, grammatically improper, or outright incorrect at times. That is where you as a reader and user come in. Help me with this, you'll get a special mention in the guide! Of course, you can't throw meta information in and expect me to add you as a mention, but any information you know I missed, or that I got incorrect is welcome to being critized.

If you have any suggestions or feedback, feel free to include those too. Such as playstyle ideas, or suggestions for new parts of the guide. Anything similar that should help.

And, lastly, was this guide helpful? If so, go on and upvote it, but if it was not helpful, or did not provide any new information or knowledge, please downvote it, since it did not help you, if you need this guide in quick access, go on and favourite it, so you can quickly access it in the future


Credits to;
legopikminotaur & Gogodapogostick - Told me what Gungnir and Parashu OFFICIALLY did, also helped me find out some corners of the guide to patch up and repair, in general were quite kind and helpful on Discord, which obligates me to relay the information here.

WALL OF JUSTICE - Gave me the idea to add a spell damage chart, also told me Fire does 20 damage, or estimately, excluding afterburn, which lets me conclude other spell damages - Will verify damages later on my own term.

Authors of mentioned Guides - They gave/helped cite some of the information inside this Guide.

Special thanks to;

Noone, yet, nobody has given feedback.

Let's not waste time, this one is simple.

Tier 0 spells ( None - novice)

Light: Casts an orb of light that will follow the player, costs 1 mana every 3 seconds. - 1 mana.
Slow: Slows enemies down. - 4 mana.
Sleep: Puts enemies to sleep. - 4 mana.
Forcebolt: 15 damage - 5 mana cost, free to cast at Legend in casting - also really quick to cast.

Tier 1 spells (Basic)

Opening: Opens & unlocks doors, chest, and grates - unless they are sealed by a magic seal. - costs 6 mana.
Locking: Locks doors, and chests - costs 11 mana.
Fireball: Deals 25 damage, and ignites enemies - some enemies are immune to fire - 7 mana.

Tier 2 spells (Skilled)
Conjure Skeleton: Summons a Skeleton Warrior below Expert in magic, and a Skeleton Warrior and Sentinel at Expert - Costs 17 mana, and 31 mana at Expert. - If you die, with atleast 50 mana left, they will be killed to revive you(SKELETON ONLY)

Cold: Deals 20 damage, and slows enemies down - 6 mana.
Lightning: 30 damage - 6 mana.
Magic Missle: 35 damage - 7 mana.
Spray Acid: 15x3 damage, poisons enemies, critically damages armour and gear. - 17 mana.



Tier 3 spells (Expert)

Bloodletting: 35 damage + Bleed + Slow - costs 11 mana.
Drain Soul: 17 Health-sap + 17 Mana-sap, Extra Health-sap if enemy is out of mana, returns 17 health and mana to you - if enemy lacks mana, only returns 17 health. - 17 mana.



Tier 4 spells (Master)
Vampiric Aura: Bloodletting punches, Life-steal, A.C Bypass (+5 damage), Increased Speed and Melee damage, increased hunger drain - 3 mana drain per second.

Tier 5 spells (Legend)
Dominate: Puts thy enemy under your control - 21 Mana + enemies remaining health.
Steal Weapon: Steals the enemies weapon - 81 mana + long cast timer. (GLITCH TO OBTAIN)