===Prioritize Yourself===

1. Remember that if you die, you lose everything, and therefore you are more important than your followers or any item unless your run is specifically about doing something like saving Hubert's family.

2. If you lose your armor and your follower has armor, don't hesitate to shake their gear off. Followers can survive traps without armor. You can't.

3. It's okay to be ruthless with your followers if your goal is to get gold. This is especially true in the caves where madness can set in. Trolls in particular are good at removing unwanted followers.

4. Sending them in to clear rooms is also a good use of followers. Even if they die, they usually clear some hazards first.

5. As you are getting started, sell everything to the pawn shop and get at least 200 gold in the bank. At 200 gold, you will be at maximum interest payout. Selling items to the pawn shop makes them available for later purchase. As you are first learning, you will probably die a lot, so taking gear in with you is risky vs the guaranteed benefit of selling it and investing.

6. Buy citizenship and a basic house once you get above 200. It's best to always keep at least 200 in the bank, but once you have citizenship, you will be able to start getting payouts from any monsters you leave in the cave to the right of town.

===Shake monsters and followers===

1. Shake monsters whenever you can do so safely. Most monsters can give you coins. Some monsters can give you better items.

2. You can shake the armor off of live monsters. The best way to shake a monster is to bait an attack from them first, then go in and shake them and then quickly throw them preferably into a hazard of some sort, otherwise they will tend to hit you as you pick them up.

2. If you have followers, you can shake them to release any gear they take from you. They will also drop a coin. This makes them angry though, and if you do it enough they will eventually attack you. Sometimes this is desired.


===Plan your Run and update your plan===

1. When you start your run, decide what your goals are for it. By this I mean, think about what you want to do specifically. Are you looking to get your first escape in, get as much loot out as possible, help Hubert, rescue peasants, etc. This allows you to decide how best to accomplish the run. For example, if you want to fund Hubert, you probably want to give him as much gold as possible as soon as possible, and plan to take steps to ensure his survival like keeping him out of dangerous rooms.

2. Decide how you want to deal with Evelius. This can be dependent on the gear you find, but if you see an opportunity to take him out early, you may want to do so rather than letting him troll you all run long.

Try to avoid half-measures. While it is okay to update plans, if you decide to fight Evelius, it is best to do it decisively and early. Get a two handed weapon and some armor and make him angry. Hitting him is a fast way to do this.

3. It is okay to change plans. Maybe you are trying to please Evelius and a few tasks go poorly so you need to change tack. This is fine, just make sure you are planning your gear for being able to fight him, or worst case scenario, plan to end the run as a monster.

4. With the right gear and skill, you can escape with significant amounts of gold using a large sack, but carrying things slows you down and removes access to utility items which can save your life. Generally speaking, especially early on, you are better off focusing on survival. Unless gold is your sole goal, don't get greedy. You can also make a lot of gold on early runs just by taking out some new items for the pawn shop.

5. If your run goes poorly, consider ending as a monster. When you get to the exit as a monster, an adventurer will come with the key. He's dangerous and attacks quickly, but the monster can swing very rapidly, and he is pretty easy to beat if you have at least some basic armor. If you escape as a monster, go right and live in the caves. After you escape as a human, you can go into the caves and get the armor off of your earlier monster self and also get a bounty from the mayor.

===Go back and forth where necessary===

1. Depending on my strategy and goals for a run, I will often bring additional items along by going back and forth. I tend to do this if I have a good weapon and also something like a large coin bag or a repair hammer.
2. It can also be done with potions, but be aware that you can't drop potions through a hatch. You can toss other items down and carry the potions yourself though. I have also had success with setting potions on the ledge and then swatting them off the edge.

===Toss things off the tower===

1. You can throw things off the tower and find them after escaping.
2. This can be done when first going down, but the best time to do it is from the lower level, throwing misc items you may not already have over the side after clearing the level.
3. Consider throwing full coin pouches if you have a spare.
4. Throwing things off different sides will result in items landing in different areas below. If you don't see something you left for yourself, check the other side.

===Followers are a Mixed Blessing===

1. They tend to destroy monster armor, which you probably want, especially early on. You can tell them to wait if you see an opportunity, but followers tend to jump right in and wreck opportunities.
2. Their combat capability is really only valuable in a few circumstances like fighting Evelius or clearing monsters from dangerous trap areas.
3. I usually don't even free followers early on unless I am already geared up.
4. You can just tell them to wait and never come back for them if the game forces one on you, but usually having them explore a door is the better way of getting rid of unwanted followers.
5. Worst case scenario, you can toss them into a pit to remove them.

===Poison===

1. You can most eat things to cure poison, but avoid broccoli, as it makes poison worse.
2. Drinking an alcohol potion (red, bubbling) will cure poison.
3. You can give food to your followers to cure their poison.
4. You can drink a cure potion (blue) to cure poison.
5. You can throw a cure potion (blue) into your followers to cure their poison. You need to aim the potion correctly though so it splashes on them. There seem to be some cases where throwing a potion into a follower will work, but I have not been able to do it reliably, and if I need to cure a follower I tell them to stand still first.
6. Alva will cure poison for you.
7. Poisoned weapons are less effective against slimes and the first hit with one does nothing.

===Gear Management===

1. Ideally, you want to only get attached to one item, usually a strong weapon like a straight sword, or a spiked mace. You should always be willing to use your other hand for whatever the situation needs, such as carrying a monster body or eating slimes.
2. The best secondary item for survival is a ranged weapon, usually a wand for its utility, but a shuriken is also decent.
3. A hammer is also a solid choice, as a hammer allows you to repair metal armor.


===Use Markers===

1. Establish a marker system for multiple doors. I like to use coins. If I have cleared a room, I remove the coin from in front of the door. When I am sure I am fully done with a room, I remove the coin. This is especially helpful for the room with a crumbling ledge, as having a marker system prevents you from forgetting and going back in.

2. In the caves, I like to leave bodies in front of entrances to mark the way back to areas of interest, usually the exit. I like to leave other sorts of objects as markers meaning other types of interest such as the way back to a particular treasure I intend to go back for after clearing the way. Monster weapons work well for this.

===Alcoves===

1. You don't have to hold up to stay in an alcove.
2. When a trap is going by you can hold the left or right arrow keys to leave just as it passes.
3. Alcoves will protect you from a hammer guy.

===Anvils===

1. Anvils on ropes will fall after a timer based on the thickness of the rope.
2. You can just jump in and out of the anvil's activation range to trigger it, then wait for it to fall.
3. If it is over an entrance, you can quickly leave the room to cause it to fall immediately and safely. This is a good strategy as Anvil over the door + hammer guy can be deadly.

===Bear Traps===

1. If you throw something into a bear trap, it will disable it and hold onto the item.
2. Disables grasping hands.

===Crumbling Ledge===

1. Entering into the room causes Von Wanst to make a comment as the floor crumbles. You can quickly leave to avoid dying.
2. The real danger of this is forgetting about it. I like to use a marker system with coins to keep track and avoid such issues. See the General Strategy section for details.

===Crushers===

1. You can use crushers to destroy locked chests. You may lose some items in doing this, but other items will survive.
2. Crushers can destroy annoying items like rat traps.
3. Crushers will destroy items like weapons and armor. Avoid putting anything down while within them. Similarly, if you have to do something like eat slimes, make sure your good items aren't in your active slot.


===Dark Rooms===

1. You can avoid extinguishing torches by jumping over them.

===Falling Door===

1. After a falling door falls down, you can hide in it like an alcove.

===Grasping Hand===

1. It will reach out to attack you or take items, you can bait this out by tossing a useless item for it to reach for.
2. If the hand is hit, it will disable the grasping hand monster. Your followers will often do this for you if you walk into one. You can also do it yourself by jumping back and striking quickly.
3. Bear traps will disable the grasping hand if it tries to take it. I think this happens with mouse traps also, but haven't yet had a chance to test since it was introduced in version 3.

===Hammers===

1. Hammers are harmless aside from their ability to knock you into other obstacles.
2. Hammer and Pendulum combinations are spaced so that they have a safe spot between the two right at the edge, so you can let the hammer push you just to the edge of its swing and not get hit by the pendulum. Just don't build up momentum.

===Hooks===

1.Jumping over them is risky.
2. Lure a live monster onto it to disable it.
3. If it takes your armor you can knock the armor off and reclaim this, but be very careful with the mobile hooks in low ceiling.
4. If the hook is super fast and mobile, don't try to get your armor back. You will just get killed unless you are very lucky.
5. Since the version 3 update, it seems to be possible to hook dead bodies onto hooks as well. You can do this by dropping them onto the hook while extended.

===Pendulums (Bladed)===

1. A hat will save you from a pendulum once, but it will destroy any hat including a gold helmet in one hit. If the situation allows for it with a particularly difficult pendulum hallway, consider throwing your good headgear past the trap and putting on something cheap like a wizard hat instead.
2. I usually just follow the pendulum as it swings away from me, but you can pass safely regardless of direction as long as you are not near the blade when it is low.
3. This is probably the most dangerous thing in the game, in particular when it is paired with some combination of spikes, hooks, alcoves, and fans.
4.Pendulums hurt monsters. Knocking or throwing a monster into a pendulum is a great way to kill them. Also, for some reason it doesn't destroy gear on monsters.

===Pits===

1. You will survive a pit with damage if you are wearing armor, with a hand tossing you back out. If you hold a direction as you are being ejected, you can land on a ledge.

===Pit Guys===

1. They will yell and go down into the pit if anything lands on them or they hear a horn or snail shell crack.

===Powder Kegs ===

1. Step on the fuse to put it out. You can't run away from it. It destroys the entire tower.
2. Monsters or items hitting the fuse will also put it out.
3. Barrels are good for armor and weights for switches. They also become safe to throw after you wear them once.
4. As of version 3 you can safely throw TNT for a small explosion. Throwing a powder keg will still destroy the tower though.


===Slime Puddles / Honey===

1. Slime comes in two forms, permanent without eyes and temporary from hitting small slimes.
2. You can jump over slime to stop it from slowing you down.
3. Slime and Honey will slow down hammer guys a lot.
4. Be careful with slime in front of spikes. It makes the jump very difficult. Disable the spike if you encounter this by tossing a monster body on it.

===Slime Pipes===

1. This will spawn slimes a limited number of times.
2. After it runs out it will instead expel a cloud of poison gas, pink gas (Drunkenness) or do nothing at intervals.


===Spiked Ceilings / Indiana Jones Room===

1. You can put items on the post to slow the ceiling falling. The closer the weight the better.
2. Speed potions can also allow you to escape, but if there are other obstacles like pendulums, I don't risk it.
3. Unless the item is really good like a genie lamp or a crown key, they are generally not worth it.
4. Touching your head to the spiked ceiling will kill you. Keep this in mind if there are obstacles in the hallway which have to be jumped over. If you are wearing a hat, it will take a hit for you however.
5. Leave your followers behind if you attempt it. They will get crushed if it is close.

===Spikes===

1. You can toss a monster or follower body onto spikes to disable them.
2. You can safely walk into the side of extended spikes. This can be useful for tight jumps. If no slime is involved, you can safely jump over three spikes by walking into the side of the first set and jumping, even if all three are extended.

===Spikes with Pressure Plate===

1. The variant spikes with pressure plate are a less dangerous version which you can step on briefly without getting hurt. You can't safely walk over it, but you can jump onto one and walk off the side quickly.

===Wall Hand (Long armed one)===

1. The wall hand will provide an audio cue of a brick sliding out and an eye will peer out before it stabs out with either a bone or a poison dagger.
2. Just step away from it and hit it to cause it to drop the item.

===Wood Posts===

1. Wood posts can be safely stood upon after they are extended. They only do damage if they extend into you.
2. Plate armor protects from this.


===Wooden Spinning Spike Posts===

1. You can throw enemies into them.
2. Be very cautious if there is a banana next to one, which is a common placement. Take it slow and eat the banana to get rid of it. Sliding into a grinder can chew up your armor and kill you in one fell swoop.

===Bridges===

1. Lever controlled bridges can be extended with thrown objects or wand shots.
2. Pressure plate controlled bridges can be extended with heavy objects, or multiple light objects. Good heavy objects are monster bodies, anvils, and barrels. Metal weapons and armor also work for this but tend to be more valuable and also have a nasty tendency to roll.
3. You can tell followers to stay in place on pressure plates for bridges you will need to cross over again.
4. Consider throwing heavy objects at a pressure plate on the opposite side of a gap too wide to jump. Bodies are best for this.
5. Before you consider throwing armor, remember that armor will save you from death if you fall in a pit. Sometimes it is better to cross over at the expense of armor than it is to throw it and risk it rolling in. This is mostly true of plate armor and helmets.

===Fans===

1. The best solution to fans is ranged / thrown weapons. The shuriken does great against them, but the wand is best because it has infinite ammo. Hitting the monster will cause it to come after you instead of operating the fan.
2. The fan when active will interfere with thrown weapons, most notably wand shots, so you need to time it.
3. The weight of your gear affects how much the fan pushes you, but trying to run over a spike strip or past a pendulum is risky and it is always better to use a ranged attack if you can.


===Gates===

1. You can throw small objects through the gate if standing right next to it and hit a switch. A coin is a good solution to this in a pinch.
2. You can fire wands through the gate in similar fashion.
3. You can throw items over the gate and hit switches on the other side, but this is harder to execute.
4. You can stack things like stools and anvils up to jump over gates.
5. Gates will stop hammer guys.

===Cauldron Room===

The cauldron room contains most of the items necessary for making potions.

1. A rat may occasionally come out of cracks in the background wall.
2. You can pour into filled potions such as alcohol potions taken from witches, allowing you to make multiple potions.

Black(death) - Broccoli + Rat

Green(Poison) - Frog + Mushroom

Purple(monster) - Brain + Eye

Blue(cure) - Leek + Tooth

Red(strength) - Iron (Use the cage) + Pumpkin

Orange(Cancels other potions/poison) - Too many ingredients causes this. On the bright side, drinking it gives you the bottle back so you can try again.

Yellow(speed) - Wood (Use a stool) + Banana

Gold(gold) - gold coin + gold coin


===Cup Game Room===

1. You can cheat at the cup game by using insta-kill effects on the monster, then putting his stool on the table, and then finally using the monster's body to knock things off the shelf. Don't forget to shake the monster also, as it can drop some nice loot including large chests. You can also just throw the body. Be careful of things like instant death potions on the shelves.

2. The easiest way to do this is to use a wand and fire off effects into the wall until you get an insta-kill spell. You are looking for either "abra ka doom" or a "simsalabim bam dusela dim".

3. Throwing a death potion at him is equally as effective.

4. Drinking a strength potion or hitting him with a two handed weapon usually works out as well, but this takes two hits, so be prepared to fight briefly.

5. The pedestal's value is based on weight, so things like monster bodies and anvils make inexpensive bets.

6. If you take anything off the table, the monster will turn hostile.


===Factory Room===

1. Items going through the furnaces transform into other objects. As they are flattened, smaller objects are created until they eventually get to a diamond tooth.
2. The pipe at the end of the factory will suck objects up and loop them back around. If you allow it to suck you in, it will damage your armor. It can probably kill you also but I've not done this yet.
3. If you flip the switch at the end, it seems to drop items into the factory. I am not sure if this is limited.
4. Walking into the furnace will kill you, but I've been told that it is possible to survive when wearing plate armor and a helm. (Possibly a bug)


===Named Doors (Snowy and Puffles)===

1. These are three doors with names above them. Inside will be some combination of monster or critter and treasure.

2. You can only pick one, and they all lock permanently after you leave, so you can't go back in to retrieve anything you leave behind as you exit.

3. I'll start documenting them as I encounter them and remember to write it down:

Theory: There seems to be a two element system at work with color and monster type. Further testing is needed to confirm.

Sno = White
Bu = Yellow, Green, or Blue (Possibly the "other" color prefix)
Snu = Pink
Pu = Black (Exception: Pugly)

gly = Snail
ffles = Troll
wy = Peasant
bbles = Normal Monster


Bugly - Yellow Snail, large treasure
Snowy - White Hostile Peasant
Bubbles - Green normal monster in finery, small treasure which contained iron armor
Buffles - ?
Buwy - Blue peasant with a mushroom, large treasure
Pubbles - Black normal monster, extra fast, medium treasure.
Puffles - ?
Pugly - Greenish snail, medium treasure (cloth armor)
Snogly - White Snail, small chest (It had a genie lamp though)
Snobbles - White monster with armor and a poison dagger, small reward
Snubbles - ?
Snuffles - Pink Troll, no treasure except a pumpkin

===Spike Room===

1. These rooms are filled with significant numbers of extending spikes and usually some items to stand on such as stools and bee hives.
2. These rooms are especially dangerous in that unlike most rooms involving spikes, you will usually die with any mistake because the first spike will knock you into a second and probably a third one if you are wearing armor.
3. These are generally worth it early on when they are easy, but they usually aren't worth it after the first couple floors.

Please Note: This doesn't cover all monsters, just the ones with interesting details, or which are especially dangerous.

===Bees===

1. Bees are stunned and repulsed by honk horns or stepping on snails.
2. If you throw a monster body at a bee which came out of a dead body, throw the body at it to get rid of it.
3. Red bees can cause poison.
4. Alcoves will cause bees to lose track of you.
5. Bees will go to unbroken hives, so you can move their hive to get them out of the way.

===Cup Game Monster / Big Gray Monster===

1. This is the toughest monster in the game save for Evelius.
2. He has a long ranged reach attack which is what makes him especially dangerous.
3. He will one shot you without armor.
4. Two handed weapons are effective, but the first hit will just activate him.
5. Throwing stars are effective, but again the first hit just activates him.
6. Wands are effective if you can keep distance and/or initiate the fight with an instant death attack.
7. Poison can be effective if you can do a hit and run such as throwing a poison dagger at him.

===Elite Monster (Gold Chainmail)===

1. You may rarely encounter elite monsters wearing gold armor, typically also with a gold weapon.
2. These monsters dodge back just after taking a swing at you, making them a bit harder to shake the armor off of. Just go a bit further forward after they swing to harvest their gear.

===Hammer Guy===

1. Leaving the room will allow you to get away from them instantly. This is the best solution to them.
2. Alcoves will save you from the hammer guy.
3. Crushers, Gates, and pits will stop the hammer guy.
4. He will stop briefly after killing something. If your followers can take the hit for you, keep running.
5. Sometimes you can go into the hole he makes in the wall and find a book inside. You can sell the book in town, but it isn't worth a lot.
6. Sometimes they get stuck and just stand there after killing a follower. I think this is a bug, but if they get hit by something, it will wake them up. This can be useful if he is blocking the way.
7. The hammer guy will be slowed down by slime and especially honey. It can save your life if you are running for the door.

===Riddle Master===

1. The riddle master is actually fairly easy to fight, but he attacks faster than most monsters, and can do a lot of damage if he has a good weapon(flamberge). I like to initiate combat by throwing something at him. While it is possible to stun lock him, I have found the safest way to kill him is to bait an attack by dodging back when he swings, then go in for one hit. Retreat and repeat until he dies.

2. The riddle master tends to go back to his starting position if you leave the room, but his bats don't, so heading out and then returning after a few seconds to deal with his bats is a great strategy.

3. Alternatively, he tends to just walk into hazards like pits. If you don't want his weapon, this is a great way to get his shield.

4. He tends to get stuck on obstacles like spikes, but this may get patched.


===Sitting Monster===

1. Most weapons have enough reach to just barely hit him from out of range. This is very easy to do with a long range weapon like a broom.
2. You can pick him up after killing him to get the chest if he is sitting on one. Shake him while you are at it, as he tends to drop golden teeth.
3. If he eats someone, he will go back to sleep again. You can do this by baiting an attack while another monster is walking buy.
4. If you have a shorter ranged weapon, do a jump attack and pull away just as you hit him at the edge of your range. Think of it as hitting him in the head. It is easier to get out of range again when you have the speed of flight.
5. Throwing items at him is also a viable option if you want to play it safe, as are ranged weapons like wands.

===Slimes===

1. You can safely eat small slimes to destroy them. They are in fact even a good source of nutrition to cure poison.
2. A quick way to remove a large slime is to use a wand on it to transform them into either a broom or a critter.
3. Poisoned weapons are less effective against slimes, with the first hit not counting.

===Troll===

1. Trolls can be one shot by a shuriken.
2. Jump attacks to their head work well, but the troll will keep advancing on you. Occasionally they do a slam attack which pushes you back as well as themselves though, and this is actually helpful because you want distance from the troll.
3. Poison is a good solution if you can hit and run.

===Witch===

1. Witches come in two forms, broom wielding and potion wielding.
2. Potion wielding witches are easy to dodge, just change between moving or not moving when they throw. They will target where you would be if you are moving, or where you are if you are standing still, but there is a high arc and you have a chance to dodge.
3. If you kill a witch while she is holding a potion, you can get the potion intact. (Poison, Explosive, or Alcohol)
4. If the witch hits you with an alcohol potion, it will cure poison for you.
5. Shaking a dead witch will commonly drop potion making ingredients, many of which are edible and can be used to cure poison.


===Wizards===

1. Wizards can be dangerous, but it is random. They can poison you or instant kill you with a death spell. They also have a monster transformation spell which will wear off, but if you have a lot of followers, it can be very dangerous. This applies both to Von Wanst and followers.
2. Just rush in and melee them to death when they are alone and preferably facing away. They have a short ranged kick attack which can push you back a little, but it doesn't do much(any?) damage unless you are at risk of a pit or other hazard.
3. Always shake wizards, and avoid allowing unshaken wizards to fall onto spikes. The reason for this is they have a high chance of dropping a genie lamp. I've only ever gotten one in a run via this method though.

1. Bring a monster body along as you change levels and have it in your primary hand when you meet Evelius. This is a great solution to two of his common asks. If he asks for food, it is a good option. If he asks for whatever is in your hand, it is a low cost option.

Alternate items if a body isn't available are rats and bones. I think other animal/meat items may work well for this as well, but I have heard that he does not like vegetables and he certainly doesn't like metal objects.

2. The challenges Evelius poses seem to go by how much he likes or dislikes you. If he poisons you and tells you that you are getting too far, you will probably have to fight him at the end. The same is true of him telling you that you don't have a scratch on you and then sending monsters to attack you. He also tends to ask for your armor and hat if he is at least somewhat miffed at you. Best get yourself a nice two-handed hammer and prepare for a fight if he starts exhibiting those behaviors.

3. If he says he is hungry and will wait for you on the next level, do NOT try to jump over his table, as he will insta-kill you. If you don't have anything acceptable, just walk away.

4. If he asks for something specific like a pumpkin, you can expect to find that item somewhere on the level, but beware that it may not be in an obvious place. For example, that witch you knocked off of a cliff might have had it.

5. Evelius's marble - It is hard to find but it is visible. If you are having trouble finding it, pay attention to the sound and visual "something here" line indicators as you walk, as they are much easier to see than the marble itself. You can also reveal it by swinging your weapon, but this is risky as you could knock it into a pit by accident.

For some reason also, Von Wanst will eat the marble if you use it. Be very careful with it and the automatic hand switch.

Also be careful about dropping or throwing it. It rolls a long way.

6. Priceless Ming Vase - Suffice to say there are a lot of ways to break this. Just clear the way fully before you bring the vase along and set it down carefully. Also, you can break it right in front of Evelius for a funny reaction.

7. Misc Questions - I am not sure if these are actually right, but the reactions seem positive.

Ask about the weather - Thumbs up

Ask about tower feedback - Thumbs up

Ask if you are Von Wanst - Thumbs down

Ask you to tell him a joke - Thumbs Up (This comes in two varieties, one a platforming monkey mini-game, but sometimes you get a simple choice one.)

Ask if you want to know which door is the right one - Thumbs down causes him to tell you which door is the real one.

Ask you to pick a number - Thumbs up

8. No gearing up - If Evelius takes all of your gear, you can still find and use gear, but just remember to take it all off again right after you get to the next level and before you meet Evelius again.

9. No Killing Monsters - This only tracks direct killing. If your followers kill monsters, it doesn't count, nor do deaths from traps or monsters killing each other.

10. Evelius sometimes accepts other items instead of things he asks for, for example, giving him a monster body when he asks for a marble. (Devs have described this as a bug.)

11. If you drop all of your gear before encountering Evelius, it restricts what he can ask for. You can drop most items and carry some low value item like a monster body, and he will ask you for it.

12. If Evelius is displeased and says he will send monsters to attack you, you can run away and he won't finish summoning them. This said, killing monsters is easy and it is better to just use them as a source of gear.

===How to Fight Evelius===

1. Have the right gear. The fight is easiest with a two handed weapon. A hammer is fine for this, but the flamberge (large wavy sword) is the best. You should also have at least a barrel for armor and some sort of headgear. Of course, the more armor the better, but I have beaten him with nothing but a glaive before. The same tactics I recommend will work with a shorter range weapon as well, but expect to get hit more often and rely heavily on your armor and/or your followers helping out because you have to get closer, which leaves less time to react.

2. Start by running away to get distance. The camera zooms in to the Evilius fight by default, and you want to keep distance for most of the fight and give yourself time to react.

3. Keep your distance and jump around at the edge of his attack range to bait his attacks, then counter attack when he stops after an attack. He will usually start an attack when he is about throwing distance away. Also if possible, it is best to have him above you so the distance you are falling after a jump is distance away from him. With a two handed weapon, this range is extended due to the overhead arc of the weapon.

4. Learn to time the two handed strike and do jump attacks to move into range just as the swing lands so you are only close to him very briefly.

5. Poison doesn't help. It may actually reduce damage, but I am not sure of this.

6. As you do damage to Evelius he will fall to the ground. Usually this takes about two hits from a two handed weapon. Once he is down you can hit him several times, and any followers you have will join in the beating. With a two handed weapon like a hammer, you can usually hit him 4-5 times, but he will do a low damage counter attack when he recovers. With a one handed weapon like a sword, you can hit 7-8 times.

When he is knocked down is also the best time to get on the other side of him and avoid getting your back against a wall.

7. Personally, I prefer fighting him on a normal level rather than at the exit. Part of this is that I don't like him sapping resources for most of the run, but the ledges on the posts in his room can get in the way of making jump attacks. This said, the ledges can be beneficial for getting him to go up, allowing you to get below him to pass by.

8. You are better off fighting Evelius in a clear room with a short ranged weapon than you are running into a room with traps and other enemies. If you run into something like a pendulum and Evelius at the same time, you won't have much chance.

9. Ranged weapons are not very effective. A shuriken can be useful for knocking him down. Wand shots do a small amount of damage, but are not generally worth it. Evelius is also immune to instant death attacks.

10. You can tell Peasants to stand still in a room you want to fight Evelius in, and they will take swings at Evelius as he passes by. (Works best with multiple peasants)

11. Throwing a purple potion at Evelius will turn him into a stool. While it is one of the harder ways to kill him, you can smash the stool with a stone pillar to one shot him.

=Evilius' attacks=

Dive Attack - Evelius will perform a dive attack frequently. It is fast, long ranged and hard to dodge, but low damage. Depending on his position he can either dive down or straight ahead. If you are wearing armor, this isn't very dangerous. You can usually run away from it if you see it coming, but it is not a big deal if he gets you with it.

Fork Attack - This close range reaction attack is fast but short range. I've experimented with getting hit by this and it just does a minor hit. If you are using a weapon with reach, you should be pretty safe from this. He can use it rapidly though, which is one of the things that prevent you from staying close.

Lunging Bite - This is Evelius' most dangerous attack, but it is also fairly easy to avoid. He will open his mouth and lunge forward. If he gets you with it, he will either destroy your armor or insta-kill you if you have no armor. The best way to avoid it is to just start running away as soon as he opens his mouth at you, and when he stops, he is vulnerable to counter attacks. There is also as synergy with his bat attack. If he eats a bat along the way, he will go further than normal. He will also eat armor on the ground.

Poison Belch - This is a slow moving attack which is easy to avoid. Just run away from it. Trying to counterattack this one is risky due to it lingering, but if he does it above you, you can get away with it sometimes by hitting him from below.

Summon Bats - While the bats can be a bit annoying this is actually helpful in that you can eat the bats to cure poisoning. Just take care of the bats while keeping distance from Evilius so they don't disrupt the fight. He seems to be invulnerable during the summoning animation.

Recovery Counterattack - After you knock Evelius down, he will claw around him when he recovers. This doesn't do much damage, but it is best avoided by using a two handed weapon and hitting him at max reach or being behind him, as it is directional.

===General Follower Tips===

1. As of v3 getting gear back from peasants is easier. Just picking them up will cause them to drop weapons. Shaking followers will cause them to drop a coin and any armor they are wearing in the case of peasants. This lowers their mood though.
2. You can talk to them to ask them to do their special abilities, usually at 3 door choice rooms.
3. You can talk to them and ask them to stay in place. This doesn't always work, especially if their mood is low. If you leave them sitting around long enough, their mood can deteriorate also.
4. In the caves, if you have a follower who is complaining a lot, consider just telling them to wait somewhere out of the way and never come back for them.
5. If you want to get rid of a follower, you can shake them repeatedly until they get angry and attack. This allows you to get some extra gold. Just be sure to put any weapons or armor on the other side of you for Peasants.
6. If their mood is low, they may ask for gold. If you tell them yes, you will automatically give them some gold and their mood will improve. If you tell them no, their mood will go down, and they may attack. Alternatively, you can just enter a door to interrupt them and their mood will stay the same.
7. Have a problem follower who you can't talk to and ask to wait outside and need to get armor off a monster but fighting them would be risky? Tossing them into a pit will get rid of them.
8. You can tell how a follower feels about you by looking at their face and listening to their commentary. It is pretty obvious, but one important cue is watching their eyes, as they show the extremes. Big pupils mean they love you and will join you in the tavern after a successful escape. Red bloodshot eyes mean that they are in attack mode and will start swinging at you.
9. Followers are mostly immune to traps. The only traps I have seen kill followers are pits. They seem to just bounce off everything else.
10. Thrown potions work on followers. The most useful one is the blue potion to heal them fully, but others such as the red potion can be useful also.

===Alva the Witch===

1. Alva will cure you of poison if you get poisoned.
2. You can get potions from her if you keep her mood high (give her coins). This can be a good way of getting multiple of the same potion to make them last.
3. Has a ranged attack.
4. Tends to die very easily if she gets hit with trolls typically one shotting her, but stays back from fights.
5. Shaking a dead Alva body will result in some potions. I once also got a gold flamberge from shaking an Alva body.

===Hubert the Tortoise===

1. Hubert is especially good natured. He rarely even complains in the caves, and I have never seen him succumb to cave madness.
2. I think Hubert is more resilient than most followers, and can take several hits by trolls.
3. Hubert's attack is weak, but fast, and he is especially good at slapping grasping hands if you walk into them.
4. He doesn't have a real special ability, but can enter doors and examine rooms for you like a peasant does, which results in either clearing the room and reporting back, or dying inside.
5. Hubert has a side quest to save his family, which requires a significant amount of coins across multiple runs.
6. If you shake Hubert enough to make him angry, he makes a funny face.

===Peasants===

1. Peasants are the most powerful combatants as far as followers go, as they can pick up weapons and armor. In particular, you'll want to give them two handed hammers.
2. Annoyingly, Peasants can take your gear if you set it down for repairs for example.
3. Peasants starting mood seems to be random, and you can find them on the verge of turning on you in the tower. The ones found in the caves in particular don't withstand cave madness very long at all. They can be very dangerous if they turn on you with a two handed weapon.
4. If you are having trouble with the Evelius fight, a peasant or two with two handed hammers will contribute meaningfully to the damage after you knock him down, and will occasionally even swat him if he gets close.
5. Peasants can explore rooms just like Hubert can. This is a great way to get rid of them if you don't want them around.


===Sobu the Sage===

1. Sobu is a bit like Hubert but less good natured and more fragile. I've seen him complain a lot in the caves, but never had him turn on me.
2. Sobu has an ability to tell you which room is the right way. He comments that he doesn't guarantee accuracy with this sometimes, but I have never seen him fail.
3. Shaking a dead Sobu will result in an alcohol potion typically.

Please note: This section isn't complete and I probably won't ever cover every single item in the game, but I am attempting to get the notable ones here, in particular anything that has interesting abilities.

===Big Hammer===

1. This is a very effective weapon against Evelius, and readily available from hammer guys.

===Two Handed Club===

1. This seems to be the weakest two handed weapon. It's not a bad weapon, but hammers and swords are noticeably better.

===Straight Sword / Spiked Mace===

1. This is the best one handed weapon and can kill most tower enemies in one hit, and cave enemies in two hits.
2. They can be poisoned.
3. The sword can cut ropes.
4. I think the mace has a little more knockback.

===Fencing Sword===

1. The fencing sword has similar range to a broom, but seems to do a little more damage than a broom. They aren't very good.

===Broom===

1. Decent early game weapon with good reach, killing most enemies in three hits.
2. Can be poisoned.

===Flamberge (big wavy sword)===

1. This is the best two handed weapon, and can very quickly kill Evelius.
2. This seems to have gotten upgraded in 3.3 and takes Evelius apart even more so than it used to.

===Shuriken===

1. This is a bad melee weapon but throwing it causes it to fly straight for high damage... most of the time. Throws sometimes fail and result in a harmless toss.
2. It is one of the fastest ways to eliminate a fan operator.
3. One shuriken throw will kill a troll.

===Smithing Hammer (metal) ===

1. This is a mediocre weapon which kills most tower enemies in three hits, but it allows you to repair metal armor and helmets, allowing you to win fights by attrition as long as you can retreat and don't take a lot of hits at once.
2. It is pretty good as a secondary item.

===Smithing Hammer (Wooden)===

1. This can repair wooden items like barrel armor.

===Throwing Axe===

1. The Throwing axe works a lot like a lower damage Shuriken, but is a decent melee weapon, killing normal enemies in 2-3 hits.
2. A decent combination is Throwing Axe + Smithing Hammer. It's not especially strong, but it is extremely balanced in that you can use the throwing axe in melee or throw it at enemies like Wizards or fan operators you want to deal with at range. If you throw your axe, you can immediately fall back to using your hammer as a backup weapon, and naturally keep your armor in top condition.
3. It's a great weapon to poison also.


===TNT Box===

1. As of 3.3, you can throw this at monsters and it will do damage without destroying the tower.
2. It will also explode if it gets hit.

===Wands===

1. Wands are unreliable as regular use weapons, but very powerful in specific scenarios where you can start off a fight with an insta-kill.
2. They are great for flipping switches at range.
3. You can aim the spell as it finishes, so using a wand is a great way to cheat the cup game. Just fire anything that isn't an instant death spell into a wall, reserving a death spell for the cup monster.
4. It's a great solution to fans.
5. It's situationally a great solution to trolls.
6. If you use a wand on a band while they are playing, it hits all members of a band.
7. What Von Wanst says indicates what will happen.
8. Wands don't work while anyone is talking, and Von Wanst will just swing it instead. I guess he is too polite to interrupt for magic words.

Weak Damage:
Simsalabim
Simsalabim-Bam
Agitatus
Aggrivatus

Instant Death for normal enemies:
Abraca-Doom
Simbalabim-bam dusela-dim

Poison:
Gifto Patifto
Expectus Pukus

Transform enemy into a broom or misc object like a snail or a brain:
Brimborium
Abra ka broom
Hocus Malocus
Presto Critero

Weak Damage + Generate a small item (usually a honk horn or rat trap):
Appearo Crapulous
Hunkus Junkus

Cures poison:
Heebus Jeebus

Speed up Target:
Hocus Hustlus

Strengthen Target:
Sim Sala Swole

===Musical Instruments===

1. You can get them by shaking dead monsters sometimes. It is a low chance with most normal monsters, but the band monsters are much more likely to drop them. (Violin, Trumpet, Lute)
2. The fourth instrument is the: honk horn
3. After giving the four instruments to the bard, he will create a new instrument, which you can get in the tower and sell for 55 gold.


===Barrel===

1. Barrels are wearable as armor, but aren't repairable.
2. Don't throw barrels at monsters until you have worn them at least once. Barrel armor is safe to throw, but if you've not put it on yet and it hits a monster, it will explode the tower.

===Brick===

1. Trying to Use/Eat a brick will knock out one of your teeth.
2. If you want to sell gold/diamond teeth in town, just buy a brick and try to eat it. It will knock teeth out for sale, though they occasionally glitch and can't be picked up afterward, usually it works.

===Genie Lamp===

1. The genie can give you a second chance, a spare lamp, or a piece of gear obtained by a monkey's choice mini-game.
2. I always just go for gear.
3. A strong weapon is my first go-to, usually a straight gold sword or a spiked mace. If I want to off Evelius early on, the gold flamberge is also a solid choice.
4. Other solid choices are Gold Armor/Helmet, or potions to achieve long lasting effects.
5. If you are at the very end of a run, as in within Evelius' room after he has unlocked the door for you, or at the exit of the caves, you can use a genie lamp to get a priceless ming vase and sell it for 100 gold the first time, 25 on subsequent sales.

===Honk Horn===

1. Repels and stuns bees.
2. Repels bats.
3. Repels dark room faces.
4. Causes the pit guy to yell and retreat into the pit.

===Hourglass===

1. Send it down the pipe with the completed pipefitter, and you can sell it in town for 100 gold.


===Large Sack===

1. The large sack is excellent for gold runs and can hold 100 coins. You can get one by getting a payout more than 20 coins from the pawn shop. Take it into the tower with you on a geared run.

===Ming Vase===

1. You can sell it in town for 100 gold.
2. The easiest way to get one out of the tower is by asking the genie for one at the bottom floor.

===Potions===

Red Potion = Increases damage, allowing you to one shot almost all enemies.

Bubbling Red Potion = Alcohol. It clears poisoning from you or your followers, and also reverses your controls.

Purple Potion = Monster Transformation. Temporarily turns you into a monster. As a monster, Evelius and monsters will leave you alone, but your followers if you have them will attack you.

1. It will transform Evelius into a stool temporarily. (I really want to try transforming him and crushing him with a pillar, but haven't done so yet.)
2. It will transform items into monster items, for example a sword will become a rusty sword.
3. Drinking one while transformed into a monster will turn you into a broom.

Bubbling Orange Potion = Doesn't really seem to do anything but remove other potion effects, but gives you the bottle back. It may also count as food and cure poison, but I have never had an opportunity to test this.

Green Potion = Poison. Throw it at a bladed or spiked weapon to poison it. (Has to be aimed properly.) You can also throw it at an enemy to poison them, but it is rarely worth it to do so.

Yellow Potion = Speed. Very situational but useful for escaping spiked ceilings.

Black Potion with Skull = Death. You can throw it at a powerful enemy like the cup game monster to one shot it.

Blue Potion = Cure. You can drink it to cure poison, throw it at a follower to heal them, or throw it at a monster or broom to transform them into a peasant.

Gold Potion = Makes things golden, typically used on armor or to upgrade keys to crown keys.

===Cloth Armor / Noble Clothes===

Normal Monster Hits: 2
Repairable: No

Noble clothes are worth selling once, but after doing this once, plate armor is better all around.

===Barrel===

Normal Monster Hits: 3
Repairable: Yes (With wooden mallet)

===Chainmail===

Normal Monster Hits: 4
Repairable: Yes

The Gold variant sells for more but seems not to be better in combat.

===Plate Armor===

Normal Monster Hits: (Not yet counted, but more than chainmail)
Repairable: Yes

The Gold variant sells for more but seems not to be better in combat.


===Cloth Hat / Noble Hat / Straw Hat / Wizard Hat / Bee Hive===

Normal Monster Hits: 1
Repairable: No

Noble clothes are worth selling once, but after doing this once, metal armor is better all around.

Shake the bees out of the bee hive before putting it on, or they will kill you.

===Spike Helmet===

Normal Monster Hits: Normal Monster Hits: (Not sure, but this is the weakest metal helmet.)
Repairable: Yes

===Saucer Helmet===

Normal Monster Hits: Normal Monster Hits: (Not sure, but this is the middle of the road metal helmet.)
Repairable: Yes

===Cone Helmet===

Normal Monster Hits: (Not sure, but this is the best one.)
Repairable: Yes

The Gold variant sells for more but seems not to be better in combat.


===Shields===

1. They can save you from hits, but it is directional.
2. All are repairable with the smithing hammer despite not being made of metal.
3. Riddle Master Shield > Wooden Green Shield > Round Wooden Shield > Pillow
4. As of version 3.3, there is now also a green diamond shaped shield and roman shield. Both seem good, but I haven't tested to see how they stack up against the Riddle Master Shield.
5. I've been told the wooden hammer can repair the roman shield.

===Pawn Shop===

1. The pawn shop will initially purchase items at full price, but subsequent sales will only give half value.
2. Particularly profitable items to sell are:

Priceless Ming Vase: Easiest to obtain by using a genie lamp at the very end of the tower, but before going outside.

Crown: Obtained from the Caves

Special Instrument: This is the Bard's creation, obtainable after completing the bard questline.

Hourglass: Send it down the pipe.

===Castle===

1. You can invest gold into the creation of a gold statue of Von Wanst.
2. This has to be built and paid for in several stages.


===Pipefitter===

1. The pipefitters will provide you free gaskets as you successfully install them in the tower. There is one broken pipe in each of the colored sections of the tower, and a final one in the right side of the Evelius room at the exit.
2. If you want a gasket in the pawn shop, remember to sell one before completing the pipe repairs.
3. If you die after installing a gasket, it still counts.
4. I didn't die and fail to install a gasket during my initial repairs, but I think there might be a charge for a replacement under those circumstances. (Needs Confirmation.)
5. After completing the pipe repairs, you can send items down the pipe at increasing cost each time: Gray(Free), Green(2), Purple(4), Exit(6), Town(8) to access the stored item.
6. The pipefitter now lets you take the hourglass out of the tower where you can sell it for 100 gold.


===Bard===

1. The bard will ask for instruments from the tower.
2. These are found primarily by shaking normal monsters. The highest drop rate is from the band monsters, but you can get them from monsters in general.
3. After completing the quest, you can find the bard in the tower, where you will get his creation, which is both a decent weapon and fetches a good price in the pawn shop. He also drops noble clothes.

===Level Clues===

1. If you find something on the floor in the main room of a level, it tells you something about what is on the level.

Frog = Potion Cauldron
Green Coin = Hubert
Red Hairs = Alva
Light Blue Scrap = Sobu
Gray Scrap = Peasant

2. If you encounter a monster with a key (usually at the start of the level), you are probably in the room with the exit (I've only encountered one run where it was not). The chest for the key will be in another room.

===Cheating at the cup game===

(See Rooms)

===The Caves and Cave Chest===

1. After you've escaped successfully (I think you may have to kill Evelius once also) the caves open up at the far end of the last room.
2. In the caves, followers you find down there will slowly go insane and attack you if you enter the same rooms enough times. I've seen followers who were found in the towers complain about the caves, but have never had one attack me. Peasants found in the caves do it quickly though.
3. Unbroken cobwebs mark rooms you've not entered before.
4. In the caves, you will find a room guarded by a troll which includes a burning torch. Hit the torch to open a secret room. In this room is a locked black chest which opens with the crown key. There are three ways to get the crown key. The easiest is to make one using a golden potion and a normal key. It can also rarely be found in the cup game room as a prize, or in the Indiana Jones room. Inside is a crown you can sell for 100 gold the first time, and 25 gold on subsequent times.

===Potion Secrets===

1. If you drink two potions in rapid succession, they last a long time, including across multiple runs. I've been told this is endless, but poison, orange potions, or eating slimes will dispel it.
2. You can make a golden potion by putting two golden objects (just use coins) into the cauldron. This is mostly useful for making crown keys and upgrading iron armors / helmets.
3. You can use a blue potion to transform brooms or monsters into peasants.
4. Throwing a purple potion at Evelius will turn him temporarily into a stool (See fighting Evelius)