Getting started guide (early game strategy)

This page describes gameplay strategy for beginning heroes (those still in the starting city of Valmorgen).

## Hero attributes

Before reading this section, make sure you've understood the hero **attributes**. It is also important to understand that, when you first register your hero, his or her starting attributes are randomly selected based on the **Starting Attributes** ranges. You can "reroll" a hero by clicking *Options*, deleting the character and re-registering. Consider the following:

* Vitality - Vitality determines the amount of hit points that a hero has. It is still nice to have as much as vitality possible. For low-vitality classes such as Wizard, having more vitality may make the beginning stage of the game easier.
* Strength - With the introduction of the weight system, this stat has gained enormous importance, since it limits the amount of the items and gold heroes may carry along. Thus it's better better to have as much as STR possible especially for classes whose primary stat is not STR.
	+ This stat also affects melee damage only, per 8 points. As such, the difference between 23 and 24 STR is equivalent of 2 damage increase in weapon (provided you do not have Slayer ability). Consider this for melee and ranged characters when deciding whether to reroll, especially if you are not a Strength class. (this would mean you would be 1 short of the damage bonus at 24 indefinitely).

* Intelligence - If your class has this as its primary attribute then every point counts! Spell damage is added for every 4 points, but intelligence is ALSO used to determine whether the spell pierces resistance or not. If you are a dumber class, ensure you have at least 11 intelligence in order to purchase spells easily. A dwarf with 11 INT or more will be able to purchase spells directly, while another dwarf with 10 INT needs to pay 9500 gold and spend 10 turns in order to raise INT to 11, which is quite a difference at the start of the game.

All randomized attributes (Vitality, Strength, Intelligence, Willpower, and Artifice) can be trained up to 12. Therefore, if all possible values for your hero class are 12 or lower, there are no permanent consequences for not rerolling. However, even if the attribute can be trained to 12, a higher starting attribute value will reduce the amount of gold necessary for subsequent training.

Note though that in the long run, item bonuses will certainly be more of a deciding factor than your base stats.

## Overview of the early game

Once your hero has been registered, you'll be introduced to the Town Crier. The Town Crier has some valuable information for new players. Now is a good time to review the building descriptions for locations in Valmorgen.

Most heroes should begin by going to the Valmorgen blacksmith to buy a 100 gold weapon and a 100 gold armor. Now, go to the ***Items*** sidebar (the second icon from the left) and click ***View Items***. Select and equip the purchased weapon and armor. Note that at this stage of the game, Monks cannot weapons and Barbarians cannot armor. If your hero is a Wizard or Priestess, purchasing a weapon is not necessary, since these classes rely on spell attacks.

New heroes start off going to the sewers, progressing to the Lower Sewers, and eventually the Ratman Kingdom. However, some classes have low parry and still aren't ready to face the sewers unaided. Spending turns praying at a temple will give these classes the boosts they need to stay alive. If you find you are still having trouble you may consider hiring a follower to help you out though he will take some much needed experience points as compensation.

### Earning gold

Gold is earned by one of these methods:

* Going directly to the sewers and defeating enemies in combat, and, in doing so, attaining items and selling them at the blacksmith or gnome hovel to earn gold. Strong melee classes, such as Adepts and Warriors of Discord, can head straight to the sewers after purchasing a 100 gold weapon and a 100 gold armor.
	+ In the sewers, Royal Rat-Catcher offers quests that the hero can complete to gain a fair amount of gold. (800 gold in total, +XP from killing the rats, not repeatable). Immediately grab these quests as soon as you find the rat catcher. By the time it gets difficult, you will be ready for sewers 2 anyways.
* Doing Guard Duty (at the city gates) (3 gold, 6 XP per turn). This is generally a lousy option and should only be used if you really need a simple way of earning gold.
* Doing City Patrol (at the city gates) (5 gold, additional gold and XP depending on the monster faced). This is very similar to entering the sewer, except you will not find any items. However, you do get a free "tower follower" that assists you in combat and pretty much ensures that you survive the encounters. Note that the tower shoots, so you will gain relatively little XP from this option.
* Doing construction work (Dwarves and Gnomes only, at the Valmorgen Palace) (10 gold, 15 XP per 3 turns). This is marginally better than guard duty, but both available classes have better options.
* Some heroes with high luck can earn money at the Gambling Hall. It is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you do this immediately so you can reroll if things go poorly, and to equip yourself better before combat. Note that even luck-less heroes can use this as a cheesy/desperate way to kickstart a difficult character (such as a Healer who really needs PowerShock and a follower before they can effectively fight in the sewer).
* Some heroes that begin with the stealing ability can steal from shops and resell the loot at the same shop for cash. Once again, this is a great thing to do on your first turn. If things go too poorly, you can "reroll." Note that stealing is now very effective. A 30 artifice 10% stealing rogue has about a 30% chance of stealing a Ring of Protection, and a much better chance of nabbing a 100 gold item successfully from the Blacksmith and then purchase the ring. At level 1, stealing rewards the player with 200 exp regardless of whether the stealing attempt was successful.

### Valmorgen sewers

Below are the goals for the first part of the early game, which take place in the sewers.

* **Reach at least level 7** by adventuring in the Valmorgen Sewers. Level 7 is REQUIRED to take the Venn's Spire challenge (or Sewer Quests to Mayhew), which is needed to move on with the game.
* **Spend gold in the following order of priority**:
	+ Purchase the following spells from the library: FlameShield and then PowerShock (Healer should buy PowerShock first). If your INT is less than 11 you will have to put this goal off.
		- *Wizards will need to purchase all spells up to Meteor Storm.*
		- *Warriors of Discord do not need PowerShock in the early stages of the game, since their melee attack is generally much more powerful than PowerShock.*
	+ Purchase a Ring of Protection (500 Gold) from the Marketplace.
	+ Purchase the best armor and weapon available from the Valmorgen blacksmith and then enchant it to +3 at the Wizards Guild. Armor has priority over the weapon.
		- *Wizards, Priestess, Healers, Barbarians and Monks will not be able to purchase Armor until after leaving Vamorgen*
	+ It may be beneficial to purchase a stack of Wands of Lightning Storm, as they aren't available in Venn's Spire. Some potions of monster detection, poisons and possibly some invisibility gems are advisable but they can be bought in Venn's Spire.

This list does not apply for all classes. Specific cases are discussed below. For most classes, obtaining gold is a top priority. Without gold to purchase equipment and spells, your hero is at a great disadvantage. Armor is especially valuable (more so than weapons in the early game) because you're likely to be outnumbered, having to defend in combat more often than you can attack. Healing is also rather difficult in the early game, so every Hit Point saved is a tragedy avoided!

### Temples and piety

Temples offer blessings, many of which can easily turn the tide of battle. Temple enchantments cost piety, which, in the early game, is generally obtained by praying. The higher a hero's Willpower, the more piety is gained per turn spent praying. Note that certain classes are affiliated with a patron god, and are therefore not welcomed at temples to opposing gods. However, all hero classes have at least temple they can pray to for a blessing. It should be noted that once you choose a temple to pray to, you will lose piety with the opposing temple(s). For a complete description of the piety system, please see the *Temples* article.

The following blessings tend to be the most useful in the early game:

* Wind Storm (Temple to Lunord) – Wind Storm is an offensive spell that targets multiple enemies. While the cost of obtaining this spell is relatively high, it is extremely powerful, especially when used by intelligence-based heroes.
* Stone Skin (Temple to Dauros) – Stone Skin gives a large passive boost to armor (+6), which is one of the most important stats in the early game.
* Vigilance (Temple To Dauros) – Vigilance gives a large passive boost to many stats, one of which includes Willpower. Since Vigilance boost willpower, having Vigilance active will increase the effectiveness of additional turns spent praying.
* Animate Bones (Temple to Krypta) – While not technically an enchantment, this feature at the Temple to Krypta gives you skeleton followers without requiring bold.

## Healing and followers

Early heroes may rely on resting at temples to heal battle damage to save gold. Eventually, at a certain point, once the hero makes enough gold to keep up with purchasing Healing Potions from the marketplace, it is preferable to use healing potions rather than resting, since resting takes away valuable turns. Note that for classes that can do so, healing grubs from the Gnome Hovel are more cost effective, and more 'precise' since they heal in increments of +5HPs.

ProTip: When using grubs/potions, just type in a quantity of 11 or 111 and the game will automatically use an appropriate number of grubs to heal you to full. Its a little easier than calculating it each time.

Followers are an element in the game that can be useful to some classes. Followers cost money to hire and reduced the experience gained by heroes after combat (if followers damage foes, they leach XP that would otherwise go to the hero when they deal damage in combat), but can significantly aid the hero in gaining gold. Certain classes weaker in the beginning, such as Healers and Rangers, benefit from using followers, whereas others are better off avoiding them altogether. In general, ranged/casting classes with higher damage output and weaker defenses benefit more from followers.
Followers only regain hitpoints in three ways: Occasional 1 HP on uneventful turns, Resting in the Inn (10HP per turn), and being resurrected. You can recruit up to 6 hirelings.

Note that several classes can go to a Shrine to Krypta and acquire up to 3 Skeletons through the "Animate Dead" spell gained by Prayer. This takes about 10 turns for 1 to 3 Skeletons for most moderately high Willpower classes. Skeletons have an excellent upgrade potential and are NOT included in the 6 hireling limitation. Indeed, a Priestess can have 3 of her own Skeletons, 3 from Krypta, and 6 hirelings.

## Beginning difficulty ratings

This table reflects the relative ease of getting through the Valmorgen sewers stage of the game. These ratings are not based on the difficulty ratings assigned by the developers as seen on the character creation page. Difficulty ratings at the character creation page are, to a great extent, unhelpful or even misleading because they are outdated and do not take into account the variance in difficulty through different stages of the game.

* **Very easy**: Priestess, Gnome\*, Cultist\*
* **Easy**: Adept, Monk, WoD, Solarus, Paladin, Healer, Elf
* **Medium**: Warrior, Dwarf, Wizard, Rogue
* **Harder**: Ranger
* **Very hard**: Barbarian

\*Ratings for Gnome and Cultist are based on the gambling strategy.

## Approaches for specific hero classes

### Conventional melee classes

This section applies to the following classes:

* Adept, Monk, Paladin, Solarus, Warrior of Discord (relatively easy)
* Dwarf, Warrior (relatively harder)

These classes follow the most conventional path in the early game. The first row of classes listed above all should breeze through the early game with relative ease due to their high defense capabilities or high attacking power. The second row of classes are more challenging due to their lower defense values, but the idea should be approximately the same, only that these classes will take longer to develop early on. It should be noted that the Dwarf class is classified as "Beginner" primarily due to its impressive capabilities *after* the early game.

Players should generally follow the guidelines listed earlier in this article. This includes buying spells, a Ring of Protection, and eventually a full set equipment. Heal by resting in temples until you've gained enough equipment so that you can make enough money to keep a steady stream of healing aids. This occurs once you can comfortably fight in the (upper) sewers, and progress to the lower sewers where gold is more abundant. Remember that the most important goal is to gain enough gold to buy a full set of equipment, which will increase your efficiency.

Dwarves and Warriors will not be able to progress to the lower sewers and Ratman kingdom as quickly as the other heroes listed above. For that reason, the choices are either to stay back in the upper sewers for a longer time, or purchase followers or temple blessings. Followers will leech your XP and require turns to rest at the temple. However, by fighting stronger foes, you get more gold which helps you get your equipment goals faster. Since the purpose of followers is to help you gain gold faster, the upfront cost is an issue. An option is to turn to the dark side and ask Krypta to animate some skeletons for you. This works fairly quickly (15 turns or so) as a Dwarf due to your high willpower. Not so much for the warrior...

Once you've gained enough gold to have the best armor in the blacksmith with +3 enchantment, you'll be able to survive in the Ratman Kingdom using healing potions and without followers. When that happens, dismiss your followers, if any, or do not revive them after they die.

Warriors have the advantage of using bucklers or shields, so make sure you equip those items when you find them in the sewers or after purchasing from the blacksmith. The Wooden Large Shield, for example, gives the wearer 3 armor points for a meager cost in gold. Therefore, these two items should be top priority, even before the ring of Protection.

### Barbarians

For barbarians, begin by buying the 100 gold axe. Save the extra 100 gold for later, since the 1-point damage difference between 100 and 200 gold axe is not significant. Stay in the sewers completing quests and save 500 gold to purchase a ring of protection, remember that health grubs are the cheapest form of healing outside of battle. You will next want to get FlameShield from the Library (if you lack the required 11 intelligence save up to train at the Library as the 4 armor the spell gives makes a large difference). Don't buy PowerShock. Then, get a Broad Axe and enchant to +3 at the Wizards Tower. The Amulet of Teleportation acts to increase your effective hit points as you can set your Heal and Flee HP settings lower in the options page. If you have ample turns and are struggling to turn a profit, praying for the Rage of Krolm enchantment will give you Double Attack, which combined with 8-32 damage and ~100 H2H gives a huge damage output.

The principle challenge of barbarians is that due to a lack of armor, there is no early threshold point at which they become powerful enough to fight through the Ratman kingdom economically, making the barbarian arguably the most challenging class in the beginning of the game.

### Wizards

Since wizards do not rely on melee combat, there is no need to buy weapons in the early game. (Wizards can ineffectively fight hand to hand and should use staffs with socketed beard rings later on, but for the early game, there is no need for weapons.) Instead, consider acquiring one or more followers either through Krypta, the Rogue's Guild, or the Warrior's Guild. This will allow you to survive long enough to gain a few levels and get some gold. Then use your gold to purchase the Ring of Protection and the library spells at first opportunity. An alternative approach is to obtain the Wind Storm enchantment. Wind Storm allows the wizard to do enough damage to take out most opponents with ease.

As a wizard, your first priority is to get to level 7 to purchase the powerful Meteor Storm spell. Wizards in the early game are entirely offense-oriented. They can barely take any hits before "melting." Due to their lower endurance, the use of melee followers is usually a good strategy, especially since they will leech little to no XP from you due to your high damage output. Once you have the Meteor Storm and all the other spells from the library, the game becomes straightforward for wizards.

### Priestess

The advantage of this class is that they get free skeleton followers and that their Drain Life spell has healing effects. The free skeletons are a significant advantage, which makes the Priestess early game the simplest of any class, since the automatically-replenishing skeletons are a powerful meat shield against enemies. (It's generally important to turn on the auto-dismiss feature in the options panel so that fallen skeletons are automatically replaced).

Another approach is to pray for up to 3 additional skeletons from the Temple to Krypta. This is a good plan early on if you are trying to manage your skeletons and get them upgraded into a powerful army, which is different from the auto-dismiss throwaway skeletons plan listed above. In general it results in less experience and requires turns spent resting in the temple. However it greatly decreases chances of dying and increases gold income since you can fight stronger encounters while lower level. It also assists against magic resistant foes in the Venn's Spire challenge.

### Elf, Rogue, Cultist, Gnome

The Elf, Rogue, Cultist, and Gnome classes all have non-conventional methods of attaining gold by stealing (Elf, Rogue) or gambling (Cultist, Gnome). The stealing ability can be used to attain items such as weapons and armor without having to purchase them. Be warned though, that the more valuable the item, the more difficult it is to steal them from the shop. At times, it is more efficient to simply steal lesser items and sell them back to the shop rather than to steal higher-level items for use.

Cultist and Gnome both have high luck attributes, which make them ideal for the gambling hall. Statistically, these two classes are more likely to win than lose money at the end of the day, so make sure you use this to your advantage. It is not only possible, but VERY IMPORTANT to gain enough gold to fully purchase all equipment and spells without even setting foot in the sewers! Plus, you can buy a goodly amount of consumables from the Wizard shop (Wand of Lightning Storm for hard fights, heals, full enchant, invisibility gem, etc.) Looks like luck does (literally) pay off. It is possible to obtain about 10,000 gold in 50-60 turns. This is a MUCH better starting strategy than building or gate-guarding. If you are too unlucky in gambling, you can always start over since you haven't gotten very far...

After stealing and gambling, the rest of the strategy for these four classes is the same as the generic ones. Refer to the list of goals mentioned earlier and use healing and followers (Elf, Rogue, Cultist) whenever necessary. Do not forget to purchase the crucial spells available at the library. Cultists, in particular, should strive to reach level 7 as quickly as possible to make use of the powerful Change Shape spell which provides attribute bonuses as well as free healing. Cultists begin with spellcasting, which makes things go fairly smoothly.

### Rangers

Without the craftiness of elves, rangers are more challenging to get through than their wine-loving archer counterparts. Furthermore, their sense of nature doesn't seem to come in too handy in the filthy dark sewers. For all practical purposes, though, rangers play roughly with the same objectives in mind as many other classes, such as focusing on increasing armor and weapons and learning spells. It take them longer, or with the use of more assisting features (followers and/or blessings), to get out of their weak early stage. Praying to Krypta for skeletons or hiring followers will compensate for the weak defenses of Rangers. Since ranged combatants get multiple attacks before melee combatants during combat, this gives you a head-start on your followers as far as recouping as much XP as possible. It also allows you to skip usage of healing potions and focus solely on a better bow, enchantment, and PowerShock to boost offense. The cost is that you must rest to let followers recover HPs and you gain significantly less XP from fights. This is partially recouped in that you are much less likely to die and can fight stronger foes more quickly.

### Healers

Healers have very little combat ability at the beginning. As such, it really is not even worthwhile to buy a dagger. Instead, the best approach is to do City Patrol (not Guard Duty) which gives you a temporary follower which will attack foes for you. You get no XP, but more quickly acquire gold. Right at 250 gold, buy Power Shock from the library. This is basically your *only* offense, but in the early game it is a good one. Continue to do Patrols, but this time you should be gaining some decent XP and level up quickly. As long as you don't die in one hit, you can Heal yourself back to full health. You can buy a cheap Rogue's Guild follower for 100 gold which may abandon you, or hold out for an expensive, but reliable Fighter. Note that you will easily be able to heal your follower, so resting is never necessary. It also means your followers are effectively unkillable. Now you can fight in the sewers and level up.

An alternative is to immediately gamble for a few turns to try to cough up the 350 gold needed for Power Shock and a follower. Consider this if you don't mind restarting a few times.

By level 3 or 4, you have a regenerate spell and enough HPs to avoid getting killed in one hit, and enough gold to afford Flameshield and a Ring of Protection (and a dagger). You can dismiss your follower(s) and fight on your own for vastly more experience. Your offense is lousy, but since you are practically immortal, it doesn't matter how long it takes to kill foes. By level 7, you get your final spell which dramatically increases your toughness.

## Finally leaving Valmorgen

In order to leave Valmorgen city, heroes must generally complete the quest the Trial of Venn's Spire. (There is an alternate method, which is to complete a series of quests in the Sewer Tunnel, but this route is more difficult). Before entering Venn's Spire, the character should have all the above goals completed. Once this quest is initiated, you can still buy healing potions and most Wizards Guild items, but you cannot resurrect followers, enchant things, or buy Wands of Lightning Storm.

As soon as the player is level 7 they can ask the guards at the city gate for a way to leave Valmorgen or ask the Royal Rat-Catcher for more information about another way to leave Valmorgan. The Trial of Venn's Spire requires the player to leave for an area which does not contain all temples or shops, but it is considerably faster than the Sewer Tunnels quest package. A paladin, for example, can complete the Trials in less than 200 turns, while the tunnels will take several hundred - unless the player can defeat the goblin fortress without completing the quests. However, since wands are disabled this is not possible for low-level characters (even wizards around level 10 cannot defeat the towers in the 25 turns afforded by invisibility). Going straight through the Trials allows the character to go on and pick up many items such as the Green and Blue Charms and begin on other quests.

## The Trial of Venn's Spire

*See Article The Trial of Venn's Spire*
When you've fulfilled all the goals listed earlier and have a good amount of healing aids and gold, you are ready to enter the area around Venn's Spire. Once you enter this area, going back will cost all your gold, so entering underprepared can be an especially bad choice. For general tips on combat, see the article "Essential combat strategy." When playing through this area with a Wizard or Priestess, (or Rogue/Elf/Ranger for that matter) utilize followers to defeat monsters with high Magic Resistance and high toughness. If you do not already have followers for whatever reason, you can immediately hire level two hirelings in Venn's Spire. Having 10 Potions of Monster Detection and a few poisons before venturing forth is beneficial.

## Beyond the early stage

When you're done with Valmorgen, you can start exploring new locations in Ardania and hone your list of equipment. For this stage of the game, see midgame guide.