Just Getting Started

Welcome to Idle Slayer! You're just getting started - you've got a fun game ahead of you! This is not one for the faint of heart, and it takes quite a lot of time to progress. But there are a ton of different game mechanics throughout the play progression, some fun surprises and elements, and it’s easy to progress as a free to play player.

While you’re just getting started, familiarize yourself with the Ascension Tree and general game mechanics. Click on things and read descriptions. Make use of the Ascension Tier List when making decisions about the order in which to spend your Slayer Points (SP).

#### The Basics

Understand the key mechanics of the game will help everything make more sense. Do not neglect understanding how these two components work!

##### Coins Per Second (CpS)

You’re going to hear a lot about “coins per second,” because all the coin earning in the game is based on your “CpS.” You’ll get your biggest CpS boost from the Ascension CpS Bonus (which is listed on the Ascension menu). During an individual ascension, you’ll increase your CpS Bonus (listed in your options menu) buy purchasing and upgrading equipment and by buying various upgrades. At later game stages, there will be other options to increase your CpS as well.

The value of coins and the value of enemies is both based on your CpS. Offline earnings are based on your CpS… so if you want to buy more and more expensive things, increase your CpS. But! Like was mentioned earlier - your CpS is mostly based on Slayer Points. And so…

##### Ascending

Ascend often! Your ability to earn coins and Slayer Points (SP) increase every time you ascend. Your total SP increases your bonus Coin per Second (CpS) earning dramatically, and because of Soul Reaper (an upgrade purchased very, very early), every Slayer Point  increases the number of souls you earn. For each SP you get, you need four more souls to get the next SP, so it is a good strategy to ascend often. The game is a little deceptive: coins seem like the thing you want. Ultimately, they’re not: you want SP.

Ascend often! It's never not the right time to ascend!

#### Equipment

Unlock equipment to increase your CpS. Each equipment item can be upgraded when they reach level 10, and then every multiple of 50 afterwards. Each of those upgrades will add 100% earning to that item at this stage in the game, so upgrade as often as possible. Your most recently purchased equipment will be doing the heavy lifting for CpS gain, so focus there.

The Chain Mail of Greed is an important purchase at 5.00e8 (500M) coins. It will give you a CpS boost for every total level of all your equipment. For this reason, it's valuable to level up all your equipment as much as possible. After purchasing the Chain Mail of Greed, first level your most recently acquired piece of equipment as high as you'd like. Then, simply purchase "Max" for the rest of the items down the list.

Certain items will also contain game play boosts at various levels. The equipment levels you'll want to reach at this stage for these upgrades are:

* Sword, Lvl 300 - Fetch Me Their Souls (increase souls gained from enemies)
* Armor, Lvl 50 - Magnet Power 1
* Helmet, Lvl 150 - Magnet Power 2
* Boots, Lvl 200 - Mega Boost

For the complete list, consult this page.

In addition, depending on what you’ve unlocked in the ascension tree, your sword, dagger and ax will be giving you a bonus for every level. Upgrade these three as high as possible if the corresponding weapon's Edge upgrade is unlocked.

Most equipment items are available once you hit certain coin levels, but after the necklace, each equipment item needs to be unlocked through quests. Your next equipment will be the Gloves. They’ll feel unattainably expensive, but remember -  the biggest factor in your coin earning is your Ascension Bonus CpS - so keep ascending and you’ll be able to unlock them soon!

After your first few ascensions having purchased the gloves, you’ll be able to return to glove level quicker and you’ll be able to upgrade all items rapidly. Work to collect all achievements tied to equipment leveling, as this will help boost your CpS.

#### Quests

Throughout the game, quests will help unlock bonuses, upgrades, enemy evolutions, equipment, and help you more easily progress through the game. Click here for a list of quests. After finishing Tiers 1 and 2 in the Ascension Tree Tier List, start focusing on quests. Pay special attention to enemy evolutions and soul bonuses, which pay quick dividends.

As soon as you unlock the Bag (and crafting), work to craft the Diary. You'll want to complete daily quests as frequently as possible. For each daily quest you complete, you'll get a dragon egg; crack these for rewards! As the game progresses, one of the most valuable materials only comes from dragon eggs: dragon scales. It's recommended to begin collecting scales as soon as possible; start cracking them open as soon as you unlock Divinities (more on that below). But, don't crack eggs if you're maxed on scales! You'll definitely want more later!

#### Portals

You'll use the portal to take you to different dimensions. They'll quickly become essential for progressing in quests. Consult this guide regarding portal cycles.

However, it should be noted that the Hills dimension (where you start) benefits from having the Hill's Giant. Many other dimensions have giants, but they won't be unlocked for a while. As a result, Hill's is by far the best place to farm souls and SP in the earliest game. Camp here for a while - maybe even until the Legendary Belt (Tier 3).

Once you’ve left Hills, as a general rule of thumb, portal only when you've exhausted every reason to be in a particular dimension. Complete all quests in that dimension before going elsewhere. You're at the whim of where the portal takes you, so don't leave yourself needing to return!

Once you’ve unlocked crafting and can collect materials, get whatever you need from a dimension before you leave. And, after you’ve crafted the diary and have access to daily quests, resist the urge to use your portal to try and complete a daily quest (just reroll it).

#### Minions

Right after you purchase the Legendary Belt, you’ll have a choice: buy the Sacred Book of Projectiles (to the right of the belt) and its associated upgrades, or head down and pick up your first two minions. You should head down. Get the White Knight and the Dark Wizard!

Minions complete “missions.” Each mission costs a set amount of Slayer Points, and rewards a set amount of slayer points. Completing a mission increases the level of the minion, which in turn increases the reward. For the first few missions, all minions will cost more than they bring in. But after a while the script will flip, and minions will be a helpful source of Slayer Points.

More importantly, you’ll want as many minion levels as possible when you first unlock “Divinities” (below). For this reason, start leveling your minions! Take advantage of the minion notifications as an added bonus!

#### Bow

As you follow the Tier List to unlock ascension skills, you’ll soon unlock the Sacred Book of Projectiles and enable use of your bow. At this point, leveling your bow aggressively becomes important as there are helpful upgrades related to bow level. You’ll be able to increase the firing speed - and even more importantly - the amount of souls gathered by using the bow.

You’ll end up doing almost all your slaying via bow - it will be a gamechanger!

Save for and unlock Stability and Triple Shot immediately after unlocking the use of the bow. These two upgrades significantly improve the gameplay.

#### Crafting

The next major gameplay change will be unlocking the Bag and beginning to collect materials from various enemies. You'll use these materials to craft items in the new menu you just unlocked. Some of these early crafted items can really change gameplay, so make sure you look through the item descriptions and prioritize what you can and should buy. In particular, you'll be interested in purchasing the Diary, Earth Gloves and Anima Potion.

#### Quick Gameplay Tips

##### Silver Box Stacking

Stacking silver boxes is a great casual gameplay strategy. If you cannot play for extended periods of time, attempt to open the game and check it every so often. Open it long enough to activate the silver box bonus; this will increase your number of remaining silver boxes until you’re ready to actively play for a while. People have stacked hundreds or thousands of silver boxes together.

##### Full Screen Menus on Mobile Pause Spawning Boxes

If you’re not playing actively on mobile, open the ascension, upgrade or crafting menu while your phone is in profile orientation. This will allow you to check and re-quest minions, and you can even collect silver boxes. But, while a full-screen menu is open in profile on mobile, random boxes will not spawn in the game, so you won’t miss anything or face any extended buffs you might need to play out.

#### Slayer Point Farming and Basic Play

You'll be moving around quite a bit during this gameplay period, so it's not necessary to think extensively about farming Slayer Points. But don't hesitate to wait in a particular dimension for a while if you're collecting materials. Factory will become your best SP farm, with Mystic Valley and Haunted Mansion not far behind.

Complete those quests, Ascend frequently to feed minions, and get more and more total SP. The game is about to grow as you finish the end of this section, so hold on!