Strategies

Spellcaster University includes a lot of content and a long learning curve. This page is intended to new players struggling at some point or experienced players searching for something they may have missed.

## Tips

General things new players may be unaware of:

* By placing a room you already have, you can level up the room and increase its efficiency. But before upgrading a classroom, check the teacher's pedigree. If they are either Bad or Mediocre it might be better to erect another classroom of the same type to try and get a better teacher.
* Some rooms do not require teachers to work, this is advantageous for us because Teacher Salaries always tend to be more expensive than the Regular Upkeep fee.
* Avoid teachers that are both Greedy and Demanding at all cost! Their salary are ridiculously expensive (especially after Unionizing)! You can try to use an Infernal Pact to make them work for free, but its one of the rarer cards in the deck so don't count on it.
* Not all rooms have doors in every direction. Both adjacent rooms need a door in that direction to make your logistic ways. You can see in the card a blue wall for horizontal doors and a "yellowish door" for stairs. You can right click on a room card to see the doors, size, and whether it needs a space above it. Also, when placing rooms, the arrows shows the possible ways for characters to travel.
* It is generally a good idea to place rooms that can travel in all directions on the edges of the school and in the center (like this: 〸\_\_\_〸\_\_\_〸 ) for maximum accessibility. You could then place down artifacts in these locations as they will have a lot of traffic and boost many people.
* Most maps seem to have a 14 floor maximum. The Belvedere, Cloister of the Righteous, Guinea-pig Tower, Greenhouse and Observatory all need an extra space above the structure. This still applies when placing them near the top.
* Rooms get dirty and less efficient. Janitors restore that. You can use the lens/filter menu to learn about it yourself, it is right on top of the mana cards. You can never have enough Janitors; instead of leveling up existing Janitor rooms, place down additional Janitors and spread them apart.
* By using Arcane Equipment again you will reduce its level requirements by 1.
* Low or High reputation may give you different events. The Peasants may cut the supply to your kitchen and the Inquisition may change from giving gifts to attacking you constantly.
* Most bonuses, like Chosen of the Light, stack.
* Cards have rarity, you may learn it through experimentation.
* Check on your students walking away from the school to the town to see which needs you are not satisfying.
* Getting an Archmage is difficult. A student needs to reach the 4th level of magic in at least 4 subjects to get this as a possible future. You probably will only get one when the Lord of Evil attacks and may require reloading your save to try to get that future again. In campaign mode it helps to prioritize futures that give you permanent bonuses, over those that give you an instant rewards. This makes it "easier" to reach the Archmage achievement as you progress through the different maps. Another strategy to produce Archmages is to dedicate a house to 2 disciplines, with the other 3 forbidden.
* The best map to try and produce Archmagi will be the Lake (here's a screenshot of 12 Archmages from the Lake). By completing the lake monster Nessie's requests (which are quite easy, with a bit of mana, an aquarium, and four dragons, which are things you would wanted to have anyway), you will gain a buff that gives +40% learning rate to all students.
* If you get a "neutral bonus" at the end of the level, as make your students more intelligent by a level, and a curse to make them less intelligent by a level you still made progress in the campaign, you got some new permanent buffs during the stage.
* It is fine to reject bad new students, you may earn a new candidate in the next seasons with that. Be wary that each level do not have as many years for you to reject many, many, students.
* If you set your rules to give 30 gold per application, a card that gives 5 students will give you 150 gold. After using the card, you can change your rule back afterward to whatever you want.
* Always keep around at least 75 gold, as sometimes the annoying Parents will ask if you offer sponsorship to new students. By spending 75 gold you can gain two New Student cards, then proceed to use the trick above, changing the setting to 30 gold per application, to rake in a lot of quick cash for huge profit (remember to change setting back afterwards).
* If you're trying to fish for specific futures of high rarity (such as Archmage), then try and do so through the Elf students. Elven students only pick four of the best possible futures, so its 25% chance on average to be what future you want. Compared to other students that get offered more than ten futures and have the probabilities stretched thin, this is still a great improvement.
* For the love of all things holy, it is highly recommended to install the "Highlight Artifact" mod and "Outline Classroom" mod by Percy23.
* When using the Trophy Room, avoid putting in artifacts that have the wording "....for ***a low chance*** to...." because even though Trophy Room allows these artifacts to affect all adjacent rooms, it reduces their chances of triggering even further. It might be a better idea to place down artifacts that are guaranteed to work.
* With enough Banners that increase reputations, you can constantly spend reputation for impactful results during communication opportunities. For example, you can constantly ask the King to launch an assault on the evil lord to decrease their power with the cost of -15 reputation; with enough Royal Banners you can offset the cost significantly and frequently do this.
* Sometimes in the early game, even after you find all five types of classrooms for each specific collor, students just won't be able to find their way to those specific classrooms (like getting no Dark or Alchemy mana despite having multiple rooms for those). Force them to study by setting house studying priority to the desired element.

## Hints with mana

General uses:

* Gold: Rooms fulfilling student and teachers needs like tiredness, boredom, health and sanity.
* Nature: Specific component cards and "easy boosts" with Druidism. Helps Peasants.
* Light: Includes a good teacher room and help with the Inquisition. If you plan ahead, the trophy room may be very powerful.
* Darkness: Janitor and random components. Later in the game spending Darkness may give you Light. Can help with conservative parents and food for Orcs.
* Arcana: Good furniture to boost your most used rooms.
* Alchemy: Solves many events, especially with the Orcs.

Getting it:

* Gold: You can use your communication opportunity to contact the Kingdom or Adventure Guild to get some more, though doing so reduces your relationship with them. In your office you may alter your policies to earn more gold. You can also contact the Shady Merchants and buy artifacts from them. They usually include a canopy bed which can generate gold. A couple of canopy beds can start to rake in cash really quickly.
* Nature: The Peasants ask you what your school is about early each stage. You can also communicate with the Orcs.
* Light: The Peasants ask you what your school is about early each stage. You can get 50 relationship with the Inquisition (easier by burning darkness mana with them) and ask to learn about Light. Darkness can kickstart your Light late game.
* Darkness: The Peasants ask you what your school is about early each stage. Using your communication opportunity with the Peasants also have a chance to trigger an event that gives 200 darkness in exchange of some relationship. It's very worth it because you can easily raise Peasant relationship again with 25 nature mana. You can also gain Darkness by talking to the Evil Lord by spending relationship. Some stages like the Swamp have events with Darkness.
* Arcana: Late game you may get a bit of Arcana each time you place a room.
* Alchemy: Some communication with Peasants can give Alchemy but loses a lot of relationship with them. Late game a few 3 star books give you viable starts for this one.

## Hints with Campaign:

One of the easier routes seems to be: Lake, Forest, Swamp, Peaks, Desert and either Sky or Volcano.

You may want mana from your formed students at your first 3 years and aim for permanent buffs after that. Using the Form 'A Year Earlier' may help when you can already guarantee they will leave as something better than Village Mage.

### Good permanent items to have before the stages:

* Forest: Runic Scriptorium giving +15% in the same floor, make a wide school with one in every floor.
* Lake: Red Dragon or Sports Almanac (Bet in sports card gives 700 gold every year)
* City:
* Swamp: Faction relationship bonuses
* Sky: Item requirements to be 1 level lower.
* Peaks: Sports Almanac(700 gold every year)
* Volcano:
* Turtle: Card prices increased by only 50% the normal. Start with 2 extra houses and 2 students cards.

#### Map strategies:

* Lake: You will need: 4 Dragons, 3 Refectories or a Aquarium (Alchemy). Do it as early as possible. Start with +500 Arcana,+100 Alchemy
* Forest: Make a wide school, then place some Manavore Snakes on each floor. 3 floors is enough to start placing Greenhouse/Cloister of Righteous. Assassination classrooms can help with the troll.
* Swamp: Try to have a Assassination Room early to reset your negative relations through the student futures, Chains, and the Waffle Apparatus.You don't have much time to waste: Make friends with the Adventurers Guild first, you may get Orcs by events. Lord of Evil and Inquisition you get an event with parents by having Chains. The King get after you have a Runic Scriptorium and preferably a parkolift hat. The Inquisiton may come asking to burn things and alchemical ingredients are great for that, or you may burn 200 darkness mana to get +20. With the Peasants, try to have a Philosopher Stone (potion) before talking to them. Also, with Alchemy have the Infirmary you want for the stage.
* Peaks: Start with the Elementalist Dojo. Try to get Alchemy and Darkness soon to make potions. You have many years here so you may want to go for Archmage. Try to get friendly with the King (after you got a parkolift hat) to stall even more.
* Sky: You need to fill your students needs a lot since it's a long way to walk home. Get gold for that. Try to start the first building with only 5 spaces wide, and place your Jail and Janitors in the next slot. Go for Ingredients early.
* Volcano:
* Turtle: Try to start the objectives after 1/3 of the time has passed. Or you can go for the easier option by finding all five cards for the turtle, which can be done by constantly pulling cards, or spending 450 gold + 750 mana of all five colors when talking to the Turtle for a specific card that you just can't manage to pull.

## Combos

General advice:

* Nature: All rooms have a space to house a Green Dragon. Druidism is your most important aspect. Beast Magic is the least important but it (the stables) has 3 creature slots buffing any big school.
* Light: All of them have space for a Reliquary. Cloister of the Righteous is the most important room but it needs sunlight: Try to have around 3 floors or more built somewhere before having it. Only the Heroic Chapel has space for a Dragon.
* Darkness: It may be the mana you need less unless you focus on Darkness to get free Light mid/late campaign. No space for Dragons. The Crypt may be the best option because of the 2 frame spaces but Assassination gives help with many "easy futures".
* Arcana: Only the Elementalist Dojo has space for a Dragon. The Interdimensional Room will be used almost non-stop by your students. Elementalism and the Interdimensional Room may give you a specialized permanent buff, Time Magic is a good match with Sacred Magic.
* Alchemy: Potions and Enchant gives you permanent specialized buffs, but the Runic Scriptorium gives you general buffs and "floor wide" buffs later on in the campaign.

### Room Combos

The Time Hall has a picture frame where you may place a Sacred Magic Vitral and make your students Time Monks/Time Warriors. If you like that, you may also want to put 2 Big Hourglasses in the Cloister of the Righteous. With a mere Time Magic 2, Sacred 1 and Druidism 1 You may also get an Inventor (Alchemy cards cost -5).

The Interdimensional Room has space for a Time Crystal or Door to Another World. You may want it adjacent to a Psychologist or Belvedere (best with Elementalism Birds on it). Level 2 Interdimensional Room can also increase Demonology, this can be boosted further by placing a Demon Tapestry in the room. This is incredibly useful to let students meet the requirements to wear the "Sign of the Very Old Ones". You might also want to replace the Door to Another World with a Tentacle that boosts both Portal and Demonology in exchange for sanity; if you placed a Psychologist or Belvedere nearby as suggested, this can essentially function as a twin-subject study room.

Place a Medicine Cabinet or Magic Armor in your Level 1 Elementalist Dojo that has the dueling upgrade enabled.

Place a Scholar's Hand Eating Flower and Magic Armor and Medicine Cabinet in the Trophy Room to allow all adjacent rooms to alleviate boredom without worrying about health.

Look out for Clumsy teachers! Place an Ancestral Harp in their classrom to prevent Aberrations.

While its tempting to place Crystal Balls and Magic Hats solely in teacher lounges, drastic measures such as passing around Crystal Balls and Magic Hats through each classroom like a hot potato might be necessary (especially if you have the "HR Curse"). Once a truly horrible teacher has been improved by it, throw them at a different teacher.

All Light rooms have space for a Reliquary, you may want a Pyre too.

Immediately choose to take a Pagsus when you happen to find one from the Light Deck. It will improve the wealth of your students, and allow you to get a Stadium for free once the event pops up, and Stadium will then generate a lot of gold for you. When a merchant asks you to spruce up the stadium by either spending Prestige or Gold, always choose Prestige.

Do not place wall decorations in the Prisons, as they usually are only able to hold a single student. You could however place an Ivy or Ritual Orc Painting, which work regardless of how many students are in the room.

Avoid placing skill-related decorations in teacher exclusive areas, such as Teacher Lounges or Janitor Closet. Examples include: Cornucopia should be placed in the Referactory and not the Bright Staff Referactory.

Enchant rooms may have a Door to Another World or a Rune Stone (To get the Alchemy Talismã to new students).

Nature items are great, but some require Herbalism Level 1, you can spread some Herbalism picture frames around to guarantee that.

The Trophy Room goes great alongside the Refectory and Dormitory, but also big classrooms. For optimization you may want to keep in mind that Druids sleep less.

## How to Farm Archmages

(This is a screenshot of 78 Archmages and was taken right after I arrived on the Turtle stage)

Create Two houses

* One House should include bonuses such as Arcane Scholar/Shadow Disciple or Worker. We will call this the Purple Red House. Set Priority to Arcane and Shadow, forbid all other classes.
* Another House should include bonuses such as Alchemy Apprentice/Child of Nature or Worker or Ambitious. We will call this the Blue Green House. Set Priority to Alchemy and Nature, forbid all other classes.

Acquire the “Sign of the Very Old Ones”, preferably more than one.

Acquire the “Mechanical Owl”

Acquire all the relevant “Increase +30% mana” equipment of each color

Try to make a “Level 2 Interdimensional Room”, hopefully close to a Gazebo or Psychiatrist, enable the Abyssal Portal upgrade, then place a Tentacle and Demon Tapestry into the room.

Place down the other Arcane and Shadow classrooms around a Trophy Room, in any order or formation you like. Double Tentacles in the Trophy Room can be immensely helpful.

Include a Level 2 Crypt if possible, as it can grant students the Shadow Disciple trait. Level 3 Assasination classroom also includes quicker learning, and the Athletic trait that can make students move quicker.

Place down the Alchemy and Nature classrooms around a different Trophy Room, in any order or formation you like. Include an Armiliary Sphere, and Trophy Case to grant students the Passionate and Ambitious trait if possible. You do not need to if the house bonus already includes these traits.

Place down at least two Level 1 Prisons through the school, and enable Indoctrination which will make students Lawful.

Alchemy Classrooms like the Level 1 Rune and Level 2 Enchant rooms have an upgrade perk that allows Lawful students to learn more quickly.

The upgraded Potion Classroom will give you Alchemy Mana Potions for free, and the upgraded Greenhouse will produce two types of potion components; get a few decorations to produce other components such as Alcohol or Cheese for a constant stream of potions to provide extra mana. Look out for cleaning potion recipes and try to make as many cleaning potion as you can, use them once in a while.

Thanks to the Mechanical Owl, you can produce Nature Mana alongside Alchemy.

Create two different Common Rooms, and assign different houses for them. Place the Vegetal Beds in the common room for Blue Green House, do not let the other house use them.

Go to headmaster office and choose “Application Fee: Free application”, to get as many students as you can. You can also change other settings, such as “Organize Yearly Tournament” for quicker learning, ”Poor Discipline” to reduce boredom and punt students into the Prison more often to make them Lawful to boost Alchemy learning, “10 gold pieces salary per season” for hard working teachers.

Throw all the students that study for less than 3 years into the Purple Red House. Include students that study less than 5 years at your leisure. Their Arcane and Shadow levels will rise quickly and start wearing Sign of the Very Old Ones, especially if you managed to buy multiple ones and students only need Level 1 in Portal and Demonology. Upon graduation will push back Evil Lord Army by 1%.

Throw all the other students into the Blue Green House, especially the smart ones and ones that study for longer.

Practice common sense and place other useful rooms like Counselor Office, Janitor Closet or Libraries and whatever as you see fit.

Once you notice the Evil Lord Army bar reach around 75%, you might wish to consider choosing the “Reduce Curriculum by 1 Year” option to make students graduate more quickly; this won’t always work to produce more archmages (unless they are smart) but will guarantee students with Sign of Very Old One will graduate ASAP.

Optional:

Get as many Royal Banners as you can

Get as many Pig Towers as you can

Constantly talk to the King and ask them to push back the Evil Lord’s Army. Banners will offset the cost enough for you to regularly spam this.

You can visit the Merchant often and buy more artifacts and equipment. You have a better chance of finding crucial things like multiple Sign of Very Old One from the Merchant rather than pulling it from the deck. Sometimes contacting the Merchant will offer you New Elves, but this is very rare. Elves have high chance of becoming Archmages when set up correctly.

When going through the Arcane deck, choose the Deepfolk students as often as possible; put them into the Purple Red House and try to graduate early.