Overview
A collection of everything I’ve learned exploring the catacombs as well as some tips and stragies to help you make it to those lower levels.
Intro
Welcome to my guide, I hope that it will be able to help you survive just a little longer. This is a collection of everything that I have experianced on my own playthroughs and also has some of my personal preferences so keep that in mind. Also since the game is still in alpha things are subject to change so be aware.
The Bully
Easiest and most straightforward to play, the Bully is your token warrior character. The Bully has a bonus to Strength and can use a taunt to alert nearby enemies, why would you want to do that you ask? Sometimes it’s just better to let the enemies come to you, plus for every foe you alert you gain an instant power strike that causes you to deal maximum damage. The Bully is also more likely to start off with better equipment and weapon skills.
At rank 2 the Bully becomes a Bruiser. Now enemies die at 2hp and your taunt weakens foes and stuns them.
At rank 3 your now a Killer, you have a chance to instantly kill enemies by decapitation and all weapon skills are raised by one rank.
The Bully is unmatched when it comes to head-on combat, and taking on large groups of enemies with nothing but your weapon is entirely feasible. Unfortunately specking into something other than raw damage requires a bit of a commitment. Learning any magic other than the most basic of spells can be a challenge and more often than not your’re better off spending your points on skills and traits rather than spells. The Bully is a bit one-dimensional but is exceedingly good at what he does, which is smashing faces.
The Wanderer
Very mobile and an expert explorer the Wanderer navigates the treacherous catacombs with ease. Starting off with a boost to Speed the Wanderer is the very much the “Rouge” of Catacomb Kids. His special ability is to highlight the environment, allowing you to see if that large drop is safe or not. It also allows you to track items so that you can see them even if they’re in the darkness or outside your sight range. The Wanderer is also more likely to start of with better footwear or an exploration item like a lantern.
At Rank 2 the number of items as well as the range of your tracking is increased and you can climb faster.
At Rank 3 you can track even more items as well as enemies
The Wander is less suited to combat than other characters taking a hit in both the Strength and Magic departments. Subterfuge and stealth are the Wanderers best friend and no other character can use the environment to their advantage like the Wanderer can.
The Poet
A full blown mage character, the Poet is a bit lacking physically but makes up for it with intense magical prowess. Starting off with an obvious plus to Magic the Poets special is that he can use spell books as weapons with each having a different effect. The Poet also starts out with one random spell and one random spell book.
At rank 2 the Poet can charge up their special to make their equipped spell book have an enhanced effect as well as use skill points to learn spells.
At rank 3 the Poet uses less energy to cast spells and can manually aim projectile spells.
While the Poet starts out a bit weak this character really shines once you have a few spells and boons under your belt. Once you get going you’ll find that you use your weapon less and less having your spells and your tome as the primary source of damage. Learning all the different interactions and intricacies that each spell has is much easier with the Poet and allows for alot more versatility in overcoming obstacles.
The Tinkerer
Have you ever wanted one of those personal Amazon delivery drones. Well you can’t have one, but the Tinkerer can. Easily the most unique class the Tinkerer is a problem solver so he starts out with bonus Intelligence. His special is a small drone that follows you around and helps in all sorts of ways, fighting, exploring, and grabbing items to name a few. You can modify it’s behavior freely or take manual control to make sure it doesn’t do anything you don’t want it to. The Tinkerer also starts out with either a random contraption or potion and can even have a starter spell from time to time.
At rank 2 the Tinkerers bot has more health, does more damage and you can use the individual parts as weapons if your bot breaks.
At rank 3 the Tinkeres bot has even more health and can carry heavy items like chests.
The Tinkerer is a bit special in that he’s a jack of all trades with no real defining attributes other than his drone. The drone is super helpful and is basically a way better co-op partner than any real person. Because of this the Tinkerer himself is essential a blank slate and can be fine tuned to whatever your preferences are.
Stats
I talked about stats in the last section so lets go over that in detail now. As you all know on each floor there is an orb of leveling. Using that orb allowes you to level up and increase your stats and choose boons. Some stats can not be increased at the level you’re at based on your class or the stat you leveled up previously.
Strength
Strength increases damage, pretty simple. Your strength is given as a range (ex. 0 to 3) when you hit an enemy you’ll do damage equal to a random number in that range, minus the enemies defense. Your starting damage range depends on you class and increasing your strength will increase the maximum range (ex. 0 to 3 – 0 to 4).
Defense
Very straight forward, when you are hit by an enemy the damage you take is reduced based off your total defense. If your defense is high enough and the damage dealt is relatively small you’ll take no damage.
Speed
Speed will increase your attack and movement speed, the movement speed bonus applies to both normal movement and sprinting.
Intelligence
Intelligence allows you to see farther into the darkness and increases the rate you regain energy, also upgrading your intelligence with a skill point will identify a random unknown potion.
Magic
Having more magic means that you have more energy which is whats used to cast spells, upgrading your magic will increase your total energy and allow you to use more advanced spells.
Luck
Luck has a number of uses, the most apparent is that for every point of luck you have you get +5% critical hit chance, but luck also determines what kind of loot you find in chests, and can sometimes save you from being killed when at critical health.
Boons
Boons are special passive abilities that give a wide range of benefits. Each stat has it’s own set of boons that you can choose from after increasing said stat. As of now not all boons are implemented so expect things to change.
Strength
Rank 1
Heavy Lifting: Allows you to pick up and throw large items like boulders as well as enemies and you won’t be slowed down when carrying items like bodies and chests.
Pounce: If you’re holding an item you can press attack mid roll/shield bash to leap at enemies and tackle them, you can then hit them in the face with whatever you are holding.
Rank 2
Power Strike: Allows you to charge up your attacks to deal your maximum damage.
Grapple: Lets you throw enemies either left or right after you land an attack on them.
Rank 3
Weapon Master: Allows you to use “any” weapon skill with any weapon.(It says any, but some skills overlap and have priority over others. Plus it doesn’t work with bows.)
Living Weapon: Lets you use weapon skills while unarmed. (it also increases the range and damage of your punches)
Defense
Rank 1
Dire Block: If you attack an enemy and your weapons clash you’ll do a strong parry that will stagger the enemy making them unable to attack for a brief moment.
Disarm: Will cause an enemy to lose there weapon when your weapons clash, however they can still pick it back up so leap on the opportunity.
Rank 2
Unyeilding: Reduces damage from fire,ice,poison,electricity, and traps and will prevent you from dying instantly if you are at 75% health or higher.
Shake It Off: Makes you immune to critical hits and has a chance to stun enemies when they hit you.
Speed
Rank 1
Freerun: Allows you to run up walls and automatically evade traps while sprinting.
Stampede: Allows you to sprint through doors and trample enemies when sprinting, while trampling an enemy/enemies, they will be unable to attack until they break free, also any effect your armor or shoes have will also be applied to them while trampling.
Rank 2
Acrobat: Allows you to dodge attacks in the air and allows you to jump off of enemies.
Mighty Stomp: Allows you to perform an enhanced stomp attack that does more damage and stuns foes.
Rank 3
Breakthrough: Lets you charge up a jump that can break through doors and walls.(can be aimed left, right or up and only goes through walls that are 1 block thick)
Spindash: Be like Sonic and roll around at the speed of sound. (Hugs walls and ceilings basically making this freerun 2.0)
Intelligence
Rank 1
Deft Throw: Allows you to throw items much harder doing more damage, sometimes staggering enemies and gets rid of the throwing arc.
Trajectory: Allows you to aim when throwing items, time slows down for a brief period and gives you a tracer that shows were your aiming.
Rank 2
Alchemy: Allows you to mix potions and other materials together.
Dipper: Allows you to coat your weapon with a potion applying it’s effect for a good number of hits.
Magic
Rank 1
Incantation: Allows you to cast spells instantly but also causes all spells to cost +1 energy.
Innate Power: Allows you to replenish spell charges when finding spell books and by descending levels.
Rank 2
Overcharge: Allows you to perform an improved version of certain spells by holding down the cast button. However doing so consumes a charge star, to replenish it you must find an empty charge star and fill it with various things in the level.
Trance: Allows you to create a defensive aura by holding down the cast button, this only works with certain spells though.
Luck
Rank 1
Second Hand: Allows you to find more and better loot from enemies.
Wellwish: Will restore some health and spell charges when you get “lucky” or when descending levels.
Rank 2
Pilfer: Allows you to steal items from enemies by rolling past or shield bashing them.
Reciprocate: Causes you to inflict negative effects on enemies and receive positive ones when getting hit.
Traits
When you’re selecting your kid there will be a list of their stats, and next to that it will have a list of traits. Some are good some are bad, and as a mentioned before if you go to the ghost he can help you gain or get rid of them. If you ever forget what something does you can go into your menu mid-game and it will tell you. Heres a list of various traits.
Likes (weapon)
This buff will apply to one of the five weapons.(ex likes swords) Every time you hit an enemy with that weapon you’ll gain xp and when you have enough you’ll automatically learn the next weapon skill for that weapon.
Hates (weapon)
You hate this weapon so much that you can’t even use it.
Good with (weapon)
Similar to the one before except that with this one you start out with the first weapon skill of the specified weapon.
Archer
Starts out with a bow and arrows
Defensive
Pretty simple, you just start out with a shield.
Good weapon/armor/boots
Again pretty basic, you start out with some good equipment.
Poised
You use items faster, throw them further, and reduces the effects of knockback.
Clumsy
Will trip over items when sprinting and has a chance to drop your weapon when it clashes with an enemy weapon.
Resourceful
Eating heals you more and benefits last longer. (i’ll talk about eating later)
Messy Eater
Eating heals less and does not give benefits.
Sneaky
It’s harder for enemies to detect you and can crouch to make yourself less visible, negates fall damage.
Loud
Easier for enemies to detect you and you make noise when landing after a drop.
Breath Holder
Hold your breath longer underwater and while in gas.
Bad Swimmer
Make noise when swimming and drown faster.
Hungry
Will lose items from your meal over time.
Unstable Caster
All spells become unstable when you cast them.
Weapons and Skills
There are a total of five different weapons in the catacombs. Swords, daggers, axes, hammers, and spears. Each one has it’s own strengths and weaknesses as well as there own skills. Depending upon your kid you may start out with a weapon skill, or you can learn them from the Ghost. In order to do so you need learning points. Also know that some weapon skills work with more than one weapon.
Swords
Swords are the average Joes of weapons having all-around qualities.
Rank 1: Downward Thrust, drop down from above and stun nearby enemies
Rank 2: Rolling Blade, lets you spin your sword around while rolling like a buzzsaw
Rank 3: Hack n Slash, Thrust forward and deal multiple strikes when you hit an enemy
Rank 4: Parry, blocks incoming attacks and then counter attacks
Daggers
Daggers are the fastest weapons in the game but can also be the weakest and have little range.
Rank 1: Kick, lung forward dealing stomp damage (plus you do a sick backflip)
Rank 2: Dagger Storm, allows you to jump back and forth rapidly damaging any enemies you pass
Rank 3: Execute, drop down on top of an enemy to kill him instantly (this move has killed every enemy I’ve used it on so I don’t know if there are any enemies that don’t get insta-killed by it)
Spears
Spears are slower but make up for it with the longest range of any other weapon.
Rank 1: Aimed Stab, your spear automatically aims itself at enemies
Rank 2: Hunters Thrust, a long range stab with increased speed
Rank 3: Flying Stab, allows you to aim your Hunters Thrust up or down
Axes
Axes deal lots of damage but are a bit slower and have slightly less range. Axes also have a better chance at hacking off limbs.
Rank 1: Underslash, swipe your axe below you while in mid-air
Rank 2: Flourish, spin your weapon rapidly for multiple hits
Rank 3: Earth Splitter, slam your axe into the ground creating a “slashing wave” (for lack of a better term) in one direction
Hammers
Hammers have high damage but are pretty slow, but they also have an insane amount of knockback.
Rank 1: Heavy Bat, a sprinting attack that knocks enemies flying
Rank 2: Uppersmash, knocks enemies skyward after performing a roll/shield bash
Rank 3: The Drop, slam into the ground for heavy damage and knockback
Rank 4: Parry, blocks incoming attacks and then counter attacks
Shields
Shields don’t have any skills, they’re equipped in your off hand and replace your roll maneuver with a shield bash. The shield bash is still compatible with weapon skills that require you to roll. Shields also have the ability to stagger enemies if you block right before you’re about to get hit.
Bows and Arrows
Like shields bows don’t have any skills. They do however benefit from the Trajectory and Power Strike boons, and have a slight aim assist like the first spear skill. Bows come with 6 small arrows and 2 big arrows, big arrows have a larger hit box do more damage and can sever limbs. If you lose an arrow you can pick up a bone and add it to your ammo stock. If you run out of arrows or an enemy is within melee range you will wack them with your bow instead of shooting an arrow. Arrows can be ignited for extra damage but will be destroyed if you don’t pick them up quickly. Lastly you can get more small arrows from barrels and sentry turrets, also destroyed turrets always drop bows.
The Ghost
The Ghost is a friendly NPC that always spawns every 3 floors. I talked about leveling up and stats earlier, what I did not mention is that for every orb of leveling you get you also get one learning point, you also start out with one learning point on floor 1. Learning points can be used to learn spells or if you take them to the ghost he’ll teach weapon skills of your choosing. He can also help you improve your class ability and gain or get rid of traits.
Buffs and Debuffs
You may have notice that sometimes there will be little icons under your energy bar. These are Buffs, some are good some are bad but they don’t really tell you much about them. Hopefully this will help shed some light on the situation.
Mighty
Increases your strength and defense
Hastened
Move quicker and jump higher
Regeneration
Regain health over time
Vampirism
Restore health when hitting enemies
Invisible
You are invisible and harder to detect
Telepathic
See enemies as glowing dots when they are outside your vision range
Wet
You’re covered in water
Bloody
You’re at critical health and will attract certain monsters
Zapped
Electricity courses through you stunning you every few seconds, also you take damage if you’re Wet
Poisoned
You are poisoned and your health will decrease to 1
Burning
You are on fire, stop drop and roll!!!
Frozen
You’re frozen solid and can’t move
Diseased
Will sometimes take damage and will make you weak, lowering your Strength and Defense
Slowed
You move, jump, and attack slower
Ethereal
you are ghost, you can not harm or be harmed
Berserk
You will automatically run towards and attack nearby enemies you have line of sight to.
Magic
I know you’ve all been waiting for this part, it’s time to talk magic. I may have mentioned this before but in order to learn new spells you need to find a tome and and have 1 learning point. I’ll go over all the spells as well as the booksmack effect that the Poet class can use.
Fire & Ice
Booksmack: shoots a fire ball and an ice spike
Flame Wave: shoots a wall of fire that burns enemies and objects
Infernus: lights the ground on fire damaging anything that stands on it
Frost Bolt: shoots a chunk of ice damaging and freezing the first enemy it hits
Cold Burst: freezes enemies and water/lava solid
Magic 101
Booksmack: steal health from enemies and replenish your own
Wizard Throw: grab an enemy and throw it in any direction
Double Jump: self explanatory, lets you double jump (passive ability)
Whirlwind: makes a mini tornado that picks up enemies and objects
Magic Blast: shoots a magic projectiles (damage scales with energy)
Dark Arts
Booksmack: shoots projectiles that poison enemies
Shadow Cloak: become invisible and nearly undetectable
Vampirism: gain life steal for a short time
Plague: fill an area with disease slowing enemies and poisoning them
Raise Dead: reanimate a corpse to fight for you
Magic in Motion
Booksmack: teleport enemies away
Double Jump: self explanatory, lets you double jump (passive ability)
Portal: lets you place two portals on any solid surface, anything can travel through the portals, enemies, items, etc.
Teleport: moves you to a nearby location
Blink: warp a short distance in any direction
Temporal Tricks
Booksmack: stuns enemies
Slow: slows enemies around you
Undo: reverses time (Sends you back a few seconds upon death, basically a second life)
Temporal Step: stop time briefly, any enemies you move past during this time will be damaged
Haste: move and attack faster and jump higher
Magical Combat
Booksmack: deals damage and heavy knockback
Air Dash: homing attack that launches you at enemies, damaging them
Poison Blob: shoot a bouncing ball of poison
Break: reduce enemy defense and weapon strength around you
Cure: Removes debuffs and restores health
Deadly Distance
Booksmack: shoots a mini magic-bolt
Push: shoves enemies and objects away like a jedi
Chain Lightning: shoots a lightning bolt that jumps from enemy to enemy
Frost Bolt: shoots a chunk of ice damaging and freezing the first enemy it hits
Magic Blast: shoots a magic projectiles (damage scales with energy)
As mentioned before one of the magic boons allows you to super cast any spell. I don’t know how it changes each and every spell but i will try to find out. Another thing worth adding, it is possible to use a spell even if it requires more energy then you have, although the chances of it working are smaller the less energy you have and can become unstable producing a different effect.
Eating
Eating and meals is a complicated system in the catacombs. To start, on the left of the screen there will be a bar that has five circles in it. those circles will be filled with pictures when you eat something. You have to eat five things in order to make a meal, what happens next depends on what you ate. It could heal you, give you special benefits, or hurt you, or nothing at all. Eating five of the same thing is the best way to get something special but remeber if you have the messy eater trait you won’t get any benefits from meals. Here are all the meals I know of.
5 balls of goo: extra health
5 slime balls: extra energy
5 bats: increase to speed stat and increased jump hight (For a limited time)
5 Fishana: Gain water breathing forever (or for a long ass time, I died before I could find out)
5 grumbuls: Cannabalism, eating meat restores health instantly (Grumbuls, byats, etc)
Sometimes when you break a barrel kernals will pop out, heat them up and they turn into popcorn. Eating it will instantly heal or overheal if at max health but gives no bonus for eating five in a row.
eating 3 of one item and 2 of another will sometimes give both effects, but they won’t be as strong. Also don’t eat anything that says poisoned, or rotten. You can create unique food items by freezing or heating/boiling them. Throwing a ball of goo onto a fire or into a braizer will make it start to melt, if you then eat it you will gain health immediatly, this workes with several other items as well. If you want to get rid of all the items in your current meal, drink a bottle of water and it will reset.
Soups
Soups can be made by putting any kind of item in an empty bottle filling it with water and then boiling it over a fire. Soups can also be seasoned with ingredients that you find in grumble houses.
Theres meat soup, byat soup, slime soup, even stone soup. (which will kill you by the way)
Potions
Potions are scattered all across the catacombs and are sometimes held by enemies. When you first pick up a potion you won’t know what it does until you drink it or use it on an enemy. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT drink an unidentified potion. More often than not it will kill you or almost kill you. A safe way to test an unkown potion is to chuck it at low level enemies like slimes or bats. Don’t test it on a grumble if you don’t have to, it would suck if it turned out to be a good potion that makes them stronger. Speaking of grumbles, those guys will sometimes be carrying potions. Any potion dropped by a grumble will always be a good potion like might or regeneration. Chests will somtimes have potions to, those will not always be good though so be carefull. A final note, placing or throughing potions onto an open flame will make them boil and release a cloud of gas, anything that stands in the gas too long will take on the potions effects. Now the list of all the potions i know.
Health potion: heals you
Potion of regeneration: grants health regain for a short time
Potion of might: increases strenght and defense for a short time
Potion of flames: sets anything and everything on fire
Potion of frost: freezes whatever it hits
Potion of poison: poisons enemies (or you)
Potion of lightning: electrifies enemies
Potion of invisability: makes you invisable
Potion of Haste: makes you move faster and jump higher
Mana potion: increases spell charges
Potion of acid: deals continous damage to enemies health and equipment
If you want to mix potions but don’t have the alchemy boon it is still possiable. You’ll need:
2 potions
an empty bottle (not including the 2 potions)
a campfire or other soucre of fire
a clear enviroment (No enemies, traps, or other things that will get in the way)
first take one of the potions and heat it up so that it turns into a gas cloud. Then throw the empty bottle through the gas cloud. When you pick it up it should say Empty Bottle?, that means it’s full of gas. Then heat up the second potion and throw the empty bottle through the gas cloud again.
Finally drop the empty bottle in some water and it will become a potion.
If you want more info on potions Monstercade has a good guide on how to identify them as well as some other information.
Enemies
The catacombs are full of stuff that will end your journey in a flash, monsters, traps, and your own bad decision making. So lets start with the things that will attack you on sight.
Goos
Green balls of goo, these are the lowest of the low when it comes to monsters and are found everywhere. When they spot you they’ll simply throw themselves at you. Goos don’t do that much damage typically just 1 sometimes 2 on lower floors. When you kill them they’ll sometimes drop balls of goo which can be eaten, (as I went over earlier) or thrown and I’ll tell you, those things bounce better than any rubber ball out there making them great for knocking objects over.
Slimes
Normally Slimes are the weakest enemies in a game and they are, they just share that title with the Goos in this case. Mostly identical in appearance the major difference is that they are purple not green. They attack the same way as Goos and do the same damage, really the only difference between the two is that Slimes can stick to walls and ceilings so they can follow you pretty much anywhere. Similar to Goos, Slimes will drop slime balls when killed and can be eaten or thrown. When thrown, the slime ball will stick to first thing it touches. If thrown at another enemy it will stick to there face and blind them for a short time making them attack and move wildly. If thrown at a wall they act as a sort of handle, allowing you to grab that spot and jump off of it. Lastly putting a slime in a bottle, heating it, and then throwing it at a enemy will make it explode sticky paste everywhere that slows anything and everything.
Ogos
Blue balls similar to Goos and Slimes, but that’s were the similarities end. Ogos are super fast, can stick to walls and ceilings, can jump at you, and are armed. You wont see these guys until the level 4 but when you do do not take them lightly. Ogos are always armed with a dagger and sometimes a crown (because there the kings of Slimes/Goos, hah hah) kill one and it will drop it’s loot and maybe a mucus ball. Mucus balls bounce like goo balls but when they’re heated they explode after a short time like a grenade. DO NOT EAT A HEATED MUCUS BALL
Byats
Basically what you would expect, they fly, they hang upside down, and they’re annoying. A single Byat isn’t that dangerous, it’s when 10 of them come out of a hole in the wall that you should be worried. Byats posses some kind of intelligence as they will try to stay out of your reach until they are ready to charge at you. If you’re having a hard time hitting a bat, throw something at it, when hit Byats plummet to the ground making them easy to finish off.
Rats
Rats are probably the only creature in the catacombs that wont attack you, actually Rats will turn tail and run when they see you. Unless you have an item, then they turn invisible and try to steal your items, if they do don’t let the little bastard escape, no one steals from a kid and gets away with it.
Fishannas
Killer fish that inhabit the waters of the catacombs, swimming in Fishanna infested water means almost certain death. Merely dipping into the water can grab their attention and they’ll often jump out of the water to get you. The best way to deal with Fishanna is to take a “bloody” item or corpse and toss it in the water. The Fishanna will go after the bloody item and completely ignore you (unless you’re also bloody)
Grumbuls
9 times out of 10, when a enemy kills you it will be some kind of Grumbul. They appear on floor 1 and will continue to be the number one source of danger for you. On floor 1 a single grumble can and will kill you if you aren’t careful. Unlike most other enemies Grumbles are smart, despite they’re goblin-like appearance. They have patrols, they fight together, if a Grumble is almost dead he’ll use a potion or he’ll run away and go get reinforcements. Not only are they smart, but they know how to fight, they’ll try to surround you or get the higher ground. They can roll past you and dodge your attacks and they use all kinds of weapons. As you get further down you’ll see deadlier versions of the Grumbles called Van’Keks or something like that, they all have different names for whatever reason. They’re easy to tell apart from normal Grumbuls, they’re bigger, meaner, and nastier looking than the grunts. They’ve got better stats and better equipment too. These guys are real monsters, use all your best moves, items, and strategies to beat them. Also on the deeper floors there are special variations that have red skin. They always have some kind of fire based equipment and as you might have guessed are immune to fire.
Grumbul Soldier
At floor 5 you may see a Grumbul wearing full armor and holding a shield. These are Grumbul soldiers and they are tuff Mother F****rs. They make full use of their shields and will easily block frontal attacks. Either attack when hes trying to hit you or jump over him as he will usually inch towards you shield raised. If that wasn’t bad enough their helmets make them immune to stomp damage unless you have special boots. I would highly suggest not fighting one of them when other enemies are around as this guy will demand your full attention.
Grumbul Assassin
These guys may also appear starting on floor 5. These guys are much quicker and nimbler than the others. They always carry a dagger and they know shadow cloak and will use it often. They know dagger skills as well so be careful if one of them is sprinting at you. They don’t have as much health so they go down quicker but they can be real annoying.
Gorhounds
Another enemy that spawns at level 4 or 5. They are friendly to Grumbuls and when they see you they howl to alert nearby Grumbuls of your presence. These things are crazy fast and perform an attack similar to the dagger storm skill and can also pounce a long distance. They can’t jump very high and they can’t climb so if you can get at least two blocks above them they can’t reach you.
Skeletons
Skeletons appear on floor 3 at the earliest, they don’t have any armor most of the time so they’re weapons are typically pretty good and they can use magic. Well actually they can only use Air Dash but that’s still magic. Like most things in the catacombs they will attack anything on sight, so it’s often a good strategy to make a group of Grumbuls and skeletons notice each other so that they’ll take each other out before they even realize you’re there.
Undead Warriors
These guys are pretty rare, I’ve only encountered a few of them myself. They carry decent gear and have a larger health pool then any of the other basic enemies. I’m not entirely certain if they can use magic or not but I do know that they always know at least one weapon skill. These guys are tough so it’s always best to sneak up on them or make them fight some Grumbuls, they’re friendly to skeletons however so don’t take it on with skeletons around.
The Anticropolis
After leaving floor 5 you’ll enter a transition stage covered in snow. After a couple of long drops you’ll find the exit as well as some enemies, after this stage you’ll enter the Anticropolis. This place is cold as (enter curse word here), so much in fact that you’ll slowly start to freeze to death as indicated by the little thermometer on the side of the HUD. As time goes on the “warmth meter”, WM for short, will decrease. Once it’s empty you’ll take damage until you die or find a heat source. Small heat sources like torches and braziers will refill your WM up to a point, but the only way to fill it completely is with a campfire. The place is covered in snow piles that you can break to reveal items or enemies buried inside. All pools of water now have a thin sheet of ice covering them that will break when walked over and getting wet will decrease your WM faster. On top of that there’s alot of new enemies and traps just itching to kill you.
Enemies (Anticropolis)
This is all the new enemies that are unique to the Anticropolis
Burgi Boi (pretty sure i spelled that wrong)
These guys will appear only in the Anticropolis. They hide most of their bodies underground, but you can just bearly see the tops of their heads. At a distance they will chuck snow balls at you and then burrow into the snow and pop up somewhere else. Get to close and they will scream afllicting you with the berserk buff. Unless you can get rid of the snow these guys sit in it will be hard to catch them and the buff from their scream can be applied to other enemies too.
Owl Men
Highly mobile these guys will run, jump and fly at you super fast. Their not super strong but can attack pretty fast and it’s real hard to get away from them. They are pretty aggresive so they will often attack other enemies as well.
Grumbul Hunter
Your basic run of the mill Grumbul but with a furry coat. They don’t differ from normal Grumbuls that much although some of them have bow and arrows for weapons which no other Grumbuls have. They also set up forts in certian areas and even have a lookout posted in a tower ready to sound the alarm if he sees you.
Purple Skull
Not the actuall name of these enemies but thats what I call them, plus I always forget to look up their actuall name whenever I do a run. Anyway, These guys like to pop out of thin air and be a bunch of jerks. They are basically like bayts but they also have a small ranged fireball attack. Not too tuff to kill but kind of annoying.
Traps
Spikes
Now lets get into traps, spikes can literally be found all over the place and can kill you in one shot every time unless you have a specific boon or alot of health. Sometimes they’ll be out in the open other times they’ll be hidden and only come out when you step on a pressure plate. When this happens they normally come out of the ceiling but sometimes they will also come out of the floor so watch out. Spikes can be broken by dropping a boulder on top of them, also the little spike shards can then be picked up and thrown.
Lava
Pretty simple, if you fall in you’re pretty much dead. So you know, don’t fall in the lava. Sometimes there will be a lever nearby and hitting it will raise a platform out of the lava that you can stand on. It also allows you to cook certain items the same way as using a campfire.
Crushers
Activated when you step on a pressure plate these wrecking balls will crush anything underneath them. You can disable them by intentionally triggering them and then attacking their chain until it breaks or placing an item on the pressure plate while the chain is retracting.
Tripwires
Activated as soon as something breaks the wire the trap will spray out a cloud of highly explosive gas that will ignite soon after. There’s also a variant that will drop a boulder on you instead of releasing gas.(Credit to *Cell* for pointing this out to me)
Flame Vents
Brass colored pipes sticking out of various places, these puppies spew hot flames in a wide area. There are two versions both of which are activated by flipping a switch. The first is a continuous stream of fire that is toggled on/off and the other remains active for a set amount of time with each flip of the switch. These things can either burn down a horde of enemies or roast you to crisp when you least expect it.
Teleporters
Probable the least lethal trap there is teleporters can be hard to spot sometimes, just roll past them once and they’ll be deactivated. However you can still go through them if you want to and other enemies and objects can be teleported as well. Be warned though, the teleporters are a one way trip once you go through you can’t go back the same way.
Turrets
Basically automated crossbows, these are most commonly found protecting grumbul houses. Once you’re in it’s line of sight it will start shooting arrows at you, dodge them if you can and just wail on it until it breaks. The arrows it shoots can also be picked up and thrown.
Mushrooms
Pink glowing mushrooms can be found on pretty much every floor. They spew clouds of poison gas and can be kind of annoying. They can be picked up like other items and can be used like torches since they glow. If you throw one into some water it will turn the whole thing into a pool of poison.
Swinging Scythes
you’ll likely hear this trap before you see it as it makes a loud “whosh whosh” noise. Basically just a large blade that swing back and forth they can be evaded with a roll/shield bash. If it does hit you you’ll be in for a world of hurt as they deal alot of damage and sever limbs more often than not. They hurt enemies to so leading them into one of these is a good idea.
Bear Traps
Found only in the Anticropolis, it’s not hard to figure out what they do. Step on one and you’ll be rooted in place. To escape you have to attack rapidly, after you break free these traps can be picked up and thrown.
Icicles
Frozen spears dangling from the ceiling just waiting to ruin someones day. It’s strange how these big ice lances only fall when something walks underneath them, it’s almost like they’re cough programmed cough to do so. Oh and they also have a chance to freeze you solid.
Sprites
Less of a trap and more of a mode of transportation. These clusters of glowing green balls won’t kill you directly. Instead it’s likely that you’ll get yourself killed using these things. Jumping into the Sprites will stop you in midair and make you spin around rapidly. From there you can launch yourself straight up or in a chosen direction, sending you flying pretty far pretty fast. Just make sure to look before you leap.
Obliterators
The name originates from the end screen where it said the I was obliterated after dying to this trap.
They aren’t hard to miss, in fact it’s really obvious when you see one of these as they stick out pretty well. Usually attached to the ceiling they appear as a square with an opening and purple markings. Like most traps they are activated by pressure pads and when you step on the one associated with these things a laser shoots out and “obliterates” anything it hits.
Obliterator Turrets
Like the previously mentioned Obliterators except these one can aim. When ever you (or anything for that matter) enters its line of sight it will take a moment to lock on before firing a devastating laser.
Furnaces & Gates
Periodically you’ll be progressing through a level at your leisure until one of these boys blocks your path. More often than not you need to get past these suckers in order to reach the exit. Luckily it’s pretty simple to disable these things. Elsewhere in the level will be a switch that when activated will toggle the Furnace on/off and the Gate up/down. Be careful when passing through though, on far too many occasions I’ve tried to pass by one of these traps only for it to get reactivated by some random enemy or falling object. Burning me to a crisp or squashing me like a pancake.
The Reaper
The Reaper is a boss that will randomly spawn some time during or after the third floor. If you see a room with blue torches in it that’s the boss room. The Reaper only spawns in there and won’t appear outside that room. Depending on the size and layout of the room, or if you don’t think you can beat the Reaper you may want to avoid a fight with him. The Reaper won’t spawn unless there is a corpse inside the Reaper room. Once the Reaper appears the room is sealed off and a painful battle starts. If you want to kill the Reaper (good luck with that) you should know that he is vulnerable to ice and can be frozen. He can not pass through walls and can’t fit into spaces less than two blocks wide, these can act as safe spots for you. When fighting him he will always try and position himself above you. He likes to drop from above and slash you. Another one of his moves is were he spins his scythe around him making it impossible to get close and sometimes creating a vacuum that sucks you in. Once you damage him enough he turns green and his attack pattern will change becoming more aggressive. Damage him some more and he will change color again and become hell bent on killing you. Land some more damage and he’ll go down for good and drop the “Reaper orb”.(or pearl, I forget) use it and you’ll get a soul weapon. The soul weapon will charge itself whenever you hit something with it. At max charge the weapon becomes very powerful for a short time, after which it then becomes weakened for a moment and then you have to build up it’s charge again.
Grumbul Tank
The Grumbul Tank is a boss that you may face inbetween floors. In one of the levels you’ll come across a locked door and the only way to open it is by finding a “device” that’s held by a grumble soldier and using it by the door. Its massive and has an array of weapons. It has a massive crossbow on its back that will fire at you periodically and a giant spike ball that launches out of the front. The Grumbul Tank will also have some grumbuls as minions if all that wasn’t bad enough. I have no idea how to beat it but if i had to guess i’d say that the key would be to attack the pilot that sits in a little cockpit right in front of the massive crossbow.
The Golden Door
Every now and then you may come across a locked door that is, you guessed it, golden. Interacting with this door will prompt a conversation with the person on the other side, who will ask you for the password. The password has 3 parts that are written on the walls somewhere in the level. Find all 3 parts of the password and return to the door. Once you’ve given the correct response the door will open and you will enter a random shop. (this counts as a transition stage and exiting this shop will send you to the next level so be sure to grab everything you want before entering the gold door)
Tips and Tidbits
Here are a few things that need mentioning that didn’t fall into the other categories
Transition Stages
At random, whenever you clear a floor you may find yourself in a transition stage before getting to the next floor. These can be any number of events the most common being a grumble encampment. Sometimes they’re just empty hallways, on one occasion I found myself in a collapsing tunnel desperately running for my life.
The Peddler
Another transition stage this one contains a fellow kid who will sell you items. All that gold you’ve been picking up till now finally has a use. If you don’t have enough gold or just don’t want to pay you can attack the peddler, he’s no push over so be careful if you decide to fight him. After he dies he will drop a key that you can use to reach the loot that is always guarded by a turret so watch out.
Loosing a Limb
Sometimes when you get hit by a bladed weapon you’ll lose an arm or a leg. If you lose a leg all you have to do is grab a torch and attach it to your stump and you’ll have yourself a pirate peg leg. Otherwise a potion of regeneration can heal severed limbs. (*ArchPanda* says so) But if you’re tired of your normal human limbs there is a way to attach prosthetic claws to your severed arm. This can only be done by the mechanic version of the merchant.
Equipment and Stats
Depending on what class you choose you will specialize with certain stats, that doesn’t mean the other stats are unimportant. What I recommend doing is is using your orbs of leveling to get the boons you want and then use equipment to increase any stats that are lacking. Again this is all about your preferences.
Retreating Enemies
If you damage a Grumbul to the point were he’s almost dead he will most likely try to escape by running either to the entrance or the exit. Even if they manage to escape you can still follow them through the door they used to escape and then finish them off.
Avoid Unnecessary Fights
If you see a grumbul standing in a corner not protecting anything, then leave him be. Many times you will have to ask yourself if whatever’s in that chest is worth fighting 3 grumbles. Your own bad decision making will get you killed 9 out of 10 times. It’s in these situations were it may be better just to leave it alone and go to the next floor. Even the orb of leveling is not worth dying over, if you can’t get it without exposing yourself to mortal danger then leave it and move on.
Bottle Stuff
If you’ve ever played Legend of Zelda then you know that empty bottles are one of the most valuable objects in existence. Same rules apply in the catacombs, empty bottles have a number of uses. They are the best items to use for a pounce attack as after a few hits they will break and then you will start attacking with your weapon while you’re still on top of the enemy. Empty bottles are a necessity for making soup and doing alchemy without the alchemy boon. My favorite trick is to bottle a slime ball and then heat it up so that it melts, then when you throw it at an enemy it explodes like a grenade splattering slime everywhere. Experiment a little with different stuff and empty bottles will quickly become one of your must have items.
Do a Barrel Roll
Sometimes you will find stacks of barrels just lying around in random places. These are both good and bad. Barrels will sometimes drop items when broken other times a bunch of slimes will pop out. If you’re really unlucky a grumbul assassin will pop out as soon as you get close to one. Barrels are flammable but it takes more than a torch to ignite them. Barrels can also be grabbed and rolled like boulders and can be dropped on top of enemies for similar results.
Flushed Away
Every now or then you’ll come across a pipe sticking out of the floor. These pipes allow you to send items and equipment down to a lower floor so you can pick them up later.
Dealing with Hazards
Every now and then you’ll come across some rooms that are difficult to navigate. Lava pits with low ceilings, spike pits with tiny platforms, etc etc. You could use your “skills” to expertly traverse these obstacles, or you could use a bit of ingenuity. Throwing a potion in a lava pool will harden it into a walkable platform, spikes can be climbed down onto or destroyed with boulders/crushers. Just like there are ways to disable common traps, these dangerous areas can be made safer.
Learning Orbs
Similar in appearance to the orb of leveling, but these only give you a learning point. They are typically in hard to reach areas and can even be inaccessible unless you have a certain boon or spell. But before you attempt a possibly life threatening maneuver to get this item ask yourself, is it really worth it?
Kid Coins (RIP old kid selection)
If you’re like me then you would always exit the kid selection menu and then re-enter in order to refresh the selection of kids to choose from, and you would do this until you got a kid that was to your liking. Well not only does that not work anymore but now when ever you die during a run and go to choose a new kid from the same class, instead of a new kid appearing to take the place of the old one a tombstone will be there instead. only after you’ve killed off every kid from the same class will a new selection of kids be available. Which brings me to my next point, Kid coins. You’ll earn these after every run and will get more coins the further you get and for earning reputations. These coins can then be spent on the previously mentioned tombstones to either get a new random kid or create your own custom kid. (Making your own kid is pretty dam expensive by the way, so don’t let them die right away)
Q and A
If there’s anything specific you want to know or would like me to try put it in the comments and I’ll do my best to find out for you.