[Hamlet] Useful Hamlet Tips!

Overview

A compilation of some Hamlet tips I have. May be useful to those that are already familiar with Hamlet as well.

Tip #1 – Hammering Shop Counters

Simply enough, the counters in shops can be hammered for 2-3 Boards. Just a simple way to get a nice amount of boards.

In order to be able to hammer the counters, the shop owner has to be away from the counter, which can be triggered by buying something, putting them to sleep, or attacking them. During dusk/night, the shop owner will not return to the counter once they leave it (May be changed in the future).

Tip #2 – Thievery

You can steal from Pig Shops by either putting the shop owner to sleep with a Pan Flute or Wickerbottom’s Sleepytime Stories, and stealing their goods while they are asleep, or by killing the shop owner, and having to deal with 2 angry Pig Guards that spawn inside the shop.

Note that if you steal items from pedestals while the shop owner is asleep, then upon waking up the owner will not restock any pedestals you stole from. Of course, if you kill the shop owner, none of the pedestals will restock, so if you only need to steal a couple of items, consider putting the owner to sleep rather than killing them, as dealing with 2 Pig Guards will be difficult.

On that note, however, if you choose to kill the owner of a shop, then there’s a way to make fighting the Pig Guards easier. Attack/Kill the owner of the shop, let both of the guards spawn, and then exit the shop. If it is daytime, wait until dusk to re-enter the shop, so that the guards inside carry torches instead of halberds, which deal significantly less damage to you. If it is already dusk, or if it is nighttime, wait until the next dusk to kill the guards.

Killing the guards is not necessary, you could simply dodge their attacks while picking up the items in the shop, but the presence of the guards makes looting much more difficult.

Remember: If you choose to steal from a shop owner by killing them, make sure the owner is dead before looting, otherwise the products will still cost oincs.

Tip #3 – Bank Robbing

(May be fixed in the future) Following the advice of the previous tip, we can put our criminal skills to use by prioritizing robbing the bank! The bank, known formerly as the Swinesbury Mineral Exchange, is found in the Mayor’s Pig City, and can also be crafted at the Key to the City. The reason the bank is a valuable shop to steal from is because it contains a Centapiece Oinc (100 Oincs), a Tenpiece Oinc (10 Oincs), and a Gold Nugget, along with some rocks, charcoal, and nitre, meaning that from one bank robbery, you can get 110 Oincs!

While robbing the bank is a valuable, though risky endeavor, the real value of the bank is not simply from robbing it once, but from robbing it multiple times.

Simply put, this process involves crafting the bank, robbing it, destroying it with the Executive Hammer (obtained from trading with the Pig Queen), and then repeating the process over and over until you become as rich as you wish to be. You craft the bank at the Key to the City (obtained from trading with the Pig Queen), using 4 Cut Stone, 2 Gold Nuggets, and 4 Pig Skin. The Cut Stone and Pig Skin are relatively easy to get, as the stone can be obtained from pitchforking Pig Ruins Turf, while Pig Skin can be obtained from killing Vampire Bats, which swarm you every now and then. While the Gold Nuggets may be more difficult to obtain, you will only need 2 for this process, as you will steal 1 gold nugget from the bank, and get a gold nugget back from destroying the bank.

Remember that you can hammer the counter for boards!

Tip #4 – Disarming Dart Traps

Dart Traps in Pig Ruins can be disarmed using the Disarming Tools, crafted with 2 Cut Reeds and 2 Iron. Disarming the Dart Traps will yield 1 Blow Dart for each disarmed trap. Rotating Dart Traps can also be disarmed, once again for 1 Blow Dart. Each trap disarmed removes 20% of the durability from the Disarming Tools.

Pressure plates can also be disarmed, but this does not provide a worthwhile benefit compared to disarming dart traps.

Tip #5 – Suspicious Cracks

Suspicious Cracks can be found in the Pig Ruins, and have the potential of either containing a secret room with loot pedestals, or simply a wall. These cracks can be inspected with a Magnifying Glass (1 Iron, 1 Twig, and 1 Blue Gem at an Alchemy Engine under Treasure Hunting tab), and your character will, if they can talk, exclaim whether the crack contains a door or not. It is not necessary to inspect the cracks, but inspecting the cracks can save explosives.

Suspicious cracks can be uncovered by either blowing the crack up with explosives, or by mining an Unimportant Pillar.

The secret rooms can contain gems, artifacts, and occasionally rare equipment. Picking items up from the pedestals has a chance of spawning a ghost from the pedestal.

Tip #6 – Fighting Hay Fever

Hay Fever is a heavy nuisance during Lush season, and will destroy your sanity if untreated. There are a few methods of dealing with Hay Fever:

1. Eating Nettle and Nettle Rolls. Nettle can be obtained from Nettle Vines, found in the Deep Rainforest, which bloom after being wet for an amount of time. It is easiest to obtain Nettle during Humid season, because of the rainfalls that occur. While Nettle Vines can be dug up and replanted, they require Deep Rainforest turf, or Dense Turf. Wickerbottom can cause Nettle Vines to grow by using her Applied Horticulture book.
2. Wearing a Gas Mask. The Gas Mask will slowly drain your sanity, however, so keep that in mind.
3. Being near an active Oscillating Fan. Crafted at an Alchemy Engine, under the Science tab, for 2 Alloy, 2 Electrical Doodads, and 1 Gear.
4. Eating Cooked Seed Pods. Seed Pods can be obtained by chopping down Tea Trees, found in the outskirts of Pig Cities. Similarly to birchnuts, you can plant these pods to grow a tree, or cook it to eat it. Cooked Seed Pods provide hay fever relief for a very short period of time.

Wormwood and Werebeaver are immune to Hay Fever.

Tip #7 – Fighting the Ancient Herald

This difficult and annoying boss spawns occasionally during the Aporkalypse. It will spawn near the player, rising from the ground. It can and will spawn in houses, shops, and ruins, so be careful during the Aporkalypse.

When it spawns, the Herald will begin following you. If it gets within melee distance of you, it will compress itself, and then release destructive energy, dealing a good amount of damage and destroying structures within its vicinity. If it is close to you, but not quite within melee distance, it will raise its arms and close its eyes, indicating that it is spawning minions. It can either spawn a few nightmare creatures (good result), a short dragoon egg shower (good, but destructive result), a moderately large amount of ghosts (medium result), or an incredibly copious amount of Poisonous Dartfrogs (worst result, but is a good source of poisonous frog legs!).

Unless you are playing Wolfgang or Wigfrid, fighting the Herald with melee weapons is incredibly dangerous, as its minions can cause heavy damage to you. Tanking the Herald is practically impossible, due to the large amount of minions it will spawn. The best way to fight the Herald is to either, well, delay the Aporkalypse by using the Aporkalypse Calendar, or, if you really want to fight the Herald for the sought-after Vortex Cloak, then fighting the Herald with ranged weapons would be the best option. Using a Blunderbuss or Blow Darts would be a good option. Fire Darts and Sleep Darts, as well as the Pan Flute, will not work on the Herald. Bringing minions of your own can help with the fight, but obtaining them will be difficult because Pig Guards will stay in their towers during Aporkalypse, and Pogs will be hostile during the Aporkalypse, even if given food.

The Herald has 2000 HP, and drops a recipe for the Vortex Cloak, and 5 Dark Tatters, needed for the Vortex Cloak.

Tip #8 – Avoiding the BFB

If you find dealing with this big bird to be a nuisance, then there’s a simple way to deal with it!

Allowing the BFB to land (mind where its feet land, they deal a large amount of damage!), and then running into the Deep Rainforest will make the BFB fly away. Being in the Deep Rainforest before the BFB lands will delay its landing.

Tip #9 – Honey Chests

Inside the Mant Caves, you may find Honey Chests. These chests contain honey, a resource not found elsewhere in Hamlet, if you don’t count Honey Nuggets or Honey Ham. On top of that, honey does not spoil inside these chests. Nectar placed inside honey chests will also eventually turn into honey.

Tip #10 – Swashy Hat

The Masked Pig, who can occasionally spawn in Pig Cities, can be defeated to obtain the Swashy Hat. Using Blow Darts to kill the Masked Pig is the most convenient way to kill it. Using a Blunderbuss can work as well, but be sure you can kill the pig in the shot you fire, as reloading the gun will take time, allowing the pig to run away and disappear. The pig will also drop a map revealing where it hid its hidden stash, which can contain some goodies, similar to treasure chests in Shipwrecked.

The Swashy Hat reduces the range of aggression that enemies have, and allows you to steal grass, crops, and whatnot from the outskirt areas of Pig Cities with a lessened detection range from the Pig Guards, and the Pig Guards won’t remember who you are, so long as you don’t take off the hat while they chase you.

Tip #11 – Pangolden

These silly creatures can be pretty useful. If they slurp from a Sparkling Pool eight times, or eat 3 Gold Dust, they will produce 1 gold nugget. As such, they are more efficient than crafting gold nuggets out of 6 gold dust. Panning for gold dust and giving them to the Pangolden is more efficient than the Pangolden slurping the water up.

Tip #12 – Wishing Wells

Wishing Wells can be found in Pig Ruins. Tossing Oincs or Gold Nuggets into the well has a varying chance of healing the player. The most useful item to offer is Gold Nuggets, for an 80% chance to heal 100 HP, and it even removes poison.

The Second Aporkalypse Ruins also have an End’s Well, a unique well that spits out Purple Gems for nightmare fuel, and spawns nightmare creatures for any other item tossed in.

Ending

Thank you for reading through my guide! If you have any comments, concerns, or have tips of your own, you can post them in the comments below!