[OUTDATED] The Salt Mines: A Comprehensive Guide

Overview

[UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2019] THE ABSOLUTE MADMEN. IT’S FINALLY HERE. SALT MINES 2.0. THIS GUIDE WILL NOT BE USEFUL UNTIL THIS MESSAGE IS GONE, AS IT HAS BEEN WRITTEN FOR 1.0.[UPDATED APRIL 1ST, 2018] This is a guide detailing the mechanics of the Salt Mines, including where they are, how they work, and some of the nuances behind them. Please be aware that this guide is currently a WIP and as such may not be completely comprehensive.

Where can I find the Salt Mines?

Pummellin’ Plains

Towards the western side of the lobby will be a waterfall with a small path behind it. Walk behind the waterfall, then up–you’ll enter a hidden cave that contains the entrance to the Salt Mines.

This small “shrine” is the entrance to the mines. It may or may not cost salt to enter. If no one is inside the mines, there will be a base cost of 3 salt for the first person to enter the mines, after which it will be free to enter until the first AI-controlled opponent is defeated. Later difficulties will slowly ramp up the cost to enter the mines.

What are the Salt Mines?

The Salt Mines are a “dungeon” of sorts where you can explore, battle against AI-controlled opponents, and find treasure chests that will reward you with salt, apples, and–most importantly–cosmetic items for your Pixel Lobby avatar.

Inside the Salt Mines, you will have a limited amount of health to work with as you traverse the mines (one full health bar). Any damage you take from battles against the AI will take from this health bar and persist between fights. Once you are defeated, you are ejected from the mines, lose a bit of salt, and will have to re-enter to continue exploring.

What types of enemies are there?

Enemies in the Salt Mines are named Predators. Predators spawn in randomly at set locations within the room you are in as you are exploring. When a Predator touches you in the Salt Mines, you engage in battle with them. The character you battle these Predators as will always be the character your Pixel Lobby avatar is–there is no character selection prior to battling Predators.

Predators have two appearances: one being a sort of shadowy beast, and the other being that of a playable character (e.g. Arizona, Velvet, etc.). If a Predator takes the form of a playable character when they touch you, you will fight the character they resemble (i.e. if Velvet touches you, you will fight a Velvet). If a Predator appears as a shadowy beast, they can be one of four different enemies when you fight them:

• Fluffers the Wolf – Enemy that focuses on jump-in attacks. Attacks include a jump-in bite and close-ranged attacks. Also has a really weird “slide” where Fluffers sinks into the ground and approaches you, dealing no damage but being invulnerable in the process (similar to Shadows in Kingdom Hearts, for those familiar). Ideal strategy is… anything. Fluffer seems more vulnerable and less intelligent compared to his counterparts, especially considering he only appears in earlier levels of the mines.
• Cuddles the Snake – Enemy that focuses on longer ranged attacks. Attacks include fanning 4 projectiles out in an area and attacking across the screen using its tail, either as a low or an anti-air. Ideal strategy is to cautiously advance, walking / dashing in and blocking whenever Cuddles makes a move, as his attacks have a small wind-up period, and Cuddles’ options up close are fairly limited. He is also vulnerable to projectiles such as Oleander’s Fel Spark or Pom’s dogs due to his insistence on keeping away, giving you the space to spam away at him.
• Flopsie the Panther – Enemy that focuses on close ranged attacks. Attacks include basic swipe strings, a cross-up multi-hit strike, and a “leaping” grab (similar to Tianhuo’s Volcanic Crash, but can hit grounded opponents). Flopsie will also occasionally throw you (especially if you turtle), but this is not much damage compared to his combos. Ideal strategy is to crouch-block / turtle, as all of Flopsie’s attacks are blockable (including the grab), then either punishing certain moves such as the cross-up or grab, or hit-confirming jab strings (as jabs are safe).
• Huggles the Bear – Enemy that focuses on armor / counter moves and throws. Attacks include a counter (similar to Arizona’s own Counter) and a damaging grab. Ideal strategy is to keep Huggles away, using long-ranged attacks like Oleander’s C / j.C or Pom’s j.C, or projectiles such as Oleander’s Fel Spark or Velvet’s Icicle Missiles or Snowballs. Hitting Huggles while he is airborne tends to result in more success, as while he is grounded he will try to counter your inputs with quick grabs, but seems more vulnerable to getting stuffed while airborne.

When you begin battling a Predator, “beast” or “character”, both you and your opponent will start with full stocks of Super and Magic (this is not the case when fighting against human players).

The “beast” Predators are much more fragile than “character” Predators and will take significantly more damage from attacks comparatively. The offensive and defensive capabilities of “character” Predators are identical to those of your own (save for their reduced overall health).

It should be noted that because of their fragility, all “beast” Predators can be fairly easily chipped away with projectile-based characters like Oleander or Velvet. Keeping your distance while spamming projectiles will deal considerable damage over time, outright killing them sometimes (especially if they are randomly hit by your super, which can happen on occasion).

Defeating Predators of any kind will reward you with salt. For most of the difficulties, you are rewarded with 7 salt for defeating any type of Predator. At very high difficulties, “beast” Predators can reward up to 10 salt and “character” Predators can reward up to 15 salt.

How do treasure chests work?

Within the mines, there will be various treasure chests lying on the ground. Some of these chests will not cost salt to open whereas others will. Their contents can be guessed at based on their salt cost, and generally follow as such:

• Free chests (no salt cost shown): Contains salt. The higher the difficulty inside the mines, the more salt given.
• Low-cost chests (~4-7 salt in early difficulties; cost ramps up with difficulty). Contains one apple and an extremely small amount of salt at higher difficulties (~2-3). The apple always restores 25% of your health regardless of difficulty and is used immediately (i.e. you cannot store apples for later use; additionally, if you open an apple chest at full health, you will still spend your salt and consume the apple for no benefit).
• High-cost chests (20 / 30 / 40 salt): Contains a single cosmetic item. Only appears beyond the first level of difficulty. Has a 10 second period before opening. During this timeframe, other players can challenge you for the chest–winner takes the prize. Rarity of the cosmetic item depends on the cost of the chest–20 salt grants an Uncommon item, 30 salt grants a Rare item, and 40 salt grants an Epic item. Higher tier chests only appear at higher mine difficulties. Duplicate items found in chests are converted into salt–specifically twice the amount you pay (i.e. 40 salt for an Uncommon, 60 salt for a Rare, 80 salt for an Epic).

Each player does not see their own set of chests. Every player sees the same set of chests wherever they appear. However, each chest can only be opened by one player (save for cosmetic chests, which can technically be interacted with by two players at once). The contents in chests are never shared with others. New chests also only appear when the difficulty of the mines levels up–new chests will not spawn in over time.

(author’s note: this appears to not be the case as of the March 21st patch; chests do seem to spawn in occasionally outside of leveling up the mines, seemingly after Predators are defeated–more testing is needed)

How does the difficulty in the mines work?

At the top right of your screen, you can see the current difficulty of the mines as an alliterative name with a bar underneath it. This bar fills up incrementally as players defeat Predators. The amount of Predators required to be defeated in order to level up the mines is listed underneath this bar. Both “beast” Predators and “character” Predators count as 1 “point” towards the next level. When the bar fills up, the difficulty inside the mines advances to the next level, and the treasure chests in the mines reset (i.e. any remaining chests vanish and a new set of chests spawn in). The level of the mines are titled as such:

• Level 1: Feelin’ Fine
• Level 2: Slightly Spookified
• Level 3: Almost Anxious
• Level 4: Halfway Haunted
• Level 5: Thoroughly Terrified
• Level 6: OHGODMAKEITSTOP
• Level 7+: AAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The first level only requires 5 Predators to be defeated to advance the difficulty to level 2. Every level after the first one requires 8 Predators to be defeated in order to advance the difficulty.

The effects of increasing the difficulty in the mines (aside from refreshing chests) are that Predators start with more health during fights, their AI is improved, they spawn at a greater frequency, and a larger percentage of them will spawn as “character” Predators instead of “beast” Predators. Both their and your own damage output are not affected.

Uncommon cosmetic chests (20 salt) will appear at levels 2-5. Rare cosmetic chests (30 salt) will appear at level 6. Epic cosmetic chests (40 salt) will appear at levels 7 and beyond.

After the 7th level, players may continue to level up the mines, but doing so will not advance the difficulty past “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA”. Predators will not grow past their level 7 strength. Leveling up the difficulty beyond this point will simply refresh the chests inside of the mines.

When the mines are emptied of players, the difficulty will be reset back to Feelin’ Fine (note that this occurs when the mines are emptied, not when all players that have entered the mines have died once–if players constantly return to the mines and continue dying, the difficulty will remain where it is so long as at least one player is still inside the mines). There is no way to lower the difficulty inside the mines other than this.

Miscellaneous notes

• You may battle other players inside the mines, either to challenge them on cosmetic chests or for fun, but it should be noted that battles against other players while in the Salt Mines will not take away from the health pool you have in the mines. Both players start their bout with full health and end with their overall health bars unchanged. You do not gain salt for defeating other players while inside the mines.
• Predators chasing after another player will only target that player. They will not run towards other players that intercept their path. Additionally, even if a player that is not the Predator’s target makes contact with said Predator, a battle will not occur. Only a Predator and their target can battle one another.
• Predators will not chase players that transition to a different room. They will despawn a short period after you leave the room, but not immediately–quickly returning to a room with Predators that you have fled from may have an unwelcome surprise waiting for you. As of the March 21st patch, Predators will immediately disappear when you transition to a new area.
• Opening a treasure chest will cause Predators chasing after you to vanish. Predators that vanish in this manner will not contribute towards leveling up the difficulty inside the mines. Adjacent Predators chasing after players that did not open a treasure chest are unaffected.
• If you leave a Pixel Lobby, you will lose all of the salt you’ve accumulated in that lobby. Your salt is not persistent–every time you enter a lobby, you start with 0. Items earned through the Salt Mines are persistent, however, and do not need to be re-earned between lobbies.

Changelog

1.0 (February 23rd, 2018)

• Initial release.

2.0 (February 25th, 2018)

• Revamped guide.

2.1 (March 25th, 2018)

• Added note about potential new treasure chest spawning behavior. Investigating further (though it may be pointless considering Salt Mines 2.0 is on the horizon).
• Predators now despawn immediately after a room transition (though not a screen transition if the room is too big).
• Removed the bit about “pending information” regarding Predator strategies. With Salt Mines 2.0 on the way, I’m currently not willing to do a detailed write-up until that is released. Sorry 🙁 (there is a great comment left by Tuckington, though, with good information about fighting them!)
• Some new pictures.
• Corrected name of level 7 difficulty. Was previously “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA” with 16 A’s. Now is “AAAAAAAAAAAAAA” with 14 A’s.

2.1.1 (March 26th, 2018)

• Added a note about how both the player and a Predator start with full Super and Magic when battling.
• Added the names of the “beast” Predators (except for the wolf i mean seriously who even looks at his name he only shows up in like levels 1 and 2 and he sucks major doody).

2.1.1.1 (March 29th, 2018)

• Added the name of the Wolf Predator (thanks iiGrandeur).

2.2 (April 1st, 2018)

• Added some basic strategies for combatting the “beast” Predators.
• New picture of the shrine thingy that allows you to enter the Salt Mines. It’s lit.

Credits

Thanks to Dusty-B216© for clarifying the cost of entry and a tip about cosmetic chests.
Thanks to iiGrandeur for providing the name of the Wolf Predator (that I keep forgetting).