Surprisingly enough, there are a lot of situations where you can take down a skull squid without taking damage. Even a standard uppercut can take down a skull squid with no repercussions. Then again, my playstyle is very offensive and I rarely block so you learn to take damage and deal with it (dull pain is very helpful the way I play)
I upgraded with a Gnome at level 47. My heart actually sunk when the reward was 10k ... that is just absurdly unfulfilling. Ascension is worthless now. I understand you guys want to push IAP but come on.
You ran out of time, fine. But 10k? It was your decision to go live with that, and it's wasted a huge amount of time.
Strictly speaking, you get $35k for ascending Gnomey. $60k if you have the Punchos doubler. Yeah, 10k is a bummer, but it's hardly the end of the world. It doesn't render the game a waste of time.
If you have a load out you really like (Shieldbuster for me), an Ultra Belt can be very useful. But, you're limited at first so it may depend on whether you like those first options.
I often use shieldbuster myself so maybe I'll buy a belt with power slam or steam buster first and then save up for spartan mode
I bought an ultra belt first. My reasoning was if I had an extra power II move, I would be making more money per run, and therefore would be able to buy spartan mode faster, but of course I have no idea what type of money you make in spartan mode, so this could of course be crappy logic. Combo, it's on. Bring it, baby
Spartan mode is very fun, but definitely makes less money than quest mode, primarily due to the bonuses you get in quest mode (and have the coin doubler).