Universal Solomon's Keep (by Raptisoft)

Really? I think I was in the early 20s in my last game...

 

no i don't think that's accurate.

for example, it takes 90% of my mana bar to kill some of the tougher enemies (the fiery wizard things) and 75% to kill a slow-moving poison brute.

so by your logic i should have invested LESS into magic damage? yeah, maybe the bar would deplete slower but wouldn't it take more mana for each kill, thus being a wash?

 

Oh no, it doesn't work that way. Upgrading damage takes more mana, because that balances the convenience/survival ability of quick-kill vs. save-mana. It's the same way you can run a lightbulb off a AA battery, but a real car would require like some lithium ion uber-battery and couldn't be run off a bank of AA's.

So yeah, you don't want to overpower yourself unnecessarily. For instance, as well as fighting the big demons with your ultra-damage, you have to waste ultra-damage on the little tiny ones that have only one hit point.

I'm guessing you invested heavily into area-effect (explode, more missiles, chaining), which costs even more for the convenience of hitting more than one thing at once.

Plus, your mana-recovery factors into all this, so if you're expending big chunks of mana, you'll end up with a longer and inconvenient recovery period, while if you're using smaller bits of mana, it'll be longer before you hit zero and can't fire. So yeah, there's not any kind of pure 1 mana = 1 damage curve, because what you're paying for is to not have the risk that you'll get swarmed.

So it's balanced. Basically, if you're killing stuff, and not getting swarmed, you don't need to get all damage-greedy and pump yourself up into the guy who can kill an entire room by walking into it.

But, of course, if you're pumped up with Battle Mage and Channel Mana, you CAN make this kind of build.

If that's the kind of mage you want to play, then keep restarting your game until the you get a random roll that has the yellow mage offering to improve channel mana and battlemage. That way you can just collect money and have him buff those skills while you concentrate on damage.

Oh, and wear any item that boosts mana recovery, if you don't have any mana skills invested!

 

i'm stuck for sure.... I can't get pass lvl 16. To add insult to injury. I try buying exp from one of the wizards at camp. He took my money and didn't level me up!... Any clues, anyone? i'm using 1.1 and about to reset this game

 

That's... really strange. And the first I've heard of it. If you had a way of getting the save file off the iPod, I'd want you to send it to me!

 

i'm stuck at lvl 18 (0/60,000 points). i can't get anymore exp points.

 

I don't understand what you mean by stuck at lvl 16. Did you clear every monster in the 10 floors? What floor are you on? If, for example, you're at the last boss (floor 10) and can't defeat him (or leave) then you can choose to turn on "Kid's Mode" through the option menu and defeat Solomon. Then start a new game. If you're not on floor 10, then you can go through the earlier floors and clean up for more exp. Giving gold to the skills guy only turns your gold into exp. If it's not enough (I think 1 gold for 1 exp) to meet the level requirement then you won't gain a level from it.

I've played through about... 5 times. Twice I had to give up and use 'kid mode' to defeat Solomon. Both times lightning was my primary weapon. I don't like it
I've finished with a level between 19-26 or so. It's hard to get much higher than 26... I got +100% exp ring around floor 4 in that game and exp req ramped up quite a bit by the mid 20s. I guess you could grind the bosses that spawn mobs for a higher level but that would get pretty boring after a while.

I find Teleport or Rush to be really valuable to surviving Solomon.

 

Thanks for the update! It fixed the crash issue with the boss that was preventing me from finishing the game. So I finished it for the 2nd time last night with the fireball skill - man that was tough - lol, my HP bar looked like it had 0 health left and was flashing when I fired the last shot that killed Solomon (and I had no more HP potions or any more money to buy more) - talk about a close call.

There's something definitely satisfying by shooting out a fireball or chain lightning bolt to destroy a ton of those little minions that create the yellow explosions/vertical beams when they die.

Oh yeah, and I love the ending scores and credits - too funny.

 

I can report that since I got 1.2, I haven't had any bugs, and I've played through it about three times. Also, Lightning is amazing. Especially when you get really lucky and find two "Damage +2" items at the store.

Also I was wondering something - how is the rating you get at the end determined? Excellent, poor, etc. Is it solely based on the number of deaths you have?

 

Yes! I love zapping them all in a split second, then my Telekinesis goes out and grabs all the health/mana they left me.

I do HATE those when I use a Magic Missile build or a pre-Explosion Fireball build. All the more satisfying to crush them I suppose.

 

yeah, telekenesis or a ring that pulls in HP/MP drops is essential IMO - one of the most important skills/items to get.

 

I'm curious why you think lightning is so good. I'm playing through with it for the second time. And I'm dying a TON, just like the first time.

I thought I would balance out the mana regen and be okay. But right now, I am level 20, on floor 9, with 8 'points' in mana skills and 8 in lightning skills. But I still blaze through mana so fast it's ridiculous. It takes nearly half a bar to kill one of those poison zombie dudes.

In fact, I'm finding that the only way to clear rooms consistently (sometimes a lightning-only approach works) is by running in, dropping a Ring of Fire, and mopping up with lightning. Which, of course, entails a lot of donuts and empty mana bars.

I can see lightning being strong with several +dmg items...but otherwise, I can't think how my build could be better....(not to say it can't, of course)

Edit to clarify: 5 points in lightning, 2 in Arcing, 1 in Stun....(which seems pretty close to optimal mana efficiency)

 

Up your arcing some more and you will see why

 

agreed. that half bar in mana killing that one zombie could be killing the whole room and all the other zmbies at the same time.

just don't up your arcing too early on...

 

My first playthrough with lightning I had 5 points in Arcing. It seemed pretty good for groups, but my mana went like hotcakes at fat camp.

What do you think is the right ratio, by the end, of Lightning, Arcing, and Stun?

Stun seems kinda worthless, though....that might have been a problem in my first go-'round....I had like 3-4 points in Stun.

 

I realized it too so I started to increase the strength of lightning

 

Stun is useless. Usually what I do is only choose Lightning if I start out with a good set-up for it; maybe the ability to buy upgrades to Battle Mage and a Damage +2 ring at the shop. The Damage +2 will decimate everything for a couple of levels after you get it. Usually, in a Lightning run, by floor 7 or 8 I can walk into a room and clear it out before I really get hit. No pausing, running away. By the way, Lightning is powerful enough that you should spend much more time on mana recovery (in this case, having Battle Mage as a purchasable upgrade from the start is almost mandatory). One playthrough, I got a "+2 Channel Mana, +100% Mana Recovery" staff from the first boss. The game was extremely easy from that point on. Also, something I always try to do is if there's a gold-increasing item at the start, I buy it immediately. Those help immensely.

As for how to optimize the Lightning, I would say spend your level ups between Lightning and Chaining, and you should choose whichever one adds less mana to your casting. That is, if Chaining adds .5 Mana and Lightning adds .3, pick Lightning. You'll usually end up with numbers similar to what y'all have already mentioned in this thread. That being said, due to the random nature of the game, you often don't get to choose what you get. In that case, don't get greedy with the damage. A couple of times, I've wasted level-ups on stuff that I knew I wouldn't use because personally I don't like to have to do laps to kill everything or to have to run out, wait, then run back in. With a Lightning build I try to manage it so my mana either doesn't drop or drops very slowly.

Another thought: What do y'all think of Ember? I tried it once but I only got to level 2 with it until some bug made me restart the game (this was back in 1.0 days ). Have y'all experimented with Ember and found it worthwhile?

 

Stun isn't useless... Use it to hold enemies back. Stun and chaining together can replace increased damage... Especially in the upcoming 2.0, where stun prevents ranged critters from firing.

 

That gives stun some potential, But holding enemies back won't kill them will it? If it pushed them back a bit now so that we could get a bit of breathing space now then it would be great