jfowler... yes. good strat. I capped my passive firing speed ability at lev 10... My max speed i can get on a gem is 275. Quite literally machine gun speed. As far as the guardians go, I never have a need to let them through at all. By the time I hit them, I have about 2 level 9 gems, 2 levels 8s and 2 level 7s. Along with a couple level 6 pure oranges and a level 6 pure blue, and maybe a level 6 pure purple all in traps at the opening gate. The entire level is sooooo much easier because of the mana leech and the armor destruction. In fact, I don't think a singe monster gets by. Then again I am wizard level 104 so I have 5 gems mastered up to level 9 so i get a level 3 and level 2 to start. I always take blue and orange with me so I can set up the mana trap.
kingkev... I get alot of experience from endurance... It is not too early to do it, just as you grow stronger and stronger, you may want to come back and do them again.... The most xp I have gotten from edurance is 30,305, which is quite significant. I was at wizard level 95 when I got that
I am at wizard level 91... I just completed map level 42... I been going through and doing as many "special modes" as I can to make future levels that much more easier.