Official Gemcraft 0: Strategy Thread

So the new Gemcraft game is much harder than the old one. Excellent. It also provides a lot of new ways to make strategies.

In this topic, discuss your strategies and comment on other peoples.

I haven’t played much yet, so I only have a few observations to hand out. First thing I’ve noticed is that having a poison trap at the main enemy exit is always a good idea, I think it gets slightly worse as the waves progress, so this may not be a valuable use of mana in later stages (Mana is much more important in GC0 than GC)

I also haven’t found too much use for Mana Pooling so far. It doesn’t seem you need to do it anywhere near as much as GC, although I’m only 5 or so stages in so far.

Shrines are cool, I recommend keeping 1 or 2 ‘current’ levelled gems incase you need to fire one off in an emergency. Since towers are a lot more expensive now it may be a good idea to just keep them in your inventory.

I’ve also concluded that the 5th or 6th level (15 waves, poison/shock) is really hard.

So far my general strategy is to get a poison trap at both spawn points, then try to get at least 3-5 Lv3 gems in towers to kill the mobs. The best I’ve done is got up to the final wave then had to spam all 3 uses of the shrine, then the last 5-10 mobs killed me because I only had 1 gem left. I also only had Lv2’s in the traps, so I couldn’t use them for the shrine (Wouldn’t have damaged the mobs enough), which would have been ideal. I also had one poorly placed tower. So I might get it next time.

Finally beat the 1st Arcane Guardian level… the 13th or 14th level, overall. Did it at level 17. Made a video of it, and will post the video. I showed what skills I had at the end, etc. And, of course, you can see my strategy. Barely won, and that was my 8th or 9th attempt. Took me a few tries to get a good strategy, then 1 or 2 more runs to get it right.

As soon as you get level 8, go back and complete the early sudden death modes. Put your points in the starting initial mana skill (not max mana increase but initial mana increase) and you can start the early sudden deaths with 2 lvl.3 or 1 lvl.4 gem (you have to purchase these). Don’t use bombs or traps and get the 3X bonus for those amulets too. This levels you up quickly.

Bah, bombs have been so nerfed… the cheapo strategy from gemcraft 1 doesn’t work. Maybe when the gem bomb increase skill is unlocked…

this game is VERY frustrating. i’m just past the 1st epic boss, and i’m having a lot of trouble beating these levels. you have to build all your towers from scratch, you don’t have enough mana to build up, etc. very, very frustrating. you pretty much HAVE to re-play the early levels on multiple modes of play to gain extra exp to level up. oh yeah… it’s now harder to level up too. i’m on level 22 or 23 or so. ugh.

Yeah, I’ve found that too now I’ve played a bit further. Not that far though.

My current strategy is to send 1st wave immediately as soon as the game screen opens. With increased starting mana skill maxed and cheaper towers skill maxed that allows me to place a tower and put a level 4 gem in it as quickly as my mouse can move. But I’m finding that then I can’t earn mana quickly enough because of these “wasted” skill points. I mean come on… cheaper tower skill? Lame.

Now I’ve unlocked the bomb skill I’m going to try to distribute my points on that and starting mana limit and cheaper mana upgrade, then survive the first few levels with just bombing. That worked really well in the first game. Really sucks on laptop though, it’s hard to bomb quickly enough, and for some reason I frequently drop the bombs almost immediately without lifting my mouse button. Not sure if this is a bug in the game or my mouse is busted.

I’ve pretty much given up on traps; you need them most at the beginning of levels… but if you build traps then, they’re totally useless in later levels where you need a high effect from a level 3ish slow or armour reduce.

If that doesn’t work I’ll try maxing one of the skills that gives you starting gems, thus helping me afford more towers at the start. Hopefully that will get me a level 4 starting gem? Pfft, I somehow doubt it.

Originally posted by explodingferret:

Yeah, I’ve found that too now I’ve played a bit further. Not that far though.

My current strategy is to send 1st wave immediately as soon as the game screen opens. With increased starting mana skill maxed and cheaper towers skill maxed that allows me to place a tower and put a level 4 gem in it as quickly as my mouse can move. But I’m finding that then I can’t earn mana quickly enough because of these “wasted” skill points. I mean come on… cheaper tower skill? Lame.

Now I’ve unlocked the bomb skill I’m going to try to distribute my points on that and starting mana limit and cheaper mana upgrade, then survive the first few levels with just bombing. That worked really well in the first game. Really sucks on laptop though, it’s hard to bomb quickly enough, and for some reason I frequently drop the bombs almost immediately without lifting my mouse button. Not sure if this is a bug in the game or my mouse is busted.

I’ve pretty much given up on traps; you need them most at the beginning of levels… but if you build traps then, they’re totally useless in later levels where you need a high effect from a level 3ish slow or armour reduce.

If that doesn’t work I’ll try maxing one of the skills that gives you starting gems, thus helping me afford more towers at the start. Hopefully that will get me a level 4 starting gem? Pfft, I somehow doubt it.

hold down the shift button to go into ultimate bombing mode and you dont have to drag every single gem to bomb it

this game is like 5X’s harder than the original, and im only on like the 6th or 7th level and i cant beat the two levels, its the level with the two houses that monsters come out of and i go up to the last level (15th) and then all the guys just overwhelm me and i die, its really hard and WAAAY buggier than i thought it would be

Butheadjoe, is that the level with only Shock and Poison? That ones a bitch.

What you need to do is put a poison trap at both monster exits, then place your gem towers right back near your wizard tower. Upgrade the poison traps as much as possible but don’t forget the rest. Send wave 15 as soon as 14 has finished coming out, let every mob hit the poison traps and finish taking poison damage (The start of wave 14 is probably pretty close to your tower now). Then chuck 3 gems into the shrine in a row, that should finish them off.

Hmm, I think it’s wise to go for some easy medals/awards/badges/whatever they’re called, for a lot of early experience. Beating the levels isn’t that hard on itself, just don’t mass waves and you’ll be fine. After a few of those levels, I went back to beating them on sudden death and getting a score on endurance (again later). It’s going to be a long ride, you need to have a lot of patience. I wouldn’t mind at all this coming fully to Kongregate with all of its awards, but I doubt you can actually gain awards on the Kongregate version (they’ll probably remove them).

Originally posted by Degenx2:

Butheadjoe, is that the level with only Shock and Poison? That ones a bitch.

What you need to do is put a poison trap at both monster exits, then place your gem towers right back near your wizard tower. Upgrade the poison traps as much as possible but don’t forget the rest. Send wave 15 as soon as 14 has finished coming out, let every mob hit the poison traps and finish taking poison damage (The start of wave 14 is probably pretty close to your tower now). Then chuck 3 gems into the shrine in a row, that should finish them off.

thanks for the tips, i beat the first arcane guardian on the first try, its surprisingly easier than i thought it was going to be. if anyone needs tips on the arcane guardian level, just ask

Urgh… This game was so much harder than the original one. I thought I was a GemCraft master, and I tried my old strategy from months ago – making high levelled gems from the very start (I tried to make a Grade 4 gem in the very first level) – but that’s not working at all… And there’s an awful lack of towers to begin with…

Urgh… This game was so much harder than the original one. I thought I was a GemCraft master, and I tried my old strategy from months ago – making high levelled gems from the very start (I tried to make a Grade 4 gem in the very first level) – but that’s not working at all… And there’s an awful lack of towers to begin with…

this game is VERY frustrating.

These two comments pretty much sum up my opinion of the game.
This game is in badly need for repair. Difficulty is border line ridiculous. In an attempt to extend gameplay hours, they have you replay the same level over and over so that you can level.

v1.01 is out now. Says difficulty of some levels has been decreased.

yea, some levels, not all, the level after the arcane guardian is just bull**** hard

also, dont quote me on this, but i think the level after the first arcane guardian is the level that was in the demo video

I used to be able to make about 2 Grade 7 gems in the very beginning, and build towers packed together in the entrance, and add a few trenches, then start spamming mana pool to get crazy scores… But I can’t do that anymore in the new game…

I actually like the level of challenge here. It’s all about finding the right strategy.

Every level I’ve been stuck on, I’ve improved my strategy over about 3-4 attempts, and it’s worked great.

I was finding the levels too hard, so I’ve been grinding for XP.

I’ve only completed the first eight levels and I’m currently level 23! XD

Played all of them on normal, sudden death, and endurance, of course. Endurance is a useful mode! You can’t fail it, so you’re guaranteed at least some experience.

I played one of the levels quite seriously on endurance and got some rubbishy score, about 450. Then I changed my skills and decided instead to just send as many waves as I could to kill myself real quick. Because I didn’t make any bombs, traps, or towers, I got bonuses for all of those, and beat my previous score.

Then I just started wholesale abusing endurance mode for amulets. 60 endurance wins, 2000 gems created, 1000 gem bombs, 300 towers, 300 pits, 100 shrine usage, etc. etc. :)

I’m stopping for the night… But I’m level 30 and at the 2nd Guardian (haven’t tried it yet though). I’ve beaten the first 8 or so levels on 4 modes each… and have beaten 23 levels total on Normal, with 3 normal levels unbeaten + 2nd guardian. I haven’t tried whoring for amulets at all. Leveling up is taking so long at this point… each level is over 4000. I hope it starts capping soon, like the first one did (first one capped at 4 mil per level… this one doesn’t seem to be doing that).

Also, to max the entire skill tree, you have to reach level 202. Assuming that each skill follows the same progression of 5, 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 = 36 per skill. 28 skills.

Even on v1.01, the game is NOT easy. As Degenx said, most levels are taking me more than 1 try to beat. 1st try is to do a “Standard” attempt… then tweak it if it doesn’t work. It seems that traps are pretty important to use. And, what are your guys thoughts on pure gems vs dual gems?

The dual gems are supposed to be a lot better in this game, although to be honest I haven’t really tried them much. They have a damage bonus apparently? Something like that. I guess I could go look at the figures…

By the way, I tried the gem bomb strategy that worked so well in the first game (send 20 or so waves, bomb them while increasing max mana, send another 5 or 6, bomb them while increasing max mana, buy some level 5/6 gems and relax). It doesn’t work at all. I think it’s because the mana increase button is essentially useless now. I noticed in Tass’s video that he didn’t touch it even once.

I guess you might need to use it when you find out how much arcane guardian 2 costs to dispel, huh? ;)

Pure gems are working well for me now, I’m level 25 and past the 1st guardian, but I’ve only unlocked 4 of the next tier. I’ve done the endurance, heroic and sudden death on the first several levels to get more points. I haven’t taken the time to go for the more grinding amulets, I just don’t have it in me this late at night.

In the strategy guide, I thought it said that dual gems give more damage but pure have higher specialty effects. I’ve not really noticed this, but I haven’t checked but once or twice. My pures seem to have good damage. I haven’t been putting points into either dual or pure gem mastery yet though.

Does anyone else have thoughts or experience with the pure vs. dual gems and potential damage?

A good game, yes, but it is extremely frustrating. The learning/difficulty curve is much too steep, something which the devs should have kept in mind.

That being said, I notice that much of the multi coloured gem levels require a fair bit of luck to get the gems you need to maintain them. Poison and Slow gems make good traps. Your Mana Pool upgrades contribute much much less to your overall ability and it is often better to not use it to forfeit the score just to at least get some EXP.

I haven’t gotten far, but I admit this game is pissing the [cabbage] out of me.

Explanation for Pure gem vs the Dual gem.

Pure Gem Example Level 3 Lime Gem
Special: 30% Chance of getting a chain hit
Speed: 45
Damage: 15-42

Pure Gem Example Level 3 Orange Gem
Special: 1.9 Mana gain per hit
Speed: 42
Damage: 12-40

Dual Gem Example Level 3 Orange/Lime Gem
Lime Special: 13% Chance of getting a chain hit
Orange Special: 0.6 Mana gain for every hit
Speed: 46
Damage: 15-44

Now when you mouse over a dual gem, on the bottom of the information it will say something like this:

Dual Gem Modifiers:
15% gain to maximum speed
10% gain to minimum damage
10% gain to maximum damage

im not sure if those are the real statistics, so dont be quoting me on this, but im pretty sure they are somewhere near the real thing.

Originally posted by Laxaria:

A good game, yes, but it is extremely frustrating. The learning/difficulty curve is much too steep, something which the devs should have kept in mind.

That being said, I notice that much of the multi coloured gem levels require a fair bit of luck to get the gems you need to maintain them. Poison and Slow gems make good traps. Your Mana Pool upgrades contribute much much less to your overall ability and it is often better to not use it to forfeit the score just to at least get some EXP.

I haven’t gotten far, but I admit this game is pissing the [cabbage] out of me.

You’re not the only one who got frustrated.

Do you guys think that this is a good skill tree? I’m level 22 right now.

Enhanced Pool-1
Focus-8
Mana-Gain Mastery-7
Dual Gem Mastery-6
Armor-1
Replenish-5
Forge-4

Personally, I think its pretty good. Any ideas on how i could improve it?