Armor Games

The main problem with the strategy guide is that it was written post-completion. The set-up that he shows for the first epic battle works, but shifting everything other to the 2nd and 3rd bends works much better, especially with a level 5 blue, level 6 green, level 4 purples and cyans, and with armor/mana start/cost/gem bomb skills all maxed.

Try to get 4 or 5 pure lvl 6 gems and 5 water ditches. Should be a snap. Higher the level of the gem faster firing rate and more damage it does....

And also take note of the colours, you don't want a same matching hue, it does basically nothing.

Also, when you get enough Mana to throw gems, always try NOT to throw really powerful ones against weak enemies.

Yeah, that works.

Hues on monsters affect points earned by killing them, by the way. I've yet to figure out the formula

I stand corrected.

gemcraft is a strategy and RPG game
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if you ever needed help in a level(beside epic bosses)try placing grade 2 and 3(square and diamonds)They are strong in the beginning.

Ok...
Time for me to go full blast on this GemCraft thing...
I Semi-beat the game and I feel I have to give a few bit of information.

-----TIPS-----
*Always have more than 4,000 mana for the stages after the first 2 epic bosses.
*When you reach level 40, max out the level 40 Talent Spec.
*Always try to get multiple gems instead of working on one major one, its better to have constant fire than just one strong, but slow fire.
*Later on in the game, never use the meta gems :P
*Always have the first and second talent maxed out.

-----FIRST EPIC BOSS-----
Oh boy I struggled with this one, and I wanna share my ways of beating it.

*Be level 21 (That is the level I did it it, and you can get to level 21 before the epic boss, just re-do some levels.)
*First of all, get through the waves.
*Second, when you get to the epic boss, be sure to have 6,000-8,000 mana (And be sure its full, too)
*Have atleast one (Preferably pure) grade 6 gems.
*Have atleast 4 grade 4 gems
*And last but not least, have about 3-4 water trenches.

I know this sounds like a lot, but it is possible. Just be sure to max out the first and second talent walls, and put some into the armor skill. The epic monster will be ready to kill, you probably don't have to go all the way up to the guide, because I got it down to 94 health when it made its second lap, so it'll be pretty easy.

-----SECOND EPIC BOSS-----
This one, I had no trouble with. Just remember, always have high mana, and 5-8 waves before the epic boss.

-----THIRD EPIC BOSS-----
This one seems to be giving people trouble, Just follow the same instructions given to the first epic boss, just remember to go above and beyond the limit, redo levels, go and try to get the frame rate. And just remember, the more mana you have, the longer you have to wait for it to be at its maximum, but the more mana you gain is faster, and makes him run more laps.

-----FOURTH EPIC BOSS-----
Oh, this one... Don't be afraid of him, just because he has like 40,000 health. Just max out your armorskill. And have atleast 16-22k mana for him. He eats up a think, about 6k when he passes through? Even with the armorskill.

-----FIFTH EPIC BOSS-----
I haven't got to this one, but all I can probably think about this one is, that... you... need...
LOTS O' MANA!

So please tell me if this helped you or not, I would really like to know :D

what specific effect does "pure gem mastery" have? are my crafted pure gems going to be more powerful or something like that?

Yes, Pure Gem Mastery is about making your pure gems more powerful.