Forums → Games → Gemcraft CS low level guide ( WL 0 - 100 )

I have seen repeated requests for a guide of this sort that caters more to the beginners, so i have tried to put something together. This is a draft based on my experience, particularly from Thunderriders Hex F only level challenge.

Gem Craft Low level tips ( say from 0-100) for premium

The biggest thing to remember in making your way through gem craft CS ( or any of them for that matter) is that you can repeat maps. Repeating maps is the key to progressing both to completing the game ( which means beating the âlast levelâ and getting the end piece of the story and the âlook forward to the next chapterâ slide) and progressing to the much higher levels ( i am currently level 3158) and challenges, as well as dealing with all the hidden levels etc.
So in terms of a guide, which I have never done, I will try and walk through some advice to carry you on to making your way into the 100âs wizard levels. I will not be doing a map by map step by step guide, but rather some general advice I believe you can apply to all levels in the early stages of the game.
I will also preface this by saying I assume you have some familiarity with the basic game mechanics, such as gem combining. Also let me say I am a big supporter of people buying the wizard pouch. The developer has spent a significant amount of time creating this game for our enjoyment. Its a great game ( and series) with a lot of replay-ability, and when I compare it to other PC games out there that even in the deep discount bin will cost you 5-10 bucks, never mind more regular pricing, or even buying games through various websites that are 5-10 bucks but you are done them in a week and never go back, this stand head and shoulders above those. So if you have the actual ability to pay the $5 to get the Wizard pouch, please do so. If you are new to the series, and want to check it out before you buy, do so, or even go play the other games in the series to get a feel for them. That will only help you in moving through this game.

You open the game on Hex F with only one map. You can probably get through all the levels on HexF will little difficulty. It is a time to get comfortable with the game and how it works.
You donât have all colors available every map ( until later in the game. Once you unlock the skill for a gem, its available on every map.) So at this point you are stuck with what exists when you start each map. Each map has its own selection of gems, never less than two, but usually only 3 or 4. In the very early levels, poison gems ( green) are your friend, especially when combined with chain hit ( red) which you get with premium. Remember that as you go through the levels. Also remember that its important to combine colors. A red/green gem is generally better than just a red or just a green, as you can hit multiple monsters with poison and damage rather than just one monster, or multiple monsters with just damage. The other gem that is common in the early game and helpful is armor shredding ( purple), again especially when combined with red. When you have yellow and red itâs a good combination as well, though nowhere near as strong as it will be later in the game. Again, by experimenting on the different maps you will learn how the gems work and what works well together.
The red /green and red/purple work well in traps and are generally the only ones I will put in traps. Mana steal ( orange) is also common on the early maps, but I found has limited use. It doesnât provide much mana at this point, and you donât see enough monsters hitting it to make big difference. Again though, if used, its best combined with red.
You will also have to upgrade your gems to higher levels. The simplest answer to this is just to hit the âuâ key while hovering over the gems. This will carry you a long way through the game, though eventually you will need more advanced methods ( not part of this guide). This isnt the most efficient, but the reality is that until you are a little more comfortable itâs the easiest way to do it. But there are some other options once you have that comfort and some more mana.
Eg. In the early stages, if you make a combine a grade 1 red and grade 1 green, you will have a nice little gem that can hit multiple monsters with poison. Eventually you get enough mana to hit the u key, and get a stronger gem. But doing this in the long run will give you more red in the gem than you need. So another option is instead of just hitting u, create a grade 2 green and combine them for a grade 3. Maybe upgrade that one with u to grade 4, then the next time create a grade 4 green to combine with that.
Another option, is when you have enough starting mana, is to make a grade 1 red, and 3 grade 1 greens, and combine those 4 into one gem( results in a grade 3). Then you can just hit u to upgrade that one, as it already has a stronger poison component
Another thing to note is that you can hit the d key to make a duplicate of the gem. This is helpful when you want to have more gems in traps or towers. Its often better, especially early, to have multiple lower grade gems. You will also have maps where there are more than one entrance to the map and you will want to have gems at all of them.

A note on skill points. Generally speaking you should raise your skill points in groups of 3. Every 3rd point raises the secondary part of the skill ( see the actual skills tabs and you will see what I am talking about). Early on you will have limited skills available, so you shouldnât have too much trouble keeping up the skill levels ( especially if you go back to repeat levels rather than rushing ahead). But also remember that unused skill points create a starting mana bonus that is essential to have over the course of the game. If you find you cant complete a level, perhaps go back and reduce the skill points to give you more starting mana.
Once you have opened up a new hex I would suggest you have a choice. You can keep going as you open up new maps until you âhit the wallâ and cant proceed anymore without raising your level, or you can go back now and start repeating levels. Either way, at some point you need to go back and start repeating levels though. As I briefly referenced above, going back now and repeating levels will help with managing skill points in the early game. And just so you can see how it can work, I started a new game, and by only repeating maps on HexF and not exploring the other hex when it opened to me, I was able to get up to Wizard level 56.
When you are repeating waves, you can increase your experience score in two ways. By putting shadow cores into battle traits ( increases the multiplier for your raw exp score), and by angering waves ( dropping gem bombs on the tiles that represent each wave, which increases both the number of monsters and the raw exp you get for each kill). The best outcome for this is a combination of the two methods.
You will only have limited shadow cores early in the game ( unless you buy moreâ¦if you do I suggest buying the maximum, itâs the best deal. Buying more assists you with not having to âgrind â levels only for the purpose of getting more shadow cores, but some would rather do that than fork over more money. Totally a personal choice). Each point you put into a battle traits costs cores. There are 7 levels for each trait ( other traits are opened for completing later levels), with increasing difficulty or bonuses for each level. The first time you repeat levels, I wouldnât go nuts maxing the battle traits. Take your time to make sure you are comfortable with how each battle goes. Also, each level in battle traits can add to the number of waves for that run through the map. This gives you more opportunity to gain experience points, but the waves also get more difficulty, so you might not complete it . Also note that if you lose the run, you get your shadowcores back.
When angering waves, again I would suggest caution until you get comfortable and more skilled. Only bomb with grade one gems at this point. You might only bomb once per wave at first. The max I would do at this point is probably 4 bombs on a wave. The 5th bomb adds a beacon to the field, which could cause you problems. Beacons are added every 5th bomb ( 5, 10, 15, 20) and they can overwhelm you, especially if you get a bunch of gem resocketing beacons.
The other side of this is that beacons also add xp when destroyed, and can be helpful in raising your score. You have to play with it to find your comfort area and what you can handle. When you have lots of beacons appearing, you will likely need to have multiple towers, and gems that you can move around. I will often have one or two towers with gems along the path, but then another gem that I can build a tower near a beacon when it appears and move the extra gem around as needed. Though as the waves progress, you will have to anger less or not at all. And you will need to have more gems to kill monsters with as well.

This is also the time to start doing the endurance mode. Have no illusions you will beat endurance, it is merely a way to get more xp. If you can still anger waves and kill the monsters successfully during endurance do so. Eventually you will reach the limit of what you can kill though.

Also remember you can pause the game at any time. this is very important, at it allows you stop, move gems around, upgrade gems, bomb waves etc
Using this combination of ways to increase your xp on each of the levels will allow you to relatively quickly start getting to a higher level. This method will not get you up to level 1000 or anything, but it will get you up to high enough levels that you can start making big level jumps. There are other guides that will help you with that. On the forums you will notice lots of talk about âmana farmingâ and quests for grade 100 gems, and gem combining methods. Those threads are all worth a read, but I wouldnât worry about them until you are at least closer to level 100, and getting very comfortable with the game mechanics.

Hope this helps.