Forums → Games → Gemcraft: CS, Endurance Questions.

1 - I use Internet Explorer. I have not had any problems with the browser itself, though I have lost a couple multi-day sessions due to the computer deciding that it was time for an automatic update.

2 - I'd heard yes way back when, but it appears the correct answer is "no". In my dabbling with permafreeze, I'd used WoE to send monsters that got past the manafarm back to the beginning of the map so that I could try to freeze them on it again.

3 - Whatever map you want, really. I think that one of the maps with the Gem Shrine was beaten, and I think someone else had gone and beaten an X hextile map ... just know that you are likely going to need gems that can handle e77-e79 monsters by the end. Higher if you are also doing it for experience and want to bomb every wave.

4 - Monster regen eventually gets nearly as high as monster HP. I would not bother with a suppression gem beforehand. I experimented with it, and after a while, you just cannot build one with enough suppression to keep up. Instead, I would dump those points currently in Armor Tearing and Suppression (and Barrage!) into something else : White.

Here's my reasoning. White, though it does not grow nearly as quickly as Black, starts out a lot stronger. I would recommend starting out with some throw-away gems; using psorek's high-end guide, make the 32-spec managem using White instead of Black gems. Do the same thing for your initial killgem, too. Use the 64c amps, do not bother with the 10c or 16c starter kill amps or mana amps, respectively. When you would be bringing those two trap gems to displayed grade 35, then remake them using whatever recipes you wish - 128-spec managem, 64-spec killgem, or whatever else you want to use.

You want a killgem to start off with, because you want to get rid of monsters you do not want to permafreeze. Borthelcash's technique is to reverse the manafarm and killing area locations, allowing him to overbomb like crazy the waves he wants to keep, while killing off the waves he does not. I'd suggest a variant on that, using three or even four trap areas (if your map permits). Start off with the white manafarm up front, then the killing field, then a manafarm area to move to for freezing, when you have monsters frozen on it.

5 - I mentioned it above, but use WoE to send monsters back to the beginning, so you can freeze them right on the trap.

6 - I like the trap gems. I do NOT like starting the amps off weaker like that, however. It may be useful when doing permafreeze, but it is not useful when playing "normally" and you need all the mana you can get. Go ahead and use them, you're playing the type of game they were meant for. As for the killing gem, I'd recommend just using 64c amps. You basically are using, at first, a killing gem built to kill off the trash you do not want to permafreeze. After that, mana is no object, and you will be delaying Endurance until you have enough mana and a strong enough gem, right? So use the 64-spec killgem and 64c amps.

7 - Get at least one fragment that has All Skills, and Freeze Duration. You have 40% Curse Duration, not very useful to you. You want some Freeze Duration. I was able to permafreeze waves with one talisman piece that had 19% Freeze duration, though Swarmlings could be troublesome. If you intend to not freeze Swarmlings, you may not have that particular difficulty, but the extra duration can only make things a lot easier for you overall.

Hi,
great idea! Iguess you have found the "Is endurance beatable" and "Another beaten endurance" threads in the forum. There you find a lot of helpful tips.
Your questions:
1: I use chrome and I play CS in full screen, since I once misclicked on a link after a week of playing... To do so, look in the source and find the .swf file and the flashvars. You have to put something like "http://cache.armorgames.com/files/games/gemcraft-chasing-sha-15760.swf?gameID=15760&auth_token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&user_id=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" in the url line...
2. No! Use it without fear. But be aware: Banished monsters are reset to their original hp and healing rate!
3. Any map, you want to look at for a long while I have finished endurance on: f1, i3, j1, t8 and y1, my current run is on w5.
4. I tried a little with other gems but I did not find them useful. When healing becomes nasty, e65 and higher, no surpressing gem is able to help you.
5. Freezing... As Astro mentioned below, I (not Borthel ) use a second manafarm area behind the killtrap. To freeze the monsters at one point, I make sure only to enrage monsters not too fast, at best some giants. In order to freeze them on one trap, make one slow traps on the target fields and one on the field before. I use a copy of a managem (bk/o/r) and just put a g12 blue in it. It is important that the chainhit is at least 1000 or so! Then take a easy-to-remember-point where the freeze-circle covers exactly the target field and not the field before.
Pro tip: Don't get too many monsters frozen, the lag grows... I use 4995 monsters.
6. The endurcance runs I've done, I won with the original gem recipes from Psoreks "extreme end game guide" On my actual run I use the 128_16 mana/amp gem. To be honest: It doesn't feel(!) much faster... On the other hand, Astroshak posted a 4096c....
Important is, that you are familliar with 64c! Do the upgrade-procedure always the same way so that you minimize the human factor. Don't combine when you are too tired!!
7. Get some freeze-duration talisman! Go to Y6 and make some fast runs for freezeduration and, less important, WoE healt-reduction.

I agree with Astro when he says "Use a throw-away gem for the start". I do so, too. But I make no voodoo with the starting gems: 1r, 31w, 32 o for mana and the same in yellow for the kill. After the first 6 waves you should have enough mana to build the real gems. And for these 6 Waves I don't want to spend any skillpoints.
So my suggestion to your skills: No healing, No Armor (and no white ), You might want some more on demolition, as you have to bomb a lot of towers away to make place for manashards and shrines...

And now: Good luck, send the forgotten to hell!

Do http://armorgames.com/community/thread/12342185/gccs-how-to-get-a-lvl-100-gem-in-less-than-1-h first, it'll take 1/100 the time before that's patched out. Don't optimize anything except picking good gem ratios and if you find that dull and pointless, you haven't wasted a week or more on something way worse. Also take this time to experiment with the chrome or ff internal flash implementations besides Adobe's, see what works best for you.

I'd cut masonry in half, then put at least 3 in the other spells (they'll charge faster). Some slow, it adds to duration (1r+3blue at skill level 20 is 90% slower for 9 seconds in a trap). I still have some level 80 or lower talisman parts, freeze seems pretty rare on higher level talisman.

Set up macros, I've done 3 or 4 trillion experience without, never want to do that again. If you're not worried about xp, then it isn't important, although it takes about 500 bombs to get to e21+ armor.

Hm, what do you really need bolt and beam for?Nice to have but I would not give a point from masonry to a spell-skill, I like building early!
Skillpoints in slow are IMHO wasted, I have zero ponts spent on this skill and I always have 90% slow for 9.6 or 12.5 (with barrage) seconds, only the gemgrade has to be a little higher than without. And 500 bombs: Use highest grade possible to bomb, so you don't have to mess with armor but with hp

I have found that, for slow traps, a grade 2 white, grade 1 blue, and grade 1 red is more than sufficient. Assemble them however you wish, it does not matter if you are making it grade 2 or grade 3. No need for points in slow at all!

As for skills, Bolt is really only useful if you are worried about experience. Early on you do not have the mana to bomb waves with high grade gems, and tend to get insane armor values. Bolt is useful for getting experience from some of the high armor monsters, and you can still bomb the waves you want to freeze even harder, so they get past your killtrap. In this case, you just want Bolt to charge up quickly so you can get it on your killtrap quickly, after that, the points are wasted.

Similarly, as a SKILL, Barrage is not very important. Yes, you will use it on your managem at the earliest moment ... but beyond that, its only use is to reset the managem (or the killgem, when you've gotten past gems that boost armor as much as, or more than, monster hit points) after an upgrade. No need to put points here either, not if they're useful elsewhere, either in skill levels or as gem bombs (which would be the mana you'd get for not spending the points on skills).

Been playing the hex C vision field lately (10M xp, think I can still do better), so might be off a bit on what skill does what I've never capped masonry to see if there was a point (i.e. fill up enough space so beacons don't spawn anywhere early when playing mana-lock).

Throwing 3 in a skill is barely 50 starting mana compared to 7k for a maxxed skill, so why not? You can also use the spells to instantly ready amp gems, but if everything's perma-frozen, guess there's not much point

2. No! Use it without fear. But be aware: Banished monsters are reset to their original hp and healing rate!

You can try using Maxthon Browser, it has an pop-out option for making your flash content window fullscreen. Quite useful.