This is a Gemcraft guide on tactics I use. So far though I ve played only till the 1st epic boss. BUT I've gotten glowing frame scores for all the levels before the epic boss. ( though on second tries).
*Now people say gembombs are useful, thats an understatement, their vital, explosive, powerful and awesome. Introducing the:
GEMNADIER TACTIC( Grenadier + Gem, kinda lame but never mind)
Tactics: Step 1 For the first few waves, just put two or three low grade( grade 1 or 2) in the initial towers. These will do fine. Next increase mana pool once( or twice once your initial mana is increased after adding skills).
Step 2, create as many lvl 1 gems as possible! Lvl 1 only! Always keep your fingers on the hotkeys for creating gems and gem bombs.
Step 3 just hurl the gems at the opponents, clicking on the hotkeys and tossing them into the fray! The enemy will be devastated, most of the time you can just click the next wave button before it arrives. If your feeling bold, just summon the next few waves. With this, your mana should be regenerated enough to create more bombs.
Step 4 If you have excess points( meaning you feel you have enough gems for a lvl) you can summon towers, higher grade gems( for towers) and increase mana pool. Of these options, mana pool comes first, then create gems, then towers. But only if you have the excess points.
Notes: -Create backup towers near your base, jsut in case the ememies manage to get past. ( not often though) -3k to 4k mana should be enough per level till the epic boss -Water trenches help but only when fast enemies spawn ( and only when many spawn) so dont rely too much on them. -At level 23, your most important skill unlocks, which increases gem bomb effectiveness. Max it as soon as possible,( save points for it beforehand) When its maxed, the damage radius of alvl one bomb can be as good as a lvl 4/5 one. Imagine a grade 7 gem bomb! - Of course, increase mana skills are a must to max. - Using this tactic, you dont need to waste mana making good stones, just spam bombs! - Dont wait for your enemy to appear from the den, just throw bombs at the den, enemies will still be killed.
1st Epic boss fight
Same tactics as per other levels. BUT create very high grade gems from time to time, stockpiling them. When the boss appears, throw these at him. If you managed to get a grade 6 or 7 gem and used it in your towers( which I did for the epic boss) but when the boss got out of range, dont hesitate to throw it at him, unless you can relocate the gem to a tower nearer home. i killed him just when he almsot approached my house.
Pros of the tactic: Most of the time you will get gold medals after the battle for the number of gems created, towers built, and the number of bombs thrown.
I still testing the tactic on the other levels, so Im not sure if this tactic will do in other levels.
I use this tactic when I'm not fighting on the really high levels (like past the third epic boss battle, i go to another strategy) I create as many as possible, then create towers and other things for amulets. Great way to get glowing early, and the journey amulets for gems created and towers created.
At higher levels, LV1 gems are still useful for one thing:
Cramming into higher gems to strengthen them.
Trust me, you'll get a much better gem if you cram a dozen lower level ones into it than if you just upgrade it normally. Cramming gems boosts power, speed, range, and ability chance. I've gotten a LV2 gem with something like 13-40 damage, +7 firing, +12 range, 32% armor down. Which is REALLY good for a LV2.
yeah ^^ like i said it gets too hard to do that past the first few waves, plus I get glowing the first time on them because I spam mana pool. Also, you get high level starter gems, so you just focus on making a lot of those and a lot of towers, spam mana pool, and, once you get good gems and about a 2X multiplier, start bombing if you can. gets a lot of amulets and a lot of points. Almost maxed all skills lol (only basic starter gems by choice tbh)
Ok now Iv'e gotten further- past the fourth epic and 3 more stops away from the final epic boss. I've changed my strategies but it still has a focus on gem bombing. I'm currently level 58.Thus, I have quite a few points in pure gem mastery and high grade starter gems. As soon as you have enough points, pour them into these two skills!
Step 1- I usually get 5 high starter grade gems, most of them grade 5. If there isn't a tower near the den, build one. Increase mana pool after that. Now you can decide, combine two of your remaining gems or build another tower.
[/b]Step 2- Let the first five waves out!
[b]Step 3- Your tower should be able to handle them. If not gembomb away!
Step 4- Increase mana pool till 2.6k while building and filling another tower.
Step 5- Build one or two water trenches in front of the den.
Step 6- Next, increase mana pool till you have 5.2k mana. Everytime you have 4.2k mana, build a grade 6 gem.
Step 7- Build more, towers fill them up with grade 6/7 gems and then release 3 waves at a time. Note, if there is a boss wave/ waves with monsters with high hues (the red highlighted ones)/ fast moving monsters, release ONE wave at a time.
[/b]Step 8- Build more and more water trenches. In all 4-6 should be enough. Step 9- All the while, throw gems of grade 1-3 at the monsters.
[b]Notes: -Whenever a boss appears you may want to play in the 3x mode, it's faster.
-Gems that are good (to me) are purple (reduce armor), cyan (shock), green (well...poison) and blue (slow).
-This guide allows you to attain glowing frame score on your first try for every level. ( Provided you followed it, but feel free to adapt it to your own style).
- Well, I've gotten glowing frame score for all these levels ( it realy isn't terribly hard).
- Actually epic bosses are the easiest to get glowing frame scores on. The amulet you get for the epic level is 100k- 250k.
ok, this is a great strategy. I would add lime, since it has the best speed and the second best effect (loses to splash, since this depends on odds). Yellow is one I would add on epic bosses, since its special is the best offensive effect against them (splash, chain hit, and poison).
Ok I finally declare myself a GemCraft Master- After destroying the last boss and glowing frame scores on all levels ( not secret levels though). The epic boss was well... truly epic.
As usual here are the steps to complete it:
Step 1: Increase Mana pool, put one gem in foremost tower. Also, combine all high starter grade gems of the same colour, you may get a grade 7 gem straight away. I got a blue one. You may want to combine gems even if they are not the same grade- this gives better abilities and a turbo firing gem.
Step 2: Increase mana pool, while building even more towers and stuffing them with your initial grade 5-6 gems.
Step 3: Line the path from the den to the first corner with water trenches, ending the trench path at your last tower on the path.
Step 4: Keep increasing mana pool till 16k to 19k. 16k mana was enough for me.
Step 5: Whenever you can build grade 6 gems do it. If you are lucky you will get a purple one. ( reduce armor) Build towers [/b]only along the path that leads straight from the den! This is such that you can constantly pummel him along that stretch.
[b]Step 6: All the time, keep releasing 3-5 waves at a go. Also, throw grade 1-3 gems at the monsters from time to time.
Step 7: Because of the way the path is build, you must build more water trenches at the point where the boss is about to reach the tower. Build trenches here too as your gems on the first path should be able to hit the boss when it turns along the final path to your tower. Sorry if this part isn't clear, I'll try to get pictures next time.
Step 8: Starting from the early 40+ waves, do not buy anything! ( This saves mana for the epic boss)
Step 9[b]: Well here we go, its showtime! The epic boss needs 6.5k mana to banish, which was barely what I had for me to make him run another lap. Make him run twice, it's not that possible for you to kill him in one lap. Once he runs his second lap and if you see he is almost reaching your tower yet you can't kill him, hurl your gems! A grade 7 gem can do a whopping 9.8k damage to him!
Step 10: Do a celebration dance if you beat him! Try again if you didn't. ( Don't be discouraged!)
Extra Tips: -The gems that should be in the front towers originally, before the boss appears, are orange ( to get more mana), red( for splash), blue ( for slowing). When the boss appears, switch gems so your purple ( reduce armor), green( poison), cyan( shock),yellow ( triple damage) and blue (slow)ones are in front.
Why so? The epic boss has 120 armor points!! So reducing his armor will help you whittle down his hp. Poison damage ignores armor so it's very useful. Cyan gems will shock him so he can't move for awhile, giving you precious time. Yellow gems are good as triple damage can mean 600+ per hit for a grade 7 gem. And well, blue slows him down so there is more time for you to kill him. You don't need orange gems when killing the epic boss ( come on you won't need mana after you killed him right? Plus it's damage is quite little).
Water trenches: You need all that you can get. They slow down the epic boss so your gems can chip away at him for a longer duration.
Turbo Gems: Even if you cant find same colour gems with same grade to combine, it's alright to combine lesser grade ones. This gives you high fire rate ones- equally useful!
Well thats all for now good luck man! Cheerio have a nice GemCraft Experience. Sorry for the epic-long guide!
I found it easy to beat the game without using too many gem bombs. after beating the game place everything in high grade starter gems and you can easily beat everything again with glowing frame scores
Ok to sum up these are the strategies in short form. I didn't include mana for combining gems, cause it usually only takes up 1% of your mana.
Beginning Phase- Till the second epic - Gembombs should take up 50%-75% of your mana, the rest into mana and towers. Dont use trenches
Middle Phase- Till the fourth epic -Spend 45% of your mana on gems, 15% on bombs, 10% on towers, 10% on water trenches and the rest into increasing mana.
Last Phase- Till the fifth epic - Spend 50% of your mana on gems, 20% on increase mana, 10% on towers, 10% on water trenches and 10% on bombs.
Your foucs should gradually shift to making higher grade gems from gembombing!
yes and, once you have the high starter gems, you should not have to really create gems for using in towers outside of epic battles. Just combine the ones you get and use them for the entire match, build the towers you need, then get as many level 1s as you can, and start using mana pool. As you get more and more mana pools cast, you should move to level 2, then 3, then 4, and 5 if you can.
Another thing that can help (if you want to not use pure gem mastery) is number of medium starter gems. You can combine these or save them for early bosses (or both if you want).
GemCraft is a simple game that can be played so many different ways that there is no perfect strategy. Some people will excel at gemnadiering, and some people will excel at the regular TD style. Some people, like me, do well in both. GemCraft 0 will be entertaining because of the all new techniques and modes to challenge ourselves with.
