ForumsGame WalkthroughsSquiddicus' Gemcraft Labyrinth Hints and Tips NO PREMIUM

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Squiddicus
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Squiddicus
266 posts
Peasant

Gemcraft Labyrinth is not difficult at the beginning, but it gets really hard, really fast. So, "how do I get further?"
I will provide a few GENERAL tips in this thread. Although I have yet to reach the fourth Epic Field, I do know what does work.

#00) Replay Early Fields
You cannot pass this game without replaying. You would only gain the difference between the old and new, but you may level up. Several times, I have skipped a couple levels entirely by replaying old fields.
#01) Kill apparitions
Apparitions will sometimes appear. Kill it. After killing it, DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID!!! You will only get the skill points by winning the battle.

Feel free to post your own methods. (please avoid spoilers)
I will post more every so often until I run dry.

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Gremlion
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Gremlion
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Blacksmith

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/3326/ftwct.jpg
You overestimate it.

Squiddicus
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Squiddicus
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Peasant

You overestimate it.


I did not say that I was a master of the game, and I said that this is not the premium edition. Besides, some people I know never let any monsters get through to the orb. How do you get x100 on a stage anyway. Keep in mind that I am only level 91.

Ahem... some more tips

#02) Traps are not always the best solution
Very early on, you will not have the skills necessary to build and maintain traps. Some gems work better in towers than others, such as the bloodbound gem and the multiple damage gem.

#03) Unlock your gems wisely
On the first field, you decide to unlock the shocking gem. when you do, you don't have enough mana to fend off the monsters. It is imperative to unlock gem types only when necessary. If it is key to your strategy to use mana gathering gems, you may be underleveled.
Gremlion
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Gremlion
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Blacksmith
Squiddicus
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Squiddicus
266 posts
Peasant

Okay. That answers my question.

I am nowhere near that level, but repeating a few times, I should get about 100k in no time. After that though, the game wouldn't be that fun anymore. Well... there are three files for a reason.

#04) Epic fields never end
What Gremlion has just posted provides a good guide to raise godly amounts of XP per run. Until you reach his level, stick with what you know works for raising levels.

#05) Choose wave types wisely
When you achieve high enough levels, all of the difficulty options will be available to you. However, swarm and armored only options are worth the same amount of XP. Your strategy will vary widely.
Swarms:
Don't use red or purple gems on swarms. They are a waste. Use lime or green, or both.
Armored:
Use red, purple, and cyan on armored monsters. Traps are useless against these monsters.

UgAhgItHurts
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UgAhgItHurts
259 posts
Peasant

Remember: it's a game, you do whatever you find fun.

Before say the 3rd epic field, red will do any map armored only with indifferent attention. The faster firing gems that do a little more damage are fine for most maps though, mana or multiple damage is tougher to use before you can toss out high level gems where they make everything else look pointless

You can do the first pylon armored only with poison traps (wall off the longest path you can and put a trap every 5 or 6 tiles). I think I did a few more maps, then cheesed the first pylon for like 100x experience which gets you to level 90ish which means you can max wild gem skill.

Below is my main game, ~450 battles, but a lot of those were try things out as well.
http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/4056/ugh2.jpg

Level 700, which premium can get to in 6 battles lol. I did the pylons before the 50 cap was put in, you can get 1140x experience max now non-premium.

On the whole, I find purple gems the most useless. Blue or cyan fire as fast and do something useful, armor doesn't really come into it, and when it does, you can bypass it with poison.

Squiddicus
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Squiddicus
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Peasant

Oh my...
I'm starting to think I know less than I thought...
Still, since my last post, I beat two fields. Your strategy for easy leveling using the pylon stage on J10 is not for the low leveled, as I have learned. Working on D10

#06) Summoning, the fool's demise and the wiseman's salvation
Summoning is not to be used carelessly. It can mean the difference between a level up and a miserable defeat. I do not know the formula for the summon multiplier, but in the later fields, it adds alot of XP. My highest summon multiplier is 1.06 (1.21 with tombs)

#07) Tombs are sealed for a reason
The tombs that appear hold terrible monsters within them. Every time a tomb is opened, you will be faced with every type of monster execpt for normals (unsure), and swarms (again, I have not opened every tomb). If you succeed in fending off a tomb, your summon multiplier will be increased by .10. Please be warned that the tombs are unaffected by the wave composition. If you can't pierce a tomb's armor, you may not be powerful enough to destroy what is inside.

Squiddicus
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Squiddicus
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Peasant

#08) Take out monster nests
Monster nests spawn monsters. They are usually closer to your orb than the edges of the map. Be warned though, for every monster nest destroyed, there are that many more monsters spawning at the edges.

#09) The art of banishment
The monsters that reach your orb can be banished back to where they spawned from, if you have the mana to do so. Monsters need more mana to banish every time they make it to your orb.

Gremlion
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Gremlion
522 posts
Blacksmith

Man, nobody need tips from 90-level wizard.
Also, videos a lot better.

Squiddicus
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Squiddicus
266 posts
Peasant

Man, nobody need tips from 90-level wizard.
Also, videos a lot better.

I'm trying to help players at a lower or close level to mine. I also do not have the capabilities to use videos. Also, the strategies to gain high levels on the epic fields are much harder than they look. I tried three times, and I lost miserably.

#0A) Amplify your gems
Amplifying your gems will help. I have won well over 50 battles using amplifiers. They work in traps and towers. One tower with eight amplifiers work better than nine towers, in most situations (I'm looking at you, swarms).
Gremlion
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Gremlion
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Blacksmith

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/6580/scorew.jpg
910 - average. Only sometimes people asks about strange fields (m10, for example)

Squiddicus
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Squiddicus
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Peasant

I can't think of anymore tips at the moment, but I skipped two levels entirely on field C2.

I'd post a picture, but I can't use pictures from my PC.

I am almost ready to take on D4, I just need to beat D3 first.

vesperbot
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vesperbot
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Nomad

summoning, a fool's demise. Hum. You seem to not have grown out of R/L or R stage of GCL. Having 1.2 as highest summon mult is at least lame, except if you're playing the game just to reach the end of storyline.

1 tower and 8 amps pwn anything, if properly built, and well fed with gems, including swarms. Lime/blue trap with target on "random" helps holding them earlier, later you don't need to bother.

Anger (summon more) giants, with at least 1 gem of best grade. These are mana bottles if you have enough power.

Against swarms, use random targetting, against everyone else, use least HP or closest to tower. Sometimes you'll get benefit in using a second tower with targetting at random or least HP against big crowds, these tend to pick at swarms.

Use red while you're small, use lime/red when you start having wild gem, use lime/yellow once you max wild gem. Use wild gem for initial mana.

And Squiddicus, use any image hoster service to put your images to Internet, say imageshack.us.

Squiddicus
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Squiddicus
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Peasant

I said a "fool's demise" because if you don't summon "right," you will lose.
When I first started playing, if I summoned on a giant, I might as well have reset right there.

Also, 1 tower + 8 amps really do kill anything, that's how I got my 17.8 multiplier.
If all goes well, I'll fight my first shadow today, assuming that one will attack on D4.

vesperbot
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vesperbot
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Nomad

I agree about that overangering is bad. It's just that the borderline where you overanger is farther with each wizard level. Early on you could drop the game with angered giants, later on you can as well anger a single giant with 4xG3 and get 51 of them instead, and rake in the mana.

Also, with D4 you could try lime/yellow tower and lime/orange trap, and concentrate on both angering and upping grades of your gems. L/O trap is unneeded until you can easily aford a G7 (say your main gem is G7 or G8 already). Shadow has big armor, but a G14 yellow chews it through with ease.

About multipliers - the bigger you are, the bigger the mult you can earn. I am wizlevel ~200 and can get a 60 multiplier total, 4.0 summon, non-premium of course. One person has managed to get over 50.0 summon multiplier, but I wouldn't dare you try this feat

Squiddicus
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Squiddicus
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Peasant

I just beat D4 ten minutes ago. The shadow caught me by surprise. I waited until wave 50 before charging the pylon. It took me twenty minutes to realize that the shadow has armor, and I read the strategy guide. After removing most of its armor, which took five minutes, it died quickly. As soon as it was charging towards my orb, it was dying.
The only banishment in that battle was when it spawned monsters right in front of my orb.

And yes, on that field I can create a grade 7 gem right off the bat, if I don't do the amp strategy.

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