Upgrading VS Buying Orbs?

[Murk]

I just got this game and am wondering if it's better to prioritize buying orbs or leveling up certain ones during the run. Also, if there are any starting "strategies" of what to upgrade/do within the first few encounters of a run. Thanks.

[Zekiran]

It will depend on what cruciball level you are when you're playing mid and late.

Since what you learn early on in the cruciball leveling is HOW to play the game and what each thing does, once you reach like 8 and upwards it won't matter what you think you want, since it's 99% rng. You have to just learn to roll with what you get and be opportunistic about it.

[Lifeless]

I tend to try and avoid buying or upgrading any orbs at all in the first few encounters.
Not until I've gotten a relic or been to a shop, so I can start to get a sense of what to I'm building the run around.
Also there are some Mystery ? things that you can use to upgrade or get rid of or duplicate some of your orbs, it's usually not the best to spend too much of your gold all at once early on, unless you get some really nice options or something that fits the build you're going for.

If you'd like some ideas for strats, I highly recommend you check out AngoryTom on youtube!
Here's his Peglin playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkG-zhy1pVuktteqTpyluFX95bQNwfrR1

He's been playing since the start so just scroll to the end to see the most recent stuff, he makes Peglin videos somewhat regularly, whenever he gets a good run or an interesting build going.