Is King's Crown (xp gain +7%) ever worth taking?

[metanet_raigan]

I'm trying to figure out if it ever makes sense to choose Crown when levelling up; obviously late-game it doesn't, but even early I'm not sure it particularly works out.

The best-case scenario is if you take 3 levels of crown immediately, which will give +21% xp: approximately 1 free level for every 5 level-ups. That means that you break even at level 15 (gaining 3 bonus levels to offset the 3 levels you wasted on Crown), however (a) you're still not ahead, you'll need to make it to level 20+ before you see a net positive return on your investment, (b) there's a huge opportunity cost to taking crown for your first 3 upgrades (ie it's going to be hard if not impossible to make it to level 4 if you're only using your starting weapon).

So, more realistically, let's say you manage to gain 3 levels of Crown by level 15: now you need to make it to level 30 to break even (recoup the 3 levels you spent on Crown), and 35+ in order to actually gain anything.

So in the end you've gained maybe an additional 2-3 levels over the course of a run, which to me doesn't seem worth the opportunity cost of taking it.

IMO it might make more sense if the Crown lowered the level-up threshold by 7% rather than increasing your xp gain... maybe?

Anyway, please let me know what you think, since I'm not sure if my analysis is correct. Specifically I'm not sure whether increasing your xp gain by x% is equivalent to reducing the xp requirement of levelling up by x% (I think it's not, xp gain is linear on the number of gems you pick up, level-up requirement isn't).

Cheers,
Raigan

[Hauzer]

Honestly I think Atractorb will give you a more XP/Coin than that, plus QOL with not having to try and move to every inch of the screen. If I take any non-offensive/not needed for evolution it is Atractorb

[thebadman]

Clover is superior to it in many ways. Right now its "all my options suck but picking it at least will let me level up other stuff faster". There are 6 combat items and only 6 slots so unless map gives you extra you are shooting yourself in the foot. Perhaps it will have useful evolution in future...

[OyleSlyck]

With the achievement to get 5000 gold in a single run to unlock a new character, maxing out everything ASAP to unlock later chests that will just reward gold or to level up quickly in the late game to get bonus gold, the crown might be good in this situation. But this seems like an edge case.

[Hustensohn]

Imo, it can be useful - IF your character has an exp gain below zero.
Otherwise, i'd skip it. You'll max out eventually anyway, as long as you know what you're doing. Making that process faster is just a tiny help and only maybe results in more money gain from overlevelling.

Almost always not worth wasting a slot for it.

[Xaelon]

It's not my first choice but I'll take Crown if I already have both birds, that way super bird comes online faster. I will also take Crown if offered the choice between it and 2 defensive items like armor or hollow heart. You will generally end up having to take at least one sub-optimal item per run because RNG so you might as well grab crown or attractorb if forced since they'll allow you to get your other stuff online faster.

It also has a minor use as a coin booster, since it lets you max out your items faster which leads to more level ups/chests giving coin bags sooner. Which may be helpful if you're trying for a 5k coin run.