Maximizing XP?

[E-102 Gamma]

I've reached the final level, but I'm still looking forward to the 'post-game' grind of completing every level with 10 Runes. This of course gets easier the higher your level is, so this has me wondering how to hoard as much XP as possible.

The most obvious way to gain XP is to just use more Runes, but there's something I've noticed: in several of the 10-Rune videos I've seen people post, the XP they get at the end is actually less than what they had previously gotten, often with only 9 Runes. Apparently, the reason for this is "combo bonus XP," which one generally gets less of when the Trinity Rune is activated. One of the game's "pro-tips" reads, "Use a chain of different traps to kill the enemy to score combo bonus." As I understand, the way this works is that the XP awarded for killing an enemy is multiplied by the number of traps that assisted in killing it, up to 5. Does this only count damage-dealing traps (e.g. Dart Traps but not Slime Traps), or any trap that influenced the enemy? How about consumables? Minecarts? Barricades? And does it only count unique traps (e.g. in order to get a 5x multiplier, you need five+ different kinds of traps), or just the total number of traps? In short, what are some good ways to maximize combo bonus?

The other obvious way is Endless. How does one go about this? More Runes means a higher XP multiplier, but also generally a shorter Endless run, so how does one compromise on Runes in Endless? Which Runes should one typically use, and which ones should one typically avoid when doing Endless? And what are some good strats to use in pushing for a really long Endless run, particularly in levels that don't have any pits to shove really beefy enemies into?

I've tried Googling around for answers to these questions, but there is surprisingly little documentation of this game. Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[E-102 Gamma]

I tried out an Endless run in Ore Storage last night. Here's what I've learned: Endless is absolutely incredible for XP grinding. I got over 5 million XP in my first attempt (and only my third Endless run in total).

The exploitation of pits becomes complicated. As the waves progress, not only do the enemies get healthier, but they also get faster and heavier too, until eventually, you just can't push/pull them into pits with Push Traps, Spring Traps, or Harpoon Traps anymore. I didn't try Black Hole Traps, but I imagine they lose their effectiveness in similar fashion. Spinblade Traps should be the exception, because they deploy an actual solid object that shoves everything out of the way and blocks the path, so lining the floor near pits with these ought to be able to get you those delicious yeet-kills in perpetuity. As a bonus, they also require no upgrades, nor any investment of gems, since these upgrades only increase their damage output, which is going to lose its relevance anyway.

If there are no pits, you're left to contend with enemies that get harder and harder to stall as their HP approaches infinity, so you're left with only one recourse: Hex Traps. They're not fast, and they're hideously expensive, but they 'kill' enemies in one shot, guaranteed, regardless of how much HP they have, so unfortunately, they're also invaluable.

So the solution becomes spamming as many Hex Traps as possible, while slowing the enemies down as much as possible to buy the traps plenty of time. Here, lining the floor with Spinblade Traps is again useful, because they act as walls. Demon Portals and Lich Tombs also have application, because most enemies will get distracted by their summons and stop to fight them, buying you more time. I don't think enemies deal more damage in later waves, either, so these towers should never lose their effectiveness.

Then there's the subject of Runes:

• I think Blood is worth it, since as soon as one enemy makes it through, your demise is probably nigh even without it, and its XP boost is huge (*1.35).
  
• Scythe is probably worthwhile, if you can get through the early waves with it, since the enemies are going to get absurdly fast even without it.
  
• If you're going to be one-shotting the enemies (either by yeeting them into pits or turning them into frogs), Fort is free once you're past the early waves.
  
• Anchor also gets freer and freer as the waves go on, because the enemies' weight reaches such heights that it might as well be infinity.
  
• You might as well use Nil. Nobles stop spawning past a point, and none of the other types of enemies drop much gold, so this Rune probably doesn't make much of a difference past the early waves.
  
• Frenzy seems pretty free. Makes Demons and Liches a little bit less effective at walling the enemies, though. As for doors, don't expect those to matter in Endless, because a Horseman is going to come along and ram them open sooner or later.
  
• Trinity is rough. Your three traps have to suffice for both the early waves, where money is scarce; and the late waves, where damaging the enemies is pointless. You've gotta have a plan in order to pull this Rune off. I imagine a good set of traps would be Freezing Trap, Spinblade Trap, and Hex Trap; but the early waves would be scary.
  
• Vine makes damaging the enemies even more pointless in the later waves, as they'll out-heal any amount of damage you could possibly deal.
  
• Rust is just kinda free in general TBH. I've had it turned on in like every level since I unlocked it.
  
• Purity is also rough, since it limits your Traps to level 25. Very gem-intensive, but if you happen to have several thousand gems lying around, you can probably get away with using this one.

And as for Consumables:

• Snare and Bomb won't help much past the early waves, since the enemies will casually shrug off the damage later on.
  
• Repair Kit is futile. Horsemen one-shot doors, and Dwarves will spawn in such innumerable droves that they will destroy non-indestructible Barricades.
  
• I have never used Fear Totem, but the in-game demo sure doesn't sell it well. I feel like Frost Bomb is superior.
  
• Firebat Egg is essentially a Demon that can be deployed wherever you want. Good only for stalling the enemies; don't expect the damage it deals to be meaningful.
  
• Trap Booster is probably one of the best choices, since it can be used to activate a Spinblade Trap at the drop of a hat.
  
• Frost Bomb is also probably one of the better choices, since it can halt a group of enemies.
  
• Touch of Midas is like a lesser Frost Bomb, with the perk that it also helps you get Gold. Good for the early waves when you're starved for money; still somewhat decent in later waves since it can still freeze an enemy in place, e.g. to buy your Hex Traps a little more time.

So, how accurate are my takes? I confess I'm speaking from little experience, so I could be pretty far off-base on a lot of points. If I have erred, please point me back in the right direction. Thanks!

[E-102 Gamma]

I just learned that Hex Traps do not, in fact, one-shot anything. Rather, they deal exactly 100 damage, transforming the victim if that damage is fatal. My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.

[E-102 Gamma]

I have now learned that, in certain maps, you can go on practically forever in Endless. For instance, this Echoing Screams strategy by parksy55:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1384181378

As far as I know, there is no way to truly halt the enemy, other than freezing them solid or turning them to gold. I haven't tested Black Hole Traps or tier 4 Dart Traps, but I imagine they become ineffective as the enemies become absurdly heavy. Spinblade Traps only greatly slow them down as well. Some enemies will stop to fight Demons, Liches, and Firebats; but not all do, and even the ones that would ordinarily fight them will sometimes just run past, especially if they're in a crowd.

So what's the solution to unstoppable enemies screaming towards the Portal at increasingly blinding speeds? Get them to go the wrong way, of course! Simply get the enemies to go one way, and then sell a Barricade to open up a new path, and place a new Barricade to block their old path, to get them to turn around and go back. Bonus points if you place this new Barricade on top of some enemies.

The catch is that you're still out 400 Gold per Barricade (regardless of your Barricade level), so you need to gain at least 800 Gold per back-and-forth cycle. And since enemy HP trends toward infinity, you'll eventually be killing enemies strictly with Barricades. This presents a problem (unless you're somehow squashing 4+ Nobles with each Barricade): You're going to run out of money.

This is why this strategy only works in maps with pits. You need the enemies to crowd near pits and shove each other into them. If they take long enough to go from one endpoint to the other, you'll get a net gain in Gold from bounties, kill streaks, and perhaps soul-harvesting.

This is where Spinblade Traps and Freezing Traps come in. Spinblade Traps are able to momentarily slow enemies down to a crawl (a completely static speed in fact, no matter how fast the enemy normally is, as far as I can tell), and Freezing Traps are able to stop enemies completely by freezing them. Don't bother with Slime Traps, by the way; the enemies eventually get so fast that Slime Traps become essentially meaningless.

This strategy can still get you very far in maps without pits but that still allow you to reroute enemies back and forth. Just gotta run enemies past a bunch of Hex Traps. Eventually, though, the enemies will get to be so tough that you'll begin to lose Gold on each cycle because not enough enemies are dying to pay for the Barricades. The enemies will also spawn faster than they die, becoming so numerous and so crowded that the game will start to choke, and the enemies will begin clipping through walls. The game may even crash outright. So this strategy might take you to some pretty extreme waves in maps without pits, but it will eventually fail.

Bonus tip: Dwarves are even more suicidal than you might at first think. If you place a Barricade on the other side of a 1-tile-wide pit from a Dwarf, it'll charge towards the Barricade to try to blow it up, and fall into the pit like an idiot. This is invaluable in Endless, so look for opportunities to set up these 'Dwarf filters.'

[overweightMF]

do you have to beat your previous high score on endless to get XP? i attempted twice on this one map. i got the XP on the first try but not on the second one. my score was lower than my first run.

just asking because i am grinding so i can beat shallow grave. i have yet to beat the game.

[E-102 Gamma]

Of course you have to beat your old highest score. The amount of XP you get is the difference between your new best score and your old best score.

[dpunch4]

To add to your tactics: Some stages on endless have such a horse problem that the only solution I found was having sections of hallways with 4 harpoon traps (2 spaces double sided) then 4 damage dealers (2 spaces double sided) and on the floor is 1 lightning and 3 spin traps.

lightning stops enemies for a very small time, but this is enough to help catch the fast enemy in the harpoons. The harpoons slow the enemy down enough for the spin traps to activate in front of the horse. then the damage dealing traps (I use bolt traps but i'll try frogs)


You can place necromancers INSIDE your portal. wow the text box has disappeared, I can still type but I can't see the words... Okay steam.

So yeah, put necromancers inside your portals.

I'll look in to this xp multiplier stuff, because if using 5+ traps increases xp, having that 3 trap rune is not going to help.

Another tip, you can LOSE XP. If your gpu crashes while in a stage, CLOSE THE GAME. I couldn't see the game but could hear it. I was in endless near the end of a run with no endless xp record on the stage. I heard the game end, tried to get back to menu, couldn't, assumed I'd get the xp even if I closed the game. I opened the game and the xp record was 5mil, I had no new gems. 5mil is enough for me to level up at least 2 times right now so yeah, I LOST XP.