EC2 Leveling Guide, Starter Tips, & Tank Build

[TheTacticalGamer]

I really enjoy playing this game and I wanted to share some strategy I've picked up for both beginners and advanced players of the game. I welcome any additional tips, hints, and tricks that anyone would like to add that they've figured out during their own times playing. Thank you and let's get tactical.

Leveling Guide:

The game's Stat Tree is divided into 3 basic branches: Combat, Magic, and Utility.
-Combat offers boosts in Defense, Attack (damage), Crit Chance, and Exp gain.
-Magic boosts Mana, Health, Magic, and allows the use of various spells.
-Utility's skills increase the drop rates of items and gold amounts, and allows crafting ingredients to be more potent, both for making potions and for enchanting.
Everything can be gained if you take the time to earn the exp for all the levels.

In addition, each time you gain a level, you get to freely boost one of your five main stats: Defense +1, Attack +1, Magic +1, Mana +5, or Health +10.
-Most people, including myself, suggest picking Defense most of the time, with Attack picked the rest. Extra health is nice, but taking less damage by boosting Defense always trumps a higher Max HP, and while having spells be more potent and being able to cast spells more often sounds good, the spells in EC2 are not useful enough to use these level ups to boost Magic and Mana.

So what's the best way to level up the Stat Tree?

-To start, use your first level to get the Heal Spell from the Magic Branch. This allows you to stay in The Cave even longer and gives a use for any Mana Potions you pick up. It's the best spell in the game and the one you'll use more than any other.

-Next, begin working your way through the Combat Branch. Collect the Exp Boosters first in order to speed up leveling as much as possible, then grab Defense, Attack, and finally Crits, until the entire branch is maxed out.

-Now swing back to the Magic Branch and work your way to the Transmute Spell, the second best and second most useful/used spell in the game. The Transmute Spell can turn anything you pick up into an Artifact, allowing you to keep it after leaving The Cave, at the cost of 25 Mana per item. With gear enchanted for MP Regen, you can very quickly collect a lot of crafting ingredients for potions, but keeping better gear is always a higher priority.

-From here, collect all the Magic, Mana, and Health Boosts in the Magic Branch, but don't go for any of the spells; they aren't that useful.
--Telekinesis allows you to grab items at a distance, bypassing monsters; and exp, and if you are feeling inclined to bypass monsters, you may want to leave and start a new run.
--The 'Eyeball Spell' fills in your map, showing you if there is a hidden room on that floor; as hidden room markers are pretty easy to see on all floors save 40-59, it's useless.
--All other spells infuse your next attack with a specific element, helping you kill them faster; useful for quicker kills, but not amazing.
--Boosting Health increases staying power, Magic makes Heals more effective, and Mana means more Heals and more Transmutes; spells that are highly useful.

-Reaching the Utility Branch at long last, collect the Potion Efficiency Boosts first. This not only makes stronger potions, but stronger enchantments, basically doubling the bonuses you get from them, making them extremely worthwhile.
-Follow this with the Item Drop, Potion Duration, and Gold Boosts from the Utility Branch.
--Item Drop will help you get both crafting ingredients and gear when killing monsters, increasing your chances of getting rarer desired items.
--Potion Duration will allow you to make most efficient use of all the Transmuted crafting ingredients you've horded, increasing Item Drop, Gold, and Exp gains even more and helping speed you through the final levels.
--For those playing EC2 for free, abundent gold means being easily able to buy potions and ingredients from Trade Vendors. For those playing the 'Premium' version, this gives you money for the Gem Vendor, allowing you to continue boosting your stats even further.

-Finally, collect what remains; the Magic Spells. Just to make sure you got everything.

Note: I suggest increasing Magic and Mana after getting Transmute, but going straight after Potion Efficiency and Potion Duration to help accellerate leveling and item/gold collection is also a recommended strategy. Which route you choose simply depends on what you feel is more valuable; securing a bigger loot pile or putting a smaller loot pile to efficient use sooner. How much MP Regen you have can be a big part of this decision, but choose whichever route you feel more comfortable with or feel benefits you most.


Starter Tips, Hints, & Tricks:

-You won't get far on your first run; you probably won't even make it to Floor 10. Use any crafting ingredients you collect to help you, but if something starts taking big chunks of your health, use your Escape Wings and leave. It may be your 3rd or 4th run before you enter The Cave with a full set of gear on, which will be your first biggest hurdle to overcome.

-There is no shame in starting a run at Floor 0. In fact, I recommend it for your first few runs, even if you don't have to Escape until Floor 40 or so. The monsters are easy to one-shot kill and the ingredients to boost Defense, Attack, and HP Restore are great to have as a nice stock of potions to you delve down another 3-5 floors when you start to feel strained.

-Until you have the Transmute Spell, turn every crafting ingredient into a potion and use it. You won't keep them, so use them, and they'll help you get a few Floors deeper than you would have. After you do have Transmute, start hording ingredients so you can make the most use of them once Potion Efficiency and Potion Duration are maxed out.

-Secret Rooms appear every 5 floors, Floor *0-*4 and Floor *5-*9. These can be pretty easy to spot on most floors save Floors 41-59, the Arctic Dungeon, where the white enviroment can make spotting the white sparkle hard to see. Simple take a few seconds every floor after killing all the monsters to check for a Secret Room if you haven't found it for that section yet. Not only do these Secret Rooms provide extra gear, including 1 guaranteed Artifact per Room, but books on desk that tell the games story.

-Don't ignore the people in town. In addition to the standard NPCs that give hints and add flavor to the story, a handful will offer to buy/sell Artifacts in exchange for gold. Of particular note is a man in a purple shirt just outside The Inn, who sells you various Artifacts until the Missing People sign reaches ~19. For this reason, you may want to not delve into deeper Floors than the early 60s until he has nothing more to sell you, as these Artifacts are very useful in helping you survive.

-Know the difference between Restore and Regen for HP/MP when making potions. Restore gives you a lump amount of HP/MP back immediately upon drinking the potion. Regen will give you a smaller amount back after killing a monster, but can last for multiple battles. Regens can also be used to Enchant your gear, granting this effect every battle so long as that piece of gear is equipped, so keep that in mind.

-Fractal Cabbage and Mortimus Iron are the only two crafting ingredients that provide MP Regen, with Mortimus Iron being the superior. Both are highly valuable, but don't be afraid to use them when Enchanting your gear, especially if it's powerful and one you know you'll be keeping for a while.

-Don't discount Pickaxes. While not the most useful items in the game, you can use them to grab extra items from chests or reach the exit stairs without having to fight the highly damaging monster guiding them. After getting the Transmute Spell, you may find yourself in possession of a couple dozen before you need them again. A handful of Pickaxes can get you a piece of gear or crafting ingredient that could be very valuable that you might otherwise pass up because of low HP, yet may be just what you need to help extend your run another few minutes. They may not be valuable, but Pickaxes are still useful.


The Tank Build:

Some guides encourage players to Enchant their gear with abilities like Bleed and Decimate in order to help you continue one-shot monsters for a few more floors, yet even they will acknowledge that you won't be able to do this after a certain point, and suggest continuing on this path in order to help kill enemies quickly. A good strategy, but one that will warn you to keep healing potions ready, as you'll be taking some big hits from later-game monsters.

However, it's entirely possible to take 0 damage from enemies, and the "Tank Build" I use and am about to suggest will leave you either immune or near immune to virtually every monster in the entire game, from Floor 1 to the final boss.

First, here are the max damages that the various monsters in EC2 can hit you for:
-Physical: 410
-Fire: 60
-Ice: 50
-Earth: 30
-Wind: 50
-Dark: 100
-Light: 60

Those are some pretty big numbers (except for Earth), but not big enough that they can't be overcome. The 410 in Physical Damage is a big part of why Defense is recommended most when leveling up, alongside Physical Damage always being an issue you have to face throughout all the floors of The Cave.

Now let's look at the end-game armor gear I recommend for the Tank Build:
-Shield: Hero Defender: Physical Def 68, Dark Def 12, Light Def 6
-Helmet: Hero Helmet: Physical Def 41, Wind Def 10
-Armor: Hero Armor: Physical Def 75, Fire/Dark/Light Def 15
-Legs: Hero Chausses: Physical Def 48, Ice/Dark/Light Def 7 (Bonus Stat: MP Regen 3)
-Boots: Bone Boots: Physical Def 36, Dark Def 9
-Hands: Crystal Gauntlets: Physical Def 26, Wind Def 8, Light Def 4
-Ring 1: Onyx Ring: Physical/Fire/Earth Def 7
-Ring 2: Onyx Ring: Physical/Fire/Earth Def 7
-Ring 3: Onyx Ring: Physical/Fire/Earth Def 7

In total, they give Defense of:
-Physical: 315
-Fire: 36
-Ice: 7
-Earth: 21
-Wind: 18
-Dark: 43
-Light: 32

Already not a bad start. All these pieces were chosen because they had the highest number totals in the game, outside of a few instances where I chose Elemental Defense of Physical Defense. This is because Physical Defense is the easiest to get throughout the game; you'll get 13 points just from the Combat Branch of the Stat Tree, ~20+ from leveling up, and more from Stat Gems you'll either find in The Cave or purchase from the Gem Vendor. As such, Physical Defense can take a hit here.

The rest of the needed protection comes from Enchanting. Again, Physical Defense is going to take a hit here and nothing will get boosted in this, all of it focusing on Elemental Defense. The best items for this, along with the amount they give (at max Potion Efficiency), are:

-Fire: Dino Skull: 9
-Ice: Penguin Feet: 11
-Earth: Mountain Root: 8
-Wind: Malachite: 8
-Dark: Ghostly Mist: 15
-Light: Unicorn Poop: 9
-MP Regen: Mortimus Iron: 3 MP per Kill

With a total of 18 "Bonus Stat Slots" on armor alone, 2 per piece, and 20 with your weapon, this is more than enough to make yourself near-immune to even the hardest hits from the strongest monsters in the game, with slots to spare for MP Regen for Heals and Transmutes.

For those of you who don't want to run the calculations themselves, here's a quick rundown of the numbers of what I use myself with 17 Def Enchantments and 9 MP Regen when using Ragnarok as my weapon (11 with Recharger):

Damage Type: Number of Enchants / Gear Total / Monster Max
-Physical: 0 / 315 (+13 [Stat Tree] +XX [Level Up/Stat Gems]) / 410
-Fire: 2 / 54 / 60
-Ice: 4 / 51 / 50
-Earth: 1 / 29 / 30
-Wind: 4 / 50 / 50
-Dark: 3 / 88 / 100
-Light: 3 / 59 / 60

So, yeah, near immunity. And this is without using potions to enhance yourself further, which can now utilized for inflicting greater pain/quicker death upon your enemies while they feebly scratch away at your heavy armor and great health. And it's all in one single suit of armor, so there's no need to regularly switch between various pieces as you progress through The Cave's depths.

Thanks to all of you who've read this far as I've shared by knowledge and experience of Enchanted Cave 2 and the Tank Build I've been utilizing in my own gameplay. Feel free to tinker with it as you like for greater MP Regen or adding Descimate Damage (my gear selections and Enchant choices are far from hard-lined and I won't be offended or insulted if you choose something different or find something that works better; if anything, I'll be thrilled and happily take it into consideration for my own use). This is just the way I play, which I wanted to share with the rest of the community who enjoys playing the same game that I do.

Thank you again and I look forward to reading the responses and input from follow players.

[Remmy]

Nice write up TTG. It's great to see others who enjoy the game.

This information will help those who play through once to 'beat the game" and maybe dabble a little with NG+. I assume that is the majority of the players who try TEC2.

Some of us will play to many NG+ levels and that requires looking at the game from a different slant.