Advice for the Mines

[Agrith Dragonflame]

Digging through the mines to confirm things really does help give one a sense of what helps out in the mines and what doesn't. So, here's some advice for those that want it:


Supplies: Molo recommends you bring food and herbs and they aren't kidding (not that that mole ever does). While the exact amount depends are how far in the mines you are planning to go, I highly recommend buying inventory upgrades from Ember to save on space!

- Bring at least 9 food items (preferably ones that restore 2 hunger or better). That may not seem like much, but most levels with have at least 1 or 2 bats that can be eaten to restore 1 hunger. However, they don't always appear and you do have to fight them (ambushing them does make it that you can kill them with a moderately charged attack), so it's better to have the extras. Bring more if you don't fancy fighting much (Mold's shop does sell food for mews, but only at the rest stops every 25 levels).

--- If you have access to mushroom salads, I highly recommend at least 3 of them. They save up on space and make it much easier to build up a stock of bats.

--- Other food you can find are random prey (random chance from breaking rocks), mushrooms (portobello and white caps in dark floors), fish (in wet floors), snakes (in mossy floors), adders (in ruin floors), and rats (in noxious floors). Note that most of these require you to fight.

- Healing is much harder to get. Make sure you bring plenty of goldenseal (at least 9 if you can, more is preferable) and marigold (at least 3, unless you tend to find yourself poisoned a lot). If you have them, feel free to replace the goldenseal with morel and/or the marigold with coprinus (the morel is essentially a 3 star goldenseal, while the coprinus is a 1 star marigold).

--- It is possible to replenish healing items. However, they tend to be sparce compared to food. Mold's shop is only available at the rest stops. You can find mossy floors that can have herbs, but usually only 1 or 2 and they aren't always healing herbs (also remember that 1 star marigold only cures poison). Dark floors can have mushrooms, but they can be any kind, so no guarantee that there will be morel or coprinus.

--- If you have access to elixirs of healing, I recommend bringing at least one for emergencies.



Equipment: A few other useful accessories/items to bring along.

 - Get the headlamp as soon as possible. It can be bought from Mold for 80 Mews or Molo for 100 Mole Cash. The dark floors practically require it with how dark they are and level 26 is guaranteed to be a dark floor.

 --- I recommend upgrading the headlamp as soon as possible at the anvil (so much so that I recommend leaving the mine at a rest stop to upgrade if you have the items for it). The basic headlamp is not great and you'll want the light. Each upgrade requires 6 quartz and 3 of some other ore/gem. Iron ore for upgrade 1, amber for upgrade 2, and rubies for upgrade 3.

 - Bring a masonry kit or two, which you can buy from Mold or Molo or just make at the anvil.

 --- While you should never run into a location where you need a masonry kit to progress, it can sometimes let you pick a normally broken staircase or save you time/resources by just letting you take the broken staircase you just found instead of having to find the other staircase. Or find the key for the other staircase. Or solving the totem puzzle for the other staircase. Or killing all the enemies for the other staircase.

 - The Greedy Paw accessory can make your life a bit easier by automatically picking up items. However, bear in mind that it can make dropping items you don't want difficult. Not because it picks up the items you just dropped, but because it will pick up whatever is nearby you. Since it is an accessory that can be worn and removed at any time, I recommend trying it for a while and then deciding if you like it. Molo sells it and it can be upgraded at the anvil for better pick-up range.


Buddies: You can take buddies into the mine. However, remember that you will have to share your supplies to keep them active. The best buddies for the mines have the Persistent trait (that trait has a chance of allowing the buddy to break all nearby rocks, thus making it meant for the mines). As such, I recommend Glimmer, Jag, or one of your kittens that have Persistent.

- Glimmer: Probably the best non-kitten buddy for the mines, as they have Hardy. This makes them immune to poison, reducing the amount of resources they need to keep going.

- Jag: Usually good if you find it difficult to keep food stocked or have trouble with some of the fighting. Their Subtle trait helps makes it easier to get the drop on bats, as well as snakes, adders, rats, ghosts, and any random prey that show up. Bear in mind that noxious floors and rats will eat up extra health with poison.

- Kittens: For your kittens, different traits have different amounts of usefulness:

--- Hardy: See Glimmer above

--- Subtle: See Jag above

--- Adaptive: If your trying to gain XP for yourself and your kitten, a good choice. The mines are a great place for XP. Remember that leveling up a buddy fully heals them, but they max out at level 10. Otherwise, not helpful.

--- Tough: This will help your kitten clear out enemies quicker, which is especially helpful since some enemies, like Glowers, Murks, and Darkcandles, ignore your buddy, making them easy to kill. Those enemies can still damage your kitten, however.

--- Inspiring: Since there are no allies in the mines, this trait is almost useless there. The exception is if you bring allies via the Summon Allies skill.

--- Vivacious: Extra health means your kitten will last a little longer. While not the best trait on this list, still can be helpful.

--- Lucky: Luck does appear to influence the mines. Among other things, you'll find more and rarer gems while alongside a kitten with this trait. If you think you can keep them standing (since they will have nothing innately to improve their survivability), this is highly recommended (Personally, I consider it the best option).


Skills: No skill explicitly marks itself as a mining skill, but you'd be surprised which skills actually have a use down there.

- Rejuvenate: Recommended. It removes status effects, like poison, from you and your buddy. Helps reduce your resource usage.

- Tenacity: Recommended. This skills resets the cooldown on all other skills. Thus, its utility is determined by your other skills.

- Deep Cuts: Recommended. Damaging skills can actually break rocks. This one breaks all nearby rocks in addition to doing damage over time to nearby enemies. Does have a modest cooldown, so goes well with Tenacity.

- Shield: Pretty self-explanatory. For a short period, you are invulnerable. Less damage means less resources spent. Doesn't protect your buddy, however.

- Sweet Melody: Highly recommended if you have a buddy. It grants a short regeneration effect to nearby allies and has a short cooldown. This lets you heal up your buddy without spending resources (aside from time), and it can be used while they are in combat. Useless if you are in the mine alone.

- Menacing Fangs: Recommended. It does minor damage to nearby enemies (aggro-ing them if they weren't before), but also heals you for 1 heart. While the heal requires enemies to be damaged by the skill, it helps you patch yourself up without using resources. Provided you can handle the enemies afterwards. Has a relatively short cooldown, too.

- Return Home: Unfortunately, this is useless in the mines. You can leave at any time by getting to the staircase up. Meanwhile, even at max rank, the start-up period on this skill means that enemies would get to you before you can escape and interrupt you. I suppose it might let you escape if you are not being attacked and are cornered, but that's about it.

- Hunter's Gamble: As this name says, a gamble. If you find prey, you can use this to double that prey (provided you are a good hunter). You can also use it to instakill hostile prey (like rats, snakes, adder, bats. Maybe even ghosts). Useful for restocking food, but not helpful for actually mining.

- Tiger's Breath: Recommended. This one will essentially break all rocks in a line for a short cooldown, as well as damaging enemies in the line. Quite useful.

- Summon Allies: This won't help your mining really, but it can help out with the fighting, especially in a pinch. If you plan on using this skill, I recommend taking Sweet Melody and bringing a kitten with Inspiring to make the most of it.

- Warding Scrawl: Can damage enemies and break rocks when the ward detonates. Useful if traps are your style, but other skills are better for rock breaking.

- Lion's Roar: Recommended. While it won't do much for making your enemies flee, it actually breaks all nearby rocks for a modest cooldown. Quite helpful. Pair with Tenacity for lots of rock-breaking.

- Diplomacy: As there is no influence in the mines, this is completely useless there.

- Spectral Dodge: Useful for getting out of scrapes and traversing the mine. Lava floors can sometimes necessitate you to make your way past a pool of lava, which this helps a lot with.

- Kindly Purr: Unfortunately, the only cat that you can build relationship with is the buddy you brought with you. Useless in the mines.

- Wild Slash: Probably the best skill for the mines, paws down. Short cooldown, breaks all nearby rocks, and does more damage than your max charged attack.

- Botany: The only floor with herbs is the mossy floor. Given that it usually only has like 1 or 2, they are kind of hard to miss. So, not very helpful.

- Mortal Wound: Recommended. It can still instakill random nearby enemies and it breaks all nearby rocks. The only real downside is its massive cooldown. Use with Tenacity.

- Nine Lives: Recommended. It will break nearby rocks (up to the number of sprites) and can damage nearby enemies, especially the annoying ones like Darkcandles. Other skills do outperform it in rock breaking, but its relatively low cooldown and ability to help with those blasted Darkcandles make it have its uses.

- Pinecone Toss: It could be helpful, given the pinecones will break rocks, but they don't pierce. Meaning each pinecone will break one rock. Can be used for fighting, but there are much better choices with better versatility in the mines.

[cat]

Shield (Highly Recommended): Easily prevent damage. Has a short cooldown (40s)
Tiger's Breathe (Highly Recommended): Good damage. Super effective at destroying rocks fast. Very short cooldown (25s).
Sweet Melody (Highly Recommended): Fast healing for Kitten. Short cooldown (45s).
Wild Slash (Highly Recommended): High damage. Good at destroying rocks, Very short cooldown (20s).

None of the other skills are very note worthy, either due to not being as effective as the 4 listed above, or having too long of a cooldown. Tiger's breathe and Wild Slash are both super good at dealing damage as well as breaking rocks. Do both at once while your Kitten does the actual fighting. Sweet Melody will keep the Kitten always at 100% HP so it never dies. Shield is more of a last resort to ensure you never take damage. Could be useful against Spike explosions, evil mole pop-up attacks, or if you decide to walk through lava.

Kitten: Persistent, Lucky
These are the only ones that really affect mining. Lucky could possibly be replaced by something more related to fighting, but since you're mining I assume you want Mole Cash...

The kitten will do 99% of the fighting for you. It does 5 dmg per hit with a normal attack - much more than you could ever hope for doing. You can assist with skills while also breaking rocks with the skills. Sweet Melody should be active pretty much whenever the kitten is not at full HP. It heals fast enough that you shouldn't have to worry about your kitten dying at all.

Just spam skills and speed through the mine. It should be a breeze, even on Impawwsible mode (cause Impawwsible mode is stupidly easy). Since you have a kitten you don't really need healing that often, so for levels 1 - 100, 4 stacks of 5 should do. Bring more if you're careless. Food should take up more inventory slots than healing. Again, the kitten will do 99% of the fighting. Should also bring a stack of Marigold solely for the poison healing.

[Agrith Dragonflame]

Mar 4, 2023 16:28:49 GMT -5 cat said:

Shield (Highly Recommended): Easily prevent damage. Has a short cooldown (40s)
Tiger's Breathe (Highly Recommended): Good damage. Super effective at destroying rocks fast. Very short cooldown (25s).
Sweet Melody (Highly Recommended): Fast healing for Kitten. Short cooldown (45s).
Wild Slash (Highly Recommended): High damage. Good at destroying rocks, Very short cooldown (20s).

None of the other skills are very note worthy, either due to not being as effective as the 4 listed above, or having too long of a cooldown. Tiger's breathe and Wild Slash are both super good at dealing damage as well as breaking rocks. Do both at once while your Kitten does the actual fighting. Sweet Melody will keep the Kitten always at 100% HP so it never dies. Shield is more of a last resort to ensure you never take damage. Could be useful against Spike explosions, evil mole pop-up attacks, or if you decide to walk through lava.

Kitten: Persistent, Lucky
These are the only ones that really affect mining. Lucky could possibly be replaced by something more related to fighting, but since you're mining I assume you want Mole Cash...

The kitten will do 99% of the fighting for you. It does 5 dmg per hit with a normal attack - much more than you could ever hope for doing. You can assist with skills while also breaking rocks with the skills. Sweet Melody should be active pretty much whenever the kitten is not at full HP. It heals fast enough that you shouldn't have to worry about your kitten dying at all.

Just spam skills and speed through the mine. It should be a breeze, even on Impawwsible mode (cause Impawwsible mode is stupidly easy). Since you have a kitten you don't really need healing that often, so for levels 1 - 100, 4 stacks of 5 should do. Bring more if you're careless. Food should take up more inventory slots than healing. Again, the kitten will do 99% of the fighting. Should also bring a stack of Marigold solely for the poison healing.

Fair. I was writing this with the intention that you'd restock at every rest stop (or are just doing the last 25 floors to get gems), leaving at those rest stops if you need to, and allowing for buddies that are not max level. But yeah, I'd say yours works for all 100 floors in one go (Below is how I tend to do all 100 floors, though I usually just do the last 25 because that's all you really need if you're going for gems. Especially with Lucky).

Personally, I have a Persistent and Lucky kitten and run with Tiger's Breath, Wild Slash, Sweet Melody, and Menacing Fangs. I see why you'd use Shield though. Really depends on preferences. I prefer to use Menacing Fangs to patch up my occasional mistakes, though using Shield to avoid having to is pretty good as well (especially if you or your buddy manage to bumble into the lava floors' fire pillars).

4 stacks of 5 healing? Interesting. Probably because of of Menacing Fangs and Sweet Melody, I'm usually just fine with a stack of 9 2-star goldenseal (I usually even have a few left). I bring an elixir of healing, but usually don't end up using it. Just like to have it just in case. Typically, also only need 3 marigold, though I bring an entire stack. Again, probably because of Menacing Fangs and Sweet Melody. Also, as I mentioned, bats usually do me just fine. I usually only use 1 mushroom salad of the 3 I bring in. Bats are just that common that I can usually easily build up and maintain a stack for the entire mine. Sometimes two stacks if I feel like it.

Kittens are pretty good at dealing with most threats. I will say they can have some trouble dealing with Spikes and Darkcandles, but usually not enough to actually endanger them with Sweet Melody. They also tend run into hazards, but the only hazard that's particularly dangerous to their health (again due to Sweet Melody) is the fire pillars. I will say, they can have trouble if you have the misfortune to run into an icy floor with 4 ghosts...

[cat]

Fair. I assume we're both talking about Impawwsible mode as well, so things would probably change depending on difficulty.

[Agrith Dragonflame]

For those using this advice, with the Beta 0.2.0 update making Hard and Impawssible more difficult, I recommend at least 50% more if not outright doubling the previously stated food and healing items.

[Brightstar]

So about the mines, does anyone know what the statues do? The ones where you match the symbols to the ones on the floor and they go gold when its right. I really don't get what they do.

[Joey]

I'm pretty sure they open one of the staircases.

[Agrith Dragonflame]

Apr 11, 2023 12:42:08 GMT -5 Brightstar said:

So about the mines, does anyone know what the statues do? The ones where you match the symbols to the ones on the floor and they go gold when its right. I really don't get what they do.

As Joey said, one of the staircases (or the staircase, if there is only one) will be blocked off, telling you to prove your wits. You do that by making the statues gold (by matching the statue's symbol to the corresponding floor symbol).

[Brightstar]

Wow I did those statues on 3 different floors and had no clue. When I see stuff like that I don't even bother looking at anything else so I was really confused when I completed them but nothing seemed to happen. Thanks for answering my question!

[Agrith Dragonflame]

Welp, having run the new mines on Impawssible, time for some advice. First thing, use rest floors to restock. Now, buckle up, this is going to get long:

Equipment:
- Get the headlamp and upgrade it as soon as possible. Dark floors on Mine 1 are annoying enough without sight. Mines 2 and 3 will get you killed if you can't see. Fortunately, all upgrade materials for the headlamp are in Mine 1.
-Always carry masonry kits for Mines 1 and 2. They can let you avoid undesirable floors or save on resources searching. Mine 3 has no broken staircases.
-While you can get away with not having a maxed inventory in Mine 1, you'll need it for Mines 2 and 3. Especially, if you intend to collect anything.
-Mine 1 can be explore decently well without too many power paws, but you'll want a decent amount of them for Mine 2 and I recommend you get all of the accessible non-social grace ones for Mine 3.
-Dynamite and Farsighted Orbs, which become available once you unlock Mines 2 and 3 respectively, are also very helpful. Dynamite break rocks around you as an item (no hunger cost) and the Farsighted Orb points to where the stairs are, which helps with dangerous floors.

Supplies:
-Bring plenty of food, especially in Hard or Impawssible. I recommend several stacks of food, preferably 2 and 3 hunger items. Food can be replenished in the mines, though which mine changes things.
--Mine 1 features 1 or 2 bats on most floors (especially on deeper floors), so they can typically do, so long as you make a point of hunting them. Other than that, you can occasionally get a variety of food in the forms of random prey, rats, snakes, adders, mushrooms, and fish.
--Mine 2 is a bit of an enigma. Its higher than normal hunger consumption is balanced alongside a significant increase in edible prey. Bats, chromatic bats, and rats are very common, making replenishing food startling easy. You can also still occasionally find random prey, mushrooms, snakes, adders, and fish. 
--Mine 3 is the reverse. High hunger consumption and very few opportunities for food. You'll occasionally find random prey, rats, bats, adders, and fish. But nothing frequently. Stock and ration carefully.
--I recommend that, by Mines 2 and 3, you make mushroom salads your food of choice. They restore the most hunger out of any food item and heal you for a couple hearts. They are expensive to make, so make sure to stock up on white buttons, portobellos, and morels whenever autumn rolls around.

-Healing items are equally valuable. I recommend several stacks of them as well. At least 2 star goldenseal, if not better, along with at least a stack of marigold or coprinus. Healing items are hard to replenish in the mines, so assume that it won't happen.
--Mine 1 has mossy floors and dark floors, both of which can give healing items. However, mossy floors can give any herb and dark floors can give any mushroom, so there is no guarantee you'll get goldenseal or morel. Fortunately, most of the enemies aren't too bad.
--Mine 2 ramps things up. Most enemies here are very quick attackers, making mistakes costly. Moreover, rats are a common enemy, meaning lots of poison. Healing is even more important here, especially marigolds and coprinus (bring an extra stack or two of them). While this mine does still have mossy and dark floors, don't expect to be replenishing healing items.
--Mine 3 takes it ever higher. Lots of enemies with difficult patterns and fast attacks. And now mossy floors seem to be off the table. Expect to use a lot of healing here. In fact, expect to run out of the healing items you bring.
--I recommend bringing elixirs of healing, especially for Mine 3. Their ability to heal large amounts of health and poison is just too useful. They are very expensive, needing 3 star goldenseal and marigold, but well worth it.

Skills:
-Damaging skills, as well as Lion's Roar, but excluding Menacing Fangs, can break rocks. Most break all nearby rocks, though projectiles will break any rock it touches.
--Of these, Wild Slash and Tiger's Breath are the best for mining, due to their low cooldowns, Wild Slash's damage, and Tiger's Breath's range. Once you hit Mine 2, Lion's Roar is also useful though more for driving away the swarms of prowlers you will encounter.
-Skills that can improve your survivability are also quite helpful to save on resources.
--Of the skills available, either Menacing Fangs, for healing, or Shield, for damage negation, will serve you best. Shield will be better from Mine 2 onward, due to the swarms. In addition, Rejuvenate will be useful for Mine 2 particularly to deal with the high amount of poison.
-Most other skills not mentioned aren't very useful. That being said, Sweet Melody will be very helpful to keep your buddies in action. And you'll want them in action.

Buddies:
-The mines are a very dangerous place alone. In fact, from Mine 2 onward, I recommend not venturing in without a buddy. Moreover, from Mine 2 onward, I also recommend only using buddies that are max level or close to it. No lower than level 8, at least.
--Mine 1 is not particularly dangerous for buddies. A good place to train without too much danger. Buddies here excel at dealing with most enemies, though they can struggle with spikes and darkcandles. If you are bringing a kitten, I recommend the Persistent (to break rocks for you and reduce hunger loss) and Lucky (for better ore and gem drops) traits. Otherwise, Glimmer or Jag are best for their Persistent trait.
--Mine 2 is much more dangerous, especially with the swarms and poison. Keep an eye on your buddies, as they will get poisoned by the rats, be bullied by the prowlers and granite hermits (they attack very fast), struggle to chase down the darkcandles (who are now fast and tend to rapid-fire projectiles at you), and will have problems with the tremortroves (they typically don't notice them until you get close, then get hit once or twice when charging them). Due to how much poison there is, I recommend Hardy instead of Lucky for kittens. Or just bring Glimmer. However, especially in nest floors, Persistent can actually get you into trouble by breaking rocks that were protecting you. It might actually be more worthwhile to have Fierce instead, as that allows your buddy to damage enemies without needing to attack them (enemies that attack fast will combo your buddy for lots of damage). Additionally, it seems kittens are better than full-grown cats here, as their smaller sprites seem to encourage enemies to get closer, making it harder for them to get comboed.
--Mine 3 is brutal. Ghosts on nigh every floor and some of the most dangerous enemies everywhere. You won't have too much trouble with poison, but that isn't saying much. Fortunately, the darkcandles here are very slow, though their projectiles now somewhat home-in on you. Even so, buddies seem to struggle with them. I recommend either Lucky for mining or Tough for fighting. Much like Mine 2, Persistent is most helpful for hunger management, but Fierce might be more useful for all the enemies (especially the prowlers). Again, I recommend a kitten, but if you must take a full grown cat, take Glimmer, Champ, or Jag.

Useful Knowledge:
-Mine 1 is the easiest of the mines.
--Its useful to learn strategies for dealing with darkcandles, murks, bats, rats, glowers, and ghosts. You'll see a lot of them in the other mines, as well as harder versions of the darkcandles, murks, and bats.
--Spikes will bounce around on their path, following angles and trajectory. Just charge attack them or range attack them. Use the explosive aftermath to break rocks and damage enemies. Never try a standard attack. It may work, but you are more liable to take damage instead.
--The hunger cost for breaking rocks is rather lenient still. Try breaking as many rocks as you can to get the most out of exploring. However, I would start practicing using skills to break rocks instead of regular attacks. It's not important for this mine, but skills don't cost hunger per rock, like regular attacks.

-Mine 2 ups the ante (as I keep mentioning).
--Darkcandles are now fast and rapid-fire projectiles at you when you get close. If you get close, it must be for the kill. Otherwise, let your buddy try to handle it.
--Chromatic bats are faster bats, both in speed and attack.
--Granite hermits are slower than ghosts, but they attack as fast. On beach floors, there is a chance for any rock to spawn one (along with a number of already spawned ones). Once you get to some of the deeper floors, any rock will now have a low chance to spawn a granite hermit.
--Prowlers are very fragile, but spawn in numbers. At first, they only appear on nest floors, though prowler nests will appear on normal floors later on. They attack very fast, making them easily able to do massive damage in a few seconds (even to buddies). They don't always immediately see you upon spawning, so you can sneak up to the nests to spawn the prowlers. This doesn't always work, however, so be ready to run or use a skill (especially Shield).
--Tremortroves send out shockwaves in a rhythm and your charged attack can't quite reach them. You'll have to move forward and attack with good timing, then dodge out of the way immediately afterwards. Expect to get hit. Alternatively, have your buddy deal with it. Ranged attacks and Shield are recommended for these (though Wild Slash works in a pinch).
--The hunger cost for rock breaking has been increased, so try to be more hesitant using regular attacks to break rocks instead of skills. However, the increase in edible prey (bats, chromatic bats, and rats are common enemies and all drop edible prey) should offset this. You will have to be less aggressive breaking rocks now. Only break what regular rocks you have to in order to progress, as well as any gem rocks you can.

-Mine 3 really puts the weights on.
--Darkcandles are now very sluggish, but fire projectiles that somewhat home. Be careful dealing with them, especially in burning floors where they spawn in numbers (with the occasional prowler).
--Granite hermits can spawn on any normal floor, both already spawned and in rocks. Beach floors will still be full of them, but can include snakes and adders.
--Murks can appear on any normal floor and now fire projectiles in all directions. They still favor lava floors.
--Prowlers are back and their nests can appear on any normal floor. Nest floors can also have wolf spiders, just to make it harder.
--Lurkers are unique to this mine. They can turn invisible, though you are still able to see them when crouched (unless you have the more realistic hunting setting on). Otherwise, they are essentially ghosts that favor illusion floors. Fortunately, given ghosts are the common enemies of this mine, you should be quite familiar dealing with them.
--When you get onto the deeper floors, normal floors gain the ability to spawn almost any enemy that appears in this mine. It will still prefer ghosts, but expect anything.
--The hunger cost is the same as Mine 2, but now there is much less edible prey. Try to only break rocks using skills, if you can, and try to not break any rock you don't have to. If your looking close to the rest stop or end of the mine with plenty of remaining food, feel free to be a bit more reckless. Just not too much.