I suggest explore all the way. Drops plus whatever objective you can get, helps out.

I always explore all the way, but others will whistle to around 30-40 and start exploring. Higher level whites/mutes are worth much more which you won’t find until you are at least that level. There are things you can find in the early levels that are worth fg too such as maps with + wells on them.

Really it is up to you

The information given already are sound and great. I am just putting in my 2 cents worth.

Definitely full explore catacombs from level 1 to like 30 (you can fully explore higher levels, however, some catacombs become tedious because of spins and the map at the end isn't worth the time when you could have made a new one and get more EPs)

As stated before... some maps are worth more. Also, you do have a chance to find higher level maps than your characters level ... example is getting a Tier IV map after completing a level 1 catacomb ... or a Tier VIII completing a level 15 catacomb.

I like finding Maps and hope they have combinations below:

+X Well
+X Evil Presence
+X Monster Level Cap

+X Treasure Chest
+X% Monster Difficulty
+X% Drop Quantity
+X% Drop Quality

If you want to complete higher level catacombs and get a bad spin back to the start, you can use /set easy 1 to reduce monster#s from 1-2, making it quicker to get back to the unexplored squares, then use the /set easy 0 command in case you come across EPs.

As stated by others... Up to you... goodluck and have fun.

As a fellow nub I tried whistling once and loved it...Until ~ 60 when I was missing free stats from objectives, had nothing worth selling, and was sadge. Haven't whistled since. It's definitely faster XP, but you decide if it's worth.

@ Initial question:
As long as you're enjoying it, yeah the go-to answer would be "Grind Barb on repeat until you made enough FG to buy a dagger set (and/or slowly work on the set piece-by-piece until it's ready)."
IMO the Axes/Daggers advice was 100000% the play. By the time you get to Lock, you'll have plenty of FG to delete on crazy priced caster gear. *WORTH REMEMBERING you keep all your items when the ladder eventually resets! You just lose your MQ/Class progress. I'm hoarding armors/weps I haven't used in 5 or 6 climbs just because I'll need them after a reset.

What I started doing (NOT saying "oh dis is best", just what I enjoy the most so far):
*Entire time I'm keeping Shrineable items in inventory, so when I need to heal it's a fast town-shrine-back.
Start lvl 1:
- /set easy 1
- full clear for the maze quest.
- Whistle to 10
- Put on lvl 10 gear, logout/login, go back to full clear (the re-log is for the updated maze size, doesn't matter much tbh)
- Stay on easy, full clearing UNLESS I hit a Trap Door.
--- Trap door = logout, login, start again. (This is to avoid fighting higher level mobs for no benefit early)
- ~ 45-50, I turn off easy (*Didn't do this for a while, but my leveling gear has gotten much better over time)
---- This is purely for EPs/Loot. COMPLETELY OPTIONAL...but I love FG.
- I prioritize "new" tiles in the cata. If it'll take 20 steps of back-tracking to hit unrevealed tiles, I logout to reset. This is again, PURELY for EPs/FG, and optional as heck.
- At some point I stop finding enough Shrineable items between necessary heal-times, so I do /whistle 1 and put on a wellfare heal charm to heal-up between fights.
- I make decent/steady monies and scream in joy when I somehow get Ninja first try.
- I message my GM in all caps about my MQ luck.
- Repeat cycle.

So yeah...there's a short-story titled "Adventures of a Noob". Biggest tip is not hesitating to ask for help on these forums, the community is literally the best of any game I've played to date.

Also worth considering the point about Maps w/ Full clears izParagonzi mentioned. If you're NOT a rouge/monk/nin/trap-detecting-class, I found it to be more frustrating than it's worth, but 100% some maps are free easy money.

Again, just the travels of a fellow nub. GL HF

Great advice & adventure. I deleted what is not relevant to my reply, but hopefully my 2 cents worth, makes sense (you get the intentional pun hidden here? Cents / Sense)

#1 from level 1 to level 10, I (note: I) am against whistling, you are missing out on the chance of finding Maps that are worth a damn and can get faster than exploring from level 10+ catacombs where the Map is only a Tier I junk map (solo'ing).

On top of this... here is a novel idea... Explore Patched maps when your character level is 10. The monster level cap is 15, so you will still get Experience and drops equivalent to your character level unless you are level 15+ (this is the Monster level cap for a Patched Map) ... Note: the maze dimension is only 5x5 squares of a Patched map ... thus, you can clear 5 of these maps before reaching level 15 starting @ level 10 ... You never fall into a Trap Door in a Map, even if you find an Emblem that would be a Trap Door [update not so long ago with random effects of Emblems in a run]. however, the Emblem COULD be a Well... even though the Map is NOT a +X Well map.

Map and Catacomb Dimensions are different... Maps are HARD set to a specific dimension based on the characters level, however the Catacomb Dimensions can INCREASE if you are between levels when it is created.

#2 Logging out and back in again... try this... when you get online to play... create a game before entering the catacomb ... now, when you fall down a Trap Door, go to Town, press F (Create Group window) and select the Tab "Edit Group" ... now click "Leave Group" (this will clear that catacomb with a TD) ... I would also suggest to "Create Group" again before entering the Catacomb that starts again.

Hope this little bit of info helps both yourself and the OP.

The Pun was not lost on me

I will say that i did try the full clear 1-10 and sometimes map would have an xp bonus or something and it seemed ok, just THOUGHT whistling was quicker in the long run for that stretch. Any chance you can elaborate more about the maps I'd find 1-10? They all seemed bad but sounds like I'd maybe toss the bad ones, keep the XP ones, then @ 10 run them until 15 (or run out)? I am aware of the whole map tier x 5 + 10 stuff ofc. Maybe I just got unlucky w/ the ones I did find, I was under the impression there was no sellable map for 1-10 (except maybe GP or Well, which I just never found either).

Obviously still learning myself, so any tips to improve the climb are def appreciated! And smacking my head about the party thing...I learned that by accident and ALWAYS FORGET to use it!

I fully explore the map at level 1 for the objective, then I whistle to level 20, then I explore to mq seems to work pretty good for me I keep on getting drops

As someone who probably death farmed the hardest/most (look at my death count on iaplayalone and createnewcharact, this new “update” only changes farming a little bit. Lvl 1 and lvl 2 junk you can easily turn into essences (once you get the hang of transmuting) and you can sell these for roughly 10 essences for 1 fg. Arcane and up lvl 3 and up easily sellf for 1 fg and more the higher the lvl. Maps you find with either ep’s or monster difficulty or wells will sell (especially now that death farming is gone). You have 8+ characters you can lvl up as hogh as you want and when it gets too difficult you can either park them at that lvl or reroll them and do it again.

Hmm, where to start? Normally it would be Monster Level, however, I think I should start of with Dimensions and hope it makes sense.

A Patched Map Dimension is 5 squares high(height) by 5 squares length(width) = 5x5 = No Trap Doors, even if you click an Emblem with the effect of a trap door.(Note: if you come across this in a Catacomb... it does not matter if you are a Rogue/Monk or Ninja... you automatically would fall into it)

At level 1, you enter the catacomb and the Dimension is 5x5 on completion. However, if you create another catacomb at level 3, the dimension changes from 5x5 to 6x5 (following info is actually based on my Bufcore climb currently doing, I have a thread about the dimensions also, but left out that information:



Dimensions I guess it would be Maps and Monster level cap of each Tier (level), then I will have to include the "Dimensions" of each map based on their Tier.

Now ... A Tier I Patched map has a Monster level cap of 15 ... so you can completely explore these maps starting at level 10 to 15 quickly because the Dimension is only 5x5. A Tier II Map Dimension is slightly higher ... 7x6, and the Monster level cap is 20. The funny thing with some maps... the Modifier may have +XX Monster Level Cap ... which means you can clear it above the level Cap.

Example here:

Angelic rigid beach map
Level Required: 20
+129% Warm Light Effectiveness
Quantity: 1
+39% Level Up
+25 Level Cap

Level 20 Map = level 45 Monster Maximum ... however the +25 level cap means that level 70 monsters CAN spawn as long as your character level is around that level... the difference ... is the Dimension of the Map in comparison to trying to clear a level 45+ Catacomb to reach level 70.

I got a visitor, I will leave this for now, I hope you get to choose for yourself how to proceed in your own Game Play.

Here is some other information that you may want to think about with Maps etc:





EDIT: DAMN I forgot the most important part of my Wall of Text... if you Whistle from level 1 to 10, you may lose the chance to finding some of those Maps with +X Monster level cap at that can be higher level... say finding a Tier IV map @ the end of running a catacomb from level 2 with +X Level Cap... and maybe have EPs on it with Experience etc... you missed the chance because you chose to whistle from completing the level 1 objective (Complete the Maze). Just an idea.

This post was edited by izParagonzi on Mar 14 2024 10:18pm

How are essences made?