Pages

Friday, November 17, 2017

Bring Down The Sky: The Busy Person's Guide to Erathia


I have a love-hate relationship with mechanical maps in Gumballs & Dungeons, which happen to be the majority of the latest maps released in the game. On one hand, they're great because they're just steeped with content. On the other, progress takes a ridiculous amount of effort to set up - and runs take a few hours at a minimum to complete.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, to be honest. It just doesn't work for folks who are otherwise preoccupied with stuff from the dreaded real world. 

This guide provides details for the build I used to complete 80dp for Erathia. I intend to raid the map for the Raptor frags, because ain't nobody got time for that.

The Dungeon
Erathia is a mechanical dungeon. Like City of Steam, Spaceship Ruins and Avalon Fortress, your progress is heavily dependent on completing a Manual -  an inventory item that several upgrades that grants bonuses and skills to help beat the map.

This is extremely important as all enemies in Erathia offer some sort of resistance, as well as sport some nasty abilities like the dreaded Reflect Damage. No pet shenanigans here!

Please note that this guide will not provide steps to complete the dp quests. There's already an excellent guide for that, so check it out.

The Team
Future Cat (Main) is arguably one of the most powerful gumballs that exists - and it's free! Its ability is the Dimension Bag, a piece of equipment that generates an assortment of items which are very helpful for deep dungeon runs. From stat boosters, to consumable Timestills, to theft items and free wicks, this homage to Doraemon is always a top pick for lengthy runs. The cherry on the cake? The Manual starts with Dashboard Structure Principle at max level when Future Cat is selected as Main, providing players with 6% HP regen right out of the gate!

Gang Cadre (Soul-Link 1) sports the ability Blackmail. The bane of all shopkeepers in the Gumball universe, he has the ability to rob shops blind for any items in their inventory - and then some! Erathia's Manual requires a ton of components to upgrade, and any wise player will be glad that this gangster is on their side.

Lastly, we have the good ol' Allfather himself, Odin (Soul-Link 2). Eternal is useful as ever, providing a whopping 40% bonus to all spells cast.

Equipment
Erathia literally provides all the equipment a player will need to kick ass. The Dimension Bag takes the Treasure slot while sharing it with the Harp of the Adventurer +6 for those sweet EP discounts.

Cactus Juice will help manage reflect damage until the appropriate Manual upgrade is found.

Strategy
Titles needs to be built up in this order: Treasure Seeker (1*), Explorer (1*),  Night Walker (1*), Magic Bandit (3*) and Farplane Ranger (0*). This provides maximum EP cost reduction as early as possible.

The next focus is survivability. Take Novice Warrior (3*), Knight (3*) which provides a hefty HP bonus for that sweet regeneration ability from the Steam Power Belt.

Next, take Magic Apprentice (3*), Black Mage (3*), Conjurer (1*), Earth Master (3*), Planar Prophet (MAX). Afterwards, work on the Heavy Armor Knight upgrade path for even more survivability, while saving the Light Paladin heal for dire circumstances.

You can choose where you spend EP afterwards. Just remember that there seems to be a conflict between the final Melee levels of the Dragon and Mech titles, so try to pick one over the other in the rare chance that you get them both.

For Manual upgrades, you can improve the four paths simultaneously, with the only common resource between them being Ancient Elements.

For Metallurgy, build the belt first for the regeneration ability. Build the helmet and maximize Burnishing and Polishing of Lens for bonus upgrade fragments throughout the run. Build the rest of the equipment set, and try to upgrade the tree as follows:

Precise Clockwork Spring Manufacturing (blocks counterattacks)
Aufbau Principle of Screw Conveyor (decrease ranged damage)
High Alloy Smelting (provides defense)
HP Upgrades
Attack Upgrades
Center Upgrades

For Electrical Science, it is important to build the equipment set as early as possible to take advantage of the free spell scroll every floor. For upgrades, try the following order to maximize those Portals of Earth:

Electromagnetic Deflection Technology (+dodge)
Magnetic Field Generator (boosts aid spells)
High-Voltage Shock Device (boosts damage spells)
Transistor Manufacturing and Maintenance (boosts healing spells)
Center Upgrades
Everything Else

I don't bother much with the Aeronautics tree - my airship is good enough to not need any upgrades and I just upgrade the tree when I have a ton of components available. If ship upgrades are needed, try to focus on the stats portion of the tree. If you're trying to complete the hidden airship sidequest, try to upgrade the lower right portion of the tree, which increases the drop chance of satellite fragments when they're shot down by your airship.

The Ancient Technology tree is perhaps the most interesting section of the Manual - and it's what sets Erathia apart from the other dungeons. It is very important to note that there are more options for upgrades than there are slots, so choose carefully. Some upgrades focus on combat while others focus on support (like increasing engineering component drops), so it's a matter of preference for the player.

Erathia's boss isn't too difficult, even while doing the 'no Manual upgrades until F50' and 'no destroyed satellite' subquests. I find that an effective strategy is to buff with Electrostatic Field, throw in a Disrupting Ray at higher levels and hit it with an Icicle. If the boss lives, a couple Fireballs or Lightning Bolts will usually finish it off. Just make sure that you start the fight with an airship attack (if you're not doing the aforementioned quests above) and you're golden. As a side note, I find that the higher level bosses at F70 - F100 melt easily using Electrostatic Field, Disrupting Ray and Blade of Ruin, while under the protection of Timestill. The Mech title speeds this up even faster, especially with a maxed out Manual providing silly bonuses to the two equipment sets.

As a final note, the key to completing Erathia is to run through as many floors as possible. Between two Portal of Earth scrolls, a portal Opticus, and Future Cat's Time Machine, a decently prepared player will be able to traverse a whopping 280 floors - or get bored trying!

Pros
This team is a toy factory. Erathia's Manual is also a toy factory. Toys for days!

Cons
Gang Cadre is not a free gumball, but is otherwise easy to unlock.

Erathia is a late game map and may require a bunch of passive abilities from a sizeable gumball collection.

Final Thoughts
This build was designed to squeeze as much gameplay in a single Erathia in as few runs as possible to complete 80dp.

However, do note that as of writing it's been less than a week since the map's release and there will likely be more efficient ways of completing the map as more people play through it.

No comments:

Post a Comment