As you fire up Monster Slayers, you're brought to the main menu. It's pretty self explanatory. You have the Title, 3 Save Slots for new games, your Settings, and on the left you have the DLC's they currently offer for Monster Slayers. You also have Exit Game, but you don't want to do that do you? Unless you'd rather stop the addiction to Monster Slayers before it starts. (Oh, it will happen, trust me, it will)

There are 6 main classes in Monster Slayers. You have the Rogue, Ranger, Knight, Barbarian, Cleric, and the Wizard. All of them have a different set of starting cards and usually a different play-style. We'll get more into that later.
So when you've picked out your class, you'll be brought to a screen similar to this one.
Here you can choose things like, Gender, Voice, Skin Tone, Hair Style, and Hair Color. Some of these attributes will actually add accessories as well.

Be sure to pick a voice that you don't mind hearing, because they will say things quite often and you don't want to have that little incident we spoke about in the beginning of this guide happen to you.

When you get your character all squared away, you'll be brought to the map screen. Here is where the fun really begins. So, the first time you come here, you'll get a tutorial which shows you the basics on how to play. It's not rocket science, but the tutorial does help you learn a few things, like MP, AP, Attack sequence etc.



After the tutorial, now it's time for your real challenge. You'll be given two options on where you want to start at. This is very important when you get to late game strategy, however, not so much early on. So just pick a place and have at it.

Once inside, you'll be brought to a screen that looks like this.



From here you'll be able to click on the entrance, and have the pleasure at meeting your first partner in crime. There are I believe seven of these guys, and one that you may unlock later, all with attributes that vary. When you get into late game, this will make a big difference on the ones you pick, so you'll want to figure out which ones are best early on. The ones I find most useful are the, +3 AP and Draw a Card, +7 Mana and Draw a Card, +10 Gold, +18 Fire Damage, and the +15 Block. Later on, when your fame increases and you start to rank up, you'll be able to unlock some extras for your extras :) We'll talk more about this in the '1 UP' section.

You'll find early on that you just don't have what it takes to make it that far. It's ok, do not pick up that keyboard, I repeat, do not pick up that keyboard, set the keyboard back down please. Poor grandma.



Don't worry! You'll find that with some practice, you'll get better, as you start to find some decent gear, and your stats rise because you're spending some of the points you made from ranking up (which we'll discuss a little later), and before you know it, you're making it to the final dungeon.

It takes some time to get to the last level and defeat the Harbringer. But once you do, you feel that joy come over you because you finally did it. You made it to the top. You defeated the boss. You won! Woohoo! That's It!



I'm sorry to burst your little bubble, but that is just the beginning. After you defeat the Harbringer, you can go on to test your deck and skills in the 'Survival Mode' Here you just keep on going until all else fails and you can't go any further. It's tough, however, with the best gear you have, and the best card setup you can construct, it's really a lot of fun. The first time I did it, I made it to about 200 or so. The next time I made it to 404, and I can't seem to get past that yet. Of course, there is a small little reason for that, which I'll talk about in the next section of this guide.



To my knowledge, there is no way to run your characters back through 'Survival Mode' besides running the levels all over again and being prompted at the end. It'd be nice if there was a way to run it again with the same cards, character, and setup. Maybe that's something in the works, who knows. Or it may be something you unlock at a later time. I haven't completely unlocked everything in the game as of yet, however, when I do, and if things change, I'll update this guide.

DO NOT DO WHAT I DID!

So after you get through 'Survival Mode' there will be a new game mode unlocked called 'Legendary Mode'. I haven't messed with this much, but what I do know is that when you play in 'Legendary Mode' and you die, you lose everything that was on that character. I found out the hard way :(

Unfortunately I must of hit the space bar, or clicked my mouse when it said what 'Legendary Mode' was, so I just thought it was the same thing, only with more spiciness. Well, I think it may have quite a bit more spiciness, because I was not expecting to lose my BEST GEAR in the process.


I've been playing quite a bit more but have yet to find gear comparable to what I had.

So be smart, learn from me, and run 'Legendary Mode' in gear that you don't mind losing or no gear at all!

As you progress through the game, your 'Fame' will start to rise. When you attain enough 'Fame', your 'Rank' will increase. 'Fame' and 'Rank' are basically just levels. 'Fame' you obtain while you're playing the game (There are even some items that increase your 'Fame') And 'Rank' is what your accumulated 'Fame' goes to in order to level up.



Once you start to 'Rank' up, yours will begin to look like this one below. Where to spend your rank points is totally up to you, however I would like to suggest putting them into the skills that I marked with the red circle as quickly as you can, because these are secondary spells for your secondary guys. The extras, for your extra extras so to speak. What these do is give the guys who follow you around everywhere, a special ability, and also unlock a secondary spell in most cases. I didn't realize this until later on, that's why I don't have points in them here.


Also, something to note, the top two rows are universal benefits for everyone, the next several rows are class specific benefits. So it is wise to put them into the class that you're trying to beat the game with first, and then put them into the top two rows and into your extras for your extra extras. ( I just like saying that :P)

You can also reset the golden points and choose to put them elsewhere. I haven't done this yet myself, however I'm sure it's pretty self explanatory.

After you start to get the hang of things, it becomes like second nature. You'll still need to pay attention to all the small details, like your AP, your MP, your Health, THEIR HEALTH, THEIR CARDS, THEIR AP, THEIR MP (notice I put those bigger, that's so you can see their importance) But for the most part it is about learning the cards and finding out what works best for you with each class.



There are several cards in the game, and trying to tell you what cards you should use is not what I'm here to do. I will give you my own personal preference however. I like to use a lot of block cards and items. So for instance, there are some items that give you +1 block per card played, those are my favorites. And, I find it useful to pick up some health cards of some type. I also think that keeping your hand mostly balanced between MP and AP works out better. This is easier said than done.

Along your trail to success, you'll run into several people (plus a treasure chest and a campfire) who are there to help.

*Healer
*Captain
*Merchant
*Campfire
*Treasure Chest
*This Guy


The Healer will either heal you, or delete one of your cards. You may also come back to them later if you wish, which is sometimes the best option, because you never know when you may need a full heal. I find it best to use their delete card option if I still have some lower level attack cards to dispose of.



The Captain will give you the option of increasing your AP, or upgrading a card. The AP increases per level you are on, so in level 2, the Captain will offer you +2 AP or upgrade a card. This is important to point out, because it makes more sense to upgrade your cards early on, and then increase your AP later if you can. It's not always easy to do this however, and it will just depend on each runs situation.


The Merchant is by far the most utilized person you will come across. They offer you cards, upgrades and deletes, items, and even healing, but this all comes at a costly price. You want to get the best cards and items you can, however, the better items and cards come later in the game. So this is a balancing act as well. You can also re-roll the items and cards. The first time it only costs 5 gold, however it goes up every time after that. I find it good to pick up a card or two that I need early on, and wait until level 3 to buy items and upgrade or delete cards.




The treasure chests don't come around often, but when they do they offer you up a card or gold.






The Campfire offers quite a few benefits. Not only can you increase your AP, your MP, or your MAX HP permanently, but you can also delete a card and heal yourself. The only way this works though, is if you stop drawing cards before you find a 'fishbone' card. If you draw a 'fishbone' card, you don't win anything. That's why if you're low on health and you don't have any other option, it could be best to just take the very first card it gives you, so you can at least get a heal out of the deal.




And last but not least, you have 'This Guy'. There are several of 'This Guy' throughout your journies. (They all offer specific things, and I will include the details if I make an advanced guide to Monster Slayers). They will give you a card or XP. Some of the cards are worth it, and some are not. It's up to you if you want to bring on that extra card.




This is one card that I for sure get everytime I run into it.

You'll find along the way that you run across these things called altars. I believe there is only one per level, however I may stand corrected on that. Anywho, these altars are good and bad. They're good because they offer you some decent benefits, and their bad because they will cost you something in return.



As soon as you accept the offer, the next one will want you to pay 1 MP to unlock. When this happens, it's usually worth to spend that 1 MP. However unlocking the first one is sometimes a menace. I find several of them not worth using. The best strategy on these is to unlock the very first one you come across if you can, if it's not too bad. That way, when you come to the next ones you'll be able to do the 1 MP thing and unlock it, instead of having some other negative effect.



There are 3 things that you can do after you unlock the first altar. When you come to the next altar, and you spend your 1 MP, you will be able to either upgrade a card, delete a card, or gain 1 AP and +5 Max HP. So really, for 1 MP, you get your manas worth :)

So once you're done defeating the end boss on every level, there're usually some enemies still lurking about. You can choose to fight them after the boss, or go ahead and complete the level. Personally I reach level 5 / 10 / 15 respectively and then go straight for the boss. Afterwards I kill the extras (most of the time, depending on health). The reason being is because you need to level up to the boss's level, so you have full HP, it will usually increases your hand size also and if you defeat the end boss, it, in most cases, levels you up again, so it's easier to defeat the stragglers.



There're certain circumstances though where you'll want to go ahead and defeat the stragglers before heading to the boss. For instance, if you need the gold for a card, or to upgrade / delete a card before the boss fight. Sometimes it's not very smart to do this unless you have a way to heal yourself, either by a healer or by leveling up. Otherwise, you can defeat the extras after the fact. And you want to beat all of them, so you'll get the maximum gold and be able to fine tune your deck the way you want it.

When you level up, you can do one of 3 things. You'll have 2 choices and a card (or two, or three, etc. just depending on your unlocks and gear) These choices will vary from +3 MP, +2 AP, + gold, Upgrade a card, Delete a card, and a few others. The only time you don't get this option is when your hand upgrades to utilize more cards, which I believe is at 10 and 15.



It's sometimes very difficult to pick only one. There may be a card you really want badly, however your starting AP is only at 3 and it offers you +3 AP. I think it does that on purpose, lol.

Just when you think you've done it all, there is yet more to come. After you beat the Harbringer on every class, you get a new class to play with. These new classes have different cards associated with them. It adds a fun new aspect to the game for some. For others, put the keyboard down! Don't do it and your little Guppie will live!


I'm not sure what happens after you beat the game with all the new classes. I imagine a unicorn comes down from heaven and brings you up to see what it's like. Then the unicorn brings you back and it's never the same, because now you know heaven is real, and you have a purpose in life, but it's probably not sitting at a computer playing video games.

You can purchase the DLC which unlocks all the classes for you if you like. I believe it is only $1.99. If you don't want to spend time unlocking them like I did, it's a good option.

I hope you enjoyed this little guide. I may create a more advanced guide later, if people seem to like this one and I get the time. This is my first guide ever, and it does take quite a while to create one (well, one worth a darn)

Be sure to check out the Curator Group I run, Games You Absolutely Must Have. We only post Games You Absolutely Must Have, NO FLUFF GAMES! We do game reviews, host some giveaways, and even have a little gamertainment there for you to check out. It's good times :)

http://steamproxy.net/groups/gamesyouabsolutelymusthave

If you believe something can be rearranged, updated, or added to this guide, then by all means post a message below to let me know. Some of the more advanced techniques, like how many cards, what kind of cards, when to do certain things, etc., I believe should be in a more advanced guide.

By all means, please express your opinions, and if you enjoyed the guide, let me know by favoriting it and leaving a comment below.

Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read my guide. I hope it was well worth it, and please do something you enjoy doing with the time you have left!

Cheers!