Tangledeep Tips & Tricks For Roguelike Beginners

Tangledeep released last week on the Nintendo eShop and it’s a blast to play even if you usually don’t like roguelikes. Adventure Mode makes it possible to experience the deep, tactical gameplay without permadeath. The permanent death of a character is usually one of the most contentious aspects of roguelike games, but Tangledeep makes it a choice.

Tactics fans will find a lot to like about Tangledeep and its breadth of game systems to master, but there’s a lot to digest here for someone who is new to the roguelike genre. If you’re having trouble progressing in the game, check out these beginner’s tips and tricks for an easier time.

Adventure Mode

If you dislike permadeath and losing characters, then Adventure Mode is designed for you. When players reach 0 HP in this mode, they are teleported back to town. Half of all gold, unspent job points, and experience is lost upon death. The death penalty is harsh but fair for players after the tactical gameplay offered.

Upon reaching 0 HP you’ll be transported back to Riverstone Camp rather than losing the character entirely.

Adventure Mode will let you explore all 12 of the game’s jobs with one character if you choose. The class system in Tangledeep works much like the job system from Octopath Traveler, condensed into one character. Job class is switched at will either by visiting the turtle in town or through a Job Change Scroll.

You earn job points (JP) for your currently equipped class by defeating enemies and completing quests. These points can be spent on active and passive abilities for your job. Earned JP is tied to the job class you earned it with, so each job has its own JP pool to level.

When switching between jobs, you keep active abilities but lose any passive abilities for that job. This lets you experiment and mix and match with skills on a single character to create a playstyle that suits you best.

Starting Job

The job you choose to start the game with should reflect the type of damage you want to do. Up close and in your face fighters will like the Brigand and Paladin job as a starting class. Those who prefer to keep a little range between their targets will enjoy the Hunter and Floramancer jobs as a starting class.

Players will find three hidden job classes while playing the game.

Don’t fret too much about your starting job class since it can be changed at will later. Experiment until you find a class that suits your playstyle. Tangledeep’s combat is deep and engaging thanks to the developer paying close attention to creating emergent battlefields.

No two encounters will feel the same even with the same enemies and same job class present. There are several factors that influence the battlefield including terrain, monster abilities, your abilities, and champion monsters that can appear.

Stats & Effects

Every time you level up in Tangledeep you can choose to put 3 extra points into one of your stats. These stats determine several aspects about your character. Melee characters will care more about strength, while ranged characters will care more about swiftness. You’ll find random gear that will modify these stats heavily, too.

Name Effects Increases Strength Physical Power, Hardiness, Constitution Base melee power, dagger damage, physical defense Swiftness Dexterity, Reflexes, Overall Speed Base ranged power, crit damage, CT gain Spirit Attunement to Magical Energy and Inner Qi Spirit power, staff damage, power-up healing Discipline Fortitude, Willpower, Focus, Pet HP Bonus Elemental resist, buff duration, staff damage, summoned pet HP bonus, Spirit power Guile Ability to spot opportunity and act unpredictably Crit chance, dagger damage, parry chance, power-up drop chance

Cooking

Tangledeep offers several different subsystems that work well together to support your adventures down in the deep. Cooking at the campfire can give you meals with restorative properties for HP, stamina, and energy regeneration. Seasoning dishes with different spices lets you mix and match these effects.

You can discover recipes by mixing and matching ingredients or finding recipes in the deeps.

There are 18 different dishes to discover by mixing and matching ingredients or finding recipes in the deep. Here are a few important dishes to get you started.

Fruit Cobbler = 2 Fruit (Apples, Bananas) + 1 Dessert (Cookies, Chocolate)

= 2 Fruit (Apples, Bananas) + 1 Dessert (Cookies, Chocolate) Makizushi = 2 Fish + 1 Bag of Grain

Fruit cobbler will regen all of your stats at varying rates and Makizushi is a flat health regen rather than heal over time like most food. If you’d like to see the recipes for the rest of the meals in the game, be sure to check out the wiki page for meals.

Monster Taming & Breeding

Tangledeep has a monster capture and breeding mechanic that appears to take some inspiration from the Pokemon series. Players can buy a Monster Mallet that can be used to knock out monsters below 15% health.

Once knocked out, monsters can be taken to the Monster Corral and taken out to fight or used to breed new monsters. Only monsters in the same family can be bred to create a new monster that will inherit abilities from its parents. Dishes spiced with rose petals are used to initiate the breeding process.

Breeding

Breeding multiple generations of a family can result in a monster with up to five different abilities. Monster companions are a great boon to players in the later parts of the game. You should pick a monster family and start breeding early to create new monsters with multiple abilities.

This monster has been through several breeding cycles and now has four abilities.

Monster happiness needs to be maintained to keep them fighting-ready. Grooming monsters and feeding them their favorite foods will raise their happiness. Getting knocked out while in a dungeon will significantly lower their happiness, unless you purchase pet insurance.

Pet insurance will keep a knock out from impacting your pet’s happiness. You should always purchase pet insurance when taking your pet into combat situations. Grinding foods to raise your pet’s happiness can be annoying and pet insurance prevents the need for that.

Dreamcaster

Not only does your player’s job class and stats level up, you can also level up the gear you find in the dungeon. Early into the game you’ll be introduced to the Dreamcaster. Using orbs of reverie, you can enter a randomized dream that will empower your item once completed.



Orbs of reverie and specialized orbs can impart changes to how skills work. Experiment with these orbs to increase the power of your items and impart skill changes to job classes. Orbs are found when champions are killed so the Notorious feat is quite useful for acquiring many of these orbs.

The dream screen will let you choose which piece of gear you want to upgrade and show you information about the expected difficulty. Remember, the item you’re upgrading will be taken away from you and placed on the dungeon’s final boss.

If you’re leveling a weapon or a piece of armor you should have a replacement ready to go for completing the dream dungeon. Pieces of gear can be upgraded multiple times so long as you complete the dream dungeon each time. Upgraded items will feature a + and gain a random attribute according to the type of orb you used.

Orb of Reverie – Randomized modification to the equipment after dream is complete

– Randomized modification to the equipment after dream is complete Lucid Orb – An orb that imparts a specific mod effect after the dream is complete.

Dream dungeons will start out trivial in difficulty but will quickly ramp up as you upgrade the item more and more. Completing these random dungeons are the best way to increase the strength of your character through gear, so do them often.

Question: Where can I farm orbs of reverie in Tangledeep? Answer: The best way to farm orbs of reverie in Tangledeep is by killing champions. There are a few ways you can guarantee more champions appear. The Notorious feat and the Crest of the Draik item will make more champions appear. Rumors from town that require champions to be killed will guarantee an orb of reverie.

Question: What are lucid orb shards and what do I do with them? Answer: Get 3 of the same shard to get a Lucid Orb which you can use to add a specific mod (as opposed to random with reverie) in the item dream. You can extract any mod properties from items you don’t need to get the shards.

Random Thoughts

Throughout my journey in Tangledeep I’ve discovered numerous little things that might not be that obvious. I’ve collected that advice here. It’s primarily geared toward Nintendo Switch players, but players on other consoles might find these tidbits useful, too.

Access the mini-map by pressing – on the controller.

Keep pressing – to rotate between three map views or off again.

You can move the mini-map around with the right analog stick.

You can use your ranged weapon with Y, no need to weapon swap.

Terrain status effects can help or hinder you. (mud occasionally causes rooted effect, water increases ranged dodge chance)

Have weapons with several different elemental types (melee, fire, ice, lightning, ranged)

Always spec into the Soulkeeper’s Echo Bolts ability (especially if you’re playing primarily a ranged character!)

Get at least 2 movement skills for easy escape from tricky situations (Righteous Charge, Grappling Hook, Spirit Walk, Escape Artist, etc.)

Explore weapon masteries for your favorite weapon types (talk to the deer character in Riverstone Camp)

Level up your powerful gear in the Dreamcaster if the dungeon has become too challenging

Any Questions?

I’ve done my best to explain the myriad of different systems that are at play in Tangledeep. If you have any questions about how to play the game or how specific systems work, feel free to leave a comment below. I’ll do my best to get back to you with what I’ve learned throughout my many hours of playing the game.

Support Ninty Gamer Enjoy these tips and tricks and want to see more? Buy your eShop credit through Amazon or Raise and we’ll get a small commission. We use the money to directly fund this site for more reviews and commentary for Switch fans.

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