Table of Contents
Key mechanics
- Evil Castle Tower of Salvation is a new roguelike game mode (like Slay the Spire).
- There are 30 floors per level. You can choose your route, and you can look ahead to plan your route.
- Upon completing each level, you will obtain clear rewards and you will unlock the next level. The highest level is Level 10.
- 3 free runs per day. No free retries! However, entry keys are dirt cheap (10 dia each).
- As long as you don't die, you can reset any time during your battle (using the pause menu) if you make a mistake. However, if your team dies, your run will instantly end.
- No crit fishing! Unlike other game modes, in Tower of Salvation if you reset the battle, the crit results pre-determined, and you cannot change the results by simply resetting the game. However, there are some ways to rig the crit results, which is covered in the advanced guide.
Team building basics
- Your starting team is drafted by picking five 5-star costumes. The choices you can pick from for your starting team are randomly presented to you. As you progress through the game, you can collect more costumes via shops and elite battle rewards.
- If you already own a costume, you will inherit your costume upgrades and unlocked potentials.
- Not inherited:
- Character levels: All costumes are treated as Lv 100 in the Tower of Salvation
- Equipped gears: No gears allowed in the Tower of Salvation. Instead of gears, you get "relics" which are obtained as you progress through the tower.
- During the battle, you can use 2 SP to swap out the characters that are deployed in battle. This includes swapping out dead characters (graves) for characters on your bench.
Currency and rewards
Season rewards
Like Tower of Pride, you earn one-time rewards for clearing each floor. Clear rewards reset every 4 weeks.
Season rewards will also be distributed on the basis of the total score of all players. Therefore, you can get great rewards from participating in Tower of Salvation even if you cannot clear all the floors.
Lost Silver
During each run, you will earn Lost Silver (the icon looks like a silver moon). Silver is used to purchase costumes and relics that you can use during your current run only. Any relics and costumes that you can buy with Silver will not be carried over to your next run.
You don't keep any Silver after each run, so if you haven't spent it by the end of the run, the Silver is wasted.
Night World Obsidian
Night World Obsidian is earned at the end of each run. Successful runs (including Quick Battle runs) earn the most Obsidian, whereas unsuccessful runs will earn much less Obsidian.
Obsidian is used to buy stat bonuses that apply to all runs during the season. Stats you buy with Obsidian last for the whole season. They reset at the end of the season.
Obsidian stat bonuses are absolutely essential for clearing later levels. The gameplay loop for Tower of Salvation is designed to be as follows:
- Clear the highest level you can, until you get to a point where you can't complete the next level at your current power level.
- Farm daily Obsidian by using the "Quick Battle" feature on your highest completed level. It may take a few days to farm enough Obsidian, but this is fine - remember you have a whole month to get to Lv 10, so it's designed to take some time to get there.
- Use Obsidian to buy stat boosts.
- Once you're ready, try to challenge the next floor. Rinse and repeat.
Beginner's gameplay tips
- Shops are healing stations! All shops allow you to fully heal your team for 1000 Silver.
- Aim for elite battles in the early floors. The power difference between normal and elite battles is less intense in the early floors, but the additional rewards can help a lot.
- Although you can't retry, if you make a mistake, you can reset before the battle ends. This will allow you to attempt the level again without penalty.
- Silencers (e.g. FS.Olstein), buff removers (e.g. Schera) and evasion tanks (e.g. WC.Rou) are very useful to have.
- Don't forget your knockbacks! A lot of the enemies in the tower have weird positioning, so knockbacks are essential to reposition your enemies into your main attacker's AOE.
- Swapping characters at the start of the battle is free. Swapping characters mid battle costs 2 SP. Don't forget that you can swap out dead characters (graves) for your benched characters at any time during the battle.
- You earn interest on your Silver after each level. UR Relics are very expensive, and some go for as much as 48,000 Silver. Saving up your Silver rather than spending early is a risky strategy, but spending too much early may lock you out from being able to afford the good UR relics.
- Look ahead to plan your route. It is advisable to always pick a route that leads to a shop on Floor 19 and Floor 29 (before boss battle). Remember that, if you don't spend all of your remaining Silver on Floor 29, anything you have left is wasted.
