Puzzle Kingdoms =============== Strategy Guide and Reference ---------------------------- By Nekome for GameFAQs Although Galactrix was the second in the series, this is the real sequel to Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords in terms of the story. However, while game mechanics still build on the same concept, you will find the actual gameplay to be substantially different. 1. [BOARD] Puzzle Board Mechanics 2. [COLORS] Colors 3. [WORLD] Conquering the World 4. [KINGDOMS] Kingdom List 5. [HEROES] Heroes 6. [LEVELS] Hero Levels 7. [STRATEGY] Suggested Strategy 8. [TROOPS] Troop Unit List 9. [RELICS] Relic List 10. [ITEMS] Item List 11. [SPELLS] Spell List 1. [BOARD] Puzzle Board Mechanics There are several differences from the other Puzzle Quest titles in how the board works. * When you match 3 or more blocks of the same color, they do not have to be in a straight line. * You don't swap blocks; instead, you push them onto the board from the edges, moving a whole row or column. You can see what type of block you would be able to push onto the board from each position. * You can't get more than 1 extra move per turn from making matches. * Any power which can't be used to charge up your units will go into your spell power gauge. You don't have gauges for each color anymore. In general, your priorities should be: 1. Match damage blocks. 2. Attack or cast a spell. 3. Match a color that charges up your opponent's units. 4. Match a color that charges up your own units. 5. Match some other color. 6. Push a color that's useful to you onto the board. 7. Push a color that's useful to the opponent off of the board. This does sometimes lead to long frustrating stretches where all you do is keep grabbing the opponent's color right before it can to keep the opposing units from charging up. Just remember, those matches are still useful to you because they add to your spellcasting power. 2. [COLORS] Colors White (life) opposes Purple (death). Green (plants) opposes Yellow (?). Red (fire) opposes Blue (water). 3. [WORLD] Conquering the World You start by subduing your home kingdom, the Borderlands, and then proceed through the world kingdom by kingdom. After each conquest, you will be able to unlock new heroes, units, spells, and artifacts. You will also need to destroy a relic, after which you will be directed to the next kingdom. You can go back to conquered kingdoms and refight them-- handy for training up heroes and collecting more gold. Kingdoms contain three types of location: * Ruins where you can fight a single powerful unit and collect a large gold bonus. * Ordinary cities of varying strength where you fight enemy units. * Capital cities where you fight enemy heroes and their units. The first time you enter a kingdom, it will be conquered when you have defeated all the capital cities (sometimes there are two), even you haven't been to all the other cities. When you go back later, you will remain there until all enemy cities are defeated. The units you will find in each kingdom are semi-random. You won't find yourself facing the big guns until late in the game when you're more powerful, but there's no way to predict what colors you'll be facing. 4. [KINGDOMS] Kingdom List Conquered kingdoms can be used to attack other kingdoms. Each can be set up with up to 4 heroes, up to 4 unit types, and up to 4 artifacts. Each component has a point cost which counts against the kingdom's limit. The kingdom's two colors help determine artifact and unit costs. If the colors of the kingdom are both neutral to the color of the artifact or unit, the base point cost is used. Otherwise: * 1 color matches: -25% * Both colors match: -33% * 1 matches, one opposed: +25% * 1 color opposed: +50% * Both colors opposed: +100% Borderlands 60 No colors Agaria 100 WW Sorrow Northern neighbor of Borderlands Sserin Jungle 100 RG Sloth Southern neighbor of Borderlands Drak-Duum 100 YY Greed Next one west Southern Kor 100 BG Gluttony Eastern neighbor of Borderlands Silvermyr 100 YG Ambition Back across the mountains, north up the coast Realms of Plague 100 GP Decay Way south along the coast Kor 110 RY Wrath Northernmost kingdom east of the mountains Ehlariel 110 BW Arrogance NW along the coast Realms of Death 110 BP Forgetfulness Next one north The Waste 110 BB Distrust Next one west Doomwood 110 RP Hatred All the way back down around the coast to the south Realms of War 110 RR Slaughter Extreme northeast corner Dragon Isles 120 BW Treachery Middle of eastern coast Diraqine Empire 120 YW Apathy Next one west Twilight Isle 120 GG Lust Next one north Khazdhul 120 PW Next one north Keshan 120 RW Despair Far south 5. [HEROES] Heroes The player character doesn't do battle directly; instead, a hero takes charge of the army and supports it with their stats and spellcasting ability. A hero's primary color affects the point cost of the spells they are equipped with and their point cost. Heroes are worth 10 points to start with, but they are subject to the same modifiers as artifacts and troops. The hero's stats all start at 1. Each has two statistics that you will occasionally get to choose between to increase. Gideon R G attack/defense Start Eldorn G W attack/leadership Silvermyr Frederek W Y defense/leadership Agaria Gal-Torak B Y power/leadership Sserin Jungle Khailyn Y R defense/leadership Drak-Duum Drong Y W power/leadership Southern Kor (auto) Teldrax B P attack/power Plague Durgonak B Y power/leadership Kor (auto) Kavi G B power/defense Kavi (auto) Arranea P R attack/power Death Vulkor B P attack/defense The Waste Nikka R P attack/power Doomwood (auto) Thull R G attack/defense War Darius P B attack/leadership Dragon Isles Selena W G power/defense Diraqine Gorak Y R defense/leadership Khazdhul Gladias G B power/defense Keshan 6. [LEVELS] Hero Levels 1 0 All stats at 1 2 400 Cast rank 1 spells 3 1500 Increment 1 stat 4 3000 Cast rank 2 spells / +1 when matching damage blocks 5 5000 20% chance of extra turn when matching primary color 6 7500 Cast rank 3 spells / Cast rank 2 spells 7 10000 20% chance of extra turn when matching secondary color 8 12500 Increment stat 9 15000 Cast rank 4 spells / +1 attack 10 17500 40% chance of extra turn when matching primary color 11 20000 +1 when matching damage blocks / Cast rank 3 spells 12 22500 +1 power / +2 when matching damage blocks 13 25000 Increment stat 14 27500 40% chance of extra turn when matching secondary color 15 30000 60% chance of extra turn when matching primary color 16 35000 +2 power / +1 power 17 40000 +1 power stat / Cast rank 4 spells 18 45000 Increment stat 19 50000 60% chance of extra turn when matching secondary color 20 60000 +2 when matching damage blocks / +3 when matching damage blocks 7. [STRATEGY] Suggested Strategy Here's a set-and-mostly-forget combination you can use if you don't want to be constantly recalculating after every new conquest. Once you conquer Agaria, set it up this way: Hero: Frederek Items: Celestial Staff, Shield of Valor, Paladin's Armor Units: Swordsman, Axeman, Peasant, Crossbowman Relics: Heroic Banner, Knight Statuette Run him through the Borderlands once to build him up, then move on. After Sserin Jungle, add the Ring of Wrath to Frederek's items, add the Treasure Map to the relics, and replace the Peasant with the Goblin. After Drak-Duum, add the Khazrimi Stone to the relics. After Silvermyr, replace the Crossbowman with the Elven Archer. As he gains spellcasting levels, add these spells: Rank 1: Divination, Remedy Rank 2: Bless, Lightning Rank 3: Replace Divination with Prayer 8. [TROOPS] Troop Unit List Col Pts Cost Dam Att Def Pow Peasant Y 4 30 Norm 1 2 3 Start Swordsman W 4 65 Norm 2 2 3 Start Crossbowman G 5 40 Range 2 1 2 Start Knight W 8 125 Norm 3 5 3 Agaria 200 Elven Archer G 4 60 Range 3 1 2 Silvermyr 100 Pegasus G 13 90 Range 7 3 3 Silvermyr 400 Axeman W 4 95 Norm 2 3 3 Agaria 100 Goblin R 4 50 Norm 2 1 2 Sserin Jungle 100 Pikeman Y 4 65 Norm 1 3 2 Drak-Duum 100 Dwarf Y 10 65 Norm 2 4 3 Drak-Duum 200 Ogre B 13 135 Norm 6 6 4 Southern Kor 400 Ghoul B 4 100 Magic 4 1 4 Plague 100 Swamp Dragon G 23 235 Magic 13 7 4 Plague 1500 Skeleton P 5 100 Norm 3 3 4 Plague 100 Orc R 4 65 Norm 4 1 3 Kor 100 Fire Demon P 17 125 Range 7 7 4 Kor 800 Wolfrider R 10 95 Norm 4 2 2 Kor 200 Griffon W 13 150 Range 5 6 3 Ehlariel 400 Ice Dragon B 22 270 Magic 10 13 5 Ehlariel 1500 Arboleth B 13 110 Magic 5 7 4 Death 800 Liche P 13 125 Norm 4 4 3 Death 400 Nightmare B 9 125 Magic 4 4 4 Death 200 Gorgon Y 17 140 Norm 5 10 4 The Waste 800 Catapult G 7 60 Range 9 1 3 The Waste 200 Stone Demon P 18 180 Norm 9 9 5 Doomwood 800 Minotaur R 13 140 Norm 7 4 3 War 400 Fire Dragon R 24 260 Magic 16 8 5 War 1500 Sea Demon P 18 150 Magic 7 7 4 Dragon Isles 800 Revenant W 18 180 Norm 7 7 3 Dragon Isles 800 Light Dragon W 23 265 Magic 11 12 5 Diraqine 1500 Gold Dragon Y 23 255 Magic 7 18 5 Diraqine 1500 Imp B 4 50 Magic 1 1 2 Twilight 100 Trebuchet G 18 110 Range 15 3 4 Twilight 800 Ram R 18 75 Norm 10 2 3 Khazdhul 800 Snakeman Y 13 105 Norm 3 7 3 Keshan 400 Minion P 21 255 Norm 9 12 4 Famine 1500 Undead Dragon P 24 350 Magic 14 12 5 Famine 1500 9. [RELICS] Relic List Heroic Banner W 6 Agaria 100 +15% experience Dragon Statuette G 8 Silvermyr 200 -10% cost for green troops Knight Statuette W 8 Agaria 200 -10% cost for white troops Treasure Map R 11 Sserin 400 +50% gold from ruins Khazrimi Stone Y 5 Drak-Duum 100 +25% gold from ruins Miridine Emerald B 11 Southern Kor 400 Start fights with +5 power Chaos Statuette P 8 Plague 200 -10% cost for purple troops Horn of Blasting R 14 Kor 800 -50% defense for cities Archer Statuette Y 8 Ehlariel 200 -10% cost for yellow troops Skeleton Key P 14 Death 800 -1 enemy defense (to minimum of 1) Orb of Magic B 20 The Waste 1500 Troops start with 1 power Ancient Banner G 18 Doomwood 1500 Start map with 1-4 random troops from among those assigned to the kingdom you're using) Beast Statuette R 8 War 200 -10% cost for red troops Imperial Statuette B 8 Dragon Isles 200 -10% cost for blue troops Blessed Tome W 16 Diraqine 1500 +50% experience Traveller's Lute G 5 Twilight 100 -5% cost for all troops Golden Harp Y 5 Twilight 100 Start map with +20% gold Lucky Coin Y 10 Khazdhul 400 Start map with +50% gold Symbol of Hope B 12 Keshan 400 +1 defense Banner of Darkness P 14 Famine 800 -1 to enemy attack (to minimum of 1) 10. [ITEMS] Item List Oaken Buckler Y 6 Silvermyr 100 55% chance to stop 1 damage Holy Amulet G 3 Silvermyr 100 Immunity to Curse Elven Bow G 9 Silvermyr 200 15% chance of extra turn when matching green blocks Celestial Staff W 9 Agaria 200 10% chance of doubling available power when matching white blocks Shield of Valor W 10 Agaria 400 30% chance to stop 3 damage Ring of Wrath R 13 Sserin 800 Extra turn when matching damage blocks Eye of Oblivion R 13 Sserin 200 +3 attack for purple troops Dwarven Shield Y 11 Drak-Duum 400 25% chance to stop 4 damage Dwarven Mail Y 9 Drak-Duum 800 +1 defense and immunity to poison Paladin's Armor W 12 Agaria 1500 +3 defense and immunity to disease Axe of Smiting B 9 Southern Kor 400 +2 when matching red blocks Helm's Hammer G 8 Southern Kor 200 15% chance of extra turn when matching red blocks Snakeskin Boots G 3 Plague 100 Immunity to poison Plague Dagger P 10 Plague 400 30% chance to cause disease when matching damage blocks Studded Armor Y 5 Kor 200 +1 defense Horned Helmet R 10 Kor 400 15% chance for +1 attack when matching damage blocks Helm of Justice B 9 Ehlariel 400 20% chance of +2 defense, +1 defense otherwise Belt of Frost B 11 Ehlariel 400 Half damage from blue troops Staff of Death P 15 Death 400 25% of unholy might when matching damage blocks Crown of Mana B 11 Death 800 +1 power every turn - A must for any low-level spellcaster. Shield of Darkness P 15 Death 1500 10% chance to stop all damage and reflect 1 point back - Despite the nifty extra, not statistically worth it. Imperial Helm B 5 The Waste 100 +1 defense Ring of Shielding B 9 The Waste 100 +2 defense for green troops Darkblade P 11 Doomwood 400 40% chance to cause fear when matching damage blocks Banesword P 13 Doomwood 1500 35% chance to curse when matching damage blocks Fireblade R 5 War 100 +1 attack Molten Spear R 14 War 100 1 damage to enemy when matching yellow blocks Ring of Water B 9 Dragon Isles 200 +2 defense for blue troops Full-Plate Armor Y 7 Dragon Isles 400 +2 defense Medium Shield Y 8 Diraqine 200 45% to stop 2 damage Holy Armor W 13 Diraqine 800 +2 defense and immunity to curses Centaur's Bow B 6 Twilight 100 +2 power every time you attack Pearl of Heaven G 3 Twilight 100 Immunity to terror Boots of Agility G 10 Twilight 400 20% of extra turn - Far and away the best way for a low-level hero to get extra turns. Tower Shield Y 13 Khazdhul 1500 20% chance to stop 5 damage Helm of Terror P 15 Khazdhul 1500 25% chance to cause terror when matching damage blocks Ring of Fire R 9 Keshan 200 +2 attack for red troops Mace of Disruption W 10 Keshan 400 25% chance of divine shield when matching damage Chaos Armor P 16 Famine 1500 +4 defense and immunity to fear - Fear is the only special status that shows up often enough to really cramp your style. 11. [SPELLS] Spell List Divination W 1 5 7 Borderlands 0 Change 1 block of each other color to white Bless W 2 10 10 Agaria 200 Change 5 random blocks to white Holy Symbol W 2 8 10 Agaria 200 Destroy random row & column Prayer W 3 12 13 Agaria 400 +1 power to all white troops Spears G 1 5 8 Sserin 100 1 damage to random enemy Pitfall G 2 10 10 Sserin 400 Take 2 more turns Quagmire G 3 13 12 Sserin 400 -1 power to all enemies Sharpshooter Y 1 5 8 Drak-Duum 100 Change 1 block to each other color to yellow Lightning Y 2 10 10 Drak-Duum 200 1 damage per friendly unit to random enemy Sun Star Y 4 20 14 Drak-Duum 800 Destroy all damage blocks; do 1 point for every 2 Rain B 1 5 8 Southern Kor 100 Change 3 random blocks to blue Transform B 1 7 8 Southern Kor 100 Change 3 random damage blocks to most common troop color Stormlord B 3 15 12 Southern Kor 400 Change up to 5 red blocks to blue; if there are 5 to change, heal all friendly units 2 points Remedy G 1 8 8 Silvermyr 100 Heal random injured unit points equal to hero's level Tree of Life G 2 12 10 Silvermyr 200 Change all damage blocks to green Warp Wood G 3 15 12 Silvermyr 400 Turn all yellow blocks to green; +1 power for every 3 Decay P 1 5 8 Plague 100 Destroy 5 random blocks Collapse P 2 10 10 Plague 200 Destroy all rows with 3+ stone blocks; 1 damage to enemy for each Sacrifice P 3 15 12 Plague 400 1 damage and +2 power to all your troops Firewater R 1 7 8 Kor 100 Change all blue blocks to red Explosion R 2 10 10 Kor 200 Destroy all stone blocks Wrath R 4 20 14 Kor 800 8 damage to random enemy Heal W 1 5 8 Ehlariel 100 Heal 2 for troop with lowest defense Mass Heal W 4 17 13 Ehlariel 1500 Full heal for all troops Life Leech P 1 6 8 Death 100 1 damage to enemy; 1 point heal to one unit Graveyard P 3 17 12 Death 400 Change 5 stone blocks to damage blocks Animate Dead P 4 20 14 Death 800 Revive a dead troop with 1/2 original defense Drown B 2 12 10 The Waste 200 Change 3 random blue to damage blocks Freeze B 2 10 10 The Waste 200 Random enemy's power reduced to 0 Icebolt B 3 15 12 The Waste 400 Destroy all yellow blocks, doing 1 damage for every 3 Firebolt R 1 5 9 Doomwood 100 2 damage to random enemy Cauterize R 2 7 10 Doomwood 200 Heal 1 troop 1 point, +1 for every magic-using troop Pillar of Fire R 3 15 12 Doomwood 400 5 damage to enemy troop with highest power Flaming Sword R 3 15 12 War 400 Change all red to damage blocks Fire Storm R 4 17 14 War 800 Change all green blocks to red, doing 1 damage to random enemy for every 3 Hurricane B 4 17 14 Dragon Isles 800 Every enemy troop takes damage equal to its power total Invigorate B 4 18 14 Dragon Isles 800 Double power for every friendly troop Javelin Y 1 5 8 Diraqine 100 1 damage to random enemy Breath of Life Y 2 12 10 Diraqine 200 Every damaged troop with 1 or more power loses 1 power and gains 2 defense Hail of Arrows Y 4 17 14 Diraqine 800 +2 power to all ranged troops Tangle Vines G 4 20 14 Twilight 800 Take 3 more turns Nature's Gift G 4 20 14 Twilight 800 +3 green power to troops Power Drain Y 3 15 12 Khazdhul 400 -3 power to enemy with highest power Poison Dart Y 3 15 12 Khazdhul 400 Poisons enemy for 5 turns Bright Aura W 4 20 14 Keshan 800 Morale for 5 turns Avenger W 4 17 14 Keshan 800 Halves highest enemy defense Darkbolt P 2 8 10 Famine 200 1 damage to every enemy Assassinate P 4 20 14 Famine 800 Random enemy takes damage equal to your highest troop attack skill