Gordian Quest Tips And Tricks

Gordian Quest is certainly an enjoyable roguelite. Brought to us by Mixed Realms, it sees you playing one of six potential heroes as you travel through Westmire, a region threatened by the undead as you attempt to free Hidden Earth from its curse. It mixes turn-based combat with Dungeons & Dragons-style mechanics, utilising a card deck for your skills that each hero possesses to stop the undead.

Whilst simple enough to learn, it’s difficult to master, and if you’re not careful, complacency becomes the death of your party. As with most roguelites, permadeath is present in Gordian Quest, and if you’re not careful in battle, a party wipe will bring your campaign to an end, sending you back to the square one before you reach the barracks. Tactical thinking is key to survive, and no one wants the frustration of a complete restart after playing for several hours.

This doesn’t have to be the case though, and you can ensure a successful campaign in Westmire without relying on easy difficulty. So if you’re struggling to advance, or simply want to put yourself in the best position before playing, here are some Gordian Quest tips and tricks which may prove beneficial in your quest.

Gordian Quest Tips and Tricks

As with any game, a lot of your skill in Gordian Quest will come from finding your own style of play. However, there’s no reason why you can’t delve into some Gordian Quest tips and tricks to help get you started. If knowledge is power, then this should give you a few level ups to get you ahead of things. You’ll still die a bit, of course, but hey, that’s a big part of the fun.

Lucius and Bertram Are A Good Starting Pair

As mentioned before, you’ll be able to choose one of six heroes when you begin the game. You’ll have a total of three allowed in your party later on, but not long after you start, you can choose a second hero to accompany you when you enter the great hall. So you may ask, why these two? It’s to cover your bases and achieve a wider range of attack.

Bertram has low HP but a key advantage of ranged attacks, using archery to defeat enemies and hit them from a wide distance, including enemies at the back. By comparison, Lucius is a good frontline hero, coming with high strength stats and better HP, but he can only attack the first enemy within the column line. Bertram can also learn how to make turrets, granting you an extra attack outside of his turn, so it’s worth mixing your playstyles at the beginning.

Keep Reviewing Your Inventory

It’s easy to forget this, but one thing that will save your party from regular deaths is frequent inventory review. I don’t just mean items designed for battle, which need re-added after use, as this extends to your wearable gear too. As you progress through battles, you’ll begin acquiring a large amount of loot through gold, items and other equipment, such as new swords, bows, amulets, shields and more.

These will prove essential, as it can provide stat boosts like increasing your acquired gold after fights or new skills for use in battle, so these reviews are highly recommended. Wider travel also uses up your supplies as heroes require food and water rations, so don’t forget to buy these in bulk either back at the Barracks. After all, a hungry hero unable to traverse the map just wouldn’t do.

Don’t Forget To Guard

It can be tempting to go all-in on enemies when fighting, but in Gordian Quest, this is rarely wise, especially at the start of combat. Sometimes the best defence is a good offence, but healing isn’t as generous as other games, so you’ll carry that damage after battles until you rest or use healing items.

Defence is, therefore, key to your success, and most decks feature a guard or parry skill, allowing you to build up your armour count. The higher it goes, the more damage it deflects and cards which grant you vigil increase your gained armour by 30%. Enemies often come in waves, depending on the fight, so even if they’re not on the board yet, you’ll need to conserve your HP to finish them off.

Equip Your Items For Battle

We’ve gotten used to games where inventories seem bottomless, allowing you to carry as many items as you require regardless of practicality. Gordian Quest certainly allows you to carry a good deal of items, but if you’ve entered combat without it, it’s effectively useless until you finish.

You’ll pick up a variety of different items as you progress beyond simple health restoration, with some defensive ones allowing you to restore HP or increase your armour with no AP cost. Others can provide temporary skills or attack enemies with a grenade-type attack, so it pays to have one of each type equipped. Once an item is used, you’ll need to remember to re-equip a new item; otherwise, you’ll be left short in battle.

Check The Enemy’s Level Before Proceeding

Gordian Quest is generous in advising you of the enemies present and during battle, you can even see the moves they have available to them. But in the corner is a red notification advising you of the enemy’s level. This may seem obvious, but when the level indicator is tucked away, and you’re focused on the battle details, it can be easy to miss. Normally you’ll be fine if it’s just one or two levels difference. If this gap is somewhat larger though, you’d do well to come back later.

There isn’t an escape function from battles, so when you realise you’re about to get overpowered, you’re stuck until one side emerges victorious and chances are, it won’t be you. If you’re playing on anything other than easy mode, this will lead to your party being wiped out and the campaign resetting. So don’t get overconfident, think tactically and you’ll succeed on the Gordian Quest.