Lost Civilization - Master Guide

Introduction
This Guide provides strategy and tips for defeating the “Lost Civilization” campaign on Master Difficulty.

Please enjoy the game and discover for yourself what works best for you. Contained within are some strategies that can be employed to help you achieve a Master Difficulty victory. These strategies are by no means required for a victory. Feel free to develop your own strategies and contribute what you learn to the wiki and the community at large. With these disclaimers behind us, let’s begin.

New Mechanics
The “Lost Civilization” campaign presents new mechanics to the player when compared to the normal For The King campaign.

1) In particular, the Chaos mechanic from the FTK campaign is replaced with a new mechanic called “Planetary Alignment”.  During the game, the Planetary Alignment meter progresses across the player’s timeline.  Once four Planetary Alignment icons have activated (or progressed off the player’s timeline) the game is instantly lost.   Each Planetary Alignment meter begins on the player’s timeline every 6 team rounds when on Master Difficulty.

Each active Planetary Alignment icon will increase damage inflicted by your party by 25%. When 2 or more are active, the amount of damage inflicted by any hit can potentially be enough to one-shot enemies. This helps only your party, NOT the enemies! Allowing Planetary Alignment to activate becomes a strategic decision. Do you want to increase the amount of damage your party can deal at the risk of suffering with Sunburn damage (more on that below) and getting closer to 4 active which instantly causes you to lose the game?

The Planetary Alignment is kept under control by completing main quest lines and also by destroying Ritualistic Focusers (These look like step-pyramids with a green beam shooting into the sky). There are only 2 hidden Ritualistic Focusers in a Lost Civilization campaign, each one being found in one of the Jungle Falls biomes (the mid-game Jungle Falls and the late game Jungle Falls. These two Jungle Falls biomes are separated by ocean). In total, there are only 7 opportunities to remove Planetary Alignment in a single playthrough of Lost Civilization.
 * Entering the Local Library during the “County Fair Mystery” quest line.
 * Hidden Ritualistic Focuser in Jungle Falls #1
 * Purging the Ancient Temple during the “Welcome to the Jungle” quest line.
 * Conquer the Warrior’s Arena which completes the “Welcome to the Jungle quest line. Note: After completion of the “Welcome to the Jungle” quest line you’re prompted to choose a quest path for either the Parched Wastes (this unlocks the Gladiator) or Ashfall Islands. This begins the “Turning Up the Heat” quest line which has two paths.  You’re only going to complete one path.
 * If following the Parched Wastes path, completion of the second Local Arena will provide another opportunity to remove Planetary Alignment. If following the Ashfall Islands path, purging the Obsidian Keep will provide an opportunity to remove Planetary Alignment.
 * Hidden Ritualistic Focuser in Jungle Falls #2 during “Rumble in the Jungle”
 * Conquering the Warrior’s Arena in Jungle Falls is the last removal of Planetary Alignment.

2) In addition to the damage increase from active Planetary Alignment, another mechanic to the Planetary Alignment is “Sunburn”. Once 2 or more Planetary Alignment are active, the party will begin taking “Sunburn” damage when outside of a Town or Tinder Pouch and while it is daytime. With 2 alignment active the damage can be between 6 to 8 damage each time a character ends their turn.  With 3 alignment active the damage increases to around 12 damage per turn ended.  Due to this new mechanic, it encourages the player to try to keep the Planetary Alignment at no greater than 1 active as much as possible.

3) The Lost Civilization campaign introduces a new combat mechanic where battle-chains are presented to the player. After completion of one battle, a follow-up battle is immediately presented after loot drops are accepted from the previous battle.  This mechanic makes healing, including using Party Heal between battles impossible. No time is afforded to the party to heal before the next combat begins, so planning when a character chooses to heal individually with a Godsbeard will be important. The battle-chain appears at the top of the player’s screen similar to a Cave or Dungeon where you can see the number of rooms and battles that will need to be completed.  Only when a question-mark room is presented to the party will your team be afforded time to Party Heal or trade equipment.  Otherwise Party Heal can only be used during combat when involved with one of these combat-chains which requires that the skill be present on an equipped weapon or item or built into a character’s passive abilities.

4) Town Refresh rates are uniquely different compared to the For The King campaign. Players can expect the towns to refresh (increasing prices and levels of caves/mini-dungeons) at the following times: (Note: If the player manages to liberate Tamula in less than 14 rounds, the 4th town refresh is skipped. This will result in Tamula and Makata not having end-game gear available in their town markets).
 * 1st: Completion of the County Fair Mystery quest line.
 * 2nd: Completion of the Welcome to the Jungle quest line.
 * 3rd: Completion of the Turn Up The Heat quest line (either path).
 * 4th: 14 Rounds after the previous town refresh

5) Sea Caves when entered will include 3 combat encounters instead of 2, and can scale their level beyond level 6. They will NOT have clam chests at the end and therefore will not provide Precious Pearls.  The Sea Caves will increase by 2 levels every time a Town Refresh occurs. (See above for when that happens).

6) Town side-quests only offer Item quests or Gold quests (e.g. Delivery, Bounty).

Goals

 * 1) As with the normal For The King campaign, you want to:
 * 2) Be extremely efficient with your movement.
 * 3) Acquire as much gold as you possibly can.
 * 4) Upgrade your gear as soon as humanly possible.
 * 5) Gain experience for your characters as quickly as possible.
 * 6) Avoid taking damage.
 * 7) Manage the amount of Planetary Alignment that is active to avoid taking too much Sunburn damage, but still be able to boost your damage output.

Keys to making the “Lost Civilization” campaign easier
1) At the beginning of the game in the Guardian Forest, get every character an upgrade weapon that can deal at least 9 damage if possible and prioritize this first.

2) Buy every Godsbeard, Panax, and Golden Root made available from the Oarton and Woodsmoke markets prior to completing the Tavern. This is a goal only.  Based upon your gold acquisition and time available you may not be able to buy “every” herb.  Prioritize getting Godsbeard first.

3) Do NOT purchase armor pieces at Oarton or Woodsmoke. Wait until you’ve reached the Jungle Falls before considering purchasing armor.

4) Try to route in as many fights as possible while progressing the main quest-line. If it would require more than 2 team rounds to route in a fight, probably best to ignore it. (Note: Boat fights when your team eventually is on the ocean will always include 3 enemies and is a much better way to grind enemies for loot and gold. Better to get off the land and onto a boat! That won’t occur until you’ve completed the first quest-line, so it is better to speed through the beginning of the game to give yourself more time on the ocean).

5) You should not allow more than one Planetary Alignment to activate during the first quest-line (County Fair Mystery). If two manage to activate, it is an indication you’re moving to slowly or grinding enemies too much.

6) Try your best to Pipe up each character prior to completing the Tavern. This isn’t mandatory as you must keep a close eye on your timeline and not allow too much Planetary Alignment to activate.  Buying all the Godsbeard and Piping up each character is equivalent to $108 gold, so make sure to save at least that much.

7) Once the “County Fair Mystery” quest-line is complete and the “Welcome to the Jungle” quest-line begins, sail to Chapula in the Jungle Falls #1 biome. When sailing between biomes, look for any ship combat opportunities you can handle, especially any enemy ships of levels 2 to 4 while your party is also of those levels.  Use ship combat to gain gold and experience as well as additional loot drop opportunities.  Target “Thief” type enemies (like Scamps, Thieves, Pirates, Bandits, Buccaneers, Highwaymen etc.) as much as possible as they’re easier to kill and drop larger amounts of gold.  Merlings and other animal themed ships (Monkey ships or Bird Warriors) are also a fairly safe and easy target.

8) Once at Chalupa, look for any upgrade weapons your team could use, and also check the Item Quests looking for a Goat Wizard's Staff, Curved Bow, or Boots of Might for the appropriate characters that use these. If the item quest isn’t any of those three, then go for a Gold quest.

9) When choosing town side-quests, if towns aren’t selling weapons that a particular character needs, consider prioritizing Item quests for good weapons over Gold quests. If choosing a Gold quest, target bounties that have you kill a “Thief” type enemy over much worse things like Crags or Owlbears.

10) While searching Jungle Falls and/or completing the main quest-line, if you’re in need of healing and towns are too far away, don’t hesitate to use one of your Tinder Pouches. Due to the combat-chain mechanic of this campaign, saving Tinder Pouches for dungeons isn’t necessary.  Make strategic use of your Tinder Pouches to heal while away from towns.

11) In the Lost Civilization campaign, many enemies will affect you with “conditions” like bleeding, poison, disease, etc. It is highly recommended to stockpile Panax in addition to Godsbeard as you progress.  The final quest-line will very likely hit your team with bleeding and disease conditions, so be prepared by stockpiling Panax early and often.  Additionally, this campaign doesn’t make very many Precious Pearls available, so don’t count on those to clear your team of conditions.

12) If while sailing around the Jungle Falls biome, your team has all improved Tier II weapons, is fully healthy, has at least 3 Godsbeard (1 for each character), and are close to level 4 with chance to level inside a Sea Cave, or are already level 4, then consider routing in a Level 4 Sea Cave if within reach. Once your team reaches level 5, you may also consider trying to tackle a Level 6 Sea Cave if within reach, but make sure you have improved weapons and gear!  Keep in mind that Sea Caves will scale when Towns Refresh.

13) If while sailing around the Jungle Falls biome, you come within visual range of an Ashfall Islands or Parched Wastes town, consider attempting to visit that town and purchase its Godbeard if you have at least $60 gold or can acquire that while on route. If you can do this, you’ll have access to more Godsbeard than the minimum 6 the game provides you from Chapula and Texatulan markets, AND you’ll get them prior to these towns inflated prices. (Note: if these towns are visited BEFORE completing the “Welcome to the Jungle” quest-line, then these town’s side-quests will not be available yet. It is still good to visit these towns just to get the Godsbeard, but you may need to visit the town(s) later after completing “Welcome to the Jungle” quest-line).

14) When tackling a main quest-line “chain” battle, keep close eye on your team’s health. Once you kill the final enemy in a group of three, you’re immediately going to progress to the next chain battle.  You may need to heal a character BEFORE that next chain battle begins.  If so, you should consider ending a character’s turn without attacking in order to allow a character who needs to heal the chance to do so.  This often requires that each character have their own Godsbeard.  Party Heal cannot and SHOULD NOT be counted on for any “Chain” battle.

15) When you complete the “Welcome to the Jungle” quest-line, you’ll be prompted to choose a path.  Either to do the Parched Wastes quest-line or the Ashfall Islands quest-line.  It is highly recommended to choose the Parched Wastes quest-line.  This quest-line is easier (mainly because each major “fight event” will PULL your team into the fight (except for the Highwaymen Camp fight) AND because the quest-line milestones are made visible to the party automatically. The Ashfall Islands key milestone fights are NOT automatically visible to the party and require that you search the Ashfall Islands biome to try to locate them. This “search” is time consuming and thus makes this quest-line harder to progress your game without Planetary Alignment piling up on you.

16) When visiting Parched Waste or Ashfall Island towns, you will want to trigger these town’s side-quests. If a side-quest you trigger spawns extremely far away from the party or in a difficult to access location, it is best to ignore that quest entirely.  Yeah it's the waste of a quest, but the time spent trying to accomplish it and then get back on track with the main quest-line is not worth it. Note: Shocking enemies in “The Lost Civilization” campaign is very effective.  If you have an opportunity to acquire a weapon that can shock enemies it is recommended that you pick it up from one of these towns (e.g. Thunder Tome; Orb of Infinite Gaze; Zeus Blade; etc.).

17) The Lost Civilization campaign has added a new “location” to the Lore Store called the “Lore Store store”. If you unlock this location, it will appear twice during a Lost Civilization game showing up on the timeline and eventually spawning like scourges do.  If this store spawns within reasonable reach of your party, you might want to consider visiting it specifically looking for good Lore Store weapons and gear.  In particular, Boots of Might, Aegis of Husher, Inferno Armor, and weapons like Goat Wizard's Staff, Razor, Waldhar's Wrath, Tome of Storms, and other useful items may be available for purchase.  (Note: these items may be expensive. If you don’t have much gold, consider not bothering to visit this store! The time wasted to visit the store and then not being able to purchase anything would be saved! For example, Inferno Armor will likely cost over $1300 gold).

18) As you approach the 2nd Jungle Falls biome near the end of the game, if you happen to have any Vision Scrolls, it is recommended to attempt to locate the hidden Ritualistic Focuser in that Jungle Falls biome to save time having to search the biome on foot. Target the interior areas of the biome or furthest away areas.

19) If you have managed to visit the Ashfall Islands towns during your game, you’ll likely have 2 Planetary Alignment active as you approach the end game quest-line “Rumble in the Jungle”.  This will necessitate that you speed through this final quest-line as quickly as possible.  Doing so will mean that you won’t have the time to wait for the final Town Refresh to occur (which requires 14 rounds of waiting after completing the “Turn up the Heat” quest-line).  This is not a bad thing.  Once you have the “Liberate Tamula” quest up, you should speed through the rest of the main quest-line as fast as possible.  Do NOT bother waiting for the final town refresh.  It is much better to have visited the Ashfall Islands towns and purchased those towns Godsbeard, then to have saved that time by not visiting that biome and used that time waiting for the final town refresh late in the game. Since there are only two end-game towns (Tamula and Makata) and since the Planetary Alignment will be breathing down your neck by the time the final town refresh occurs, having end-game weapons just won’t be worth it because you won’t get to use them enough to matter.

20) Recommended pathing for the final quest-line. 1) Visit Makata and/or Tamala and heal there if needed. Upgrade weapons and gear the best you can. Trigger side quests from these towns but only route those in if their location is convenient. 2) Spam any Vision Scrolls you have remaining on Jungle Falls biome looking for final Ritualistic Focuser. Route that ASAP while doing the remaining steps.  3) Get to Snake Camp as quickly as you can and defeat it. 4) After Snake Camp, if injured, use Tinder Pouch or Town Inn to heal. 5) Use Teleport Scroll to enter the Arena (via dungeon team pull). 6) Use Portal Scroll to get next to Tamala... and Tinder Pouch just outside before engaging "Liberate Tamala". 7) Use previous Tinder Pouch to heal after defeating "Liberate Tamala". 8) Purchase whatever you find valuable from Tamala and Pipe Up as best you can. 9) Teleport to Grand Temple to complete final battle (via dungeon team pull). All this requires at least 1 or 2 Tinder Pouches, 2 Teleport Scrolls, any Vision Scrolls you have, and one Portal Scroll. Save these for this last quest-line to speed your way through the end-game.

A Discussion about Strategy
In our other Master guides for other campaigns, we’ve discussed two strategies 1) Party Rush-Rush Although still an excellent strategy, in the “Lost Civilization” campaign, the chances of acquiring the needed weapons for this strategy is very low. The Party Rush weapons (Tome of Wonder, Golden Lute) won’t be made available until the campaign is nearly over, and therefore won’t help you.  The other Party Rush weapon (Goblin Staff) isn’t likely to be found as “Goblin” enemies are few and far between in this campaign.  So we recommend NOT trying to use this strategy unless you’re extremely lucky to find one of these weapons.

2) Group Reset The Group Reset strategy is focused around the Volcanic Tome or Royal Bow. Both are unlikely to be found while playing “Lost Civilization”, and even if found, will likely be too late to be of much help.  Once again, if you’re lucky enough to find one of these weapons, feel free to use it, but don’t count on this strategy either.

Strategy Recommendation
Since both Party Rush and Group Reset strategies are unlikely to be of help, your best bet is to try to mitigate damage in other ways.
 * Shock - Shocking enemies in this campaign is quite effective. Most of the enemies (with exception of some Golems) are not immune to being shocked.  If you can shock enemies, this can prevent your team from being Petrified, Diseased, Bled, and reduce damage overall.  It is highly recommended to try to find any weapon that can shock enemies.


 * Evade - Lost Civilization introduces a new character class (Gladiator). This strength based character has excellent speed (70).  In addition, this campaign also introduces weapons that add speed as well as several armor sets that also provide speed.  Running speed builds will increase evasion and make this an effective strategy.  A recommended team composition for an “Evasion” team is: Scholar (70 speed); Hunter (78 speed) or Trapper (74 speed); and Gladiator (70 speed).  The Gladiator also starts the game with weapons for both the Strength attribute and Awareness attribute.  The Awareness weapon and shield are superior to the starting weapon from a Hunter or Trapper, and makes for an excellent upgrade right from the start of the game.


 * Single Target Reset - Although not as powerful as Group Reset, the weapons that offer “Single Target Reset” are still extremely useful. If you’re unable to find weapons that can “Shock” enemies, then consider weapons that can reset (e.g. Hooked Sword, Barbat, Great Bow, Gladius, Theorbo, Book of Healing, Sais, Dragon Blade, etc.)  These weapons can get you out of dangerous situations like a character that is very hurt and unable to act before enemies will attack.  You may be able to reset enemies providing time for this character’s turn to come and heal them with a Godsbeard.


 * Single Target Rush - Since Party Rush is unlikely, then make use of Single-Target Rush to rush high-DPS characters. A Talent Trapper with an Ornate Lute rushing a Scholar with a Lightning Wand or Obsidian Wand or Wand of Death can make quick work of a group.  Additionally, rushing a Gladiator with an Iron Anchor or Obsidian Blades can also be very effective.  Example: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1004338924?filter=highlights&sort=time


 * Combination of Single Target Reset & Party Restore Focus - Another effective approach is to use a high-DPS character combined with a Talent Trapper using a Party Focus Restore weapon (e.g. Ukulele or Bamboo Charango or Jade Charango) and a character with a Single Target Reset weapon (e.g. Hooked Sword, Gladius, Book of Healing, Sais, Dragon Blade, etc.). The high DPS character one-shots one enemy (with the help of 2 or 3 active Planetary Alignment) while the reset character resets a second enemy... leaving only one enemy to get an attack. Afterwards the Talent Trapper restores everyone's focus and you repeat this process.  When only 1 enemy remains alive, the DPS character can just attack without spending focus while the reset character continues to reset.  This allows the Focus Restore Trapper to restore the DPS character back to full focus before finally finishing off the last enemy.


 * Taunt - Another “tried and true” method for reducing damage is running with a high vitality character like a Blacksmith and utilizing Taunt from shields. Keep in mind however that a Blacksmith character is slow, thus you probably won’t be able to taunt until after your team has already taken one pass of enemy attacks.  This strategy can be helpful, but isn’t as good as the strategies above.

Enemies to Avoid
Don’t purposely attack the following enemies unless you’re in desperate need to get past them or they’re alone. Never attack these if they’re in a camp of 3.


 * Anything from the normal FTK Master Guide avoid list plus:


 * Water Spiders - These can Group Entangle and cause you to be locked while they beat you up.
 * Golems - Petrify and hit hard
 * Jaguars - Fast and hit incredibly hard
 * Snakes (of any kind) - They poison and bleed
 * Mosquitos (of any kind) - They spam disease
 * Birds (of any kind)
 * Ancient Shaman & Elite Ancient Shaman

Ideal Team Loadouts
The “Lost Civilization” campaign does NOT provide the player much time to grind enemies to acquire the weapons and gear that you might prefer. Additionally, many late game weapons are provided too late to be of much use and the number of towns that will offer late game weapons are low. You must work with what you can get!

Early game
Intelligence Character ideal set: Weapons: Lightning Staff or Knotted Staff or Dusty Book or Lolli Wand or Healing Wand. Armor: Whatever you can get! Intelligence and Speed armor preferred. Trinkets: Whatever you can get! Necklace: Old Necklace or whatever you can get! Strength Character ideal set: Weapons: Pugios or Heavy Sword or Fighting Sticks or whatever you can get that can deal more than 9 damage. Armor: Whatever you can get! Strength and Speed armor preferred. Trinkets: Whatever you can get! Necklace: Rusty Medallion or whatever you can get! Talent Character ideal set: Weapons: Barbat or Tambura Armor: Whatever you can get! Trinkets: Lucky Coin or Four Leaf Clover or whatever you can get! Necklace: Fancy Ruff or Shiny Pendant or whatever you can get! Awareness Character ideal set: Weapons: Worn Trident or Fighting Sticks or Heavy Bow or Battle Staff, or anything that can do more than 9 damage. Armor: Whatever you can get! Awareness and Speed armor preferred. Trinkets: Whatever you can get! Necklace: Clouded Crystal or whatever you can get!

Mid-Game
Intelligence Character ideal set : Weapons: Starfish Staff or Thunder Tome or Wands with a Shield: Starfire Wand, Water Wand, Fire Wand, Frost Wand, and Warrior Shield or Feathered Shield Armor: Mage’s gear (Chestpiece/Headgear/Boots) or any Speed gear. Trinkets: Golden Hourglass; Majestic Belt; Bellowing Horn; Noise Maker Necklace: Old or Polished Necklace or Immunity Amulet Strength Character ideal set : 2H-Weapons: Iron Anchor or Battle Axe or Broadsword or Machetes or Stingers 1H-Weapons: Longsword or Scimitar and Wooden Tower Shield or Warrior Shield or Feathered Shield Armor: Strength armor or Speed armor; plus Boots of Might if you can get it. Trinkets: Majestic Belt; Bellowing Horn; Golden Skull; Great Rune Necklace: Rusty or Golden Medallion or Amulet of Souls or Immunity Amulet Talent Character ideal set : Weapons: Theorbo or Ornate Lute or Shakers Armor: Talent gear; plus Lucky's Hat or Princess Hat Trinkets: Lucky Coin; Four Leaf Clover; Noise Maker; Fancy Umbrella; Ester Oil Necklace: Fancy Ruff; Shiny or Sparkling Pendant or Immunity Amulet Awareness Character ideal set: : Weapons: Great Bow; Declan's Bow; or Waldhar's Wrath; or Razor or Twin Knives or Twin Daggers Armor: Awareness gear or Speed gear (Chestpiece/Headgear/Boots). Trinkets: Great Rune; Steel Plate; Golden Skull; Bellowing Horn; Golden Hourglass; Noise Maker; Lumotus Luminous Necklace: Clouded Crystal or Pale Crystal; Silk Scarf or Immunity Amulet

Late Game
Intelligence Character ideal set : Weapons: Lightning Tome or Thunder Tome or Great Lightning Staff or Tome of Storms or Orb of Infinite Gaze or Obsidian Wand or Great Fire Staff, or Wand of Death or Volcanic Tome Armor: Intelligence gear (Chestpiece/Headgear/Boots) or Speed gear; Assassin Boots Trinkets: Golden Hourglass; and Majestic Belt; or Bellowing Horn; or Noise Maker; Necklace: Old or Polished Necklace; Golden Ruff Strength Character ideal set : Weapons: Iron Anchor or Obsidian Blades or Great Hammer or Frozen Great Hammer or Dual Hammers or Ice Sword or any high damage 1H-weapon and Aegis of Husher or Warrior Shield Armor: Any Jaguar armor set piece; Inferno Armor or Snake Armor; Boots of Might; Wizard Hat or Iron Foil Hat; or any Strength armor piece. Trinkets: Golden Skull; Bellowing Horn; Great Rune Necklace: Rusty or Golden Medallion or Amulet of Souls or Golden Medal Talent Character ideal set : Weapons: Golden Lute and/or Fancy Theorbo and/or Silver Lute or Ornate Lute or Lightning Lute Armor: Talent gear (Chestpiece/Headgear/Boots) Trinkets: Ester Oil; Noise Maker; Steel Plate Necklace: Golden Ruff; Shiny or Sparkling Pendant; Elemental Usekh or Immunity Amulet Awareness Character ideal set: : Weapons: Dragon Bow; or Silver Bow; or Bone Harpoon; or Waldhar's Wrath; or Royal Lance; or Lightning Lance; or Lightning Bow; or Twin Daggers Armor: Assassin's gear (Chestpiece/Headgear/Boots) or Snake Armor and Jaguar Helm if running speed weapons. Trinkets: Golden Skull; Bellowing Horn; Noise Maker; Lumotus Luminous; Ester Oil; Great Rune; Steel Plate Necklace: Golden Ruff; Amulet of Souls; Clouded Crystal or Pale Crystal; Fine Silk Scarf or Silk Scarf or Immunity Amulet

Conclusion
Well… I hope you find this guide helpful. Visit us on the FTK Discord. Special Thanks to  Sheldon1994  for all the play testing and ideas.

Author:  SirImperialMike