Into The Deep - Master Guide

Introduction
This Guide is the author’s recommendation for one successful method for defeating the “Into the Deep” campaign on Master Difficulty.

This guide is by no means the only method. Please enjoy the game and discover for yourself all the possibilities. 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.

If you have questions or comments you'd like to leave for us, please edit the Discussion page at the top of this guide and feel free to leave those questions and comments in there! Thanks!

Into The Deep Mechanics
The “Into The Deep” campaign presents new mechanics to the player when compared to the normal For The King campaign.


 * In particular, the Chaos mechanic from the FTK campaign is replaced with a new mechanic called “The Flood”.  During the game, a “Flood” meter progresses across the player’s timeline.  Once three “Flood” icons have activated (or progressed off the player’s timeline) the game is instantly lost.   Each “Flood” meter begins on the player’s timeline every 14 team rounds when on Master Difficulty.   This is essentially the full length of the timeline displayed at the top of the player’s screen. The “Flood” is kept under control by vanquishing “Water Temples”. There are four hidden “Water Temples” ranging from level 2 (whose location is provided to the player after the completion of the “Adventures Home” main quest.) all the way to level 8.  Each Water Temple will be in a unique biome.  Vanquishing one Water Temple will remove one Flood meter icon from your game timeline.


 * The final boss is a level 10 Sea King which is visible to the player on the map after the completion of the “Adventurers Home” main quest.. Once the player feels they’re ready to take on the Sea King, they can sail right up to this monstrosity and attempt to vanquish him.  Unlike “the Kraken” which looks and acts similarly to the Sea King, the Sea King’s tentacles MUST also be vanquished in addition to the Sea King himself in order to win.  Where the Kraken can be made to leave by killing a Tentacle, that does not work with the Sea King.  So be prepared for a very long fight.


 * Town Refresh rates are uniquely different compared to the For The King campaign. Players can expect the towns to refresh (increasing prices) at the following times:
 * 1) 1st: Completion of the Adventurer’s Home
 * 2) 2nd: 8 Team Rounds after the completion of the Adventurer’s Home
 * 3) 3rd: 15 Rounds after the previous town refresh
 * 4) 4th: 15 Rounds after the previous town refresh
 * 5) 5th and Final: 15 Rounds after the previous town refresh


 * Sea Caves start out at level 4 and increase their levels when one is completed. When entered will include 3 combat encounters instead of 2, and can scale their level beyond level 6. These caves will have a Precious Pearl in the reward chest at the end.


 * Mini-dungeons (Dark Caves and Catacombs) scale when towns refresh.


 * Oarton’s town side-quests always include one “Quest for Life”, allowing the player to easily gain a life pool. It is the only town to have this type of side quest.

A Discussion about Goals
As with the normal For The King campaign, you want to:
 * 1) Acquire as much gold as you possibly can.
 * 2) Upgrade your gear as soon as humanly possible.
 * 3) Gain experience for your characters as quickly as possible.
 * 4) Avoid taking damage.

However, there are two goals that are different when attempting the Into the Deep campaign.
 * 1) It is NOT important to be extremely efficient with your movement.
 * 2) You do want to keep the Flood under control, but it isn’t really an important factor until you’ve got 2 Flood active.  Until you have two Flood active, you can almost completely ignore the Flood mechanic entirely.

Keys to making Into The Deep easy

 * Grind enemies early on. This is normally a very bad idea when playing the normal For The King campaign, but is essential when playing Into The Deep.  You want to spend lots of time grinding as many enemies you can find in your starting Guarding Forest biome.  You should grind enemies and use the towns Inns for healing until your team is almost level 2.  You should grind until:
 * 1) Each team member has an improved weapon
 * 2) You have enough gold to purchase a Fishing Boat.


 * Do NOT complete the Adventure’s Home main quest for a while! Once you complete this main-quest the game will rapidly become much harder.
 * 1) If you now have a Fishing Boat, it’s time to start grinding in the ocean. Seek out and destroy all the level 1 boats you can handle, and heal at town Inns when necessary.
 * 2) Search out as many nearby towns as you can on islands and other biomes.  Use these towns for Inn healing but also use these towns for improved weapons and gear as well as purchase as many Godsbeard herbs from these towns as you can afford.  If you make it a point to buy the Godsbeard from these other towns, you can create a stockpile of Godsbeard in your team inventory anywhere from 9 to 12 Godsbeard, or even more.  You’re buying all these Godsbeard from these other towns while their prices are cheap!  You’ll need lots of money, hence the need to grind enemies!
 * 3) Once your team has a good pile of Godsbeard, improved weapons, and the Flood has 1 or even 2 active, it is now time to finish the Adventure’s Home.

Here is an example of how you can grind your way to victory before ever triggering the Adventure's Home. In this video, we grind for 50 minutes and have 24 Godsbeard, 8 Golden Root, and have full equipment at level 3 before we trigger the Adventure's Home. We even encounter the Kraken along the way and fend him off. https://www.twitch.tv/videos/832870969


 * Do NOT do the Hildebrant’s Cellar (optional) main quest. This optional dungeon’s reward is a raft deed.  It is NOT worth the damage you’ll receive from the enemies inside for a raft deed...especially if you already have a Fishing Boat!


 * Having finally completed the Adventure’s Home, you now have only 8 team rounds before towns refresh and raise their prices. Use this short 8 round time period to seek out and vanquish the level 2 Water Temple.  This will reduce your Flood meter and buy you more time!


 * Upon completing the level 2 Water Temple, you should have enough money to buy MORE Godsbeard from the towns you’ve visited before.  Quickly get to all the towns you’ve visited earlier and buy up their replenished stock of Godsbeard as well as Pipe Up a character or two.


 * As you revisit the towns, if you feel you need to improve a weapon or armor piece found in these town markets but don’t have the money for them, consider activating one of these town’s Gold side-quests. OTHERWISE, if your team is fine for weapons and gear, SAVE these town-side quests until AFTER the 8 round town refresh occurs.  The side-quests will also refresh and the gold value of these side-quests will be even larger if you wait.


 * Once the 8 round town refresh occurs and the towns refresh their stockpiles and prices again, you’ll now have higher end gear available to you for purchase. Hopefully at this point your team has 15 Godsbeard (5 for each character).  You should now revisit the towns you’ve found before and activate the gold side-quests you wish to activate.


 * The next town refresh won’t occur for another 15 team rounds. Use the time between these refreshes to locate more Water Temples (especially the level 4 Water Temple).  You should consider completing the level 4 Water Temple if your Flood meter has 2 Flood active or if your team is level 4 or better and can comfortably handle it.

Once you’ve completed the 8 Key’s above, you’ve progressed through the first 3rd of the game. From this point on, the game should be fairly easy to manage. Your team should be looking to equip themselves appropriately for level 6 characters:

Ideal Team Load Outs
Intelligence Character ideal set : Weapons: Starfish Staff or Fire Staff. Both is even better. Armor: Mage’s gear (Chestpiece/Headgear/Boots) Trinkets: Golden Hourglass; Bellowing Horn; Noise Maker Necklace: Old or Polished Necklace Strength Character ideal set : Weapons: Iron Anchor or Battle Axe or Broadsword or Longsword and Wooden Tower Shield Armor: Full Iron armor; plus Boots of Might if you can get it. Trinkets: Bellowing Horn; Golden Skull; Great Rune Necklace: Rusty or Golden Medallion or Amulet of Souls Talent Character ideal set : Weapons: Theorbo or Ornate Lute Armor: Performer’s gear; plus Lucky's Hat or Princess Hat Trinkets: Lucky Coin; Four Leaf Clover; Noise Maker; Bellowing Horn Necklace: Fancy Ruff; Shiny or Sparkling Pendant Awareness Character ideal set: : Weapons: Great Bow; Declan's Bow; or Waldhar's Wrath; or Razor Armor: Adventurer’s 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

Late Game
For the rest of the game, continue to seek out and vanquish Water Temples as needed to keep the Flood at bey. Once you feel your team is strong enough to handle the Sea King, then prepare for that battle.

Boat Survival - You need to make sure your boat can withstand the fight with the Sea King. You should:
 * 1) Have a strategy which prevents the Sea King and his Tentacles from attacking you (see the strategies in the main FTK Master Difficulty Guide)
 * 2) Complete the optional Pirate Den quest line to acquire Greenbeard’s Pirate Ship.  This is a 14 life boat with an Armor point on it.
 * 3) Buy an Armored Boat yourself and have a few Boat Repair Kits handy
 * 4) Try a Fishing Boat with lots of Boat Repair Kits… or use strategy 1 above.

Load Outs for the Sea King Fight
Intelligence Character ideal set : Weapons: Tome of Wonder and/or Volcanic Tome; Great Water Tome or Starfish Staff; Lightning Tome or Thunder Tome or Tome of Storms; Knotted Staff or Yew Staff Armor: Mystic’s gear (Chestpiece/Headgear/Boots); Volcano Hat; Assassin Boots Trinkets: Golden Hourglass; and Majestic Belt; or Bellowing Horn; or Noise Maker; and Icy Talisman; and Flaming Talisman Necklace: Old or Polished Necklace; Faded Pearls or Enchanted Pearls; Golden Ruff Strength Character ideal set : Weapons: Iron Anchor or Great Hammer or Frozen Great Hammer or Great Sword or Gladius and Aegis of Husher Armor: Royal Helm; Inferno Armor; Royal Boots or Boots of Might; Wizard Hat or Iron Foil Hat Trinkets: Majestic Belt; Bellowing Horn; Golden Skull; Great Rune Necklace: Rusty or Golden Medallion or Amulet of Souls; and Lightning Talisman Talent Character ideal set : Weapons: Golden Lute and/or Fancy Theorbo and/or Silver Lute or Ornate Lute Armor: Full Dream gear (Chestpiece/Headgear/Boots) Trinkets: Ester Oil; Bellowing Horn; Noise Maker Necklace: Golden Ruff; Shiny or Sparkling Pendant Awareness Character ideal set: : Weapons: Assassin's Bow; Dragon Bow; Golden Bow; Bone Harpoon and a buckler shield. Armor: Assassin's 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; Fine Silk Scarf

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.

Here's an example of our defeating the Sea King using a Raft and the Uber strategies from the Master Difficulty Guide: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/594719366?filter=highlights&sort=time

Author:  SirImperialMike