Start of the game

In the last part of the guide we talked about character creation. There are four classes to choose from – warrior, amazon, mage and witch. Initially you start with stats of 1. It doesn’t matter which parameters you choose (later you can increase them with potions), but it’s important which skill you choose as your main one – it will be pumped much faster than others; besides, different monsters have different resistance to different types of damage.

After creating your character, go to server #1. There kill the wolf, go to the town hall (it’s on the right) and go to server #2.

On server #2, your hero finds themselves unarmed and devoid of all resources. In search of their first equipment and gold coins, travelers must seek assistance from an ancient merchant. As monsters approach his shop, the shopkeeper and his apprentices pelt the enemies with a hail of stones from their secret arsenal. Nearby, there also lives a guardian squirrel, tamed by the merchant.

In addition to loot that can be sold to the merchant, you can earn gold by delivering the final blow – then the hero receives a bounty for the monster’s head.

Potion +1 body/spirit

First and foremost, save up money for potions that boost strength and spirit stats to improve survivability… These potions can be purchased at the starting shop for 150 gold ; to find them – click on one of the store’s shelves. You can find out more about which potions increase which stats here: https://rom2.ru/en/potions/

Starting the game

Firstly some advices:

  • If you’re a warrior – the first thing you should do after getting 15 Body – is buy healing scrolls from the store – they’ll be your best friend at first.
  • Equipment is not sold in stores (only potions, magic books and scrolls are sold there); you can get equipment mainly for completing quests (starting with #2 server).
  • You get experience and gold for killing enemies. But experience is not given for completing quests in taverns (don’t choose “experience” as a reward in tavern, you won’t get anything!).
  • As your experience increases, so does your damage, life and mana.
  • Bind your most used spells, weapons and potions to the keys on your keyboard so that you can use them fast. Ctrl+F4F12 – set a hotkey for a spell (for example, open the spellbook, choose spell and press Ctrl+F11… now by pressing F11 you can quickly use that spell. Same for items: point your mouse cursor at an item and press Shift+F4F12
  • On server #2 on the map Road to Plagat there is a special shop where you can buy iron weapons. It’s much more expensive than getting similar weapons from tavern’s quests on server #3, but if you’re going to stay on #2 for longer, it makes sense to buy them. The prices in this store are tricky. For example, the price of the Iron Sword is listed as 600 gold, but it’s actually 60,000.

Your character starts the game virtually naked. He’s so weak at first, that he can lose to just about any member of the local fauna at once. He’ll definitely go into astral when meeting a group of enemies. And it’s mostly groups of enemies that inhabit the maps.

Complexity of the monsters in RoM2 increases in leaps and bounds, and there are five levels of each monster. 1 and 2 – dwell on “easy” maps, 2-3 – “medium”, 3-4 – “difficult” and 4-5 “Horror!” Monsters can be identified by the color of their skin, for example “green” orcs – is the first level, red – the second, etc.

Monsters have two combat indicators: attack and defense. The characters have them too. And the reality is that if the attack is less, equal to or slightly greater than the defense – the chance to hit the monster warrior will be low, which makes the fight even with a single enemy is not an easy task (magician hits always). To provide at least some halo conventional security in the initial towns necessarily present guard (starting with server 2). It is hostile to monsters, and usually very strong. Conclusions from this do for yourself (there are knights are hostile to the player, but not in the starting towns).

Mage in the beginning a little easier – spells do not require an attack to hit the target. But they don’t have much damage and spell books cost money, which you need to earn first – a mage’s starting spell set won’t make you very happy. So a muscular knight in shiny armor, with a confident gaze and a strong-willed chin is your friend.

Entering stores and inns, the player disappears from the map. And what’s not there can’t be killed. In RoM2, the innkeeper and salesman are your best friends. Even more than guards.

There’s no shame in using scrolls at the beginning for both warrior and mage. They are VERY relevant for a weak and poorly dressed warrior, because spells have no cooldown and reading scrolls does not cost mana.

When you start playing warrior – be sure to buy healing scrolls from the shop. They are very cheap and help you stay on your feet.

It’s important to understand that killed monsters appear after a while, which makes it easy to win a one-way ticket. This is especially valuable to remember if you are struggling to deal with monsters along the way and need recovery time after each battle.

A group of monsters will only reappear if all members of the group have been killed. This is a very important nuance, and its importance will only grow with the complexity of the maps.

In RoM2, like nowhere else, speed and terrain are important. That’s why there are two types – speed and turn speed. Turn speed is exactly what it looks like at first glance. The higher it is, the faster your character will be spinning on the spot. You can’t backtrack in RoM2. And when you realize that you can’t make it in a fight (which will be very, very often), you still have to retreat. And if you have to run uphill, it’s not going to be an easy retreat. It is also necessary to remember the influence of other parameters:

Strength (amount of hitpoints; damage for warrior; carrying heavy stuff without slowing down)
Dexterity (accuracy of physical attacks, movement speed, physical defense, vision)
Intelligence (vision, learning speed; spell power for mages)
Spirit (magic resistance; amount of mana for mages).

You start with a minimum Body (1). To increase it – buy on the #2 server potions for 150 gold, they will increase the body up to 15; after that you can also increase all other stats (with more expensive potions – for 5000 gold). In the future so you can increase and other parameters, see table.

You don’t have to take the quest stoically and go along with tradition (i.e. suffer alone) for the monster kill/intercept trigger to work. “All that matters is to strike the last blow,” the mysterious voice of the owner of the armory will whisper.

Controlling character

You can operate most of the items by drag’n’drop. But there are some unusual ways which I want to share in this chapter.

Using items

During your quest, you will frequently use scrolls, potions, books and other objects stored in the backpack. For example, you can double-click on a magic scroll to activate the spell. The cursor will change its shape to show the ‘Cast’ symbol and you may select a target to attack it. Other items are even easier to use! For example, just double-click a potion and your character will drink it! Down below there is a hint how to use items much faster with hotkeys 😉

Drop Items

You can drop items out of the Backpack onto the map. Select an item in a cell by pointing at it with the cursor and pressing the left mouse button. Next, hold the button down and drag the item to any spot on the map then release. The selected item will appear on the map right at the character’s feet. You can drop all items in a cell simultaneously. Press ‘Shift’ and hold it as you repeat the action describe above. All the items from the cell will appear on the map in one bag.

Drop money

The main character can drop money onto the map. As you double-click the money cell, a dialog window appears asking how much money you want to drop. Specify the sum and press ‘Accept’. The indicated sum will appear at the character’s feet.

Character control modes

In addition to the usual control mode (left-click on the map or the enemy), there are several more useful modes.

Swarm (“Move and Attack”): The selected character or group will move towards the indicated spot attacking each enemy within their sight. If the enemy flees, your characters will pursue them. When all enemies are destroyed, your characters continue moving to the indicated spot and stop there.

Guard (a spot): The character issued this order will guard the surroundings of the spot where he stands. The guarded area usually exceeds a little more than the actual visible terrain area. If an enemy shows up within the guarded area, the guard character will attack him. If the enemy dies or flees, the guard character would return to his/her original position without pursuing. A group issued this order will guard their common area, which grows bigger if the characters are placed further from each other.

Defend (a character): Your character or group will follow the protected character in close proximity and defend him/her when attacked.

Stand ground: The selected character or group stops at the indicated spot and will not attack the enemy until the enemy approaches within the range of the selected character’s strike range.

Retreat: The character or group will stop fighting and retreat in the direction with the lowest enemy concentration.

Assigning hotkeys

Key shortcuts to spells

To make it easy to cast spells, try using shortcut keys. To do this, select a Mage and open his/her spellbook (btw you can use “Space” to quickly open and close a book). As you select a spell, the corresponding cell will start glowing. Next, press and hold ‘Ctrl’ and any key from F4 to F12 (e.g. F5). Now the F5 key will be linked to the selected spell. The ‘F5’ message will appear in the upper left corner of the cell. Note: The created shortcut may be used by all Mages from your party that are able to use it. You will now no longer need the spellbook to cast this spell. Select a Mage and press the shortcut key. The cursor will change shape and you may select your target and attack.

Automatically cast spell

You can select a spell to be automatically cast by a Mage while attacking the enemy. Select a spell from the spellbook and press ‘Ctrl’ + A. Now your Mage will attack the enemy with
the selected spell.

Shortcut Keys For Items

There is a simple way to use items directly from the Backpack. Open the backpack, highlight the item you wish to use and press ‘Shift’ + any key from F4 to F12. You can now use the item by pressing the specified key without opening the backpack.

If the character can wear or hold the item in his hand, he /she will put it on or pick it up. If this is a potion or a scroll, the character will use it accordingly. One shortcut key can be created for several similar items. Such items will be used one after another the number of times the key is pressed.

Unlike the spells, the item shortcut key can be created for the use of a singular character. Even if another character carries the similar item, he must have his personal shortcut key to use it.

If the shortcut key selected for an item has been previously selected for a spell, the earlier selection is automatically canceled.

More tips for beginners

  • It is very effective to play in a pair of mage + warrior; then while the warrior acts as a tank, the mage can heal him and attack weak enemies with spells. To heal automatically – turn on autocasting Ctrl+a, which allows the character himself to use the spell on the right target without any intervention from you. On our server, the distance for healing other players is much lower than in the vanilla game, so the warrior must be very careful to cover the rear of the mage.
  • After a while it makes sense for Mage to start to cast battle spells also “from hands” – i.e. to put the learned spell on autocasting (Ctrl + a), because the distance of the staff is usually less than magic from the book (although the speed of the staff is much higher).
  • Note the difference between the “defense” and “absorption”. Defense helps you to dodge blows, while absorption reduces the damage from the blows received. For example, if the warrior’s absorption was 5 and a squirrel bit him for 9 points, the warrior would lose only 4 (9 points of damage minus 5 points of absorption). If the warrior has 10 absorption points, he won’t even feel the bite. But beware: sound waves of bats and bee stings completely ignore all absorption points!
  • It’s easy enough for a mage to hunt trolls – taking advantage of their sluggishness and occasionally running back and forth, the mage prevents the troll from getting close to him or her while shooting a magic arrow at the enemy.
  • Mage should pay attention to the “vampirism” spell, which restores health while dealing damage. Some monsters are immune to it, but not all.
  • The number of life of the character depends on his characteristic “strength” and experience. The amount of mana – depends on “spirit” and experience. Vision – “dexterity” and intelligence. The speed of skills’ improvement depends on “intelligence”. Damage of mage’s spells – from “mind” and skill.
  • Remember the ability to lure monsters into town, where strong guards can help you in a fight.