Summary
While relics and skills are certainly very useful for reaching a high score in anEmber Knightsrun, and for earning as much Ember as possible, players are also going to need to make use of the Ember Tree which will grant them permanent upgrades that can be carried over into future runs.
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The Ember Tree itself can be found in the Nexus and will offer player a range of different perks to choose, all of which costing different amounts of Ember. As mentioned previously, these perks will be carried over onto future runs, so while they might not seem as impactful as weapon modifications or skills initially, they can make a world of difference later down the road, especially when they are upgraded further with Ember.
The perks acquired from the Ember Tree are not only incredibly useful for experienced players who are trying to take on thoselonger and more arduous runs, butalso newer playerswho might be struggling to take down the hordes of enemies or the mini-bosses who appear in the early areas too.
7Regeneration
Finding chickens, apples, and blue mushrooms which can heal the player is fairly easy in the first world, but they become a lot more scarce the further into the game the player travels, especially when they are alsoforced to choosebetween advancing to a Healing Room or Arlan’s Shop.
Regeneration makes this far less of an issue since it will heal the player for a certain amount of HP each time they finish a room, and while it might not seem like a lot, it will still provide enough extra defense to survive an extra hit from regular enemies which can end up saving an entire run.
6Easy Money
Switching up relics is essential for ensuring that a run goes smoothly since certain abilities will be much more effective for an upcoming area or boss compared to others, but since they can only be acquired with gold, Easy Money is a perk that can become extremely handy to bring along, especially considering it actually grants a lot of gold even when it isn’t yet upgraded.
Considering that most items found in the shops will range from 75 to 200 gold, having an extra 50 when entering a new world can make a huge difference, especially since the player will already have accumulated a nice sum from the previous rooms up to that point. At its final upgrade, Easy Money will grant the player an extremely generous 100 gold each time they step into a new world, so it can definitely be worth priorizing when runs start getting a little more serious.
5Earned Power
Once players start becoming familiar with how to take down the final boss of thefirst area, Skrixxa Za, they should immediately try to acquire Earned Power as soon as possible since it can essentially grant free bonus damage that can escalate quite tremendously when upgraded, and since it doesn’t even cost that much, there aren’t many reasons not to at least try it.
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Once players enter the second world, the frosty Steadfast Citadel, they will immediately feel just how much faster it is to take down the archers, wizards, and knights who occupy the area, and considering the damage stacks with each boss defeated, Earned Power is great forboth new playerswho want to be a step-ahead of their enemies, and experienced veterans who just want to clear rooms and mini-bosses as quickly as possible.
4Fury
The Fury and Confidence perks are essentially two sides of the same coin, with Fury granting bonus damage when the player is below 25% health while Confidence adds it when they are above 75% HP, but the reason the former is much more useful is because it will be much more usable and effective for a longer period.
For example, when inThe Purified Villageor Great Forge areas later in the game, the enemies will be a lot more ferocious and will also have a few special abilities and traits which can damage the player unexpectedly, so all in all, running through these late-game areas with lower HP is much more probable since even staying alive can be incredibly difficult. Fury at its basic level can be bought for just 60 Ember, and even at this early stage, it will still grant 20 bonus damage which can make a massive difference for all weapons.
3Slayer
The Slayer perk is admittedly very basic and easy-to-understand in how it works, but its damage scaling can be truly game-changing, especially when paired with relics that can improve overall crit chance such as Balanced Landing and Burning Resolve. Giant Slayer is a perk that functions more or less the same as Slayer that only works for bosses and mini-bosses, but the reason Slayer is much better to bring along is because most of the time, players will already have dedicated relics, skills,or even weapon modificationsto being able to handle bosses.
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Added to this, learning the boss attack and movements patterns can be done fairly easily after a few encounters, so it’s much more handy to have a permanent perk that can make the regular enemies much easier to deal with first and foremost, especially considering the sheer amount of extra damage Slayer offers, reaching up to a staggering 25% at the maximum level.
2Soul Shelter
Being able to revivein a roguelike gameis always a necessity for long runs, and whilesome other titleswill grant players a few revives to use in a single run,Ember Knightsis a little more restrictive with how many it gives out, placing more focus on the amount of HP the player will have once they are brought back to life, rather than how many times they can return.
Soul Shelter is a great perk for any type of player, regardless of their skill level, but a big reason why it is so valuable is because it can allow players to experience a lot more of the game than they would otherwise, enabling them to learn about upcoming enemies and encounters which they can then prepare for next time. For players who are seriously struggling on a boss that is preventing them from progressing further in the game, combining Soul Shelter with a relic like Chronograph which allows skills to recharge faster in boss rooms will make these areas much simpler, and that applies to the dreaded final boss of the game too.
1Expanded Relic Selector
Unlike most of the other perks that can be acquired from the Ember Tree, the Expanded Relic Selector cannot be upgraded and is simply a one-off purchase that will enable players to choose from four possible relic options from the Relic Selector as opposed to three. The reason this becomes so essential is because of how big of a part relics play in a single run, and how drastically they can effect both the player and their enemies.
Most players are going to be banking on getting certain relics throughout their run which can work with their skills and weapon of choice in order to deal as much damage as possible, but considering there are over 40 relics that have a chance of appearing at random, having just one extra option can actually make a world of difference, especially since it gets around the issue of acquiring a pretty useless relic and having to keep it until the Relic Selector comes around again. On top of all this, players also won’t need to prioritize spending loads of Ember on this perk since it cannot be upgraded, making it fairly easy to pick up and very worthwhile in the long run.
Ember Knightsis available now on Nintendo Switch and PC.
