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{{Rewrite|This guide, as well as many of its links, is extremely out of date, thanks to major changes in the game since, and previous to, 2011. Needs massive overhaul.}}
So you want to ascend Hardcore but would like it to take you less than 2 weeks? This guide covers the basics to help focus your adventuring and is aimed primarily at new ascenders with few or no hardcore permed skills.
The softcore speed guide is on the [[Ascension Strategy]] page.


RoyalTonberry has written a [http://www.ben.bloomroad.com/kol/RT_4_day_outline.html hardcore walkthrough] that is very effective but assumes access to lots of permed skills and Items of the Month. View the discussion thread for the outline [http://forums.kingdomofloathing.com/vb/showthread.php?t=181217 here].


<!-- manual TOC, automatic unwieldy -->
==Before you ascend==
{| id="toc" border="0"
! Contents
|-
| align="left" |
#[[#General Strategy|General Strategy]]
#[[#Ascension Path Strategy|Ascension Path Strategy]]
##[[#Non-Pathed Ascensions|Non-Pathed Ascensions]]
##[[#Teetotaler Ascensions|Teetotaler Ascensions]]
##[[#Boozetafarian Ascensions|Boozetafarian Ascensions]]
##[[#Oxygenarian Ascensions|Oxygenarian Ascensions]]
#[[#Star-Sign Strategy|Star-Sign Strategy]]
##[[#Muscle Signs|Muscle Signs]]
##[[#Mysticality Signs|Mysticality Signs]]
##[[#Moxie Signs|Moxie Signs]]
|}
__NOTOC__
This guide covers information you will want to consider for ''' ''hardcore'' speed ascensions'''. The softcore speed guide is on the [[Ascension Strategy]] page. RoyalTonberry has written a [http://www.ben.bloomroad.com/kol/RT_4_day_outline.html hardcore walkthrough] that is NS13-compliant and very effective. View the discussion thread for the outline [http://forums.kingdomofloathing.com:8080/vb/showthread.php?t=181217 here].


==General Strategy==
===Familiars you should own===
This guide assumes your overall goal is to minimize day count first, and turn count second.  (Minimizing day count serves two purposes: it allows you to ascend more times in a given span of days, thereby perming skills faster; and it's how the leaderboards are structured.)


; Fill 'Er Up! : The best way to reduce day count is to get more turns every day.  This means you want to eat, drink, and spleen the best quality food, booze, and... spleen... available every day.  During the early levels, there is a feedback loop: you need to be higher level to consume higher-quality stuff, and the higher-quality stuff helps you get the turns to become higher level. Making a [[Meat maid]] early in the run helps too.
As Hardcore ascensions let you keep access to all of your familiars, it only makes sense to get some useful ones before jumping into the gash. The following is a list of basic familiars that are easily obtainable by everyone.


; No Rest For the Weary : If you are [[Beaten Up]], restore your health using items or spells instead of resting.  If you don't have [[Tongue of the Otter|Otter]] or [[Tongue of the Walrus|Walrus]] tongue, find somewhere useful to adventure safely with your reduced stats, or use the turns crafting items you will need for your run. [[Medicinal Herb's medicinal herbs|Herbs]] are one option for restoring HP as a Muscle class, but they hurt your spleen, preventing you from filling it with adventure-giving goodness, so consider them a last resort.  Without healing skills, [[Doc Galaktik's Ailment Ointment]] is the best bargain, unless you have already completed [[Doc Galaktik's Quest for Herbs|Doc's Quest]], in which case the [[Doc Galaktik's Medicine Show#Restoratives on Tap|Curative Nostrum]] is cheaper per HP (and also avoids losing Meat to round-off errors). Characters who have healing spells will normally find casting those is more Meat-efficient than purchasing anything from Doc (contingent on having a source of MP... see below).
====Stat gaining familiars====


; Low MP : [[Cost Analysis of Restoring HP and MP]] identifies the best store-bought MP restorers. If you are low on MP, invest in [[magical mystery juice]] if you have access to it, or otherwise Fizzy Invigorating Tonic from the [[Doc Galaktik's Medicine Show|Doc Galaktik's]]. Obtaining the [[Knob Goblin Elite Guard Uniform]] (easy via a [[Semi-Rare Adventures|semi-rare]]) lets you purchase the more efficient [[Knob Goblin seltzer]] (as well as many other handy elixirs). At level 11, you can also buy [[black cherry soda]] in the black market (this is the same efficiency as seltzer, but isn't combat-usable like seltzer is).  Moxie class characters with [[Superhuman Cocktailcrafting]] permed can make [[tonic water]] a few times a day early in the run.  If you have a larger MP pool that needs to be filled and don't have the Meat to finance it, you can make use of the [[Star Starfish Trick]] for a few turns.
Stats are the biggest hurdle during ascension, so stat-gaining familiars should be the familiars you use when you don't specifically need anything else. There are three basic familiars:


; Know Your Way : Know which [[Hardcore Checklist|items you need]] for the journey through the Sorceress' Lair and make sure you adventure intelligently to get as many of them as possible while still maximizing stat gains. Skip the zones you don't need to do. Cutting out unnecessary adventures reduces both turn and day count.
* [[Smiling Rat]] -- New accounts are guaranteed to get this at the tavern when they start playing, so you should have one already. Gives extra stats at the end of combat equal to the square-root of its weight. Also, the only possible option in a bees hate you run.
* [[Blood-Faced Volleyball]] -- Identical to the smiling rat above if you don't have the rat for some reason.
* [[Hovering Sombrero]] -- Gives extra stats based on its weight and the level of the monster. As stats are more important early on the rat is a better choice most of the time except in the very late levels. You can easily ignore the sombrero.


; Familiar?  Yeah, I guess I know them all right : There are three basic categories of useful familiars: '''Volleyball-type''' ([[Frumious Bandersnatch]], [[Cheshire Bat]]/[[Cymbal-Playing Monkey]]/[[Nervous Tick]]/[[Hunchbacked Minion]], [[Spirit Hobo]]/[[Gluttonous Green Ghost]], [[Ancient Yuletide Troll]], [[Jill-O-Lantern]], [[Blood-Faced Volleyball]], [[Llama Lama]] etc.); '''Item drop''' ([[Jumpsuited Hound Dog]], [[Slimeling]],[[Green Pixie]], [[Coffee Pixie]]/[[Attention-Deficit Demon]]/[[Jitterbug]], the [[Dandy Lion]], any of [[Stinky Gravy Fairy|the]] [[Frozen Gravy Fairy|five]] [[Flaming Gravy Fairy|Elemental]] [[Spooky Gravy Fairy|Gravy]] [[Sleazy Gravy Fairy|Fairies]], the [[Crimbo Elf]], the [[Baby Gravy Fairy]], etc.); and '''Spleen-filling''' ([[Llama Lama]], [[Baby Sandworm]], [[Rogue Program]], [[Green Pixie]]).  Use an item drop familiar whenever you need an item (which will be somewhere between a third and half of the time).  Use a spleen-filling familiar whenever you need a spleen consumable.  Use a volleyball-type when neither case applies.  The [[Green Pixie]] and [[Llama Lama]] are exceptions, as there are [[Worm Wood Done Quickly|stats]] to be had in [[The Worm Wood]] or in [[Path of the Roach|roach form]].  Generally, [[Mr. Store]] familiars beat their mundane counterparts.  The best choice among the elemental fairies is the [[Sleazy Gravy Fairy]], because you can get the [[hot pink lipstick]] in [[The Sleazy Back Alley]] easily.  At high levels, [[Sombrero vs Volleyball|a sombrero might outperform a volleyball]], though the volleyball hybrids may bring benefits that might outweigh a few stats.  If you've got the skills to handle it, the [[Baby Bugged Bugbear]] can be one of the best stat-gain familiars in its +20 ML configuration.
====Item drop familiars====


:[[Star Starfish Trick|Starfishing]] (or other familiar tricks) to restore MP should be done as needed, using whichever familiar coincides with your other goals.  If you need an item ''and'' MP, then use a [[Slimeling]] or [[Dandy Lion]].  If you don't need items, then consider a familiar that gives stats ''and'' MP, such as the [[Spirit Hobo]].  If you need MP in a hurry, an elementally aligned starfish (like the [[Midget Clownfish]] -- does double damage, and therefore restores double MP, in the [[Deep Fat Friars' Gate Quest|Friars' Quest]]) can speed things up.  The basic [[Star Starfish]] itself is not to be overlooked, however, if you have nothing better available.  It never runs out of fuel, it does solid physical damage, and everyone in Hardcore has one already.
Many quests require that you get item drops from monsters, so you should always use a familiar that improves item drop chances when you need an item to drop. Note that item drop familiars are very powerful and will be the single largest source of item drop modifiers for players without items of the month.


:For low-skilled characters, strong attacking familiars may have benefits to consider despite from the lack of item drops or stats. [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|NPZR]]/[[Cocoabo]], [[Spooky Pirate Skeleton]], [[Imitation Crab]]/[[Pair of Ragged Claws]] and [[Star Starfish]] type familiars can allow victorious combats in harder areas, particularly as they can delevel, stun, or rip through monsters more effectively than you can at early levels. This is not without risks, of course; sometimes they sit idly by while you get [[Beaten Up|beaten up]], but there are direct stat advantages for adventuring in areas at or slightly above your capabilities that should be considered situationally.
* [[Baby Gravy Fairy]] is the most basic option. You may also have one of the five elemental gravy fairies from the [[Degrassi Knoll#Friendly|friendly Degrassi Knoll]] if you've previously ascended. These also attack in combat. Note that the [[Sleazy Gravy Fairy]] is the best of the bunch due to getting her familiar equipment from [[The Sleazy Back Alley]].
* [[Gelatinous Cubeling]] costs 27 tokens at the [[The Dungeoneer's Association Vending Machine|vending machine]] in [[The Dungeoneers' Association]], and requires a moderate effort to obtain. The cubeling is a fairy and delevels enemies at the start of combat, which helps survivability. Further, it drops items that save turns in [[The Daily Dungeon]].
* [[Slimeling]] -- In addition to the usual item drop powers, it also has a better chance of getting equipment drops and gives MP when fed equipment. Getting this familiar requires beating [[The Slime Tube]] quickly and so is not as easily obtainable as the others listed.
* [[Jumpsuited Hound Dog]] gives higher drop rates than the other fairies and also makes combats more likely. It costs 100 [[filthy lucre]], so will likely take most players up to 300 days to obtain one (due to the [[Manual of Transcendent Olfaction]] being a higher priority to obtain).


; Adventure Management / [[Random Number Generator|RNG]] Cursing : It's important not to skip an area that you need an item drop from, but it's doubly important not to put so much time into that area that you've dug yourself into a hole looking for said item. Know when to cut your losses and move on; there will be time later to try again without it affecting your run as strongly. It's important to quickly get to the better areas for better stat/Meat gain. Spending 30 adventures at the [[Outskirts of Cobb's Knob]] looking for a [[chef's hat]] is very bad if that keeps you from reaching the areas with the ingredients you meant to cook that day. Also, you can return to these areas with a heavier item drop familiar, or after obtaining items that improve your item drop skills; the [[Knob Goblin eyedrops]], [[miner's helmet]] and [[makeshift cape]] are a few possibilities.
====Meat drop familiars====


; Gladiator, No! : Spending 5 turns in the [[The Cake-Shaped Arena|Arena]] is generally considered a waste in NS13 due to the diminishing returns from increased familiar weight.  If you have access to the Bugbear Pens, you might consider pursuing the [[annoying pitchfork]] instead, but even this isn't universally acclaimed.
These familiars increase the meat you get at the end of combat. Very useful for [[The Themthar Hills]] and affording to buy skills.


; Stat Boosting Equipment Saves Lives : Make do with whatever you can to survive. For Muscle and Moxie classes, it should be a priority to acquire the appropriate [[Epic Weapons|Epic Weapon]] when clovers are available. [[Hair spray]] provides a 15% Moxie boost for 3 turns, a very cheap and effective way to boost your Moxie (only 24 Meat for a can, or 8 Meat per turn).  Likewise, [[Ben-Gal™ Balm]] boosts your Muscle, which can be a godsend for Muscle classes, or a situationally useful add-on for Myst and Moxie classes.  Wear your [[shiny ring]], [[badass belt]], [[pirate fledges]], [[Bonerdagon necklace]] (if you got a [[hemp string]] to drop), etc. as soon as you can.  Know which [[Monster Aggravation Devices|MCD-analogue settings]] give which boss drops, and plan for the ones that will help you.  Lucky equipment drops like the [[f3d0r4]], [[worn tophat]], [[mesh cap]], etc. can also help, although you'll rarely want to spend turns farming one.
* [[Leprechaun]]
* [[Hobo Monkey]], better than the Leprechaun but requires 1,000 [[hobo nickels]] from [[Hobopolis]] to buy.


; Saved By the Daily Dungeon : [[The Daily Dungeon]] might be attempted as soon as your stats are around 25 each, but you'll need them to be in the low-40s before you've got a good chance of passing most days. The monsters are always easy, as long as you make sure to kill the [[Apathetic lizardman]] with an item that doesn't touch him. Repeated elemental tests can do damage that leaves you Beaten Up, but they're still passable with time. The hard part is getting past the stat tests.  See the [[Daily Dungeon Stat Tests]] page for more information about their requirements. It may be helpful to check out the tests for the day in advance, via another character, [[Chat Guide: Basics|chat]], or an on-line resource like [http://www.noblesse-oblige.org/calendar/ Noblesse Oblige's Kingdom Calendar] to determine whether today's test series will be easy or difficult for you to pass. Sometimes you get lucky and there's nothing to stress your lowest stat. Try to obtain your keys as early as possible, which usually means your first try at the end of Day 2 of a no-path ascension. Those aiming for a 5-day ascension (as fast as you'll get without major skills and practice) might hit the Daily Dungeon late on day 2, on day 3, and early on day 4; that way, you'll know at the beginning of the day if you have a complete set of keys. If you do not have all the keys by the time your character is nearing the end of level 9, look into purchasing a [[Zapping|wand]] to make sure you're not held up by bad RNG numbers. If you have a wand, there's a trick to let you get through even with only two keys; see the [[Hardcore Checklist]] page for more information. For those who don't have skills like [[Elemental Saucesphere (effect)|Elemental Saucesphere]] which add protection from all the elements, it's a better idea, speedwise, to take the damage rather than spend turns farming for resistance.
====Other useful familiars====


:''Always'' use stench protection when opening doors in the Daily Dungeon. This means don't smash or sell (or feed your slimeling) your [[Knob Goblin harem veil|harem veil]] if you lack elemental resistance skills. Also bear in mind that you'll need a [[The Dungeons of Doom|Dungeons of Doom]] potion at the lair, so you might end up getting the zap wand anyway. Many players consider the zap wand 100% necessary, and only do the two mandatory Daily Dungeon trips.
* When you really need more MP, the [[Star Starfish]] is quite useful to adventure with for a few turns.
* The [[Exotic Parrot]] will give you elemental resistance and is bought from [[The Black Market]] for 500,000 meat. Resistance helps in a few areas, including speeding up the [[Orc Chasm Quest]] (when using an [[A-Boo clue]] or passing the stench test in [[Lost in the Great Overlook Lodge]]) and surviving [[Lord Spookyraven]]'s initial attack. It can also let you gain stats from [[The Daily Dungeon|Daily Dungeon]] tests.


; Gym? No. : Stats are best gained by adventuring. Using the gym doesn't give you nearly as many stat points as adventuring would. The only exception to this would be encountering drunkenness due to a mistake and needing to spend adventures so as to not go over the 200 limit.
===Decisions to make in Valhalla===


; Autosell = Good. : Don't be afraid to get rid of items that you don't need for your run. Keep outfits that you may need intact, but feel free to autosell things that you don't require more than one or two of. All they are doing is sitting in your inventory, and if you're low on Meat, selling them fulfills a much better purpose for you. Keep in mind, however, that you may not need to autosell items that much if you are adventuring properly.  Also, you may be able to change some items into more useful ones later by [[Zapping]]. Do not feel like you need enough Meat to purchase every skill for your class; get by with what you can. Keep in mind that you can use a [[ten-leaf clover|clover]] to obtain 1000 Meat from the [[treasury]], but you might wish to spend the clover on other things.
====Perming skills====


; Clovers, Clovers, Everywhere. : [[Ten-leaf clover|Clovers]] are amazingly useful in many different areas in hardcore. Here are some of the primary places they can be used:
See [[Hardcore Skill Analysis]].
:*[[Epic Weapons]] like the [[Rock and Roll Legend]] (accordion for NS lair and AT buff lengthener) and [[stone banjo]] ([[stringed instrument]] for NS lair instead of going for the [[acoustic guitarrr]])
:*Save one for the NS lair in case you need a [[pack of chewing gum]]
:*[[The "Fun" House]] for [[box|three boxen]] to make your campground servants
:*[[Kitchens|Knob Goblin Kitchens]] ([[reagent dish|reagent dishes]] or missing [[chow mein]] ingredients -- although [[Transcendent Olfaction|sniffing]] [[hellion|hellions]] is preferred if you have the skill)


:With the changes to how [[chewing gum on a string]] works (it costs no adventures) and the fact that [[The Hermitage|the Hermit]] has 1-2 daily clovers in stock, there is little reason to not grab a few clovers and keep them until you need them during a run.
====Astral consumables====


; Music to my ears. : After perming [[The Moxious Madrigal (effect)|Moxious Madrigal]] or other [[Accordion Thief]] skills, most players create a [[Rock and Roll Legend]] when they get the chance. That's normally the best use of the one clover that you get on your first day.
For a measly 1 Karma, you can buy a set of turn-generating astral consumables, which is totally worth it. But you can only take one, so which one? Note that the stats and adventures gained by using these scale with your level (levels 1-3 are the same and they stop improving at level 11). For the most part, you should put off using them until level 10 and above for the largest benefit.


; A Zap a Day: There are several spots where you might find it justifiable to purchase a wand for [[Zapping]]. The most popular is when it's obvious [[The Daily Dungeon]] isn't going to give you the 3 keys you need to ascend before you're done leveling up. If you jump into [[The Enormous Greater-Than Sign]] as soon as it opens in the middle of level 7, you won't take too bad of a stat hit adventuring there. If you have leftover [[Teleportitis]] after getting the [[plus sign]], burn it off in [[the Daily Dungeon]], the [[The Barrel full of Barrels|Barrels]], the [[The Shore, Inc.|Shore]], the [[The Sewer|Sewer]], or meatsmithing.  If you're out of anything useful to do, change to your item-drop familiar and teleport away; you may get one of the items you'll need in the Sorceress tower later ([[razor-sharp can lid]], [[spider web]]).
* [[astral hotdog]]s, you get three of these and each uses 3 fullness. The hotdogs give the lowest adventure gains but give the largest stats, and eating one straight away after ascending will immediately take you almost all the way to level 3. As such, if you're going to struggle to level up quickly early on (especially true before you have [[Amphibian Sympathy]] permed) then taking these and eating a single one straight away can do a lot for reaching important early milestones. Save the other two for later though.
* [[astral pilsner]]s, you get 6 of these and each uses 1 drunkenness. The stat gain from these is minor but the adventure gains are huge. Their low drunkenness requirement makes them easy to fit around your regular drinks too.
* [[astral energy drink]]s, you get 6 of these and each uses 5 spleen. Instead of granting adventures of stat gains, each will provide an instance of [[Lucky!]] like an [[11-leaf clover]]. High daycount runs will likely find that they need the turn generation from other consumables a lot more than more Lucky adventures, but for faster runs which don't need the other consumables to hit target day counts may find the energy drinks valuable for reducing turn count, though the spleen usage can cause conflict with other Mr. Store items that uses spleen.


:Once you have a wand, anytime you're at the end of the day and haven't used it yet you should try to find something to aim it at; other good uses for zapping in a HC run include:
====Astral equipment====
:*Converting multiples of one outfit item into a missing piece
:*Changing [[Advanced Cocktailcrafting]] components into those that target your main stat better, or to match your available mixers
:*Turning extra [[The Valley Beyond The Orc Chasm|Valley]] scrolls into more useful ones
:*Trying to get a missing letter (most likely another [[lowercase N]] after losing one in the tower)
:*Zapping a [[ring of aggravate monster]] into a [[ring of conflict]]
:*Zapping keys and stat-boosting equipment from the Daily Dungeon into the keys you need for the NS quest, or into stat boosting equipment that you need (like the [[Sneaky Pete's breath spray]] to increase your moxie).


:For further ideas, see [http://kol.coldfront.net/index.php/content/view/1016/61/ Hardcore Zapping Tips & Tricks].
For 10 Karma you get to start with a piece of equipment, which is also totally worth it, but again you can only take one. Some are also locked during your first ascensions.


; You, uh, you wanna use some goofballs? : [[Goofballs]] are very helpful in [[The Hedge Maze|the hedge maze]] when you are close to ascending. Be very careful, however, as the Naughty Sorceress now does '''not''' remove [[Goofball Withdrawal]] and other negative effects.  Being trapped with withdrawal is not a good thing, especially if you have to fight some angry [[topiary golem]]s.
* The [[astral belt]] is best for pure speed but only when you have enough skills to reliably handle lots of monster level, which might take a while. It's also locked until you've ascended as each class.
* The [[astral shirt]] is fantastic for an easy and quick ascension, but requires that you've permed [[Torso Awaregness]], which is not high priority.
* The [[astral pet sweater]] is a very versatile piece of equipment, providing many different uses by increasing familiar weight, but requires that you've completed 5 100% familiar runs.


; Flower Power, man. : [[Flower Power]] gives the same benefit as goofballs (and +20% Mysticality) without the cost of withdrawal. Flowers are easily attained in [[PvP]] and PvP doesn't pose any (real) risk to players in HC. With [[fermenting powder]] at 70 Meat, a [[shot of flower schnapps]] is a good way to get a quick 3-turn burst.
So assuming you can't or don't want to take one of the above, what else is best? Bear in mind that the level 12 quest and the pirate's cove take up your hat and pants slot, and each class can easily get their Epic Weapon in-run, so equipment that doesn't use these slots have an advantage.


; Chowing down: The [[chow mein]] dishes are some of the best food in the game. They also can take many turns to prepare, require both [[Pastamastery]] and [[ Transcendental Noodlecraft]] skills, cost 1000 Meat to make, and are only available to [[Pastamancer]] and [[Sauceror]] classes who can access [[The Wok of Ages]]. The benefits of chow mein are substantial and it can be worth going a bit out of your way to prepare those dishes, especially on your class's stat day. But generally you should consider making chow a nice bonus when things line up for you, rather than something you should always make. A player with Saucecrafting and Pastamastery can cook [[lo mein]] without using the Wok of Ages.
* For muscle classes, the [[astral shield]] is superior to the rest due to the huge survivability boost it provides (+15 damage reduction and HP regen!). The humongous muscle boost will likely let you deal extra damage too.
* For mysticality classes, the adventure gains from the [[astral bracer]] or [[astral statuette]] (initially locked) are probably the most useful enchantments for low-skill runs.
* For moxie classes, pretty much any of the +moxie equipment is very useful, but the [[astral shorts]] can't be used in the level 12 quest where the moxie boost is most useful. The item drop improvement from the [[astral mask]] is really nice but it is initially locked. The extra weapon damage from the [[astral longbow]] or [[astral pistol]] is very useful to make plinking more manageable, and despite being two-handed, the extra meat from the longbow is always handy.


===Helpful General Links===
====Moon sign====
*[[Hardcore IOTM Analysis]]
 
*[[Safe Adventuring]]
There are 9 [[moon sign]]s but you can group them into 3 main groups depending on the area they unlock, which will be your main consideration, the benefits of each listed below. You will generally want to choose a sign that gives you +10% to your mainstat regardless of the other enchantments as it will speed you up by a considerable amount.
*[http://www.noblesse-oblige.org/calendar/ Noblesse Oblige's Kingdom Calendar]
 
*[http://www.hardcoreoxygenation.com/cgi-bin/door.cgi Cisco's Door Code Generator]
* [[Degrassi Knoll#Friendly|Friendly Degrassi Knoll]] is widely regarded as the most useful area. It allows you to easily and cheaply make your meatcar and meat maid, provides free basic smithing and meat pasting, an accessible annoyance device for only 300 meat (which you can sell a pork gem to get), it lets you bypass needing a bugbear outfit to buy wads of dough and pie tins, and finally you can get easy mushrooms for reagent pasta if you have meat to burn (5,000 for a mushroom plot) and the relevant skills.
*[http://www.the-rye.dreamhosters.com/familiars/ Kingdom of Loathing Familiar Tool by The Rye, a Cake-Shaped Arena optimizer]
* [[Little Canadia]] is widely regarded as the least useful area. The annoyance device is free and instantly accessible and it has a food store that lets you eat food immediately, but basic fruit pies are slightly better. You can also smith jewelry but it's extremely expensive and not all that useful in-run. It takes 3 turns to craft jewelry which is even more disappointing.
* [[The Gnomish Gnomads' Camp]] requires that you gain access to the desert beach before you can access it; however, it has a booze shop which makes drinking easier for those without cocktail crafting and you can buy some nice passive skills for 5,000 meat. The lack of immediate access to this area is a big blow. Still a worthwhile consideration for very low skill ascensions.
 
===Challenge paths===
Some [[special challenge path]]s that introduce a new class ([[Avatar of Boris]], [[Avatar of Jarlsberg]], and [[Zombie Slayer]]) can be faster and easier than hardcore no-path for players with few permed skills. By doing hardcore ascensions with one of these paths, you can build up skill points for that challenge path class while also earning karma used to perm skills from the six standard classes.
 
Keep in mind that some of the better astral items in [[Pet Heaven]] are unlocked by ascending with normal classes, so you should not neglect them entirely.
 
Note that strategy for these paths is significantly different from that of no-path; see the strategy pages linked on each challenge path page for more information.
 
==Turn generation==
 
Perhaps the primary concern in a hardcore ascension is how to best generate more turns, as you can't just pull nice consumables from storage. While a [[meat maid]] is useful, eating and drinking are where most of your turns are going to come from and you'll want to sort out some sort of regular source of food and booze as soon as possible. In order to both unlock sources and to hit consumption level requirements, leveling up very quickly early on is usually the best option. For now, let's look at where you can get adventures from:
 
===Food===
 
If you have access to [[pastamastery]], then your options are greatly simplified. A [[tomato]] from [[The Haunted Pantry]] will give you [[boring spaghetti]] on your first day, and from level 4 onwards you can get [[painful penne pasta]] really easily by buying a [[jabañero pepper]] from the hermitage, which will cost 150 meat (or a bit more early on before you can get a trinket from every piece of gum). Pastamancers can bind a [[Spice Ghost]] thrall, though this will only be available in-run if [[Bind Spice Ghost]] is already permed. This gives them easy access to [[spices]] which are used for [[lo mein]]. [[Olive lo mein]] is very easy and cheap once [[The Hippy Store]] is open and those willing to shell out for a mushroom plot can get the better lo mein. Combined with [[Advanced Saucecrafting]] for reagent pasta (another good use for the mushroom plot) you can send your adventure gains through the roof as any class.
 
Without access to [[pastamastery]] your options are worse and a bit harder to get.
* Basic fruit pies are the staple but require fruits from [[The Hippy Store]] and pie tins and dough from [[The Bugbear Bakery]], [[the Degrassi Knoll Bakery and Hardware Store]] or [[Madeline's Baking Supply]] before you can make them regularly. This makes rushing to unlock the island and get a hippy outfit a high priority. At lower levels you can farm fruits from the [[novelty tropical skeleton]] in [[The Skeleton Store]].
* [[White Citadel]] sells burgers which get better the more of them you eat, the counter for this does not reset on ascension either! Unfortunately, you have to eat a whole bunch before the average adventure gain is better than fruit pies. You also have to complete the quest to unlock White Citadel which opens in the middle of level 6. You'll likely perm [[pastamastery]] eventually and stop using this, and you'll want early hippy store access for fruits to make booze anyway, but it can be a nice way to get adventure gains during your first few ascensions if you're willing to put in the preparation. The counter doesn't carry across to [[Bad Moon]] though, so it's not really an option there.
* [[Enchanted bean burrito]]s. This requires access to wads of dough and an [[enchanted bean]] from the [[Beanbat Chamber]] which have a 50% base drop rate making it easy to get them in a single turn. The adventure gains are similar to fruit pies but cost one adventure to get the bean. If you happen across any [[spices]] (which is unlikely except as a pastamancer), you can easily upgrade them to an [[Insanely spicy enchanted bean burrito]] for big adventure gains and a free combat skill! Note that there are other bean burritos, but it's far harder to get the respective beans.
* [[The Haunted Kitchen]], seriously. So the food is crap but it has a reasonable drop rate, making this a nice way to earn adventures and level up on day 1 if you're really struggling to get anywhere fast. Low skill myst classes want to be here anyway for the [[shiny butcherknife]].
* [[Mugcake]]s and [[fortune cookie]]s can be bought at any time for 20 or 40 meat, giving 1 adventure for 1 fullness. Only worthwhile as a last resort, as 1 adventure is better than none!
* Don't forget the [[Grue egg omelette]]! You'll need a [[spooky mushroom]] though, [[The Spooky Forest]] is probably the quickest place to get one if you aren't planning on buying a mushroom plot.
* Try the [[Madness Bakery]]. You can receive decent quality food from just a wad of dough in the noncombat, and after completing the [[Lending_a_Hand_(and_a_Foot)|quest]], get a size 2 epic quality food in the noncombat using items that likely dropped for you while doing the quest. If you visit [[The Overgrown Lot]] as well, you can get all the ingredients for an [[acceptable bagel]].
 
Note that at level 12 if you clear the filthworms as a hippy, the new fruits in the hippy store make better pies that give very good adventure gains.
 
A relatively new addition to the game, [[On a Downtown Train (Breakfast Counter)|the breakfast counter]] provides a free one-fullness muffin every day, which grants excellent stats and buffs. Just order a muffin before you ascend, and you can pick up the tin on day 1 and order a fresh muffin for day 2. The obvious barrier to entry is the whopping ~1600 adventures needed to obtain the tin, but you can also use those days to farm [[The Bounty Hunter Hunter's Shack|bounties]] to work toward [[Transcendent Olfaction]].
 
===Booze===


==Ascension Path Strategy==
Once again [[The Hippy Store]] is where it's at, this time necessary for the best booze with or without [[Advanced Cocktailcrafting]], as cocktailcrafting just improves upon the basic mixed booze. Unfortunately, you can't buy the other ingredient, base bottles of booze, until you clear the filthworms as a frat during level 12, so getting good booze is always going to require adventuring for ingredients. You can find base booze in the following places:
The one thing adventurers need to carefully consider are the level requirements of the food and drink items available.  It can be very easy to run out of turns before you can eat or drink items that are aimed at a higher level than you're currently at.
* The pirates' cove will get you a ton of rum when doing the quest, so it can be worth using an item-drop familiar during [[Barrrney's Barrr]].
* [[Booze Giant]]s in [[Menagerie Level 3]] are the best way to farm up booze bottles, but you have to get the menagerie key and spend turns farming up ingredients, which sucks.
* [[Drunk goat]]s are great as you encounter them during level 8 in an area you want item drops anyway, and you can also get milk for [[milk of magnesium]] and spare cheese for reagent pasta while you're there.
* [[The Fun House]] is a pretty poor source as there are a lot of other combats, but you might get some when getting a box.
* [[A Barroom Brawl]] is a great early source of booze, some of it even comes pre-mixed! You might want to be here for [[beer lens]]es anyway.
* [[The Overgrown Lot]] has plenty of monsters that drop decent quality booze.


For example, the rewards from the [[Typical Tavern Quest]] can be improved using [[Advanced Cocktailcrafting]] for a huge stat and turn boost, but these improved drinks require you to be Level 4, which means you may be unable to consume them immediately following the quest.
If you don't have any base booze, then you can use [[fermenting powder]] to make shots, but these are expensive as they cost about 140 meat per drunkenness.


===Non-Pathed Ascensions===
Before unlocking the hippy store, you can use the aforementioned barroom brawl or [[The Barrel full of Barrels]]. Note that the barrels are very swingy but somewhat predictable in where the booze appears so it can be an option for day 1. Finally, there's [[Bart Ender]] as your last resort option.
Since you will have both food and booze at your disposal, non-path is the ascension of choice for those that are starting out and want to be able to achieve a fast run. In fact, it is strongly recommended to start with multiple non-pathed hardcore runs so you can get some key skills before attempting an Oxygenarian ascension. General strategy for a no-path ascension is as follows:


'''Booze Hound'''
==General strategy==
*Muscle Sign: Muscle signs don't offer much in the way of booze save for six [[mushroom fermenting solution]]s, which when combined with the third-tier mushrooms ([[flaming mushroom]], [[stinky mushroom]], [[frozen mushroom]]) are very decent and better than the typical booze a Moxie sign would drink. The fourth-tier mushrooms ([[gloomy black mushroom]], [[oily golden mushroom]]) on the other hand, make wines which surpass adventures-per-drunkenness of even drinks made with [[tiny plastic sword]]s. However, since you only get 6 fermenting solutions, this isn't a very practical way of getting booze for your run.
*Mysticality Sign: [[Chez Snootée]] isn't going to be serving up any drinks anytime soon, so you're somewhat sunk here. You will get some booze for finishing the [[Typical Tavern Quest|Tavern quest]] and may get some from your [[Guild Hall|Guild]] in early ascensions, and [[The Barrel full of Barrels]] can provide a useful source for medium-quality drinks.
*Moxie Sign: If you are approaching ascension with speed in mind, then a Moxie sign will allow you access to the [[The Gnomish Micromicrobrewery|Microbrewery]]. The Microbrewery will provide the alcohol you need to fill up every day and sometimes even bless you with [[especially salty dog]]s.  The [[Desert Beach|Beach]] will become active at Level 4 if you can make your [[bitchin' meatcar]] quickly.


'''Hungry Hungry Adventurer'''
The following advice doesn't deserve its own section but is still important. Perhaps some of the most important advice.
*Food is measurably better than most booze, so you should eat as much as you can. Work to get to the [[Kitchens|Knob Goblin Kitchens]] (Level 5) as soon as practical; the Kitchens are even better if you have access to [[Luck in the Kitchens|clovers]], which will give you easy access to the ingredients you need to make [[reagent dish|reagent dishes]]. Reagent dishes are a good source of food once you reach Level 6 because the ingredients for them are readily available, and they are also not turn-intensive like [[chow mein]]s are (two cook combines for a reagent dish compared to the five cooking operations for chow mein). You will find that chow mein typically cannot be eaten every day due to not having either the required mushroom or the required second piece (these should not be backfarmed due to poor stat gains).


'''Chef in the Box -- Huzzah?'''
* Use a stat gain familiar unless you really really need an item drop, such as for a quest. A meat drop familiar against [[beefy bodyguard bat]]s and in [[The Themthar Hills]] is also worthwhile.
*Muscle Sign: If you come across enough early ingredients and have the rest of the qualifications to make [[chow mein]] a large portion of your diet, then by all means farm for the [[chef-in-the-box]]. Chow mein can be a good choice for those who choose a Muscle sign because they can grow their own mushrooms instead of having to farm for them, so they only have to farm for one type of item, which in some cases can be extremely easy (such as [[bat wing]]s). This strategy relies heavily on gaining the [[Filthy Hippy Disguise|Hippy Outfit]].
* [[11-leaf clover]]s. Don't underestimate how useful these are. The Hermit will have exactly three available each day so make sure you collect them. Don't forget that you are guaranteed to get items you don't have from a [[chewing gum on a string]], so don't autosell the starting equipment. Here are some strong uses:
*Moxie Sign: It's harder to justify obtaining a chef-in-the-box in a properly prepared Moxie-sign hardcore run. You may get lucky and get most of the pieces while adventuring around -- if so, great -- but keep in mind that your best case scenario involves cooking reagent dishes every day once you can (two, normally [[Spaghetti with Skullheads]] and on occasion the others) and finishing off with a [[spicy enchanted bean burrito]] or another equivalent three-fullness food. Cooking a reagent dish only wastes two adventures. Depending on how strong your item-drop skills are, it could take you more turns to obtain the parts for a chef than it saves. The chef's hat and the disembodied brain are usually the harder parts to obtain, with the hat being in a very low stat gain area.
** Getting a full [[Wand of Nagamar]] from [[You Never Know What You're Gonna Find]] in [[The Castle in the Clouds in the Sky (Basement)]].
*All signs can partially offset the negative effect backfarming has on your stat gains, through the [[detuned radio]], [[The Super-Secret Canadian Mind-Control Device]], and [[The Annoy-o-Tron 5000]]. If, for example, you wanted to fight at [[Tower Ruins]] and you would normally be active in the [[Treasury]], you could set the ML boosters to the level that would make the stat gains from the Tower monsters roughly equal to the stat gains from the Treasury monsters (see [[Safe Adventuring]]). The moon sign ML boosters only go up to 10 (11 for the MCD), however, so this strategy is only effective in the early game.
** The EPIC food and booze from [[The Haunted Pantry]], [[Outskirts of Cobb's Knob]] and [[The Sleazy Back Alley]].
** For early meat, fighting a [[Knob Goblin Embezzler]] at [[Cobb's Knob Treasury]] with your Leprechaun goes a long way.
** [[All The Rave]] in [[The Castle in the Clouds in the Sky (Top Floor)]] gives [[Mick's IcyVapoHotness Inhaler]] which provides a 200% meat buff, helpful for the Nuns. Remember that you can use [[stone wool]] to extend it slightly.
** At high levels of speed, repeatedly forcing [[Methinks the Protesters Doth Protest Too Little]] will let you finish [[A Mob of Zeppelin Protesters]] in 4 turns (or 3 if you get a very high amount of buffs).
** Major stat gains from your appropriate [[Spookyraven Manor]] leveling zone.
** After The [[Bonerdagon]] is defeated, [[Rolling the Bones]] at [[The VERY Unquiet Garves]] to help make a [[meat maid]] and/or  [[Bartender-in-the-box|bartender]]/[[Chef-in-the-box|chef]]-in-the-box. Before the Cyrpt is cleansed, [[I've Gotta Crow]] at the [[Tower Ruins]] can supply the brain, and you can get skulls somewhat reliably from [[The Unquiet Garves]].
** The [[Knob Goblin Elite Guard Captain]] (so you can unlock [[The Knob Dispensary]])
* [[Doc Galaktik's Medicine Show]] will bleed you dry of meat. To save money, unlock [[The Knob Dispensary]] for cheaper MP restore (although [[magical mystery juice]] is cheaper for mysticality classes, they should also do this). If you haven't done the Doc's quest (and it usually isn't worth it), then [[Doc Galaktik's Ailment Ointment]] is the cheapest way to buy HP from the Doc.
* [[The Market]] sells very cheap buffing items. [[Hair spray]] is by far the most useful giving +15% moxie and it should be used by all classes often. [[Ben-Gal™ Balm]] is also useful for muscle classes, giving +15% muscle. [[The Knob Dispensary]] sells notable consumables, including eyedrops that boost item drops, pet-buffing spray that increases familiar weight, and nasal spray that increases meat drops.
* You will need a lot of meat in early hardcore ascensions. Equipping the [[Knob Goblin Elite Guard Uniform]] or [[Knob Goblin Harem Girl Disguise]] and adventuring once per day at the [[Treasury]] will get you a quick boost. You can also get both and get the meat boost from each, but it's likely not worth it. Don't forget about autoselling unneeded items too, it will generate a surprisingly large amount of meat over the course of the ascension. The pork gems received at the start of your ascension are prime autosell fodder. Also consider all duplicate equipment you find, low-quality food and booze once you can get or make better stuff, and those odd [[moxie weed|early]] [[magicalness-in-a-can|spleen]] [[strongness elixir|items]].
* If you get [[Beaten Up]], you can burn off the effect by completing low-level quests you skipped early on, such as unlocking [[The Hidden Temple]]. Spending turns resting is generally a terrible idea if it can be avoided at all.
* Boosting Monster Level is a great way to earn extra stats from combat, but comes at the expense of making things a whole lot more difficult. It only takes getting Beaten Up once to undo all of the stat gains from boosting monster level, so you are best to err on the side of caution or avoid it completely if you're not sure if you can handle it.
* By setting your annoyance device to certain numbers against early bosses you can get special equipment to drop. Most of these drops, especially the ones that give +moxie, are some of the best equipment you will get during ascension, so make sure to get them! As a Pastamancer you will need some of these drops to go out of the way to make the [[Staff of the Soupbone]], which is a superb weapon if you're looking for an easy time.
* When going through [[The Daily Dungeon]] to get the keys, if you come across an elemental resistance test and don't have any resistance to hand, just do it anyway and eat the damage. Even if you get Beaten Up, you'll still pass it.


===[[Teetotaler]] Ascensions===
==Council quests==
; Knob Kitchen, Ahoy! : A Teetotaler's life is horrible until they reach the [[Kitchens|Knob Goblin Kitchens]]. Your most important goal is to get there early enough in your runs in order to be able to cook [[reagent dish|reagent dishes]] once you reach Level 6.


; Seconds? Thirds? : [[Stomach of Steel]] is the Teetotaler's version of [[Liver of Steel]]; it increases your maximum fullness by five. It lets you eat three reagent foods a day -- except if you don't have [[The Way of Sauce]], you ''have'' to balance it out so you will have [[:Category:Reagent Potions|reagent potions]] at the [[The Hole in the Sky|Hole in the Sky]] and the [[The Hedge Maze|Hedge Maze]]. You can use more reagents earlier if you calculate the use of [[Goofballs]] or [[Blood of the Wereseal]] -- just be very careful. It's also possible to get more reagents at the [[Laboratory]], but the drop rate on those is low there.
There are some decisions you need to make about how to go about some council quests.


; Alfred, prepare my dinner. : A chef-in-the-box can be very helpful for a Teetotaler if they go the [[chow mein]] route. This saves you [[scrumptious reagent|reagents]] to use later on; however, chow mein may not be the optimal choice because of the difficulty of obtaining mushrooms and other ingredients without wasting time in areas that will not give you optimum stat gains.
* Level 4 - You need stench resistance to enter Guano Junction and there are a few choices available.
** Your [[Exotic Parrot]]. You need at least 13lbs of weight to get some stench resistance, so this is likely not an option for low skill ascensions. (If you have the meat and turns to spare you can consider visiting [[the Cake-Shaped Arena]] to pick up the Parrot's equipment, which gives +15lbs.) Note resistance is only required in the guano-filled Junction itself, and the other chambers and the Boss Bat's Lair do not, so you can swap to other familiars then.
** You might luck into a [[bum cheek]] when doing the Pretentious Artist's quest or unlocking your guild as a moxie class, but it is not worth farming otherwise.
** A [[Pine-Fresh air freshener]] drops in the [[Entryway]] but has a low drop chance and can take a while. This is likely the best choice for low-skill ascenders.
** The [[Knob Goblin harem veil]] works, but you have to wait until level 5 and if you're getting the [[Knob Goblin Elite Guard Uniform]] then it's inefficient on your time.
** Saucerors can buy [[Elemental Saucesphere (skill)|Elemental Saucesphere]].
** The [[dungeoneer's dungarees]] are very swingy to get and a bad idea if you were wondering.
* Level 5 - The [[Knob Goblin Elite Guard Uniform]] is the best outfit path to choose as you can get it all at once via Lucky Adventure and it also unlocks the dispensary. Unfortunately, you will also need to buy a [[Dramatic™ range]] to cook the [[Knob cake]], but you'll eventually need one for a [[grue egg omelette]] anyway, or to cook anything from [[Pastamastery]]/[[Advanced Saucecrafting]].
* Level 8 - There are two paths to the Icy Peak. Adventuring in [[The eXtreme Slope]] is easier for players with few permanent skills. The [[eXtreme Cold-Weather Gear]] obtained there provides all the {{element|Cold|Resistance}} needed for the Peak. Taking the shortcut through the [[Lair of the Ninja Snowmen]] is faster, but requires [[Combat Frequency|+combat]] modifiers and other sources of +5 cold resistance, assuming the player doesn't obtain the eXtreme Cold-Weather Gear.
* Level 10 - Some of the giants are very strong, and it can be better to just powerlevel to level 11 first. Many of the monsters in zones unlocked during level 11 are less powerful than the giants and you're likely to need to do some extra leveling to hit level 12 anyway.
* Level 12 - Which side of the war to fight for largely depends on what skills you have. The hippy side is the most attractive for low skill ascensions and the frat side attractive for high skill ascensions.
** [[Sonofa Beach]] should be avoided if you don't have a few +combat modifiers available. Non-skill sources you may encounter in a run include [[reodorant]] and [[giant turkey leg]].
** The arena quest can be cheesed by flyering [[The Guy Made Of Bees]] but this takes a number of turns to prepare and may not be worth it if you start on the hippy side. If you have access to [[Entangling Noodles]], [[Accordion Bash]] or any other multi-turn stun, then you can avoid getting hit when using flyers, so saving all of the level 11 bosses, the Pyramid, the Hole In The Sky, and/or Junkyard/Orchard/Sonofa Beach for flyering is a great way to spend no extra turns specifically for the flyer quest. As a frat, you will get a +meat buff for the nuns quest.
** The Junkyard, Orchard, and Nuns are easily doable as all classes. Don't forget to summon the meat demon from the [[Summoning Chamber]] and obtain [[Knob Goblin nasal spray]] when helping the nuns.
** The farm takes a while and is only really worth doing if you start as a hippy. Don't forget to use a [[chaos butterfly]] and get the shortcut!


; Full? Too bad, eat more. : If you can't finish off your fullness with what you have on hand, eat some [[fortune cookie]]s. They'll finish off the fullness that you have left over even if they don't have the greatest adventures-to-fullness ratio, in addition to revealing [[Semi-Rare Adventures]].
==Optional stuff==


; I Wanna Quesadilla : If you have access to [[Inside Degrassi Knoll]] without [[Pastamastery]], a decent way to earn adventures is to do the [[warm mushroom]] loop in Degrassi Knoll. In it, you obtain 8 warm mushrooms every 2 days and cook them with [[flat dough]] to obtain [[spicy mushroom quesadilla]]s. Not very good, but an acceptable substitute for chow mein.
As a general rule, ask yourself the following question before deciding to adventure anywhere. "Does adventuring here work towards completing a council quest or get me something that generates or saves a significant number of turns?" If the answer is no, then stop. Do you really need to be there? Let's take a look at how worthwhile some of the optional things are:


; -urp- Excuse me. : [[Chronic Indigestion]] is a great skill to use as a Teetotaler. It is relatively easy to get, is able to do 20-25 {{element|Hot|Damage}} in a normal battle, and the damage increases with a full [[Stomach of Steel]] to 25-30. Damage is doubled against [[Cold#Received From Monsters|<span style="color:blue;">cold</span>]] and [[Spooky#Received From Monsters|<span style="color:gray;">spooky</span>]] monsters; if you are completely full and have Stomach of Steel, you will do 50-60 damage against them. This skill is '''especially''' useful against the 120 HP [[The Bonerdagon|Bonerdagon]] and 90 HP [[Knott Yeti|Yetis]]. It's also worth considering for use against the minibosses in [[the Hidden City]].
===The Pretentious Artist Quest===


===[[Boozetafarian]] Ascensions===
This is fairly quick and earns a fair amount of meat by trading in [[rat whisker]]s. Worth doing in low-skill ascensions as you'll need the early meat.
; Drink, Drink, Drink! : Booze is your life. The ideal setup for a Boozetafarian is having access to the [[The Gnomish Micromicrobrewery|Microbrewery]] and having [[Advanced Cocktailcrafting]] and a [[Filthy Hippy Disguise]]. The drinks that you can make with Cocktailcrafting are generally better than the special in the Microbrewery -- although this depends on what is in stock at the time, since the Microbrewery may stock drinks like [[especially salty dog]]s. If you do drink the Advanced Cocktailcrafting drinks, make sure to drink [[Infinitesimal IPA|IPAs]] from the Microbrewery to use the leftover drunkenness points.


; Alcohol Poisoning? No Sir! : [[Liver of Steel]] increases your capacity to drink significantly; normally you would have to stop at 14 drunkenness, but you can now safely drink to 19. After drinking all your better drinks that give a 3 or 4 drunkenness each, use any [[ice-cold Sir Schlitz]] or [[ice-cold Willer|Willers]] hanging around to drink to 19; even an [[Imp Ale]] may make sense. Normally to reach 19 you'll either drink six 3-drunkenness drinks plus a beer, or four 4-drunkenness [[Advanced Cocktailcrafting]] drinks plus a 3-drunkenness one. After you're out of adventures, make sure to end your day by drinking a final high-quality drink you made, or an [[Infinitesimal IPA]]. Every adventure counts; the fact that you can't use these last adventures that day doesn't mean you can't make use of them the next day.
===Meat Maid===


; Yeah, I'll have a glass of milk. : If you are going to mix [[Advanced Cocktailcrafting]] items, it may be beneficial to create a bartender for your campground. Keep in mind, though, that you may spend a good number of turns trying to farm for the pieces, which could put you farther behind than just making the drinks by hand would have. The longer your expect this run to take, the more sense a bartender makes.
Generates 4 turns each day at rollover. If you chose a moon sign that opens up [[Degrassi Knoll#Friendly|friendly Degrassi Knoll]], then the only roadblock is the [[disembodied brain]]. The drop rate is pretty poor so use a clover. This is always worth it for low-skill hardcore runs at it will easily generate more turns than the clover costs, and getting it with a clover from the ruins might be worthwhile if you were planning on powerleveling at [[The Cola Wars Battlefield]]. When choosing other moon signs, the meat maid isn't as helpful, as getting a frilly skirt and maiden wig from [[The Degrassi Knoll Gym]] may take a few turns.


===[[Oxygenarian]] Ascensions===
===Chef or Bartender-in-a-Box===
; Have you tasted this air, man? This air is great. : Oxygenarian, a masochist is you! Make sure you make use of items that give you [[Extra Rollover Adventures|extra]] rollover adventures, such as a [[Meat Maid]], [[dead guy's watch]], [[Pagoda]] and chrome weapons (e.g., the [[chrome crossbow]] or better yet a [[sword behind inappropriate prepositions]]), since you are given only 40 turns a day. Choosing an [[Inside Degrassi Knoll]] sign can make a [[Meat Maid]] much easier to obtain.


; What'dya mean you're thinking still? : If adventure management is a chore, then in a Hardcore Oxygenarian run it's a lifetime jail sentence. Improper turn management can turn your Oxygenarian ascension into a multi-month event that just won't ever end. By doing some normal hardcore runs, you can learn to manage your turns and take a few valuable skills with you.
If you have [[Advanced Saucecrafting]], [[Pastamastery]] or [[Advanced Cocktailcrafting]], then getting a chef and/or bartender in a box can save you a significant number of turns. Perming [[Inigo's Incantation of Inspiration (skill)|Inigo's Incantation of Inspiration]] allows you to forgo obtaining one or possibly both, in this case it might be better to forgo the chef unless you got the [[chef's hat]] to drop as [[A Barroom Brawl]] drops lots of nice booze while you're there. Without access to any of the major crafting skills, you will only be spending at most 2 turns on cooking, one on a [[Grue egg omelette]] and possibly one on a [[knob cake]] so it's not worth getting an in-a-box helper. Don't forget you'll need to make your [[Epic Weapon]] to get boxes from [[The "Fun" House]], but it's worth it. See the above section for getting a [[disembodied brain]].


; Above all, stay organized. : It's easy to lose track of what you're doing during an Oxy-core run, especially if you have multis or a social life. If you aren't careful, you could end up spending half a week's adventures looking for something you already have. Try to keep some kind of [[Hardcore Checklist|checklist]].
===Liver/Stomach/Spleen of Steel===


; Smash, smash, smash. : Be sure to consult the [[Hardcore Pulverizing]] page for suggestions on how to get the most wad action out of your run.
Always worth it unless your Hardcore ascensions take you 4 days or less, in which case why are you reading this guide?


; Still crazy after all these years. : Even if you're not adventuring, [[Moxie]] classes with the [[Superhuman Cocktailcrafting]] skill should spend some time with [[Nash Crosby's Still]] every day.  Turning ten [[soda water]]s into [[tonic water]] is a quintastic way to increase your [[MP]] cheaply.
===[[The Wizard of Ego]] Quest===


==Moon Sign Strategy==
Doing the first part of this quest before you reach level 6 will unlock [[The Cola Wars Battlefield]] which is the best place to powerlevel early on and lets you clover the tower ruins early on for a [[disembodied brain]]. Going further and completing the tower ruins part is of questionable worth. If you don't need help leveling up fast before level 5, then the entire quest is probably not worth it.
There are 9 moon signs that each have 3 attributes and 2 degrees of freedom. The first allows you to choose a stat boost your substat gains. The second allows you to chose what special area you want to. The last attribute is independent and is theme-related to the sign. (For example, [[The Packrat]] boosts item drops, [[The Blender]] increases adventure gains from drinking, etc.)  Muscle and myst classes will probably benefit most from their [[Little Canadia]] sign, moxies may find their [[Inside Degrassi Knoll]] the most beneficial.  


There is also a 10th sign, called [[Bad Moon]]. This is a special type of challenge run for hardcore players. For more on its strategy see [[Bad Moon Strategy]].
===The Valley of Rof L'm Fao===
The [[A Quest, LOL|valley quest]] is now optional and unlocks after finishing the [[Orc Chasm Quest]]. You may need to venture here to obtain a [[lowercase N]] for your wand if you don't have a clover for [[You Never Know What You're Gonna Find]].


===[[Inside Degrassi Knoll]]===
===White Citadel===
[[Inside Degrassi Knoll|Degrassi Knoll]] becomes a mini-town instead of an adventuring area, and opens [[The Bugbear Pens]] once you have 13 in your primary stat.


====Area Content====
Unlocking [[The White Citadel]] gets you a [[lucky rabbit's foot]] and access to burgers, as well as Cloaca-colas for cheap MP restore. Unfortunately, the quest takes a long time, so doing the full quest is of questionable worth unless you really need the item drop bonus from the rabbit's foot. [[The Knob Dispensary]] and fruit pies make the reasons to shop here obsolete.
*[[The Plunger]] -- Combines items for free.
*[[Innabox]] -- Gives you the Untinker's screwdriver. Smiths items for free, except for items that require advanced skills.
*[[Mushroom Fields]] -- Allows for creation of mushrooms, which reduces backfarming for those that prefer [[chow mein]]. Costs 5000 Meat to set up, plus planting costs. Required if doing Mayor Zapruder's quests during the hardcore portion of your ascension.
*[[General Store]] -- Sells the items that normally drop in Degrassi Knoll, which makes it easy to build a [[bitchin' meatcar]] and a [[Meat Maid]]. It also sells the [[detuned radio]], which allows you to increase the monster level of creatures in the kingdom by 1-10. Setting it to a higher number increases the amount of Moxie you will need to have to dodge an attack; creatures also hit harder and have higher HP. A setting of 4 increases stat gains by 1; 8 will increase stat gains by 2; 10 will give you a 50% chance of a third extra stat point per battle. It also causes bosses to drop certain items at certain settings.
*[[The Gym]] -- More powerful than the clan Muscle gym (though you really shouldn't be using it).
*[[Mayor Zapruder]] -- Gives various quests.
*Familiars & Equipment -- [[Stinky Gravy Fairy]], [[limburger biker boots]], [[Frozen Gravy Fairy]], [[iced-out bling]], [[Flaming Gravy Fairy]], [[flaming glowsticks]].
*[[Trophy|Trophies]] -- [[Let My Bugbears Go!]]


* [[The Mongoose]]:  Boosts muscle stat gains, plus +20% Physical Damage
===The Nemesis Questline===
* [[The Wallaby]]: Boosts myst stat gains, plus +20% Spell Damage
* [[The Vole]]: Boosts moxie stat gains, plus +20% Combat Initiative, +20 Maximum HP/MP


====Area Overview====
If you need boxes, get your [[Epic Weapon]] to open [[The "Fun" House]], then stop after you get enough boxes, unless you gather enough [[Adventurer, $1.99|clowny]] gear to reach Beelzebozo. With the correct choice of astral gear, you won't need the benefits of your [[Legendary Epic Weapon]] or [[Epic Hat]], and the quest line takes a long time and is usually far easier once you've freed the king. Note that if you're only doing it to get the [[Instant Karma]] at the very end of the quest chain, then if it's going to take you an extra day, it's only worthwhile in the long run if your time between ascensions is over 18 days.
Degrassi Knoll makes it easy to create a meatcar and meat maid. Oxycore players will find the easy meat maid parts especially beneficial. In addition, Innabox's free smithing allows players to create Epic Weapons and Roll and Roll Legends without spending turns.


===[[Little Canadia]]===
==Powerleveling==
[[Little Canadia]] opens up in the southwest part of [[Seaside Town]].
Sometimes you need to level up fast, either because you want to unlock stuff fast in the early levels, or because you need more stats to unlock the next council quest. The following section is therefore split into two sections, low-level powerleveling, and high-level powerleveling.


====Area Content====
===Low-level powerleveling===
*[[The Super-Secret Canadian Mind-Control Device]] -- Allows you to increase the monster level of creatures in the kingdom, much like the detuned radio, except it ranges from 1-11.
*[[Little Canadia Jewelers]] -- Allows the creation of [[Jewelrymaking|supportive equipment]] for your ascension. Common choices are [[porquoise bracelet]], [[baconstone pendant]], or [[hamethyst bracelet]].
*[[Chez Snootée]] -- Sells various food that is consumed upon purchase (generally bad food to eat if you have [[Pastamastery]] and [[Advanced Saucecrafting]]).
*[[The Institute for Canadian Studies]] -- More powerful than the clan Mysticality gym (though you really shouldn't be using it).
*[[:Category:Familiars|Familiars]] -- [[Whirling Maple Leaf]]
*[[Tattoo]]s -- [[Little Canadia Tattoo]]
*[[Trophy|Trophies]] -- [[Boss Boss]]


*[[The Platypus]]: Boosts muscle stat gains, plus familiar weight, +5 lbs
This section considers how to gain stats fast for getting to level 6 so you can get your steel organ ASAP.
*[[The Opossum]]: Boosts myst stat gains, plus +5 free adventures per day (with first food)
* Just eat an [[astral hotdog]]. It really is worth eating one straight away if you think you may struggle with early leveling (and if you're not sure, the answer is yes you will).
*[[The Marmot]]: Boosts moxie stat gains, plus one free ten-leaf clover per day.
* [[The Cola Wars Battlefield]] is the best place to powerlevel before level 5 but requires doing the first part of [[The Wizard of Ego]] quest. It also has the benefit of being made out of only non-combats so you don't need combat rate modifiers and also has the chance of getting an ultra rare! At best with the right choices from the non-combats, you will earn on average 10.6 mainstat per adventure. This place closes when you reach level 6. While unlocking this place you might get a [[smart skull]] for an early in-a-box helper or meat maid.
* [[Bottle of used blood]]. If you're willing to spend extra time at [[The Spooky Forest]] then going for these is a good choice. The bad news is needing to get the non-combat twice, once to get the [[wooden stakes]] and again to trade in [[vampire heart]]s. Note that [[vampire bat]]s in [[Guano Junction]] also drop vampire hearts. If you're going to go this route, you should plan on getting the stakes as the first non-combat choice, then concentrate on unlocking the temple and trade in blood at the end. If you need a triffid bounty on day 1, this plan might be a good idea.
* [[Gourd potion]]s are generally not worth it. They work best in the very early levels but you'll be skipping them with a hotdog.


====Area Overview====
===High-level powerleveling===
Little Canadia allows you to make jewelry. While you probably won't (the 500 meat per jewel is usually more beneficial), learning the recipes is necessary for the relevant recipe trophy. [[Chez Snootée]] may have occasional food useful for filler, but these are usually options only appropriate for desperate times.


===[[The Gnomish Gnomads' Camp]]===
[[Spookyraven Manor]] is your best bet here. You want to first work on unlocking the ballroom so you can set the non-combat song. Then you will want to adventure according to your class:
[[The Gnomish Gnomads' Camp]] appears in the [[Desert Beach]].
* Muscle classes will need to unlock [[The Haunted Gallery]], then adventure in there.
* Mysticality classes will want to first get the [[antique hand mirror]] from [[The Haunted Bedroom]], then adventure in [[The Haunted Bathroom]].
* Moxie classes will want to use an item-drop familiar and adventure in [[The Haunted Ballroom]], hoping to get [[dance card]]s.


====Area Content====
Note that the above three zones (gallery, bathroom, ballroom) all have a clover adventure that gives lots of the respective stat and will be the main use of clovers for the later levels.
*[[The Annoy-o-Tron 5000]] -- Allows you to increase the monster level of creatures in the kingdom from 1-10.
*[[The Gnomish Micromicrobrewery]] -- Serves cheap, accessible (and sometimes very good) booze.
*[[Fragnk, the Regnaissance Gnome]] -- Teaches Gnomish Skills for 5000 Meat. These are [[Powers of Observatiogn]], [[Gnefarious Pickpocketing]], [[Torso Awaregness]], [[Gnomish Hardigness]], and [[Cosmic Ugnderstanding]].
*[[Gnorman, the Supertinker]] -- Supertinkers items with items that drop from the [[Thugnderdome]].
*[[Thugnderdome]] -- Adventuring area that drops items for Gnorman.
*[[:Category:Familiars|Familiars]] -- [[Clockwork Grapefruit]], [[MagiMechTech MicroMechaMech]], [[Scary Death Orb]]
*[[Tattoo]]s -- [[Gnauga Tattoo]], [[Clockwork Tattoo]]
*[[Trophy|Trophies]] -- [[Gadget Inspector]], [[Jack of Several Trades]]


*[[The Wombat]]: Boosts muscle stat gains, +20% Meat from Monsters
If you struggle to survive in those zones, then [[Barrrney's Barrr]] is a great place for moxie classes. The extra base booze you'll get is a further bonus.
*[[The Blender]]: Boosts myst stat gains, +5 free adventures (with first booze of the day)
*[[The Packrat]]: Boosts moxie stat gains, +10% Items from Monsters


====Area Overview====
==Helpful links==
Players without cocktailcrafting skills can benefit from the easy access to booze from the Microbrewery each day without much hassle. You can also pick up some skills from Fragnk, if you have the Meat. Teetotalers wouldn't get much of a benefit from this area, nor would Oxygenarians.


==External Links==
*[[Hardcore IOTM Analysis]]
*A [http://forums.kingdomofloathing.com:8080/vb/showthread.php?t=146363 spreadsheet tool] has been put together to help players decide which locations give the best stat gains.
*[[Safe Adventuring]]
*[[Hardcore Oxygenarian Strategy]]
*[http://www.noblesse-oblige.org/calendar/ Noblesse Oblige's Kingdom Calendar]
*[http://www.hardcoreoxygenation.com/cgi-bin/door.cgi Cisco's Door Code Generator]
*[http://www.the-rye.dreamhosters.com/familiars/ Kingdom of Loathing Familiar Tool by The Rye, a Cake-Shaped Arena optimizer]


{{Ascension Strategy}}
{{Ascension Strategy}}


[[Category:Ascension Strategy]]
[[Category:Ascension Strategy]]

Latest revision as of 09:28, 31 May 2025

So you want to ascend Hardcore but would like it to take you less than 2 weeks? This guide covers the basics to help focus your adventuring and is aimed primarily at new ascenders with few or no hardcore permed skills. The softcore speed guide is on the Ascension Strategy page.

RoyalTonberry has written a hardcore walkthrough that is very effective but assumes access to lots of permed skills and Items of the Month. View the discussion thread for the outline here.

Before you ascend

Familiars you should own

As Hardcore ascensions let you keep access to all of your familiars, it only makes sense to get some useful ones before jumping into the gash. The following is a list of basic familiars that are easily obtainable by everyone.

Stat gaining familiars

Stats are the biggest hurdle during ascension, so stat-gaining familiars should be the familiars you use when you don't specifically need anything else. There are three basic familiars:

  • Smiling Rat -- New accounts are guaranteed to get this at the tavern when they start playing, so you should have one already. Gives extra stats at the end of combat equal to the square-root of its weight. Also, the only possible option in a bees hate you run.
  • Blood-Faced Volleyball -- Identical to the smiling rat above if you don't have the rat for some reason.
  • Hovering Sombrero -- Gives extra stats based on its weight and the level of the monster. As stats are more important early on the rat is a better choice most of the time except in the very late levels. You can easily ignore the sombrero.

Item drop familiars

Many quests require that you get item drops from monsters, so you should always use a familiar that improves item drop chances when you need an item to drop. Note that item drop familiars are very powerful and will be the single largest source of item drop modifiers for players without items of the month.

Meat drop familiars

These familiars increase the meat you get at the end of combat. Very useful for The Themthar Hills and affording to buy skills.

Other useful familiars

Decisions to make in Valhalla

Perming skills

See Hardcore Skill Analysis.

Astral consumables

For a measly 1 Karma, you can buy a set of turn-generating astral consumables, which is totally worth it. But you can only take one, so which one? Note that the stats and adventures gained by using these scale with your level (levels 1-3 are the same and they stop improving at level 11). For the most part, you should put off using them until level 10 and above for the largest benefit.

  • astral hotdogs, you get three of these and each uses 3 fullness. The hotdogs give the lowest adventure gains but give the largest stats, and eating one straight away after ascending will immediately take you almost all the way to level 3. As such, if you're going to struggle to level up quickly early on (especially true before you have Amphibian Sympathy permed) then taking these and eating a single one straight away can do a lot for reaching important early milestones. Save the other two for later though.
  • astral pilsners, you get 6 of these and each uses 1 drunkenness. The stat gain from these is minor but the adventure gains are huge. Their low drunkenness requirement makes them easy to fit around your regular drinks too.
  • astral energy drinks, you get 6 of these and each uses 5 spleen. Instead of granting adventures of stat gains, each will provide an instance of Lucky! like an 11-leaf clover. High daycount runs will likely find that they need the turn generation from other consumables a lot more than more Lucky adventures, but for faster runs which don't need the other consumables to hit target day counts may find the energy drinks valuable for reducing turn count, though the spleen usage can cause conflict with other Mr. Store items that uses spleen.

Astral equipment

For 10 Karma you get to start with a piece of equipment, which is also totally worth it, but again you can only take one. Some are also locked during your first ascensions.

  • The astral belt is best for pure speed but only when you have enough skills to reliably handle lots of monster level, which might take a while. It's also locked until you've ascended as each class.
  • The astral shirt is fantastic for an easy and quick ascension, but requires that you've permed Torso Awaregness, which is not high priority.
  • The astral pet sweater is a very versatile piece of equipment, providing many different uses by increasing familiar weight, but requires that you've completed 5 100% familiar runs.

So assuming you can't or don't want to take one of the above, what else is best? Bear in mind that the level 12 quest and the pirate's cove take up your hat and pants slot, and each class can easily get their Epic Weapon in-run, so equipment that doesn't use these slots have an advantage.

  • For muscle classes, the astral shield is superior to the rest due to the huge survivability boost it provides (+15 damage reduction and HP regen!). The humongous muscle boost will likely let you deal extra damage too.
  • For mysticality classes, the adventure gains from the astral bracer or astral statuette (initially locked) are probably the most useful enchantments for low-skill runs.
  • For moxie classes, pretty much any of the +moxie equipment is very useful, but the astral shorts can't be used in the level 12 quest where the moxie boost is most useful. The item drop improvement from the astral mask is really nice but it is initially locked. The extra weapon damage from the astral longbow or astral pistol is very useful to make plinking more manageable, and despite being two-handed, the extra meat from the longbow is always handy.

Moon sign

There are 9 moon signs but you can group them into 3 main groups depending on the area they unlock, which will be your main consideration, the benefits of each listed below. You will generally want to choose a sign that gives you +10% to your mainstat regardless of the other enchantments as it will speed you up by a considerable amount.

  • Friendly Degrassi Knoll is widely regarded as the most useful area. It allows you to easily and cheaply make your meatcar and meat maid, provides free basic smithing and meat pasting, an accessible annoyance device for only 300 meat (which you can sell a pork gem to get), it lets you bypass needing a bugbear outfit to buy wads of dough and pie tins, and finally you can get easy mushrooms for reagent pasta if you have meat to burn (5,000 for a mushroom plot) and the relevant skills.
  • Little Canadia is widely regarded as the least useful area. The annoyance device is free and instantly accessible and it has a food store that lets you eat food immediately, but basic fruit pies are slightly better. You can also smith jewelry but it's extremely expensive and not all that useful in-run. It takes 3 turns to craft jewelry which is even more disappointing.
  • The Gnomish Gnomads' Camp requires that you gain access to the desert beach before you can access it; however, it has a booze shop which makes drinking easier for those without cocktail crafting and you can buy some nice passive skills for 5,000 meat. The lack of immediate access to this area is a big blow. Still a worthwhile consideration for very low skill ascensions.

Challenge paths

Some special challenge paths that introduce a new class (Avatar of Boris, Avatar of Jarlsberg, and Zombie Slayer) can be faster and easier than hardcore no-path for players with few permed skills. By doing hardcore ascensions with one of these paths, you can build up skill points for that challenge path class while also earning karma used to perm skills from the six standard classes.

Keep in mind that some of the better astral items in Pet Heaven are unlocked by ascending with normal classes, so you should not neglect them entirely.

Note that strategy for these paths is significantly different from that of no-path; see the strategy pages linked on each challenge path page for more information.

Turn generation

Perhaps the primary concern in a hardcore ascension is how to best generate more turns, as you can't just pull nice consumables from storage. While a meat maid is useful, eating and drinking are where most of your turns are going to come from and you'll want to sort out some sort of regular source of food and booze as soon as possible. In order to both unlock sources and to hit consumption level requirements, leveling up very quickly early on is usually the best option. For now, let's look at where you can get adventures from:

Food

If you have access to pastamastery, then your options are greatly simplified. A tomato from The Haunted Pantry will give you boring spaghetti on your first day, and from level 4 onwards you can get painful penne pasta really easily by buying a jabañero pepper from the hermitage, which will cost 150 meat (or a bit more early on before you can get a trinket from every piece of gum). Pastamancers can bind a Spice Ghost thrall, though this will only be available in-run if Bind Spice Ghost is already permed. This gives them easy access to spices which are used for lo mein. Olive lo mein is very easy and cheap once The Hippy Store is open and those willing to shell out for a mushroom plot can get the better lo mein. Combined with Advanced Saucecrafting for reagent pasta (another good use for the mushroom plot) you can send your adventure gains through the roof as any class.

Without access to pastamastery your options are worse and a bit harder to get.

  • Basic fruit pies are the staple but require fruits from The Hippy Store and pie tins and dough from The Bugbear Bakery, the Degrassi Knoll Bakery and Hardware Store or Madeline's Baking Supply before you can make them regularly. This makes rushing to unlock the island and get a hippy outfit a high priority. At lower levels you can farm fruits from the novelty tropical skeleton in The Skeleton Store.
  • White Citadel sells burgers which get better the more of them you eat, the counter for this does not reset on ascension either! Unfortunately, you have to eat a whole bunch before the average adventure gain is better than fruit pies. You also have to complete the quest to unlock White Citadel which opens in the middle of level 6. You'll likely perm pastamastery eventually and stop using this, and you'll want early hippy store access for fruits to make booze anyway, but it can be a nice way to get adventure gains during your first few ascensions if you're willing to put in the preparation. The counter doesn't carry across to Bad Moon though, so it's not really an option there.
  • Enchanted bean burritos. This requires access to wads of dough and an enchanted bean from the Beanbat Chamber which have a 50% base drop rate making it easy to get them in a single turn. The adventure gains are similar to fruit pies but cost one adventure to get the bean. If you happen across any spices (which is unlikely except as a pastamancer), you can easily upgrade them to an Insanely spicy enchanted bean burrito for big adventure gains and a free combat skill! Note that there are other bean burritos, but it's far harder to get the respective beans.
  • The Haunted Kitchen, seriously. So the food is crap but it has a reasonable drop rate, making this a nice way to earn adventures and level up on day 1 if you're really struggling to get anywhere fast. Low skill myst classes want to be here anyway for the shiny butcherknife.
  • Mugcakes and fortune cookies can be bought at any time for 20 or 40 meat, giving 1 adventure for 1 fullness. Only worthwhile as a last resort, as 1 adventure is better than none!
  • Don't forget the Grue egg omelette! You'll need a spooky mushroom though, The Spooky Forest is probably the quickest place to get one if you aren't planning on buying a mushroom plot.
  • Try the Madness Bakery. You can receive decent quality food from just a wad of dough in the noncombat, and after completing the quest, get a size 2 epic quality food in the noncombat using items that likely dropped for you while doing the quest. If you visit The Overgrown Lot as well, you can get all the ingredients for an acceptable bagel.

Note that at level 12 if you clear the filthworms as a hippy, the new fruits in the hippy store make better pies that give very good adventure gains.

A relatively new addition to the game, the breakfast counter provides a free one-fullness muffin every day, which grants excellent stats and buffs. Just order a muffin before you ascend, and you can pick up the tin on day 1 and order a fresh muffin for day 2. The obvious barrier to entry is the whopping ~1600 adventures needed to obtain the tin, but you can also use those days to farm bounties to work toward Transcendent Olfaction.

Booze

Once again The Hippy Store is where it's at, this time necessary for the best booze with or without Advanced Cocktailcrafting, as cocktailcrafting just improves upon the basic mixed booze. Unfortunately, you can't buy the other ingredient, base bottles of booze, until you clear the filthworms as a frat during level 12, so getting good booze is always going to require adventuring for ingredients. You can find base booze in the following places:

  • The pirates' cove will get you a ton of rum when doing the quest, so it can be worth using an item-drop familiar during Barrrney's Barrr.
  • Booze Giants in Menagerie Level 3 are the best way to farm up booze bottles, but you have to get the menagerie key and spend turns farming up ingredients, which sucks.
  • Drunk goats are great as you encounter them during level 8 in an area you want item drops anyway, and you can also get milk for milk of magnesium and spare cheese for reagent pasta while you're there.
  • The Fun House is a pretty poor source as there are a lot of other combats, but you might get some when getting a box.
  • A Barroom Brawl is a great early source of booze, some of it even comes pre-mixed! You might want to be here for beer lenses anyway.
  • The Overgrown Lot has plenty of monsters that drop decent quality booze.

If you don't have any base booze, then you can use fermenting powder to make shots, but these are expensive as they cost about 140 meat per drunkenness.

Before unlocking the hippy store, you can use the aforementioned barroom brawl or The Barrel full of Barrels. Note that the barrels are very swingy but somewhat predictable in where the booze appears so it can be an option for day 1. Finally, there's Bart Ender as your last resort option.

General strategy

The following advice doesn't deserve its own section but is still important. Perhaps some of the most important advice.

Council quests

There are some decisions you need to make about how to go about some council quests.

  • Level 4 - You need stench resistance to enter Guano Junction and there are a few choices available.
    • Your Exotic Parrot. You need at least 13lbs of weight to get some stench resistance, so this is likely not an option for low skill ascensions. (If you have the meat and turns to spare you can consider visiting the Cake-Shaped Arena to pick up the Parrot's equipment, which gives +15lbs.) Note resistance is only required in the guano-filled Junction itself, and the other chambers and the Boss Bat's Lair do not, so you can swap to other familiars then.
    • You might luck into a bum cheek when doing the Pretentious Artist's quest or unlocking your guild as a moxie class, but it is not worth farming otherwise.
    • A Pine-Fresh air freshener drops in the Entryway but has a low drop chance and can take a while. This is likely the best choice for low-skill ascenders.
    • The Knob Goblin harem veil works, but you have to wait until level 5 and if you're getting the Knob Goblin Elite Guard Uniform then it's inefficient on your time.
    • Saucerors can buy Elemental Saucesphere.
    • The dungeoneer's dungarees are very swingy to get and a bad idea if you were wondering.
  • Level 5 - The Knob Goblin Elite Guard Uniform is the best outfit path to choose as you can get it all at once via Lucky Adventure and it also unlocks the dispensary. Unfortunately, you will also need to buy a Dramatic™ range to cook the Knob cake, but you'll eventually need one for a grue egg omelette anyway, or to cook anything from Pastamastery/Advanced Saucecrafting.
  • Level 8 - There are two paths to the Icy Peak. Adventuring in The eXtreme Slope is easier for players with few permanent skills. The eXtreme Cold-Weather Gear obtained there provides all the Cold Resistance needed for the Peak. Taking the shortcut through the Lair of the Ninja Snowmen is faster, but requires +combat modifiers and other sources of +5 cold resistance, assuming the player doesn't obtain the eXtreme Cold-Weather Gear.
  • Level 10 - Some of the giants are very strong, and it can be better to just powerlevel to level 11 first. Many of the monsters in zones unlocked during level 11 are less powerful than the giants and you're likely to need to do some extra leveling to hit level 12 anyway.
  • Level 12 - Which side of the war to fight for largely depends on what skills you have. The hippy side is the most attractive for low skill ascensions and the frat side attractive for high skill ascensions.
    • Sonofa Beach should be avoided if you don't have a few +combat modifiers available. Non-skill sources you may encounter in a run include reodorant and giant turkey leg.
    • The arena quest can be cheesed by flyering The Guy Made Of Bees but this takes a number of turns to prepare and may not be worth it if you start on the hippy side. If you have access to Entangling Noodles, Accordion Bash or any other multi-turn stun, then you can avoid getting hit when using flyers, so saving all of the level 11 bosses, the Pyramid, the Hole In The Sky, and/or Junkyard/Orchard/Sonofa Beach for flyering is a great way to spend no extra turns specifically for the flyer quest. As a frat, you will get a +meat buff for the nuns quest.
    • The Junkyard, Orchard, and Nuns are easily doable as all classes. Don't forget to summon the meat demon from the Summoning Chamber and obtain Knob Goblin nasal spray when helping the nuns.
    • The farm takes a while and is only really worth doing if you start as a hippy. Don't forget to use a chaos butterfly and get the shortcut!

Optional stuff

As a general rule, ask yourself the following question before deciding to adventure anywhere. "Does adventuring here work towards completing a council quest or get me something that generates or saves a significant number of turns?" If the answer is no, then stop. Do you really need to be there? Let's take a look at how worthwhile some of the optional things are:

The Pretentious Artist Quest

This is fairly quick and earns a fair amount of meat by trading in rat whiskers. Worth doing in low-skill ascensions as you'll need the early meat.

Meat Maid

Generates 4 turns each day at rollover. If you chose a moon sign that opens up friendly Degrassi Knoll, then the only roadblock is the disembodied brain. The drop rate is pretty poor so use a clover. This is always worth it for low-skill hardcore runs at it will easily generate more turns than the clover costs, and getting it with a clover from the ruins might be worthwhile if you were planning on powerleveling at The Cola Wars Battlefield. When choosing other moon signs, the meat maid isn't as helpful, as getting a frilly skirt and maiden wig from The Degrassi Knoll Gym may take a few turns.

Chef or Bartender-in-a-Box

If you have Advanced Saucecrafting, Pastamastery or Advanced Cocktailcrafting, then getting a chef and/or bartender in a box can save you a significant number of turns. Perming Inigo's Incantation of Inspiration allows you to forgo obtaining one or possibly both, in this case it might be better to forgo the chef unless you got the chef's hat to drop as A Barroom Brawl drops lots of nice booze while you're there. Without access to any of the major crafting skills, you will only be spending at most 2 turns on cooking, one on a Grue egg omelette and possibly one on a knob cake so it's not worth getting an in-a-box helper. Don't forget you'll need to make your Epic Weapon to get boxes from The "Fun" House, but it's worth it. See the above section for getting a disembodied brain.

Liver/Stomach/Spleen of Steel

Always worth it unless your Hardcore ascensions take you 4 days or less, in which case why are you reading this guide?

The Wizard of Ego Quest

Doing the first part of this quest before you reach level 6 will unlock The Cola Wars Battlefield which is the best place to powerlevel early on and lets you clover the tower ruins early on for a disembodied brain. Going further and completing the tower ruins part is of questionable worth. If you don't need help leveling up fast before level 5, then the entire quest is probably not worth it.

The Valley of Rof L'm Fao

The valley quest is now optional and unlocks after finishing the Orc Chasm Quest. You may need to venture here to obtain a lowercase N for your wand if you don't have a clover for You Never Know What You're Gonna Find.

White Citadel

Unlocking The White Citadel gets you a lucky rabbit's foot and access to burgers, as well as Cloaca-colas for cheap MP restore. Unfortunately, the quest takes a long time, so doing the full quest is of questionable worth unless you really need the item drop bonus from the rabbit's foot. The Knob Dispensary and fruit pies make the reasons to shop here obsolete.

The Nemesis Questline

If you need boxes, get your Epic Weapon to open The "Fun" House, then stop after you get enough boxes, unless you gather enough clowny gear to reach Beelzebozo. With the correct choice of astral gear, you won't need the benefits of your Legendary Epic Weapon or Epic Hat, and the quest line takes a long time and is usually far easier once you've freed the king. Note that if you're only doing it to get the Instant Karma at the very end of the quest chain, then if it's going to take you an extra day, it's only worthwhile in the long run if your time between ascensions is over 18 days.

Powerleveling

Sometimes you need to level up fast, either because you want to unlock stuff fast in the early levels, or because you need more stats to unlock the next council quest. The following section is therefore split into two sections, low-level powerleveling, and high-level powerleveling.

Low-level powerleveling

This section considers how to gain stats fast for getting to level 6 so you can get your steel organ ASAP.

  • Just eat an astral hotdog. It really is worth eating one straight away if you think you may struggle with early leveling (and if you're not sure, the answer is yes you will).
  • The Cola Wars Battlefield is the best place to powerlevel before level 5 but requires doing the first part of The Wizard of Ego quest. It also has the benefit of being made out of only non-combats so you don't need combat rate modifiers and also has the chance of getting an ultra rare! At best with the right choices from the non-combats, you will earn on average 10.6 mainstat per adventure. This place closes when you reach level 6. While unlocking this place you might get a smart skull for an early in-a-box helper or meat maid.
  • Bottle of used blood. If you're willing to spend extra time at The Spooky Forest then going for these is a good choice. The bad news is needing to get the non-combat twice, once to get the wooden stakes and again to trade in vampire hearts. Note that vampire bats in Guano Junction also drop vampire hearts. If you're going to go this route, you should plan on getting the stakes as the first non-combat choice, then concentrate on unlocking the temple and trade in blood at the end. If you need a triffid bounty on day 1, this plan might be a good idea.
  • Gourd potions are generally not worth it. They work best in the very early levels but you'll be skipping them with a hotdog.

High-level powerleveling

Spookyraven Manor is your best bet here. You want to first work on unlocking the ballroom so you can set the non-combat song. Then you will want to adventure according to your class:

Note that the above three zones (gallery, bathroom, ballroom) all have a clover adventure that gives lots of the respective stat and will be the main use of clovers for the later levels.

If you struggle to survive in those zones, then Barrrney's Barrr is a great place for moxie classes. The extra base booze you'll get is a further bonus.

Ascension Strategy
Rankings: HC Skills - HC Familiars - HC IotMs
General: Class selection - Familiar usage - Lucky adventures
Paths: BHY - Fist - AoB - BI - ZS - AoJ - BIG! - KOLHS - CA2 - AoSP - SS - HR - Picky - Ed - Random - AoWoL - Source - NA - GN - LtA - L.A.R. - PF - G-Lover - DD
Additional Paths: DG - 2CRS - KoE - PotP - LKS - GG - Y,Robot - QT - WF - GY - JM - FotD
IotMs: Tomes - Faxing - Copying - YR - Garden - Correspondent - Workshed - Tea party - Florist
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