Actually Ed the Undying/Strategy

This page describes strategies for the Actually Ed the Undying challenge path.

Mr. Store Items

These are the relevant available choices:

• airplane charter: Conspiracy Island (HC): Gives access to The Secret Government Laboratory which is helpful for Ka coin farming and powerlevelling. Synergizes with love bugs, giving you free Coinspiracy while adventuring here, which you can use to buy Jungle Juice if you spend enough turns in the Lab.
• airplane charter: Spring Break Beach (HC): Not as useful as Conspiracy Island due to the nature of this path. The Sloppy Seconds Diner has scaling monsters, but they are Weird and drop no Ka coins (and lack of Workshed access means you can't extract their DNA to hybridize yourself).
• bottle of lovebug pheromones (HC): Passively helps speed up several zones. Gives you a 0 MP stunning skill and a 0 MP damage-over-time (physical + Stench) skill, which allow you to postpone learning Evocations if you wish. Ed can Summon Love Scarabs instead of Love Mosquitos, which restore MP instead of HP. Love Scarabs gives Ed a bit more MP to work with.
• Chateau Mantegna room key (HC): Gives you free stats and MP. Gives you some potions or meat each day (including cyclops eyedrops on day 3). Lets you "fax" a single monster prepped before the run, or copy a monster encountered during the run.
• Clan VIP Lounge invitation (HC): Assuming you have whitelist access to a clan with all of the furniture and all of the consumables unlocked, this gives you access to the Hot Dog Stand and A Speakeasy, plus the Hot Tub for removing negative effects that the Underworld doesn't clear (which includes Thrice-Cursed at least). Some of the food/booze buffs are helpful, but this is not the Must-Have IOTM that it used to be when the fax machine was available.
• Folder Holder (SC): Configurable. Very powerful.
• GameInformPowerDailyPro subscription card (HC): Gives a daily SGEEA, scroll of Protection from Bad Stuff and scroll of Puddingskin. The dungeon has scaling monsters, but they are Constructs who drop no Ka coins. Not the best pick for power-leveling, but also not the worst.
• Jarlsberg's pan (SC): Although this item was made for Avatars of Jarlsberg, it also happens to help Ed out since he's also a spellcaster. Everything about the pan except extra food conjuration benefits Ed well. Due to Ed's low metabolic capacity, he can turn food/booze he can barely fit into his gullet into Cosmic Calories for potions without sacrificing much.
• Order of the Green Thumb Order Form (HC): Lets you boost +item or +ML in several zones (including Oil Peak). Lets you boost initiative in The Defiled Alcove. Gives MP regeneration in several zones. You can also plant elemental damage flowers for zones with strong opponents (like The Secret Government Laboratory) if you need them.
• Pantsgiving (SC): The 5 daily banishes are the main benefit, but it also gives +item, elemental resistance, extra turn generation, a few stats, and an elemental damage combat skill. Extremely handy.
• Sneaky Pete's leather jacket (SC): Only useful if you ascend in a Gnome sign so you can buy Torso Awaregness. You can pop the collar for +ML and +init.
• Thor's Pliers (SC): Gives stats and MP regeneration, and lets you make physical attacks. Low priority.

Astral Consumables

The astral pilsners are probably the best choice. Ed gets mummified beef haunches which are better than the astral energy drinks, and his stomach (if purchased) can only hold one astral hot dog per day, which negates most of their utility as an early-game stat bonus.

The only benefit of the energy drinks is that they might save you a few Ka coins early in the run. But this only matters if you consume an energy drink early in the run, which reduces its turn generation, and leaves you with 2 points of unused Spleen. (You could buy 2 mummified figs to fill those 2 points, but that costs you 10 Ka coins -- not exactly a good trade-off.)

Astral Gear

For low-skill runs:

• The astral ring improves Ed's spellcasting power and grants enough MP regen to get you through the early game. With the Staff of Ed equipped, Fist of the Mummy alone can get you through most of the run until the last third or so of the quests.
• The astral shield increases Ed's durability significantly, allowing Ed to whittle down his enemy over a few fights.
• As usual, the astral mask is viable for its item drop and Moxie bonuses.

For high-skill runs, you probably need the astral belt for the +ML. Ed has almost no other +ML sources (just the aggravation device, Blessing of Serqet, Florist Friar plants and random drops), so you'll need every source you can get. (This may change with future IOTMs.)

Skills

In each of the three "trees", there are 7 skills. The last 3 skills in each tree are powerful utility skills (+ML, -combat, +item, +servant level, limited autopickpocket, yellow ray, +meat, banish, olfact), while the first 4 are generally focused on making combat easier.

The Invocation tree contains buffs of various kinds, culminating with +ML, -combat and +item buffs. Speed-wise, of the early skills, Prayer of Seshat gives +3 Myst stats per combat, and Wisdom of Thoth gives +50% Myst buff which may speed power leveling against scaling monsters.

The Evocation tree contains mostly direct-damage combat spells, culminating with the +servant level buff, limited autopickpocket and yellow ray. You do not need any of the combat spells if you have Love Bugs, but having at least one of them is helpful at higher levels, or when the Love Bugs start to lose effectiveness at the end of the day.

The Curse tree grants various types of skills to weaken monsters, culminating with the +meat buff, and the banishing and olfaction skills. The second skill is a multi-round stun, but it doesn't last very long and is probably not worth 2 skill points if you aren't going for the final skills in this tree. You can skip this tree in your early runs.

You get 8 skill points in your first run, at levels 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11. That's enough for one full tree + one more skill. You may choose either of the first two trees, and take the top skill from the other tree, and do well enough. Spreading points across all 3 trees is not recommended until you have more starting points.

Select your servants to compensate for missing skills. For example, if you do not get Lash of the Cobra from the second tree, you can use a Belly-Dancer to substitute (and talisman of Renenutets are also helpful for the task of encouraging stubborn item drops).

Body Upgrades

Ed starts with an extra-small spleen and inability to eat or drink, therefore the first several Ka coins should be used to fix these issues. Upgrades that help Ed become self-sufficient or indirectly save turns are also valuable as well.

Upgrading Spleen before buying a Stomach/Liver is more cost-efficient until the third Spleen upgrade, but the sooner you can get your Stomach/Liver, the more turngen resources are available to you. The more Spleen you buy, the more Ka coins you'll have to farm to fill it up.

The Replacement Liver should be taken before the Replacement Stomach, because it allows you to nightcap.

An early Elemental Wards upgrade lets you forego trying to farm a bum cheek for the Bat Hole quest. Later on, further Elemental Wards upgrades can be used for other resistance tests like The Haunted Kitchen, A-boo Peak, and Twin Peak.

Because Ed is very fragile early, Upgraded Legs are a viable upgrade even before your Stomach/Liver because it prevents most monsters from killing you 3 times in a row and being penalized for continuing, not to mention it's useful for modern zmobie hunting and it's an easy way to pass the Initiative test in Twin Peak.

Servants

Every 3 levels, Ed can release a Servant for use. Servants can gain experience and levels like a regular familiar. They don't benefit from +weight buffs, but Ed has one skill to boost their effective level (Purr of the Feline), and you can eventually start ascensions with "imbue points" that let you level up your servants for free.

• Priest gives you 1 extra Ka coin per fight (except against enemies with no souls) starting at level 14. This is the most desirable early-game bonus, once you have the starting skill points and imbue points to pull it off. The rest of its abilities seem to be irrelevant.
• Cat gives +item (starting at level 7), and delevels monsters (starting at level 14). At level 21, it gives you a passive +item skill. You can use this as your main familiar, as +item is almost always useful, and the deleveling allows physical combat. Put the Cat away if you want to undie during a fight.
• Belly-Dancer gives massive MP regeneration (every round of combat) starting at level 7, and auto-pickpockets enemies starting at level 14. If you don't learn Lash of the Cobra, you want this, at least for the filthworms and the warehouse clerks/guards. Her autopickpocket has a daily limit, so only use her in strategically chosen combats after you've leveled her up.
• Scribe gives +stats (presumably like a volleyball?). May be useful if you don't have good power-leveling choices.
• Maid gives +meat, which is only relevant if you are going to do the nuns/brigands side quest. (You will need much more +meat than what the Maid gives to break even on that side quest, so you may be better off skipping it.)

General strategy

Never go to The Underworld from the gate in your pyramid. Purposefully lose a fight to get there. Then use whichever services you require.

Quests

• While veterans usually hold off doing the Typical Tavern Quest until late as possible, remember that it's not necessary in this run since you don't even have to go through the Pyramid in this run.
• It should be noted that for the Pirates Quest, reviving lets you use The Big Book of Pirate Insults again, allowing you to finish the quest faster than usual. As long as you can both use the book then deal damage before losing all your HP, you can triple the rate of insult acquisition.
• Similarly, you can use the rock band flyers and jam band flyers again after reviving, speeding up the Mysterious Island Arena sidequest.

Ka coin farming

Zones with a high concentration of Dudes, Hippies, Hobos or Pirates allow farming much more Ka than typical zones. In order of difficulty/accessibility:

• The Sleazy Back Alley has 4 monsters, 2 of which drop 2 Ka, and 2 of which drop 1 Ka. It can be survived easily. It does have a few one-time unskippable noncombats.
• Camp Logging Camp is 100% 2-Ka Dudes, but has some unskippable noncombats. If you ascend under a Canadian sign, this zone can be useful once you can survive here.
• The Hippy Camp is 100% 2-Ka Hippies, and is 100% combat prior to level 9. You have to sink 9 turns unlocking the Island to get here, and you have to be able to survive.
• All of the pirate zones are 100% 2-Ka Pirates. The Cove, Barrr and F'c'le all have unskippable noncombats. Unlike the other zones listed above, the pirate zones are ascension-relevant. They also have far stronger opponents than the zones listed above, so be prepared.
• The Secret Government Laboratory, accessible to players who've purchased and used an airplane charter: Conspiracy Island, has 4 monsters, 3 of which are 2-Ka Dudes, and one of which is a 1-Ka Beast. There are no normal noncombats. The monsters are very tough, but since you will always win initiative they are simple to beat even at very low levels. With Roar of the Lion they are very easy to defeat, even with increased ML from the Omega Device.

The early-ascension-relevant zones in The Mysterious Island of Mystery are populated exclusively by 2-Ka Hippies and Pirates, making them great farming zones. Therefore, tackle the Pirates Quest as soon as possible. The Filthy Hippy Disguise is much less useful when you have no access to Advanced Cocktailcrafting, but you can still pick it up to get a head start on the War.

The Hidden Temple should be avoided if you need to do some early-level powerleveling because there are no monsters that drop Ka coins. Fortunately, The Haunted Gallery is a lot better in this regard, since only one monster out of 3 (or 5, if you want to fight the Knights) doesn't drop Ka coins.

Using an ice house before starting your ascension can improve Ka farming in several zones by removing a monster with lower Ka drops.

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