Republish: Monster kill statistics

This is an article I originally wrote and published on the auldsbel.org server.

I spent a bit of time over the past few days compiling some statistics in the hope that it would help players advance a little faster. Part of this was to try to answer questions like: which monster is best to kill in order to level? which monster gives the most job experience (so skills advance faster)? which monsters give consistent experience?

I killed all these monsters at level 49. I was armed with a sword (I ran into the cave and managed to open the chest and get back out), shield, fairy hat, forest armor, jeans, fur boots, winter gloves, and wooden shield. My statistics were: 40,2,1,43+3=45, 29+3=32 (the +3s are from the forest equipment).
I died attacking a couple of monsters (I really would have survived one of the monsters, but accidentally attacked another and got swarmed) bringing you these statistics. I hope they help.

I have not included Black Scorpions, Grass Snakes, Fallens, Zombies, Skeletons, or any of the wisp, spectre family of monsters because I consider all of these are too difficult for a low level warrior (but may be okay for some archers).

Monster Name	Kill 1	Kill 2	Kill 3	Kill 4	Kill 5	Average	Job Exp
Angry Scorpion	37	37	37	37	37	37	5
Archant	91	88	72	87	89	85.4	14
Bandits	87	81	91	81	65	81	21
Bat	29	23	28	27	27	26.8	3
Butterfly	85	91	85	83	85	85.8	11
Cave Maggot	16	16	16	16	16	16	3
Evil Mushroom	233	231	236	233	230	232.6	35
Fire Goblin	34	38	45	41	45	40.6	4
Fluffy	81	80	100	103	101	93	7
Giant Maggot	136	136	136	140	136	136.8	14
Green Slime	302	302	305	302	307	303.6	96
Ice Goblin	85	64	73	74	75	74.2	10
Log Head	149	128	154	188	149	153.6	5
Maggot	6	6	6	6	6	6	1
Mouboo	491	497	499	497	497	496.2	16
Pink Flower	279	296	294	294		232.6	40
Pinkie	113	99	99	90	107	101.6	7
Red Scorpion	173	168	168	199	174	176.4	16
Red Slime	131	130	133	131	131	131.2	17
Reinboo	273	273	273	294	273	277.2	29
Rudolph Slime	101	106	114	101	104	105.2	8
Scorpion	13	13	13	13	13	13	2
Sea Slime	187	187	187	187	187	187	13
Slime Blast	20	22	20	20	20	20.4	8
Snail	177	182	205	180	181	185	18
Snake	371	361	361	402	371	373.2	56
Spiky Mushroom	54	45	54	42	54	49.8	5
Squirrel	34	34	34	34	34	34	5
White Slime	49	55	55	55	27	48.2	15
Wolvern	281	269	283	238	280	270.2	86
Yellow Slime	94	94	94	83	94	91.8	9

I guess I'm so used to killing cave snakes that I didn't include them for some reason. Averaging out 5 cave snake kills: 152, 148, 184, 148, and 122 we get 150.8 experience, less than the average for log heads, red scorpions, and sea slimes, but better than red slimes or pinkies.

Your best experience bet at low levels are green slimes, if you can suffer their damage. They're significantly tough at level 33, so it might be worth changing to an archer at this point if you've done the warrior thing.

The tipping point for hunting Cave Snakes

Hunting cave snakes

I like hunting cave snakes. Cave snakes give decent experience and can be killed at a relatively low level (20ish). With some decent armor or archery you can reduce the damage done to you to practically nothing.

But there comes a point where the experience gained from killing cave snakes diminishes significantly. That point seems to be level 33. Up to level 33 the amount of experience gained is at least 2% of the experience required to level. At level 33 the experience seems to drop to around 1.3% per snake. Don't get me wrong, this isn't terrible, but better prey await you at this point, and it might be better to restat for something like green slimes or reinboos.

Giving items

Die Jack'O die

One of the problems all RPGs suffer from is begging. Inevitably some player walks in to town and starts begging for things. It sometimes starts small, a few batwings, and turns into a "give warlord armor!!!" demand. Sometimes it turns abusive with the player slandering another player for not giving up items.

The solution to this problem came to me when I wasn't sitting on my can in town. High level players tend to sit in town quite a bit. Having done most of the quests, just boredom, or whatever reason, they just sit.

The solution is to get out of town and play again. How does this solve people begging in town? Well, it's actually not about not being in town, it's more about what the player themselves is doing. People come to town to beg, because they think it's a spot they can find lots of people, and someone will give them items. Out of town people might beg too, but at least out of town players have to play the game. Take for example the mountain snake pits. If you're down in the mountain snake pits you're probably capable of being there. I met a player who was very slowly killing snakes (archery) and they happened to need 3 Mountain Snake eggs. I had about 17 from killing mountain snakes in just that session, it was nothing to help the player out. I also noticed they didn't have decent gloves. The mountain snakes had dropped 2 pairs of leather gloves, so I gave up one. The point here is that the player was actually playing (they didn't ask, I asked them). I felt good because I knew this player actually plays the game, and I'm sure they felt good because it was another item down in what they needed.

So get out of town and move around. (Get up and boogie!)

A bit about yetis, daily quests, and working together

How many players does it take to kill all the yetis in the Cindy quest? Well, if you've read here before I once did it with 3 other players. That number has now changed to 2 other players: me (warrior), Lycan (archer) and NitayandaRama (mage).

Killing all the yetis took a bit of time, but we managed it. Better to play with a lot of players. The more players the better! If you're a warrior/tank you're not likely going to get drops (unless some kind mage or archer gives them to you). The simple fact is other players do more damage than tank warriors, it's a sacrifice. So what you really want to go for is the daily points. Daily points come at the end of the round when all the yeti's have been killed and Cindy has been saved. Daily points allow you to do more daily quests (Mike's stingers, Riskim's acorns, etc.). Ideally you want to do as many rounds of Cindy as possible. With a big crowd of people rounds go pretty fast (5 minutes to 10 minutes).


Why get so many daily points? Well if you can get yellow and white boxes 3 of each fetches either 5300 gold pieces (and 1300 xp) or 10800 gold pieces (and 2800 xp). The Angela's presents daily quest takes a lot more daily points. Without running Cindy a number of times you might only be able to do it once. Running Cindy you might be able to do it 3 - 5 times, fairly quick 50 grand.. and lots of fun and extras (tears, animal bones, etc.).

But I'm a tank warrior, how do I get presents if no one gives them to me? You don't necessarily have to get the presents from the Cindy quest. There are spots in the wilderness of Nivalis and in caves where you can solo 1 or 2 yetis. Solo yetis (or bring a powerful friend to help - even better) and you can collect presents, tears and bones. Try to think of the whole experience: you're getting good xp, you have a chance to get animal bones (used in high level quests), you have a chance to get tears (also used in high level quests), and you have a chance to get a silly yeti mask (which you can sell or just use to look like a hairy beast in town)... maybe someone will make a matching yeti armor set sometime... The point, yetis are fun. With my current set of statistics I can take a yeti without dropping below 700 hp (so less than 190 damage) before I kill it. Two yetis and I do a bit of dancing to make it so I take on one.

Defeated at Cindy - wth?

What the heck? Yes, myself, Joe Black, and a group of 90+'s got our butts handed to us doing Cindy. Sadly this screenshot is just the tip of the iceburg. There were dozens more Yetis below this group.

I guess because I've always been on a team that finished I've never seen this many yetis. Apparently they spawn if you don't kill all the yetis in the last wave within an allotted time.

Cindy with a good crew of 4

This evening Zopar, Sango98, Selenil and I ran Cindy, a crew of 4, without any problems. All 3 players are really nice players who seem to understand all aspects of the game including play of different types of characters. My hat(s) off to these three for their skill and understanding.

One of them said "people like this remind me of why I love to play this game," a statement I second and appreciate. TMW can be frustrating at times, especially on long quests where it takes massive collections of difficult to get items.
So what else is new? About 55% left to level, but about 7 million experience to go. Very close to first time around the Love Triangle quest, 1 eye and 4 ears left I think. I have enough Diamonds and Jack'o souls for the next part.

I started the paper quest, but have a way to go for it too.

Quick tip for Warriors (& others)

Higher level warriors stated for tanking may not necessarily be the fastest or strongest hitters in the field. Sometimes it helps to have a boost. That boost can come from taking Iron Potions and Concentration Potions at the same time. Iron Potions boost damage and Concentration Potions make you hit faster. Iron Potions are easy enough to get, Spiky Mushrooms drop them often enough that 1/2 and hour of work can get you a lot. Concentration Potions however are a bit more of a rare drop. Sea Slimes drop them, but not nearly as often as Iron Potions from Mushrooms. You can buy either, but at 500gp per you need to spend 5000gp just to get 10.

A much simpler method is to take out a bunch of Pink Flowers and trade in pink pedals to Rauk. For every 2 pink petals Rauk will give you a Concentration Potion. Flowers are simple enough to kill for a well stated warrior. Save your gold for something better, use flower power (petal power rather) to get those speedy potions.