Combat
Shove (spacebar) staggers enemies and interrupts their attacks — it costs nothing and saves lives. Make it a reflex.
Melee has a backstab bonus, and an overhead stab to the head deals double damage — position first, swing second.
Matchlock guns cannot fire in the rain. Carry a melee fallback, pack a flintlock, or bring Saint Eulalia's blessing to stop the rain outright.
Every gunshot winds the forest's hidden awakening timer. The arquebus is the loudest thing you can carry — treat it as a budget you spend, not a default.
Enemies can parry and disarm you, and thrown axes can be picked up and thrown back. Don't feed the jungle your own arsenal.
A thrown-spear headshot on a Y'm-bhi is its own achievement — the spear is throwable and better than it looks.
Break a Y'm-bhi's grab on a teammate with one well-timed hit — practice it; the grab is a death sentence otherwise.
Watch for specialist Y'm-bhi: the lantern-carrier can hurl its lantern like a grenado, and a musket-carrier will get one shot off. Neither is obvious from a distance.
There's a training dummy aboard the Tempestad. Learn melee timing in the light, not in the dark.
Economy
Never buy firewood. It costs 100c in the shop; a 5c machete chops it free in the field (thrown axes can't chop).
The Appraiser buys treasure by tier — idols around 700c down to trinkets at 100c. Know what's worth pack space before you fill your six slots.
Beat a contract's treasure quota by 20% and 50% for bonus achievements — greed is literally rewarded, up to the point it kills you.
Token gear issued by contracts expires after one expedition. Don't budget around gear you're about to lose.
Ammunition is scarce by design. The June demo patch made undead drop powder more often, but every charge still counts.
Sanity
Hallucinations are personal — only you see yours. Your crew is the only reliable instrument: call out what you see and let them confirm.
Glowing mushrooms restore sanity when eaten. Forage as you move; they're free medicine.
The ox-wagon slows sanity drain nearby — it's a rolling anchor, not just a treasure hold. Plan routes that loop back to it.
Darkness drains sanity. Light is survival equipment, not decoration — someone carries the lamp, always.
Saint Dymphna's blessing dispels madness effects — the only hard counter when hallucinations start lying loudly.
Caught the red mist and started vomiting centipedes? Eat the yellow Matico flowers — they cure the affliction outright (community-verified).
The rank-30 reward ring trims isolation-driven sanity buildup by about 20% (community-measured) — endgame insurance for whoever walks point.
Proximity voice distorts as sanity drops — a 'teammate' calling you over may not be one. Running Discord sidesteps the horror and half the game.
Survival & crew
Carry Ammonia Salts (20c) for field revives — the alternative is hauling the body back to the ox-wagon for the priest.
Revive fast, and watch your people: there is NO alert when a teammate goes down. If nobody physically sees it happen, the body gets dragged off — and can come back as a hostile Y'm-bhi.
The Crucifix (10c) is a hand-held pause button — held up, it slows transformed creatures and can briefly stun horrors. Cheapest panic button in the game.
The Prowler only takes explorers who wander alone, and sanity drains faster in isolation. The golden rule is proximity.
Specialize the crew: one carries revives, one carries light, one carries the loud gun, one walks point with quiet melee.
Where to go deeper
These are the headlines; the long versions live in the guides — the beginner's guide for your first expedition, the sanity guide for how the hallucination system actually works, loadouts for the six-slot question, and the money guide for turning runs into coin. New to the whole thing? Start with the demo guide— it's free to practice.
Tips questions
What's the single best tip for The Mound?
Stay close. The Prowler only takes explorers who wander alone, sanity drains faster in isolation, and proximity voice is your only trustworthy instrument. Nearly every demo death traces back to someone walking off.
What should beginners do first?
Run the free demo's early contracts with a machete (never buy firewood), learn shove timing on the Tempestad's training dummy, carry a light always, and eat glowing mushrooms as you find them. The beginner's guide covers the first full expedition step by step.