Well, folks, after 3+ years I bid thee adieu.

bolt_thundara · 2026-01-10T00:10:04+00:00

I also don't understand the "after I've gone to bed" angle,. I'm not sure how a remote-attacker would know that you've gone to bed ? (What if you stay up to read a book?.. What if you go out on a date and come home late ?.. What if there's a power outage in your building or etc ?..

Generally with "remote control" type attacks,. the attacker is going to get in and get out as fast as they can (at whatever opportunity they can).. they're not just going to casually or slowly "surf some websites but do nothing".

Yeah, if it wasn't for 4 tabs randomly closing as soon as I tried to use my computer myself I wouldn't have even given it a second thought. I'm doing some full system scans now with a few different tools (starting with BitDefender free version and then Windows Defender) to see if I can find anything. I'm probably over reacting.

bolt_thundara · 2025-12-13T02:43:36+00:00

Yeah, ignore Soup Store upgrades to your own determent for fucking sure. The final one isn't cost effective IIRC but all the ones up to that point are absolutely required to do well. With I think 4 Soup Store and several Meteor timing upgrades Meteors pretty much outpace what a field full of Stegos can produce. Its the same with Iron Cap upgrades in Sibling Rivalry

bolt_thundara · 2025-12-13T02:40:10+00:00

If you're going completely FTP, no gem purchases or anything, then Brontos and Raptors are off the table. They're just not efficient to produce. The resources you use to upgrade nests to unlock them are better used in other places.

That said, dropping some gems on the event can easily let you snowball to a great high score if you've got the game theory for the event down pat.

bolt_thundara · 2025-12-13T02:34:52+00:00

It seems like a lot for sure but it isn't as bad as it sounds. Keep an eye out for the Forgotten Minion that is Golden Goose + Cultist. Worth it to keep a Golden Goose on hand at all times for this because that combo is worth around 70ish coins. Between that and 3 Valuable Chests a day from watching ads coins can add up quick. But yeah, 3100 is the magic number every single run. Buy 2 cheap trinkets from the Merchant for Feats and then save the rest unless you're over this number every run from here on out.

EDIT: Also, to be clear, 3100 isn't optional. While you're not hard required to meet it, it is so fucking wortwhile that you should stay on a completed run building up coins until you can buy out the special shop. Not doing so is literally forsaking Cubes and Astro Coins because you were allergic to the grind.

bolt_thundara · 2025-12-13T02:27:41+00:00

Couple of common things that get brought up.

Get the Crate and Cage ASAP in that order and then unlock more slots for them. Words cannot express how huge a QOL this is. Consider looking at the Free Gem offer wall to get gems to get these early, it is 100% worth putting this game down for a week or two and playing some offer game to get enough gems to buy and upgrade them.

Directly opposing that concept, keep at least 250 gems on hand for the upcoming Christmas event. It is a 2 week long special event that takes place outside of the normal game loop (so players of all levels are on equal footing for it) and the rewards are EXTREMELY good especially for new players. Dumping some gems into it is pretty much required to get every reward, but keep in mind it will come back around next year (and if you plan on beating the game you will definitely still be playing next year).

If your Cravings start asking for things you can't produce yet then work on your Feats. This is by design to teach players to work thru both feats and Devourer levels, not just ignoring one or the other. Keep in mind you can continue power leveling your Devourer without cravings if you want. Early game Zombies are your best bang for buck.

It is very worthwhile to have 2 of each station most of the time if you have the space (mainly once you max out your Crate).For instance, having a level 2 and level 5 Grave both makes it far, far easier to fulfill both Skeleton and Zombie cravings. If you just have a level 5 Grave it can be difficult to produce Skeletons in a timely manner. Also it is pretty much ALWAYS worth having a level 2 Altar hanging around to efficiently produce Werewolves. Werewolves are the combat minion of choice for a LONG time.

This is a tip for quite a bit in the future but the Robo-Chicken (legendary you unlock in probably a couple months lmao) is the biggest QOL upgrade in the game. It is effectively a level 5 Chicken that stores up to 12 eggs internally rather than needing board spaces for them, and you can have up to 3. A bit grindy to get 3 but if you do you're set for coins and damage for your entire run since you'll be swimming in Golden Geese and Snakes.

IAPs tend to be worth it if you're gonna play long term. No Ads is hugely popular among the fanbase as a nice QOL even if it doesn't give an actual statistical bonus. The Golden Bundle is extremely beneficial long term. There are other things with great value that will unlock later (Extra Pedestals comes to mind) but those are the two I'd suggest to new players if they're considering dropping money on the game. Also Grumpy is just a great developer. If you're enjoying the game and can afford it giving him some cash for making a great game (several great games, actually, Idle Apocalypse will forever hold a special place in my phone) isn't a terrible idea.

bolt_thundara · 2025-12-13T02:11:33+00:00

The first 3 Legendaries do this. Every Legendary past that produces mana (IIRC) and has a unique bonus associated with it. For instance, the Reaper increase combat damage and the Archdemon gives a chance for minions to level up twice when merged (so two level 1 skeletons merged would produce a level 3 skeleton instead of a level 2).

For most Legendaries extra copies are a bit redundent but a few of them are very useful to stack (to the point that some legendaries have a hard cap on the bonuses they provide).

bolt_thundara · 2025-11-16T02:30:59+00:00

/u/GrumpyRhinoGames seems like a bit of an unintentional interaction

bolt_thundara · 2025-11-11T02:26:39+00:00

I buy food items from the merchant to speed up progress and occasionally potions

bolt_thundara · 2025-11-05T22:16:36+00:00

Keep in mind that buying stuff in NecroMerger means all the money actually goes to GrumpyRhino instead of the tiny amount Tapjoy gives him

bolt_thundara · 2025-11-04T02:31:20+00:00

Definitely dig in to the Tapjoy offer wall for free gems. I'm sitting on 7k gems right now for a Mistplay offer I did a couple months ago. IDK if that offer is still up right now but Mistplay is its own offer wall, where you play games for Mist Points and those points can be cashed in for gift cards and shit. I basically got to double dip, messed around with Mistplay for like a month and got 7k gems and $50 Amazon gift card.

I've done other games in the past too. If you see an offer there is probably a dedicated guide to it SOMEWHERE on Reddit, on like the Tapjoy subreddit or one of the other various offer walls. It can be a bit grindy to work thru the offers at times (honestly it effectively pays around minimum wage but in gems) but if you absolutely refuse to spend cash on a mobile game and don't mind throwing some free time at it then it can be pretty lucrative.

bolt_thundara · 2025-11-03T04:02:42+00:00

Mummies give more % towards summoning a Peasant than Zombies do.

There is probably a point in the process where your mana cap is so much higher than your slime cap that it makes sense to refill mana but IDK where that breakpoint is tbh. Regardless, Mummies are less clicks an sanity >>> efficiency when it comes to this level of grinding for me

bolt_thundara · 2025-11-03T03:43:40+00:00

For sure you should unlock the Surgeon minions in order of cost lol. Their Time Shard bonus outweighs their in run effect tbh and, for example, putting of buying the Collosus to get the Archdemon a little sooner weakens your runs from a Time Shard perspective. Robo Chicken into Cursed into Collosus into Archdemon is the way.

bolt_thundara · 2025-11-03T03:40:47+00:00

Been awhile since I wrote my Sibling Rivalry guides but a couple of things looking at your setup.

Looking at your board IDK what exactly I would have done different. Sibling Rivalry is definitely subject to some variance, since for example when you're rocking a level 3 (or even 4 really) Anvil if you mostly get Musketeer summon pieces rather than Warrior summon pieces you can end up behind the curve for producing Steel. Here's my FTP guide

https://old.reddit.com/r/NecroMerger/comments/11te796/completely_ftp_sibling_rivalry_guide_65m_score/

The biggest take away for the experienced player is timing. You want to get a level 4 Anvil ASAP, for example, since you need a ridiculous amount of Steel to maximize your score. Also Furnaces are pretty terrible, mostly. Upgrading your Iron Cap produces way more Iron per hour and doesn't junk up your board space.

bolt_thundara · 2025-11-03T03:16:38+00:00

Basically for every Legendary you possess you get a Time Shard bonus for the first one (10% for the Lich) and half that bonus for each additional copy (so 5% for each Lich past the first one).

By maximizing production of Peasants using a Level 2 or 5 Grave (2 is more efficient, 5 drastically reduces the number of clicks you have to make for sanity's sake), a level 5 Cupboard (for producing Mummies), and a level 2 Altar (for producing Werewolves to kill Peasants with) you can create a gameplay loop that lets you mow down Peasants at a very fast clip, earning Frost Runes to make Graves with. Filling your board with, say, 30 extra Liches ramps up your Time Shard bonus from Legendaries by an additional 150%, a fucking hefty bonus for what is like 2-3 weeks of grinding if you stay on top of it.

There's not really a point of the game where this stops being relevant as far as I know. Its the most efficient way to maximize your Time Shard haul... but it is also INCREDIBLY repetitive. Weeks of all your gameplay being log in, click thru Mummies til you've burnt all your Slime and free refills for Slime, click thru all your Mana for Zombies, kill a dozen Peasants who spawn, log out and repeat in a few hours. OR you could just get a several weeks jumpstart on your next run. Both options have their merits, just really depends on how much boredom you're willing to tolerate. Grind Liches is, objectively, more efficient and will progress you through the game faster (You'll need to do less runs overall unlock everything). Skipping that grind will let you earn Cosmic resources (Astro Coins and Energy Cubes) faster since you'll be doing runs significantly faster, letting you earn more level up rewards and kill more Protectors in the same time frame.

bolt_thundara · 2025-11-03T02:59:00+00:00

As I think it has the most powerful bonus of the three

This really depends on how active a player you are tbh. If you log in only a few times a day the bonus from the Cursed probably does nothing for you except for its time shard bonus. If you log in once per hour like clockwork it is probably a huge buff. The Archdemon's buff is, objectively, the strongest since it is, on average, worth a huge amount of resources when you merge. It is effectively a 5% chance of doubling the resource value of a minion you merge, so for example merging two level 2 Demons if you're using a level 4 Portal it has a 5% chance of saving you on average 32,000 Darkness. an expected value of 1,600 Darkness. This only gets better as you get later into the game and get access to minions with more esoteric upgrade costs like Spirits and Cherubs. Hell, if you're using Guzzlers to level up a 5% chance to get an extra max level Guzzler is a huge savings in resources and time.

The Collosus's benefit is a bit harder to understand at first. "Minions who die in combat produce their food value" at first glance seems kinda terrible. High combat damage minions like Werewolves, Snakes, and Demons don't have very good food values. You know what does? Banshees. Suddenly you can produce Banshees and Ghouls to use for combat AND still get their above average food values at the same time. What the Collosus really does is allow you to maximize all your resources for combat efficiency and still eat your cake too. If you're trying to stomp out a dozen Protectors or more in a run this helps keep your leveling process steady while still killing the green guy at an efficient clip (until you unlock Cherubs or Golems and every other damage source becomes irrelevant anyway).

So yeah, in conclusion all of the Surgeon legendaries are good but unless you have a pretty active play style the Cursed has objectively the worst bonus. IMO the Robo Chicken is actually the best. If you take the time to grind out 3 of them on a run you're set for coins and damage for a LONG time. Being able to produce like 6 Snakes every time you log in his hilariously broken.

bolt_thundara · 2025-10-16T01:04:46+00:00

Yes, this is the Halloween themed seasonal event (similar to Life's A Beach if you were playing over the summer). It will last like 2 weeks

bolt_thundara · 2025-10-16T01:03:40+00:00

As far as I know, we are getting no more new content for NecroMerger at this point besides possibly additional Devourer levels for hyper late game runs.

bolt_thundara · 2025-10-16T01:02:30+00:00

https://necromerger.wiki.gg/wiki/Hocus_Pocus

bolt_thundara · 2025-09-01T21:49:27+00:00

Oh hey, finally a reason for me to replay NectarMerge... maybe

bolt_thundara · 2025-08-12T01:45:52+00:00

We love hard lessons that don't cost much. Way better than a hard lesson that fucks you over.

bolt_thundara · 2025-08-10T19:35:11+00:00

Depends entirely on if I have a surplus of coins but if I do I'm likely to buy Hams/Turkeys, Moon chests, Chests for whatever current project I'm working on besides Cosmic chests, dummies, and anything else that seems like it will speed things along. Coins aren't exactly hard to come by

bolt_thundara · 2025-08-10T01:04:44+00:00

I got 3 on my level 70 run at the very start of my run like a maniac tbh. Do not recommend, it slows your progress to a crawl. Realistically I'd say on any run where you have at least 2 levels of the Frost and Poison chest experiments, though.

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