General Tips
- There’s no time limit on levels, but at the 3:00 mark, a spooky ghost appears and begins to chase you. The clover increases the time before the ghost comes by 2:00. If you are playing co-op, you have 30 seconds less per member of your team that is dead.
- The ghost in Spelunky 2 is faster than in Spelunky HD, and he can split into smaller ghosts and attack you from either direction!
- If the ghost passes over a gem, red, blue, or green, it will turn into a diamond. You can strategically use this to make a lot of money, but it’s much harder in this game due to the buffed ghost.
- Go slowly and analyze your surroundings, at least in the beginning worlds. Push up against the 3:00 mark if you have to in order to make the most of your time and make sure you aren’t speeding through levels. If you start to go too fast, you’ll get arrows to the face or get enemies jumping in your face. If you are rushing through, you also probably aren’t getting everything that’s easily accessible on the level.
- Change your default movement speed to walk and use R to run. Try to limit running to only when vital when you’re starting out the game or a new area.
- The bloody altars to Kali that appear randomly throughout your journey are very important. Sacrificing stuff on the altar gives you what is essentially reputation with Kali. At certain points of reputation, you get an item. The first item is a random article of clothing. The second is the Kapala, one of the strongest items in the game that allows you to collect health. Continuing to sacrifice gets you Royal Jelly, an item that gives you 6 HP! The best thing to sacrifice on the altar is an alive pet, so if at all possible at least bring Monty to any altars you find. An alive pet gets you to the next item immediately.
- Crouching while pressing the rope button drops the rope out in front of you rather than tossing it above you. This is useful on ledges that you want to be able to access again later.
- Crouching while pressing the bomb button sets the bomb gently in front of you. This is good for putting the bomb in a precise location. If you are brave, you can pick it back up and throw it into the air right in time for it to explode.
- Be careful not to use all your bombs and ropes. It’s possible to get yourself stuck if you are out of resources. The routes are generally all navigable without these items, but, for example, if you use your last bomb to blow your way into a pit and have no other resources, you can get stuck and effectively end your run. In the same vein, buy ropes and bombs at shops liberally.
- Shops can be robbed, but the shopkeeper will defend his merchandise. All shopkeepers are armed with a shotgun and have amazing reflexes. If you want to rob the shop, either pick up a weapon in his shop and stun him and kill him, or figure out an alternative way. There are many ways to stun the shopkeeper without a weapon, but he’s a quick bugger, so it’s risky. Not only that, all shopkeepers in upcoming levels will be aware that you are a robber, and shoot you on sight. They also will guard the exits to each level, making the run much harder.
Written by: Hillsider