[SPOILER] Casino Guide - How to win M&M

[Sasho]

M&M and How You Will Win!

Hi Everyone! I'm back with a new guide about Monsters and Mantids. Enjoy!

***Intro: Please read everything to increase your odds of winning. This guide is broken up in sections to make it more manageable. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ MY PREVIOUS GUIDE. This new M&M was far more complex to navigate than the first, so my three objectives here are 1) giving step-by-step instructions, and 2) explaining my logic so you can challenge it and improve it 3) keep it simple. Within the last 48 hours of this post I secured 7 wins within 15 games, and 5 of those 8 loses happened within the first several mobs so I didn’t lose a lot of time resetting those games. Yes, I’ve also had losing streaks that last 40 minutes, but that doesn’t get me down because I know another win is around the corner. You will win too, and here is how!

---Basic tips for M&M---

1) Tip your dealer. If you give the Mantis 1,000 councils you’ll get a 24 hour buff that carries from table to table that makes the game move 200% faster by increasing the speed of the dice rolls. Quicker games = quicker wins. You need Gambling at level 15 for this option.

2) If you roll a 1 when using Execute, the game considers it as rolling doubles.

3) The game will tell you your progress when you finish a fight via your consume corpse healing bonus. It starts by giving you an option to consumer a corpse to gain 5D health, but as you reach a new Stage (total of 8 Stages) you’ll see it tick up to 5D + 1, then 5D + 2, all the way up to 5D + 7. There are a few mobs in each category, but once you see 5D + 7, this means that very next immediate fight is the final boss.

4) Try to get the high stakes table. It gives you +5 max health and a starting healing potion. You need Gambling at level 30 for this option.

---Picking our starting skills---

1) Keep re-rolling the game until you get Skewer + Execute or Skewer + Prey. I sometimes will have to start/drop a game 5 times in a row until I get this combination. I understand that it's expensive, but the way I see it is that I'll get 20k+ councils when I win, but more importantly I'll get Red Wing Tokens (around 10 per win) and those coveted Crown Tokens (2 per win).

2) Can you win with any combination? Yes, I’ve beaten M&M with every set but not all win as often. In fact some are just plain terrible. In my experience, using my strategy I win the most with Skewer + Execute, and Skewer + Prey. My most dominating win ever was with Lurk + Prey, meaning I finished with record levels in my abilities (maxed Prey, maxed Lurk, maxed Potions, and level 5 Bombs). So while you can also play other combinations for fun and win, if you are going for your first win just stick to Skewer + Execute, or Skewer + Prey. Both are amazing so I’m making this guide for both options. Plus it requires less re-rolling of the game which saves you councils.

*Why not Crush? Because the bonus damage it gives can’t be manipulated. (Manipulated? Correct. Skewer can be manipulated, Crush cannot.)
*Why not Lurk? Because it was nerfed hard, and no available Perk does anything to boost Lurk’s damage. Also, enemies have high health so the one-and-done strategy doesn’t hold up. It’s about the long game.
*Why not Mindgnaw? Because I never win with Mindgnaw.
*Why not Zoidberg? I still don’t know.

----------Terminology for the Guide----------

*On Odds/On Evens - The enemy’s current health is an odd or even number.

*Killing Range - The enemy’s current health is within reason to kill it with Execute (usually between 4-8 health but can be higher if you feel like risking it). REMEMBER: Rolling a 1 counts as doubles, so if an enemy has 5 health, and Execute is 1D + 3, if you roll a 1 it’s only 4 damage, but it also means your Hat will activate.

*Point – Which skill you level after a battle.

*The Off Skill – Mindgnaw or Crush (the skill that will never get a Point)

*SET 1 – Skewer/Execute combo. (You will get Skewer Maxed, Execute only to Level 3)

*SET 2 – Skewer/Prey combo. (You will get Skewer and Prey Maxed)

---------------Strategic Notes---------------

1) Save Potions until you’ve at least reached “Stage 4,” and bombs until “Stage 3.” Potions are useless until you start getting levels into them first.

2) Good news! You will only need to level 2 skills (Skewer/Execute or Skew/Prey). All the remaining points go into Potions. This version of M&M gives an overwhelming number of Potions compared to Bombs. I’ve counted around an average of 13+ Potions a game compared to 7 Bombs, so leveling Bombs almost never makes sense.

3) Winning depends on scoring the correct Perk bonuses and a proper Hat. We can’t control these just like we can’t control the dice, but I just like us to understand this.

4) For the first 3 Stages of M&M, it’s good to have a Hat that gives you +Max Health when you devour a corpse. There are lots of Hats that give +Damage on doubles and +1D-X max health when you consume a corpse (Currently: If the Hat is 1D-3 Max Health and you roll a 1, a prompt will say you lose 2 Max Health, but you don’t actually lose any). By Stage 4 you want to have a +Healing Hat. I NEVER WIN M&M WHEN I DON’T HAVE A GOOD HAT. Never take the +Damage Hats after Stage 3. If your health is ≤ 38, it’s best to find a +Max Health/+Healing hats like the +11/11 Hat, but if your base max health is 43 or more, then you can trade it for a +Healing only Hat (like the hat that gives no max health but +14 or +21 healing on doubles).

5) After a fight, when do you devour a corpse and when do you raise a skill? First of all, NO CONSUMING A CORPSE UNTIL AFTER THE 3rd MONSTER. If you die, you die. After that use this breakdown to know either to consume the corpse or put a Point in a skill. It's based on your current health after the fight:
Stage 1: ≥ 13 health, raise a skill.
Stage 2: ≥ 15 health, raise a skill.
Stage 3: ≥ 17 health, raise a skill.
Stage 4: ≥ 21 health, raise a skill.
Stage 5: ≥ 24 health, raise a skill.
Stage 6+: ≥ 26 health, raise a skill. (Remember, Consume Corpse 5D + 7 means the next fight is the last, so be full going into the final fight)
If you so happen to get your base health over 40, then instead of using the above thresholds just use ≥ 60% health, raise a skill.
**Remember, when you raise a skill you still gain a 1D healing roll for the next fight. You’ll also still have your Prey heal and/or your Hat.

If you’ve lost M&M 100 times, it’s probably because you didn’t level your skills fast enough and focused too much on healing up after the fight. Getting familiar with these thresholds will turn the tide in your favor. Feel free to tweak it, but generally if my health is ~60% I'll put a point in a skill.

---------------THE PLAY-BY-PLAY ---------------

1) First fight – Skewer if enemy is On Odds. Otherwise use your Off Skill. Next attack, if enemy is On Odds then Skewer, otherwise use your Off Skill. Repeat until enemy is in Killing Range if you’re SET 1, or Prey once enemy is has ≤ 7 health if you’re SET 2; repeat Prey until enemy dies. *Point goes to Skewer if SET 1, point to Prey if SET 2.

For SET 1, another note on Execute. If you have 1D + 2 for Execute, it means you do a minimum of 3 damage. So no more than 2 rolls are needed if an enemy has 6 health. So if an enemy has 6 health I consider it in Killing Range because we might as well Execute and try to finish him in 1 roll. If you miss, he dies 100% on the next roll regardless. There’s no advantage to using Skewer/Off Skill in these situations, so always do quick math with each mob as they get low to know when it’s in Killing Range.

2) Second fight – Skewer if enemy is On Odds. Otherwise use Off Skill. Repeat until enemy is in Killing Range, or Prey once enemy has ≤ 8 health. *Point goes to the skill you didn’t raise last time.

3) Third fight – Skewer if enemy is On Odds. Otherwise use Off Skill. Repeat until enemy is in Killing Range, or Prey once enemy has ≤ 8 health. *Point goes to Skewer if SET 1, point to Prey if SET 2.

4) Fourth fight – Skewer if enemy is On Odds. Otherwise use Off Skill. Repeat until enemy is in killing range, or Prey once enemy has ≤9 health. *Point goes to the skill you didn’t raise last time.

--POSSIBLE ENCOUNTERS:
Sheep: Devour it if below 75% health. If not, befriend it for a couple potions.
Goblin: Buy the Potion/Bomb.
Delicious Fairy: Devour it every time. Other option to Parlay gives a +1 artifact or bless to avoid critical failures – not worth it in my opinion.
Chest – Open it for free gold.
The Worm – Always ignore it. Eating it will let you roll to gain +1 to saving throws, but failing the roll reduces your max health.

--POSSIBLE PERKS:
Of all the Perks offered, these are the ones you are going to need:
Preying Mantis * Needed to win with SET 2.
Jabby * Needed to win with SET 1 (helps with SET 2 a lot but surprisingly not as essential). Remember how I said Skewer can be manipulated? Use Jabby to put an enemy on odds, then Skewer it. Don’t be shy. Use all your Jabbys as often as you need; I never save mine.

Other helpful Perks (in order of importance):
Tough – Always take this one if the above two aren’t available. It fills your health allowing you to put a Point in a skill, and gives +1D max health.
Super Tough – Always take this one if you’ve already taken Tough, and if the above two still aren’t available.
Enthusiastic Executor – Gives +1 damage to Execute. If you are SET 2 skip this one.
Careful Drinker – Preserves health potion if you roll a 1. Also allows you to later get Precise Drinker to preserve health potions if you roll a 1 or 2.

5) The Grind Starts here. If you are SET 1 then repeat the same strategy of “4)” until Skewer is level 4, at which point you will no longer use your Off Skill at all, and you will spam Skewer from start to end until enemy is within killing range. If you are SET 2, now having 2 Points in each skill, you will Prey when enemy is on evens, and Skewer when on odds until enemy is has ≤ 9 health when you will finish it with Prey. *Points for SET 1: Skewer should get maxed first and Execute only needs to be level 3, then put all Points into Potions. For SET 2: max both Skewer and Prey, alternating Points into each, then put all Points into Potions. Also for SET 2, as Prey gets a higher level, increase the threshold respectively, so if your damage is 2D + 2 then allow an enemy to be at ≤ 11 health when you finish it with Prey.

--POSSIBLE ENCOUNTERS:
Spider Vendor: Buy the Hat.
Goblin: Buy the Potion or Bombs.
Injured Orc: Always attack it/Lie in Ambush.
Rogue: If he just wants my money he can have it. If he wants my Hat then I always fight. No one takes the Hat!
Mushroom: Ignore it. There are safer ways to boost max health.

6) Continue the fighting pattern as laid out in “5).” For SET 1 and SET 2, if you have Jabby, use it to keep the enemy On Odds, then Skewer.

7) Because you’ve been saving your bombs until at least Stage 3, feel free to use those now to put an enemy on odds if you are out of Jabbys. It’s a 50/50 chance, but one that I don’t hesitate to take. If you are SET 1 you can also use bombs if an enemy has around 12 health because it might lower them enough to get into Killing Range. In this sense the bomb is an extension of Execute, and also a pseudo Potion because it saves you from taking further damage from the enemy. If you are SET 2, you can also use a bomb to set up an enemy with around 13 health for a Prey finish.

--POSSIBLE ENCOUNTERS:
Beetle: Buy the hat.
Fairy Scion: You can devour it if your health is under 75%, otherwise Follow/Parlay with it for a chance for 3 to 4 Potions or Bombs. If you lose the Follow/Parlay the Fairy is weak (41 health, 2D + 1 damage) so it’s worth the risk.

8) Once you enter Stage 4, you need to start counting the bonus damage mobs do. If they deal 2D + 3, then you’ll know you are risking death if you have 15 health or less. Also, it’s Hat time! Got that +Healing Hat? No? Find one quickly because time is really running out! YOU CAN NOW USE POTIONS, but remember, SAVE SOME HEALING FOR THE HAT! Never use a Potion until an enemy can kill you on the next hit. If you have 20/40 Health and the most damage an enemy can do is 2D + 4, that means he can only do 16 damage. But if your Hat can heal you for 11 and the mob hits you for only 8, that’s a +3 gain that roll. Why +healing is better than +damage Hats is because if I’m using SET 1 with 11/40 health and I Execute a mob while rolling a 1, the mob dies, I get healed, and now I’m back at 22 health which sets me up to give a Point to a skill instead of corpse consuming. If it were a +Damage hat that double basically goes to waste.

--POSSIBLE ENCOUNTERS:
Spider Vendor: It sells Potions/Bombs. Buy them.
Skeletal Dragon: Always run away. Never worth the stupid Hat he gives when you Parlay with him.
Spider: If your health ≤ 25 run away. If its ≥ 26 then attack the spider because it’s an easy, quick kill. If it spits out a saving throw then run away if you win the roll. Otherwise you’re stuck fighting but you should be okay because have ≥ 26 health.
Support Golem: Buy the amulet. If you only have the options to Attack/Parlay, then Parlay because if you win the diplomacy roll you get the amulet for free. If you don’t win the roll he’ll still give you the amulet but in exchange for 2 bombs. Use the amulet when the enemy is On Evens.

9) Continue the grind, getting your skills to their appropriate levels and then putting Points into Potions.

10) The final boss has 100 health and does 4D damage. When you defeat him, continue forward (honestly I've never tried cashing out even though it gives me the option and I wonder if it does anything different), and do whatever you want here. Devour the corpse or put a Point into any skill – it doesn’t matter. Immediately after it will say you have won.

Congratulations! Go celebrate and barter for your crown!

--Remember, M&M is a game of odds so bad dice can ruin any game. The more you practice this strategy, the more you will win, and you might even make some tweaks to it.

If you have any questions please feel free to /t me in game. I'm happy to help everyone succeed.

-Sasho

Other sources:

Wiki: http://wiki.projectgorgon.com/wiki/M...r%27s_Handbook

Outdated Guide on M&M: https://forum.projectgorgon.com/show...3218#post13218

[benaniel]

it definitly helped me to win my first game thanks

[Celerity]

Fantastic guide, basically lines up 100% with everything I found myself when trying to get my win.

Crush is simply too inconsistent, although it can do good damage, what happens is you'll have some really good fights and some really poor fights and during the poor fights you'll either die or use up all your potions before you can level them up. The perk to go with it is also nowhere near as strong as jabby which not only deals an extra damage but guarantees that skewer's special effect will trigger.

Mindgnaw is meh, certainly not bad but I'm pretty sure it's just worse than the other skills unless you happen to get the +5 damage hat, or +1 damage table buff plus the mindgnawer perk since the damage gets doubled on mindgnaw's special effect.

Lurk falls off end game and although it usually has a strong early game, which can let you level up skills a lot and save up enough potions/bombs for the end game, especially when paired with prey, all it takes is poor rng one or two fights and you've either taken a death from risking a prey heal or an execute kill, or you'll just use up all your potions before reaching/killing the end boss.

Skewer is just the best, most consistent damage. Pair it with jabby to guarantee the special effect trigger each time, or bombs to essentially roll again and it's the clear winner. Personally, pairing it with prey/execute I tend to favour execute since execute expert is not required for execute to be really good, but preying mantis is required for prey to be really good. This means you'll generally get more execute runs with a winning combo than you will prey ones. Prey is also more rng based since execute has the flat damage, so can prevent damage for you more consistently than prey heals you. Execute does rely more on getting a good healing hat in the late game, so it's balanced out a bit, but I think you would still need one even if you have prey.

With the increased monster damage and hp, it's more important than ever to boost max hp. This means it's practically essential to have a +max hp when consuming corpses hat early game and tough plus super tough are basically always no-brainer picks as soon as you have jabby for skewer and preying mantis if you have prey. I would only consider taking careful drinker over tough and that's only if I was already high/full hp and had decent max hp already.

[Yaffy]

Great guide! I think something really important that your guide covers is that spending your resources when you can is a great idea. I think a common mistake people make in M&M is that they "save" their resources for when it's "really needed", rather than using them when they're generally helpful. A big thing about M&M is that winning fights with lots of health results in leveling up skills that help a ton out in the long run, rather than needing to eat corpses. Using something like bombs or jabs all the time might seem wasteful, but the health it saves you can add up to a lot of strength in the long run. This is also why tough is one of the best perks, just because it lets you get a level up for free.

One thing that I find very questionable is how you present your winrate though. I get that you're excluding a lot of games on purpose because "They didn't count", but you certainly aren't winning almost half of your games and it's very misleading to act like you should be winning so much. If anything your winrate is lower than it should be since you're outright giving up on certain games. I think it would make more sense to advertise your guide as a way to win M&M faster (Ex. I average a win every 30 minutes) rather than something that has a higher winrate.

[Sasho]

One thing that I find very questionable is how you present your winrate though. I get that you're excluding a lot of games on purpose because "They didn't count", but you certainly aren't winning almost half of your games and it's very misleading to act like you should be winning so much. If anything your winrate is lower than it should be since you're outright giving up on certain games. I think it would make more sense to advertise your guide as a way to win M&M faster (Ex. I average a win every 30 minutes) rather than something that has a higher winrate.

I'm 100% honest in that I won a ton of my most recent games before posting this guide. I wish there were time stamps on the leaderboard wins to show it so people know I'm giving a real number. My overall win rate is probably close to 15% once I have a set 1/set 2, but if I get rid of the games that die before the 10th mob it's probably more like 40%? I really don't know, but I promise I did, and have gotten win streaks. In fact, the first time I played the new M&M I got a win. I didn't have the same full strategy at that time of course, but I still followed my general rule health being ~60% after a fight. The biggest factor when playing is just time. The longer I commit, the more likely I will get a win. I don't think I've ever gone more than an hour without a win if I'm playing non-stop through that hour.

Maybe I'm selling the win-rate too hard though, because at the end of it all I don't want people to get discouraged and think they are doing something wrong. That's why I hope people will find tiny tweaks to it so they can make it there own. I do little adjustments to my own guide, but generally it just entails knowing when to take a little more of a risk for the sake of getting a better overall game (like maybe I'll gamble more with low health during earlier fights because I'd rather blow the game earlier than later, and I need to catch up in skill levels). I guess to get a real number I could sit down for a set amount of time and count the games/re-rolls/abandons/deaths/wins and then lay it out on a spreadsheet. I'll save that for a night I get both bored and drunk .

Thank you for your input and criticism, and I appreciate all your remarks <3.

[alleryn]

I am not sure that all these "tactics" will work in practice. It's a gambling game, so it all depends on your luck, not some skills.

Can't it be both? Like if you play with good judgment or skill you will win one more game out of 100 or something. If your luck is bad sometimes there is nothing you can do, but if you play with a different set of principles it may be enough to change a loss to a win on occasion.

I don't know, just a thought. Or there is always sacrificing a goat to RNGesus.

EDIT: Just want to mention that the above post i was replying to was edited after my reply to include that advertising link. It looked like a genuine enough post at the time.

[Daguin]

If you guys want that so hard, I can teach you how to play casino. There is nothing hard about it, really, but it's everything about your mindset and how you feel yourself during all those games.

Lol, no @nashandra.

This guide actually will increase your chances of winning. I can attest to the fact that I have used these tactics and they do improve M&M gameplay.
Of course there is always RNG and the random nature of your initial loadout to contend with, but that doesn't mean that knowing WHAT to do WHEN isn't valuable. I'm not convinced you have actually played the game/M&M, and it seems likely you just keyed on on some SEO words like gambling and casino.

[Dog]

Thank you, great post

[Papersky]

Skewer / Execute worked best for me. Add Jab to make the HP to become Odd HP. Or Bombs if you run out.