Cursed Treasure 2 Ultimate Edition Complete Walkthrough, Tips, and Hints

Full Skill List

I have played a ton of this game, both in this variation and the original. From all of my testing, here are my ratings for the skills (with bold indicating I think it is of high importance)

Orc Skills:

• Standard Design (8/10): Cost reduction is needed when the number of waves increases
• Die and Deliver (9/10): The extra coins easily come in clutch when you get them
• Height Advantage (6/10): This is situational but it can be huge when there are 2+ high ground tiles available; one thing of note here is that the first point in it is the most helpful (as it is +10% instead of +5%)
• Timber Yard (7/10): I almost went for bold, but there are enough other uses for mana that it does not feel as necessary as in the original variation. Still, more gold is always handy
• Cut Down Mastery (5/10): With Timber Yard not as important, this also decreased in priority for me, but it can reduce the cost from 75 -> 45, which is a sizable reduction
• Headhunting (7/10): Again, this one can almost be bold, and it is definitely one that you want for boss levels or just in general for later levels since there are so many champions; one thing of note here is that the first point in it is the most helpful (as it is +10% instead of +5%)
• Home Front (8/10): This is a great upgrade to ensure towers get to the third tier at least, especially for the frightening effect; it also gets exponentially better as you upgrade it
• Bargaining (7/10): The cost reduction is extremely helpful in longer games as dens are very versatile
• Putrefaction (4/10): I am not a fan of luck-based skills, and I have not seen the clouds do that much damage; I would suggest putting in a single point (first gives +10%; rest are only +5%) and ignoring it until the end
• The Warchief (9/10): While the % is rather low (5% to start, max of 17%), the ability to do double damage is great; one can think of it as being almost a 17% straight damage boost as that is what it will be in the average long-term

Undead Skills:

• Ancestral Wisdom (9/10): The start of a mission is always the most important time; a good setup at the start is often the hardest part of the mission, and extra mana can be used to attack buildings, set up mining, or even just chop trees; there is no downside
• Soul Distillation (5/10): This might even have gotten bolded if it had matched the gold version; I do not understand why this is half of the gold style, and it really loses a lot of value from that
• Mana Vault (1/10): This could be the most worthless upgrade in the game. From what I can tell, it does NOT affect mana accumulation; it is strictly max mana, and with how I play, I am rarely even at the normal max mana since I am always using it
• Life Drain (6/10): Ironically this one can be a double-edged sword if you are using a terrorized enemy to bring a gem back to the cave, but it is overall one that has a lot of value later in the game
• Terror Mastery (6/10): I like to keep mana on hand at all times to do one terror spell in case of emergency, at 25% reduction is rather nice, but other upgrades can be more vital
• Reaper’s Touch (9/10 & 5/10): Half of the power of this upgrade comes from the very first point, and that one does improve damage significantly; the rest of the upgrade can come way later, hence the double rating on it
• Haunted Cave (8/10): This barely makes it to the bold, but having a few extra hits can easily make a big difference, especially at the start of a mission when everything is super tight
• Undead Architect (8/10): Cost reduction is big for undead since when they get started, they are the craziest at controlling enemies, best known for the frightening option, but the other options are decent too
• Sparks of Spirit (4/10): I am not a fan of luck-based skills, and I have not seen the traps do that much damage; I would suggest putting in a single point (first gives +10%; rest are only +5%) and ignoring it until the end
• The Lich King (10/10): While the % is rather low (5% to start, max of 17%), the ability to freeze enemies with even a brand-new level-one tower cannot be understated

Demon Skills:

• Contribution (10/10): Gold at the start of the mission is the most crucial time and most crucial resource; this should always be your first skill grabbed
• Infamy (8/10): Getting up to 50% bonus XP may sound like it is 100% necessary, but there are a bunch of bonuses to XP at the end, so the 50% won’t increase your XP as it is just part of those bonuses; still, it is certainly helpful in the long-run
• Infernal Magnet (9/10): This is one of the most helpful upgrades in the game (and likely the most overlooked one). Bringing those gems back makes the game so much easier as there is generally a cooldown between waves. I suggest to always have at least a few points in it as it will save so many brilliant (and even just missions in general)
• Lava Core (6/10 & 2/10): Welcome to another skill that gains most of its value in the first level; the pool doesn’t do insane damage, but it can add up, especially for one skill point. However, the later levels are garbage as 5 seconds is already more than enough time for enemies to have gone beyond the pool (and only add 2 seconds???)
• Meteor Mastery (5/10): I rarely use meteors myself (only for enemies that cannot be frightened), but the 30% discount is massive in long games as the cost goes from 200 to just 140, making it far more usable
• School of the Evil (6/10): I will sometimes get the first upgrade (10%) as it is the most powerful one (others are +5%) just for the extra experience, but I do not see it as a critical upgrade
• Frenzy (7/10): This is another upgrade that may be overlooked by many, but the fire rate boost is pretty good, and 10 seconds is a long time, so it has a lot of value, almost to the bold level, but in the end it just barely misses
• Forced Labor (7/10): Cost reduction is always really good, but demon towers have a short range, lowering their usefulness to me, but they are still great for AOE or choke points
• Sins Unleashed (5/10): Like the other mine-style skills, this one I often put one point in for the first 10% (ignoring the +5% on the others). I like this one a bit better due to its higher damage than the others as a trap
• The Demon Lord (6/10): Unlike the other two final bonuses, I have found the fire to be underwhelming, but the extra DoT does help to a degree, just not as much as instant damage

Tower Details

Part of this game is knowing what towers to create and which upgrade path to take. That is what this section is all about. I am going to be trying to unify details as much as possible. For example, a Sniper’s Den has a 10% crit rate, so we can find its average DPS according to:

DPS = (.90 * 8 + .10 * 16) / 1.5 = 5.87

By converting everything to DPS, we can compare towers much more easily.

Orc Dens:

• Den does 3.33 DPS with a range of 5
• Den II does 4.67 DPS with a range of 5
• Path 1: Sniper’s Den does 5.87 DPS with a range of 5
• Path 1: Sniper’s Den II does 6.90 DPS with a range of 5
• Path 2: Ballista Den does 4.38 DPS with a range of 7 and 1.8 splash
• Path 2: Ballista Den II does 5.00 DPS with a range of 7 and 1.8 splash
• Bunker Den does 12.00 DPS with a range of 5
• Rocket Den does 6.90 DPS with a range of 6 and 1.5 splash
• Catapult Den does 7.5 DPS with range of 7 and 1.8 splash (including the shrapnel in DPS)

Orcs have the greatest potential range, which cannot be emphasized enough. Which path you take in the mid tiers comes down to its placement. If it is on the inside of a curve, Sniper’s Den can be superior with the higher DPS. However, in most circumstances the Ballista Den is superior: if the splash even hits half of the time, its DPS is greater with a much greater range (don’t forget that the actual area is a square function, so Ballistas can hit almost twice the area of Snipers with 49 vs 25). For the final upgrade, I suggest continuing down your path. Bunker Den has insane DPS, far superior to Rocket (unless it has almost 100% success rate for splash), so it is the superior option for Snipers. Ballistas should become Catapults since generally at least one shrapnel will hit (which I added into the DPS), meaning it has higher DPS, range, and splash over the Rocket.

Undead Crypts (am using 1/2 recharge rate due to the accumulation of charges):

• Crypt does 3.33 DPS with range of 5
• Crypt II does 4.00 DPS with range of 5
• Path 1: Frosty Crypt does 4.67 DPS with range of 5 and 1/7 slowdown
• Path 1: Frosty Crypt II does 6.00 DPS with range of 5 and 1/7 slowdown
• Path 2: Dreadful Crypt does 4.33 DPS with range of 5 and 20% to frighten
• Path 2: Dreadful Crypt II does 5.00 DPS with range of 5 and 25% to frighten
• Icy Crypt does 6.67 DPS with range of 5 and 1/5 slowdown
• Lightning Crypt does 8.00 DPS with range of 5 and 10% to frighten
• Shattering Crypt does 5.67 DPS with range of 5, 30% to frighten, and chaining

Undead are best known for the frighten aspect. That does mean that most forget about path 1, which… is totally legit. The slowdown is not bad, but it is not nearly as overwhelming as the frightening potential. The DPS is far lower than other towers, but these are for crowd control rather than damage. Now, one thing that DOES warrant consideration is the third tier. At a glance, Shattering just destroys Lightning with 3x frightening potential; however, if you have the final tier skill for Undead (17% chance to freeze), the Lightning Tower has a much faster attack, which means it is more consistent for freeze/frighten potential to a degree. That said, most of the time even in end game, I still do Shattering as the chaining potential pushes it over (although I do Lightning as a fun change of pace).

Demon Temples (note that the recharge is actually 0.5 for most of them):

• Temple does 4.00 DPS with range of 4
• Temple II does 5.20 DPS with range of 4
• Temple of Overseer does 5.40 DPS x 2 with range of 4.3
• Temple of Overseer II does 5.80 DPS x 2 with range of 4.5
• Temple of Inferno does 2.60 DPS full AOE with range of 4
• Temple of Inferno does 3.00 DPS full AOE with range of 4
• Temple of Beholder does 6.40 DPS x3 with range of 5
• Temple of Ifrit does 7.00 DPS with range of 4.7 and 1.5 splash
• Temple of Hellfire does 5.4 DPS full AOE with range of 4

Okay, math time! How many enemies need to be in range for Inferno to beat Overseer? Well, with 1 or 2, Overseer easily wins. At 2+ enemies, Overseer is doing 10.8 DPS, so 10.8/2.6 = 4.15 enemies. Thus 1-4 enemies means Overseer wins while 5+ enemies in range means Inferno wins… and that is super rare. In many ways, the middle tiers is even more of a slam dunk than undead: go for the Overseer route. As for the final upgrade, I often go for the Beholder for the greater range and three simultaneous attacks, but the 1.5 splash with higher DPS of Ifrit makes it situationally better (but rather rare, just like the Lightning tower for Undead).

Level 1 (0 SP)

You can brilliant level 1 without any skills with just focusing on building up on curves to maximize the usable range (since enemies take the shortest path), such as the inside of the left side. It will take a meteor on the final wave, but it is fully doable.

Level 2 (3 SP)

With 3 SP all spent on Contribution to get 60 extra gold, you can do dens on the high grounds and the solo ground, as well as the temple on the solo red. From there, I used magic to invest for gold mining 2 times and then just upgraded and cut one of the best crypt locations I could find. If in difficulty, use meteors (you should get two in total) in a pinch.

Level 3 (6 SP)

For this level, I used 3 Contribution and then 3 Infernal Magnet. By focusing on dens on the high point and maxing out choke points, I also again got the gold mining up to the second level to save enough mana to chop trees for the choke point positions and get enough for a well-timed meteor right when all 3 of the final wave can get hit together. I did get a bit lucky with some coin drops, but all three of the final died at the cave, so I don’t think that luck was really needed.

Level 4 (9 SP)

Level 4 can be done with 1 investment in Ancestral Wisdom, 5 in Contribution, and 3 in Infernal Magnet. I put a demon temple on the high ground and filled out that island first. I used mana first to get the mining, and I did put some gold to get the mana pool to the first level. I did chop the southernmost purple forest in the top-left for a crypt for any mobs that got through. In the mid game, I started taking out the city while placing towers along the right side. For the general, I had saved up enough for two meteors to hit him when he had enemies around him.

Level 5 (coming soon)