Grove Keepers

Game plan

What each player builds

Team plan

• Opening. Waves 1–5: Cryptid and Cryptid buy economy only (Harvesting, Luck, cheap materials items); everyone else buys one weapon class and merges duplicates. Spend down to a ~20-material buffer every shop — the pool is shared, so hoarding helps nobody.
• Mid game. Waves 6–12: everyone converts the pool into damage; every player takes some Armor — there is no dedicated tank. Lock Tier III+ weapon upgrades across waves rather than rerolling for them.
• Late game. Waves 13–20: stop buying economy (Cryptid, Cryptid switch to Max HP and whatever their damage stat is); every level-up goes to Max HP or Armor. Agree who kites the boss and who clears the adds before wave 20 starts.

Waves to prepare for

1. Wave 1–3 Shared economy start

   Materials and XP are pooled; the first three shops decide whether the team is rich at wave 10.

   • Cryptid / Cryptid: Harvesting first, Luck second; no weapons beyond the starter until wave 4.
   • Everyone picks a weapon class now and sticks to it; the shop's weighting is split between players, so don't compete for the same class.
   • Cryptid/Cryptid: protect trees — they pay at wave end.
2. Wave 5–6 First real pressure

   Enemy count ramps and the first spitters/chargers arrive; teams with no Max HP start trading revives here.

   • Every player at +10 Max HP minimum.
   • Someone takes the first Armor item that shows up.
3. Wave 9–10 Pre-elite checkpoint

   Pursuers arrive from wave 11 and the first challenge wave hits at 11–12; what you have at the end of wave 10 is what you fight it with.

   • Damage players should have four weapons of their class merged to Tier II+ (all players).
   • Buy one burst option for elites: crit, bosses damage, or explosion items.
4. Wave 11–12 Challenge wave #1 (horde 40% / elite 60%)

   Elites spawn at 75% HP here but still one-shot low-HP players; a horde doubles the screen's enemy count.

   • Read the wave preview in the shop: horde → spread out and kite in circles; elite → focus it with everyone, adds second.
   • The highest-Armor player body-blocks while the others burst it.
5. Wave 14–15 Challenge wave #2

   Second horde/elite roll; enemy HP has doubled since wave 10, so burst that worked at 11 may not now.

   • Upgrade the main weapon to Tier III on every damage player before this wave.
   • Economy players stop buying economy; convert to Max HP.
6. Wave 17–18 Guaranteed elite wave

   Always an elite, at full HP, with wave-18 enemy scaling behind it.

   • Everyone has Armor and Max HP as the last three level-ups.
   • Save 150+ materials across the team for the wave-19 shop (Tier IV weapon upgrades).
7. Wave 20 Boss wave (two bosses on Danger 5)

   Both bosses at once on Danger 5; the fight is positioning, not DPS.

   • The player with the most Armor takes the dashing boss; everyone else kites the projectile boss in a wide circle.
   • Nobody picks up materials during the fight unless a materials-damage build needs them.
   • Known weakness: No reliable damage dealer — waves 15+ will outscale the team.

Wave timings are for Danger 4–5 (challenge waves at 11–12, mid-teens and 17–18; two bosses on Danger 5). Lower Dangers have fewer or no challenge waves.