Soda Dungeon – FAQ/Walkthrough

Tavern

Your tavern is your headquarters in this game. This is where you recruit adventurers, buy item and upgrades.

NPCs

Your tavern begins with only the Owner (barkeeper) which is the main NPC of this game. As you play and buy upgrades, you unlock other NPCs here.

Owner (Barkeeper)

The main NPC of the game. He offers three options: Tavern, Sodas, and VIP. The Tavern option allows you to buy upgrades for the tavern, which may affect your patrons, affect the tavern reputation, or even unlock new NPCs. The Sodas option is to buy sodas, which unlocks new patrons. VIP has stronger and more expensive upgrades (only available after completing dungeon level 50).

Shopkeeper

Unlocked during the tutorial at the begging of the game. He offers a selection of items for sale. You can upgrade its selection by buying the "Armory" upgrade with the Barkeeper. The items he offers depends on the dungeon level you have completed. He shows four options: Buy, Sell, Liquidate, and Purge. Buy/Sell is self-explanatory. Liquidate sells your surplus items, you can use without worry because liquidate will not sell that special 'one of kind' item you just acquired. Purge will only be available after you defeat the dungeon boss in your current dimension, this option sells ALL your items (use only when you are about to change dimensions).

Wizard

Unlocked after you buy the Wizard upgrade with the Barkeeper. The game itself will hint you when it is a good time to buy the Wizard. Very useful to skip dungeon levels where you have already killed the area boss.

Banker

Unlocked after you buy the Banker upgrade with the Barkeeper. You cant really talk to him, he just stays there and "stores" gold when you are away from the game.

Gladiator

Unlocked after you get at least 3 patrons and pass a few dungeon levels (not sure the exact amount, 10 or 20). The gladiator will tell you about the Daily Challenge Arena.

Patrons

The game uses the term Soda Patrons for the people walking into your bar. You be throwing them into the dungeon soon. Each patron is described as follows:

Patron Type

"Patron game description"
Req: requirements for this patron to appear in your tavern (soda cost in parenthesis).
Cost: gold cost (unmodified) to hire this patron
Stats: HP / Attack / MP
Active Skills: this patrons' skills which you can use as an action in the dungeon.
Static Skills: This patrons' passive skills. Static skills are always active.
Relic Skills: This patron new skills when you acquire the relic for it.
Comment: My personal thoughts on this patron.

Soda Junkie

"This guy is a soda addict, not a fighter. Use as last resort."
Req: Stools, 0 Reputation
Cost: 0
Stats: 10 / 1 / 0
Active Skills: none
Static Skills: none
Relic Skill: [Dimension 2] Twitchy, Static skill, +20% chance to evade.
Comment: The only positive point on this patron is the cost. Pick any other if you can afford.

Rufian

"He's a vagrant that knows how to defend himself."
Req: Dr Slurp (50), 50 Reputation
Cost: 25
Stats: 15 / 3 / 0
Active Skills: none.
Static Skills: none.
Relic Skill: [Dimension 3] Dagger toss (1 MP), Active skill, Hits 3 random targets.
Comment: Reasonable at the start of the game but very weak later on. When you acquire his relic, it becomes slightly better, but I still recommend other patrons.

Conscript

"She's familiar with adventuring. For a price."
Req: Dungeon Mist (150), 100 Reputation
Cost: 50
Stats: 25 / 5 / 0
Active Skills: none.
Static Skills: none.
Relic Skill: [Dimension 4] Lethal Tactic, Static Skill, +50% critical damage.
Comment: Another good adventurer and a bargain at lower levels. However better and more powerful patrons become available next.

Fighter

"Specializes in brutal physical attacks."
Req: Grappling Grape (1K), 250 Reputation
Cost: 150
Stats: 30 / 7 / 15
Active Skills: Dropkick (2 MP), attack power x2 to target
Static Skills: none.
Relic Skill: [Dimension 5] Piledriver (10 MP), Active Skill, attack power x3 to target.
Comment: His active skills are good against single target enemies (like bosses). You should consider bringing a fighter for such occasions, in my opinion, only the Merchant outshines the Fighter for bosses in this area.

Conjurer

"Wields arcane powers"
Req: Cherry Charm (2.5K) , 400 Reputation
Cost: 200
Stats: 28 / 6 / 25
Active Skills: Bolt storm (3 MP), damages entire group (25 base damage)
Static Skills: Magic Adept, +50% boost to magic attacks.
Relic Skill: [Dimension 6] Divination, Static Skill, +10% essence chance.
Comment: Bolt Storm is really good at dungeons levels lower than 100, but it decreases efficacy after that. Magical boost items increase the damage done by Bolt Storm, but I don't think it is worthed. At higher levels, I prefer other patrons (even the Fighter is usually a better choice). After acquiring its relic skill this patron becomes useful for farming essences.

Healer

"Excels at group healing and the removal of status effects."
Req: Holy Fizz (7.5K), 525 Reputation
Cost: 250
Stats: 27 / 7 / 35
Active Skills: Therapy (2 MP), target heals all HP and status effects.
|___________ Group Heal (4 MP), heals small amount of HP to all party members.
Static Skills: Magic Adept, +50% boost to magic attacks.
Relic Skill: [Dimension 7] Refresh (5 MP), Active Skill, group heals HP and status effects.
Comment: He is essential to endure a long streak of dungeon levels. I recommend at least one per party (I usually take 2 healers on every group). Therapy skill is based on the Healer's HP (it restores the same amount as the healer's full HP value). The other active skills are affected by magical boost items and relics (i.e., the more magical boost you have, the greater is the HP regained by Group Heal and Refresh).

Thief

"Attains extra treasure through questionable means."
Req: Loot Beer (15K), 650 Reputation
Cost: 300
Stats: 32 / 9 / 20
Active Skills: Pilfer (2 MP), steals something from target.
Static Skills: Sharp Eye, +20% chance of better items.
|___________ Greedy, open all chests in a treasure room.
Relic Skill: [Dimension 8] Crit Master, Static Skill, +15% crit chance, +15% crit damage.
Comment: One of my favorites, it always pays to have at least one thief at your party. Thief's passives are awesome to get more and better items. Pilfer skill can be used to steal essences; when you do this, you get the normal essence for killing the enemy and also the one you stole (so it "duplicates" your essence gained).

Knight

"A solid companion that is respected throughout the land."
Req: Questing Cream Soda (25K), 750 Reputation
Cost: 350
Stats: 35 / 12 / 25
Active Skills: Heavenstrike (3 MP), hits 1 target plus splash damage.
Static Skills: Leader, the party cannot be ambushed or trapped.
|___________ Noble, attempts to defend weaker teammates.
Relic Skill: [Dimension 9] Smite (6 MP), Active Skill, damage and burn a group.
Comment: Another favorite of mine. A decent fighter who defends other party members and prevents them from being killed (equipping damage reduction and reflection items is a good idea because of this skill). His other passive also allows you to choose dungeon doors which will only award good results. When you acquire his relic, the Knight becomes even more awesome with the ability to inflict burn (which is great on bosses).

Merchant

"Manages to convert gold into attack power."
Req: Regal Cola (50K), 750 Reputation
Cost: 400
Stats: 20 / 10 / 0
Active Skills: Fifty/Fifty (500 gold --- yes it costs gold to activate), 50% chance to remove 1/2 of target's HP.
Static Skills: Wealth, +20% gold earned.
Relic Skill: [Dimension 10] Affluence (1K gold), Active Skill, damages entire group.
Comment: His Fifty/Fifty skill is really good against hard bosses, I could only beat the dungeon boss at 400 by using 2 merchants. His passive is also good when you are running dungeon levels for gold.

Darkmage

"A master of dark arts."
Req: Drink Zero (100K), 800 Reputation
Cost: 450
Stats: 31 / 8 / 30
Active Skills: Noxin (4 MP), damage and confuse a group (may also cause poison).
Static Skills: Magic Master, +80% boost to magic attacks.
Relic Skill: [Warrior's Dimension] Necroblast (8 MP), Active Skill, high magic damage to the target.
Comment: Personally, I did not like the Darkmage, mainly because he is very expensive and I found him subpar when compared to the previous patrons (Merchant, Knight, and Thief). However, later I found out that he may be very helpful on bosses (I found many strategies online that uses Darkmages). Too bad, you only get his relic in the final dimension, because Necroblast is great to dish a lot of damage. Darkmage active skills are affected by magical boost items and relics.

Ragezerker

"An uncontrollable high-impact maniac."
Req: Fury X-treme (500K), 1000 Reputation
Cost: 600
Stats: 10 / 35 / 0
Active Skills: none
Static Skills: Unruly, won't listen to your commands.
|___________ Roar, boost random teammate Attack on first turn.
|___________ Rage, +0.5 Attack for each enemy defeated.
Relic Skill: none (he does not have a patron relic).
Comment: He has the strongest attack from all patrons, but it is uncontrollable. You must take into account that this patron will not attack his first turn. I have mixed feelings about this patron, as he has a great attack but it is too expensive and uncontrollable. I guess he could be more useful on bosses where the fight takes longer, but I don't think its worth to spend 500K on his soda. Also, be aware that unlike other VIP upgrades, you don't carry over his soda when you change dimensions.
Update: (Thanks to Andrew for this information) Apparently, the bonus provided by the Roar last for the entire dungeon run. Therefore, using a Ragezerker on lower levels could build up some nice bonuses for your entire party.

"I think the bonus for Ragezerker roar is permanent in 1 dungeon (...) I just passed dimension 7, but I notice that my party one-shot everything around lvl 500 onward without me." -- Andrew (thanks again for the info).

Shifter

(coming soon)

Upgrades

You can buy upgrades by talking to the Barkeeper. There is two kind of upgrades: Tavern and VIP. VIP upgrades are only available after you complete 50 levels in the dungeon, and it contains more expensive upgrades. Bought upgrades carry over when you change dimension (with the exception of the VIP Fury X-treme soda). I will describe the upgrades as follows

Upgrade Name

Ranks: How many ranks you can buy for this upgrade.
Cost: Gold cost to buy the upgrade for each rank (each rank separated by / )
Reputation: reputation gain (only appears if the upgrade gives reputation)
Description: What the upgrade does.
Comment: My personal comment on this upgrade.

Tavern Upgrades

You should prioritize buying upgrades that give you more patrons on your first run (such as Stools and Tables). A party of five patrons, even lesser ones, is better than buying sodas for unlocking new patrons. Here is the list:

Stools

Ranks: 6
Cost: 10 / 50 / 250 / 500 / 1K / 2.5K
Reputation: +10 per rank
Description: 50% chance to attract a patron.
Comment: The tutorial makes you buy this as your first upgrade. You should prioritize buying upgrades that get you more patrons so that you manage to assemble a party of five. Therefore, this is an important upgrade.

Tables

Ranks: 6
Cost: 100 / 250 / 500 / 1K / 2.5K / 5K
Reputation: +25 per rank.
Description: 75% chance to attract a patron.
Comment: Another important upgrade as it attracts more patrons. Note that Tables have a better percentage than Stools, so always go for a table when their cost is the same.

Armory

Ranks: 1
Cost: 50
Reputation: +10
Description: Shopkeeper sells better items.
Comment: Although the items are an improvement over the regular shopkeeper, don't expect great items. The items available are based on your completed dungeon levels. Since it is a cheap upgrade, you should buy it after you get a few stools. When you buy the armory, buy armor for your patrons (also upgrade your shield and sword when you have the money).

Casks

Ranks: 11
Cost: 75 / 200 / 500 / 1K / 2.5K / 5K / 10K / 10K / 25K / 25K / 50K
Description: 5% discount for each rank to hire patrons.
Comment: Not great. At the beginning is slightly better because gold is tight, but really superfluous later on.

Beds

Ranks: 1
Cost: 100
Reputation: +10
Description: Refresh your tavern patrons for a price.
Comment: Very important once you have a selection of many different patrons and you want to assemble a specific party.

Wizard

Ranks: 1
Cost: 200
Reputation: +10
Description: Warp you to completed dungeon levels.
Comment: Important, once you have passed through 30+ dungeon levels on the first dimension. The game itself will suggest when its time to buy the Wizard.

Decor

Ranks: 3
Cost: 500 / 2.5K / 5K
Reputation: +50
Description: Upgrade the look on your tavern (gives tavern reputation only).
Comment: The only reason for you to purchase this upgrade is if you really want a specific patron and the reputation is falling short. Otherwise, you should not worry about this.

Kitchen

Ranks: 10
Cost: 1K / 2K / 4K / 7.5K / 10K / 15K / 20K / 25K / 35K / 50K
Description: +2% starting HP for each rank.
Comment: This is a tough one. HP is important in this game, but the starting HP of patrons aren't high enough to cause a noticeable impact. Prioritize other upgrades as you only see an effect after buying several ranks.

Banker

Ranks: 6
Cost: 2K / 5K / 15K / 25K / 50K / 100K
Description: Earn gold when you are not playing the game.
Comment: Superfluous. The idea of gaining gold for *not* playing may be tempting but it gives little gold (it seems the dimension and rank affect the amount of gold earned).

No Adds

Ranks: 1
Cost: 0
Description: Ad-free game.
Comment: The PC game on Steam is already ad-free. This upgrade already appears bought.

VIP Upgrades

I don't recommend buying VIP upgrades on your first dungeon for two main reasons: (i) they are very expensive for the first dimension, and (ii) your gold is better spent on regular tavern upgrades or sodas. Therefore, wait at least until the second dimension to start buying them.

Fury X-treme

Ranks: 1
Cost: 500K
Reputation: +100
Description: attracts the Ragezerker patron.
Comment: ATTENTION, this upgrade does not carry over dimensions (this is the only exception, as far as I know). Unless you really want a Ragezerker in your party, avoid this upgrade until the Warrior's Dimension.

Coat Check

Ranks: 1
Cost: 250K
Description: saves equipment preferences for patrons.
Comment: You must click on the patron on the party screen, below the "Fire" button you will see two "disk" icons. Once you have a good set of equipment and don't want to manually equip a type of patron, this can help. Not really important, but nice when laziness strikes.

Stables

Ranks: 1
Cost: 500K
Description: adds location to purchase and store team pets.
Comment: Pets may provide nice combat bonus. The stables give you one free pet that increases MP. Purchase other pets cost at least 1M gold, so you better be prepared to spend here. See the section Pets for more details.

Gnomes

Ranks: 6
Cost: 50K / 100K / 250K / 500K / 750K / 1M
Description: gives extra essence (+5% per rank of total essences gained, according to my calculations).
Comment: Good upgrade as it increases the amount of essence gained in dungeons and the daily challenge arena. The extra essence is computed when you finish your run (the gnomes will appear on the screen and increase the essence gained). The initial ranks are affordable enough, but you should save your gold for the Magic Well (which is better for acquiring essences).

Inherit

Ranks: 6
Cost: 25K / 50K / 75K / 100K / 125K / 150K
Description: start with 1K gold per rank when you enter a new dimension.
Comment: It is a good investment before you change dimensions.

P. Warp

Ranks: 8
Cost: 50K / 100K / 150K / 200K / 250K / 300K / 350K / 400K
Description: +100 to start warp level (per rank) in a new dimension.
Comment: Another good investment before changing dimensions.

Magic Well

Ranks: 1
Cost: 350K
Description: converts gold to essence (5K gold = 1 essence)
Comment: I really like this upgrade. It is especially useful when you are about to change dimension and have to spend all your gold. Since gold is much easier to acquire than essence, this conversion comes in handy to upgrade relics.

Customize

Ranks: 1
Cost: 5M
Description: customize the look of your patrons.
Comment: Superfluous. It is a strictly cosmetic upgrade with no practical use whatsoever. You will be able to change the hair and place some facial accessories.

All-Sight

Ranks: 1
Cost: 100M
Description: enemy HP always visible.
Comment: I like to be able to see the enemies HP without the need of equipping an item. Too bad the cost prohibits you from buying until the final dimensions.

Magic Clock

Ranks: 1
Cost: 500M
Description: speeds up dungeon progression.
Comment: (coming soon).

Tap-Select

Ranks: 1
Cost: 1 Caps
Description: toggle taps to customize your hiring pool.
Comment: Another upgrade that should be available sooner. Using beds to refresh patrons until finding the party you want is annoying (the cost is negligible). This upgrade helps a lot with that. You better exercise your patience because caps can only be acquired in the Warrior's Dimension.

Void Cola

Ranks: 1
Cost: 5 Caps
Reputation: +100
Description: attracts the Shifter patron.
Comment: (coming soon).