Conan Chop Chop Beginner’s Guide: 5 Essential Tips for New Players

by Mike Alexander / Game Guides, Tips & Tricks / 08 Mar 2022

The roguelike genre has no shortage of amazing games for fans of difficult but fair mechanics, and with the release of Conan Chop Chop on March 1st, there’s a brand new option. This 4-player co-op experience pits the heroes of Hyboria against the challenges of the Wrath-a-Thon, a treacherous series of challenges created by the wicked sorcerer Thoth-Amon. If you’re going to have any chance of making it to the end of these procedurally generated dungeons, you’re going to need equipment, friends, and a few tips on how to progress and successfully navigate these challenges. Thankfully, I have just that in this Conan Chop Chop Beginner’s Guide. So pick up your ax and put on your mean face, and let’s get started!

Equip Some Charms

In Conan Chop Chop, you’re going to face many challenges. One of the best ways to prepare yourself when heading out on your path of destruction is to equip charms. Charms imbue your character with buffs and other advantages that you can’t get from any other equipment.

Some charms give you animal companions, like a chicken or slime, which will aid you in combat. Having a companion is especially helpful if you’re playing the game solo, since they’ll draw aggro away from you and give you a chance to regroup.

There are also charms that will apply elemental damage to your weapons, like the Poison Strike charm which lets you do poison damage. The damage over time caused by poison can be incredibly useful in combat, chipping away at enemy health even when you aren’t actively attacking.

Leave No Loot Behind

There will be loot around every corner when you are out in the Wrath-a-Thon, so make sure to be on the lookout. In addition to treasure chests, it is also possible for enemies to drop items after they’re killed, though it doesn’t happen with every felled enemy.

Whether from chests or fallen enemies, you’ll be able to obtain charms, weapons, armor, and other items while out in the competition. If you die after collecting a weapon or a piece of armor, you will not have it when you respawn due to the game’s roguelike nature. You will, however, be able to purchase the lost items from the hub area, where they will be unlocked.

Rebuild A War-Torn Village

Your safe zone in Conan Chop Chop is the Hyborian village of Hanumar. As a result of Thoth-Amon’s machinations, Hanuman has been destroyed, leaving behind only rubble and villagers struggling to rebuild their homes.

As you progress through the game, you will be able to invest in and upgrade Hanumar, rebuilding it to its former glory. The citizenry will be extremely grateful, providing you with progressively more advanced and helpful equipment and items.

Additionally, all of these upgrades you complete will persist through the many deaths you will definitely experience, giving you a leg up when you have to restart the Wrath-a-Thon from the beginning once more.

Complete Villager Requests

In between runs of the Wrath-a-Thon, you will have a chance to explore Hanumar and speak to the NPCs who inhabit it. As you get to know the citizens, they will sometimes ask you to bring them something from your adventures. These requested items will appear in silhouette to the bottom left of your minimap.

When you find and return these items to the people who asked for them, they will give you a special item in exchange. The item they give you could be a special weapon, armor, or a key to a special chest in one of the biomes that contains epic loot.

Whatever they give you in return, it’s usually worth the hassle, so do your best to complete these requests for the villagers. Plus, it’s the nice thing to do.

Ease The Roguelike Pain

When you die in Conan Chop Chop, you drop everything. All of your carried items, all the money you’ve gathered, even your health goes back to its default state. This can be extremely demoralizing, especially if you were on a good run, but there are a few ways to ease the pain.

When you respawn after death, the only things you will keep are skill points and steelfire currency. The steelfire currency is used to purchase unlocked weapons and equipment from the blacksmith in Hanumar. The available equipment is based on what you’ve found on your adventures, so there will likely always be something new and stronger at this store.

The other persisting commodity, skill points, are used to acquire skill upgrades for the character you are currently playing. If you constantly switch characters, you won’t be able to unlock these skills for any of them very quickly. I recommend trying all of the characters out for a while, then committing to one until you’ve fully upgraded them. This will make future runs with that character slightly easier.

Conclusion

There you have it, 5 tips to help you on your way to becoming a full-blown barbarian. Remember, Conan Chop Chop is a roguelike, so there are no checkpoints or places to save when you’re on a mission. You have to either make it through the entire game, or die and go back to the very beginning. So use these tips, and I hope they help you to see Thoth-Amon’s Wrath-a-Thon to the very end.

Mike Alexander

Mike has been playing video games since he was able to hold a controller, having been fascinated by Sonic 2 on his mom’s Sega Genesis. That fascination and passion for the art form has grown exponentially nearly 30 years later, and he doesn’t see that fading away anytime soon.
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