These tips are primarily aimed at beginners looking to improve, but they all have additional recommendations for intermediate players that might just need that little push to find victory or unlock some alternate kits for their favorite characters.
After the tips below, I also go over some builds worth trying.
Tip 1: Plan Your Route
Though much of One Step From Eden is up to chance, you have more control than you might think.
You can essentially choose when to fight certain bosses, which can be vital to the success of your run.
Each zone has two possible bosses, and you have the choice of three zones to travel to after defeating a boss. Bosses get tougher as you progress through each world, so it makes sense to face the tougher foes as early as possible.
For instance, I find Gunner to be the easiest boss, so I’ll always avoid Fire zones until the very end of a run.
Conversely, I like to face Terra early as her abilities can be really tricky to dodge, and the power of them will increase if I fight her on a later level. I’ve included a list of which bosses spawn where in my Shopkeeper and characters guide (note: Saffron spawns in Fire zones if you’re not playing her.)
You can always reset runs to face the opponent you struggle with the most on your first world — just don’t try this immediately after a successful run, as you won’t get the free artifacts from your first encounter!
Tip 2: Know Your Win Condition
I alluded to it early, but you can unlock alternate kits for each character by reaching one of the game’s endings.
[Minor end-game spoilers below, skip to the next Tip if you want to avoid]So, what exactly are the unlock requirements?
Well, with everyone except Saffon, you’ll unlock their alternate kit by performing one of the following:
Reach the Genocide Ending — kill every boss, then kill the final boss you meet in the last world. Reach the Neutral Ending — kill at least one boss, spare at least one boss, and then kill the final boss you meet in the last world.
I’ve left those descriptions fairly vague to avoid major spoilers, but the idea is to complete a run while killing at least one boss.
Now, for Saffron. You need to achieve a True Genocide Ending to get her third kit, which is even tougher.
On top of killing every boss you meet, you also need to defeat the Shopkeeper in the same run. This gives you a special interaction in the final fight that I won’t spoil, but check out the guide I linked above if you’re having some trouble with this fight.
Now, let’s get into some gameplay tips to help us get there, shall we?
Tip 3: Change Your Focus
One quick and simple tip that everyone should utilize is to assign something to your deck’s two Focus slots.
These hover just above your spells when you open the Deck (by pressing the “I” key on keyboard or the “Start” button on controller.
Selecting a Focus will make cards of that class more likely to appear as rewards for winning battles. You’re given a short description of each Focus class when selecting them, but head to the Library in the main menu for a full list of the cards you might find.
This tip goes deeper than just that, however.
Something I’ve seen from gameplay footage and streams is a reluctance to change up your Focus slots once they’ve been set.
While there is some merit to keeping Anima in both slots if you’re looking for a pure Frost build, for instance, swapping one of them to Phalanx for a world or two can boost your survival chances significantly.
This links into our next tip, nicely: diversity.
Tip 4: Diversity
One of the first things beginners should learn in deck-builders is to focus your deck around a specific playstyle and stick to it.
Only selecting cards with a specific keyword or from a single Focus class will be better than randomly adding cards. That much is true across the genre.
The next step to improve at One Step From Eden is learning to diversify your card choices.
There are over 200 cards to choose from, and synergies can be found in places that aren’t immediately obvious.
For instance, while it might seem logical to ignore everything that doesn’t mention Kunai in a Shiso build, cards that Root enemies will make your Kunai much easier to land.
Similarly, cards like Amalgam and Leech are versatile options that can fit into just about any deck. So don’t be too strict with your card choices; get out there and experiment!
Builds Worth Trying
Speaking of experiments, we’ll leave you with a few fun build ideas and tips on how to construct them. If you’re still new — or if you’re struggling — they’re also strong enough to get you to one of One Step From Eden’s multiple endings if you play your cards right… (sorry).
Selicy
With Selicy, try a focus on Anima for Frost, with a side of Phalanx wherever possible.
This build is tons of fun, and it has only been improved by the Patch v1.3 buffs to Frost. Sliding in Phalanx gives you some survivability to properly make use of Selicy’s Weapon, Snowpiercer.
You should be proccing Frost on targets with your spells before using Snowpiercer for maximum damage. For bosses, you can resort back to stacking Frost three times if you’re having trouble connecting your attacks.
Card choices should be pretty self-explanatory, here, but look out for artifacts like Cold Blooded, Mint Tea, and Snow Boots, as these are real game-changers.
Saffron
With Saffron, try a focus on Hearth for Flow. This is another relatively safe build that can dish out tons of damage.
You want to keep your decklist very slim with this build, only taking cards like Fracture and Rock Cycle. Upgrading Rock Cycle to get +20 Shield on cast can remove the need for healing or shielding elsewhere.
Make sure you’re taking Mana Regen artifacts wherever possible.
If you see the Ice Floe artifact, you can also pivot to a Flow/Frost deck quite easily, but you should still maintain a small number of cards so you can make use of Rock Cycle’s full potential.
Violette (or Saffron)
With Violette or Saffron (using her Chrono kit), try a focus on Convergence for Trinity
I discussed the power of this build in my other guide, as it’s actually the method I used to unlock the Shopkeeper.
Trinity has lots of cheap, low-rarity spells that are easy to build around, so aim to collect cards such as Tri Rag, Tri Shot, Sequencer and Mana Steal early in your run.
Violette is a great candidate for this build as she can generate her own Trinity stacks and shield herself in a pinch. Saffron is the safer, easier choice that makes use of the time slow effect on her weapon, but you’ll probably need to look for some Shield cards to balance out your deck.
Again, Mana Regen artifacts will be your best friend here.
There are hundreds of build opportunities in One Step From Eden, though, so make sure to leave a comment below with your own builds and beginner tips!
We have more great content on One Step From Eden right here, including a review and more guides. Stay tuned for more!
