Getting Started

Updated for IOURPG v0.99.60. Created by ReinMIsaac.

This guide should help you progress through early game. For more in-depth guide please refer to IOU Guide by ExWhiteWolf and Gameinsky.

Useful External Link

• IOU Multicalc is the only publicly-accessible spreadsheet currently available in the IOU community for all calculation purpose. Written by Porkbob, Gameinsky, Jiecut, Momo, Koin, IndigoFerret, Edu and the original authors Brouwer and Padd1ngton_bear.
• IOU Discord is a great source of information and community. whether you need help with challenge, looking to join existing guild. or just want to look around for guide and sheet.
• IOU Helper is a free desktop client to minimize CPU usage with built in features, used by over 300 players. Constructed by Level.
• Codes were often randomly generated alphanumeric strings of 30 characters, but now they are words or phrases with no spaces which can reward players with Currency which is very helpful for players. Codes last for 1 week and are given via multiple platform such as Facebook page and IOU Discord.

Ascension Tier 0 (level 0 - 40)

• Go to Social > Guild. Join the highest level random guild available (don't be afraid to quit and rejoin to find the highest one)
• Find Member's Club in guild interface. Click check-in to claim your first daily reward.
• Click Find Party then type the name below to search for AT0 carry.
  • AT0/Easy: "Level" (open join)
  • AT0/Easy: "CarryOn" (open join)
  • AT0/Easy: "Tzeren" (open join)
  • AT0/Easy: "ascend0" (open join)
  • AT0/Easy: "Iampeeinguser" (open join)
• Farm up 500 gold and buy your 1st Pets. Don't train your Pet yet
• Use your first 250 diamonds for Account Upgrades (VIP) Exp Boost to 3 and Gold Boost to 2. Try to upgrade both of this equally until they are both level 10​​​​​​.
• Check current events. All events are doable from the start. Events provide a free resource to speed up your game.
• For Abilities, Unlock speed boost first then damage boost. You can always reset your ability point for free. Check Abilities on how to invest point.
• Focus your Hunting Upgrades on Coin Count, Gold Rate and Huge loots. Let the carry do damage for you (turn off upgrade confirmation via setting) DON'T USE ANY AP TO UPGRADE.
• Level 5 unlocked Woodcutting. DON'T CLICK USE ALL. click on the tree until you cut it. then click forfeit. unlock the new tree when you have enough gold. (you should spend 10 energy or less. save your energy for now)
• Level 10 unlocked Mining. Use 16 energies to clear early floor for some stone. Use stone to upgrade the energy cap.
• Level 15 unlocked Challenges. you won't have enough damage to do anything yet. skip it for now.
• Level 20 unlocked Expeditions. set your ship to do pet food expedition and fast track it until your run out of fuel.
• Level 30 unlocked Soul Orbs and Fishing. Use your crystal (from Member's Club) to unlock Fish Value and Mining Damage orb. Go to activity -> fishing. Choose your avatar (Harambe ftw) then place your character and set auto fishing to on. Don't use any Crystals on Virtue yet.
• Once you use all your net. Sacrifice all fish meat for Sacrificial Offerings. you should have enough to upgrade fishing orb to 2*.
• Level 40 let you ascend to Ascension Tier 1. Quit your party and do it asap. There's no reason to stay at AT0.

Ascension Tier 1 (level 40 - 75)

• Click find party then type the name below to search for AT1 carry
  • AT1/Medium: "blueracoon" (open join)
  • AT1/Medium: "WonkyToaster" (open join)
  • AT1/Medium: "Tzoren" (open join)
  • AT1/Medium: "ascend1" (open join)
  • AT1/Medium: "Iouhasqueef" (open join)
• Buy your second pet for 25 AP​​​​​​
• AT1 grant access to Ascension Upgrades. You need
  • 15 Party Boost (+exp and +gold when you are in a party)
  • 3 on Pet Training (+300 based exp per training)
  • 2 on both Woodcutting nrg+ and Mining nrg+ (for 3x more nrg regen)
  • 10 on both Woodcutting Damage and Log gain (mainly used for tree unlock)
  • All remaining point should go to gold boost and xp boost.
  • You can reduce your wood cutting damage and log gain if you don't have enough Ascension Points.
• You can now train your pet. go to pet tab and start training.
• Go to woodcutting tab. Start using 1 energy each to cut tree and then forfeit when you gain enough log to upgrade your tree. upgrade tree level grant diamond, gold log and pet food.
• Upgrade your Woodcutting Upgrades. Axe Sharpening > Log Splitting >= Critical Axe > Weak Point. Energy should be upgrade depend on how active you are.
• You should have a lot of pet food just by unlocking new tree. Feed them to one pet until it reach new tier first as higher tier give more DPS.
• Go to mining screen. Don't use any energy yet. Use your wood to unlock depth as deep as you can. then use all of your mining energy. Claim your energy usage reward then go to soul orbs. Use the crystal from reward to unlock gold rate orb. go to social > guild. Invest stone to any Guild Buildings then upgrade Building of your choice.
• Upgrade both VIP Exp Boost and VIP Gold Boost to level 10 and start saving diamond for 2nd expedition ship (2500 diamonds)
• You should have enough DPS to try out Challenges now. Do a few solo one and queue duo and group challenge while leveling. Challenges play a major role in your DPS gain.
• Level 50 unlocked Pet Arena. Don't claim anything yet, Try to do your pet arena as high as you can without using AP.
• Level 75 will let you ascend to Ascension Tier 2.

Ascension Tier 2 (level 75 - 130)

• Click find party then type the name below to search for AT2 carry
  • AT2/Hard: "Lili3" (open join)
  • AT2/Hard: "Helper1" (open join)
  • AT2/Hard: "ascend2" (open join)
  • AT2/Hard: "Unusualboner" (open join)
  • AT2/Hard: "Nei" (open join)
• You will need to reassign your Ascension Upgrades (same setup with AT1)
• Your next soul orb unlock should be Auto Damage.
• Once you save up 2500 diamonds, buy your 2nd expedition ship (4th slot). It comes with 100 ultinum which you will use for ship arena unlock later.
• Level 130 will let you ascend to Ascension Tier 3 but don't do it yet. You need to upgrade all your world upgrade to max (except Time Extend) and some of Auto Upgrades before ascending as there's no permanent carry there. Ascending without this upgrade will make your life miserable. You can even ascend at level 200 if you want.

Pre-inferno Ascension Tier 3 (level 130 - 200)

• There is no permanent carry on AT3, so your DPS matters here.
• You will need to reassign your Ascension Upgrades. Recommended going full damage with 10/10 wood ascension.
• You can now move monster freely. and you should start farming Cards for each monster (except boss on every 5th stage) 100 Card Milestones for each monster should be your immediate goal.
• You can change monster Inferno Tier to max 15 (Rule of thumb 6–8 seconds kill time is good for exp until later stage)

Early Inferno level (level 200 - 400)

• Congratulation on reaching Inferno Levels stage. This is where the real game start. You can now freely change monster Inferno Tier and is now under the effect of Nerf Rate, you will gain reduced exp, gold and card rate. If you don't contribute enough DPS to the party (10%, 6.66% and 5% for 2, 3 and 4 man party respectively)
• level 200 unlocked Ship Arena (via expedition tab). Largest AP source of the game and P-Core which is use for Lab Upgrades. you need 25 ultinum and 10 i-matter (you will gain 25 i-matter from 8th Chest Claim) to buy your first arena ship. refer to IOU-Multicalc sheet for ship guide.
• You can also reset your Soul orbs unlocked with 10 crystal and unlock Ship Orb to help with arena challenge too.
• Once you are done with Ship arena. Reset your Ship Trophies and put it into fuel generation and Expedition Increase.You need a lot of Expedition Points. Use the leftover Ultinum to level up Upgrade X (Fuel Station). Always go for Pet Food Expedition and reset your ship orb. You don't need it for a while.
• Focus your Lab Upgrades on fish stick. Fish Value will increase your daily SO gain. Leftover point should go to Efficient Output and Ascension Points.
• Use Trade Trophies to upgrade Fish jackpot.
• Save diamond for the Fishing Boat (5k). Try to time it with fishing orb 3*. Fishing boat also give 100 additional fishing net. Don't forget to up min rarity when auto fishing. Each subsequent boat (up to 5) also grant additional 100 net for 1k diamonds. Abused this gain to upgrade your fishing orb to 4* if you can.
• As a rule of thumb for Fishing upgrades go for Rod then Tackle until level 4 then start upgrade Tackle first while keep Bait and Tackle 2 levels below.
• The only goal here is to get more level while trying to farm card on all mobs except boss

Newbie Inferno Hell (level 400 - 1000)

• There is a major increasing in Experience needed per level after level 400. Most newbie give up at this stage of the game. This stage take months of playing to get though (even if you get carried, you still need to catch up on card and economic part)
• Start finding a new guild such as booster guild for newbie if you have not join one already. There's a few player who offer to carry newbie through this stage. You can check IOU Discord for more info.
• Start adding ascension point to Fish value, Mining yield and card drop yield.
• You may consider getting Double card (250 diamonds - 7 days) buff and start putting P-Core in other lab upgrades (except click). Your lab upgrade at this point should look like this.Fish>Pet=Auto>Asc>Card>Click < 30. Keep in mind that at later stage of the game you will treat your auto lab upgrade the same way as click.
• There are lot of things you can do to increase your DPS at this stage
  • Complete as many Challenges as you can including series challenge.
  • Farm card effectively. Move monster when you reach card milestone.
  • Do your Pet Arena with AP (set an AP limit for stage such as 500 AP max). Your arena damage is affected by
    • Pet tier base damage and level
    • Stable
    • Guild bonus
    • Ascension Pet Damage
    • Arena Damage Node (Pet Upgrade Map)
    • Legendary Upgrades Pet Arena Damage (unlock at level 1k)
    • Pet Damage Orb
  • Learn how to do Pet Upgrade Map effectively (refer to multicalc sheet)
  • Upgrade efficient output Lab Upgrades (max 50)
  • Unlock more DPS orb

• Find a permanent party member. Set a card goal with them and help each other move monster when you all reach card milestone. After all this is a multiplayer game, you won't succeed playing alone here.

Woodcutting Madness (level 1k+ Pre Stone Push)

• Congratulations for reaching level 1k. You have now unlocked Legendary Upgrades. This is a good time to go Wood Build. You need
  • Woodcutting Damage and Log Gain Ascension (min 25)
  • Woodcutting Damage orb (5* or more)
  • Woodcutting NRG+ Ascension (Max 2)
  • Wood Damage Legendary (max 50)
  • Wood NRG Reduction Trophy (max 25)
  • You may consider upgrade personal sawmill to help.

• It's always a good idea to use some dynamite for stone and crystal when you reach Depth Milestone to help speed up progress. you can consider it when Weekly Bonus is either Stone or Crystal or both. Do not overspend your AP on dynamite (should be less than 10k AP). Save AP for major stone push at 750 depth. You need
  • Ask for a higher Warehouse guild visit if you can.
  • Stone orb (at least 5*)
  • Mining Yield Ascension (max 25)
  • Dynamite Damage Trophy (max 25)
  • Upgrade Personal Warehouse (to your desired level) as often as you can when you push.

Late Game (750 Depth and Beyond)

• Congratulation on getting 750 depth. You should unlock most of your Soul Orb by now. It's time to start working on 6* stone to prepare yourself for dynamite stone push. More info about it on Brief Guide For Pushing Made by Lili.
• Dynamite reward is capped at 750 depth but the mining depth go beyond it. At some point stone from nrg will outscale dynamite gain. Highly recommended waiting for crystal bonus week before pushing as the amount of crystal gain from it will skyrocket your Virtue level and can be use to upgrade Fish Jackpot.
• Skill in Arena ship building will made you go far in this stage. Read the ship guide within IOU Multicalc. Don't be afraid to try out a few builds. You can always reset your arena ship for 500 diamonds (7 days cooldown)
• You should consider switching your pet upgrade map to critical build after T14 pet and 8m PP.
• 750 depth player is highly sought out by most guild (even the top one). Consider changing your guild to a more competitive one if you want to go far in this game especially if you are decent at Shipbuilding.

Orb Acquisition Order

Orb unlocks can be reset for 10 crystals cost. Some orbs don't need to be on all the time such as ship arena and Mining Damage.

• Fish Value - The most crucial orb. Help with your daily SO gain. Fishing lose its effectiveness pass 5* so keep that in mind. GET THIS ASAP.
• Mining Damage - This give double damage just by unlocking. Also help with crystal gain. GET THIS ASAP.
• Gold Rate - Gold is the most useful resource pre-inferno level. you will want to get this early but leave it as 2* and reset it out later when you reach inferno level.
• Auto Damage - Auto DPS is a major DPS source pre T14 pet. its effectiveness is overshadow by pet that will become your Major DPS later. Get this early but leave it as 5*.
• Ship Arena - This is the most important orb to have. Give bonus damage and HP to Arena Ship. Unlock and upgrade this to help with Space Arena. you can always reset it out for another orb if you don't have enough crystal. Get This ASAP.
• Multi Catch - Chance for additional fish. Great orb to unlock at early stage. chance for 2x fish mean you gain double value from 1 fishing net (Can go higher than 2x). Also help with Pearls. Get this early and combine it with Fish Jackpot. Its effectiveness drop down on later stage.
• XP - Additional Exp Bonus is always welcome. This will help you with your journey to level 1k.
• Wood Damage - Middle game orb. Wood is used to unlock mining depth. Get this to help with your Daily wood gain. so you can unlock depth faster.
• Stone Yield - Another middle game orb. Stone is a major resource use to upgrade Guild Building. you should consider getting it when you reach 100 depth. This is the first orb you should upgrade to 6* to prepare for Space-Stone Push loop.
• Mining Critical - Nice addition to increase your daily stone and crystal gain.
• Pet Damage - Middle-Late game orb. Pet will become a major source of your DPS later. also help with Pet Arena.
• Card Yield - Pretty good orb for middle game where you should start farming card extensively. Combine this with Ascension Card Yield, Trophies Card Min Increase and Double Card Buff (more info on Cards) will net you nice amount of card.
• Pet Training - Long term orb. combine it with Pet DNA splicing (Lab Upgrade) for some juicy training exp.
• Crit Damage - Pretty good early game orb for DPS. Get this to help with your early game DPS. Leave it as 5*
• Challenge Damage - Another good orb for middle game.Increase your Challenge Damage (both in Challenges and Series). Series Challenge is a major your source of DPS.
• Expedition Pts - Another Long term orb. combine it with Expedition Increase Trophy for some juicy Expedition Points
• Card Damage - Late game orb. Card Milestones give Based Damage which is used as a basic for all modifier.
• Click Damage - You either get this early or don't get it at all. A pretty mediocre orb. Somewhat useful for series challenge where you tend to spec for click. The usefulness outside of that however is questionable.
• Multi Attack - This suffer the same fate as Click Damage. A weaker version of Crit Damage. you either get this early or don't get it at all.
• Wishing Well - This may not be as bad as people thought. Increase the effectiveness of Wishing Well investment but Wishing Well is a pretty weak building.