Badly needs one Guide to the Worship of the Lamb for beginners? Massive Monster’s roguelike game may look cute and cuddly, but this heretical sheep hides a surprising amount of depth. Between managing the needs of your cult and venturing to kill the Lamb Cult bishops ruling the lands of the old faith, it’s easy to get overwhelmed.

If you’re completely new to the roguelike genre, don’t worry. Our Cult of the Lamb beginner’s guide includes the top 12 tips for newbies and veterans alike, from combat to Cult management. Heed our advice, and starvation, strife, and death will soon be a thing of the past.

Enemies attack on sight so be stealthy using cover

Unlike many other roguelikes, Cult of the Lamb’s regular mobs aren’t alerted to your presence the moment you enter their lair. Instead, they only become aggressive once they spot you, which allows for some degree of stealth. Hide in tall grass to ambush unsuspecting enemies, or use stone walls as cover to quickly dispatch mobs before they can regroup and overwhelm you.

Choose weapons that suit your attacking style

Along with the heavy RNG aspect of Cult of the Lamb, each weapon choice will be given to you at random. When you start a crusade, you receive a random weapon and, after receiving your crown power, a random curse. Although you have to take what you get here, further on in your crusade you may be offered three curses, three weapons, or a combination of the two to choose from. Some weapons offer higher damage, others a shorter reload speed, and they all vary in size and range. Get a feel for what you prefer, then choose wisely based on your playstyle, especially when it comes to curses.

You won’t receive contact damage, so get up close and personal

Contact damage is common in roguelikes, but not in Cult of the Lamb. You’re free to get as close to your enemies as you want – and if you’re using a smaller weapon, it’s probably in your best interest. Just keep in mind that your melee weapon damage is only dealt when enemies are caught in their swing animation. If you stand directly above an enemy to attack them, you won’t take touch damage, but they won’t take any damage either.

Time your dodges to stay alive

This one is pretty obvious but so helpful, especially if you keep it in mind with the point above. Your little dodge roll comes in incredibly handy, especially when projectiles are flying towards you and multiple enemies are closing in. But time it well, because you’re only invulnerable when rolling. Not only handy for dodging attacks, you can also use the roller to quickly close the gaps between you and your attackers.

Learn the map icons to know which route to choose

Each region has a randomly generated road map with diverging paths that all eventually converge on that region’s boss gate. You’ll often be forced to choose between multiple paths, with no indication of what the next area has in store other than their icons.

Here are all the Cult of the Lamb map icons and what they mean:

• Sword: Battle
• Wood: wood knots
• Rocks: stone knots
• Kneeling figure: Disciple
• Accommodation: Merchant
• Heart: Fill health
• Skull and bones: Chief
• Interrogation point: Event

As you continue through The Lands of the Old Faith, you’ll notice that some map icons also come with sub-icons. Attached to merchants, these icons can reveal which merchant you can expect to see, making your decision easier. Along with battle rooms, these can provide material bonuses or they can upgrade your rewards from gold to food. Use these sub-icons alongside the main icons to help you choose the most beneficial path for your current needs.

Destroy the environment for materials used in construction, recipes and rituals

While you’re wreaking havoc, your obedient cult followers will work hard to gather resources for you to put to good use. However, followers are limited to collecting wood and stone from nodes that spawn in the Cult Grounds – and we have a guide on how to get more wood and stone in Cult of the Lamb how to get more wood and stone in Cult of the Lamb if you start to run low. As in most crafting games, both materials are great for building, but useless for recipes and rituals.

To acquire a wider variety of materials such as seeds, bones, and grass, you’ll want to get into the habit of breaking things while you’re busy quenching your thirst for bloodshed. You can even destroy trash surrounding merchants to earn a small amount of gold. Finally, if you are in desperate need of a particular material, consider the route you are taking in the area. Selecting a floor marked with a material will send you to a room full of things to collect at your leisure.

Do not give stolen gold to the beast statue because it will know it has been stolen

Eventually, you’ll come across the Beast Statue, a demonic-looking tree with gold coins dripping from its branches. You will be able to make an offering to the statue for 20 gold, a steep price especially early in the game. However, the statue is also surrounded by bags of gold which you can destroy to receive both gold and gold nuggets.

After clearing and refilling your coffers, you might be tempted to donate your ill-gotten gains directly to the statue. The statue will happily take it from you, but will recognize it as stolen and become angry, leaving you with nothing. 20 Gold is a staggering carry at the start of Cult of the Lamb, and is enough to construct a number of buildings in your cult, so if you steal the gold from the statue, be sure to make like a tree and leave .

Time keeps ticking during a run, so don’t leave your followers too long or they’ll die

Cult of the Lamb operates on a day and night cycle, requiring daily upkeep for your cult to survive and thrive. Not only will your various cooldowns reset over time, but crops will grow and followers will age. Be careful, though – time waits for no lamb, and the days will continue to pass as you fight through the lands of the old faith. If you get caught in dungeons and leave your followers too long, you may come back to find them hungry, sick, or even dead. Missing sermons will also cause your cult’s faith to degrade over time and can eventually lead to dissension within the ranks.

Check the traits of your subscribers and assign them appropriate roles

Each time you recruit a new follower, you will notice that they have two or three “traits”. These can be positive or negative, but can have a huge impact on your worship, so be careful to note them down and use them to your advantage. For example, you might find that a follower gathers divine inspiration faster than others, so be sure to put them to work at the shrine. Another may take longer to heal when sick, so strive to keep them healthy. You can also unlock gifts that you can give to these subscribers to undo their bad traits or improve their good ones.

At first you won’t be able to check your follower’s traits once you indoctrinate them, you might want to try and remember which ones stand out. At first, He Who Waits will give you one of the Cult of the Lamb Doctrines Cult of the Lamb Doctrines – specifically one that allows you to read minds. From there, you can read a follower’s mind to see their traits.

Keep your followers happy to avoid dissension

If you’ve ever played life simulation games or even owned a Tamagotchi, you’ll know how to keep your people, pets, or followers happy. In Cult of the Lamb, disgruntled followers won’t just collapse and die, they’ll pull out the megaphone and start speaking out against you, turning everyone against you too. As such, it’s quite important to monitor the well-being of your followers, as it can quickly descend into chaos. Another tip for this is those follower traits – some followers will be more likely to disagree, so give them gifts, be extra careful to keep them happy…or keep them in mind as your first sacrifice.

Consider when you give sermons for maximum attendance

Giving charismatic sermons is one of your most important roles as a cult leader, but think carefully when performing them. You can only give one sermon per game day, but each follower present adds to your faith. Make sure you’ve brainwashed new subscribers first, and make sure no one is sick, asleep, or otherwise engaged. If you’re crusading during the day or just forgetting, it’s not worth waking everyone up for a late night sermon because you’ll lose faith in disturbing their sleep.

Use divine inspiration wisely to enhance your worship

You will gather divine inspiration from the followers you have put to work in your cult’s central shrine, which you will use to improve your cult’s base, upgrading your temple, farms, and dormitories. You can see the full Divine Inspiration upgrade tree anytime from the moment you build your shrine, so take a minute to decide which route you want to take. The more you unlock, the more Inspiration you’ll need, so be sure to use it carefully.

With these tips, there is no doubt that your cult will prosper, as you command your followers, eliminate your enemies, and cultivate your land. But if you still don’t feel ready, check out our guide to the best Cult of the Lamb upgrades to find out what to spend those Divine Inspiration Points on.

Additional Guide Contributions by Nat Smith