Lords of Xulima

• Maces and Hammers is the best weapon group because its secondary effect can stun and also drops enemy turns lower down in the initiative queue. Wounding from Axes can make an enemy eventually miss and lose a turn, but you have to stack a large amount of Wounds to have the same effect as Maces and Hammers. Bleeding from Swords is decent, but there are better sources for that effect. There aren't any unique weapons in the game so you won't be missing out on found gear if you don't take all the weapon styles. Basically, take Maces and Hammers on all your melee guys who can equip them.

• Shurikens on a Thief are godly. They'll sometimes be your main boss killer even in late game. Buy them often and buy a lot. Use them whenever you need to get pass a dangerous enemy.

• The game expects you to buy most of your gear in towns rather than find them in the wild. Gear is random and level dependent and the material quality gets better as you reach later towns. It's better to buy rings and amulets that increase multiple stats in the early areas because it doesn't matter what kind of material they are made of, other than increasing the price.

• Speed is THE stat. I increased it every time on all my characters, even spell casters. For warriors, Strength is the other key stat. Agility isn't as important to them, you should only take as much as you need to equip your weapons. Weapon Skill will handle accuracy for you.

• Gaulen has the Knowledge of Herbs skill which greatly increases the amount of stat boost herbs found in the game. If you want to maximize your gains, don't pick any plants (other than the food plants) until you have 30 points in Knowledge of Herbs. Just mark out their locations on your map and come back to them later. The increase will definitely be worth it.

• Also mark out locations of food plants. The first areas have enough regrowing food plants to fill out your food stores so you'll never have to spend money on food if you're careful. You can also pick grain inside the first town, which will cover the guard toll cost of getting in and net you some small profit.

• The game is quite hard early on. Rest often when you have to. There were times when I'd have to rest after every battle because the fights were that intense.

• If you find an area with enemies you can handle, wander around and grind out that location until you clear it to get the experience bonus. Conversely, if an area is too hard, move on to an easier area and return to it when you're better leveled.