Shroom and Gloom can be confusing when you first start playing. At first glance, it looks like another roguelike deckbuilder, but once you get into a run, you quickly realize that there is much more going on. You are fighting enemies, exploring a strange fungal dungeon, managing two different decks, collecting food, spending health, and constantly deciding how much risk is worth taking.
What makes the game especially interesting is that combat is only one part of the experience. You can build an incredibly strong Combat deck and still run into problems if your Explore deck is weak. At the same time, being too careless while exploring can leave you with very little health before the next fight even begins.
In this Shroom and Gloom beginner guide, I will go through the most important mechanics you should understand during your first few runs. From choosing a starting character and building your two decks to cooking enemies, using Bash, managing food, and exploring safely, these tips should help you get a much better understanding of how the game works.
Shroom and Gloom Beginner Guide – Combat Deck, Campsites
The most important mechanic to understand in Shroom and Gloom is that you are building two decks at the same time.
You have:
- Explore Deck
- Combat Deck
Your Combat deck is used during fights. This is where your attacks, offensive effects, abilities, and other combat synergies come from.
Your Explore deck is used while moving through the dungeon and interacting with the world between encounters.
This might sound simple, but it completely changes how you should think about deckbuilding.
In many roguelike deckbuilders, you are mainly asking yourself how you can make your combat deck stronger. In Shroom and Gloom, you also need to think about whether your Explore deck can actually help you move efficiently through the dungeon.
You may need cards that help you open paths, interact with objects, search locations, use camps, or deal with different exploration situations.
My biggest advice for beginners is simple: do not ignore your Explore deck just because Combat cards look more exciting.
A strong Combat deck helps you win fights, but a good Explore deck helps you reach those fights in better condition.
Your Explore Deck Can Affect Your Entire Run
The Explore deck is much more than something you use while walking between enemies.
It gives you tools for interacting with the dungeon itself.
Depending on the cards you have and what you encounter, your Explore deck can help you deal with things such as:
- Locked doors
- Keys and paths
- Digging and searching
- Torches and exploration tools
- Campsites
- Objects and environmental interactions
- Different room opportunities
The interesting part is that your card draws and the things you find in the dungeon can both change from run to run.
You might find a useful location but not have the right card in your hand.
Then, in another run, you might draw exactly what you need and suddenly get a huge amount of value from the same type of encounter.
Because of this, I would not recommend building an Explore deck that can only do one thing.
Having flexibility is extremely valuable.
Do Not Waste Your Health While Exploring
Health is one of the most important resources in Shroom and Gloom.
You are obviously trying to avoid dying, but your HP also affects the decisions you can make while exploring.
One of the best examples of this is the Bash card.
As you progress through the dungeon, you will encounter doors that need to be opened. You may have Key cards or other ways to unlock them.
However, if you do not draw the right card, Bash gives you another option.
You can force your way through.
The problem is that Bash costs health.
This is a really interesting mechanic because it prevents bad luck from completely ending your progress. You are not automatically stuck just because you failed to draw a Key card.
But you still need to pay for the decision.
That means you should always think ahead before using Bash.
Ask yourself:
Do I need to use Bash to continue?
Or:
Am I using it just because I want an extra reward?
There is a big difference.
Using health to continue your run may be necessary. Using health to open an optional chest is a gamble.
And that gamble can become dangerous if you immediately walk into a difficult combat encounter afterward.
Learn How Combat and Survival Work
If you are coming from games like Slay the Spire, one of the biggest adjustments may be how you think about defense.
Shroom and Gloom does not revolve around the same traditional idea of constantly building up large amounts of block.
Instead, you may have other ways to deal with incoming attacks, including Absorb effects.
These effects can be particularly useful depending on how an enemy attacks.
For example, an absorb effect can completely stop attacks that fall below its value. This means an effect that absorbs a certain amount of damage may be especially useful against enemies that attack several times with smaller hits.
So do not only look at how much total damage an enemy is dealing.
Look at how the damage is being delivered.
One large attack and several smaller attacks can require completely different responses.
You are also going to take damage during a run. That is simply part of the game’s design.
The important thing is understanding how you recover from it.
Cooking Enemies and Turning Them Into Food
One of the strangest and most interesting mechanics in Shroom and Gloom is the connection between combat and food.
Defeating an enemy is not always just about removing it from the battlefield.
Depending on how you finish an enemy, you can potentially turn that victory into something useful for your run.
Food can restore health, which means the way you approach the final moments of a fight can matter.
Sometimes the fastest possible kill may be the correct choice.
Other times, it may be worth thinking about whether you can finish an enemy in a way that gives you a better resource afterward.
This creates a very different combat loop.
Instead of thinking only about:
How quickly can I kill this enemy?
You can also think:
What can I get from killing this enemy?
That is a mechanic I would definitely recommend experimenting with during your first few runs.
Food Is More Important Than You Think
Food is one of the resources you should learn to value very quickly.
Since taking damage is often unavoidable, having ways to recover health becomes extremely important.
Food can therefore become a major part of your survival strategy.
What makes things even more interesting is that food can also be connected to the economy of your run.
This means you should not always treat it like free healing that you can spend without thinking.
Every resource decision can create a trade-off.
Do you use something now?
Do you save it for a difficult fight later?
Do you spend valuable resources to get something stronger?
These decisions become more important the deeper you get into a run.
My advice is to avoid spending your food or healing resources just because you currently have plenty of them.
Think about what is ahead.
A run can change very quickly.
Use Campsites Carefully
Camps can be extremely useful during exploration.
They can give you opportunities to recover and prepare yourself before continuing deeper into the dungeon.
However, you should not think of them as unlimited healing stations.
There is a risk-and-reward element involved with using camps repeatedly.
You might want to rest again because you need another benefit or because you want to change your available options through a redraw.
But repeatedly relying on the same campsite can also come with consequences.
This creates an interesting decision.
Sometimes you really need another option.
Sometimes you should simply accept your current situation and continue.
For beginners, I would recommend thinking of camps as strategic resources, not automatic stops.
Use them when they can genuinely improve your situation.
Which Character Should Beginners Start With?
If you are wondering which character to try first, the Paper Boy is a good character to consider as a beginner-friendly option.
The reason is not necessarily that he is automatically the strongest character in every situation.
Instead, his general gameplay direction can be easier to understand.
His playstyle focuses heavily around ideas such as:
- Heat
- Fire
- Warmth
- Aggressive damage
- Building around related effects
For a new player, having a clear direction can be extremely helpful.
When you are still learning the game’s unusual systems, it is nice to have cards and effects that give you an obvious idea of what your build is trying to accomplish.
You can start looking for synergies instead of grabbing every card that simply appears powerful.
The Paper Boy can help teach an important lesson about Shroom and Gloom:
A focused deck with a clear strategy is often better than a deck filled with random powerful cards.
As you become more comfortable with the game, you can experiment with other characters and playstyles.
Learn How Passive Cards Work
Another mechanic that makes Shroom and Gloom interesting is the way some passive effects can exist as cards.
Normally, a passive ability might simply stay active permanently after you obtain it.
But some passives in Shroom and Gloom are connected directly to cards.
That means the effect can depend on whether the card is currently available in your hand.
This creates some interesting deckbuilding decisions.
If you want to get the most value from a particular passive, you may need to build your deck around it.
You also cannot always rely on having it available.
The random nature of card draws means one turn can play very differently from another.
You might draw the passive and completely change your strategy for that turn.
Then, on the next turn, you may need to play without it.
I personally think this makes the game feel less predictable.
You cannot always plan your entire turn before you see your cards.
You need to adapt.
Understand the Foresight System
Alongside your Explore and Combat decks, Shroom and Gloom also has the Foresight system.
Foresight is separate from the two main decks.
These cards act more like passive premonitions that can trigger while you are exploring or fighting.
Some effects can activate when certain conditions are met and provide additional benefits during your run.
As a beginner, you do not need to immediately understand every possible interaction.
The important thing is remembering that not every useful effect in your build is something you actively play from your Combat or Explore hand.
As you play more, you can start noticing how these effects connect with your other cards and strategies.
Do Not Take Every Powerful Card
This is probably one of the most important tips for new players.
When you see a powerful card, your first instinct may be to take it.
Try not to do that every time.
A card can be individually strong and still be a bad choice for your current deck.
Before adding something, ask yourself:
- Does this work with my existing strategy?
- Does my deck actually need this?
- Am I adding too many cards?
- Will this make it harder to draw my important cards?
- Does this help me during the difficult parts of my run?
For example, you may already have plenty of damage.
What you actually need might be healing, better card consistency, or a way to deal with a particular enemy attack pattern.
The same applies to your Explore deck.
You do not need every exploration card.
Try to build toward what your run actually needs.
Pay Attention to Your Entire Hand
As your build develops, you can start generating additional cards.
Some cards can create:
- Food
- Healing
- Weapons
- Zero-cost cards
- Other temporary resources
This can make your hand much more complicated.
The game has systems to help manage and visually group certain generated cards, especially when you begin creating lots of them.
But you should still take a moment to check everything available to you before ending your turn.
Do not automatically focus only on your biggest attack.
Sometimes a zero-cost card can create extra value.
Sometimes food can save you from a dangerous situation.
Sometimes playing several smaller cards in the correct order is better than immediately using your strongest attack.
Before ending your turn, take a quick look through your hand.
You might have more options than you initially realized.
Adapt to What Each Run Gives You
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in a roguelike is trying to force the exact same strategy every run.
Shroom and Gloom gives you plenty of random variables.
Your card draws change.
The dungeon changes.
Your exploration opportunities change.
The enemies and encounters you face can change.
Your available resources can change.
Because of this, you need to adapt.
Sometimes you may find the perfect cards for an aggressive Combat build.
Another run might give you better exploration tools.
Sometimes you may have plenty of healing and can afford to take risks.
Other times, you may need to play carefully because your resources are running low.
Instead of always asking:
What build do I want to make?
Try asking:
What is the best build I can make with what this run has given me?
That mindset will help you much more in the long run.
Three Rules to Remember During Your First Run
If you only remember three things from this guide, make them these.
1. Do Not Ignore the Explore Deck
Combat is important, but exploration can affect your health, resources, and the condition you arrive in for your next fight.
Build both decks.
2. Pick a Direction
Do not grab every interesting card you see.
If your character and current cards are giving you a strong synergy, consider building around it.
A focused deck is usually easier to play than a pile of unrelated cards.
3. Think Before Taking Risks
Using Bash, spending health, opening optional rewards, resting repeatedly, and spending food can all affect your run.
Do not just think about the reward in front of you.
Think about what happens afterward.
Shroom and Gloom Beginner Tips and Tricks
Before heading into another run, here is a quick summary of the most important things to remember:
- Build your Explore and Combat decks together.
- Do not focus only on damage.
- Protect your health while exploring.
- Use Bash carefully because HP is valuable.
- Learn how food and healing fit into your survival.
- Experiment with cooking and enemy finishing mechanics.
- Use camps strategically instead of automatically.
- Look for card synergies instead of taking everything.
- Pay attention to generated and zero-cost cards.
- Learn how enemies deliver their attacks.
- Adapt your strategy to what each run gives you.
- Take your time learning Foresight and passive effects.
Final Thoughts
Shroom and Gloom can look intimidating at first because there are so many systems happening at once. But once you understand how those systems connect, the game starts making much more sense.
The biggest lesson for beginners is that everything affects everything else.
Your Explore deck can affect your health. Your health can affect your ability to take risks. Food can keep you alive while also becoming a valuable resource. Combat can provide resources for exploration, and exploration decisions can completely change how prepared you are for the next fight.
My biggest recommendation is to slow down during your first few runs.
Read your cards. Look at your options. Do not be afraid to experiment.
You do not need the perfect build immediately, and honestly, discovering strange interactions is a big part of what makes Shroom and Gloom fun.
Once you understand the rhythm of building two decks, managing your health, exploring carefully, and adapting to what each run gives you, you will be much better prepared to survive the strange fungal depths.