Damage Scaling Guide

Here is an idea of how much damage you can do based on world length. Note that this does NOT factor in attack power, items, or gems. This is just BASE amounts assuming normal tiles & no attack power.

	3 letters - 0.5 hearts damage
	4 letters - 0.75 hearts of damage
	5 letters - 1 heart of damage
	6 letters - 1.5 hearts of damage
	7 letters - 2 hearts of damage
	8 letters - 2.75 hearts of damage
	9 letters - 3.5 hearts of damage
	10 letters - 4.5 hearts of damage
	11 letters - 5.5 hearts of damage
	12 letters - 6.75 hearts of damage
	13 letters - 8 hearts of damage
	14 letters - 9.5 hearts of damage
	15 letters - 11 hearts of damage
	16 letters - 13 hearts of damage

	When an enemy is defeated, you're automatically cured of all your missing health, as well as any ailments affecting you or the tile grid. You'll also gain Experience that fills your Level Up bar. At the end of each chapter, it will fill up all the way, and you'll gain a boost to one of your attributes:

	1. Health  - Lex's Heart meter. Each level up increases it by one Heart.
	2. Attack  - Lex's damage power. Also increases a little with every fight.
	3. Defense - Lex's damage resistance. Appears to only increase by level-up.

	There are many items and treasures and the like for Lex to use to win, but chances are you might not win all the time, especially when it gets very hard. If you lose, you'll have to start the chapter all over! But not all is lost, as you will keep any items and even gem tiles you had when you went down, and Moxie's Mini-Game Hut will open up again, allowing you to get even more gems and potions to help you try again. Your experience should stay the same, too.

	Each map/world in the game (called Books) features 10 levels (called Chapters), as well as Moxie's Mini-Game hut, which opens every few chapters for you to try and win some swag to help out in the battles. Each level features 5 enemies to fight, the last of which is a Boss Battle, which is of course a much harder fight than the previous minions. Each boss is guarding either a Treasure or a Companion for Lex to take with him on his journey. There are some unlockable modes you'll get as well as you beat the game:

	1. TOME OF KNOWLEDGE - Complete Book 4 in Adventure.
	2. MINI-GAMES - Complete Book 5 in Adventure.
	3. ARENA - Complete Book 6 in Adventure.
	4. ADVENTURE REPLAY - Complete Book 6 in Adventure.

	Your tile grid is what you're gonna use to win this game, so study it well, and get used to it. The best thing you can have all over your grid is a lot of Gem Tiles, as they give helpful damage boosts & secondary effects to help take down enemies easier. But beware: Monsters can also mess with your tile grid, and all of their attacks are naturally detrimental.

________________
NORMAL TILES
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	Normal Tiles are just that: Normal. All brown tiles with black letters on them, and little dots in their corners to indicate their values. It's a lot like Scrabble or the original Bookworm, only in those games, their values were in number form. A letter's value here is dependant on how hard it is to use it in a word. Check the little dot in the corner:

   1. GOLD - The highest scoring letters.
   2. SILVER - The middle scoring letters.
   3. BRONZE - The lowest scoring letters.

Here is a reference for which letter falls into which category:

   1. GOLD   - J, K, Qu, X, Z
   2. SILVER - B, C, F, H, M, P, V, W, Y
   3. BRONZE - A, D, E, G, I, L, N, O, R, S, T, U, Wildcard (see below)

In addition, PopCap themselves revealed mathematical specifics on just how much
value each letter has individually! Check this out here:

   1. 1 Letter - All Bronze dots
   2. 1.25 Letters - Silver dots: B, C, F, H, M, P
   3. 1.5 Letters - Silver dots: V, W, Y
   4. 1.75 Letters - Gold dots: J, K
   5. 2 Letters - Gold dots: X, Z
   6. 2.75 Letters - Gold dots: Qu

So if you were to spell the word "WAXY," it'd count as 6 letters instead of 4!

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GEM TILES
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Gem Tiles are one of the must-have things in this game. You won't see them at the very beginning of the game, but they eventually will become available for use and abuse. They are received automatically by spelling very good words (6-letter words and above, or less if using certain treasures), but they can
also be won in Moxie's Mini-Games, or by overkilling enemies (the more damage you do past what they have left in health, the better gem you get). Note these are listed by rarity.

   1. AMETHYST - Purple. 15% damage boost & inflicts 2-turn Poison.
   2. EMERALD - Green. 20% damage boost & heals Lex 2 hearts.
   3. GARNET - Orange. 30% damage boost & inflicts 2-turn Power Down.
   4. RUBY - Red. 35% damage boost & inflicts 3-turn Burn.
   5. SAPPHIRE - Blue. 25% damage boost & inflicts 1-turn Freeze.
   6. CRYSTAL - Pink. 50% damage boost, purifies Lex & the grid, & makes Lex invincible for 1 turn.
   7. DIAMOND - White. 100% damage boost, fully heals Lex, & gives 1 of each type of potion.

___________________
DAMAGED TILES
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Damaged Tiles are what certain enemy attacks can inflict on you. They are all very detrimental and can especially hurt if you lack any Blue Potions, or are inflicted with Power Down. Some enemies you encounter will have nothing BUT tile-hurting attacks! Watch out. All Damaged Tiles will revert back to normal after a certain amount of turns, which usually varies by the enemy.

   1. SMASHED - Smashed Tiles can be used but will do no damage.
   2. LOCKED - Locked Tiles cannot be used until the turn count runs out.
   3. PLAGUED - Plagued Tiles do no damage if used, and can infect other tiles.

This information is made by Smoke_Rulz, https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/962334-bookworm-adventures-volume-2/faqs/57503

Modified, Proofread, and Distributed by Meidion, all information is used with consent and permission.

Keyboard Shortcuts Guide

This guide is just available for refreshment for returning runners and maybe even be used for other new runners in this game.

1. The game features some keyboard shortcuts. Press "1" for a Health Potion, "2" for a Power-Up Potion, and "3" for a Purify Potion. Press "4" or "Enter" to submit a word that you've spelled. These are useful when in the Arena.

2. There are a few mouse shortcuts as well. Left-clicking a letter will remove it from the word, as well as any letters after it if you click a letter in the middle of the word. Right-clicking anywhere will remove the entire word back into your tile grid. These work in all modes.

This information is made by Smoke_Rulz, https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/pc/937125-bookworm-adventures-deluxe/faqs/46124

Modified, Proofread, and Distributed by Meidion, all information is used with consent and permission.

The Basics of Speedrunning Bookworm 2

Bookworm 2, just like the first game, is rather simple to learn the strats for. 

There are a couple of things to know about though. First, the treasures. For treasures, it goes like this:
4.1-4.4: N/A
4.5-4.7: Boosters/Porridge, Almanac, Mother Goose
4.8-4.10: Porridge, Almanac, Cheshire Cat
5.1: Boosters/Porridge, Almanac,  Cheshire Cat
5.2: Boosters, Almanac, Cheshire Cat
5.3: Porridge, Almanac, Cheshire Cat
5.4: Boosters, Almanac, Legendary Master/Cheshire Cat
5.5: Boosters, Zodiac, Legendary Master/Cheshire Cat
5.6: Boosters/Porridge, Zodiac, Legendary Master/Cheshire Cat
5.7: Boosters, Zodiac, Legendary Master
5.8: Boosters, Zodiac, Legendary Master/Cheshire Cat
5.9: Boosters, Zodiac, Legendary Master/Cheshire Cat
5.10-6.3: Key, Zodiac, Legendary Master/Cheshire Cat
6.3-6.8: Key, Zodiac, Legendary Master/Cheshire Cat/HG Wells
6.9-6.10: Semiflange, Zodiac, Legendary Master/Cheshire Cat/HG Wells

When it comes to Companions, it's a lot of personal preference when it comes to who you use. Playing aggressively? Use Master. Playing defensively? Use the Cat or HG Wells. The Cat is a straight up Purify Potion, while Wells only purifies status effects dealt to Lex when making you invincible. The tile effects are still there to stay. So when it comes to the defensive guys, it's all about knowing where your weakness lies: in the amount of damage that you're taking, or status effects.

As for the treasures themselves, they're picky in what they give their bonuses to, and playing around said bonus categories is essential, as any word that doesn't benefit from the treasures won't deal much damage at all. So you might want to read up on adjectives, verbs and words with double letters (like BANNER).

Now for the speed tech. First up is the Menu Skip, of which there is a great video made by the WR holder DestructiveDonut in which he clearly explains how to perform it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lp8Tc3ZakE&list=PLNl7peDc6U0nFAglHy0yG1baBGX7_3Yag&index=3

Second is a VERY important trick to know that can save up to about 20 minutes worth of Survival Battles, and it's basically a variation of the Menu Skip. But instead of quitting out when the grave rises, you quit out when the enemy death animation plays. This will result in the enemy not attacking along with them retaining whatever amount of health the last enemy had when you killed them. You will also retain your rack which means that you can use the same word to kill off every single other enemy in the level. One important note is that you want to avoid getting an overkill animation on the final blow on the enemy, as it will take longer before you're allowed to hit the menu button and quit out. So if you get a "WHOMPED!" for example, quit out like you would normally and try spelling a slightly weaker word that still kills, but doesn't get an overkill.
To have a clearer image of how this trick is performed, check out some of the higher level runs on the leaderboard.

Nome	Autore
Damage Scaling Guide	Meidion 4 years ago
Keyboard Shortcuts Guide	Meidion 4 years ago
The Basics of Speedrunning Bookworm 2	Chaoskiller05 4 years ago