I feel it is important to point this out now. Shiren has RPG elements, and so many new players start the game thinking about it like an RPG. They begin to grind up their items and then end up losing it in a disastrous way later and become devastated or give up. It is important to keep in mind that you can succeed at this game, by just utilizing the items you are given on a particular run. You do not have to grind at all, though you are capable of doing so if you desire. I will explain grinding tactics at the end of this guide as an alternative strategy. Shiren is more about your decision making as a player, and is not as reliant on the particular gear you happen to find or not find along the way. With that in mind we can begin.
The first 2 floors ease you into what to expect going forward. There are few traps scattered around, and they are not as debilitating as ones that come up later in Table Mountain. Feel free to refer to the traps page of this wiki for specifics. If you are rather unlucky, you may face an aggressive seed regarding monster spawns and get bullied into defeat. It doesn't happen often though, and even less so if you decided to bring supplies with you from previous attempts or the tutorial area of the game. Except when in great numbers, the enemy's that are here are not much of a threat to you. It is a good idea to explore all of the map and pick up every item you can before ascending the stairs to the next floor.
Just a few more tips to keep in mind before we move on. Check out the item reference tables on the wiki to learn cool additional benefits of various items. For example, Medicinal Herb and Restorative Herb heal your health usually. You may also eat them while at full hp to increase your maximum hp by a small amount instead. Lastly, they can be used as Weapons against certain types of enemies! (ghosts.) Items truly have vast amounts of ways to utilize them.
While this is not a hard rule to abide by, this may help newer players survive the dungeon. It can be a good idea to have Shiren's level be 1 higher than the current floor you are on before moving forward. This will keep you up to par with the enemies you will encounter however, at some point the floors will be outpacing your level right around the mid to late 20's usually. Just in this first area you will see first hand the astounding difference between level 1 Shiren and level 2 Shiren in terms of dealing with these monsters.
The last thing I want to mention is to always identify every item you can as soon as you get it. You want to eliminate unknowns as early as possible. If you need help with this aspect of the game, you can leave items in any warehouse and so long as the item is stored, it will always be identified for future Table Mountain runs. As long as you can understand what an item is doing, you can name it whatever you want that helps you to remember what it does. If you reach any of the towns while climbing up table mountain, all items in your inventory will identify themselves.
Talk to the Character's you encounter on your path. Oryu the Blinder will blind you the first few times you encounter her. But eventually she'll be able to join you on your adventures and will randomly show up on dungeon floors and offer to join you. Other Character's will give you valuable advice. Even seemingly useless items like weeds can be eaten to restore 5 points to your belly, tossed at an enemy to deal 2 damage or inserted into a Jar of Change to get a better item.
Mamel[edit]
This franchise's mascot enemy. The Mamel is extremely basic with no special powers normally. It does gain unique abilities at 4 however, gaining quite a lot of power and protection from most forms of damage. In fact the level 3 and 4 variations actually require some care when dealing with them, the 4 is especially dangerous with double movement and attack.
Mini Robber[edit]
This is one of two generic enemies. The Mini Robber family stays weak as they power up, though their hp values rival that of their counterpart generic enemy, their power tends to be lower. They provide some nice variety for the beginning area but are otherwise very simplistic.
Chintala[edit]
These monsters are sort of like the sub mascot enemy in my opinion, always right behind the Mamel. They are the second generic enemy in the game, with hp values near equaling the Mini Robber but they are a little tougher and stronger as they level up. Still, both this monster family and the mini robber serve the same purposes and merely exist to provide fun variety to what could have been only 1 generic low tier enemy.
| Monster | Floors | Experience | |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Japanese | ||
| Mamel | マムル | 1 - 2 | 2 |
| Mini Robber Family | 豆山賊 | 1 - 2 | 3 |
| Chintala Family | チンタラ | 1 - 2 | 5 |