I can’t tell you how excited I am to be writing this post as I’ve been impatiently waiting for the release of Cult of the Lamb since my Twitch Community asked me to play the demo on stream.
Cult of the Lamb is a great game that feels like an homage to the art style of Don’t Starve Together and the gameplay of Hades.
While Cult of the Lamb has only been out for a day, I have been highly addicted to it, grinding through the game and trying to find you some tips to help make gameplay more accessible. So, as always, if you have any questions about the game or are struggling with something in specific, please let me know so I can help you out!
I have to say, as fun as Cult of the Lamb is, it’s quite an overwhelming game to take on as it mixes both Dungeon Crawling and Town Management. Admittedly, these are two of my favourite types of games, so I didn’t expect to feel as overwhelmed as I do with terminology and what to focus on, but it seems like Massive Monster has given us a bit of leeway, allowing players to take things as slowly or quickly as they want to.
Although I’ll be running over all aspects of the game over the next few weeks, I wanted to start off with Doctrines, as for me, these were the most confusing aspects as I didn’t know what to expect of my cult in the late-game.
While players can customize their Doctrines to whatever they think is best, there are some that I would recommend you do not miss out on as they can greatly increase the fluidity of the game.
HOW DO YOU UNLOCK DOCTRINES IN THE CULT OF THE LAMB?
Doctrines are unlocked by collecting three pieces of a Commandment Tablet. Though players can find these tablets in the actual Dungeon Crawler portion of the game, though as players level up their Followers they will be able to collect a single piece of a Commandment Tablet.
Due to this mechanic, players are going to want to have as many followers as they can even if they have low stats as the more you can level up, the faster you can complete all of your Doctrines.
HOW TO USE DOCTRINES AND WHAT DO THEY DO?
Doctrines are located in a player’s Temple and can be selected by going into the Crown selection at the Pulpit. Players can head here anytime they have completed a Tablet should be informed anytime a full Commandment Tablet is created.
When players have selected the Crown section they will be able to change policies in their Cult, gaining things like Traits, Follower Actions, Buildings or even Rituals.
There are 5 Categories for the Doctrines including Afterlife, Work & Workshop, Possessions, Law & Order as well as Sustenance.
While players will be able to get enough Commandment Tablets to max out each of these categories, players will have to make a choice between two Doctrines and will not be able to get all of them. Due to this mechanic, players will want to ensure that they understand the perks of each Doctrine as choosing the right one for you will be important.
CAN YOU CHANGE A DOCTRINE IN CULT OF THE LAMB?
No, unfortunately, there is no way to change a Doctrine you already set. There may be a way to change your game files later on or some mods that will help you alter them, but at the moment you are locked into your decisions and will either need to restart your game or load the game again if you haven’t saved after implementing a Doctrine. While I wish this wasn’t the case, making the “wrong choice” in Doctrine isn’t going to devastate your gameplay and may simply make some elements of the gameplay a bit more tricky for you.
AFTERLIFE DOCTRINES
Afterlife Doctrines are tied to anything to do with the death of your followers. Players who are invested in the sacrifice of their Followers or have a group of older Followers will want to focus on these ones, though I typically do not choose to upgrade this first based on my play style.
CHOICE #1
The first choice all players will be provided is Belief in Sacrifice Trait and Believe in Afterlife Trait, while both can be useful the better option tends to be Belief in Sacrifice and I’ll cover why shortly.
BELIEF IN SACRIFICE TRAIT
When unlocked the Belief in Sacrifice Trait will make all members gain 20 Faith when another Cult Member is sacrificed. This is important as players will often be asked to kill another Cult member by one of their current Followers.
As there are two ways Followers can die, old age and being Sacrificed, players will want to kill their followers before they die to get this bonus.
BELIEF IN AFTERLIFE TRAIT
Belief in the Afterlife Trait, while good, is the lesser of the two as it will simply make Followers only lose -5 Faith when a Follower dies instead of -20. While this may seem good, in the long run, you will want to Sacrifice your Followers instead as you can gain Faith instead of losing Faith.
CHOICE #2
The second choice players will have to make is between the Ritual of Resurrection and Funeral. I strongly, strongly recommend that you choose Ritual of Resurrection and I’ll cover why shortly.
RITUAL OF RESURRECTION
The Ritual of Resurrection is by far my favourite Ritual in the whole game as it allows you to revive a dead Follower any time you perform it.
The biggest benefit to the Ritual of Resurrection is that you will be able to ensure that you always have access to your best Followers, as reviving them will make sure you still have their Loyalty Level and any presents, such as a Necklace that you have gifted them. This works on Followers that have died of old age or have been Sacrificed, essentially nullifying any negatives to a Follower dying.
FUNERAL
While the Funeral is a sweeter choice for a Doctrine, the reality is that it will only unlock the Ritual to hold a Funeral. Funerals will cause Followers to gain 20 Faith, but this isn’t the best use of a Ritual, especially when the alternative is resurrecting any dead Follower.
CHOICE #3
The third choice players will have is between Respect Your Elders Trait and Good Die Young Trait. I strongly recommend choosing Respect Your Elders as the alternative isn’t the greatest.
RESPECT YOUR ELDERS TRAIT
As someone who gets attached to my Followers, I tend to keep them alive for as long as I can so to benefit from having Elders is great. Players will gain 5 Faith for every Elder in their cult, which is much better than the alternative in my opinion. Might as well keep Followers alive for as long as they can work because…. Capitalism!
GOOD DIE YOUNG TRAIT
The Good Die Young can be useful if players are regularly killing off their Followers and will provide you with 10 Faith any time a player Sacrifices, Murders or Consume an Elder. Players will alternatively lose 20 Faith if the Elder dies naturally. I strongly recommend avoiding this one as there’s really no benefit to it.
CHOICE #4
The final choice players will be able to choose is between Return to the Earth and Grieve the Fallen. This choice is honestly depending on you and I’ll cover the benefits of both.
RETURN TO THE EARTH
Return to the earth unlocks a Natural Burial Building that allows dead Followers to provide you with Fertilizer. This is honestly great for making sure that your farms are fed, though players with a lot of Followers may not need this. Essentially players can force their Followers to poop to ensure that they have enough Fertilizer, so if you’re not struggling with this resource, choose the alternative.
GRIEVE THE FALLEN
Admittedly, I prefer the Grieve the Fallen, though it really depends on what’s happening in my Cult. Players will unlock the Grave Building where Followers can grieve and provide the Cult with 2 Faith. While good, it seems like people struggle less with Faith than Fertilizer, so let your decision be based on whether you need Faith or not and whether you want to tell a specific story.
WORK & WORSHIP DOCTRINES
Work & Worship Doctrines have to do with the way that Followers will generate the Devotion resource in the game as well as the type of Work a follower can do. I personally like this Doctrine the best as it can speed up your gameplay quite a bit.
CHOICE #1
The first choice all players will be provided is Faithful Trait and Industrious Trait. Both are actually very good, it’s just going to depend on what you want more. Essentially choose Faithful if you want to unlock things faster and Industrious if you want a long-term benefit of resources.
FAITHFUL TRAIT
The Faithful Trait will make all Cult members generate Devotion 15% Faster. This is honestly pretty good as it can help you become more powerful. I typically choose this as it can help unlock everything faster.
INDUSTRIOUS TRAIT
The Industrious Trait is going to help increase the work speed of all your Followers by 15%. This will help a player get resources faster, which is great for the mid-to-late game as things will start costing you a good portion of resources.
CHOICE #2
The second choice players will be able to make is between Inspire and Intimidate. Both choices are great, though much like the choices before, one will be better for unlocking Buildings and the other will be better for gathering resources.
INSPIRE
When players Inspire Followers they will increase their Loyalty. Essentially this will replace the Bless action and it is much more effective for levelling up your Followers.
I strongly recommend this one because you’ll be able to unlock everything a lot better.
INTIMIDATE
Intimidate is much better for resource gathering and will still increase their loyalty and will make them work 10% harder for 2 days. This also replaces the Bless Action though it does not level them up as fast.
If you’re looking for long-term farming, this is the option for you. Get to intimidating!
CHOICE #3
The third option players have is between The Glory of Construction and Ritual of Enlightenment. Though the Glory of Construction has pretty good use in the early game, it tends to fall off in the late game, making the Ritual of Enlightenment a lot more useful.
RITUAL OF CONSTRUCTION
With the Ritual of Construction, players will be able to immediately build all structures that are currently under construction. I would recommend that players have at least 3-5 buildings for this to be worth it as it is quite a costly Ritual. Admittedly, while buildings take a lot of time to build,especially the later buildings you have access to, you tend to stop building in the late-game or can simply go on adventures while your Followers build.
RITUAL OF ENGLIGHTENMENT
The Ritual of Enlightenment tends to be a better option for players as it will temporarily increase the amount of Devotion your Followers can get at the shrine by 20% for 3 days.
Devotion tends to be very important for players as it can help a player upgrade their Cult, so I would recommend this. The Skill Tree is very long and I hope to unlock everything on it, so this is the better option in my opinion.
CHOICE #4
The final options players can choose are between Glory Through Toil Ritual and Holy Day Ritual. I strongly recommend that players choose Glory Through Toil Ritual as it tends to be a lot more useful than Holy Day Ritual, especially in the long-run.
GLORY THROUGH TOIL RITUAL
The Glory Through Toil Ritual is really good for getting a lot of resources and tasks done as it will allow Followers to work through 3 days and nights without getting tired. This Ritual really makes it worth avoiding all the other upgrades that are tied to working as the little boost of work through the nights can provide you with a good amount of resources.
HOLY DAY RITUAL
The Holy Day Ritual will provide players with 80 Faith and while Faith can be helpful, most players don’t have difficulty keeping it up, so I would say avoid it.
Oh also… no one is gonna work for that day so like… no thanks.
POSSESSIONS DOCTRINES
By far another great Doctrine has to do with the Possessions one as they focus on Coins and Faith. While you don’t need to do it first, I do recommend doing them early.
CHOICE #1
The first choice players can make is between Extort Tithes and Bribe Followers. The choice is up to you for this one and what you want to focus on.
EXTORT TITHES
Extort Tithes will force your followers to pay up with Coins once per day. Players will have to actually interact with their Followers to do this and I honestly think it’s a really great Doctrine, especially int the beginning of the game. While players can easily farm out Coins by completing dungeons, this will have to do with the player’s skill level and if they are on an easier or tougher game mode.
Admittedly, the amount of Coins you get from Extorting Tithes is very little, it can build up and let you buy or construct anything you want in the early game.
BRIBE FOLLOWERS
Bringing Followers tends to be the choice for most players as it will allow players to spend 3 Coins to increase their Loyalty. In the long run, this is going to be useful as you will be able to power them up twice a day technically.
I do strongly recommend this if you’re not struggling with getting Coins.
CHOICE #2
The second choices for Doctrines aren’t the most interesting and have to do with getting Faith when building particular types of buildings. You can choose between the Belief in Materialism Trait and the Belief in False Idols Trait.
I would strongly recommend the Belief in False Idols Trait, though it’s going to depend on what you build more.
BELIEF IN MATERIALISM TRAIT
All Cult Members will gain Faith when you build better sleeping quarters. This will benefit those of you who do not want to spend time building decorations, though the alternative tends to be better for your base builders.
BELIEF IN FALSE IDOLS TRAIT
The belief in False Idols will help Followers gain more faith when players build decorations around their area. This tends to be better in the long run as most people will place a great number of decoration blocks, especially in the late game.
CHOICE #3
The third option is between Alms for Poor Ritual and Ritual of Enrichment. Players will probably want to choose Alms for Poor Ritual instead of Ritual of Enrichment, though this will again depend on what the player needs.
ALMS FOR THE POOR RITUAL
The Alms for the Poor Ritual will allow you to distribute Coins to all Followers to increase their Loyalty and also get 10 Faith.
This tends to be the better choice, but players will need to be in the mid-to-late game to be able to do this regularly as Coins feel hard to come by in the early game.
If you’re thinking about end game though, this is the better option.
RITUAL OF ENRICHMENT
The Ritual of Enrichment will provide players with Coins from their Followers. This is great for early game but tends to fall off in the late game.
CHOICE #4
The final choice players can make is between Sacral Architecture Trait and Devotee Trait. Players should choose the Devotee Trait as it tends to be more powerful than the Architecture Trait.
SACRAL ARCHITECTURE TRAIT
The Sacral Architecture Trait will provide players with 5 Faith whenever a new building is constructed, though this isn’t really great for the late game when you’re no longer building buildings. I strongly recommend against this.
DEVOTEE TRAIT
The Devotee Trait is the better choice as this will allow Followers to gain more Faith when a player delivers a Sermon. I conduct a Sermon daily, and I recommend all players do this as this is the best way to make sure you have Faith and can level up your Followers.
LAW & ORDER DOCTRINES
Law & Order Doctrines have to do with what is considered to be legal and not in your Cult. This is one of the more interesting Doctrine sects in my opinion.
CHOICE #1
The first choice between Doctrines are Murder Follower and Ascend Follower, the option is fairly similar now. Originally Ascended Followers could not be resurrected, however, now you can bring back Ascended Followers.
MURDER FOLLOWER
This allows players to Murder a follower, though this will devastate Followers if they witness it while awake. You can avoid this by making sure Followers are asleep when you murder one.
I strongly suggest using this as you will be able to resurrect Followers who have been murdered if you choose that Doctrine.
ASCEND FOLLOWER
The Ascend Follower doesn’t come with any penalties and instead will cause Followers to gain Loyalty, though if a Follower has been Ascended they will now be allowed to be resurrected.
CHOICE #2
The second choice for Law & Order is Ritualistic Fight Pit or Wedding Doctrine. I strongly recommend choosing the Wedding.
RITUALISTIC FIGHT PIT
The Ritualistic Fight Pit will allow players to cause two Followers to fight to the death unless you stop it. Although this can be interesting and a good way to get Follower Meat, the other option is better.
WEDDING
With the Wedding, two Followers will become married and will gain an extra action that increases their Loyalty without the need of another Ritual. Everyone at the wedding will provide you with 30 Faith.
CHOICE #3
The third choice is the Belief in Original Sin Trait and Belief in Absolution Trait. I would recommend choosing the Belief in Absolution simply because of how the game plays out, but this will depend on your playstyle.
BELIEF IN ORIGINAL SIN TRAIT
The Belief in Original Sin will reduce the Faith lost when putting Followers in jail who are not dissenting. Honestly, this isn’t really worth it as you don’t typically put Followers in Jail when your faith is high.
BELIEF IN ABSOLUTION TRAIT
When players have the Belief in Absolution players will gain 10 Faith every morning that there are no prisoners in Jail. This is typically 10 free Faith daily.
CHOICE #4
The final Choice is a Loyalty Enforcer and Tax Enforcer. I would recommend Loyalty Enforcer for those who don’t struggle with Coin, though Tax Enforcer if you do struggle with Coin.
LOYALTY ENFORCER
Loyalty Enforcer will perform a ritual at your temple where you appoint a Follower as the Loyalty Enforcer that patrols the Cult to raise the Loyalty of your Followers.
This is typically better as it will unlock more strength and power-ups.
TAX ENFORCER
Tax Enforcer is another ritual that appoints a Follower to collect Coins from all the other Cult Members. This is great if you aren’t great at collecting Coins in battle.
SUSTENANCE
Sustenance has to do with Food and Farming and to me was one of the least interesting.
CHOICE #1
The first options players have are the Ritual Fast and Feasting Ritual. Though players typically recommend that you do the Ritual Fast, I actually really love the Feasting Ritual because it’s sweet, though both are good options.
RITUAL FAST
With the Ritual Fast, your Followers will not need to eat for 3 Days and this can be combined with other Rituals that let their Followers do their thing without you affecting them, such as the Brainwashing and Glory Through Toil. If you don’t want to pay attention to your Followers, I absolutely recommend it, though you’ll gain no other benefit.
FEASTING RITUAL
The Feasting Ritual makes a meal for all your followers and will refill their hunger, also providing you with 25 Faith. This is great for the amount of Faith you get, making it easy to keep your Faith up.
CHOICE #2
The second choice players have are the Cannibal Trait or the Grass Eater Trait. I strongly recommend Grass Eater because of how easy it is to get grass… and I’ll be honest… I don’t care to kill my Followers for food. It is good for the meme though.
CANNIBAL TRAIT
The Cannibal Trait allows Followers to give you 5 Faith any time you eat a meal with Follower Meat.
GRASS EATER TRAIT
The Grass Eater Trait will allow players to feed their Followers with Grass and have no penalty to the Faith of your commune. I strongly recommend this, again because of how easy it is to get Grass.
CHOICE #3
The third Choice players have is the Ritual of Harvest and Ritual of the Ocean’s Bounty. I recommend Oceans Bounty as it is very easy to farm crops.
RITUAL OF HARVEST
The Ritual of the Harvest will cause all seeds to be immediately ready for Harvest. Admittedly, this isn’t very great because you can have an infinite amount of farms and they grow pretty farm.
RITUAL OF THE OCEAN’S BOUNTY
Ritual of the Ocean’s Bounty will allow you to collect special fish more easily for 2 days. You will also get twice the fish, making it possible to focus less on fishing.
CHOICE #4
The final options players have to choose between are Substances Encouraged Trait and Belief in Prohibition Trait. I would strongly recommend you choose based on whether you use the Brainwashing Ritual.
SUBSTANCES ENCOURAGED TRAIT
The Substances Encouraged Trait will allow players to gain 20 Faith when the Brainwashing Ritual is Performed. It’s not “great” but it can be better than the other option.
BELIEF IN PROHIBITION TRAIT
I prefer the Belief in Prohibition, though it can be risky if you do the Brainwashing Ritual as it has a 50% chance that Followers become sick after it.
With this trait, Followers will work and become devoted 10% faster… so very good! You just kind of have to avoid the Brainwashing Ritual.
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