Grindstone cheats, tips - Essential tips for 100% completion
Get all the chests, crowns, and more with this guide!
The Apple Arcade has finally launched and has brought with a bunch of excellent games, and the latest to be added to the line-up since launch is Grindstone.
Grindstone is essentially a puzzle game, but with a brutal action element. You'll be slashing through dozens of colored monsters at a time, but doing so in color order, and only if they're within your reach. It does an amazing job of taking the tried-and-true Candy Crush color format and making it completely fresh and enjoyable.
Grindstone has dozens of levels for you to slash through, but don't be in a rush. There are loads of rewards to find in each stage, and with this guide, we're going to give you the necessary information you need to aim for 100% completion, from the basic movement patterns you'll need to adopt to the items you need to collect and how…
Eight-way movement and abilities
You play as a bloodthirsty warrior - I can't remember his name, honestly - and he is limited by the rules of puzzle games. Therefore he can attack dozens of enemies in a single move, but only if they are all the same color, and close enough so that he can link all of his attacks together.
Luckily he can move in eight directions, up, right, left, down, and everything in between. That means you can move diagonally to squares nearby, vastly expanding the number of enemies you can hit versus the standard four directions.
This also allows you a lot of flexibility in your movement, and when multiple colored enemies are grouped together, you should be able to maneuver around all of them and end up closer to wherever your target is afterward. Chests, gems, wood, and more will count towards your combo, allowing you to extend ever further.
Luckily you have unlimited time to plan out your route to manoeuvre down, so you can perfect your plans before you take any action. As for the targets you should be aiming for…
1
The door
This will be your primary target, and the door will only open once you have slain a certain number of enemies. You'll be able to check this in the top right.
You don't really have to aim for this, especially in the earlier stages, as you'll easily be able to clear through enough enemies to get to the door quickly.
Though, some targets may only appear after you open the door, prompting you to stay in the stage and clear up. Also, don't worry about collecting all gems on the field, you still get those after you clear the stage.
2
The chest
First you'll need a key, and that will be held by a single enemy in the stage. You just need to chop them down, which shouldn't be too difficult.
After that you can open the chest, but you will first need a five hit combo in that turn in order to open it. The combo you get is also your attack power, and certain items and bosses will require 3, 5, or even 10 hit combos before you can approach them.
Once you have the key, simply run into the chest. And yes, you can absolutely combo the key and the chest in the same turn, as long as you plan your route correctly. You can even exit the stage.
3
The crown
Finally, there's the crown. Bosses will be introduced after a few levels, requiring a big combo to take down, just like mentioned above. But some bosses will also require you to hit them with a specific colour combo, not just anything like gems, chests, wood, etc.
But once you take down those bosses, they'll drop the crown, and this becomes an essential item for 100% completion, just like the chests in each level. That means running for the exit certainly isn't the best way to win.
Take your time and plan your routes accordingly, and you'll be able to grab all of the items in each stage with ease.
