h2-builds-and-combat

[fervent rover]

apollo attack is cool i think

hm i would have thought circe is less safe than mel

[digital juniper]

no it’s because with circe you can drop your cast, get damage and run away

[fervent rover]

yeah i guess

[digital juniper]

also double casts is a lot of crowd control

[fervent rover]

makes sense

[digital juniper]

mel staff has higher damage than circe in most cases, but you do have to be doing your combos to output damage

[glass bone]

Circe > Mel Staff > Medea for safety, Medea > Mel Staff > Circe for damage, Mel Staff > Circe > Medea imo for “best high fear aspect”

The other 21 do have pros, but the cons are a bit more visible imo

[fervent rover]

do you take throwable casts for circe then?

[digital juniper]

doesn’t circe require a big high roll to do more damage than mel staff?

[glass bone]

Tipsy Shot no, Howling Soul is a maybe, and the other two are solid but need a small adjustment to playstyle.

Oh wait, yeah, wrong order

Fixed it.

It was a mistake

[fervent rover]

i miss artemis being strong that was my favourite aspect in ea

[digital juniper]

sadly artemis currently is competing for the worst spot in between all the blades

[fervent rover]

yep.

[glass bone]

IMO, there’s a gap between Artemis and Pan

[fervent rover]

id argue its the worst in the game lol

[glass bone]

Artemis has some form of damage at-least as a bonus. Pan gets nothing for “direct damage”

Also, Pan doesn’t even have the best Trick Knives imo. That goes to Mel Blades, because it can pierce single targets, and you don’t have to rely on TK + Hitch + Reaper Knives

[fervent rover]

idk i still think pan is more usable than artermis right now

if anythign maybe selene is worse than artemis

[glass bone]

Also there is a chance that Artemis is better than Mel Blades on Surface, because my reasoning for liking Mel Blades is that it’s aspect bonus is a big deal to clear out Erebus, so you can WABS (weapon agnostic boon stack; think Blitz, Scorch, or Blasts)

[fervent rover]

i used to think mel axe was bad but its actually pretty good

[glass bone]

Personally I feel like Mel Axe isn’t a favorite for me. Had to rely on nerfed Gigaros Dash to get the UW 62 done.

Idk what Surface is gonna be like for that.

[fervent rover]

well i think on higher fears its not very usable

[glass bone]

But I don’t think Mel Axe is the worst aspect for high fear. It would probably be Supay, Selene, or Shiva

[fervent rover]

but its fun

imo playing double frenzy with mel axe sounds like a nightmare iw ouldnt do that

[glass bone]

It’s not the worst time with the frenzy. Actual problem is Wards + Hordes + Timer. The other axes have a way to “quickly” clear bunches of wards at once. Not Mel Axe, cause the dash attack doesn’t have a big AoE.

[fervent rover]

hows charon for high fear

[glass bone]

Mixed. It can vary from like… B- to A+. Charon is reliant on hitting a set of gain boons very early, or trading Gale / Toula for Hecuba (only works for the first region tbh)

The gains are Lucid > Flood > Born >= Tranquil.

[fervent rover]

i guess onioning out of lucid gain first chamber really hurts

[glass bone]

Well it’s also the fact that the high fear meta is no rerolls.

[fervent rover]

what why

[austere trail]

jpom

[spark crown]

Jpom my beloved 😍

[glass bone]

JPom, but also Time Piece is also a big deal

[fervent rover]

i mean would you take jewelled pom charon though??

i feel like its too important to get apollo poseidon

[glass bone]

https://youtu.be/jYe6xzNL2wY?si=7Rl3-82iHzUMWG9h

Yes

[spark crown]

+3 lvls is a big deal

[glass bone]

What JPom does is raise the floor and ceiling of builds, but makes the chance of reaching the ceiling harder, essentially

That specific run showcases an unopimal build, to say the least. Ares Special, Heph Cast, Poseidon Gain. But I had enough survivability and skill that day to clear it.

[fervent rover]

so youd take jpom, fig, time piece?

[vagrant sentinel]

.

[glass bone]

No. Jpom -> Fig / Time Piece / Ghost Onion -> Ghost Onion / Amulet / Pin / Knuckle Bones (for Surface) -> Pin / Antler (for speedruns and 65/67)

This is a bit of an oversimplification still, cause there’s arguments to be made for other keepsakes such as card, or hammer

But that list is what I have typically done for the most part.

[fervent rover]

i am so scared of antler lol

[vagrant sentinel]

Build for shiva plz?

[glass bone]

There’s one on leeramsnyder’s website

[true gust]

I like Demeter

Apollo good too bcs area is bigger

[vagrant sentinel]

Is it me or is hapheastus ahh

[true gust]

what

[flint widget]

wait until u get a jpom lvl 4 epic heph attack or special

[cerulean panther]

He's great, just not as straight-forward as Zeus or Hera.

[true gust]

heph has nice debuff

[cerulean panther]

Super powerful support boons with little investment and if you know how to build clangs he's one of the hardest-hitting Olympians.

[flint widget]

with furies and orig heph special deals like 900 dmg lmao

with crit that goes up to 2700

thats some big bang for your buck

[spark crown]

It's feels so goo

[true gust]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/459353369174081538/1437828809104822332/image.png?ex=6914a9ed&is=6913586d&hm=c8f0058acfc6677da8dba024dcff3f08e078f014b0100ff7f36e1e9ec786c6e6&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1028&height=370

[flint widget]

and with his duos that support blasts like rude awakening, chain reaction, cryo pounder, and seismic servo

wait ill do the math

[spark crown]

Heph cast needs to apply this low-key T-T

[true gust]

and some aspects very strong lv6 like Nergal

if u get heph legendary

[spark crown]

Morrigan LVL 6 is good and with the hammer that increases blood triad by 222 it looks really good

[true gust]

its 1221?xD

[flint widget]

86400 dmg per minute with all these boons correct me if im wrong (including grand caldera)

with crit for all the blasts thats like 259200 dmg per minute

[spark crown]

https://h2crossroads.pages.dev/FearCalculator/?vows=WzAsMSwwLDYsMCwzLDAsMiwwLDAsMiwwLDYsMCwwLDAsMTJd vow go brrrrr

[flint widget]

but if ur gonna go to 32 that means u ain't jumping from 15 to 60 anymore

thus u should change ur nickname to metal 15f to 32f

[spark crown]

Shhhhh it's only cuz I don't have rivals 4 experience

But the goal is still 60 so it still works

[flint widget]

ok ill accept that

15 to 32 to 60 is still a crazy ass jump

[spark crown]

It's only double then double again:P

[opal pecan]

Wild logic but I support you

[digital juniper]

except that 32->60 is a 4-5x increase in difficulty lol

(assuming optimal 32f setup)

[spark crown]

Me and optimal in same message XD

[digital juniper]

please tell me you don’t have void on at 32

[spark crown]

I don't rn but might end up putting it on if I keep being killed by the air in babality phase of typhoon grrrrr (I'll put other things on First)

[flint widget]

bro has void 3 for his 60 btw

[opal pecan]

What's worse, one point of Void and otherwise reasonable vows at 32 or #h2-victory-boasting message

[digital juniper]

yeah i know and it pains me

[digital juniper]

all i have to say is…

[digital juniper]

this is definitely one of the setups of all time…

[spark crown]

🫸

[digital juniper]

(it put me in severe pain)

[opal pecan]

Wait is your only/main problem just Rivals? I have a no Rivals 32 setup 👀

[spark crown]

Yuh but then I have no rivals 4 practice for 60f

[opal pecan]

Look at this mf all ~practicing~ to ~get better~ 😆 😆

[flint widget]

for ur 60 fear practice probably run like max rivals grit and frenzy

to truly feel the fear of having to fight rivals typhon and have it longer as well

[digital juniper]

might aswell antler summit

best defensive keepsake btw

[spark crown]

Nvm I found the perfect 60f set up https://h2crossroads.pages.dev/FearCalculator/?vows=WzUsMywyLDYsMywzLDIsNSw0LDIsMiwzLDYsMywyLDIsOF0=

[opal pecan]

I guess Fearbies taking Antler last boss makes more sense when you consider the max Grits 😩

[true gust]

you should go 67

[spark crown]

No cuz then rivals 4 smh

[true gust]

how hard is he on 67

sayan mode?

[spark crown]

Considering he's killing me with the air on 32f i gotta say pretty hard

[true gust]

yeeet

[flint widget]

wdym with the air

[true gust]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1286686006040330321/1433154733991923845/tenor.gif

[digital juniper]

the gusts

[opal pecan]

The wind pushing you or

[digital juniper]

which is lowkey his easiest attack😭

[flint widget]

oh i thought mf had like plague inc virus in his typhon fight

[spark crown]

Sweeping beam will have swung twice and I'll randomly from nothing hitting me take its damage

[spark crown]

I DO

[opal pecan]

Maybe the Frenzy 2 is just overwhelming your senses 🤔

[flint widget]

ok im never coming to australia

im not getting infected

[spark crown]

No cuz there was nothing on my screen not even chronos

[spark crown]

Digitally gives you air damage typhoon virus

Like I can't tell if it's hotbox delays or what's happening

Or maybe it's one swing and it's hitting me before the beam swings back

[bronze flax]

Frenzy 1 is making me feel miserable lmao

[junior trail]

i wonder if its not rivals 4 problem and its actually denial hm

like you can miss certain synergy if not careful

[spark crown]

My 32f dosnt have denial

[devout tusk]

you want to forget about the combo for morrigan and just do final slice if you get it?

[flint widget]

boated has one

[exotic coyote]

okay lowkey, the morrigan aspect is insane if you get the final attack hammers for the blades especially +300% then getting some attack power boons from the hammers or aphro boon i was dealing like 1k damage every attack, themorrigan attack pattern makes the final attack come out earlier too i think

[flint widget]

im too lazy to actually link it tho

final slice is well known as like the best hammer for morrigan period

[hazy merlin]

yeah it's super good

[exotic coyote]

well i didnt know T_T ive just been playing randomly and i came accross it and it was so nice

i got a power chaos boon too i was dealing so much damage

[spark crown]

It's really good with apollo strike with that hammer - morrigan main

[hazy merlin]

both Apollo strike and Final Slice are quite good on Morrigan in isolation

[spark crown]

Apollo strike aphro special are very good synergy on morrigan(only when used together)

[hazy merlin]

I feel like I end up spamming Ω attack a lot on Morrigan as well

[spark crown]

attack is the omega you wanna spam the. Tap attack then special

[hazy merlin]

looping attack -> Ω attack interleaved with special hitting twice to trigger blood triad a lot is very good

[spark crown]

Mhm mhm

[river wadi]

Nyx aspect nightspawn anygood against single target?

[silent crow]

no

[junior trail]

nightspawn is more of crowd control

[river wadi]

ok

[empty fable]

Any tips for using selene's boon Moon Water? Do you save it for boss battles or just use it whenever?

[cerulean panther]

Try to save a few charges for boss battles. I try to not use any during regular combat rooms unless I feel like I'm about to lose a DD.

[empty fable]

thanks!

[cerulean panther]

It's really cool when the entire seed doesn't want me to get a particular boon from an Olympian.

[opal pecan]

Whatcha fishin for

[cerulean panther]

Pyro Technique.

[opal pecan]

Oof, that one hurts.

[cerulean panther]

It does offer me Snuffed Candle on almost every reroll, really enjoying that.

[flint widget]

this is why we run denial folks

[cerulean panther]

If Denial had a single level I would, but because reasons the Oath is less flexible than the Pact.

[opal pecan]

You're the first one I've come across who's had the stance that Denial is worse than AP!

[flint widget]

i would take denial over approval process any day of the week

[cerulean panther]

That is not what I said.

Approval Process is absolutely worse than Vow of Denial.

But the Oath of the Unseen doesn't have as granular control as the Pact of Punishment for reasons that have never been explained.

[gritty solstice]

hey, someone knows the best way for Adamant farm?

[cerulean panther]

The Vow of Pain scales to the same maximum as its Pact equivalent, but there's only 3 levels instead of 5.

[opal pecan]

Take Raki with you. That's it. (Don't try Chaos trials, no resources.)

[cerulean panther]

No 40 or 80% increase damage, only 20, 60, and 100.

[opal pecan]

Melinoe isn't good at negotiating and would certainly never seek to bargain with the will of Night, unlike Zag wheedling their ole pa ;P

[cerulean panther]

And the game is worse for it.

Or not as good as it could be.

[silent crow]

makes it easier to build setups

[cerulean panther]

Less granular control makes it more difficult.

[silent crow]

less choice paralysis for new high fear runners

[hollow stag]

In a Mel Skull build with Hephaestus (Legendary), Hera (Fine Line, Born Gain), Poseidon (Ocean Swell), Hestia (Slow Cooker)

Who would be the best 5th God? Apollo (Extra Dose, Legendary), Demeter (Weed Killer), Ares (Plasma, Grevious Wounds)

[ornate frost]

You typically don't want a 5th Olympian in your pool, diluting it, so my first recommendation would be "none of them".

But if you already know that and want to run 5 gods for fun anyways, I'd probably say I'd go Apollo, of those. You can benefit from Extra Dose, from Perfect Image, from Back Burner, and sorta from Light Smite, plus extra fire boons for Slow Cooker.

[junior trail]

Do you have possessed? Because fine line/ocean are omega stuff

Or you play Mel skull with wide grin o.attack

[ornate frost]

Tbh even with Possessed Array, I'd probably rather pick up Hecate keepsake in like region 3 rather than try to fit in another god to capitalize on the omega effect

[hollow stag]

I'm thinking of taking out Hestia despite her Slow Cooker.

Maybe Apollo and Demeter for 4/5th Gods

[ornate frost]

Is there a specific reason you're trying to push for 5 gods? Like is it a self-challenge? Or like a "for fun" condition you wanted to add on for yourself?

[hollow stag]

Theory crafting

[ornate frost]

Right but theorycrafting for what purpose? If you're just trying to theorycraft a hypothetical best build in a vacuum, it is unlikely to involve a 5th Olympian (and even in the event where a weapon's hypothetical best build takes from 5 gods, the extra god would make achieving said build in reality much more difficult)

[digital juniper]

if you’re theorycrafting a build, you won’t want 5 gods

[hollow stag]

In case if I get a 5th God from Travel Deal or Hermes Shrine

Does Apollo Legendary proc Fine Line and Ocean Swell twice?

[junior trail]

Imo mel skull is more of pew pew attack spam then gather shells with special, only o.attack while enemy is spawning
O.attack skull build is more of mom skull or wide grin play style

[junior trail]

Yes

[hollow stag]

Hmmm, is Demeter worth picking up because of Weed Killer 50-85% Omege Attack damage boost for Mel Skull?

Apollo can be worth due to his Legendary, though Demeter...

[uneven palm]

You’re asking a lot of a late Apollo to roll into his legendary

[flint widget]

apollo that late? ur not getting his legen unless u get all apollo in the subsequent chambers

[hollow stag]

You're right.

I will burn through Magick way too fast with Fine Line, Ocean Swell, and Apollo Legendary.

Demeter doesn't have many Duos that benefit Mel Skull.

[digital juniper]

meh i don’t think ocean swell is all that for the build

[hollow stag]

It's more for Poseidon Hera Duo

[silent crow]

i mean its not bad

[cerulean panther]

Possessed Array no longer interacts with anything that activates by Magick usage, correct?

It just drains 25 MP and then needs to be restored?

[opal pecan]

Anything that requires you to "use" magick doesn't trigger if you only "lose" magick per the PA wording

[tawny imp]

How do I keep magic up with PA

[hollow stag]

Poseidon, Hera

[jolly aurora]

do you know what room prometheus is on

[devout tusk]

Is there any mods for boss practice or something like that? Like were I can face a boss from the start to save some time, and get better at their patterns?

[manic shuttle]

I wish

[stray notch]

Could someone explain me why Heinous Affront is considered OP?
I'm not trolling I just would like to better understand the mechanic behind it

[surreal hazel]

Combine it with light smite

Divine Vengeance and Visceral impact are... okay I guess

[stray notch]

Yes I have it, it inflict daze...

[surreal hazel]

but light smite is hilariously op, massive AoE triggered every time you wound an enemy

[cerulean panther]

Heinous Affront and Visceral Impact make Grisly Gain viable.

Hang on, lemme get my Light Smite run screenshot, that should explain it.

[surreal hazel]

you wound 3 enemies, 3 huge AoE booms

[cerulean panther]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1233146305308528650/1408224399852830831/image.png?ex=691468ec&is=6913176c&hm=18569958ce34b3fa0d46bf8d1d9bb8488ffb19589d5302975e43fabfe95f7a0e&

[stray notch]

Ok so i probably I am missing something about Light Smite

I thought it was only applying daze

[surreal hazel]

Read the description and what rarity scales?

[stray notch]

it does 75 damage, I did not thought it was that much tbh

[surreal hazel]

in a massive AoE, for every enemy you wound

[stray notch]

ok thank you!

[surreal hazel]

oh and yeah, so you wounded them and dazed them, so add origination into the mix, as well as all other olympian and global damage bonuses

[stray notch]

how did you linked the image here?

#h2-victory-boasting message

[cerulean panther]

I right-clicked and selected "Copy Link".

[stray notch]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1233146305308528650/1437886018748416030/image.png?ex=6914df35&is=69138db5&hm=d3b7ed7a708b7cbcc4368cbacc5efa89cbc4e8fc5cbb4c6f26b99a54d4718b3d&

So yeah my light smite dmg was not so prominent

[dreamy veldt]

Ha, prominent

Like the flare

https://www.reddit.com/r/Hades2/s/OKX7U4hEUP

What in the world

[hollow stag]

I didn't need Hestia after all.

Hera got me Slow Cooker.

[dreamy veldt]

Based

[stray notch]

what? how? xD

[dreamy veldt]

They just didn't attack

Except for a couple cases

[sage flame]

oh yeah lol

[sage flame]

peak sees peak

#h2-victory-boasting message

I have to check my vod but I didn't even use my attack for the fish at the end of scylla

but agree to the wards pylons in the chronos fight

[viral yew]

Yes

[gritty solstice]

Hey, someone can give me an advice for Mel Axe builds?

i usually go with Heinous Affront, but, i want some other options.

[surreal hazel]

dashing heaaaave

[edgy nacelle]

dash strike spam with % on attack
dashing heave hammer ideal, weave in specials as needed
aphrodite, apollo, and hera all good attack options

I like fishing for aphro legendary via her dash, since you spam dash strike so often, but other combos are prob more effective lol, that’s just a build I find fun

[azure notch]

if I'm using Moros with Heaven Flourish, would Arc Flash trigger if I hit an enemy with a special that also explodes an oattack that hits the same enemy?

[edgy nacelle]

it should, and also you spam oatk often enough on moros that it’s a decent pick either way
are you choosing between three boons rn?

or just hypothetically fishing for arc flash

[azure notch]

I'm picking boons. The other options are ok but I'm probably gonna get arc flash.

[edgy nacelle]

what are the other two?

cause arc flash is nice but also your dps is high enough on moros you may not benefit all that much, if you’re dealing 120 damage with an explosion anyway

[azure notch]

thunder rush and lightning lance. I do like Lightning Lance but Arc Flash has extra value because I already have Sudden Burst from the hammer

[edgy nacelle]

hmm yeah with those options I guess it’s arc flash or lightning lance.
either one is fine rly

[azure notch]

I'm glad I'm not running Denial. I hope I get LL later

[dire shell]

Oh goodness the great chaos above & below trials seem like they’d suuuck

[opal pecan]

They do!

Fortunately only one of them is required for achievements.

[spark crown]

Ares gain into ares ledg 🔥

[azure notch]

what does the chaos boon that increases cast damage do to non-omega cast? Does it actually increase the damage of all damage associated with the cast like the ring boon, arctic gale, and rousing reception?

[bronze flax]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1233146305308528650/1437938863317450802/image.png?ex=6915106c&is=6913beec&hm=09abeb34a5428e07373d8750743d6e29c93f59c3606bdff94115a688268e0638

What even was this run with Cut Above being the main damage source

Coffin Nail really helped here though, why aren't Ares' blades like this by default?

[dreamy veldt]

To make coffin nail exist

[dreamy veldt]

What do you even get for them

[silent crow]

how do you guys deal wiht the adds in p1 rivsls chronos

[spiral wadi]

i kinda just run around trying to deal with them by range, or get close and poke burst dmg before running away

[glass bone]

I’ve done a mix to varying successes. Usually what I’ve done is deal damage to the adds after Chronos does the start of fight combo

[pure grove]

i ignore them until chronos does his vacuum attack, then go for them because putting damage on chronos is way more difficult than going for adds

also, the adds just don't do that much, so they're safe to ignore

[glass bone]

The main thing the adds do is chip at the resistances

And that is a problem. The other thing they can do is death burst in an unfortunate spot (I.e. right next to a time bubble; yes this has happened to me and yes it used up a DD because of the damage…)

[opal pecan]

Noob question but how do you deal with Rivals vacuum attack at all? Normal Chronos I backstab him (as it were), but he aint got no backstabbable parts with the double vacuum

[glass bone]

You have to basically attack his sides

[opal pecan]

Oh, I didn't realize that would work :O

[pure grove]

it's just really difficult because he's always turning

hence, go for adds and dodge the death blooms

[glass bone]

So you have to either use a big AoE (e.g. Casts), or just use your attacks and continue moving inbetween attacks.

Though there is a chance an AoE attack / special will get blocked.

[opal pecan]

Whaaat even an AOE?

[glass bone]

Well okay, I don’t think a Cast will get blocked

But something like… Axe OAttack or Attack maybe?

[pure grove]

he's got this weird thing going on where if you trigger his block, it blocks his entire body for a split second

[opal pecan]

That makes sense wrt the axe omega attack

[pure grove]

super weird and inconsistent

[spark crown]

what we up to build chat

[glass bone]

Reconsidering my life decisions to 48/48 62s when I’m faced with Surface

No, but, pretty soon, I guess I’ll try completing a third weapon (via Supay…)

[opal pecan]

48? Oh, UW and SF?

[glass bone]

In other words; all aspects all routes 62 Fear

Currently it’s 37/48

[spark crown]

sounds about right XD

[glass bone]

I’m especially reconsidering it, because of Supay

I really don’t like it.

also I’m gonna hate the OAttack axes, Medea, Selene, and Shiva…

[spark crown]

thana is the only axe i really like

[glass bone]

(Well by that, I mean Mel and Than Axe cause I already did Nergal)

Charon I have yet to complete however…

[harsh prism]

Charon sounds easy, although wards sound annoying

[opal pecan]

What about attack Than

[glass bone]

We shall see

It worked well ish for UW attempts

But UW and SF are different levels of annoying

[empty fable]

any tips for dodging vow of rivals cerberus attacks?

[glass bone]

The easy way out is to stack movement speed. The dual fireball spit / fireball dash fireball, and the many dash attacks can be dodged with just running.

[empty fable]

the one where theres red circles on the whole map? just kind of run between them?

[glass bone]

The actual way without stacking movement speed is you kind of have to iframe with the dodges, but the good news is Cerberus’s attacks are extremely telegraphed.

Oh, that one.

So for the ‘red circles’, you want to find an open spot. If you can’t, then try to dodge into a spot that will come up first

You will see the circle change color as the fire “spirit?” comes up to bite, so you can then dodge to that spot after it attacks.

[empty fable]

hmm I'll try to look for that, thanks!

any tips for poly with vow of rivals? almost always lose a dd on that one >.<

[glass bone]

Phase transition poisons by Medea are the same overall pattern. P1 -> P2 is a series of up and down lines, P2 -> P3 is a star.

In general, you want to not be extremely close to Polyphemus when he attacks, cause he can be dangerous up close

[empty fable]

what is p1? phase 1?

[glass bone]

In other words, P1 -> P2 is when Poly is at 66-67% HP, and P2 -> P3 is when Poly is at 33-34%

[hazy merlin]

Man, Exhaust Riser + Launcher Frame is so sick

[opal pecan]

I don't especially go gaga over Launcher Frame, but even I must admit that it is a funny combo with Exhaust Riser.

Dash Strike: the build

[hazy merlin]

in this case I also had heroic Extra Dose

for even more Attack

[opal pecan]

Does that affect dash strike?

Or is it just an extra side thing for your funtimes

[hazy merlin]

I was also wondering that and google suggested that it does but I still don't know

[opal pecan]

Never trust the hallucination engine

[hazy merlin]

well I don't mean gemini in this case at least

but e.g. the wiki lists Dashing Heave as a synergy

I'd probably have to try Extra Dose in a build where my dash strike isn't already hitting 100 times to be sure

[broken spoke]

Idk does it work but at least it is winning

[junior trail]

✅ Cast damage (and Scorch applied by Smolder Ring)
✅ Omega Cast damage
❌ doesn’t boost tier 1–2 boons that use Casts but deal separate damage, like Arctic Gale, Prominence Flare, Rousing Reception, Meat Grinder, etc.

[edgy nacelle]

hm, arctic ring not dealing cast damage is odd, you don't mean arctic gale...?

[junior trail]

oh yeah gale

[edgy nacelle]

ok that makes more sense, I was like uh. huh. how would dem cast not be cast damage but smolder ring is

[woeful moth]

Til: anubis omega attack can block dash attacks. That includes dog's slam attack, roxy's dash and chronos frenzy dash attack

[opal pecan]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/280788714790322176/1437991914673541220/image.png?ex=691541d5&is=6913f055&hm=6fa1ffcea57a9db35ea8f44415a2c354bd5609a5bb8dad0591d35eed3aceaab8&

I was excited by seeing a Chaos gate in the first room but man this sure is a lot of

[azure notch]

but when it's a boon that says "attacks deal +x% more damage" then it doesn't affect the main attack boon, just the attack's base damage, correct?

[junior trail]

i cant remember the calculation but what i think of chaos's strike/flourish is they're pretty good with % dmg build and not on-hit effects build

[edgy nacelle]

damage% attack boons will stack additive with other sources of attack damage%
but idt they affect things like splash or scorch which are triggered by attacks, even if they occupy the attack boon slot

[silent crow]

there are few weapons where the chaos damage boosts are truly inconsequential because the balancing is better in this game

imo the only weapons where you shouldn't care about them are hel attack and supay

[silent crow]

ya they dont

[hollow stag]

How is Ares on Moros Flames, or any other Umbral Flames aspect?

[silent crow]

quite solid

[hollow stag]

I'm aiming for Poseidon and Hera for their Fine Line and Ocean Swell

[silent crow]

ares' cut above is good too

[hollow stag]

There is a delay on Cut Above. It doesn't damage as quick as Fine Line or Ocean Swell.

Though I like his Grievous Blow

[edgy nacelle]

aim for the hephaestus duo boon to heavily reduce the delay

[silent crow]

also the delay is fine you have a cast for a reason

[hollow stag]

Should Ares be on Attack or Special?

[silent crow]

special

[junior trail]

if you not already have zeus or hera on special, ares special is nice
beware of wounds hit lag btw

[hollow stag]

Wounds hit lag?

[turbid crescent]

mel axe + level 7 heph special + poseidon duo = 1 second recharges LOL

• hestia duo and apollo duo with his cast

All this and I had 200k blast damage on a surface run

[viral yew]

The time slow

[junior trail]

when Wounds hits an enemy, you’ll notice a tiny pause, that’s hit-lag. Same thing happens with Heartthrobs or Heph Blast, but Wounds is the worst offender.
If you’re using something like Torches O.Special and it tags a ton of enemies, the slowdown becomes really noticeable and kinda kills the flow. it can even mess up builds that rely on tight timing (like Charon + Giga Cleaver or Exceptional)

they toned it down a bit in 1.1, but yeah, it’s still there and still feels clunky

[azure notch]

I just bought a boon at a shop and it wasn't replaced by another item even though I have Travel Deal, what happened?

[junior trail]

charon shop or hermes shrine?

[edgy nacelle]

in hermes shrine it'll be replaced if you rush order it, i.e. spend gold twice

also I believe if you got travel deal in that room it won't work for that shop

[junior trail]

travel deal also doesnt work with zag freebies

[opal pecan]

That one makes sense since you can't really... discount from zero

[edgy nacelle]

not with that attitude you can't. but if you believe in yourself-

[azure notch]

charon shop before Eris fight

[azure notch]

I'm not fighting Zagreus on Frenzy 2, I'm not strong enough 😔

[edgy nacelle]

did you get travel deal from a shrine delivery that same room, or buy something else before the boon...?

[silent crow]

the dawn of the Fate's Whim era has brought back the plague of selene starts

[azure notch]

nope

[opal pecan]

I can't believe you immediately seedcursed me

[edgy nacelle]

hm yeah then I'd f10 it and report it as a glitch, cause that's odd

[junior trail]

okay but hestia godsent tho

[azure notch]

ok I just bought another boon in the pre-prometheus shop and it worked fine

[silent crow]

i just had gale block a hit during wolf howl thats cool

[azure notch]

does Brave Face work if I have 0 Magick? Or do I need to spend the magick to resist the damage?

[opal pecan]

You need the magick

[silent crow]

am i crazy for hating gale on high fear too

[rare ermine]

omg guys i finally beat 50f with this dang than axe

[edgy nacelle]

hell yeah!!!! congrats gg

[rare ermine]

i wanted to make the than Ocrit work so bad but it ended up being blast central

i even had to take a phase shift as a projectile delete button lmao

[fierce citrus]

55 fear now

Let’s get it

[rare ermine]

@fierce citrus i took dio keepsake region2 and it didnt proc during region4

i got fig scammed

[dreamy veldt]

I got a new phone and have been messing with setting up, I haven't played at all since I got home

This is unacceptable

[edgy nacelle]

oooof this run is full of hard decisions, can I ask for input lol

[elfin forge]

go with the first one

[edgy nacelle]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1426118288198602775/1438022955773988904/Screenshot_2025-11-11_at_8.29.33_PM.png?ex=69155ebd&is=69140d3d&hm=6ab0a1a0db5da70734ec8b0ade99b9621e4ab8983bd0ba89092865dcb130b2e8&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1076&height=700

min cooldown blast + seismic servo, vow of denial

I feel like caldera is flat out just better...?

but duo...

[rare ermine]

do you have apollo in pool?

[junior trail]

do you have apol in the pool?

[edgy nacelle]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1426118288198602775/1438023228739031150/Screenshot_2025-11-11_at_8.30.47_PM.png?ex=69155efe&is=69140d7e&hm=7b9bedde87a9527bd1214bfc39bf2bd56f17c2537333ccdd4782a09b7c89e9c8&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=470&height=700

nope

[elfin forge]

I think caldera but idk I'm kinda stupid

[junior trail]

caldera is the way then, no sunny/rude

[edgy nacelle]

caldera it is, ty

[true gust]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/459353369174081538/1438023416853692488/image.png?ex=69155f2b&is=69140dab&hm=26671e62c483c3a316198af6e1edb189f0a47847cec232df478b96936218807e&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1445&height=813

lul

[rare ermine]

bruv really wants me to push for the 55f

[fierce citrus]

Is fig really that necessary?

I don’t find any use in it compared to other stuff you can take in second biome

[silent crow]

its for if your timer sucks i guess

[fierce citrus]

Oh yea forgot about uw

[rare ermine]

yeah clearing wards with axe is not fun

[fierce citrus]

Yea fair

I’d personally rather take calling card or Rolex but to be fair I play Moros and on surface

So fig just feels meh

[rare ermine]

yeah for axe the wards are the biggest enemy in terms of timer

[fierce citrus]

Take wards off go judgment

That’s what ima do if I ever get to 62 fear

Except I’m taking return off

[meager wadi]

what are best hel skull hammers? lets say for pos/hes build

[rare ermine]

doktor, turn off my cringe inhibitors

[edgy nacelle]

I like range + bouncing on attack a lot, but I also don't play Hel often enough to know what's meta

[meager wadi]

is the valkyrie form lasting longer that useful? seems like an easy thing to keep up

[edgy nacelle]

it just costs a ton of magick, and Hel is still strong even if you just use normal attacks + weave in special 🤷

[rare ermine]

return is annoying but doesnt really increase the difficulty so free fear tbh

[junior trail]

helheim

jokes aside i like leering, cc is nice

yeah honestly hel o.attack build can pop off with Helheim + Exceptional + plasma + channeling speed, it’s super flashy when it gets going
but kinda ends up feeling like a weaker and pricier version of base Mel Torches

[opal pecan]

Plus it's annoying to have to stop and channel to re-activate Valk

[azure notch]

every time I beat a fear level, how much should I move up the next run? I've been going up by 4 each time but idk if that's too much of a jump. It sure feels like it is, especially now

[sinful marlin]

What's your highest rn

My progression was 16 - 32 - 40 - 45 - 55

[azure notch]

44

[opal pecan]

Any particular reasoning behind the 45-55 gap or /curious

[fierce citrus]

Honestly it hurts my time alot

To be fair it’s a skill issue though because the second I see that green orb I drop everything and go to collect it

[sinful marlin]

Good question thanks for noticing

So I was planning to do 50 after 45 and reached p3 chronos without any trouble on first attempt but got instakilled on accident. So I decided to go for 55 directly since I knew I could clear 50 without too much stress

[sinful marlin]

Go 50!!!!

[opal pecan]

Incredible history 😆

[sinful marlin]

Yesss 55 took some getting used to

[opal pecan]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/280788714790322176/1438029087284396113/image.png?ex=69156473&is=691412f3&hm=fa67a9555ed9e6e32adfac66d2d7ec0fe41fdc9f79c81924d9fcb0b0fcf446cd& I swear to goddess, I love Hestia but she has the absolute worst track record of refusing to offer me core boons while I'm missing a bunch of core boons

More, great-auntie pls 😔

[azure notch]

so I put the last rank in hordes, added Rivals 3 (I only do Surface which is why I'm adding this so late), 1 point in Pain, 1 point in Grit. Only other Vow not maxed is Scars

[sinful marlin]

Bestia

[edgy nacelle]

I mean the dash is a core boon /j
(realistically it's flash fry tho for sure, imo)

[junior trail]

hestia godsent lessgooo? theoretically?

you can pull off with plasma build + heartthrob here also, mel torches is fun with that

[vernal quiver]

ok cool chance i crash out i have an amazing 62 run going and then for some reason melinoe decides to get caught on an iron spawn in eris boss and i lose a dd cuz of it ._.

and then cuz i cant see anything because of how much is already going on its hard to see eris's aim line so i lose a 2nd

[junior trail]

heartthrob build is underappreciated these days

[sinful marlin]

Bro survived the rift enemies only to get dunked on by eris scam

[azure notch]

how good is Stutter Step? I never hear anyone say anything about it so my assumption is it's ok at best

[junior trail]

Very good with certain dash strike builds
Mel staff, Trick knives, exhaust, dashing, morrigan etc

[vernal quiver]

like literally im about to fumble this
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/912456622440325213/1438031629850378312/image.png?ex=691566d1&is=69141551&hm=23398c22b0f4957431a51e6abf4ab7f604a60e5e95992ab9058b5ffaeeed4e94&

im gonna go insane eris scammed tf out of me

[edgy nacelle]

I mean 1 DD + pin is scary, idt it's a fumble if it doesn't work out

[azure notch]

ok I'm on Circe and Quick Buck is in the same offering so I think I'm gonna go with that

[edgy nacelle]

yeah idt it's very notable on circe

[vernal quiver]

i took pin cuz i had like 50/110 going into olympus 😭 otherwise i mightve taken skelly

[edgy nacelle]

I mean hey I think that's absolutely the play! abuse the free healing

[vernal quiver]

i think assuming i lose that last dd ill toss away gigaros for athena spawn ngl assuming she can spawn on summit

since if i have dds i win no question

[edgy nacelle]

she can spawn at summit yes!

so banking on renewed faith sounds very reasonable

plus at this point gigaros isn't doing THAT much, blitz + cast is your main DPS source for sure and it isn't buffing those

also hm, 3 more aspects to go for UW 40s...
Do I go with Moros, Eos, or mom skull? 👀

ngl it's kind of funny that my highest UW clear on Eos is 16f when I got so close to 62 a few times with it lol, just didn't practice any fear in between

[vernal quiver]

goddamn i didnt even drop lovers

they went down so fast, time to see if athena is kind to me

ATHENA MY GOAT

im sorry for ever doubting you the past 20 times youve given me nothing

6:30 on timer for typhon i better not choke this

[sinful marlin]

Broooooo

[true gust]

I did 35 fear with 3^ rivals for the first time

with xynt melinoe

[vernal quiver]

dw i clutched it

[opal pecan]

An absolute classic of a reliable rock :P Congratulations! You whupped them good!

[dreamy veldt]

That was so fun

Devil sparks with Poseidon dash/special, Zeus attack

Typhon took like 45 seconds

[azure notch]

I have Rude Awakening and Grand Caldera as boon offerings with Denial. I have Blinding Rush so RA is free. Do I take the extra 300 damage or just 140 damage with 50% larger blasts?

[opal pecan]

What are your current blast boons that you already have?

[edgy nacelle]

I'd generally grab rude awakening 🤷

...ok another w.antler hubris run that is going to end badly 😭 ah well

fourth degree + cutting edge mom skull run, which is fun but. lol

[opal pecan]

This is Ares dash's time to shine

#believe

[edgy nacelle]

yeahhhh no I died
nothing but lovers to give me free hits and no DDs lmao, not the run

[dreamy veldt]

Just lost to Zag in Erebus

[opal pecan]

Erebro do be doing that

[dreamy veldt]

Usually I only fight him if I have something ranged

But I was using crow cutters this time

[lilac vault]

Is DDs the meta for high fear, or can arguments be made for strength?

[opal pecan]

I believe the typical reasoning is that when you have high or max Scars + Pain, Strength basically loses its defensive capabilities

[edgy nacelle]

I'd say DDs is the meta 🤷
once you turn on max vow of scars it's just more effective HP and more ways to refill lost DDs (as opposed to lost health)
if you're able to go mostly hitless then strength will help a bit with timer, and if you luck into a build with lots of healing which ignores scars that's neat too, but no healing is rough on strength builds

[vernal quiver]

The argument is dont get hit 😌

[lilac vault]

Real and true

[opal pecan]

Strength: White Antler's disregarded stepsibling? 🤔

[vernal quiver]

But realistically yeah like malkin said dds are more added safety especially since say youre at like 2hp but have a dd and get hit for say 70 you still eat the whole 70 and keep going while strength you just die there

[tawny imp]

in a very weird way its a messed up bellcurve

strength is better when you are at fear levels without scars
then DD is better once you start taking scars
then strength becomes better again once you just stop getting hit

[opal pecan]

Is there anyone who simply doesn't get hit ever at high Fear though? Genuine nonrhetorical question

So many vows up there in the "what's even left" zone seem tailor made to make it harder to not get hit

[vernal quiver]

I mean frenzy2, hoards3, fangs2, like youre gonna get hit eventually

[opal pecan]

Exactly

[vernal quiver]

Then like rivals scylla and typhon, doing those hitless is also a bit of rng since they can be evil

Unless im just bad

[brisk vessel]

dog rivals typhon blows chunks

[edgy nacelle]

I never learn, time for attempt 2

[opal pecan]

I so want to properly try the rivals endboss fights but ngl having wade through all the rivals before them....

[edgy nacelle]

never punished >:)
(punished sometimes actually, but turns out some combos of boons delete 1/4 of the chronos health bar per combo lmao)

[opal pecan]

This is still mom skull?

[edgy nacelle]

yup, 1 sec will link (wow I took so much damage this run omg)

kiiiind of just ignored the aspect and played p.array tbh https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1426118288198602775/1438051961571115098/Screenshot_2025-11-11_at_10.24.42_PM.png?ex=691579c1&is=69142841&hm=1d2c4be68be8f6f83be25007c62a4e532549af993c4c57ae816b5fc2b330db4e&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=1076&height=700

very sloppy run in terms of damage taken to bosses lol but. idc, it was fun, and also one tap attack phased chronos p much every time lmao

[opal pecan]

that born gain cost lmaooooooooo

[edgy nacelle]

I did actually prime out vs scylla lol........

[opal pecan]

Was it less leveled up at that point

[edgy nacelle]

but then bridal glow hit it so. shrug

ah yeah, pre-bridal glow
also pre silver wheel

[opal pecan]

#12hphero

It's a whole thing

[edgy nacelle]

I rly did just start facetanking in p3 tbh because I figured "eh, 2 DDs and some armor, I can take him"
and you know? I did 😌

now time for either eos or moros, cause after both of those UW is done 👀

[opal pecan]

If you do Moros now, then Eos can be a sort of capstone reward for yourself :3

[edgy nacelle]

8 more for surface, but still, 10 runs away from done with this goal 😤

[edgy nacelle]

honestly both of them are maybe in my top 5 aspects overall lol, or close to it, so I'll have a great time

[opal pecan]

I've got to give Eos another try on the Surface soon myself, I got too into my head about attempting to Do The Gimmick Properly last time and ended up being very silly about it lol

I guess you're in for a flamin' good time is what 😆

[edgy nacelle]

damn ||the sibling fight can be rough sometimes||
I should do it more often, I’ve only taken the opportunity 4 or 5 times total so I’m still in the “making things up as I go” phase

||also taking it with no offensive boons was a choice, goodbye run||

[opal pecan]

OMG you didn't....

[edgy nacelle]

😔 I did... alas
but also it was a weird god pool for moros lol, so I'm not too mad

I'm trying to think if there's a specific build I've never done on moros that I'd want to try.... like ig exceptional talent

ik the explosions can double splashes but I'm not too interested in a splash run for whatever reason

[ionic widget]

how to get bird pls help

[turbid crescent]

just realized ive never really used twin flames in a run properly

[edgy nacelle]

fountain room in erebus (which you get offered at random some runs)

[turbid crescent]

time to do it ig, suggest me some builds yall

[ionic widget]

where is erebus?

[edgy nacelle]

oooh do you have aspects unlocked? or nah

[edgy nacelle]

first underworld region, where the boss is Hecate

[spark crown]

Splash/blitz go brrrrrrrr

[turbid crescent]

I think I have almost all, maybe missing one

but they arent levelled up

[ionic widget]

how on earth i have 80 nights and still not find bird

[spark crown]

You gotta roll the fountain room

[edgy nacelle]

my favorite build for torches is moros or mel torches + ripple effect (hera poseidon duo) and as much channel speed as possible.
it eats through magick REALLY fast lol, so you want a good gain. born gain + a lot of max magick is the smoothest experience, but other stuff can work too (lucid, flood)

I have a short video of that build lol if you want example footage, but it's also just "use white antler" propaganda lmao so it's uh. a lot of crit rate vs the final surface boss

[turbid crescent]

send it

[ionic widget]

how to do this?

[opal pecan]

I'll die on the hill of a well leveled Flood Gain being the best/safest option for torches

[ionic widget]

pls metal i need this

[spark crown]

You have to do the incantation that unlocks the fountains in Erebus then pray 🙏

[edgy nacelle]

vs eye of typhon, have to reupload the other: https://streamable.com/7yaszo

[junior trail]

8 sec cd tho?

[edgy nacelle]

a lot of that is white antler, BUT you channel so rapidly that fine lines and ocean swell both do insane damage

[turbid crescent]

video not loading for some reason

Eh, ig ill just play

[edgy nacelle]

oh boo, I'll do youtube it just takes longer lol

[turbid crescent]

oh nvm

I can watch it on discord player

[edgy nacelle]

oh working? just as I deleted the other one lol https://streamable.com/4cr50i

as I said, the actual typhon fight loses a lot of time to phase shift slowing down his invulnerable phase shift animations lmao
but. fine lines fun 👍 white antler op 👍 ty for coming to my TED talk

[turbid crescent]

LOL what
do you just spam omega

wild

[edgy nacelle]

Ω special, then spam Ω attack, rinse and repeat lol

[turbid crescent]

dang

[opal pecan]

At least eight seconds isn't "primed out" ;D

[spark crown]

The incantation should be called Woodsy Lifespan

[edgy nacelle]

without white antler it's not going to phase typhon that fast lol, but it's still VERY strong and very fun imo, torches are really good at abusing omega related stuff

there are a lot of other good torch builds, I just think ripple effect is funny af and I like fishing for it
that was during some low fear fun runs while replaying the ending for 1.1

[opal pecan]

Laser disco lmao

[edgy nacelle]

phase shift also gave a crit rate buff lol which is why I keep using it
kind of a waste of time tho in retrospect

[junior trail]

it could be handy if phase shift also slows the timer down ngl, especially with the 75% slower upgrade one
waiting for phase transition is such a pain

[edgy nacelle]

yeah
it's rough... I rly never take it, but that was the crit run lol w CH and such, so. felt fitting

[rare ermine]

I mostly take phase shift if the other hexes are just straight unusable or antisynergy with my playstyle

I like it for the upgrade that clears all projectiles

[spiral wadi]

i primarily just take phase shift to sort of artificially extend the time between boss attacks like especially during chronos p3 or cerberus

lets me just beat em up for a prolonged period

[edgy nacelle]

I think using it strategically it can prob feel pretty good
but 12 f CH white antler is not the time, since then you just have "typhon very, very, very, very, VERY slowly summons eggs, at a leisurely pace"

[vernal quiver]

Also a nice panic button if the room spawns are messy and you need to reposition safely, I like it a lot but I think the polymorph and the summon last killed enemy are both a bit stronger in more situations

At least with less investment i should say since I tend to avoide selene

[turbid crescent]

LOL I was trying to get the poseidon hestia duo boon, got pos in shop but didnt get the duo

That would have been bad, BUT I got his legendary lol

[edgy nacelle]

oh to be clear, it's poseidon hera
but poseidon in general is nice lol

[turbid crescent]

oh yeah meant to say hera

[spark crown]

Moon water

[edgy nacelle]

oh good lol
either way! works out

[turbid crescent]

im dumb

[vernal quiver]

Scars3 making it useless 😔

Im so used to taking it most of the time in normal runs high fear makes me sad

[spark crown]

Free mana and money 💰

[edgy nacelle]

I wish the godsent at least worked through scars, so you could hyperinvest and have it be worth it

[vernal quiver]

What does the godsent do??

[spark crown]

Constant Flood gain but for health and mana at same time

(could I have said regen yes did I no)

[vernal quiver]

Oh damn that does sound nice

Sadly scars3 and priming are out to get me 😔

[turbid crescent]

Dude I would have destrpyed typhon on this run if athena showed up

just needed my death defiances back

[edgy nacelle]

aw boo, never got offered apollo leg, fine line, or ocean swell despite being into all three... and droplet abt to expire, but. rivals gramps time, on strength which worries me a bit (I wanted a pikes run)

[turbid crescent]

got typhon with mel blades and a heph special build

190k blast damage

[whole charm]

god trial of doom is so miserable what were they thinking

[flint widget]

im back from school what did i miss

[whole charm]

looked it up and apparently the axe had a block in the early access or whatever... So they kept in a basically no damage trial but without a block feature

awesome

also engraved pin is trash like why would anyone use it when tooth is right there

[manic shuttle]

engraved pin 10s free invulnerability & damage lol

[spark crown]

as someone who just jumped to high fear pin is not trash T-T

[spiral wadi]

pin activates before any dd effect, if pin triggers and u clear an encounter then u keep all remaining dds, then pin will reactivate as always in the next location

[manic shuttle]

refreshes in each location and you can get 60 healing in multi phase boss fights (typhon, chronos)

[spark crown]

and uneffected by scars so its very good

[edgy nacelle]

not a ton!
I finished the last of my UW 40s, on to surface for the last 8
tried to greed antler vs typhon with nothing but lovers but it didn't go well lol

[flint widget]

also u missed a lot while u were asleep

[edgy nacelle]

what did I miss lol

[flint widget]

a lot meaning i cleared my first 65 in about 2 hours of grinding

[silent crow]

me falling asleep

[edgy nacelle]

OH HELL YEAH congrats that is a lot lol

[edgy nacelle]

but less important than this, can't believe I missed the event of the decade :(

[flint widget]

if u wanna see the vic screen scroll up a bit in the victory boast channel and youll find me popping off about it

[ornate frost]

I’m gonna assume this is just a new player perspective and not ragebait bc pin is considered possibly the best defensive keepsake in the game 💀 if you look at statistics for high fear clears (like max fear, 62 fear, etc.), Pin is by far the most commonly taken region 4 keepsake

[junior trail]

i mean tooth has higher flat heal than pin so that's one of its advantage ig?
also its easier to get as you meet moros later

[flint widget]

most of the unseeded unmodded max fear runs run white antler in last region lmao

[edgy nacelle]

gah. ok this is not the run but I reeeaaaally want to do a successful rivals typhon antler clear 😔 sigh

[broken spoke]

Technically pin heal more because it is once per location

[ornate frost]

Alright, should’ve specified “most taken defensive keepsake”; White Antler is the exact opposite category lmao

[whole charm]

havent done high fear and honestly probably wont. It sucks in any situation ive been in, especially this god awful trial of doom. Literally useless. Just my experience.

[whole charm]

I would literally rather die to regular encounters just to have a better keepsake for the boss

[vernal quiver]

If they die faster that means less chance I get hit :3

[digital juniper]

i’d argue pin can be better than tooth for the boss because you get 10 seconds of free dps

[vernal quiver]

Yeah 10s of free dps is easily entire portions of fights

[edgy nacelle]

def not literally useless, even at low fear
it gives you more total healing than tooth if you die before the boss at any point, which you can also do intentionally to heal up when you're sure just one enemy is left (die on purpose, kill the enemy, back to 60hp 👍 can repeat once a room)
against bosses it's more of an offensive keepsake than a defensive one, since it gives you 10 seconds of invulnerability to dish out damage. that may or may not be more worth it to you than a defensive keepsake
I...wouldn't base your opinion of a keepsake off of how it feels in a chaos trial tbqh

[whole charm]

i meant useless for the trial. I understand, but that 10 seceonds literally do absolutely nothing for this trial. Im just talking about the trial.

[junior trail]

pin basically works like Stubborn Defiance from H1, that’s why it’s so cracked in high fear.
if you time it right, the healing every location gives you so much sustain it’s borderline busted. Super handy for long runs.

[ornate frost]

The two biggest advantages of Pin over Tooth are:

• its reusability
  • Tooth activates one time and that’s it. Pin meanwhile can activate literally every single room in a run because it doesn’t actually consume the DD unless you fail to clear in the timer
• its damage and survivability potential
  • during a lot of harder fights, you could proc Tooth and then die immediately after to a big attack or a flurry against a faster attacking boss, but Pin is full invulnerability during the 10 second countdown, which often saves you more total damage taken than Tooth against bosses
  • also 10 seconds of completely free DPS without needing to dodge whatsoever is, with most good end builds, enough to completely melt the remaining HP of a boss, or at least chunk them very significantly

[edgy nacelle]

if you're still mid-trial, then if you ever fall below the amount of HP it heals you for, try the "die on purpose when you know there's just one enemy left to heal back up" strat, it's a LOT of free healing over time

if you're dying too early in a room to clear it in 10s tho that doesn't really seem like the pin's fault, without the pin you'd still die 🤷 it's prob just the trial giving you a build/weapon you aren't used to

[manic shuttle]

trial is easy, you wait for the last wave to die lol

[ornate frost]

Also yeah as people say, there’s also a cheese aspect to Pin where it guarantees you leave every room with at least 60 HP by just intentionally dying right at the end, activating it, and healing back up with it lol (which then isn’t even truly “dying” bc you keep your DD)

[edgy nacelle]

wow anvil ring feels odd with hostile environment lol (off topic)

[ornate frost]

But also this, yeah; if you aren’t able to clear the room within 10 seconds that’s a problem with either build (which I understand is largely out of your control in specifically the Trial context) and player skill to an extent (which is not meant to be an insult here since you seem to be newer; this just comes with time).

But 10 seconds of free DPS is a lot of time, and you’ll eventually find that Pin gives a generally pretty reasonable window. If you’re not clearing within that time, the fault is generally not with Pin itself.

[whole charm]

i knew this would be a hot take lmao

[ornate frost]

I mean I also didn’t see Pin’s value when I was starting out; it’s not until I became a lot more experienced that I started to understand its value so I think this is fairly normal

[whole charm]

it whatever, just gonna keep trying. Also, literally everything people have been saying, i do. I do the cheese thing, i dont really die during encounters unless the rng was truly awful. The BOSS is the problem. The pin does nothing until maybe like the last 3 hits when you can die, or else youd have to run across the map and kill all three of the sirens.

[edgy nacelle]

to be fair also it's like... I would not take it in oceanus, which is where that trial happens lol.
it's a region 4 (or sometimes 3) keepsake, I take it for safety or for the free 10s of DPS when my build is more fully developed. but it's a contender for "single best keepsake in the game" so... yeah, def a hot take
but I also underrated it for ages, then had a few runs where it popped off so absurdly hard I learned to respect it

[silent crow]

forgive them theyre highfearpilled

i can elicit the same reaction too when i say ares is good or hera is bottom 1

[whole charm]

i also just hate the axe in general

[whole charm]

people actually dont like ares tf

[edgy nacelle]

during a boss fight the main and usually only advantage is the 10s of invulnerability, during which you should be focused on dealing as much damage as possible since you don't have to dodge 🤷
imo it's primarily a defensive keepsake for encounters, primarily an offensive one for the boss

[ornate frost]

Right this is where people bring up skill/build because 10 seconds of free DPS is like almost the entirety of the Sirens fight at non-Rivals/low Fear lol

[silent crow]

yeah thats probably the real reason

maybe the trial will make u more comfortable with it

[edgy nacelle]

ares is good? sure
hera bottom 1 is certainly a take lmao, haven't heard that one before, can't say I agree even a little bit 👍

[manic shuttle]

hera is bottom 1 💀

[ornate frost]

But also, real 🤝

[junior trail]

i definitely heard one before on reddit

[silent crow]

see i told you always works

[whole charm]

i also generally think Hera is overrated. Hitch just doesnt really perform all that incredibly for me. Its good, but id rather have other effects.

[edgy nacelle]

no like actually elaborate, ik you like ares but I've never heard your take on hera before

[silent crow]

it was ragebait 😼😼

[ornate frost]

It’s funny hearing you say this right now specifically as you’re complaining about the Sirens bc Hitch entirely trivializes them and is one of the best gods to pair with axe 😭 so def some hidden irony here

[silent crow]

although generally i think her support boons past hitch aee overrated

[ornate frost]

Like a good hitch axe build is absolutely destroying the Sirens within the Pin window lol

[junior trail]

i mean that kinda make sense, hitch has low impact in non-grit & wards run and people actually prefer apol/aphro
also born gain is beginner-unfriendly

[whole charm]

Hera doesnt even show up in this trial though lmao. If she showed up, yeah id take it

[ornate frost]

I unfortunately don’t remember what specifically is in any given trial; I just did them all the one time and moved on lol

None of them left a strong enough impression for me to remember exact conditions

[edgy nacelle]

yeah, I think AoE boss fights existing def makes Hera feel better at boss slaying
and just... nice high % boost on her boons, status curse for origination, great gain, fine lines spam is fun af, rarity is nice 🤷
she's neat I like her boons lol

[whole charm]

its pretty much just zeus, hestia, and demeter

[silent crow]

i remember this trial because i thought it would be hard i think its thanatos axe starting with demeter attack and the pin with super low hp

[ornate frost]

What’s the aspect? Mel Axe, or a different one?

[whole charm]

than

[edgy nacelle]

than cause doom and death

[junior trail]

trial of doom is than axe

[edgy nacelle]

...does it give you DDs? idr it's been ages, I hope it does lol

[ornate frost]

Demeter attack is a bit scuffed but I guess it is still a % attack boon lol

[manic shuttle]

it's 30 hp and pin iirc

[digital juniper]

with jpom it’s acceptable % boost and good survivability atleast

[whole charm]

30 hp and you can only get hearts from shops, and they are rare

[edgy nacelle]

if demeter shows up then ig grab snow queen if you can, it's something at least

[ornate frost]

Demeter does offer some survivability boons at least (heal on resource collection and also a bit of damage resistance at the start) (plus the indirect survivability boost from freeze and gust I suppose)

But yeah I can see that start being a bit rough

[edgy nacelle]

yesss, + snow queen as I just mentioned
she's no heph, but she's very solid at keeping you safe

[whole charm]

idk man i might not even finish this trial like its so frustrating how much is up to rng

and then you get oh no and that fight is a run killer

[edgy nacelle]

are your arcana/weapon upgraded? idk how much chaos trials do for you
but some of them are easier if you go back with upgrades tbh

[junior trail]

how do you play in the run btw? than axe at least has some speed on it

[edgy nacelle]

also just going back more comfortable with the axe lol, having a chaos trial with a weapon you aren't comfy on at low hp is rough

[whole charm]

than axe isnt upgrade no

my arcana is

[whole charm]

most just dodge and attack, set down a cast and charge if i need to

[whole charm]

for the boss im mostly playing defensive

[ornate frost]

How do you approach the boss fight? Since that sounds like a bigger problem than the rooms

[whole charm]

idrk how to explain it, sometimes i take cast boons so i focus on setting them down, running and getting attack damage in when i can, if i focus on attack boons, again running and attacking when i can

[edgy nacelle]

do you tend to focus on a specific member of the band first?

[ornate frost]

Are you just hitting them as they get close to you, or do you have a specific order you focus them down?

[whole charm]

Kinda, i just mostly focus on any member thats not currently trying to kill me

[edgy nacelle]

generally trying to get rid of one of them at a time makes it easier, since then their attacks disappear
most people go for the drummer first, for instance

[whole charm]

ill try that ig

[edgy nacelle]

getting rid of them all at once is in theory faster if you're constantly dealing damage, but for hit and run trying to prioritize one will be VERY nice since then you don't have to worry about her attacks
drummer is usually the go to becausse she stays still + her attacks have huge AoE

[ornate frost]

Alright so let’s start here: generally Sirens is much easier when you have a specific focus plan. Usually people go Drummer first, as Malkin says, since that’s the one with big floor AOEs (and is also an easy target since she stays in one place)

Man maybe I just let you take it lol since we’re giving the exact same advice but you’re typing just a bit faster

Though maybe it’s validating to receive the same advice from multiple sources independently idk

[edgy nacelle]

woah that's.... an infusion https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1426118288198602775/1438112562356027443/Screenshot_2025-11-12_at_2.25.41_AM.png?ex=6915b231&is=691460b1&hm=19668ffdfae81ad873235a84edbb6720d571c652e3df42e6d7d6f1e8e98c0c54&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=2844&height=584
off topic but damn, didn't realize I had that much earth 💀

[vernal quiver]

If it helps at all scylla herself also moves pretty slow, so if you arent comfortable with dodging around her to kill the drummer you can always kite her and jetty away then run back to Roxy to get safer damage in

[whole charm]

it worked

it also helped i got apollos attack, bigger range

also his 2 hit chance

[edgy nacelle]

oh!! hell yeah
also yeah apollo attack on than axe is FUN
esp with upgrades, when max leveled it's fast enough to not rly feel like an axe lol

which are your favorite aspects so far btw? out of curiosity

[whole charm]

yess, didnt even have to use pin on the boss lol, got scared at the last second with the extra fish Scylla spawns, but i just spammed and prayed

[whole charm]

Moros, Supay, and Anubis honestly. Been absolutely Loving Anubis with Hestia attack

[edgy nacelle]

ooooh FUN
my favorite weapon types are staff and torch lol, so I approve
have you messed with fine lines on moros?

speaking of hera lol
one of the reasons I love hera is how absurdly fun fine lines spam is on torches

[whole charm]

I actually havent really, i took it once when i first unlocked them i think but ran out of mana instantly lmaoo

Yeah Hera is great with Moros, i only say shes overrated because ive just been a lot more inclined to take others at this point personally

[edgy nacelle]

you def need a lot of magick regen to keep up with it, but once you do have that it's just crazy fun lol
hera, apollo, and poseidon all have a decent regen option for that I'd say

and yeah, idk if I'd say hera is over-rated...? since idt most people say she's the best god in the game (zeus usually gets that title)
I just like the niche she's good in a lot lol

[whole charm]

If im being honest hera gain lost me a run before lmao, with Moros as well lol. Got it too early and primed ALL of my mana

[edgy nacelle]

that's happened to me twice total lol in a few hundred runs, and... yeah it sucks 😔
born gain def needs max magick upgrades to feel good

but then when you have enough magick it feels rly seamless, which is great
apollo gain is safer, less potential at peak but just very reliable
and then poseidon is like... amazing but has forced downtime 🤷 so idk

[whole charm]

i usally just go apollo for gain, unless specific builds like for Anubis or Supay where Aphro gain is beloved

[edgy nacelle]

ooh for anubis hestia gain is amazing, highly recommend

esp since you said you've been into scorch anubis lately

[whole charm]

ill try it out, the guide i followed at first said aphro gain so ive just stuck with it lol, thought about switching to hestia a couple times though lmao

[edgy nacelle]

for supay I def grab aphro gain for the potential of romantic spark (aphro zeus duo) since it's so good on supay lol
but for anubis cardio is probably my ideal, I'd say it's stronger on anubis than aphro is

when anubis first got released iirc it was glitched to not work...? so some info may be out of date
rn it works just like you'd want it to

[whole charm]

romantic spark is so goated on supay lmao its crazy

[edgy nacelle]

(splash was also bugged on anubis when it first released which was so sad sigh. very fun build now that it works tho)

[whole charm]

I at first thought Anubis was gonna be kinda trash, but that was just using it on Schel, which you should never judge a weapon based on lmaooo

nobody would ever use Supay if that was the case lol

[edgy nacelle]

ohhh yeah, same with supay, any weapon which deals low fast base damage feels pretty bad without boons but then goes crazy

supay is also such an odd weapon lol, I enjoy it, it's also been nerfed soooo many times???

on release the max sprint damage bonus was, iirc, 70%
also at one point they nerfed it so only one special orbited you instead of two, and everyone complained

[whole charm]

i would also complain lmao thats insane

[edgy nacelle]

I think they also increased the base damage a lot which like.... the numbers were okay, it gave it access to diff builds
but it FELT awful lol, comparatively

and made it rly reliant on hidden helix (+1 special projectile) to feel good imo, which is lame
that hammer is already fantastic on supay but I don't want to fish for one hammer to enjoy an aspect at baseline smh

[silent crow]

its the type of weapon that can never be meta without breaking the hame

[edgy nacelle]

idk tho I still love hidden helix
I think it's my single most picked hammer on my account lmaooo, cause I love torches and it's good on all of them
or would be if Eos was allowed to have it 😔

also ok, circe surface done, just 7 more aspects to go... maybe one more for the night then I sleep

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/1426118288198602775/1438117941886324746/Screenshot_2025-11-12_at_2.35.54_AM.png?ex=6915b734&is=691465b4&hm=6850bc65f3aa4a620cee7764517096b6e9646befb27a307ec08d2f7cf7940129&=&format=webp&quality=lossless&width=544&height=700
if anyone has a suggestion lmk, nearing the finish line 😤

ah actually no scratch that, melatonin kicking in
eh, still, will be done in the next 2 days or so
take care all, goodnight, I'm out 👋

[fierce citrus]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1437620162353168394/1438126357123956757/image.png?ex=6915bf0a&is=69146d8a&hm=f27900fc8c76f09b91878c84115ea4900f54eec849fe9cee50d38330eefc5f23&

well this isent the best

brave face plus fine line

now i have kings ransom lol (im not gonna take it)

blacked fleece or metalic droplet against typhon 55 fear?

aspect moros

[flint widget]

how fast is ur channel speed

[fierce citrus]

dw already took droplet

think it was the better choice

ok typhons genuienly so annoying

one wrong dash and and down goes 150 hp

also why is chronos spawning on the right side on low fear he used to spawn on the left and you could easily dodge typhons tounges attacks but cause his on the right you cant

[flint widget]

he spawns on both sides

[fierce citrus]

on all my low fear runs his never spawned on the right

and now on all the high fear his spawning on the right

could be just bad luck but idk

[flint widget]

wait ill get a vod of a high fear surface clear i did

its not all the time

on a 58 fear surface run i did chronos spawned on the left

[digital juniper]

it’s all chance yeah

[spark crown]

racing thoughts feels so good on morrigan

NOOO I TOOK SHOP WHEN I HAD NO GOLD T_T

welp time for blitz carry through scylla

[spark crown]

https://imgur.com/nCc3fJW

pray for me going into rivals chronos

https://imgur.com/D87wVpd not the worst build ive had

died to timer T-T

[true gust]

nice duo

[spark crown]

pom pom pom on double strike was a carry

[true gust]

ohh didn't notice +17

niiice

[spark crown]

just wish i had more time T-T

[rain wagon]

Did you take extra rooms in tartarus?

[spark crown]

only when it was dispute T-T

[rain wagon]

Even a single extra chamber can be the difference, as the deeper ones grow both longer and more dangerous

[tall notch]

This is 60f right

[spark crown]

32 t_t

[tall notch]

But you were meant to go from 15 to 60, don't let me down like that 😔

[spark crown]

only doing 32 cuz i had no expirence with rivals 4

tbf thats still double fear XD

then im going straight to 60

as its still the goal

[rain wagon]

Which fears will you not be running?

[tall notch]

You've got to rename to "Metal 15f -> 32f -> 60f" now

[spark crown]

scars 3 and void(ill get yell at again :P)

[spark crown]

name length limit says no

i tried

[tall notch]

Then idk remove the metal

[spark crown]

T-T

but thats my whole brand XD

[clever drum]

What about "Metal15>32>60f"?

[rain wagon]

More like 15 -> 60 -> 32 -> 60

[spark crown]

when did discord up the character limit??????????

[rain wagon]

Which is pretty common I think. I also did crazy jumps in fear just to see how impossible it was

(Attempted 65 before 60 or 62) 😄

[spark crown]

[digital juniper]

i’m thinking of going 50->55->62

or maybe winging 50 to 62 idk

[spark crown]

You shall go to 60 as your username is six :P

[digital juniper]

but 60f isn’t even real

it’s 62 or bust

[spark crown]

It's very real

[digital juniper]

my other goal is a sub 6 speedrun

that aligns with my name better

[spark crown]

I'll show you 60f is real :P https://h2crossroads.pages.dev/FearCalculator/?vows=WzUsMiwyLDYsMywzLDIsNSw0LDIsMiwzLDYsMywyLDIsOF0=

[ornate frost]

Wonder what a reasonable jump would be after finishing 32 all aspects, maybe I jump straight to 62 for memes

[digital juniper]

void 3 there genuinely pains me

[spark crown]

What can I say rivals 4 sucks

[digital juniper]

is rivals 4 part of your 32?

[spark crown]

I need uncapped plasma again T-T

[wary sequoia]

Uncap Hestia first

[spark crown]

Both 🤝

They will synergize well together

[ornate frost]

It is not so that’ll be one of the first things I add

[digital juniper]

32->45 shouldn’t be a bad jump at all, maybe even 50

it’s the vows you add after 50 that start compounding big

[ornate frost]

The vast majority of my 32F runs were pretty effortless though, one-try and don’t really think I was in significant danger of dying in most runs, so 32 is definitely not my ceiling (though neither do I actually think a jump to 62 is reasonable lmao)

I was thinking around 50, yeah

[digital juniper]

the difference between 50 and 55 is big

[ornate frost]

Yeah I can imagine, with the way fears compound

[digital juniper]

bigger than 32->50 even

so i’d say maybe give 50 a shot and see how you fare

[spark crown]

Gonna try aspect of medea again (when I play again)

[left dirge]

Fellas i finally beat the main story and upgraded my Judgement fully to do J runs and let me tell you, with my choice of Vows you will become an expert at ducking and weaving with Supay good god

I put zeus on supay special and did not get the one that activates blitz on omega attacks and ho boy you take awhile yo get through locations

[digital juniper]

i am prepared to see your greatness

[digital juniper]

yeah you need to accompany it with something like hestia attack to trigger blitz fast and then you’ll be zooming

[left dirge]

It is not great let me assure you

I did not realize how slow you were to do damage and with full horde, full blue hearts, frenzy, return, enemies from other locations, i lost all my death defiances by the time i got to hecate and that was way too close for comfort

I was just caught so off guard lmfao

[wary sequoia]

+1 heat applied on hit for every plasma. Call it Burning Wounds

[digital juniper]

honestly besides hordes, those aren’t bad at all

[rain wagon]

32 -> 45 is a smaller jump than 45 -> 50 in my experience.

[spark crown]

I'm gonna be so real that's better than wound fireball

[digital juniper]

yeah that’s what i was trying to say, maybe i could’ve worded it better

[wary sequoia]

Seriously, fireball isn't bad but it's not that good

[left dirge]

Yeah but i did more than those cause Im trying to do the final shadow champion statute thing

And if you dont have any boons to do damage besides Zeus blitz on special youre basically waiting for each shot to tick down

No magick boon, no rush boon, i was, exceptionally dumb and unlucky lmfao

10/10 would do it again

[digital juniper]

yeah supay is notorious for having a slow start

[left dirge]

With a trackpad too

Yeah its weird cause i never put much thought into the rush boon beyond using it to get a duo if i was lucky

But since supay boosts rush i guess i need to consider it more

[ornate frost]

I do think barring high fear it’s a little overstated tbh; I’m normally fine after two core boons (ideally rush and one of attack/special, but even attack/special with no rush is fine for the first region)

Like Supay isn’t Circe or Medea, but I also don’t think it’s nearly as bad as some people in here make it out to be

[left dirge]

Its weird though, are hestia poseidon and zeus the only viable rush boons to use? Ares is only triggered on the dodge iirc, demeter is there too ig, and hephestus might get a bigger bang but its on cooldown instead of constantly firing

Buf everyone else after that doesnt do damage?

[ornate frost]

At the very least I don’t think I’ve had a bad run with it yet; it has pretty effortlessly blazed through 32F all the times I’ve run it (maybe I’d feel differently at 50+)

[ornate frost]

Those are the main 3 rush boons you’d go for, yes

[left dirge]

How useful is poseidon on it? Doesnt his rush only work on the first person you hit?

[ornate frost]

Yes so then after you hit someone with it you immediately hit the dash button again (instead of keeping sprint held down) to instantly refresh it

[left dirge]

So … same concept as using medea then? Where its hit, retrigger, hit, retrigger ♻️

[digital juniper]

yeah i’m just mostly locked into high-ish fear thinking with onion and debt, where it can be a tad tougher to get it going at first

[digital juniper]

kinda yea, instead it’s one button(your dash) instead of 2 on medea

[left dirge]

This sounds dumb and applies to like everything but you get my point

[ornate frost]

More or less (at least with Poseidon and Zeus; with Hestia you can just keep it held down)

[left dirge]

Doesnt zeus also work for holding it down

Its not a dash only is it? Really hope i havent been wrong this entire time of it lmfao

[ornate frost]

The text description explicitly states that it procs on dash

[left dirge]

LOL i need to read thats bad lmfao

Hence me saying i never pay attention to rush boons

[ornate frost]

It happens you’re fine lol

[left dirge]

New question - need advice on how to properly use jpom (i guess?)

Do you guys typically use jpomp from the very beginning and use non dice arcana? Or do you guys typically equip jpomp on area 3 after you use the dice to get the boons you wanted earlier on?

Im so used to playing with the dice corner in my arcana that not using them felt weird lol

[glass bone]

Immediate JPom. You can’t use any rerolls period with JPom, Piece, and Card

And imo, JPom is the most beneficial at Region 1

[left dirge]

You cant use the rerolls up first and then equip and use jpom?

[glass bone]

Yeah, no

[left dirge]

Huh til

[glass bone]

You have to unequip all of the reroll arcana

[ornate frost]

I always take Jpom as the first keepsake of the run personally

[left dirge]

Just got it so i didnt even realize thats neat to know

[ornate frost]

Enjoy! It is the most popular starting keepsake among many people for a reason 👍

[left dirge]

… huh i think i can make my high vow runs easier… just use the 2nd level vow for reduced arcana, and judgement run with a jpom at that point

[ornate frost]

As a note also, for clarification: you do keep on getting +pom levels and your Hades boon even after replacing Jpom with a new keepsake as long as you don’t break Fates Whim (by equipping a god keepsake)

[left dirge]

Bc im not using like a third of my arcana anyways by nixing dice, and judgement runs are fun and dumb

[glass bone]

Nope nope nope. Please do not use Void unless you want to do Judgement / 63-65

[left dirge]

Damn fr

[glass bone]

Void is imo the most punishing vow

The reason why 62 is a benchmark for “high fear”, is because that is all vows max except Void (at 0)

[ornate frost]

Yeah the reason 62 Fear is a distinct category is because the difference between 62 and “max” fear is purely Void

People running 62 Fear typically run literally everything else except Void bc that’s the worst one

[glass bone]

Also, you absolutely can use the remaining arcana well

[left dirge]

Wait does Void also block you from getting arcana through judgement? Or is it only cutting off arcana in the beginning?

[glass bone]

If you want to still have Boatman, you can instead take Artificer + Huntress + Night + Moon

[left dirge]

Damn on what yall are saying too, do yall have any suggestions for 32 nightmare runs, trying to get the final mel statues

[glass bone]

It does not. But not having desired arcana in the first or second region is a mess.

[left dirge]

I mean yeah but if im doing a judgement run, I already wont start with the arcana set i want, so two ticks into void shouldnt be that damaging right?

[glass bone]

If you are comfortable with the regular bosses, you could try Rival 2/3 UW to get a big amount of fear.

[ornate frost]

Everyone has different preferences (and I’m not home so I can’t easily generate a crossroads url) but I personally had an easy time doing 32 Fear all aspects with:

• Rivals 3
• Time 3
• Menace 2
• Shadows
• Fangs 2
• Menace 2
• Hubris 2

[left dirge]

Time 3

uh im struggling on time 2

[glass bone]

Rival 1 + 2 gives 5 fear, and Rival 1 + 2 + 3 is 8 fear

[left dirge]

Oh wait no i see why

I usually play with horde 3 which makes it a pain in the ass to get through areas on high time

[glass bone]

Yeah, Hordes is also a trap vow

It makes Frenzy, and Pain, and Grit, and Wards, and Fangs, and Timer, worse to manage

[left dirge]

Oh yeah you have no idea

[ornate frost]

I really do think as long as you learn the Rivals fights this is free. I did this setup running 32F on all aspects, and the vast majority of them were first-time clears (as in the first time I ran 32 with the aspect I cleared) with little trouble

[left dirge]

Like i said i have been getting, much better at ducking and weaving with horde 3 lmfao

[trim cypress]

why the mobs gainin shields is it supposed to do that, my axe taking too lnog to kill them

[ornate frost]

But everyone has different strengths and weaknesses so adjust as needed

[left dirge]

Ty for this will give it a try, gonna have to edit time bc i want to do a supay run/only have my trackpad atm

[glass bone]

It could either be Chronos’s banners, or a Fangs perk

[trim cypress]

ok its the fangs i think

[glass bone]

And yeah, Axe has just the worst time of it.

Although Shiva also has a bad time with that

[left dirge]

You need to rely on rush and comboing your nonomega special

Its a fast combo and depending on your rush you can instantly get the wards off

[trim cypress]

yeah it was beggining area to, its those mobs taht spin and they were gettin a ton a shileds i just gave up

since i was on a timer

[left dirge]

Realizing now how true this is ugh

[true gust]

On axe to take of shield the easiest way is to just trap monsters into circle and load attack and while pressing attack just tap dash into trapped monsters you can kind of kite them and the shield (bcs Im guessing u talk about blue shield) is going down quickly

[sage flame]

oh yeah lol nightmare room

prob gotta try to oattack if u have magick atp

[glass bone]

Tips for axe, you want to do a mix of Attack, Dash Attack, and Special to get rid of wards safely

If you have Gigaros Dash from JPom, then wards clearing is a lot easier

[left dirge]

No wonder i lose so much before bosses, i started noticing it last night when i was doing timed runs and it was taking too ling to get through everything

[true gust]

bcs there is a mechanic when u press attack and then u click dash the spin activates

[trim cypress]

yeah still need to git gud at it, but i do love the bonk damage

[true gust]

and special does multiple hits so technicaly this is also a way

[glass bone]

Dash attack is the quickest option for a hit, Attack has the largest AoE, and one Special will always clear wards.

Mix and match em depending on what you need

Just be sure to never do the Final Chop. That thing is so not worth it.

[true gust]

you can also do attack and special in between
this is like attack + special + attack + special

or dash attack u just have to experiment

[digital juniper]

me when i experimental hammer and get executioner’s chop

[true gust]

this is that what makes attack into a one attack?

[glass bone]

No that’s Hell Splitter

Executioner’s Chop is the 2 hit, but uses 20 magic

[digital juniper]

oh wait that’s the one i meant

i was never a fan of such hammers, even in H1

[true gust]

ahh and I forgot to mention that you can on axe do something like attack (animation 1 hit) and you hold literally to make 10-12magic and you basically click dash and practically it looks like an attack + 2hits of omega attack and thats also very effective

it's possible to make omega attack into one hit 💀

it's nice when you have boon's that makes fireballs or ocean swell or cut above (ares)

axe has very quick omega attack charge just to perform 1-2hit with these boons you don't really want to charge omega attack to max

[flint widget]

broooooooooooooooo i couldve won rivals prom on 65 fear

i couldve won if the game decided to give me dds on olympus

[true gust]

I barely do 35fear with 3 points on rivals

[flint widget]

my damage was effing insane too

blitz attack scorch special pyro technique static shock and anvil ring

rip

[tall notch]

No thermal dynamics? Surely that cost you the run

[thorny raft]

if i have 1 ares boon and purge that would it make it so that ares isnt in my god pool anymore? or will the game still count him as one of the four gods in the god pool and keep offering his boons?

[opal pecan]

According to other people, he's out of your god pool if you do that. I have not personally tried it myself.

[thorny raft]

i see

im getting sick of ares

[flint widget]

atp i think john hades is trolling me

whenever i get the most ideal start ever it starts giving me the most ass boons possible

and the worst room rng ive ever seen in my entire life

[lost merlin]

question, ik there's an optimal "easy" fear progression, but what if i want a progression that gets me closer to 62 while intentionally taking certain bad vows early to minimize extreme difficulty spikes

[opal pecan]

What, like Rivals Frenzy Scars Pain or something?

[flint widget]

run max void rivals frenzy scars pain grit and hordes

have fun

[opal pecan]

I forgot about Void lmao

TBF, if you're doing 62, that doesn't require max Void

Does it even require any Void?

[lost merlin]

im putting scars/pain at lower prio because it's easier for me to practice with infinite resources tbh, im mainly talking about stuff that affects how you play like hordes

[flint widget]

nah but its gonna prepare them for 65/67

[lost merlin]

i'm gonna keep it real with you dog, i'm never turning on void lol

i have about a thousand other games i'd go for goals for before 67 in hades 2

[flint widget]

then go for 65

[smoky sable]

As boated says 65 fun fear

[flint widget]

as a 65 clearer i can confirm

its not fun tho when u get a selene start like 1/3 of the time

[smoky sable]

As a 2 clearer, I can also confirm

[smoky sable]

You don't want hexes at high fear?

[flint widget]

magick is kinda cheeks at high fear due to channel time and hubris existing

[opal pecan]

You're getting a lot of magick primed from Hubris, your boon selection narrows because of Denial and Forfeit, etc., which means you may have to choose between offensive boons vs a gain boon, so hex becomes lower priority

[flint widget]

plus id rather get a hammer or a worthwhile hades boon from jpom over selene

[smoky sable]

Ohhh makes sense

I'm gonna start running higher fears now. I'm scared but I do now have nights champion so I was chilling for a while

[opal pecan]

NGL, I'm never gonna play high enough Fear for it to really matter, but hearing that hammer CLUNK out of the gate does give the dopamine

[flint widget]

speaking of hammers im getting scammed by not getting dual moonshot on my runs

please lord give me gigaros dash and dual moonshot room 1

[smoky sable]

Omg dual moonshot is so goated

Is gigaros dash best for high fear?

Ik life tax is pretty good as well

[opal pecan]

As an out-of-the-gate random blessing from jpom it's up there

[vernal quiver]

yeah it makes everything less of a problem, life tax is nice since you have a bit of a safety net if you mess up, and everything else is just whatever

[smoky sable]

I like howling soul. I can't prove it but it's probabilities have been nerfed

But then again I'm very casual player

[vernal quiver]

i hate howling soul 😭 at least on circe i hate it, feels really wrong to try and use and feels finnicky layering the casts

ik the 50% less enemy spawns is goated on rivals chronos though

[flint widget]

ok gigaros shimmering hera special start, not bad

[opal pecan]

Shimmering Hera special!!!!!! MY FAVE

[spiral wadi]

howling soul is pretty strong it's just very annoying cuz it prevents the insta-cast

[smoky sable]

Shimmering?

Is that a hammer?

[spiral wadi]

shimmering moonshot is a staff hammer ye

[proper cloak]

And it misses :(

[opal pecan]

Yes, makes your special bounce to multiple enemies, very good for room clear especially with Hera

[smoky sable]

Oh yeah I got that and Giga moonshot on one run + I had heart throbs + sunny disposition

What a wonderful day it was

[flint widget]

i got scammed out of blitz attack

[proper cloak]

Does hitch get applied first or does damage get applied first

Like, does the first hit of a hitch attack on an enemy also damage other enemies with hitch