h1-builds-and-combat

[empty canopy]

Fair enough, guess not having played it yet there's no real reason for me to get attached to a save

[mild crag]

Once they've released the game and consider it done they might throw everyone's saves into the abyss anyway

[empty canopy]

They explain it by Hades going "You know what too many of you jerks have escaped, i'm calling a cosmic redo"

[frosty pier]

There is no Escape. Ongoing underworld renovations don't let anyone out.

[empty canopy]

Well that's not true. Those who reach the end DO escape... only to die by wild squrrils and falling trees and just not realizing they need food now

[wooden spade]

I’ve started a separate slot before just out of curiosity but I don’t usually delete my ongoing save either

[turbid needle]

So when is it best to use fated authority? On poms/health or just on any miniboss rooms?

[proud storm]

just anytime you feel like you don't need whatever comes up in the next chamber really

[placid plinth]

I mostly reroll only elite rooms (because it can only swap boon to boon), and keep the rest until Styx, so I could reroll elite rooms into health (or boons I need to finish my build)

[wind vale]

quite annoying rng: trying to get as much hp as possible and i only get aphrodites boost to hp gain near the end of elysium

better late than never but still so much missed hp 😦

[quick vigil]

I hope they dont rollback the saves, Ive gotten used to my upgradss lol

[wind vale]

ended up a bit below 1000 😦 - think i still got a chance? 😉 https://imgur.com/a/WnO1AhB

[proud storm]

i-

[lost rose]

............................

what was the previous max we'd seen, like 700 something?

[native ether]

honestly depends on your pot rng

praise pot rng

troves can be helpful too

[wind vale]

i got amazing chaos to get that much and rerolled a lot to hp, especially in the end when i finally had aphrodites life affirmation

dionysus premium vintage sadly only gave the original 30

so it has to be possible to get quite far above 1000 if that all works out - life affirmation for erebus rooms, ambrosia giving max hp and dropping from trial chests

[gloomy scroll]

that's.. insane

[radiant swallow]

So, I recently picked up the game, and for the life of me, I cant figure out what exactly the spear is good at

Every time I play it, I never feel like it gets to the level of strong that any of the other weapons can get to

[turbid needle]

Best case scenario for the spear is Quick Spin and Massive Spin with Deadly Strike. Huge crowd sweeps for big damage. It's kinda-sorta-not-really the spear's version of a Nova spam build.

[naive cobalt]

Get multi-skewer and Artemis' special

If you level up the Zag aspect, the DPS gets insanely high against grouped enemies that way

That's pretty niche, but it's so far the most effective use of the spear I've found on Superstar update

Flurry Jab with lightning strike is good too, tho, especially if you get Zeus' legendary boon

But not as good as Zag/Eris Rail using Flurry Fire and Lightning Strike

[mild crag]

spear is good at nothing, it's versatile but that also means there's not one thing it excels at

hoping for some changes to it when you can just go all in on stygius or bow/rail and get better results for melee or ranged respectively without having to try to occupy some weird middle ground where you could be doing better at either but aren't

[fallen quarry]

I guess it can play the safest

[mild crag]

i guess so

i agree only because the rail doesn't stagger on attack

without explosive shot anyway

[naive cobalt]

I think the first 120 heat run I ever watched ran spear with Tempest Flourish, which was pretty safe at the time, but extremely slow.

These days, I think the rats encountered in Styx and the viability of lots of strategies which make max Tight Deadline possible would preclude that old strat for high heat runs

[mild crag]

slow
shudders in Tight Deadline

oh you said that already lol

I did try max heat

But I think it's not possible

[naive cobalt]

The highest Ive ever attempted was 25, which was an accident 'cause I meant to go for 24 XD

[mild crag]

lol

best i did was have Tight Deadline expire on me at the start of the Tartarus boss

[naive cobalt]

24 is the highest I've ever succeeded on, but only once, and I don't think I'll try it again aaaanytime soon. It took me probably at least 20 attempts to actually succeed.

I was never able to complete 60 heat before the Superstar update

[mild crag]

I didn't even try Heat before Superstar really

I never grinded for it

I'm glad you don't have to collect it any more

[naive cobalt]

Ohhh yeah Tight Deadline's messed me up on the furies too

I think I've run into the deadline at least once on every boss except Hades

[mild crag]

feels like Tartarus is the most difficult with tight deadline

[turbid needle]

Nah, Elysium.

[mild crag]

I've run out (or almost run out) of time more frequently in Tartarus than anywhere else

so I'm just speaking from my experience

I can understand Elysium being difficult though

Styx it's usually a non-factor and I haven't had trouble in Asphodel yet

[subtle shale]

So is Spent Spirit supposed to just be absolutely insane

[turbid needle]

It's pretty powerful, yeah.

[subtle shale]

yeah I was really surprised when it just affected every single enemy and not just Weakened ones

[wind vale]

cant say it enough about the spear - its the best for hunting blades with achilles aspect but probably nothing else

[frosty pier]

Aspect of hades is good if you dont run high "+ enemy speed"

[radiant swallow]

Hunting Blades is the ares/artemis duo cast, right?

I don't think I've ever found that boon, because every time I get the prereqs, even by the third room, I never find it

It always feels so risky to go Ares cast because it feels so mediocre without that duo boon

[frosty pier]

Well yeah, Ares is kinda like Exodia in that sence.

[radiant swallow]

I've honestly had far and away the most success with just Artemis

Both with crit and cast builds

[mild crag]

Artemis is always a safe pick yeah

Can't go wrong with more damage and potential for even more damage

[wind vale]

i cant go just artemis for cast builds since its the only cast that is not aoe

(ok technically zeus isnt either but that one still hits multiple targets; and it can get jolted which is aoe)

[radiant swallow]

I've found that if I am doing an artemis cast build, either my damage is extremely high, or I have something to supplement my lack of aoe

[drifting trench]

What are people highest recorded single hit of damage and what were the circumstances (boons, effects, weapons, etc) that you think enabled it?

Also, has anyone calculated the highest possible damage in a single hit based on the average number of boons and the 'perfect' set up for a high hit: e.g. backstab + crit + aphrodite's 2500 call + privileged status + Dionysus' 100% increase in damage in festive fog, etc. We because there is an element of randomness in how much certain boons' percentages affect the damage and of course Pom's effects, we would have to remove Pom's from the equations and pick the highest multiplier on an Epic roll. I'm sure someone's done a spreadsheet on this.

[little leaf]

So I hardly use cast. Unless you spec towards it, using cast seems too slow most of the time. How often do you find yourself using it? Do you find the builds to be powerful (Could you get an ideal example)? I'm currently playing on 3-4 burning skulls difficulty. Note: I normally use Ares doom builds (normally going for the duo with Athena to instant activate doom).

[native ether]

Entirely build dependent

Am I playing Poseidon Sword? Absolutely build the cast.

Am I playing Artemis and got lots of Cast modifying boons? Build it.
Do I have true shot from Artemis or Fully Loaded? Build it.
Do I have an easy opportunity for Hunting Blades, especially with Hera Bow? Build it.

The most powerful combos with casts would be things like:

• Lightning Phalanx or Hunting Blades (the latter esp with Hera Bow)
• Poseidon sword and basically any cast build that's not Ares or Dio cast.
• True Shot + Heart Rend/Clean Kill
• Any high tier cast with something like Rapid Cast or a Chaos cast boon.

[little leaf]

Thanks, I will try it out.

[native ether]

Typically though a cast just augments your damage output, but there are some powerful combos that work well.

True Shot + Chaos cast boons is a fun one too cause they'll affect the crits giving you potentially insane crit damage. I had cast crits that were dealing a fourth of Hades health once.

[little leaf]

When your cast bounces off people, do you still get damage bonuses? Or is that only for the enemy who ends up with the cast?

[stable oyster]

I cast for that sweet 50% bonus dmg from boiling blood

[little leaf]

I didn't think that boiling blood damage bonus stacked.

[stable oyster]

It’s 50% of vase dmg, but it adds up over time

Vs bossed at least

Generally I try to get hermes cast so I don’t lose any time from the cast animation

[native ether]

all percentages with the exception of crits are additive in Hades

meaning your percents dont stack to make your other percents more powerful

When your cast bounces off people, do you still get damage bonuses? Or is that only for the enemy who ends up with the cast?
If you're referring to something like Lightning Phalanx, itll bounce and deal damage to each enemy and become stuck in the final enemy.

Athena cast deals AoE damage anyways, but like aphro cast it gets stuck in 1 enemy (closest to Zagreus afaik)

[wind vale]

quite sure i remember its the one the cast actually hits(tried that a bit with the athena zeus duo)

[native ether]

yeah that makes sense

[wind vale]

anyone got a suggestion for an absurd build before the patch might change stuff

also just remembered - technically Burst Shot is a % damage increase to a cast that is multiplicative

and i think the Impending Doom might work that way as well? - but then doom generally doesnt get buffed in that many ways

[native ether]

technically burst shot is less of a percent increase and more of a duplicate projectile with reduced damage on all its effects (actually thats exactly what it is lol), its less of a direct damage buff cause the burst and the cast can have different targets

impending I believe does stack with the one that builds up extra dmg per stack, it doesnt afaik affect Merciful End combo, as that's a fixed number

[vernal cliff]

im just hoping that in this next update i can use two cast boons at the same time because sending out six blade rifts would be insane

[wind vale]

to me that means burst shot is a % damage increase that also tries to mitigate damage lost on overkills

[native ether]

you can already send out 6 blade rifts at a time if you get fully loaded though :p

[turbid needle]

12 Blade Rifts, half of them at 2/3 damage of the initial Rifts, with Heroic Flurry Cast so they move faster than Zag does.

[native ether]

wait does burst shot work with hunting blades?

oh dear that's insane

[wind vale]

i mean hermes cast, artemis legendary(even more with chaos) with burst shot is like 12 out at a time

[native ether]

hunting blades continues to be the best boon in the game

[turbid needle]

^

[native ether]

more at 12

[turbid needle]

Lost a run to Hades that was super close last night and I was crutching the entirety of phase 2 on Hunting Blades with Greater Recall.

Then he zapped me with lasers.

[native ether]

this is why i use spearpoint

[turbid needle]

I think I was on 100% damage, those lasers do not behave well.

[wind vale]

sadly i cant say what i usually say here anymore - i recently got hit by lazers 😦

[native ether]

the lasers can be pretty hard to dodge and they really rack up damage

this is why spearpoint all the way]

they counter the lasers and the lasers are always what kill me

[subtle shale]

I noticed the lasers seem to sometimes clip through the cover in the arena?

[native ether]

they can, the hitboxes are a little... finnicky

[vernal cliff]

spearpoint or just get good cause hades lasers are like his easiest attack to dodge lol

[subtle shale]

yeah I hope those get ironed out a little bit

[native ether]

everyone stop talking PATCH NOTES

[subtle shale]

PATCH NOOOOOOTES

[wind vale]

i would so hope they reenabled piercing barrage (for the chiron bow) but its already the strongest anyways 🙂

[pastel jolt]

so, show of hands, who is going to constantly forget the ambrosia -> nectar change

[lost rose]

✋ only been nearly messing it up for like a month

[grand patrol]

the wat

[hard holly]

Wait, so Ambrosia is Nectar now?

[native ether]

oh welp that's gonna be confusing lol

good thing I can still keep my meme of "frat boi theseus smashing ambrosia on his head like its a beer can"

[hard holly]

I always thought Nectur wouldve been more fitting tbh, since its a bottle

[little grotto]

+Death defiance: most items and Boons that previously added charges now replenish spent charges
does this mean that we can no longer stack death defiance beyond 3? i assume it will be 3+1 with skelly keepsake

[wind vale]

also you give that stuff to humans

[hard holly]

Thats what it looks like, yeah

[wind vale]

seemed kinda strange there

[hard holly]

Which is a shame, I liked my 8 death defiances

[subtle shale]

this also means that the boons that offer DD will be possibly less desirable if you're having a good run

[wind vale]

good - athena has way too much anyways

[subtle shale]

like I personally can clear Tartarus and Asphodel pretty consistently and don't start relying on DDs until Elysium

[little grotto]

well athene made my life easier many times lately, getting divine dash +1 or 2 DD

its probably understandable

[wind vale]

its also a small buff to the heat options for the first areas

[broken cipher]

Dang. Death Defiances saved my runs more than probably anything else.

[subtle shale]

oh yeah, it's just gonna change up priority for taking stuff

[wind vale]

meaning you can afford to lose a dd there if you pick them

and get it back later, maybe

[broken cipher]

Maybe.

[little grotto]

in a sense no

[subtle shale]

Kiss of Styx is probably less desirable in early levels now too

[broken cipher]

Well, I'll resign myself to not beating the game for......a looong time. xD

[wind vale]

i mean currently snake oil is really not worth it on higher heat because you are too likely to lose quite a bit there

[little grotto]

i mean saying one can afford to lose one cause you can replenish is good, eh, stacking it is just way superior

[subtle shale]

obs we'll have to see how it all plays out

[vernal cliff]

well now that one reddit post is pretty much null

[subtle shale]

personally I wonder how it would work if boons and such still gave you DDs if you didn't max them out at the Mirror

[wind vale]

nah - i mean ofc its a nerf to you but its less if using hard stuff early on

[broken cipher]

Stacking is definitely better. I can get rekt thrice in the final boss fight and still have two left over with stacking. Without that means...definitely dead.

[vernal cliff]

true that

well it did say most

so im assuming skelly's trinket

[subtle shale]

like, you always have a max of 3 and you can either dedicate Darkness to having them from the start or you can get them via boons and such

[vernal cliff]

and athena still work

[subtle shale]

didn't the notes say Athena's was changed to replenish?

[wind vale]

most? - there are only 5: mirror,skelly,shops,athena1,athena2

[broken cipher]

Hah. Taking Skelly's keepsake instead of Broken Spearpoint? If only I were that good. xD

[wind vale]

oh and patrocles, so 6

[little grotto]

i dont think we can tell without actually testing it cause if they only replenish, then at an early stage where you dont have one it does nothing, that said, it wouldnt really make sense for them to make it that way

[wind vale]

id assume athena and shops turn to replenish, not the others

[lethal jay]

So, they added yet another resource without removing anyone?

[broken cipher]

Another resource?

[subtle shale]

Oh my god Shattered Shackle might be worth it now

it affects traps now

[wind vale]

on the other hand - shop, patrocles and skelly would do absolutely nothing if you were full

[broken cipher]

:c True.

[subtle shale]

I'm so happy, I've wanted to run Shackle for so long but rooms either just don't have breakable pillars or enemies never get close to the pillars

[lethal jay]

Skeleton keys became Chthonic Keys
Chthonic Keys became Titan Blood
Ambrosia became Nectar
And a new Ambrosia resource was added

[broken cipher]

Wait! No extra hammer in the Temple???

[subtle shale]

Titan Blood you say 🤔

[lethal jay]

As if we hadn't enough resources yet

[subtle shale]

all of these items and Zagreus just wants to visit his mom at work

[broken cipher]

If Ambrosia became Nectar then what does the new Ambrosia do?

[neon bough]

where th does all that come from

[subtle shale]

check the announcements

there's a video with the patch notes narrated by Logan

[neon bough]

oh right i'm stupid thanks

[broken cipher]

New chambers in Styx. No. PLEASE NO.

[subtle shale]

it's fine lol I had to sift through the channels to find it

[broken cipher]

I'm very interested in this 'Fated List' system.

[neon bough]

Heart Rend buffed ???

[wind vale]

yea it wasnt even stronger than artemis regular version anymore

now it should be on duo level again, just probably not as strong as before

[toxic tusk]

So, can't wait to see if God mode it's just easy mode and Hell mode is Dark Souls mode

[native ether]

wait they buffed Heart Rend?

wot

[stable oyster]

Yea

[native ether]

yes

[stable oyster]

Idk why

[wind vale]

also i see patrocles will have the option to replenish all charges - like i said before: you can way more afford to lose some

[native ether]

clearly they want to make the best girls even more best girls :kappa:

[wind vale]

and heart rend was only 35% damage

[stable oyster]

It will rend-er all other builds obsolete

[neon bough]

that's a lot on critical

[wind vale]

not nearly enough for a duo

[stable oyster]

Remember, crit damage is multiplicative

[wind vale]

artemis has one unconditional version of it and it gives 30%

[cosmic moon]

IS THE NEW UPDATE OUT?

[wind vale]

and not really sure but iirc you could pom it

[native ether]

not yet but the patch notes are

[cosmic moon]

OMG PLEASE IV BEEN WAITING ALL DAY

[wind vale]

wait - you can make keys give you a reroll?

[neon bough]

you can apparently

[wind vale]

and chthonic keys after all these changes referrs to the regular keys you can get in any room?

even 2 for one room (skull version)

[neon bough]

yeah

resources are a mess

[native ether]

oh yes give me more rerolls to abuse

[wind vale]

they are also treating it as if there was a cap on bounties 🙂

[native ether]

there actually was :p

[wind vale]

at 20?

[native ether]

its currently capped at 10 for each weapon

[wind vale]

thats the thing - its not

[native ether]

so if you're running at say 20 heat

[wind vale]

just the pact says so

[lost rose]

There was supposed to be a cap on bounties.

[native ether]

and you dont have the first level bounty

[lost rose]

There was a bug.

The bug is now fixed.

The heat cap is real

[native ether]

lol that's funny

I figured it was intended behavior to give you credit for a 15 heat run as a bounty if you didnt have all your bounties yet

which I assume it is, just that it was bugged

[wind vale]

i got all to 17 on the bow

some running higher heat to get them

[lost rose]

It is, yeah

Well

[wind vale]

(got 17 at 26)

if the new cap is 15 i still got some extra 🙂

[broken cipher]

It's updating rn!!!

[wind vale]

oh finally - multiple chaos exits with preview and reroll option

[broken cipher]

Yup!

[grand patrol]

YESSSSSSSSSS

[hard holly]

Aw, they nerfed the Achilles aspect for spear spin builds

Thats lame

[wind vale]

how?

i mean any effect on cast builds?

[hard holly]

You cant use attack to dash to the spear and start the spin immediately, it just recalls it

[stable oyster]

I’m so close to giving up on sudden rush

My faith is being tested

[wind vale]

but that was already in a small patch earlier?

[placid pike]

Is the "load a Cast into your arrow" aspect for the bow any good? Or is it better to just go for extra crit?

[wind vale]

the hera aspect is good for a few cast builds but not otherwise

like its amazing with dionysus cast

[subtle shale]

dumb question

in the new patch where do I go to upgrade my weapons?

[hard holly]

Was it? Damn, thats unfortunate

[wind vale]

i thought it was the first small patch that made special teleport you and attack recall it?

[native ether]

Was the upgrade room changed?

[wind vale]

and i got no idea about how anything works in the patch since im still downloading 😦

[subtle shale]

yeah I can't upgrade them by going up to their equip spots anymore

[tawny viper]

Er, it's been a while, is the Exagryph not available from the start?

[wind vale]

it usually only appeared the first death after you bought the other 4

thinking of it - the 3rd hammer being removed seems bad

it only really added to bow basic attack builds and i cant really remember having played one of them at all last patch

and lowered your chance for too bad luck

[karmic ginkgo]

I can no longer change items? After tararus?

[pearl herald]

are you on your first run?

[karmic ginkgo]

Nope

[pearl herald]

hmm,weird,thought it was a first run only thing

[karmic ginkgo]

Well its the first run since the update

[hard holly]

You need to buy that from the contractor for gems now

[karmic ginkgo]

Ooof

[inland pebble]

Just read the patch note, one word: Noooooooooooooooooooo!

Huhuhu, they nerfed Aphrodite! Her Aid! 😭

[hot basin]

are the gems for the renovations as scarce as they used to be? i don't want to think about looking for them only to get 5 at a time :c

[inland pebble]

Seriously, her ability to skip boss's phases (especially to Hydra) is the only reason why people even bother picking it up in the first place 👿

[wind vale]

there is a new 'summon' button in the keybindings - any idea what it does?

[hard holly]

Those upgrades are a lot cheaper

Theyre like 25-40 gems

[wicked spire]

hey, has anybody been having issues with sound? seems like some voice lines are missing (maybe some are still being updated) but other ones seem to be like in "mono" they only come from one side of the speakers

[lost rose]

Hey, that's a known issue we're still looking into - restarting the game will fix it

[wicked spire]

thank you!

[stark zinc]

how do i post a photo

?

i want help with something

[dire mason]

Hey Lis! To post photos here, you can use any photo hosting site. Imgur is a common one!

[fallen quarry]

Thanatos can be scary on a timed run when he gets stuck on pillars :x

[neon bough]

hey, where is my keepsake cupboard ? 😦

[wicked spire]

the contractor knows

[neon bough]

that's mean

[wet dagger]

That feel when u freak out over missing cabinet... and then realize this is brand new file & there aren't any keepsakes yet

https://imgur.com/YZeLgVh

[fallen quarry]

empty sadness

[molten igloo]

Hello everyone, my question might already have been answered, but I don't understand what is going on with the pact of punishment !!! I read that it was put of the game, and now I see it in the patch notes... can someone explain me what happened?

[wind vale]

not really sure what you mean - the pact was moved from the table in zagreus room to the door that starts your run last patch(and only visible if you finished the game at least once iirc)

and now there were some smaller changes

[molten igloo]

Ok I didn't know it was moved, I died last boss so it's not unlocked yet is that so ?

[wet dagger]

thats exactly right!

u need to beat BigBad at least once to have Pact appear on every run after

[molten igloo]

Ok ok thanks for the answers, maybe it's time for a new save 😊

[radiant swallow]

Does anyone know why the Hera Bow aspect sometimes only casts once when a shot is loaded with multiple casts>

[wind vale]

i havent had that so far - but so far i also havent seen casts getting stuck on tiny obstacles

like i shoot 2 casts and one of them hits right at my feet while the other hits where i aim(using dionysus) - had that happen quite often last patch

[elfin pulsar]

so I have 28 of the old ambrosia, who do I use these on to get the new keepsakes?

i dont really understand how to get them

[neon bough]

it's been an hour I guess no one does haha

[elfin pulsar]

fair point

[hard holly]

You give Ambrosia to people you can give it to

Thats how you get the legendary keepsakes

Ambrosia is for leveling past 6 from what I can tell

[elfin pulsar]

isnt there only 4 tho? dont wanna waste them on ppl who dont have legendaries

[hard holly]

6 of them

I dont think you can use Ambrosia on people without legendary keepsakes

[frank fern]

so first have to fill them up with "old ambrosia" and fed them new one after it?

[hard holly]

In essence

[frank fern]

f.... i filled no one to the brim .... so just get those legs so we know who is worth it 😛

[hard holly]

Well

I guess I should rephrase

You have to max out on the hearts you can get with nectar

Which I think is 6?

[frank fern]

there are a lot of npcs that have quite many hearths

if you dont know what you get in the end

and IF you get anything

[wind vale]

its the one with the key symbol instead of the thing that looks like some time symbol, right?

ill look through my codex and tell you which ones i see that got it if you want

once i can stand still in game 🙂

[frank fern]

wow you can get mass rerolls now .... collecting a key -> reroll Oo

[wind vale]

||Thanatos, Megaera, Sisyphus, Skelly|| have lock symbols for me, the rest has the clock with an arrow symbol

[hard holly]

Hm

I think I found a bug where you lose a death defy randomly

But I dont know what causes it

[wind vale]

death?

[hard holly]

Most I can tell is that it seems to activate around the axe traps

[wind vale]

😉

[turbid arch]

Anyone know how to unlock Hell Mode?

[mild crag]

I can't play yet since I gotta work but can some fellow acolyte of Hestia tell me how empowered shot works with spread fire please

[pearl herald]

start a new save Icebox

[hard holly]

Where you just randomly lose a death defy without being hit by anything

Which is a bit awkward since I lost 2 of them to it

[wind vale]

@mild crag it sort of does and sort of doesnt - hestia gets you a single shot kinda like the old railgun hammer upgrade and spread shot doesnt apply to it

[mild crag]

Still?

But the update notes said they fixed interactions

[wind vale]

but at the same time you want to mostly use the same god boons for both, so it works well together(the hestia shot is a long range help)

really liked that interaction

and didnt it work at the first patch?

[mild crag]

Just to confirm, is this trying it after the Welcome to Hell update?

[wind vale]

and was removed after

and no sorry - havent tried so far

[mild crag]

Oh okay

[wind vale]

but the interaction seemed intentional

[mild crag]

I knew it did that, but just saw in the patch notes that they fixed some interactions with it

Specifically I imagine Piercing Shot didn't apply and some boons didn't work with it

[wind vale]

oh yea explosive fire did apply and piercind didnt, god effects didnt happen but curses from them did apply and such

[mild crag]

Yeah, Artemis could crit but I think either Poseiden or Zeus didn't trigger off it, can't remember which exactly

5 x 150 damage from empowered spread fire seems too strong but I'm just wondering if it got changed at all

[wind vale]

poseidon didnt knock back but applied ruptured - that was the strange thing(i think poseidon zeus duo didnt trigger)

[turbid needle]

That got taken away early in Super Star.

Spread Fire and Empowered Shot crossing, that is.

[mild crag]

so the single empowered shot before reverting to spread fire after is intentional is what you're suggesting

[turbid needle]

Yes.

[mild crag]

tragic

[turbid needle]

It was extremely broken.

[mild crag]

I can imagine lol

[turbid needle]

I shot Alecto four times with Deadly Strike and moved on to Asphodel.

[wind vale]

i really found it useful after the change - you had a really long range heavy shot

to me that seems better than lets say the damage bonus split on the 5 shots

[mild crag]

i just thought it was strange

maybe it'll be like

the middle shot is empowered but there's 4 normal shots still spreading

either way i'll test it when i can

but if somebody does before me pls @ me

[turbid needle]

I, uh, haven't used Hestia more than once or twice since the reversion.

[wind vale]

hardly ever used another one - just too much free damage

[turbid needle]

Zeus/Dionysus on Eris, baby.

[wind vale]

eris was for triple rocket for me

[drowsy crow]

Got the Skelly big boy keepsake

Yay

[wind vale]

dio and zeus, or more specifically poseidon with zeus duo id still usually take hestia

just more convenient and i have that on demand nuke

[mild crag]

i think i've done more hestia runs by an order of magnitude than any other weapon

[wind vale]

chiron for me

[mild crag]

also a good choice

[frank fern]

bow / shield / rail > rest ... a pitty they didnt change the weapon aspects

[turbid needle]

The bow exploded onto my favorite weapons with Chiron. I never used it before that.

[frank fern]

i still like 1 per weapon and just ignore the other ones ... blitz disc vs. chaos shield is such an easy pick at least for me e.g.

[turbid needle]

I love Chaos Aspect.

[frank fern]

dito

[wind vale]

kinda silly how they keep trying to nerf sword special

[frank fern]

"special bow" vs "cast bow" i dont get why i should take the painfull to play cast thing to be honest

[wind vale]

dionysus hera bow is amazing

[pearl herald]

melted all bosses with cast bow with artemis right click and a lot of upgrades to it

but it's such a meme to get it working right

[wind vale]

i only think aphrodite cast should work well in it but the entire last update it was bugged

[pearl herald]

also have done it with poseidon sword which is even faster if you just trade hp but again,not that consistent to get going

[wind vale]

did only hit the target i hit with my arrow maybe half the time

else i would always take some weapon that actually buffs cast damage

so only really these 2

since they need a delivery system more than the other casts

[mild crag]

only cast build i had major success with was with poseidon sword and exit wounds

was pretty bad at clearing rooms but bosses exploded

[wind vale]

for me dio on hera, ares(hunting blades) and athena(zeus duo) on achilles spear, and any other for poseidon

why does theseus get bullet chains on the upgraded fight?

such a silly fight 😄

[mild crag]

bullet chains?

sounds wild lol

[wind vale]

yea he uses them

really have to see that fight its great

oh something new - i just got a hammer offered in a styx room - i could reroll into one before and that only inside the corridor but never got that

[turbid needle]

Was that for a third hammer?

[wind vale]

no i ignored all hammers i saw - so first

(its a hera bow dionysus cast run)

also: i have to say i dont notice any change with athenas dash (they said something about removing some damage immunity window or sth like that)

[gloomy scroll]

special not dash iirc - it said flourish did it not?

[subtle shale]

so I've been trying out Zeus Aspect on Shield and it's so fun

[naive cobalt]

It's by far my favorite shield aspect

[subtle shale]

I managed to roll Artemis special with it

stationary targets just melt

[wind vale]

is the new entry on the artifacts page just vintage ambrosia, the new currency? and if it is where do i get it so that it counts - i only got a few from trades so far

[grand pollen]

https://imgur.com/a/7k3xRus not a bad first run of the new patch. loving all the changes so far((except maybe the lack of a third hammer, this run with explosive would have been <3))

[simple veldt]

How does Titan Blood work? how soon can you use it, and how to use it?

[turbid needle]

hmm... is there a way to erase the records?

[astral oar]

Does anyone think we will be able to activate hell mode on current save? Idk if I'm courageous enough to restart everything after 200+ runs :$

[wind vale]

as i understand hell mode enforces some sort of use of the pact, always

as in you always need to push for the next heat level or something like that - cant do that retroactively

[whole raft]

Um. Can we not change artifacts between floors anymore?

[hard holly]

Its now something you have to unlock from the contractor

[whole raft]

That would have been good to know. Know what I'm hoping pops up quick...

[astral oar]

@wind vale Okay I get it! Just wished I could use the "remove invincibility after getting hit" in my normal run :/

[strong hornet]

wait did the keepsake change thing inbetween map sections get locked behind gems now?

[whole raft]

So it seems

[grand pollen]

Out of curiosity, if they're in this chat, why are people downvoting my suggestion for increasing the damage on tight deadline? I figure since its a pact option and honestly the time it gives seems fair, it should do more damage than standing in lava, not less.
At its current power, it feels like there's literally no reason to run at least one point in tight deadline because you get 36 minutes to beat the game, on top of an extra almost minute depending on how much health/DD's you have.

Also a lot of things got locked behind gems, including the 3 bonus characters you can interact with in each biome.

Bit frustrating if you've been playing for a long time, but feels really good in a new game.

[strong hornet]

yeah was about tho say that its a bit of a awkward change for the ones with long playtimes but low gems for example

[whole raft]

Wait, even they're locked?

[grand pollen]

Mhmm.

[whole raft]

Yeah, that's rough for someone playing since about May

[strong hornet]

like i dind't realy play after gems got introduced so i had like 20-30 ish maybe?

[whole raft]

And the lack of obols is brutal as well

[turbid needle]

I don't have much more than a gut feeling, but I think Tight Deadline is in a good place right now. The damage is (as far as I can tell) completely unblockable and avoidable, and I'm not always going to play perfectly.

[grand pollen]

So are treasure troves, gold dropping from breakables, and I believe something else

[turbid needle]

No one is going to play perfectly.

[fallen quarry]

I died to deadline :/

[whole raft]

Gold from breakables I knew, but even gold from enemies seems much lower

[fallen quarry]

though I blame thanatos for the death

[turbid needle]

Also, yeah, Than can be a pain.

[fallen quarry]

as he got stuck on a rock and wouldn't let me leave a room for all eternity

[grand pollen]

Yeah, but like, thats the point of the pact? To make things harder? I die to it too sometimes, and other times I end runs with like 7 minutes left. I just feel almost cheated by the idea that I can let it expire and it almost doesn't matter depending on the situation.

[turbid needle]

It's not really a small amount of damage.

[grand pollen]

Standing in lava does more.

[turbid needle]

Yeah, have you done the Snake Oil fight with maxed Heightened Security? I like having just a little more time to react to standing in the fire.

[grand pollen]

And its "tight deadline", not "reasonable deadline with average consequences"

[fallen quarry]

deadline is lethal now

in regards to it doesn't stop at 1hp

it'll trigger death defy, and kill you now

I do remember before the patch, having it just slowly do little damage, and stopping at 1hp

[grand pollen]

True, but basically full health in the hydra fight and 3 dds, I got over a minute to keep fighting, let me beat the boss and move on. I honestly just gave up in the next room because I felt I didn't deserve it.

[turbid needle]

Your ability to no-damage the Hydra fight is not common.

[fallen quarry]

is it enhanced hyrda? 😮

[grand pollen]

I agree, I usually have pretty fast hydra fights. It wasn't a great run. I just think that tight deadline should enforce its timer more. There are plenty of heat options to choose from, if you can't make the times, then pick other ones? idk, feels silly to me for it to feel like it does lackluster damage for setting a time limit. I honestly expected it to just kill me when the timer ran out, I've been running it for a few weeks with that logic anyways.

[turbid needle]

You're missing the point.

[fallen quarry]

was it base hydra or snake oil?

[grand pollen]

I've run it on both

[fallen quarry]

no hits on the base, I agree is way eay

easy*

overtime snake oil though, without hits?

and deadline, so can't just play safe

like... I'm still proud of this

https://prnt.sc/q5ufyr

even is running the shield is cheating

[grand pollen]

Hydra isn't what I'm complaining about. Its the fact that one point in deadline feels free. Two like, ok, its a challenge, makes you have to rush, etc etc, but the first point feels like a freebie when it still gives you a decent chunk of extra time after it runs out.

[fallen quarry]

oh, I've never ran one point in it, lol

[turbid needle]

I think part of the problem lies in the assumption that most players will be running hitless at the point it runs out. It could be an extra 10 seconds in some situations, especially as Heat starts to climb.

[fallen quarry]

having build up options is good

and sometimes people use other heat mods

which can make even one point in the timer a potential issue

[grand pollen]

but like. if you don't make times, pick different pack options?

pact*

[fallen quarry]

just because something by itself or with some of the options doesn't really have an impact, doesn't mean it shouldn't be there

[grand pollen]

with the new store system too, you can unlock almost every single thing in the game without ever even using heat.

[fallen quarry]

I like that too, even if it doesn't apply to me

lots of people will play the game more casually

take like, dead cells as an example

[mild crag]

Most 1 pointers are freebies

[grand pollen]

The new store system is quite nice.

[mild crag]

It's the culmination of several pact options that makes it difficult

[fallen quarry]

in Dead Cells, if you can play the game on harder boss cell counts, you probably wouldn't even want to play the game on little to no boss cells

most people will be satisfied running it easier, the harder options are there for those who want them.

[grand pollen]

Yeah, its the reason why I run deadline as one of my heat options every time, I just thought the punishment for not making it was more extreme.

[mild crag]

The consequence does become a bit more severe based on other pact options, for example if you're running Lasting Consequences losing a buncha health for nothing is really bad

If you get an extra minute by giving up all your death defiances I think it's still fair

[grand pollen]

I think I might just be a masochist when it comes to this kind of stuff. I'd be fine with increasing the heat that it gives, but making it an instant kill when it runs out, and also giving it a third point to give 5 minutes per ;P

((though tbh, if its damage stays the same, a 5 minute option sounds fun))

[fallen quarry]

I mean... you're welcome to make the game harder, what it sounds like is you want it to be harder for everyone.

[grand pollen]

yes, but pact is optional, and there are a lot of pact options.

a lot are % increases too, so lower heats can be achieved for a bunch of small picks that make it harder.

[mild crag]

I think the difficulty is about right

On max heat with the current iteration it's already basically impossible to make it even out of tartarus (in my experience)

just because of tight deadline

[grand pollen]

testing it right now, its 5 damage every second. if you don't have the darkness cap on, and assuming you're not taking extra damage, which is unreasonable, but just for refence, at base health and dds, thats 50 seconds of time added on.

[mild crag]

if it were a free 50 seconds I'd be inclined to agree with you but it is at the cost of health so it's fine imo

[grand pollen]

That makes sense. I guess I haven't really been thinking about it from a 42 heat perspective. I tend to speed run, and as such, stick around 10ish heat ((tight deadline is a must, and then there's some debate about running points for the snake oil hydra fight.)) and in that sense, there was never a reason to not run deadline because you're pushing under it anyways. whenever I take everything but deadline off, just to mess around with new builds, it seemed undertuned. You make a good point about it being a rough trek on max though.

[mild crag]

good points, stands to reason that the game feels easy after you're used to high heat levels so i can agree with that

i think you might just not feel the impact of tight deadline because you've gotten too good at running it quickly

[grand pollen]

Yeah, I honestly hit the timer for the first time today lol. Again, I think the faulty assumption that I just died when it ran out was what got me frustrated. Usually, since I mostly just do speed runs, you either crush the timer, or die trying to go fast before it runs out anyways ((or just toss the run because its bad))

[mild crag]

yee makes sense

[grand pollen]

Also, out of curiosity, since I don't really have experience with it, is Dio good outside of his call in normal runs? In speed runs he's usually pretty underwhelming, but I'm bored and want to try new builds.

[turbid needle]

Yes, one of the strongest DPS gods.

[mild crag]

with low tolerance from Aphrodite the levels to which you stack poison makes it some of the highest sustained dps you can do

[grand pollen]

cool cool. I just know all our speed run builds are getting nerfed lol.

Like Ares/Athena just got hit, and that was the current WR build.

[turbid needle]

I feel like the Merciful End nerf was minor.

[grand pollen]

Oh it was, but nerfed nonetheless

[mild crag]

what was the nerf?

[grand pollen]

just reduced damage iirc

[turbid needle]

60 damage bonus, down from 90.

[mild crag]

makes sense

doom hits pretty hard by itself without a bonus

but less damage is less damage

[grand pollen]

Well, Dio felt really good for all of styx, but kinda garbage against the final boss, even aphro duo.

[radiant swallow]

So like

You speedrun the game

But how consistent is it to get some of your builds

And Dio has felt pretty bonkers if you grab him with Zues, or Aphrodite, at least to me

The highest heat I've run is 8, but I'm getting up there

[turbid needle]

I just cleared 18 with all three of Zeus, Aphrodite, and Dionysus.

[radiant swallow]

Yeah that's honestly pretty nutso

Did you get the dionysus legendary?

[turbid needle]

I did.

[radiant swallow]

They just buffed it this patch, which makes it a whole lot better

[turbid needle]

Had Festive Fog and Dio's Aid.

[radiant swallow]

What weapon

[turbid needle]

Rail, Flurry Fire with Lightning Strike, Heartbreak Flourish.

[radiant swallow]

I was using it with Rail Eris Aspect

[turbid needle]

Yes, Eris.

[radiant swallow]

Take out he aphro and that was also my build

Got jolted for the damage amp

[turbid needle]

Oh yeah.

[radiant swallow]

His damage reduction boon is ridiculous if you get it as an epic

I think I just face tanked everythung and watched it all disappear

Also I find it amusing how the update made Dio way stronger

Since his nectar drop also upgrades things too

[tropic sequoia]

anyone have build suggestions for the spear? i'm struggling with it

[radiant swallow]

Cry

I find the spear to be the most mediocre weapon

It is really well rounded, at the cost of never having a super high damage build

[turbid needle]

Deadly Strike.

[radiant swallow]

Which is Deadly Strike

[turbid needle]

Artemis Attack.

[radiant swallow]

Oh yeah I got that

[turbid needle]

You're critting above 600, minimum.

[radiant swallow]

With the spin, you mean

[turbid needle]

Yeah, Massive Spin, too.

[radiant swallow]

So you need the daedelus upgrad and deadly strike

[turbid needle]

Yeah.

[radiant swallow]

Feelsbad

[tropic sequoia]

which daedelus upgrade?

[radiant swallow]

I find the spear to be good when you're able to use the spin to great advantage, i.e. you got 1-2 hammer upgrades on it, or you got the explosive special

It has a lot of range and is the weapon best suited to kiting, by far, but it doesn't have insane amounts of damage

[tropic sequoia]

hmm i haven't been using the spin much, maybe that's my mistake

[radiant swallow]

Dash away, dash attack towards the enemy is very safe, has a ton of range, and keeps you safe while attacking

I've definitely found myself using the spear the best with Dio/Artemis calls for damage, and just playing really far away

Or, when I highroll and get the spin buffs

Ares Doom is really powerful with the special, since it is super safe and has a lot of range

[turbid needle]

Multiskewer Doom. 👌

[mild crag]

I remember back in the day when spear was my favourite weapon since Artemis dash was "after dashing your next attack crits" and you could charge the spin, then dash and the spin crit 100% of the time

[radiant swallow]

Also, charge spin -> dash lets you move the spin as your dash, increasing its range

I'm still trying to figure out how to use Achilles Aspect

[mild crag]

sort of a movement ability to help you dodge stuff I imagine is the best use

if you didn't know once you throw your spear out you can special again to dash to it, but if you attack while it's out it retracts like normal

[native ether]

 At its current power, it feels like there's literally no reason to run at least one point in tight deadline because you get 36 minutes to beat the game, on top of an extra almost minute depending on how much health/DD's you have.```
Because the only weapons i've found that reliably let me beat deadline are the sword and occasional rail build. Not only that, but it makes it less compatible with other heat options which make the game harder (and thus slow you down)

and it can kill you now

[elfin pulsar]

achilles aspect is my favorite aspect in the game, I'm with kossetu where it's best use is mobility

its great for dashing in or dodging out of stuff that would hit anybody with the regular two dashes

it also is great for spin builds and now possibly cast builds

oh so, what does hell mode actually do? Just start you with heat?

[frosty pier]

It starts you with pact of punishment unlocked AND you forced to have atleast 5 heat.

[quasi knoll]

Hey what are the new currency upgrades?

do they have in run effects?

[analog sail]

In short, you can upgrade the blue laurel rewards to also affect your current run. For example, getting a normal darkness drop also increases your max health by 5.

[kind fiber]

How do you get the new keepsakes?

i haven't noticed any of the npcs being able to receive a gift from me

[frosty pier]

It's more than "shove some nectar into a man" this time.

[kind fiber]

Is it shove Ambrosia down a man this time?

[frosty pier]

More like: a nice dinner, romantic atmosphere, a test of commitment, and a spark of passion.

[grave grotto]

ok yall i have a q, have you guys gotten the bug where sometimes the bowman/theseus target on you just. doesnt go away

[frosty pier]

All for that Boulder.

[grave grotto]

tbfh i love bouldy

[errant narwhal]

Please report any bugs you get with F10!

[charred ruin]

Tried a run with extreme measures 1 and didn't notice any difference except for hydra shooting more projectiles in the phase where you hit the main head

I'm guessing it adds 1 sister, and IDK about Mino+Thes

[proud storm]

To change the boss fights beyond tartarus you need to invest more heat in extreme measures

Extreme measures 1 makes you fight 2 or all the furies at once

[charred ruin]

So what does level 2 and 3 do?

I hope it doesn't turn hydra into the snake oil version because I hated that fight so much

[kind fiber]

2 does that yeah

and ill dm you level 3 so not to spoil others accidentally @charred ruin

[radiant swallow]

I personally found the extreme measures for Thes + Minotaur made them easier

Theseus

His attack pattern is so much easier to avoid

[tough echo]

What can I do with excess Titan Blood?!

[frosty pier]

wait on it

[tough echo]

And for the Chthonic Colleagues achievement of the Fated List...

I'm missing one person. Is it her?

[analog sail]

It's Meg. You need to defeat her once fir it to unlock. Probably a bug.

[tough echo]

I've unlocked Meg already. It's the third on the list.

[analog sail]

Hm. It was Meg for me

Looks like that's Charon

[tough echo]

Hmm. Curious... I've visited the Charon's shops. Maybe there's another way...

[frank fern]

time limit now kills you instantly after like 30 seconds? get killed while having a DD left...

[proud storm]

these are all excellent choices https://i.imgur.com/4hZZbYe.jpg

[grand patrol]

spent spirit is soooo cool

makes theseus so much easier

[frank fern]

the cbanged duo with "doom effect on weakend foes" is crazy strong now

it was some fixed number before now its 25% of your doom damage ...

[proud storm]

uh oh https://i.imgur.com/RTs3CeO.jpg

i dont want to replace any of these fhjdfhg

[frosty pier]

Oh no

[elfin pulsar]

never seen 3 replaces before

that probably shouldnt be a thing

[turbid needle]

Had than spawn in elysium with jury summons on. Unironically had to fight 60 flamewheels

[full kelp]

oof

https://imgur.com/a/40OARNu

[proud storm]

hera aspect with ares cast, fully loaded, vicious cycle and possibly hunting blades

[full kelp]

very fast vortex proccing at incredible hihg speed

https://imgur.com/a/QHE1QN5

thats the setup

[proud storm]

that's just brutal

[turbid needle]

@turbid needle in such situation... I believe it was pretty explosive crash course

that being said... If I remember you can just make the flamewheels kill themseleves by making them ride itself into walls

[charred ruin]

The best weapon for a speedrun is the sword with movement speed aspect? How much time does it take to finish with it?

[woeful stirrup]

So, I just got Explosive Return for the very first time. The game had never given that choice to me before... it was awesome. Dealing over 200 damage every special felt so good. Theseus and the Minotaur melted. Combining that with Athena's dash, it made the whole game trivial (although I was only at 1 Heat, so not much of a feat).

[turbid needle]

about 9:xx something If I remember

that isn't the case anymore I guess

[charred ruin]

@woeful stirrup imagine getting it with the Aspect that gives you the special that throws 5 shields

[woeful stirrup]

I had that aspect, but not levelled up yet. issue was, it took more time to bull rush and throw than to throw twice. With more shields though, it's gotta be pretty insane.

[proud storm]

if you have explosive return on the shield's chaos aspect only one returning shield explodes

[viscid grail]

anyone got tips on hades?

[woeful stirrup]

Oh, that's a shame. Would've loved to see it combo.

[turbid needle]

depending on what you mean about the tips @viscid grail

[charred ruin]

You can use Zues aspect, even as level 1, and return it immediately as you throw it for instant explosion

[viscid grail]

i can get to p2 but those flame lasers just melt me

[charred ruin]

take cover

[woeful stirrup]

Yeah, I unlocked the Zeus aspect right after that (got lots of blood from the prophecies), and thought it would combo well with it.

[turbid needle]

there is one stone that can make you cover... the collision is pretty bad though there

it should be bigger

[charred ruin]

behind the stones, the arena has plenty of spots to hide

[turbid needle]

otherwise just move alongside the laser movement

[viscid grail]

cover is usually gone by that point...

[turbid needle]

and don't be super close when he initiates "Imma Fire my LAZ0RS"

[woeful stirrup]

A bit annoying that you have to equip every keepsake one by one, backing out of the screen every time, to fulfil the prophecy. Especially since they're all level 3. Come on, game, you know I've used them all.

[charred ruin]

not talking about the stones you can destroy

[viscid grail]

and its hard to stay near that corner

[charred ruin]

there's a stone in the middle

rectangle shaped

[turbid needle]

pretty much, but the collision is meh, so you might get hit nonetheless and margin of error is rather nil

[charred ruin]

Also broken spear keepsake

[woeful stirrup]

If you can't get to cover (although you should be able to), your only resort is to either damage him enough to stop him or run around at the same speed as the ray.

[charred ruin]

you get hit once and block all the rest

[native ether]

It's annoying but it's only really a problem for people who've been playing the game a while :p (the keepsake thing)

[woeful stirrup]

True. But it's still annoying
(also made me realize that your cursor is automatically on the legendary keepsakes, which means you have to go up to get to the regular keepsakes, every time, even though those are the ones you're gonna change the most... might have to look through the feedback channel to see if someone's talked about that already)

[quasi knoll]

yeah game seems to be in its best state right now

the fact that laurel rewards now get in run benefits is the best

that was probably the only major issue i had

[wind vale]

havent tried myself yet but how does trinket switching work with legendary trinkets work?

[subtle shale]

I still wish Darkness was more useful for something

The new health on darkness thing is nice but I’ve got tens of thousands of the stuff

[wind vale]

i mean can you switch normal and legendary or only one?

for the darkness - id only want a way to trade that stuff

but it seems its the only thing excluded

[subtle shale]

Yeah maybe trade it for gemstones

Since gemstones are the only other thing you can’t get from the broker right nowb

[wind vale]

unless there is a special deal but yea mostly you cant

[subtle shale]

Like eventually once you hit “endgame” resources stop meaning so much anyway

[wind vale]

but i havent seen any way to get rid of darkness since the superstar update at all

i need about 50 vintage ambrosia or whatever its called and got maybe half of it for now but thats all

also since noone seemed to know last time i asked - where does that stuff drop normally and it is the codex entry that got added, right?

[grave grotto]

ertjlret id report the lingering target bug from the archers/theseus but ive done it. literally every patch since elysium was released so i feel bad 😭

[lost rose]

don't feel bad about reporting bugs 😂 stuff slips through the cracks sometimes, and it's valuable to us to know that the issue is ongoing

[native ether]

It might be nice if the first boon you find offered attack, special, or cast.

Maybe if this was a meta upgrade, like something in the mirror. I really like it but I think the player shouldn't get that guaranteed agency in their first couple runs.

[crimson geyser]

what is "Summon?" is that new?

[native ether]

Yep!

[wind vale]

its the use of the new trinkets

[crimson geyser]

ohh

i haven't gotten any of those yet

[full kelp]

is it impossible to get artemis' arrows with the rail?

[crimson geyser]

which arrows?

i have plenty of artemis boons with the rail rn

[full kelp]

the homing ones, for each attack cast or special

[crimson geyser]

assuming that crash didn't just wipe out my run

ah yeah i have that one with the rail on my current run

[full kelp]

awww, I had a 39% Attack speed increase from hermes and the upgrade that makes it more accurate

and i was just dying to get that

[native ether]

Support Fire? Yeah it is

Support Fire is unironically probably best on the rail due to how fast it attacks

[crimson geyser]

woooo just got my first clear with the rail, yesterday got my first clear with the sword

now all that's left is that dang bow

[frank fern]

bow is the easiest with the special unlock

[crimson geyser]

oop

oh no my whole message

oh well

didn't know you couldn't curse in this server

[timber tiger]

I have found the wonder that is hera aspect coronacht

fun 2k+ damage (total) just from tipsy shots

Only had 4 casts though 😦

[charred ruin]

best shield and spear aspects currently?

[wind vale]

wow - aphrodites life affirmation buffs the hp gained from the darkness room reward upgrade that makes them give 5 max hp

best aspects depend on whatever you want to do

the only thing i want to do with spear is cast builds(hunting blades or lightning phalanx[thats athena cast with zeus duo]) - so i clearly take achilles(huge buff and great mobility)

havent tried shield, probably zag is strongest,chaos more fun/faster/more damage in some situations

[timber tiger]

idk, chaos was alright, but in the end it's probably just base shield that's the best

zeus aspect feels weird

and chaos is whatever because shield special kinda sucks

[wind vale]

havent tried zeus this patch, maybe its good now

chaos is good for some stuff

like you could have dio poison on it, aphro on attack, maybe their duo and thats good - lots of special shields stack poison quickly

or ares on special, maybe with the boon that makes doom increase damage per hit and some of the duos/buffs to that - would usually also work for the normal one but here are stuff for roomclear or the stacking possible, maybe more

alternatively just zeus on special

shield special has barely any base damage so you want fixed damage numbers for boons

[timber tiger]

One of the nice things about zeus aspect is it can hit shield boys on all sides, so that's a plus

[wind vale]

id say thats a plus for chaos as well - the shields come from all sides so i always hit them

(when they bounce back)

but that might only get really nice at higher levels of the aspect

[timber tiger]

¯_(ツ)_/¯

just attack things imo

biggest strength of shield is the shield from bull rush

Doesn't matter much what your special does

[charred ruin]

Played Chaos shield with aphro attack and ares special which was ok. didnt kill fast but i also didn't get hit

[fallen quarry]

I prefer aphrodite, Artemis, or athena for chaos shield special

I despise ares on everything

Only thing I've been constantly successful with now on tight deadline and more heat has been the chaos shield

Side note... thinking you hit pause when you didn't is a pretty quick way to end a run

[timber tiger]

I really like this support fire perk on just about everyone

Unfortunately it doesn't proc on anything but the first hit of zeus aspect shield

[fallen quarry]

yeah, strong as is, even if one action causes multiple attacks.

kind of funny when you have base crit chance with it, and the boon causing enemies near a crit enemy to be likely to be crit.

[hard holly]

Best shield aspect is the base one, yeah

Spear is tricky

Hades one would be good if it buffed following spins, but since it doesnt its kind of not good?

[timber tiger]

I need to look again at the spear aspects

[hard holly]

You dont care about extra % damage on spear attack since most of the damage would come from Zeus if youre using spear attack

While special would rather just keep spamming special than stand still and spin

Achilles one used to be great for spear spin purposes

But now that you cant dash and immediately charge a spin anymore, its not optimal I guess

Might still be good for that build

Regular aspect is great for special builds

[tropic sequoia]

do you guys find that duo boons are the only way to reaching a 'win condition' in your build?

i find most of my success with merciful end, scintillating feast, heart rend, and low tolerance

[eternal stag]

i wouldn't say so, but they definitely help pull a build together

imo if you don't have a duo it helps to go deep with a specific god

[tropic sequoia]

i find some of the legendaries to be underwhelming relative to the duos

[hard holly]

Ive found them to be optional at best

A lot of the time I basically skip duo boons I see because theyre not very useful for my build

[tropic sequoia]

what are you building around in these builds?

[hard holly]

Usually just an attack boon then take whatever utility I can get

Its on bow and Hestia rail for the record

[native ether]

it very much depends on your build tbh

can you win without a duo boon? definitely

is it easier to win with one? usually yes

[tropic sequoia]

i think the the right daedelus combos are the next best option

depending on weapon

[native ether]

duo boons usually make a good synergy better, they're more "win more" boons than things that really build something. But some of them are powerful enough in the right build that they just... well win

e.g Hunting Blades

[hard holly]

Id say the Daedalus hammers are key

[native ether]

depends on your weapon. If you're playing Rail, your hammers are the most important upgrade.

[hard holly]

I guess the big issue is that currently Aphrodite is the best god for attack and special boons, and her duo boons are generally the least impactful

Eh, with Hestia rail I found hammers to be basically irrelevant

I guess the rocket launcher one is nice

[native ether]

False. The Dionysus Aphro Duo is imo still the best rail build in the game. Build that with Eris aspect and you wipe everything.

but her other 2 are situational for sure

[hard holly]

Id say regular Aphro Hestia rail and Zeus Rail are better

[native ether]

Hestia changes the rail dynamic because it puts your focus less on securing certain upgrades for the rail

[hard holly]

Basically

You get a good aphro boon, an Artemis dash boon

And you just start dash attack reload looping

[native ether]

but id say you likely still want Triple Bomb/Inescapable Blast/Explosive Fire for that crowd control. Hestia shot doesn't hit stun from what I can tell.

[hard holly]

Personally its a bit more awkward than the previous auto-reload version

[tropic sequoia]

i've been running the default zag aspect with fast fire and dio builds through heat 5 so far, but any time i ran into the rocket launcher has been great

[hard holly]

Personally I think Rocket Launcher is just worse explosive spear

[native ether]

but I would still call Aphro Dio the best rail combo (excluding Hestia aspect there's an argument to be made that a Crit/Aphro/Artemis Dash build is better)

because with the Aphro-Dio combo with Eris you get:

• basically guaranteed 9 poison stacks at all times
• doing 60% more poison damage (which lets say you have Rare Poison which is I believe still 6 per tick. 6*9 stacks is 54 dmg per half second, 108 dmg a second, +60% is approximately 170 damage per second.
• guaranteed Privilege Status (so your 10 dmg bullets all do 15) (and you can get this early too, which is the real advantage. Just the 2 debuffs can carry you thru the Hydra.)
• less active need to do lots of damage, so its easier to focus on dodging and kiting.
• With Explosive Fire, all this tick damage is applied in a large AoE.

Rocket Launcher would be better if its hitbox was bigger or if it had slight homing to make it easier to land.

[fallen quarry]

that's so little with so much set up...

you take 5 damage a second after the timer runs out

it can kill you if you run out of life and death defies

Hopefully the zone gets some mob changes

[frigid nimbus]

how do I gift ambrosia instead of nectar?

[limber copper]

Has anyone also experienced the spear enemies bypassing shield? Usually happens if they attack twice in succession, or if two of them attack at the same time.

[native ether]

so the spear is good

but only with flurry jab

because you can spam the heck out of the dash attack

literally always take flurry jab its kinda insane and it makes the spear ok to use

[naive cobalt]

Multi Skewer too

And honestly I think Extending Jab is pretty strong

Altho not nearly as good as Multi Skewer or Flurry Jab

[turbid needle]

QuickSpin2Win.

Unfortunately you can't take Exploding Launcher on the first or second hammer to guarantee Quick/Massive Spin set-ups in Styx anymore, though.

[hybrid frost]

@shell trout In response to your feedback: When presented with a boon selection, any boons still required for the Fated list will have a small scroll icon next to their picture.

[median ridge]

did deadly reversal get removed from the game, or do i just have the worst rng right now?

[turbid needle]

Maybe just bad RNG.

[median ridge]

ive got basically nothing but the relevant artemis athena boons and they keep refusing to give me it

[turbid needle]

Some runs throw 10,000 Duos at you, some refuse to give you anything even if you get all of Artemis' boons and all of Aphro's.

[native ether]

ive had runs where it took 7 Athena boons to just get Athena attack

[turbid needle]

I'd say that's a different and slightly more pressing problem than Duos not showing up.

[wet dagger]

Just curious - does anyone else get this weird visual bug in Styx, when u open the door to next chamber and Zag just spazztically runs in place instead of running thru the door?

[mild crag]

Not sure I have but make sure you report it with too!

[native ether]

ive noticed it once or twice

[median ridge]

i have had consistently no music when running through styx. i reported it one time but its weird how often it happens

[native ether]

seems to be tied to the miniboss wings

[radiant swallow]

Does anyone else feel like Extreme Measures on the Elysium fight makes it easier?

[neat kite]

just realized how overpowered lightning rod is for the Elysium fight
you can just shoot the casts and casually take a walk with Asterious while Theseus gets evaporated in less than a minute

that seems a bit broken

[vagrant mirage]

Its going to take me a hot minute to get used to this whole press 1 to do stuff

[bitter solstice]

Discovered a game breaking bug with the new patch, did not know where to put it, so, came here.
Its with the new Death Defiance system, the slowdown.
Not entierly sure how it happened, if it was due to shield blocking dmg or hermes dodge or whatever. But the game thought I died, so the slowdown for death defiance happened, but I never took that final hit, so it kept slowing down untill the game came to a complete standstill

[turbid needle]

Just did a 20 heat run on the shield today, 20 heat is really rough

Middle management and that one that makes the bosses harder should defs give way more than 1 heat, the new theseus fight is rough

@neat kite never actulaly used lighting rod much, dont they just move away from it or is the radius huge?

[neat kite]

it's pretty big, just 1 of them is about same-ish as the sword's special and when there are 3 of them it's like 1/4th of the room

and no theseus just walks back and forward to throw his spear

so he pretty much gets demolished in seconds

since he does his throw - turn around and walk back - walk forward - throw, repeat

he pretty much stands there and eats it

it's very good cheese if you just don't want to do that fight

[bitter solstice]

20 heat? damn, I just reached 5 heat earlier today.
was just doing the first floor, for some nectar, did not plan for it to be a run I took all the way, and then I got the "Exclusive Access" duo boon" all boons would be epic rarity minimum. That was too good an oportunity to give up

[frosty pier]

@bitter solstice Report bugs with an in-game bug-reporter

[bitter solstice]

did not know that was a thing

[frank fern]

even 9 minute timer is kind of hard now, so you lose 2 heat compared to old timer that was basicly a free 5 heat if you were used to it

[wind vale]

since i havent seen it answered at all but asked a few times(also asked myself): the new ambrosia comes from the bounty on the elysium bossfight - that and the trader

(you use it on people you unlocked the lock symbol thingy after completing basically everything they had before this patch - which gives the new legendary trinkets and after that a bit more for story stuff - also upgrading the trinkets where you could select them where you select them)

[smoky sparrow]

Is it just me or Stygian Blade is still... weak? It feels like mediocre weapon at best...

[frosty pier]

It has it's moments.

[wind vale]

the only one clearly weaker is the spear

weaker than the rest i mean, not the sword specifically - that is high damage but kinda risky

[frosty pier]

Spear is not that weak, but dont mind me runing Hades aspect with crit attack and +150% damage in total from chaos.

[hard holly]

Nah, Spear is great

Explosive launcher is kinda busted, and spin builds are still mostly fine (though the loss of a third hammer hit it hard)

Its aspects are a bit lackluster now though

Hades Spin doesnt enhance further spins and regular attacks dont care much for % damage, while Achilles can no longer be used to skip the first part of the charging animation on a spin, which hurts it a lot

[frosty pier]

You dont spin that much for that downside become runbreaking. And it's still damage out of thin air that can go to your attacks of your special it's still very much wurf. But that is coming from a man who thinks that his skill cap is 10 heat.

[hard holly]

I mean I havent played on high heat in a while since Im still working up the bounty ladder

And I dont think any of the spear aspects have a downside really

Their upside is just kinda minimal compared to, say, Hestia Rail

My issue is that if Im attacking with spear, I want to be doing so with Zeus or maybe Dio

And Im pretty sure that Hades doesnt enhance either

On a sidenote, what happens if you flurry stabs on hades aspect?

[frosty pier]

I haven't encountered it yet. But I think you just die out of sheer dissapointment in yourself.

It pretty much cancels the aspect outright.

[wind vale]

its very likely removed from the hammer boons if you pick that aspect

[hard holly]

Does it?

I figured its either removed, or it works but doesnt enhance itself

[cedar mirage]

Can someone fill me in on the new hidden keepsakes?

[wind vale]

they are all use trinkets that you can use 1-5 times a run(depending on their level) and can not switch them out

can use one normal keepsake and one legendary at a time(and switch the normal ones like you used to if you unlocked that again)

you get them by having completed everything with their character as it was available before the update, trigger a special conversation and after that give them one of the new ambrosia

[cedar mirage]

Ah

Thanks

[wind vale]

(may have to reenter the room to gift them immediately)

also its ||skelly,than,meg and sisyphus||

other 2 locked for now

also: the new summon keybind is for them

[finite grail]

With the third hammer being removed I thought I'd have a harder time clearing but honestly it feels just as powerful. I think I've cleared more often since the update

[high crow]

i started a new save in hell mode, i've defeated the final boss and have 4 titan's blood but i haven't unlocked aspects yet.

anyone know whats up?

[still dew]

quick question: any benefit to hell mode if I don't care for increased difficulty? Any narrative content locked behind it?

[high crow]

im currently playing it

the answer seems to be no

thought i've only beat the game on hell mode once at this point

[still dew]

thanks

The patch notes mentioned I think a single pact of punishment that was Hell mode only, but if there's no dialogue hidden behind it, I'll stay away

[high crow]

it just removes the baseline invulnerability frames

that occurs if you take more than half your health in dmg

[wind vale]

oh thats what it means, ty

i thought it meant you could get hit during the end of combat slowdown and such

[wanton raptor]

Does anyone know how to activate god mode ? 😄

or Hell mode

[turbid needle]

hmm

hell mode is through new game

and you need to tick the hell mode option

and godmode ?

from normal mode you can just press esc and activate godmode in settings

[high crow]

you cant use god mode in hell mode

[wanton raptor]

Thank youu ❤️

[frosty pier]

Ahhhh it's so cute then Chaos gives you boon that increases trap damage...

I almost forgot that time then they weren't one-shoting me.

[charred ruin]

The new trader sometimes offers 15 keys -> titan blood. Best trade out of the many I've seen.

[frosty pier]

Yeah that's one of the better ones

[wind vale]

wow - middle management on the murderboat seems about as strong as 2 points in it before but with only a single point available

[turbid needle]

Yeah, it's pretty intense.

[wind vale]

havent seen how it works with the butterfly chamber but the changes for the other 3 are great

[grave grotto]

the butterflies will be the death of me

[turbid needle]

Lost to the final boss thanks to some earlier today.

[wind vale]

oh about the final boss: i have gone over to completely ignoring his 2nd minion wave since he kills them on transition - anyone else doing that?

[crimson geyser]

i always ignore minions in all boss fights for some reason

[turbid needle]

They become vulnerable before the boss does, usually I can kill all of them that it's not much of an issue.

[wind vale]

they got lots of armour and re often too annoying to fight

also sometimes its possible not to aggro them at all

if he summons them in a corner

[wicked spire]

Hello, a quick question about damage and things that torment my soul, how are the lava damage and the urns from Mr. Final Boss considered? are they "traps"? are the urns "enemy damage"? maybe is a very dumb question, but I was wondering if boons or keepsake can reduce the strength of those sources of endless pain.

[high crow]

pretty sure they normal damage

[wind vale]

i think the question is more which option of the pact increases it - and i got no idea which it is now

[wicked spire]

I see, thank you @high crow
@wind vale yup, I wasn't clear enough 😅

I started thinking about it when an urn dealt me like 800 damage hahaha

[wind vale]

also: i just learned the butterfly chamber is also increased to what was lvl 2 middle management

same as the murderboat

[frosty pier]

http://prntscr.com/q6ruqw Ok Zeus + Support fire... That build is hella fun, but on the down side I had to change mouse on stage 2 of Hades.

[grave grotto]

oof

[frosty pier]

Smal price for greatness

[turbid needle]

Replace Triple Bombard with Infinity Chamber and that is my current favorite build.

[grave grotto]

support fire is so fun on the rail

[turbid needle]

Oh, and Eris for Hestia.

[grave grotto]

attack speed buff re: hammer and hermes, support fire, crit, zeus

all good stuff

[frosty pier]

Bombard was a "oh wow those are absolutely useless things... maybe you are not"

[grave grotto]

KLDSJFDLSJK

i feel that

my rng is so sad

[turbid needle]

That's fair, I've had to make that pick, too.

[grave grotto]

how do you guys do cast builds

i cannot wrap my head around it

[wind vale]

i only do it when there is a good cast in the first boon - from there its easy

(i always go in to scout and then give up - it will be the same again)

[frosty pier]

Cast builds are either Ares on steriods, Or Zeus+Artemis

[turbid needle]

Hunting Blades plays itself.

I'm a fan of heavily invested Aphro cast.

Extra damage, big crits, it's got defensive value as well.

[wind vale]

thinking of it - i currently got aphro cast - it doesnt feel bugged anymore?

[turbid needle]

It's hitting enemies consistently?

[wind vale]

yea thats what i mean

[grave grotto]

thats good

im still at the theseus/archer target bug

[wind vale]

ill have to see once i get a chance for a cast build - then ill really check with hera bow

because i always wanted to try that ony but hitting my main target only half the time is too bad

[grave grotto]

people who use melee weapons (sword, spear) you guys are legends

[turbid needle]

I've used Hera like, once. I don't know, it's not for me.

vantasei Hey, thanks.

[wind vale]

its really only for dionysus cast so far

[turbid needle]

That probably is terrifying.

[wind vale]

but with aphro it just might work

[grave grotto]

chiron aspect is just... so good

[turbid needle]

Chiron gave the bow life.

[wind vale]

yea its the best but a change with different gameplay is always nice

[turbid needle]

Relentless Barrage Deadly Flourish 👌

[grave grotto]

id agree but coronacht has Been my best weapon

god yes

but yeah, i was looking into cast builds

sorry bot

[wind vale]

only thing i gotta say is that i havent played a single regular attack build since aspects with the bow

[turbid needle]

It's still totally possible, but Chiron.

[wind vale]

or hera

[grave grotto]

my old fav was coronacht with poseidon special

just. no one is allowed to approach me.

go away.

[turbid needle]

I did like the one time I got really highly leveled Doom.

[grave grotto]

cast build is more necessary since i usually just. avoid cast boons

and i need it for the fates

[turbid needle]

Ah.

My two picks would be Achilles Aspect and Eris Aspect.

[grave grotto]

fair

[turbid needle]

If you somehow swing Hunting Blades, Achilles is scary.

[grave grotto]

i like achilles

ive been trying to practice using the spin attack but its still rough

usually i just spam dash attack and achilles jump and hope i win

[frosty pier]

My biggest problem with fates is this -> "Break out with every weapon"

[grave grotto]

i have one victory at least for everyone except stygian

[wind vale]

really like achilles for athena or ares casts, less the others

[grave grotto]

i cant use the sword bro....

mine is with heat just bc im Not that good at the game

im holding off of god mode til final game for a decent story stream

[frosty pier]

Controvertial opinion! Can I just discard a bow is some deep ditch and never see it again?

[grave grotto]

me with the sword

somehow, despite thinking the spear was my worst weapon, i am Worse with stygian its astonishing

[frosty pier]

With sword you can brute force it with world splitter

[grave grotto]

bow is easy if you get the no power shot hammer buff

[wind vale]

or special - no matter how much they nerf it

or actually any of the hammers

[grave grotto]

you just auto and spam chiron special

base bow you get poseidon special and play keepaway

one of my favorite coronacht runs recently was UH ares auto, extra special shot hammer with artemis crit and the duo boon so crit auto activates doom

just max doom and the free special SCHMACKS

[frosty pier]

After 180 or something runs that blazing 0 in bow wins twisted itself like a badge of honor. Now I'm a trash and I proud of that xD

[grave grotto]

thats so valid

my first win was on coronacht so ive just. always loved the bow

its perfect since im an absolute coward and just. Run.

[fallen quarry]

was flurry shot on the bow changed this patch or something?

[wind vale]

doesnt feel like it

just more consistent auto aim even if its turned off maybe

[fallen quarry]

oh, surprised people run it... I find it a downgrade

[wind vale]

usually yea

just testing aphrodite cast in hera bow - its strange

like generally the damage applies and it feels good but somehow the casts sometimes dont get stuck

ill see once enemies survive more often but it feels nice so far

definitely improved

[hard holly]

It was changed to flurry shot, and now it keeps firing if you hold it down

[wooden spade]

i tried flurry shot for the first time just a couple days ago and really didn't like it at all

it seems like the shot is too slow for it to be a meaningful upgrade over having a power shot still

[wind vale]

and being unable to properly aim with it was a huge problem to me but that part seems fixed now

as far as thats possible at least

but it really doesnt seem that great

[hard holly]

Id also agree that its generally a downgrade

[wooden spade]

yeah if it was more machine-gun-like, like the bastion fang repeater, maybe it'd be better?

[hard holly]

But some players struggle with getting powershots reliably (since it is a fairly precise timing), so if nothing else, thats an upgrade they can use to make the bow work for them