#Core Powers as of Starstruck Update

2 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

near forge Jul 30, 2025, 12:44 PM

Just gonna drop my thoughts as to how all the core powers feel as of the most recent update. I'm not the best player so it's just my general impressions on how keen I am to consider each one in a run.

Hardy Expedition Previously this was pretty much a needed core power for solo runs or playing without a support character, and completely useless with a supporter on the team. Now with the new healing mechanics it feels completely useless at all times. I do not see a reason to ever take it, and I think it needs to be changed.
Luum Spring In regards to being a swap for Hardy Expedition, its an absolute no brainer to take this instead. As an individual power, it's quite nice. It's simple and helpful, feels good.
Double Dash It's good. If you want to make use of dash shards to just have more mobility, it's nice to have the option to equip this. Works well.
Dash Feint I actually quite like this, personally. Don't see many other people use it but I think its cool. Not related to this skill exactly, but I don't really think the breached effect is powerful enough so that's the only downside, but that's more general game than this core power.
Pro Swimmer As I said, I actually don't think the breached condition is very deadly at the moment, so I don't think this is valuable currently. I think it'd be handy if breached was more threatening, maybe it could also have an extra effect to make it a little more interesting to take.
Splish Splash This is a nice effect, especially now that swarms are larger, but it's just a little too specific for me to enjoy using it. Needing both you and enemies inside a toxic pool is very restrictive. Most enemies move around quite a lot, and if theres a swarm large enough to make this super good you probably can't fit in the pool yourself, because they're really small. It kinda feels like it'd be better suited as a shard for hyper specific builds.

More below

Money Bags This is nice. There really isn't much to say other than that, it's cool and theres nothing exciting about it, it's just starting money. I like it.
Lottery Ticket This is also nice. Once again, not much to say. It's an alternative to money bags depending on how lucky you feel or how desperately you need to attempt an early fortune, Its fun.
Bloom Eternal The revives are some of the most important core powers, massively game changing. This one is simple and feels good, don't think I really need to say anything on it.
Vengeful Spirit This honestly feels so broken. There's very few rooms that aren't multiple regular enemies, and this power rarely doesn't wipe out every enemy in the room immediately, and if there's any untouched high hp enemies in the room they'll be on low hp and easily cleaned up by your friends. It's slightly less useful when alone due to those rooms with high hp enemies being a loss. It feels like too much, limiting it to an explosion around you rather than the entire room may be more fair.
Giants Heart The go-to core power, what every player wants. The only complaint I have about it really is that its so game changing that it kinda feels like hp should just naturally be scaled to this level rather than this being an unlockable. Or at least, I felt that way until this update...
Max Luum Per Room ...Because this power just had a fantastic comeback. I've always liked the idea of it, but it was always worse than Giants Heart. With the new adventure mode it's actually stupidly good now, and I do find myself considering which to bring. Both of these powers are very gamechanging and a little overdone, but because they're swaps of each other they balance each other out, it's a genuine thought of which one you should bring for this run. My only complaint is that Giants Heart is generally better for outside adventure mode, it would be nice if they were a little on par for all modes.