zealous whale
Ok.. discovered this by accident then played with it to figure out how much I could push it.
The initial phase 1 water can't really be exploited by this due to the rocks in front of the stairs, but you can avoid all the challenge of the moon wolf stage, half the challenge of the stag stage (you still have to do the intended gameplay on the way back), and all the challenge of the raven stage.
This does not affect the stages that are not water stages.
In short, there's a spot in the terrain of the platform at the bottom of the stairs that you can dash onto the platform right out of the water. This means that you can just swim across avoiding incoming fire, and then just dash onto the stairs avoiding all the obstacles and intended gameplay.
Video evidence attached.
novel heart
earnest willow