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 Steam page Official Discord server Vampire Survivors is a one-versus-hordes timed survival game with a Castlevania-inspired aesthetic made by solo developer Ponca. It is currently available on Steam in Early Access for a measly $3/€2,39 and will give plenty of bang for your buck despite its early state. It currently features over a dozen playable characters, 25 weapons, and seven playable stages. After picking your character and starting a round of Vampire Survivors, you have one weapon to your name and a small handful of enemies visible on the top-down playing field. Moving around is all you do as a player; every weapon fires automatically, with some allowing you to control the direction in which they fire. You'll gain a level once you've killed a few enemies and gathered their XP drops. Every time you level up, you get a chance to pick one of a number of upgrade types: a boost to your weapon's power, a brand new weapon to add to your arsenal, or a stat modifier. From hereon out you'll want to start thinking of your build, as you'll need to do more damage and cover more space as enemies become faster and more numerous. Sometimes you'll even be faced by a powerful boss or get boxed in by a large group of enemies! If you can manage the endless hordes of creatures of the night, you will slowly see your character become incredibly powerful, managing multiple weapons and filling the screen with so many damage indicators you'll barely be able to see your enemies. A round of Vampire Survivors ends at 30 minutes. The grim reaper will appear on-screen and tear you to shreds unless you possess a very specific combination of items to stave off the inevitable. You can use the money you collected during your run to buy enhancements for future runs, adding a hint of rogueliteness to the game as well. You can also use your money to unlock additional characters, and a successful run will grant you access to a more dangerous (but more lucrative) version of the stage you beat. In any given round you can collect up to 6 weapons as well as 6 stat boosters. Every character starts with one weapon (which takes up one of the six slots) as well as one stat booster (which doesn't take up one of the six slots, curiously enough). A fully upgraded weapon can also evolve into a more powerful version of itself if you collected the right stat booster to go along with it. These evolved weapons are definitely worth the investment, since you'll need all the help you can get to clear screens like these:  A couple of pointers to get you started:
-= THE SURVIVOPAEDIA =- Characters:  Antonio *Starts with a whip *Gets bonus damage every 10 levels *Struts like he means it  Imelda *Starts with a magic wand *Gains bonus XP every 5 levels *Level go up = damage go up  Pasqualina *Starts with the runetracer *Gets a bonus to projectile speed every 5 levels *Nice dress  Genarro *Starts with a knife *Permanent +1 projectile on every weapon *THE KNIFE TORNADO  Arca *Starts with the fire rod *Weapon cooldown goes down every 10 levels *Definitely not Alucard  Porta *Starts with the lightning ring *Permanent boost to area of effect on all weapons, plus a brief bout of weapon cooldown at the start of the run *Trust me, you'll need it  Lama *Starts with Axe *Damage goes up every 10 levels, but so does enemy HP and speed *Secret hard mode  Clerici *Starts with Santa Water *Permanent boost to health and health regen, temporary boost to area of effect at the start of a run *Big fan of the Sniper from Team Fortress 2  Dommario *Starts with King Bible *Permanent boost to weapon speed and duration, but permanent debuff to movement speed *The crucifix is weighing him down  Poe *Starts with garlic *Permanent boost to pickup distance, but starts with low health *Stinky  Krochi *Starts with cross *Starts with 1 free revive and gains 1 more at level 33 *His name is 'crotchy'  Christine *Starts with pentagram *Gets one free extra level right out of the gate *You better pray it gives you a good weapon  Pugnala *Starts with two weapons: Phiera del Tuphello and Eight the Sparrow *Gets a small bonus to damage every level *If you need to know how to beat Vampire Survivors, ask your mum  Giovanna *Starts with Gatti Amari *Gets a bonus to projectile speed every level *Vroom vroom on a broom broom  Poppea *Starts with Song of Mana *Gets a bonus to duration every level *   Concetta *Starts with Shadow Pinion *Gets a bonus to area every level *   Mortaccio *Starts with a bouncy bone *Permanent +1 projectile on every weapon every 20 levels *The only thing they fear is death itself  Cavallo *Starts with Cherry Bomb *Permanent +1 projectile on every weapon every 20 levels *Not a panda, according to official documents  Ramba *Starts with Carréllo *Permanent +1 projectile on every weapon every 20 levels *Grandma got run over by a minecart  O'Sole *Starts with Celestial Dusting *Permanent +1 projectile on every weapon every 20 levels *You can pet the dog - Weapons:  Whip *A wide, horizontal sweep *Don't call it the Vampire Killer  Magic Rod *Shoots blasts of magic at the closest enemy *A good wizard is never seen without one  Knife *Fires in the direction you're currently facing *A versatile murder weapon, just like in real life   Axe *Thrown vertically, then gravity does the rest as it falls back down *Keep one handy if you like asking questions  Cross *Fires off towards the closest enemy, then boomerangs in the opposite direction *Too symmetrical for my tastes  King Bible *Rotates around the player at a set distance *Ain't nobody reading that poo poo, chief  Fire Wand *Fires in the direction of a random enemy and deals heavy damage *Disco inferno  Peachone *Bombards the ground in a circle around the player *The player's only friend in this cruel world  Ebony Wing *Like Peachone, but circles in the opposite direction *Evil  Santa Water *Thrown from the sky by Santa Claus, creating damage zones on the ground *Maybe the player has two friends after all  Runetracer *Goes in a straight line and bounces against walls *Ping pong  Lightning Ring *Shoots lightning from the sky at random enemies *"For I beheld Satan as he fell from heaven like lightning." -Michael Bison  Garlic *Creates a permanent damage circle around the player character *Looks like balls lol  Pentagram *Destroys every enemy on the screen, but has an extremely long cooldown *Why does this hurt demons??   Phiera del Tuphello and Eight the Sparrow *Shoot small pallets in all four diagonal directions *Carry on my wayward gun  Gatti Amari *Roams around the screen; if two of them connect, they get into a big cartoon dust cloud fight *Scratches the player sometimes   Song of Mana *Unleashes a pillar of glitter that expands horizontally *Like music to my ears  Shadow Pinion *Leaves behind a trail of drills that all fire in a chosen direction once you stop moving *[Sonic Colours voice] DRILL  Clock Lancet *Shoots out a beam that freezes all enemies it hits *Anybody else remember Castlevania: Judgement?  Laurel *Periodically shields you from damage *Often used as garnish  Bone *Throws a bone that bounces on impact *  Cherry Bomb *Fires in a random direction and has a chance to explode once it stops moving *Hello dad, hello mom  Carréllo *Unleashes a minecart that drives back and forth across the screen *If only Donkey Kong were here to see this  Celestial Dusting *Fires bouquets of flowers behind you as you move *Biohazard - Stat boosts:  Spinach *Boosts your damage *If you go even one run without taking this you're a braver person than I am  Armour *Boosts your defence, making you take less damage per hit *Make sure you get hit in the chest  Hollow Heart *Increases your maximum health *Looks like a heart container from Zelda with all the juice sucked out of it  Pummarola *Gives you health regeneration over time *May or may not be the juice from the heart container  Empty Tome *Decreases the cooldown on your weapons *Knife tornado!!!  Candelabrador *Boosts the area of effect of your weapons *Literally big damage  *Boosts the speed of your projectiles *Is this what they mean when they say "zoomers"?  Spellbinder *Boosts the duration of your weapons *Synergises with very few weapons but drat does it make the bible strong  Duplicator *+1 projectile for every weapon *So powerful you can only get two stacks of it per run  Wings *Boost your movement speed *They can't kill what they can't catch   Attractorb *Lets you pick up items from farther away *Pondered by many  Clover *Boosts your luck, giving you more upgrade options when you level up and better drops from bosses *Pay no mind to the distant thunder  Crown *Boosts your XP gain *Makes you the Burger King  Stone Mask *Get more money from pickups *Is that a JoJo's reference???  Tiragisú *Lets you revive once upon dying *There's layers to this poo poo, player  Skull O'Maniac *Boosts enemy HP, speed, and density *Vampire Survivors EX - Good luck out there, fellow survivors. 
JordanKai fucked around with this message at 15:13 on May 16, 2022 |
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Jan 18, 2022 02:03
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Here's a list of unlock requirements for those who don't want to figure them out themselves. Most of this info can be gleaned from the in-game unlocks tab as well. PERMANENT ITEMS/RELICS:
EVOLVED WEAPONS:
CHARACTERS:
STAT BOOSTS (stay unlocked for future runs):
STAGES:
JordanKai fucked around with this message at 15:46 on May 16, 2022 |
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Jan 18, 2022 02:11
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awesmoe posted:Ebony wings is a separate unlock, not an evolution of the first dove Ah, my bad! I haven't unlocked it myself yet and was going off of online info. I'll unlock it tomorrow and fix the OP afterwards. Good Citizen posted:Game is good. I don’t care that it’s pretty unbalanced right now I just like running around the screen going Yes, ha ha, yes! It's kind of surprising how easy the game gets once you have a small handful of permanent boosts. This feels like the kind of game that should crush you under its boot until you master it, but I managed to do my first complete run on my third or fourth try. It's also funny to me that the library is so much easier than the garden. Faster level-ups and a lack of damage check bosses make a world of difference.
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Jan 18, 2022 03:07
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Walh Hara posted:Cross post from the steam thread: I did a regular library run with no upgrades today and yeah, I think this is the way to play the game once you get to a point where regular runs become too easy for you. There was still plenty of downtime, but there were also a good number of encounters that really had me on the ropes. The final 30 seconds were especially difficult. I got really lucky with an early duplicator drop as well. Not sure I would've made it past the first couple of minutes without it. 
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Jan 18, 2022 14:29
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I managed to beat hyper library without permanent boosts, but garden without permas still eludes me. The green, robed zombies and the giant bats are such a huge damage check and they're almost impossible to overcome. I think you need a very lucky combination of drops (or to be much better than I am) if you ever want to clear it. 
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Jan 19, 2022 03:12
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Evolved knife is the most fun weapon to use IMO. I highly recommend it.
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Jan 19, 2022 18:20
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The birds become quite strong once they're fully levelled up and combined with spellbinder and empty tome, but that's a lot of setup for a single weapon and they're pretty weak in the early game. If they ever get evolved forms they're going to be bonkers for sure, but for the time being they do feel awfully situational.
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Jan 19, 2022 19:49
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 I finally felled Mad Forest without permanent boosts!  This one took ages. I was planning on going for a six evolved weapons run, but an early bad roll put those plans to a halt. But I still got duplicator out of it, and I managed to get the evolved knives and magic rod before 15 minutes, which really carried me until the endgame. People were definitely right to say the middle third of Mad Forest is the hardest. Once the giant mummy wave appears, it's smooth sailing unless swarms of bats/ghosts push powerful enemies into you and lock you down. Next step, hyper Mad Forest without perma boosts? Probably not. I don't think I have that in me.
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Jan 20, 2022 00:20
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Gennaro is my favourite character and if I had to unlock him again, I would do it. 
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Jan 20, 2022 14:19
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I was streaming a little bit of Vampire Survivors on Twitch earlier and right at the end I realised that some of the artwork in the game is traced.   I thought some of the sprites in the game looked a little bit suspect (the vampire siblings look almost exactly like Alucard sprite in Symphony of the Night), but this is extremely blatant. 
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Jan 21, 2022 00:03
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Garlic evolution  It's my time to shine. e: Garlic evolves with Pummarola. JordanKai fucked around with this message at 04:25 on Jan 22, 2022 |
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Jan 22, 2022 04:06
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Jedit posted:Trip report on Soul Eater (the evolved Garlic): it did just over 1k damage, which is 10 times as much as regular Garlic but half as much as Hellfire or Vesper and barely more than level 8 Lightning Ring. If you're damaged it will steal HP on kill, but that doesn't appear to be very effective. It thus falls off hard in the last few minutes of Library, although it's amazing on trash waves where you just munch everything in perpetuity. Soul Eater does seem pretty weak. I think it either needs a damage boost, a boost to its HP regen, or an even larger base range. As it stands it gets outclassed by the evolved bible pretty heavily.
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Jan 22, 2022 17:52
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Does Garlic not scale with cooldown reduction? I thought it did, since it doesn't provide a constant stream of damage but instead ticks every so often.
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Jan 22, 2022 20:48
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Why is the dedicated health regen evolution item worse at healing than Bloody Tear? 
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Jan 22, 2022 22:22
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Hyper Mad Forest run without permanent boosts is done!   Trying to get thousand knives + holy wand as early as possible really is the blueprint for succesful runs. It has never led me astray. 
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Jan 23, 2022 03:07
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Malcolm Excellent posted:Is there a way to beat death, or is it just the confirmation that the run is over? Death cannot be defeated, but he can be stalled for a while with the clock lancet and laurel. At 31 minutes a second grim reaper appears and kills you anyway. 
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Jan 23, 2022 23:14
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Another challenge run in the bag: Inlaid Library with only orbital weapons (and no permanent upgrades, naturally):  This build is very challenging if you don't get Unholy Vespers early. It does give you a lot of tools to farm weak waves, which counteracts your low damage output nicely. It's also very easy for an enemy to slip through your outer ring of big damage and kill you in two hits when you're not paying attention. Does anyone else have neat ideas for challenge runs? I'm running low myself, and I'm trying to wring more content out of the game since I enjoy the gameplay so much.
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Jan 24, 2022 23:52
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Orv posted:I’m curious how a non-targeted/random weapons only run would work out. Birds, water, lightning ring, etc. Start with the ghost, obviously. Could arguably add things like fire wand or runetracer. Birds you can kind of work around the targeting but I’d say they should probably count just to have more options. I managed to do a non-targetable run, which ended up being bone/fire rod/lightning ring/santa water/runetracer/pentagram (I couldn't think of a good sixth weapon  ). It's pretty smooth sailing for the most part, but things can get a little scary when the screen starts filling up and your weapons aren't clearing an easy path through the hordes.
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Jan 25, 2022 01:05
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thecluckmeme posted:I just assume it was Santa as in Italian for holy That's way smarter than my thought, which is that it's called 'Santa water' because it's dropped from the sky, perhaps from a flying sleigh. 
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Jan 25, 2022 01:28
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Another patch is in the works, expected to drop around January 30th: quote:Work in progress:
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Jan 25, 2022 03:17
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Maybe Poncle didn't stop at tracing art and decided to trace some songs as well. 
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Jan 25, 2022 17:46
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FrickenMoron posted:Basically you need to pay an extra license to greenlight those tracks on youtube for the game in question which they obviously didnt pay when the game launched. Nobody knew this game would be a success. That's extremely funny.
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Jan 25, 2022 23:27
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I think Bible is good as soon as you get the second projectile and only gets better from there. The peak of scaling weapons is the axe, in my opinion. I feel like it's almost entirely worthless until you get the evolved form, at which point it pops off harder than most other weapons.
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Jan 26, 2022 19:06
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Bundles of blue gems get culled and turn into red gems when you walk off-screen. If you find a red gem and level up 2+ times off of it, it's because a whole heaping handful of blue gems were used in the process of making that one red gem. 
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Jan 27, 2022 23:26
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I'm not sure a version of Mad Forest where enemies have even more HP is what the world needed most.
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Jan 28, 2022 17:01
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 This game is ruining my life. My crops are dry and my skin is ashy. 
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Jan 28, 2022 22:11
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  I have finally accepted the good word (bad word?) of Unholy Vespers into my life. The new map is so much more difficult without it.
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Jan 28, 2022 23:52
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RBX posted:I love the whip and knives so much. What's everybody's favorite starting character? Gennaro is my favourite. Knife is probably my favourite weapon to use, and getting an early exta projectile is really good on a handful of weapons.
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Jan 29, 2022 04:06
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It seems like there was a stealth update to the sprite of the 25-minute boss along with the beta patch, making the sprite look less like Count Olrox from Symphony of the Night. I hope this means Poncle is dedicated to getting rid of the most suspicious assets ASAP.
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Jan 29, 2022 17:57
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 Playing as Missingno can lead to some, uh, interesting results.
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Jan 30, 2022 00:54
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tithin posted:Is that a new secret character? I think it's been in the game since the most recent patch. To unlock them you need to kill the grim reaper at the end of the match. This is functionally impossible to do in a real run, so you need to dive into the game's javascript file to alter the damage of a weapon of choice to kill him in one hit. Missingno has random stats across to board, meaning runs with them can be all over the place.
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Jan 30, 2022 01:09
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Don't even talk to me until you've played the game on this: 
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Jan 30, 2022 04:10
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Santa Water is secretly the worst item in the game because it starts killing my framerate earlier in the run than any other weapon. 
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Feb 3, 2022 07:02
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If the teases are to be believed the new passive item is used to evolve santa water.
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Feb 3, 2022 20:32
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DarkAvenger211 posted:Does projectile speed actually help at all? Most of the time I'm smashing enemies right beside me so it's not like I'd need projectile speed to help me hit them, and unless it's a piercing projectile it's just gonna stop on the first enemy it hits. Even if it does pierce wouldn't I want it to be slower so it has the opportunity to hit more enemies as they group up surround me more? I really like projectile speed in combination with King Bible, because it makes the individual projectiles move quicker and leaves less space for enemies to sneak through your circle of pain.
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Feb 4, 2022 01:44
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 They named the new character "Crotchy".
JordanKai fucked around with this message at 02:43 on Feb 4, 2022 |
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Feb 4, 2022 02:41
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Omobono posted:My thought process: I suppose you could say there are layers to it.
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Feb 4, 2022 11:33
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It was nice playing with you all, but good taste dictates that I can never start this game up again. 
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Feb 7, 2022 10:43
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Just kidding, I'm still playing. FrickenMoron posted:Has anyone managed to beat a stage with Exdash without any meta upgrades? I got to 29:30 on Library but thats my best.  This was my second try. Garlic is huge just for the improved early clear on Library, but I don't think it would be worth it on Forest. The best thing you can do is get targetable damage as early as possible, either knives or magic rod, to even out the fact that Ebony Wings is so hard to hit with until it levels up.
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Feb 7, 2022 11:44
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| # ¿ Apr 24, 2024 17:31 |
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I have been trying to do no-chest runs on Mad Forest and Garlic drat near feels like a necessity for that. If you can't get ahead of the level curve early you're going to run into trouble before the 10-minute mark.
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Feb 10, 2022 14:53
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