Anyone else struggle with fairy chests

[CrescentMouse]

I literally just cannot ever unlock a fairy chest :( it's really rough. anyone else struggle or am i just the worst

[Derpykat5]

Some of them are a lot harder than others. The "take no damage" ones in particular can be hard to do. It's the kind of thing you get better with once you practice. When you fail a chest, don't just leave (unless it's like, "defeat all enemies without damage"), start over and try again. Get some practice in.

Or, head to Axis Mundi. Sometimes the chests there will just be hidden and not locked by a challenge.

[clemons75]

The Assassin class ability can trivialize several of the trials, so can certain relics like the one that lets you walk on spikes. My suggestion is if you have a run and you find a few trials and fail, pay the fee for the Architect and try again. The rewards aren't affected by the Architect fee (IIRC).

[Rideps]

I totally cheesed two of the corridor of foes ones earlier with the laser spell. Felt good.

[Rhadamante]

It comes down to practice and experience. Certain Challenges are only hard the first time you do them, but once you know the solution, they're free chests.
Other are dependent on your current build, so don't be afraid, as advised above, to lock the castle and come back with a better character. The take no damage/don't get hit are no match for Assassin's Cloak.
Keep an eye out for hidden chests! There are several room with fairy chests just hidden behind a trick wall, no challenge of any kind, so keep an eye out for those.

With that being said, there are a few challenges that I still find really hard so don't feel discouraged if you get unlucky with those.

[HiImTye]

most of the chests end up being almost muscle memory after a while. some of them seem to have more of a chance aspect to them, specifically a couple of the take no damage ones where you have to pick a random path blindly or destroy obstacles with the spinning spike balls. a couple of them seem to really depend on your class and build, with the one on the spike floor in particular (unless I'm mistaken) only completable with canopy.

[Rhadamante]

Originally posted by HiImTye:

with the one on the spike floor in particular (unless I'm mistaken) only completable with canopy.

It was changed at some point, and there are (thankfully) more options now:
Assassin's Cloak (the best fairy challenges buster)
Duelist's Roll
Ronin's Teleport
Ranger's Canopy
Hermes Boots relic

And since it's "take no damage":
Knight's perfect Shield Block
Lotus Stem & Coeus Shell relic
(technically, Grave Bell relic also work but you need to be one hit from death and be lucky enough that the relic proc...)

[HiImTye]

^there you go, I was mistaken!

[eric-belair]

Rhadamante makes some really good points, another idea is to get/reroll heirs for the skeleton key relic which lets you open one even if you miss the criteria for it. really feel like that relic is just there to make sure the skill floor never bottoms out for people wanting the runes

[Rhadamante]

OK, I started a guide on how to clear fairy challenges.
There's only 5 entries right now but this takes time (and I'm also working on the relics guide :/).
I'll try to have as many of the challenges and hidden chests in it as possible.