Toastie sucks.

[MrQun]

I've heard that at high levels she'll gain insane HP and armor. But here's the thing, you have to be able to reach those levels. And given the fact that she has 1Hp and has that god awful Peachone, gaining levels without getting one shotted is a tall order. And yes I am aware that the obvious strategy is to use Laurel, but you have to be lucky enough to get it. I am also well aware that she is meant to be difficult, but this is ridiculous. I am open to suggestions. Eg, which map is the best to use with her etc?

On a side not, I wish that I didn't have to say this, but it is unfortunately that every Steam forum has its share of toxic players who like to spew condescending nonsense like "Git Gud." I am not going to waste my time dealing with such lowlifes and I will preempt their BS by saying "Git A Lif."

Edit: As expected, there are lowlifes telling me or implying that I lack skill and are telling me in a subtle way to "Git Gud." Lets get real, this game DOES NOT require much skill at all. The game does mostly everything for you, hell, it even auto attacks for you. The only thing that is required of the player is to move the character and choose which weapons/ passives that are presented to you (which is random and beyond your control). As I and many others have stated, to have a "chance" to win with Toastie, you need to be lucky and get the right combo of skills early on. Saying that players lack skill in a game full of RNG (luck) is as nonsensical as saying that someone who constantly loses at Pokie machines also lacks skill. Like I said, I am not wasting my time with lowlifes, and they have all been blocked.

[Jacobella]

Frankly, I find it at least entertaining when someone says "git gud" as it is usually self-aware banter

What really grinds my gears are when you have a technical problem and zero-content cretins swarm the thread with useless commentary such as "it didn't happen to me"

[Cahos Rahne Veloza]

Back to Toastie though...

I hope there will be a way, in the future, to fuse ExDash and Toastie and end up with a Ghostly character who starts off with Vandelier ^_^

[Douchebag Extraordinaire]

It's all about how you survive the first part and your luck with the next drop. Early game Garlic will help level pretty well.

[nash]

I wasnt even aware she gains hp and armor. I finished library with 20% starting curse, had overall a bad build but got through to minute 28:30 - 29:00 before enemies started touching me, laurel protected me and I probably was level 100 or above. I ran at some point through a bunch of mobs to reach a stopwatch to freeze time. Thought laurel is really good at that moment that it would protect me that long ^^

Tips to start you need something to get some good early kills, like whip or runetracer and obviously laurel. High level garlic might work, but we are starting with a damage down, so it is not instantly running through mobs. Lategame you probably want something like laurel, ev. bible and ev. holywater and you are basically untouchable until the very last waves of the game. You should reach level 100 easily and are basically done. Usually a screen to the left in the library is a green gem to get the first level up. A respawn is obviously helpful. It took me around 10 tries to do it.

I would like to say that I played a ton of binding of isaac and never liked the original lost, as he was one shot aswell. He later gained something similar to laurel and he was suddenly enjoyable. Would love if toastie would spawn with that aswell.

[Stormer]

Git gud :)

But for real. Toastie is supposed to be a challenge character. Saying she sucks is like saying the sky is blue, it's an objective fact. Yes, she can get the insane armor at high levels, and yes you have to reach those high levels to begin with, but that's the point. She's a character with extreme potential, hence her description.

As for tips, get Laurel ASAP and try to level her as fast as possible, I would even go so far as to say grabbing Crown and Pentagram for the evolution. Ebony Wings is also a must grab, as the union with the birds pumps out insane DPS

[MrQun]

Originally posted by Jacobella:

Frankly, I find it at least entertaining when someone says "git gud" as it is usually self-aware banter

What really grinds my gears are when you have a technical problem and zero-content cretins swarm the thread with useless commentary such as "it didn't happen to me"

Originally posted by Stormer:

Git gud :)

But for real. Toastie is supposed to be a challenge character. Saying she sucks is like saying the sky is blue, it's an objective fact. Yes, she can get the insane armor at high levels, and yes you have to reach those high levels to begin with, but that's the point. She's a character with extreme potential, hence her description.

As for tips, get Laurel ASAP and try to level her as fast as possible, I would even go so far as to say grabbing Crown and Pentagram for the evolution. Ebony Wings is also a must grab, as the union with the birds pumps out insane DPS

The concept of "Git Gud" belongs in the no sh!t category. This is something that we all learn when growing up. If your grades are falling in a particular subject, then you need to discover which area(s) you're weak in and study up. Or alternatively seek help from your teachers. If you want to run a marathon, than you need to train your muscles, improve cardio and fitness to achieve that goal. There are trainers that can help with that as well. However imagine a teacher or trainer simply telling you to get better? You'd probably think, wow what a douche.

I will probably beat the game with Toasti.... eventually. I'm stubborn like that. But telling someone to "Git Gud" adds nothing to the conversation. Anyway, thank you for the suggestions.

[MrQun]

Originally posted by nash:

I wasnt even aware she gains hp and armor. I finished library with 20% starting curse, had overall a bad build but got through to minute 28:30 - 29:00 before enemies started touching me, laurel protected me and I probably was level 100 or above. I ran at some point through a bunch of mobs to reach a stopwatch to freeze time. Thought laurel is really good at that moment that it would protect me that long ^^

Tips to start you need something to get some good early kills, like whip or runetracer and obviously laurel. High level garlic might work, but we are starting with a damage down, so it is not instantly running through mobs. Lategame you probably want something like laurel, ev. bible and ev. holywater and you are basically untouchable until the very last waves of the game. You should reach level 100 easily and are basically done. Usually a screen to the left in the library is a green gem to get the first level up. A respawn is obviously helpful. It took me around 10 tries to do it.

I would like to say that I played a ton of binding of isaac and never liked the original lost, as he was one shot aswell. He later gained something similar to laurel and he was suddenly enjoyable. Would love if toastie would spawn with that aswell.

That's what I've heard. Players are saying that apart from the library exploit, Toastie is another way to defeat Death. But, like I said getting the required levels is a tall order.

[KellyR]

Originally posted by Jacobella:

Frankly, I find it at least entertaining when someone says "git gud" as it is usually self-aware banter

What really grinds my gears are when you have a technical problem and zero-content cretins swarm the thread with useless commentary such as "it didn't happen to me"

The only time I post "That doesn't happen when I do that" is when people post vile invective filled rants about how the developer of whatever game is trash and the game is trash because of their issue that's obviously happening to everyone.

Also note that those "that doesn't happen for me" posts aren't necessarily addressed to the OP. They're helpful to the developer if they're reading the forums, to see whether an issue is across the board, inconsistent, or possibly hardware specific, or otherwise system specific.

[GeminiEclipse]

I haven't had any luck with Toastie on library with 5 skulls or even 2 skulls. I'm probably being too greedy though. My best runs were with Laurel.

[MrQun]

Now that I've had my little rant I am going to provide some constructive criticism on why I believe that Toastie is bad. But before I get into that, I just want to say that while I may not be a master at this game, I have in fact unlocked most characters, all upgrades and am able to consistently win runs. So I like to think that I kind of know what I am doing.

Now Vampire Survivors is basically a numbers game in that you need to reach a level of damage output before a certain amount of time has expired. Now as we all know as the time drags on the enemies get stronger and more numerous. For most characters this is no big deal as they have the hp to tank the hits to gain the necessary xp which will further prepare them for harder waves like the hoard waves. I've seen posts where people are dreading the skeleton waves, but I love these waves as it is a great opportunity to really ramp up your levels and thus increase your damage output. In fact with these types of waves, it's not unheard of to gain at least 10 levels and really snow ball out of control.

Now how does this relate to Toastie? Well it is vital that you get a good start, because otherwise you will not gain the necessary power level to beat the harder waves. Say that you managed to get a few good shots with Peachone and there is a tonne of xp laying on the ground, but unfortunately there is just too many enemies near for you to safely collect said xp. So of course you need to kite the enemy in a way so that you have a clear path to the xp. The problem with doing this is while that you dilly dallying trying to get the xp without dying, the enemies are ramping up there strength, while you remain weak and pitiful. In order to currently win with Toastie, not only do you need insane dodging/ kiting skills, you need a lot of rng to go your way.

If I may offer a couple of suggestions to the developer. I think that Toastie needs a slight hp buff, even if is as small as twenty just so she tank a hit or two while gathering the much needed xp early on. Or alternatively, increase her magnet level so you don't have to get dangerously close to enemies to gain exp.

I don't mind a challenge, but I think Toastie the way she is right now, is too much. But that's me.

[SinSZ]

For Toastie, my general strat is get song of mana first, then garlic up to lvl 2 as fast as possible. Level up the song or get candelabrador after that to boost area for song and garlic. After that get laurel, tomes, crown, spinach, and pentagram in no particular order with some priority to evolve pentagram. Tiragisu is optional but recommended. However in my attempts, I usually went for pummarola and skull to evolve garlic and song instead. A little risky but doable if lucky. Finally get the other bird for evolving them. For supporting firepower, pick any weapon that can perform well enough under lower projectile speed. Bible, axe and cross are to be avoided if possible. Clock lancet is a good candidate for survival. Consider evolutions only if possible, otherwise pick whatever fits best with the accessories.

Best map for Toastie in my opinion is Tower. Get song for the first couple of levels and you are golden for the most part. Same strat as above applies. Library is dangerous with the suicide bombers from off screen and Forest gets you surrounded easily with the flower walls and swarms of bats and ghosts. But the strat could still apply with some luck and a lot of skill. Dairy Plant is difficult even without using Toastie.

Also, restarting a game in the first couple of minutes is going to be a thing you'll be doing a lot if you want to try Toastie because getting the right weapons in the first couple of minutes is key to survival. Saving the one revival you get from powerup is also important because when you get to lvl 100 your max health increases to almost 10k but not your current health of 1. But keep in mind that if you die after you've reached 100 and revive, you return with 5k hp.

[MrQun]

Originally posted by SinSZ:

Best map for Toastie in my opinion is Tower. Get song for the first couple of levels and you are golden for the most part.

The tower you say? Alright I'll give that a try. Thanks

[LexCondran]

Originally posted by TheQunRules:

I've heard that at high levels she'll gain insane HP and armor. But here's the thing, you have to be able to reach those levels. And given the fact that she has 1Hp and has that god awful Peachone, gaining levels without getting one shotted is a tall order. And yes I am aware that the obvious strategy is to use Laurel, but you have to be lucky enough to get it. I am also well aware that she is meant to be difficult, but this is ridiculous. I am open to suggestions. Eg, which map is the best to use with her etc?

On a side not, I wish that I didn't have to say this, but it is unfortunately that every Steam forum has its share of toxic players who like to spew condescending nonsense like "Git Gud." I am not going to waste my time dealing with such lowlifes and I will preempt their BS by saying "Git A Lif."

try the slay the spire or elden ring communities, those are the worst barf bags ever

[Zeel Ara]

The game isn't meant to be balanced. Don't pick a challenge character if getting challenged is offensive to you. No need to "git gud". Just grow up. Take responsibility for your own play experience.

[Shinneh]

Everything about toastie is an exercise in frustration, from unlocking to the endless restarts trying to get that perfect opener, only to fail to get anything else for the build and die from being grazed 5 minutes later.

There's a difference between challenge and pure luck.

For now I'm putting toastie dreams to bed, until more updates potentially add more rerolls / upgrades to make it smoother. lv152 is my max.