How do you use the pentagram well?

[annako]

I unlocked the character who has pentagram as her starting weapon and I'm struggling to use her. Every time she kills with it, she deletes all the exp with her, so it's really hard to level up and get more weapons (aside from the freebie level at the start which doesn't help that much). When I'm trying to kill elite monsters to drop chests so I can evolve weapons, she deletes those too if the timing is wrong.

I've tried leveling up pentagram to keep items 65% of the time but I have awful luck and she just deletes everything as well. I see people saying pentagram is a great weapon but how do you use it well? I imagine you only pick it up after building a viable set of weapons so you can kill things fast in between the timings, but what about the char with the pentagram starting weapon?

Edit: Success! I was able to do it on my second try :D I failed my first try because I grabbed too many weapons at the start (garlic, song, bible, santa water) and then couldnt get any of them strong enough to farm efficiently and died. On second run I decided just to focus on song and clover, and the clover really helped. By the 100% luck buff nothing was getting deleted anymore and I was able to complete the run peacefully. Thanks for all the tips!

[AN]

You need a good farming weapon like song or whip or garlic to start and keep it strong enough to clear out enemies fast, and you need luck because it directly applies to your chance to not lose items. Crown also helps you get the levels despite your regular exp destruction. Only level pentagram when you are strong enough to keep gaining levels and be cautious of empty tome until pentagram is leveled up enough to not have a high loss chance.

[Gamerzilla]

Pentagram is probably the least useful weapon thanks to the item deletion, second only to daggers. The long cooldown should be the drawback, why does it need another? I would only play that character to max penta once then shelve it and use something else for the rest of the runs. Or even better, use the MUCH better multiple projectile characters.

[leqesai]

First of all, Pentagram is not "the least useful weapon" by a long shot. You just need to compliment it with other useful weapons until you can evolve it. Before trying to evolve it make sure you have the crown and absorb orb so you can pick up more of the experience gems. It can help to get rerolls so when you start with that character you can roll for better weapons early on.

It may not be a good idea to try and clear maps with the pentagram character until you've gotten the rerolls.

Once you are able to evolve pentagram it is really, really good.

[Gamerzilla]

Thats the point though, it takes work and pain to get it to that point, when other weapons do the same thing but have no drawbacks >.>

[AN]

Originally posted by Gamerzilla:

Pentagram is probably the least useful weapon thanks to the item deletion, second only to daggers. The long cooldown should be the drawback, why does it need another? I would only play that character to max penta once then shelve it and use something else for the rest of the runs. Or even better, use the MUCH better multiple projectile characters.

Are you new to the game?

[Meredith K Pseudonym]

Avoid Empty Tome and absolutely do not use Silent Old Sanctuary unless you have curse through the roof and/or a lot of confidence. Until that thing is safe to fire, cooldown is working against you.

Go out of your way to raise your luck. Seriously, choose level 1 Clover over a Pentagram level up and blow all your cash on the PowerUp page. Even at max level, you still need +54% to never destroy things and even at level 1, there's a 10% chance to try to improve upon.

Go for at least one strong close range weapon as well as Attractorb so that at least one thing is definitely putting experience gems in your hands. Time spent moving towards gems is time ticking down to the next ruinous pentagram blast. If you're playing as Christine, all you can do is pray that you see something good - and if you hate prayer, just stoically use your rerolls you godless heathen.
Garlic is actually a good weapon early on, I promise. Santa Water can kind of serve as close range if you keep standing in the puddles but it's very reliant on enemy speed and your positioning.

You may find yourself looking at a chest on the floor while the level up screen is showing. Don't do it. Don't choose the pentagram. You know what happens when you choose the pentagram and you know you won't like it when it happens so don't do it. Same for a large amount of gems from when you get lucky. Don't push your luck like that. You have other, better choices, I'm sure of it.

One particular DLC character aside, there's really no reason not to get the Crown. It makes levelling up less painful and the evolution is just plain better anyway.

[CyanDoomdragon]

One thing I noticed is that if the pentagram purple kills an enemy that would drop a chest, then shortly after a normal enemy will drop the chest the special enemy should have dropped.

You only truly lose the chest if the pentagram goes purple while it's on the ground.

[annako]

Thank you guys for all your tips!! I didn't think about not upgrading pentagram too early due to the shorter cool down...here I was frantically trying to get to the 65% chance not to delete items 😅 I also wasn't aware clover would help.

So in my Christine run, Im thinking 1. Grab a good weapon (song, garlic, or the whip) 2. Focus on building other items (clover, crown, attractorb, Santa water) 3. Only start leveling pentagram after clearing monsters comfortably is viable

Gonna give it a shot and hope it works out!

[Xaelon]

I think the best thing to do with Pentagram on that character is to avoid leveling it at all until the rest of your build is online. Then once you feel like the rest of your items are 'good enough' just jam as many levels as possible into pentagram as possible as fast as possible. The sooner you max it out the better.

If Clover happens to show up while you're leveling it you can take that too if you want. Luck can help the Pentagram delete fewer pickups.

[JackPS9]

I follow 2 simple rules when it comes to using Penta
1) If I take Penta I have to also take it's Evo item
2) Once I have Penta if it shows up again in the level-up screen I have to level it.

With those mainly #2 it gets penta out of it's bad start quickly.

[Jimi Chi]

As a devout Christian, I must urge you not to use the pentagram. Not only does it tempt Satan to enter our realm, but it also encourages worship of said demon. Use the pentagram at your peril, should you wish to be enter into the realms of the true lord upon your passing..








HAIL SANTA!!!!

[Senator Jim Death]

Folks seem to have ironed this one out. I liked trying to do some rough timing of its activations and level-ups, and keep some gems offscreen so that when it touches off it's not a total loss. I tried Babi Onna with Pentagram as my first weapon a few times, and that was an exercise in getting better at not eating all my progress. Pretty sure I eventually won some rounds like that, although of course I ended up getting more weapons. I forget exactly how that worked out though. Like I'm sure someone else has said, the player ought to be able to make the levels up later even blasting some exp away early on, although early on is exactly when you need screens of blue and greens not to go away suddenly. Ought to be pretty well off before many green exp start showing up.

[Ghost Rider]

Either get it first or get it last and upgrade it as soon as possible, that should be priority since it can delete important stuff like chests otherwise.

[Abyssian]

I hated Christina at first, but when you get used to her, she can be a beast!

[Ace]

Originally posted by annako:

I unlocked the character who has pentagram as her starting weapon and I'm struggling to use her. Every time she kills with it, she deletes all the exp with her, so it's really hard to level up and get more weapons (aside from the freebie level at the start which doesn't help that much). When I'm trying to kill elite monsters to drop chests so I can evolve weapons, she deletes those too if the timing is wrong.

I've tried leveling up pentagram to keep items 65% of the time but I have awful luck and she just deletes everything as well. I see people saying pentagram is a great weapon but how do you use it well? I imagine you only pick it up after building a viable set of weapons so you can kill things fast in between the timings, but what about the char with the pentagram starting weapon?

Edit: Success! I was able to do it on my second try :D I failed my first try because I grabbed too many weapons at the start (garlic, song, bible, santa water) and then couldnt get any of them strong enough to farm efficiently and died. On second run I decided just to focus on song and clover, and the clover really helped. By the 100% luck buff nothing was getting deleted anymore and I was able to complete the run peacefully. Thanks for all the tips!

Get crown ASAP, get Clover ASAP, and the Empty tome. That's all you need to play her well. Your choice of weapons is irrelevant at that point.

Your goal isn't to evolve pentagram late, it's to evolve it as early as possible. Keep in mind that her pentagram doesn't erase offscreen EXP, and that when you evolve it, it has a 100% chance to give you EXTRA exp.

This effectively removes any penalty you might have incurred by being unlucky, because you'll be insta-killing screen after screen with little pause, then a free magnet succ.

If you wait to evolve it until the end, you've wasted tons of additional EXP that you could have had, and you'll be in a much weaker position when the reaper rolls around if you're even still at that point.