All Characters, All Maps, BUT...

[John Orbit]

I'm trying to fully complete the game, but...
Toastie and Smith IV are impossible.
I guess they're joke characters, but Toastie has literally 1 health. Smith IV has 9.
I know that "All Characters, All Maps" isn't a real achievement, but thought it would at least be possible.
Has anyone won a game with these characters? If so, how?

[Cahos Rahne Veloza]

You can always give both of 'em Golden Eggs to up their Hit Points you know?

Toasty in particular ABSOLUTELY needs it.

[John Orbit]

It would take a TON of eggs to make those characters playable, when you've only got a slim change to get +1 health per egg.

[Cahos Rahne Veloza]

I only gave Toastie 30 or so Eggs to get her Hit Points go from 1HP To 10HP and that's all you need really as it'll rely on your skill for her to survive long enough to reach level 100 and 200 where her stats get super crazy. Also her Luck Stat is over the roof which was why I didn't say you'll need skill AND luck for her to survive as she's already stacked in the Luck Department.

[Matthew]

Yes. Not only that, but I killed Red Reaper with Toastie before the evolutions for laurel/lancet were added.

You can try turning off a number of different bonuses. Curse, charm. Definitely don't play on hyper. Keep in mind garlic stops enemy projectiles, which can help. Though song of mana is better if you can survive long enough to get it 100% uptime.

Also, even though you only have 1 hp, you can still err several times. Awake arcana, tiramisu, any extra res from eggs. And, of course, laurel completely absorbs any damage.

[Jaeus]

Originally posted by John Orbit:

It would take a TON of eggs to make those characters playable, when you've only got a slim change to get +1 health per egg.

Not as many as you'd think. Smith is almost workable out the gate, his scaling is insane, but difficult maps which overwhelm you quickly like Dairy Plant and Abyss Foscari would be nightmares with base HP.

Taking the Divine Bloodline Arcana and finding a Laurel (you still farm Retaliation damage kills during invincibility) can remedy their HP issues quickly.
This, sadly, is only really practical for Toastie on Library due to the free 5ish Exp gem on the table at the start. Maybe Dairy Plant which also has one but that map is hard.
It isn't impossible at all to make Toastie, without Eggs, win any given map I'm sure with this method but very hard and needs significant luck with the first Ebony Wings volley to hit level 2. I *THINK* I've beaten Bone Zone with Eggless Toastie ages ago (and no Crimson Shroud) when Divine Bloodline got added.

Originally posted by Matthew:

You can try turning off a number of different bonuses. Curse, charm. Definitely don't play on hyper.

Curse is honestly a trap these days. Charm has made starting Curse unnecessary for insane runs. I see no reason to turn Charm or Hyper off though. ;p

[AcroPalo]

If you manage to survive enough, there is a zone in abyss foscari where you can get tons of golden eggs.

[Matthew]

Originally posted by Jaeus:

Curse is honestly a trap these days. Charm has made starting Curse unnecessary for insane runs. I see no reason to turn Charm or Hyper off though. ;p

Charm wouldn't be a problem on regular maps, but sometimes the high number of enemies get pushed onto you immediately. Like on tiny bridge, or when the golems spawn in boss rash. Though if you get enough res or start with awake arcana, the sheer amount of xp may be worth the trade-off.

As for hyper, it just increases the times you can get hit. For example, the plant rings on the first map won't close in on you, but on hyper you'll need to run through them. You don't need to turn it off, but there is no reason to have it on either.

All these points are moot, of course, if you have a high number of eggs.