The Lost vs. Delirium, your strats

[Schizophriend]

I was just curious, for all the people who have beaten Delirium as The Lost, how did you do it? Did you use any special strat / had any awesome combos that made the fight possible?

Because I just beat it and it was actually my first try (I restarted all other tries because I already knew I wouldn't make it due to bad items etc.).

I had:

-Burning / Quad / Egg Tears
-Incubus
-some good bomb upgrades as well as 99 bombs
-Box of Friends with some shooting companions
-2 Algiz runes

Basically, I just weakened Delirium a little until I lost my Holy Mantle then I activated the first Algiz runes, ran into his face and just spammed him with bombs and everything I had. When it was about to run out, I used the 2nd rune and repeated it. When Delirium was almost dead, I had a few seconds left where I was defenseless and the shield ran out but I still managed to kill him before he could kill me. Now I finally have God Tears unlocked! FeelsGoodMan

[Memo]

Beat him twice with the Lost (because 2 save files). First time I did it like you, 2 Algiz runes and some uber-op-combo items. And the 2nd time I literally went to the grocery store to buy some drinks while lil' Haunt / Sac dagger took care of him (shameful Gnawed Leaf strat).

Congrats for your victory ! :D

[Fracastador]

I think I had an extremely high tear rate, stop watch (nearly all my winning builds on delirium have some form of slowing effect or similar variant if they don't have extreme damage), and I just was very VERY careful. I don't remember the specific build anymore.

Slowing him down is incredibly helpful. (I didn't use mantle-reset, so I took advantage of the slow effect after taking a hit.)

I think I also had the wooden cross for a 3rd survivable hit during the fight.

[Schizophriend]

Originally posted by salty croco:

And the 2nd time I literally went to the grocery store to buy some drinks while lil' Haunt / Sac dagger took care of him (shameful Gnawed Leaf strat).

Ah heard about that one many times, for some reason Gnawed Leaf never drops for me and when it does, I don't get any companions with it :(

Originally posted by Fracastador:

Slowing him down is incredibly helpful. (I didn't use mantle-reset, so I took advantage of the slow effect after taking a hit.)

I think I also had the wooden cross for a 3rd survivable hit during the fight.

I agree, having something like "I feel drowsy" or the stopwatch for fights like that is really useful. But what did you mean by mantle-reset? Never heard of that.
And also, I tried the wooden cross with The Lost before but it like overwrites the Holy Mantle or vice versa, I still only can get hit once. Or maybe I didn't pay that much attention

[Fracastador]

Originally posted by Schizophriend:

And also, I tried the wooden cross with The Lost before but it like overwrites the Holy Mantle or vice versa, I still only can get hit once. Or maybe I didn't pay that much attention

It doesn't overwrite it, but you only get one hit per floor with wooden cross. It won't refresh between rooms. The "tactic" people recommend is dropping it when you enter the floor to save it for the boss fight, since it will trigger before holy mantle does.

I think I scouted delirium's room with telepills so I would know which room to pick up wooden cross for before entering the fight.

[MrBlueSkyyyyyy]

So of this moment i've defeated delerium with the lost a total of 6 or 7 times and i generally have a few strategies.

1. Items
Generally you should look out for orbitals and survivability items like dead cat, cube of meat etc.

An insta-win with the lost generally comes from "Book of the Dead" as you can rack up hundreds of orbitals and bluster through the hush and delerium unscathed no matter how much skill you may have so just look out for these items and focus on survivability over damage. Another insta-win is the "Stopwatch" and "Broken Watch" respectively. They can make Hush quite a handful but in the Delerium fight you can easily drain the boss.

2. Algiz Runes
This is another easy way to beat delerium across any run. Items like "Polydactyl" and the "Tarrot Cloth" can be essentials when fighting these bullet hell boss'. Finding and keeping two algiz runes for the final boss can give you tonnes of time to beat the boss before your even at risk of taking damage so complete the "Cat Got Your Tongue" challenge and keep your eyes peeled

3. Getting to the Boss
Even if you have a great run without the correct plan of attack to actually get there you may be in a little bit of trouble. Generally play conservatively. Wait in a corner away from damage and chip away at each room. It takes a long, long time to move through the floors but if your looking for a fight with Delerium it's your best bet so utilise your spectral tears and flight throughout the whole run

4. Holy Mantle
For anybody who hasn't done so yet with Afterbirth+ the holy mantle can become a starting item for "The Lost" if you donate 900 or so coins to the greed machine. This is possibly the most important part of this list and without it you are nearly never going to make it or survive the fight at the end

Sorry for the essay but its a difficult topic and a massive challenge for even the best of players

Best of Luck

[GGpajer]

I had 2 runes of algiz and double charged book of shadows when I fought him. It basically makes you invincible for the whole fight if you have decent attack items.

[kittkött]

inb4 git gud

[Fracastador]

Originally posted by Majik Kitten:

inb4 git gud

Yeah, but to win that fight with pure skill you have to be really, REALLY good, which isn't necessary in BOI most of the time.

[គ្មានន័យ ಅಸ್ತಿತ್ವ]

praying to the greater gods of rng