Solo Hero Tips (Useful normally too)

[Gurnnison]

After doing a few solo hero play-throughs, I just wanted to share some insights that people new to the game may not know, some tricks and tips, and a few interactions.

1) Kaclang is the most busted spell in the game. Solo hero runs, low level runs, or even normal runs. For bosses you struggle with, simply Kaclang until they run out of MP. Very useful for the pyramid, boss troll, and Baramos on solo hero runs so you don't have to grind nearly as much before taking them on. Baramos takes 15-20 Kaclang casts before he's out of MP, to give you an idea. That means no more dazzle, fuddle, kafrizz, etc. Some abilities (inferno for example) don't take MP.

2) Shield of Shame used to be an amazing solo hero run item, as half the damage you would take that it sends to your party just goes away. Essentially you took half damage from everything in the game. This doesn't seem to work the same now, and I'm still doing some testing. It also seems to have weird interactions with Spiked Armor. More testing needed, but fire/ice/wind/explosion/breath reducing equipment performs better. Anyone else with insights on this please chime in.

3) Bounce -- and ESPECIALLY Mirror Shield -- are great on solo hero runs, as well as on parties that are set up to only use abilities and not spells. Hero's Meditate as well as monster hunter and gadabout heal abilities aren't reflected. Setting up a party that never goes through mage/priest/sage is amazing, then add on the last monster hunter ability to block the entire battle's spells and you have a crazy combo. Requires some forethought and item usage, but extremely effective and a fun challenge.

4) Dig is THE BEST way to farm ANY dropped item. Period. Four thieves pale in comparison. Dig can be used up to five times before you need to reset an internal counter by switching locations. This can be done via stairs within a dungeon, entering or exiting a location (town, shrine, dungeon, etc.), or crossing a monster spawn border. Boarding and leaving the ship doesn't seem to work in this version, though I didn't spend a lot of time with that method (let me know if you see something different). When farming some Elevating Shoes I averaged one or two pairs per hour using dig outside the teleportal shrine -- duplicated on multiple runs. Prayer rings, seeds, blizzard swords, cat suits, anything you want to go for. Also the fastest way to max out gold for ridiculous merchant Call to Arms damage, as you can dig for half of your current gold.



Anyone else used other old-school methods with success in this version? Or come up with any new tech?

[Tyrax Lightning]

Curiosity: Does it matter WHERE in a section of Map ya dig in terms of Results?

[Bulleta©™®]

What about the "Noh Mask" in the Orochi's Cave? I used that in hero solos in the Super Famicom version against Baramos.

[Gurnnison]

The dig results are based on the monster spawn of whatever grid you are digging.

So dig where the monster exists that you want the drop from. You have the same chances of drops as treasure chest drops, but from the entire monster spawn list of where you dig. The difference is you can dig 5 times, go back into a location / up stairs, go back (or dig again depending on monster spawns) and repeat. Put the merchant in the front, and you can get five unique chances for a treasure drop from that monster list in a matter of seconds.

I don't recall the exact rates of a treasure dig (I want to say 1/8, then the treasure probabilities of the monsters on top of it) per dig. It SOUNDS low, but the rate at which you can do it is extremely fast with a digger in the front.

On that note, I forgot to add this to the original post:

5) If you have a dedicated tanky character in the lead of your party (soldier->merchant->soldier->martial artist, or whatever you choose), work gadabout in until they get whistle. Ignore walking bonuses like hp/mp/exp per step, and whistle away for fast encounters when grinding. On top of this Harvest Moon is an AMAZING AoE ability for this sort of character to have, as it seems to scale with STR (possibly luck as well, or just character level, still testing), can hit/crit multiple metal enemies, etc.

If you do this with forethought you can have a whistler and a digger with no other innate abilities above whistle or dig in their list, making the button presses much lower. Menu->ability->select first character with no movements->select first skill (whistle or dig).

[hopefuldeath]

Even when solo they don't follow orders with the Noh Mask on this game. You get the defense but their actions will be random

[Gurnnison]

Same thing with the "Mask of Implacibility," at least on solo runs...confusion doesn't HURT you (you have nobody else to attack, so you still attack enemies), but it has been cleaned up in this version. You still try to run, stand still and inspect the situation or whatever, can use some random-ish spell (doesn't seem to trigger abilities, but not 100% sure yet). So it generally wastes time.

In solo runs your level -- and thus defense -- is so overtuned in this version you simply don't need the extra (this may be different if attempting a low level run, and not caring about time).

Even the Hapless Helm is pretty crappy now for solo, as the defense boost is mediocre versus what you have access to through shiny spots / hidden spots at the point you can get it.

[Gurnnison]

@hopefuldeath, not random...a chance to be random OR follow whatever you have selected for tactics (but overwrites "follow orders" no matter what, and I *think* defaults to "fight wisely" in that case).

Again these are just observations from three or four solo and duo borrowed character play-throughs with no dedicated testing yet. So whatever I'm mistaken on please help correct !!!

[jmac2007]

Does shouting "Kaclang" work in real life too?

[Gurnnison]

Originally posted by jmac2007:

Does shouting "Kaclang" work in real life too?

Only if you are five years old, in mind or body.